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THE MUEZZIN. — CA LL TO PRAYER. 



HARRY'S 

Trip to the Orient. 



REY. CHARLES STEDMAN KEWHALL. 




AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



COPYRIGHT, i885> 
BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Before Sailing. Planning. Letters. Cousin Will . . . 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Setting Sail. Telegram. The " Norman Monarch." " Under 
Way." The Captain. Broken Compass. Little Gull Reef 12 

CHAPTER III. 

On the Ocean. Storm and Calm. The " Snow Fall." The 



Azores 16 

CHAPTER IV. 

Across the Atlantic. St. Vincent's Light. Straits of Gibraltar. 
" The Rock." Donkey Ride 23 

CHAPTER V. 

Through the Mediterranean. Dardanelles and Sea of Mar- 
mora 30 



CHAPTER VI. 

Constantinople. The Dogs. Crowded Streets. The Bridge 
of the Golden Horn. The " Bible House." Dr. Wood . 37 

CHAPTER VII. 

Constantinople — Continued, St. Sophia 50 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Constantinople — Continued. Howling Dervishes. Whirling 



Dervishes . . 57 

CHAPTER IX. 

Coast of Asia Minor. Smyrna. The Castle. "Robbers." 

Polycarp 63 



4 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. 

Coast of Asia Minor — Continued. Scenery. Breakfast. 

Rhodes. Landing at Beirut 68 

CHAPTER XI. 

Beirut to Damascus. Lebanon. Scenery. Roads. Danger. 
Escape. Sthorer. Anti-Lebanon. Valley of Abana. Da- 
mascus . . • 74 

CHAPTER XII. 

Damascus. Before Breakfast. Mount Kasiun. View. The 
Streets. "St. Joseph's Gate." Place of Paul's Conver- 
sion. "Triumphal Arch " . 87 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Damascus — Continued. A Turkish Bath 96 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Damascus to Baalbec. " The Waterfall." A Quarrel. Andrea. 
Approach to Baalbec. " Good Morning " . . . . 100 

CHAPTER XV. 

Baalbec and Return to Beirut. The Ruins by Starlight. The 
Ruins by Daylight. Rough Riding. Meeting Friends. 
Horses and Men for Jerusalem . . . . . 108 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Beirut to the Damur. The " Caravan." A " Prophet." Fish- 
ermen. Nooning by the Damur 115 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Damur to Sidon. Jonah. Traditions. "Jonah's Tomb." 
Approach to Sidon. Imagined Talk with the " Spirit of 
Sidon." Searching for Lodgings. The Hospice. The 
Missionaries 124 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sidon to Tyre. Tombs. Nooning by the Litany. Approach 
to Tyre. Alexander's Causeway. Reception. Supper. 
Evening on the Cliffs 138 



CONTENTS. 



5 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Tyre to Acre. Early Start. " White Promontory." " Lad- 
der of Tyre," " Ras en Nakurah." View of the Plain of 
Acre. Approach to Acre. Rebellion. Acre . . .152 

CHAPTER XX. 

A Night Ride to Haifa. Running Horses. The Belus. Murex 
Shells. Fording the Kishon . . . . . .162 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Haifa to Carmel and Nazareth. Ascent of Carmel. Galilean 
Scenery. View of Nazareth. " Nazareth." Arrival. Fra 
Johannes. Night at the Franciscan Hospice . . . 173 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Nazareth to Tiberias. Good-by to Fra Johannes. Cana. A 
Typical Face. The " Horns of Hattin." First View of 
Gennesaret. " Galilee." The Battle of Hattin. Tibe- 
rias. Evening by the Lake. "Boat Song" . . . 187 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Shore of Gennesaret. Collision with a Camel. A Friend- 
ly Native. The "Witches' Tree." Magdala. The Plain 
of Gennesaret. A Camel Ride. Robbers of Arbela. 
Search for the " Round Fountain." Fount of the Fig-tree. 
Tabighah. Tell Hum. "Shells." A Storm . . .200 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Mount Tabor 217 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Mount Tabor to Jezreel. Descent of Tabor. Endor. The 
Witches' Cave. Nain. Shunem. Jezreel .... 221 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Jenin. A Night with the Natives 230 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Jenin to Samaria and Nablus 



6 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Nablus to Jerusalem. "Jacob's Well." Robbers' Cave. 
Mount Scopus. View of Jerusalem. " Tombs of the 
Kings." Arrival 247 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Around Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Mount of Olives. Bethany. 

Gethsemane. "Under a Star" . . . . . 254 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Sacred Sites. The Temple Area. Jews' Wailing- Place. 
Robinson's Arch. Church of the Holy Sepulchre . . 267 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

From Jerusalem to Jaffa. The " Quarries " under Jerusalem. 
Night Ride to Jaffa. Jaffa. The "Juno." Embarking .278 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Egypt 287 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Cairo 294 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A Sabbath Day in Cairo 302 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Memphis: Tombs of the Sacred Bulls 308 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Pyramids 322 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Alexandria. Home - 336 



HARRY'S 



TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



There had been a long silence in the bright 
study, while the father read and the mother and 
Mary were busy with their work, and Harry was 
thinking. The younger children were away in 
dream-land. Now the silence is broken. 

" Father, may I go with Cousin Will to Pal- 
estine ?!' 

