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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