The First Look At The Interior Of Our Vessel Showed A
Hopeless Sight; Ali Murad, The Greedy Owner, Had Promised
To take sixty
passengers in the hold, but had stretched the number to ninety-seven.
Piles of boxes and luggage
In every shape and form filled the ship from
stem to stern, and a torrent of Hajis were pouring over the sides like
ants into the East-Indian sugar-basin. The poop, too, where we had
taken our places, was covered with goods, and a number of pilgrims had
established themselves there by might, not by right.
Presently, to our satisfaction, appeared Sa'ad the Demon, equipped as
an able seaman, and looking most unlike the proprietor of two large
boxes full of valuable merchandise. This energetic individual instantly
prepared for action. With our little party to back him, he speedily
cleared the poop of intruders and their stuff by the simple process of
pushing or rather throwing them off it into the pit below. We then
settled down as comfortably as we could; three Syrians, a married Turk
with his wife and family, the Rais or captain of the vessel,
[p.190] with a portion of his crew, and our seven selves, composing a
total of eighteen human beings, upon a space certainly not exceeding
ten feet by eight. The cabin-a miserable box about the size of the
poop, and three feet high-was stuffed, like the hold of a slave ship,
with fifteen wretches, children and women, and the other ninety-seven
were disposed upon the luggage or squatted on the bulwarks. Having some
experience in such matters, and being favoured by fortune, I found a
spare bed-frame slung to the ship's side; and giving a dollar to its
owner, a sailor-who flattered himself that, because it was his, he
would sleep upon it,-I instantly appropriated it, preferring any
hardship outside, to the condition of a packed herring inside, the
place of torment.
Our Maghrabis were fine-looking animals from the deserts about Tripoli
and Tunis; so savage that, but a few weeks ago, they had gazed at the
cock-boat, and wondered how long it would be growing to the size of the
ship that was to take them to Alexandria. Most of them were sturdy
young fellows, round-headed, broad-shouldered, tall and large-limbed,
with frowning eyes, and voices in a perpetual roar. Their manners were
rude, and their faces full of fierce contempt or insolent familiarity.
A few old men were there, with countenances expressive of intense
ferocity; women as savage and full of fight as men; and handsome boys
with shrill voices, and. hands always upon their daggers. The women
were mere bundles of dirty white rags. The males were clad in
"Burnus"-brown or striped woollen cloaks with hoods; they had neither
turband nor tarbush, trusting to their thick curly hair or to the
prodigious hardness of their scalps as a defence against the sun; and
there was not a slipper nor a shoe amongst the party.
Of course all were armed; but, fortunately for us, none had anything
more formidable than a cut-and-thrust dagger about ten inches long.
These Maghrabis travel in hordes under
[p.191] a leader who obtains the temporary title of "Maula,"-the
master. He has generally performed a pilgrimage or two, and has
collected a stock of superficial information which secures for him the
respect of his followers, and the profound contempt of the heaven-made
Ciceroni of Meccah and Al-Madinah. No people endure greater hardships
when upon the pilgrimage than these Africans, who trust almost entirely
to alms and to other such dispensations of Providence. It is not
therefore to be wondered at that they rob whenever an opportunity
presents itself. Several cases of theft occurred on board the "Golden
Wire"; and as such plunderers seldom allow themselves to be baulked by
insufficient defence, they are accused, perhaps deservedly, of having
committed some revolting murders.
The first thing to be done after gaining standing-room was to fight for
greater comfort; and never a Holyhead packet in the olden time showed a
finer scene of pugnacity than did our pilgrim ship. A few Turks, ragged
old men from Anatolia and Caramania, were mixed up with the Maghrabis,
and the former began the war by contemptuously elbowing and scolding
their wild neighbours. The Maghrabis, under their leader, "Maula Ali,"
a burly savage, in whom I detected a ridiculous resemblance to the Rev.
Charles Delafosse, an old and well-remembered schoolmaster, retorted so
willingly that in a few minutes nothing was to be seen but a confused
mass of humanity, each item indiscriminately punching and pulling,
scratching and biting, butting and trampling, with cries of rage, and
all the accompaniments of a proper fray, whatever was obnoxious to such
operations. One of our party on the poop, a Syrian, somewhat
incautiously leapt down to aid his countrymen by restoring order. He
sank immediately below the surface of the living mass: and when we
fished him out, his forehead was cut open, half his beard had
disappeared, and a fine sharp set
[p.192] of teeth belonging to some Maghrabi had left their mark in the
calf of his leg. The enemy showed no love of fair play, and never
appeared contented unless five or six of them were setting upon a
single man. This made matters worse. The weaker of course drew their
daggers, and a few bad wounds were soon given and received. In a few
minutes five men were completely disabled, and the victors began to
dread the consequences of their victory.
Then the fighting stopped, and, as many could not find places, it was
agreed that a deputation should wait upon Ali Murad, the owner, to
inform him of the crowded state of the vessel. After keeping us in
expectation at least three hours, he appeared in a row-boat, preserving
a respectful distance, and informed us that any one who pleased might
quit the ship and take back his fare.
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