4 c To Palestine ! Why, Harry, what gave you 
that idea ?" And the father deliberately takes off 
his glasses and looks at Harry, and then, after a 
long pause, 

u Well, what do you say, mother?" 

Harry's face brightens, but the mother only 
looks rather anxious. She does not speak. 

1 1 Write to Will to-morrow and find out what 
he thinks of it," the father says. 




CHAPTER I. 



BEFORE SAIUNG. 



8 



harry's trip to the orient. 



And Harry writes to Cousin Will that night. 
This is the letter: 

" Dear Cousin Will: May I go with you to 
Palestine? Father does not say I can, but he 
says, 4 Write him about it,' and I think that almost 
means that he is willing for me to go if you are. 
" Yours truly, 

" HARRY HOWARD." 

And by return mail came the answer: 
"Dear Harry: Meet me, if you can, with 
the horses at the 5 : 30 train to-morrow. 
" Yours, 

"WILL HOWARD." 

Harry pondered the answer, standing by his 
horse with bridle and letter in hand at the post- 
office. 1 1 It may mean, 1 ' he thought, 1 1 that Cousin 
Will does not want to disappoint me by writing 
4 No,' so is coming to tell me 1 No;' but I think it 
means the opposite; and if it does, then with him 
ready to let me go, and father rather inclined to 
let me go, and with mother only at first a little 
anxious, as I suppose all such good mothers are, 
and with Mary willing to trust me anywhere with 
Cousin Will, hurrah and hurrah and hurrah ! I 
believe I am going to Palestine f* and so he 
mounts and gallops home. 

Will has come. Harry has met him and wel- 
comed him at the station, and all the household 



BKFORK SAILING. 9 

have welcomed him again most heartily as they 
drove up, a little later, to the home-door. 

Now the family are sitting before the open 
fire talking of the proposed journey. Mr. How- 
ard says, 

U I only know, Will, that you are about to 
visit Palestine. Whether you could take Harry 
with you; whether the details of your plan are 
such that it would be best for him to go if you 
could take him, I do not know." 

Will replies, " If Harry wants to go, and if you 
are willing to trust him when you have heard my 
plans, I shall be very glad to have him with me. 
But, aunt, how soon could he be ready ? I may 
have to start within three days, though possibly 
not for a month or more." 

" He can be ready in three days." 

4 4 Well, this is my plan: I am not going by 
the usual route, but instead shall sail directly for 
Constantinople, stopping only once on the way, 
for coal at Gibraltar. Our steamship is lying 
now at New Haven, loaded with ammunition 
and guns for the Turkish Government. The voy- 
age will take about a month, and if March is 
March-like, it will be a stormy time. But the ship 
is strong and is thoroughly well officered, and it 
is comfortable, though not intended for a passen- 
ger ship. Harry, if he goes, and I will be the only 



IO HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

passengers. Does any of that frighten you, Harry ? 
A month, and possibly a month of storms ! n 
"No, indeed. » 

' c The ship is the 1 Norman Monarch. 1 I shall 
leave her at Constantinople, and after a few days 
sail again by the French line along the coast of 
Asia Minor to Beirut. There I shall be close by 
Bible lands, and will aim to see as much of them 
as possible. I shall go to Damascus and Baalbec, 
and then either back to Beirut and by steamer to 
Jaffa and up to Jerusalem, or else overland to 
Jerusalem. In returning I shall sail from Jaffa 
for Port Said, and after a week or two in Egypt 
shall come rapidly home by the usual route — to 
Naples and across the continent, and by steam- 
ship from Glasgow or Liverpool to New York. I 
expect to be away about six months. That is 
my itinerary. ' ' 

4 'It sounds like a 'Table of Contents,' " sug- 
gested Mary. 

" Ah, Will, it seems a long, long journey that 
you are undertaking, ' ' said mother. 

Father said, "If you are prospered, it will 
surely be a most interesting one. Harry, are you 
certain you want to venture on a journey such as 
that, so far away and for so long a time?" 

"Yes, sir, certain, if you and mother are 
willing. n 



BKFORE SAILING. 



II 



And the mother made no objection. She said, 
" I will not keep you, my boy, though many, 
many times I shall be anxious for you ; very anx- 
ious it would be, except that I know you will be 
well cared for. Will will do his part, and the 
grest, you know, is in God's hands." 

And so it was decided. 

Will would have to leave them in the morn- 
ing. After the three days for loading the ship 
Harry must be watching for a telegram, he said, 
and ready to start any time at an hour's notice. 

At family worship that evening there was new 
interest for them all in the Psalm which the 
father read, which declares that as the mountains 
are round about Jerusalem, so the I^ord is round 
about his people, henceforth even for ever; and 
in the Scripture from the New Testament, which 
tells of how much greater value man is in the 
sight of the Heavenly Father than are the birds 
of the air, wdiich never want for food, and the 
flowers of the field, which are arrayed as Solomon 
never was in all his glory. Harry thought of the 
time when he would stand before those moun- 
tains that are round about Jerusalem, and the 
mother was helped anew by the needed lesson of 
God's loving care. 



12 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER II. 

SETTING SAIL. 

