To a Christian, and thoroughbred Englishman, not even the
licentiousness which generally accompanies it can compensate for
the oppressiveness of that horrible outward decorum, which turns
the cities and the palaces of Asia into deserts and gaols.
So, I
say, when you see and hear them, those romping girls of Bethlehem
will gladden your very soul. Distant at first, and then nearer and
nearer the timid flock will gather around you, with their large
burning eyes gravely fixed against yours, so that they see into
your brain; and if you imagine evil against them, they will know of
your ill thought before it is yet well born, and will fly and be
gone in the moment. But presently, if you will only look virtuous
enough to prevent alarm, and vicious enough to avoid looking silly,
the blithe maidens will draw nearer and nearer to you, and soon
there will be one, the bravest of the sisters, who will venture
right up to your side and touch the hem of your coat, in playful
defiance of the danger, and then the rest will follow the daring of
their youthful leader, and gather close round you, and hold a
shrill controversy on the wondrous formation that you call a hat,
and the cunning of the hands that clothed you with cloth so fine;
and then growing more profound in their researches, they will pass
from the study of your mere dress to a serious contemplation of
your stately height, and your nut-brown hair, and the ruddy glow of
your English cheeks. And if they catch a glimpse of your ungloved
fingers, then again will they make the air ring with their sweet
screams of wonder and amazement, as they compare the fairness of
your hand with their warmer tints, and even with the hues of your
own sunburnt face. Instantly the ringleader of the gentle rioters
imagines a new sin; with tremulous boldness she touches, then
grasps your hand, and smoothes it gently betwixt her own, and pries
curiously into its make and colour, as though it were silk of
Damascus, or shawl of Cashmere. And when they see you even then
still sage and gentle, the joyous girls will suddenly and
screamingly, and all at once, explain to each other that you are
surely quite harmless and innocent, a lion that makes no spring, a
bear that never hugs, and upon this faith, one after the other,
they will take your passive hand, and strive to explain it, and
make it a theme and a controversy. But the one, the fairest and
the sweetest of all, is yet the most timid; she shrinks from the
daring deeds of her play-mates, and seeks shelter behind their
sleeves, and strives to screen her glowing consciousness from the
eyes that look upon her. But her laughing sisters will have none
of this cowardice; they vow that the fair one SHALL be their
'complice, SHALL share their dangers, SHALL touch the hand of the
stranger; they seize her small wrist, and drag her forward by
force, and at last, whilst yet she strives to turn away, and to
cover up her whole soul under the folds of downcast eyelids, they
vanquish her utmost strength, they vanquish your utmost modesty,
and marry her hand to yours. The quick pulse springs from her
fingers, and throbs like a whisper upon your listening palm. For
an instant her large timid eyes are upon you; in an instant they
are shrouded again, and there comes a blush so burning, that the
frightened girls stay their shrill laughter, as though they had
played too perilously, and harmed their gentle sister. A moment,
and all with a sudden intelligence turn away and fly like deer, yet
soon again like deer they wheel round and return, and stand, and
gaze upon the danger, until they grow brave once more.
"I regret to observe, that the removal of the moral restraint
imposed by the presence of the Mahometan inhabitants has led to a
certain degree of boisterous, though innocent, levity in the
bearing of the Christians, and more especially in the demeanour of
those who belong to the younger portion of the female population;
but I feel assured that a more thorough knowledge of the principles
of their own pure religion will speedily restore these young people
to habits of propriety, even more strict than those which were
imposed upon them by the authority of their Mahometan brethren."
Bah! thus you might chant, if you chose; but loving the truth, you
will not so disown sweet Bethlehem; you will not disown or
dissemble your right good hearty delight when you find, as though
in a desert, this gushing spring of fresh and joyous girlhood.
CHAPTER XVII - THE DESERT
Gaza is upon the verge of the Desert, to which it stands in the
same relation as a seaport to the sea. It is there that you
CHARTER your camels ("the ships of the Desert"), and lay in your
stores for the voyage.
These preparations kept me in the town for some days. Disliking
restraint, I declined making myself the guest of the Governor (as
it is usual and proper to do), but took up my quarters at the
caravanserai, or "khan," as they call it in that part of Asia.
Dthemetri had to make the arrangements for my journey, and in order
to arm himself with sufficient authority for doing all that was
required, he found it necessary to put himself in communication
with the Governor. The result of this diplomatic intercourse was
that the Governor, with his train of attendants, came to me one day
at my caravanserai, and formally complained that Dthemetri had
grossly insulted him. I was shocked at this, for the man was
always attentive and civil to me, and I was disgusted at the idea
of his having been rewarded with insult. Dthemetri was present
when the complaint was made, and I angrily asked him whether it was
true that he had really insulted the Governor, and what the deuce
he meant by it.
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