This I Asked With The Full Certainty That
Dthemetri, As A Matter Of Course, Would Deny The Charge, Would
Swear
That a "wrong construction had been put upon his words, and
that nothing was further from his thoughts," &c. &c.
, After the
manner of the parliamentary people, but to my surprise he very
plainly answered that he certainly HAD insulted the Governor, and
that rather grossly, but, he said, it was quite necessary to do
this in order to "strike terror and inspire respect." "Terror and
respect! What on earth do you mean by that nonsense?" - "Yes, but
without striking terror and inspiring respect, he (Dthemetri) would
never be able to force on the arrangements for my journey, and
vossignoria would be kept at Gaza for a month!" This would have
been awkward, and certainly I could not deny that poor Dthemetri
had succeeded in his odd plan of inspiring respect, for at the very
time that this explanation was going on in Italian the Governor
seemed more than ever, and more anxiously, disposed to overwhelm me
with assurances of goodwill, and proffers of his best services.
All this kindness, or promise of kindness, I naturally received
with courtesy - a courtesy that greatly perturbed Dthemetri, for he
evidently feared that my civility would undo all the good that his
insults had achieved.
You will find, I think, that one of the greatest draw-backs to the
pleasure of travelling in Asia is the being obliged, more or less,
to make your way by bullying. It is true that your own lips are
not soiled by the utterance of all the mean words that are spoken
for you, and that you don't even know of the sham threats, and the
false promises, and the vainglorious boasts, put forth by your
dragoman; but now and then there happens some incident of the sort
which I have just been mentioning, which forces you to believe, or
suspect, that your dragoman is habitually fighting your battles for
you in a way that you can hardly bear to think of.
A caravanserai is not ill adapted to the purposes for which it is
meant. It forms the four sides of a large quadrangular court. The
ground floor is used for warehouses, the first floor for guests,
and the open court for the temporary reception of the camels, as
well as for the loading and unloading of their burthens, and the
transaction of mercantile business generally. The apartments used
for the guests are small cells opening into a corridor, which runs
round the four sides of the court.
Whilst I lay near the opening of my cell looking down into the
court below, there arrived from the Desert a caravan, that is, a
large assemblage of travellers. It consisted chiefly of Moldavian
pilgrims, who to make their good work even more than complete had
begun by visiting the shrine of the Virgin in Egypt, and were now
going on to Jerusalem. They had been overtaken in the Desert by a
gale of wind, which so drove the sand and raised up such mountains
before them, that their journey had been terribly perplexed and
obstructed, and their provisions (including water, the most
precious of all) had been exhausted long before they reached the
end of their toilsome march. They were sadly wayworn. The arrival
of the caravan drew many and various groups into the court. There
was the Moldavian pilgrim with his sable dress and cap of fur and
heavy masses of bushy hair; the Turk, with his various and
brilliant garments; the Arab, superbly stalking under his striped
blanket, that hung like royalty upon his stately form; the jetty
Ethiopian in his slavish frock; the sleek, smooth-faced scribe with
his comely pelisse, and his silver ink-box stuck in like a dagger
at his girdle. And mingled with these were the camels, some
standing, some kneeling and being unladen, some twisting round
their long necks, and gently stealing the straw from out of their
own pack-saddles.
In a couple of days I was ready to start. The way of providing for
the passage of the Desert is this: there is an agent in the town
who keeps himself in communication with some of the desert Arabs
that are hovering within a day's journey of the place. A party of
these upon being guaranteed against seizure or other ill-treatment
at the hands of the Governor come into the town, bringing with them
the number of camels which you require, and then they stipulate for
a certain sum to take you to the place of your destination in a
given time. The agreement which they thus enter into includes a
safe conduct through their country as well as the hire of the
camels. According to the contract made with me I was to reach
Cairo within ten days from the commencement of the journey. I had
four camels, one for my baggage, one for each of my servants, and
one for myself. Four Arabs, the owners of the camels, came with me
on foot. My stores were a small soldier's tent, two bags of dried
bread brought from the convent at Jerusalem, and a couple of
bottles of wine from the same source, two goat-skins filled with
water, tea, sugar, a cold tongue, and (of all things in the world)
a jar of Irish butter which Mysseri had purchased from some
merchant. There was also a small sack of charcoal, for the greater
part of the Desert through which we were to pass is destitute of
fuel.
The camel kneels to receive her load, and for a while she will
allow the packing to go on with silent resignation; but when she
begins to suspect that her master is putting more than a just
burthen upon her poor hump she turns round her supple neck and
looks sadly upon the increasing load, and then gently remonstrates
against the wrong with the sigh of a patient wife.
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