The nth of March was an eventful date in 
Harry's life. When he awoke that morning he 
heard the brown sparrows twittering in the yard, 
under the trees, and about the barn-doors, and 
could see them flying back and forth before his 
window. The next morning he would see no birds 
excepting white sea-gulls with yellow bills follow- 
ing in the wake of the ship. Here were the gray 
hills with the sun streaming over them; then the 
only hills would be the waves. Now there were 
a few clouds, like ships, drifting across the sky; 
then he would be in the ship drifting on the wide, 
wild ocean. 

At noon of that day the door-bell rang. There 
stood the telegraph-boy with the expected tele- 
gram from Will. It read: "Ship is ready. Meet 
me in city by next train. n 

There was only time to finish the packing, 
to speak the good-bys, and hasten away to the 
cars. 

At midnight Will and Harry and Mr. Howard 
were in New Haven ; and early the next morning 



SETTING SAIL. 13 

Mr. Howard stood alone on the pier looking 
down the harbor, where a level line of black 
smoke streamed like a pennant from the smoke- 
stack of the 4 4 Norman Monarch ' ' as she steamed 
\ out to sea with the travellers on board, beginning 
* the long voyage which was to lead before its 
ending through many different waters and into 
far different lands. 

At the same time the travellers stood on the 
quarter-deck looking back towards the pier, until 
the city, and finally its hills, were out of sight. 
Then Harry turned with interest to examine more 
closely what was to be for so long a time their 
floating home. He made friends with the captain 
at once. 

4 4 Can I come on the bridge with you, cap- 
tain?'' 

" Yes, yes, my hearty; climb up. The ship r s 
free to you. I know Mr. William, and I'll risk 
you. ' ' 

Harry climbed one ladder to the first landing. 
Then he was opposite the doors of the wheel- 
house. Then he climbed again up to the 
4 4 bridge," where he could overlook the whole 
vessel from stem to stern. 

4 4 How steadily the ship moves, captain, and 
how still the water is! It does not seem as though 
there could ever be waves big enough to make 



14 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

the ship roll and plunge as they say ships some- 
times do. ' ' 

"Ay, ay, my hearty; but the water's asleep 
now. Look here. Do you see this compass, 
how heavily cased it is, and how it's held to its 
place by these three stout legs riveted to the 
deck?" 

" Yes; but the glass is broken, and the frame 
and legs are all twisted out of place. ' ' 

" What do you think did that? A wave did 
it! The compass stands twenty-five feet above 
the water; but in that storm we shipped a sea 
that smashed the compass and pitched the first 
officer into the lee netting and started the after 
cabin. That was on the last voyage over." 

4 1 The sea was awake that time, captain. ' 1 

u Ay, ay, my hearty; there you're right; 
wide awake; livelier than you'd care to see it, 
was n't it?" 

Harry thought not; but he had not yet been 
in an ocean storm. 

u The ship's steady now; but you'll find be- 
fore many days that she knows how to pitch and 
roll like a live thing." 

Before sunset they were opposite Little Gull 
Reef, where the "Norman Monarch's" sister 
ship, loaded with a similar cargo, had grounded 
and gone to pieces only a few months before. By 



SKTTING SAIL. 15 

dark Montauk Light was made, and there the 
ship's course was laid for the far-away Straits of 
Gibraltar. 

At home that night the father read from the 
\ evening paper, "Sailed this day from New Ha- 
ven, steamship 4 Norman Monarch,' Capt. Dun^ 
comb, for Constantinople." And that was the 
last word from the u Norman Monarch" for many 
a day. She was out somewhere among the fogs 
and the rain and the winds, somewhere in the 
great Atlantic, pushing slowly across, through 
sunshine and storm, towards the Mediterranean. 



1 6 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE OCEAN. 

No one on shore could know anything about 
it, but in truth they were having a wild time of 
it out there in the Atlantic. 

The third night from port shut down black 
and threatening. When the steward came on 
deck to close the cabin skylights, the captain 
ordered, 

"Jim, get out a spare canvas and cover the 
glass. Make all snug." 
"Ay, ay, sir." 

And when Jim thought his work was done, 
the captain, looking it over, said, 

"That wont do; get another line around and 
stow the canvas tighter, ' ' and then to Harry, 

"You've no idea, my hearty, what a bit of 
wind can do if its fingers once get a fair hold. It 
can handle the water pretty well, slippery as 'tis; 
but if I'd give it half a chance to-night, you'd 
see it strip the main sheet to ribbons, or if that 
held, get mad and take the mast overboard. 
That'll do, Jim. See that all's fast below." 

Harry and Will turned in early. The captain 



ON THE OCEAN. 17 

prepared for a night on deck. The wind in- 
creased steadily, and the ship pitched and rolled 
and rose and sank so that there was no keeping 
in one's bunk but by holding on. Of course 
there was no sleeping. 

" Cousin Will, shut up down here, and remem- 
bering what the captain said, I can't help think- 
ing the wind is a great giant outside, with big 
arms that are picking up the waves and making 
hammers of them, with the ship for the anvil and 
us inside of it. ' ' 

u Yes, only an anvil isn't alive, and you'd 
think the ship was. I fancy your giant is Nep- 
tune, and we are one of his harnessed horses that 
wont drive. I hope he wont thrash much harder. ' ' 

Suddenly there was a staggering blow that 
nearly pitched them to the floor, then a rush not 
of one giant, but as though of a thousand feet 
along the deck, a crash of glass, a great surge of 
water through the cabin. They sprang down, 
holding by their berths. The state-room floor 
was ankle-deep. Just then the ship rolled their 
way. In an instant they were drenched from 
head to foot through the open door. 

One of the cabin tables broke loose and began 
splitting into bits whatever it could reach. The 
steward worked his way in and hunted it with 
ropes as though it was a wild beast. Will and 

Harry's Trip. 2 



1 8 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



Harry joined in it of necessity. It was worse 
than a bull-fight. A beast they could have shot, 
but this they could only lasso and tie. 

The table was secured. The water drained 
away into the hold. They wrapped themselves 
as well they could in blankets and climbed back 
to bed. 

"Harry, do you know what all that meant?" 
"No, Cousin Will. V 

"We 'shipped a sea' — a heavy one. I don't 
know how many such the ' Norman Monarch/ 
with her heavy freight, could stand. We are 
( lying to,' facing the storm. A wave covered 
the bows of the ship as she pitched into it. As 
they lifted, the water raced the length of the 
deck. What damage it did there, there is no 
knowing. It would be an easy thing for it to 
break a man's bones or to kill him. Except for 
the canvas over the skylight we might have had 
enough in here to have knocked us down and 
drowned us." 

The ship was riding easier. Tired out, after 
a time they were half asleep. Suddenly with a 
shriek Harry sat straight up in his bed — and a 
sorry-looking figure he was, haggard and wet and 
wrapped in blankets — but a laugh was ready, 
though with a good deal of disgust in it, by the 
time his eyes were open. A pair of fat ship-rats, 



ON THK OCKAN. 



I 9 



disturbed by the water, had pattered across his 
face and shoulders. He saw them now scurrying 
away through the cabin with more of their kind, 
and a boot after them from Will's bunk under- 
neath. 

Then they dozed off again. It seemed strange 
to Will that it should be so with such surround- 
ings and interruptions, but through it all, over 
and over in his mind ran the refrain, 

" Rocked in the cradle of the deep 
I lay me down in peace to sleep ; 
Secure I rest upon the wave, 
For thou, O Lord, hast power to save. 
I know thou wilt not slight my call, 
For thou dost mark the sparrow's fall, 
And calm and peaceful is my sleep, 
Rocked in the cradle of the deep." 

Presently they both were sound asleep. With 
the sunrise the wind died still more away. By 
noon it was a dead calm, but it was colder and 
the still clouds looked thick and soft. 

As Will and Harry sat lounging on the deck, 
quietly the snow began to fall. Faster and faster 
it came; there was scarcely any motion of the ship, 
only a lazy roll, for the machinery had stopped 
for cleaning and oiling; faster and faster, softly, 
until deck and spars and shrouds were thick with 
it, and then the clouds parted and down through 
it all came the sunlight. It was very beautiful. 



20 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 



c ' Look at this, and then think of last night. 
Could there be a greater contrast ?" said Will. 
"It is fairy-like. I'll tell you, Harry, I must 
write something for Nellie about this, to go in 
the first home letter. ' ' 

What Nellie received weeks later, when the 
first letters came, was this: 

THE SNOW-FALL. 

Gently the snowflakes are falling, 

A pure and a beautiful band, 
Floating in numberless millions 

From some far-away spirit-land. 

Surely the flakes must be fairies ; 

We think they are nothing but snow, 
Yet they are dancing the dances 

Of fairyland down here below. 

Dwelling for ever in gladness, 

In palaces flashing with light, 
They saw our ship sailing the ocean, 

And thought they would robe it in white. 

Changing their forms as by magic, 
They leaped from their bright abode; 

Caught by the elves of the wild wind, 
On elfin cars downward they rode. 

Ceased is the fall of the fairies, 

And safe from their journey on high, 

Now in the sunlight they 're smiling 
At fairy friends up in the sky. 

Pining for home are the fairies ; 

The space they must traverse is long, 
But by magic again, they vanish ; — 

Up bridges of sunshine they 're gone. 



ON THE OCEAN. 



21 



Later there came a morning when the captain 
took Harry up to the bridge, and pointing away 
off to the west, said, 

u L,ook there, my lad, what do you see?" 

c 1 A dim something like a great whale-shaped 
cloud low down on the water. Is it land, captain ? 

"It's just that, my hearty; and a pretty bit 
of land it is, rising right up in mid-ocean. It's 
one of the Azores. Many a time I've run in 
there for shelter in rough weather. I 'd have 
done it the other day if we 'd been nigh enough. 
This one's Flores. It's a nice name. It means 
the c Island of Flowers. ' It lies right in our course. 
It makes no odds whether I sail to the north or 
to the south of it. I '11 go to the south. It 's safe 
enough in this weather. I'll keep close in shore 
and give you a chance to rest your eyes with a 
sight of green hills. You look a mite peaked. 
Well, it has been pretty tough weather for lands- 
men. I'd like to give you a run ashore, but I 
can't do that till we make Gibraltar, but I'll 
give you a good look, my boy." 

"Thank you, captain." 

And very pleasant it was for the travellers to 
look out from their ship at the picturesque Azores 
as they sailed among them past Flores, the largest 
of them, and Pico and St. George with its moun- 
tain 3,500 feet high, wearing its vapor cap as 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



they sailed under it. "It's majesty seldom doffs 
it, n the captain told them, no matter who is pass- 
ing. Once there was a sharp flurry of excitement 
when the lookout reported from the mast-head a 
wreck in sight. 

" Where away?" shouted the captain, as he 
sprang to the bridge and swept the rough water 
with his glass. 

The dismantled hulk, rigged with a jury mast, 
was drifting off to leeward. 

M Hard aport ! n the captain called to the helms- 
man w T hen he saw it; and after a minute, 1 1 Steady, 
so," 

They ran down to the wreck, close alongside, 
but there was no sign of life and no flag set. 
Plainly it was deserted. 

Past island after island they sailed, in and out, 
until all were astern — only the wild ocean in 
sight and the wild clouds overhead. Then again 
the course was laid for Gibraltar. 



ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 



23 



CHAPTER IV. 

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

But for more than a month no word came to 
the waiting home friends of what was going on 
out there on the ocean. Then one glad day the 
first little white sheet reached the mother. It 
was a ray of sunlight to her, more welcome than 
real sunshine is after rain and cold. Harry wrote: 
" Straits of Gibraltar, March 29. 

"Dear Folks: I half like the ocean and half 
don't. I was glad enough last night when the 
captain came to the cabin door, after I had gone 
to bed, and shouted down, 1 Where are you, my 
boy? What! turned in so early! There's 
something outside you 'd want to see.' 

" 1 What is it?' I asked. 

"'Not much. Only the Point St. Vincent 
Light, to tell you you 're across the pond.' 

4 1 In about two minutes I was on deck, stand- 
ing with the captain by the port railing. 

"Where is it?" I asked him. 

" c Watch a bit over there to port,' he said, 
'and you '11 see it. It's a revolving light; shows 
only every two minutes or so.' 



24 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

u In a minute there it was, away off to the 
north, shining like a star, as bright as Venus, 
which was shining beautifully, low dow 7 n over 
our stern. 

"I liked the ocean then; and now I like it 
more, and feel better. Just now we are in the 
Straits of Gibraltar; we are rushing through 
them almost like a race-horse. There's a strong 
wind astern that makes the w r aves race w r ith us 
and caps them with white; and long strips of 
green and blue water are all about us, under a 
sky where the clouds are racing too. And along 
the shore there are strips of brighter green. They 
look just like fresh, grassy meadows, but they are 
only shallow water. And there is a great white 
ship coming towards us, like a pile of snow, and 
the Stars and Stripes are flying from the peak. 
Spain is close on one side and Africa on the 
other. The great, wild ocean is behind us, and 
right ahead is Gibraltar, where we will anchor 
to-night and will land to-morrow, if all goes well 
and the captain does not land us instead on an 
ugly reef ahead, w T here he left one of his ships a 
few years ago; or on Diamond Rock, where a 
flagship of the English navy once went aground. 

" It is all very fine now, and now I am feeling 
strong and happy enough to fly. But haven't 
there been days when I felt just the opposite ? — 



ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 



25 



like tlie boy the captain tells about. The boy- 
was seasick, and the captain wanted him to come 
on deck, thinking the fresh air would do him 
good; but he couldn't get him to stir out of his 
bunk. So one day he thought he would make 
sure of it. He rushed down to the cabin, shout- 
ing, 4 Quick, quick! tumble on deck; the ship's 
going to sink V And the seasick fellow answered 
very deliberately, 'I'm glad of it. I hope she 
will.' 

"I haven't been quite as bad as that, but I 
was seasick enough to be real homesick. I said 
to the captain it was a fib he told that boy, and 
he oughtn't to have done it; but he ha-ha-ha'd — 
"Twasn't, neither. I said the ship was going 
to sink; and so she was — into the trough of the 
sea — ' which was not what he said. 

"I'm not homesick now; but wouldn't I be 
even gladder than I am if I could just take a big 
jump to you all for a few minutes, and then back 
here again. 

" Cousin Will is going to write some more. 

"Good-by, 

" HARRY HOWARD." 

And Will wrote by the same mail : 

"Dear Uncle: The first part of our voyage is 
accomplished without mishap. There have been 
stormy days, but not many of them. The third 



26 harry' s trip to the orient. 

night out was the worst. The wind then was 
very heavy; the waves swept the deck and flooded 
the cabin; but, as a whole, and for the month of 
March, the voyage has been a remarkably favor- 
able one. If the Mediterranean proves as friendly 
as was the Atlantic we shall be satisfied. 

u TVe reached anchorage last ni^ht in the 
midst of heavy squalls of wind and rain. Harry 
would have been well pleased to have landed at 
once, after the quarantine officer had examined 
our papers; but we waited till this morning. 
Then we climbed over the side of the ship, and, 
watching our chance between the waves, dropped 
into one of the small boats lying alongside. The 
boatmen hoisted the long lateen sail, and we 
were off towards the great rock fortress. 

' 1 Gibraltar is more massive, steeper, lonelier, 
stronger than I had thought. Away up, 1,400 
feet, the ridge cuts against the sky as sharp as a 
knife. On the further side, as we found after- 
wards, it is a sheer precipice; on this it slopes 
slightly, with terraces here and there, and woods 
and a town, down to the sea. The town, with 
its population of many nationalities, reaches some 
three miles, on the cliffs and under them, from 
the Europa Point Light at one end of the rock 
north to the other higher and steeper end, which 
faces Spain and is connected with the mainland 



ACROSS THK ATLANTIC. 



27 



by a flat strip of neutral territory. The cliffs are 
masked batteries; but we could see nothing of the 
cannon that we knew were there, thick enough to 
[sweep every part of the harbor on which we were 
floating. 

"We landed at the one public pier, hired a 
guide and donkeys, and proceeded to explore the 
4 Rock. ' We went through long tunnels, dark 
and wet — so dark we could not see even our don- 
keys' ears. Here and there we came to little 
windowed chambers, like bright beads strung on 
a black thread, that gave beautiful glimpses past 
the muzzles of great guns, out over the water, to- 
wards Spain and the open Straits. Then we 
climbed higher. Harry had thought of Gibraltar 
as a smooth and bare rock. It is far from that. 
As we rode, all about us among the loose stones 
was a fine show of flowers, and lower down there 
were trees and thick shrubbery. We rode to- 
wards the Observatory on the high edge of the 
rock. As we came near it we knew that a few 
rods farther up the view beyond would open. 
One minute more, one step more, and there was 
the great Mediterranean, with dots over it that 
were ships, stretching away, hazy and blue, be- 
tween classic lands to Malta and Cyprus, and at 
last to the Holy Land towards which Harry and I 
are journeying. 



28 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



4 1 We followed the ridge for a while, then rode 
along the face of the cliffs to the low southern end 
of the promontory, and so back through the town 
to the pier again. 

c 1 Dismounting there, we finished at once both 
our exploration of her Majesty's world-renowned 
fortress and our first donkey-ride. They are queer 
little beasts — these donkeys. They helped us to 
dismount at the last. Half way down the rock 
we came where an overflowed spring made quite 
a width of shallow water across the path. My 
donkey declined to go ahead, and Harry's sym- 
pathized. They set their innocent-looking little 
hoofs just at the edge of the water and quietly 
gazed across. The donkey-boys behind punched 
them with their sticks harder and harder, and 
lower and lower went the long ears pointing back 
at us. Just as Harry, who would as soon have 
thought of being thrown by a cow, reached out, 
laughing, to straighten the ears, up and out went 
the hind pair of heels like a flash of lightning, 
and instead of his ears Harry was clasping lower 
down tight around the donkey's chunky neck. 
My steed followed suit for a minute; then both 
were as meek as before — and as stubborn — looking 
dreamily across the water. • 

1 1 The donkey-boys changed their tactics. 
Dropping their sticks, they came to close quar- 



ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 



29 



ters, and bracing themselves behind, undertook to 
push the beasts ahead; but the donkeys braced 
themselves in front and pushed as hard back. 
Now it was simply a question of strength. If 
only they could be made to take a step and get 
their feet in the water, they would trot quietly 
through and go on as good as kittens. So both 
sides pushed harder and harder, and the donkeys 
found the boys were strongest, and thereupon, 
without the least warning, the two made a flying 
leap for the other side. Either of us could easily 
have sat a horse over a rail-fence, but in this case 
it was we who dropped into the water. 

"At four o'clock we came off to the ship. 
Now I will send the letters ashore. It is nearly 
dark. Very soon we will be rounding the Point 
Europa Eight, under way again for Constanti- 
nople. 

1 c Yours sincerely, 

" WILL HOWARD." 
"P. S. The "Snow-fall" verses are for Nel- 
lie dear." 

These letters were received, and read and re- 
read, and then there was another long waiting 
while the "Norman Monarch" was pushing on 
again steadily through the Mediterranean towards 
her harbor in the Golden Horn. 



30 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER V. 

THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

On the fourth day from Gibraltar Harry and 
Will were sitting on deck reading when the cap- 
tain came aft. 

"Now, my hearties, we've had four days of 
still weather; 'bout time for another blow, isn't 
it?" 

" Is a storm coming, captain ?" 

" Certainly. The glass says so; but I 'd know 
it without that. Do you see the yellow look to 
the clouds yonder to windward ? That 's a sign of 
squalls. And higher up you see the waves in the 
gray clouds — not the broken ridges, they are no 
sign, but the smooth ones. They 're a sure sign 
of rain. We must have all tight to-night." And 
the captain rolled forward. 

" So we are likely," said Will, u to have 
Paul's experience of a storm in these waters. We 
are just about where he was wrecked 011 his way 
to Rome, for we are not far from Malta. You 
had better read the twenty-seventh chapter of 
Acts to-night, Harry." 

That night the predicted storm came. It was 



Through the mediterranean. 31 

severe while it lasted. Such a storm would have 
wrecked the mariners who once sailed those wa- 
ters in their round-hulled, oar-mounted, and star- 
guided triremes. It would surely have tested the 
sea- worthiness of Paul's stout ship ; but the " Nor- 
man Monarch" shouldered her way through the 
waves so well that when the two days' storm was 
ended she had been delayed hardly more than an 
hour. 

On the seventh day from Gibraltar a bold head- 
land suddenly showed itself through the fog on 
the port bow. It was Cape Matapan, the south- 
ern point of Greece. After that came the pleas- 
antest part of the whole voyage. The skies were 
clear; wind and waves were asleep. Their sail- 
ing was like a pleasant trip on some inland lake. 

At midnight of the ninth day they neared the 
island of Tenedos. Will and Harry stood with the 
captain on the bridge while they sailed through 
the dangerous channel between the island and 
the mainland. The danger was from a covered 
rock lying directly in the way and unmarked by 
any buoy or light. Two men were at the 
wheel. 

The moon was bright overhead. Two or three 
lighthouses shone like stars on the horizon. A 
soft land-breeze brought off odors from the damp 
pine forests of Asia. Harry was leaning against 



32 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

the rail. Will was thinking back to the day be- 
fore the fall of Old Troy, when the main body of 
the Greeks withdrew to this island, leaving behind 
them, before the walls of Troy, the fatal wooden 
horse filled with their warriors. 

The captain was alert, watchful. He knew 
that here was the most dangerous place in the 
whole voyage. If the weather had been rough 
he would not have dared risk the passage. He 
would have taken the longer route outside the 
islands. But now all was very still and beautiful, 
hushed, as though asleep. 

Suddenly, clear and sharp, rang out, " Port 
your helm !" 

' ( Port it is, sir. 1 1 

Then silence, while the ship's bows swung off 
slowly to the east. 
" Steady!" 

" Steady, sir." And the wheel whirled as the 
men let go their hold upon it and it yielded to 
the strain of the rudder. Silence again, while 
the captain puffed fiercely at his pipe. 

" Starboard!" 

u Starboard it is, sir." 

And in a minute again, "Hard a starboard ! 
Hard!" 

" Hard it is, sir." 
"Hold her!" 



through the; mediterranean. 33 

u Ay, ay, sir." And the ship swept in a 
short curve swiftly towards the north. 
"Steady!" 

" Steady, sir." And the chains rattled again 
over the whirling wheel. 
" How does she point?" 
1 1 Nor' -nor' east, sir. ' ' 

" Keep her so for half an hour." And the 
captain knocked the ashes out of his pipe, gave 
orders when he was to be called, told his passen- 
gers good night, and turned in for a cat-nap, 
leaving the first mate in charge. 

Harry and Will turned in also, and slept 
soundly for a few hours ; but they were called 
again before sunrise. As they came on deck the 
ship was just entering the Dardanelles. They 
passed close under the steep and high banks of 
the European side, with the hills of Asia two or 
three miles away on the right. From behind one 
of those hills the sun rose with a fine show of 
red; but before it was fairly up the clouds hid it 
again. 

Then came the first view of a Turkish town, 
with picturesque minarets tipped with black, and 
domed mosques and red-roofed, low, gray houses, 
and ruined fortifications. 

Nearly opposite, on the Asiatic side, was Char- 
nak. This was the quarantine station, and the 

Harry's Trip. % 



34 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

ship "lay to" while the health officers were ex- 
amining her papers. 

Farther north they passed where a long, forti- 
fied point of Asia almost lapped the higher shore 
of Europe in front of them. 

"It must have been near here," said Will, 
( 1 that Xerxes and Alexander bridged the Helles- 
pont (that was its old name), and crossed their 
immense armies. And, according to the stories, 
it was here also that Leander tried to swim across 
and failed, and that Lord Byron tried and suc- 
ceeded. 5 ' 

1 1 It does n' t look far, J 1 said Harry, ' ' for a good 
swimmer. I believe I could do it myself in fair 
w r eather. ' 1 

" The width in the narrowest part is less than 
a mile," replied Will. "No doubt it has been 
crossed many times by good but untitled swim- 
mers." 

They sailed for fifty miles through the Darda- 
nelles to the northern entrance, then swept past 
Gallipoli with its rocky bluff and lighthouse, and 
steamed out into the Sea of Marmora. 

By this time the bright morning had settled 
into a stormy day. As they sailed north it was 
through rough water and under a beating rain- 
storm that drove the travellers below decks and 
kept them there till night. 



THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN. 35 

But late that night, although the rain contin- 
ued, they were up again and on the bridge with 
the captain, where he stood watchful and a little 
anxious, for somewhere close before them in the 
foggy darkness lay the land and Constantinople. 
It was too bad a night to make the inner harbor. 
He must find anchorage in the open roadway out- 
side. 

" Half speed !" came the order. "Cast the 
lead! Slow her !" 

u Cast the lead. Slow her again !" 

" Cast the lead ! Stop her! Down with the 
anchor !" 

Rattle and plunge went the chains, and just 
in time the ship swung to, safe for the night, 
close off the San Stefano Light. 

Through what remained of the night Will and 
Harry slept soundly; but by sunrise they were on 
deck again, eager for the first view of the great 
city. 

And there before them could be plainly seen 
now Constantinople; not glittering, as it so often 
does, in splendid sunlight, but dim under a driz- 
zling rain, with old walls at the water's edge, 
with towers and domes and minarets, with black 
cypresses marking where there were once graves, 
with crowds and crowds of poor houses. 

The anchor was hoisted. The ship gained 



36 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

headway. A pilot hailed them. They took him 
on board, passed close around Seraglio Point into 
the Bosphorus and the inner harbor, steamed for 
a few minutes longer carefully among a swarm of 
sailing vessels and steamboats and lighters and 
ships' boats and swift, duck-like caiques; then the 
quick order was given, u Let go !" The anchor 
plunged; the chain whirled for a moment over the 
smoking windlass. The voyage was ended, and 
they were safely moored in the Golden Horn. 



CONSTANTINOPLE 



37 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Harry was eager to land. The two shawl- 
straps and the hand-bags were packed. That was 
all their baggage. There were plenty of caiques 
flitting about over the water. One was hailed 
and was alongside in a moment. 

"Good-by, captain." 

( ( Good-by, my hearty, and good luck to you. 
Good-by, Mr. William. Step quick from the lad- 
der, and sit right down in the bottom of the boat. 
Those caiques are good for their work, but they 
wont bear any deck cargo. They 're too light on 
the water for that. Good-by, again. The ship '11 
miss you on the home voyage." 

As they swung down the rope-ladder it was 
with hearty respect that they bumped against the 
black sides of the good ship that had brought 
them safely seven thousand miles, to the end of 
their voyage and to the shelter of the finest har- 
bor in Eastern waters. 

The ladder swung with their weight. Harry 
glanced down rather doubtfully at the caique 
waiting to receive them. 



38 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. " 

U A queer boat," he remarked meditatively; 
11 as queer as its name; shaped like the half of an 
Indian club, and with its bows at the wrong end." 

u Let me advise you, Harry: don't touch it 
anywhere but as far down inside as you can sud- 
denly get. Subside in it, as you would into a 
birch canoe, else, Harry, it will suddenly seem to 
you queerer still. v 

They embarked safely, and disembarked with- 
out mishap, only a few strokes away, at the stone 
front of the c 1 Artillery Yard ' 1 on the northern 
side of the harbor — the Galata side. The boat- 
man was dismissed, satisfied with a few pieces of 
depreciated paper currency. 

The inclosure where they had landed was 
large, with piles of war material over it, and 
groups of soldiers working lazily. To the left, 
outside, lay the carcass of a dead horse; and about 
it, crouching on piles of dirt, walking slowly and 
sleepily about, lying in the sun, were crowds of 
dogs. 

" Cousin Will, are those miserable, yellow, 
sleepy curs the noted 'dogs of Constantinople' 
that I expected to be half afraid of, lest I should 
get in their way or step on them and be bitten or 
barked at to pay for it?" 

1 1 Yes, those are a pack of the noted dogs. 
They are waiting there till night comes, when 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 39 

they will save the city authorities the trouble of 
burying the dead horse. They are good for scav- 
engers, and for nothing else. You will see their 
like everywhere, dull, cowardly fellows, sneaking 
across one's path in the daytime, or curled up 
asleep under foot — that way all day, but noisy 
enough and active enough at night." 

They passed out of the arsenal yard, and at 
once were in one of the narrow, crowded, dirty, 
but thoroughly interesting streets of the city. It 
was easier walking in the roadway than to try to 
keep the narrow sidewalk. But walk where they 
would, they had to avoid pools of mud and sleepy 
dogs, and horses and donkeys, and porters carrying 
on their shoulders loads larger than themselves, 
and crowds of men of all nationalities, and wo- 
men veiled with white lace so drawn about their 
heads and faces and bodies as to look to Harry 
like shrouded corpses afoot. 

Strange enough these Oriental streets appeared 
in contrast with the very different Western life 
which the travellers had left behind them. 

Half an hour or so after leaving the ship they 
had crossed the " Artillery Yard," had passed the 
gate unchallenged, had walked the length of the 
street running west under the heights of Pera, 
and were standing waiting at the toll-gate of the 
great floating bridge across the Golden Horn — 



40 harry's trip to the orient. 

the bridge which connects Old and New Constan- 
tinople, Stamboul and Galata. 

Said Will, "I doubt, Harry, if ever before two 
individuals of our nationality entered Turkey as 
unnoticed as we have been — not anywhere a sign 
of a Custom-House officer!" 

" Isn't it just possible it was an oversight?" 

"Well, it may have been; we wont complain. 
But we gave them every opportunity. We came 
away in broad daylight, with our luggage in our 
hands. We did everything but wait; and as for 
w r aiting, they could not have expected that as 
a voluntary thing from any living Yankee — 
certainly not from two !" 

The place at which they now stood is the best 
point for general observation in all Constantino- 
ple. One cannot overlook the whole city from it; 
he can see only that w 7 hich lies on the near sides 
of the hills that rise all along the Golden Horn; 
but the advantage is that a large part of the city 
is sure to come to him — so constant is the current 
of humanity back and forth along the bridge. 

They spent a good part of the day there, as it 
was, and might easily have spent the whole with- 
out tiring. 

"Harry," asked Will, "how would you de- 
scribe what we are looking at now — this con- 
stantly changing scene?" 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 41 

Harry immediately set his active imagination 
to work, and replied, " It is a huge kaleidoscope." 
"Good." 

" It is a gorgeous flower-garden — poppies, sun- 
flowers, hollyhocks, everything — and with all the 
flowers in procession, back and forth, marching 
as steadily as the waters flow underneath.' 5 

" Rather fanciful, but less overdrawn than 
some might think." 

" What would you say about it, Cousin 
Will?" 

"I? I don't know. That it is an allegory 
of life, comic and serious, restless, changing, un- 
satisfied. Or how would this do? It is a new 
version of Tennyson's 'Brook,' where the men 
that come and the men that go, instead of Eng- 
lish rustics, are people of every nationality under 
the sun, dressed in all the colors of the rainbow; 
and where the stream 1 that hurries down by thirty 
hills, and still goes on and on for ever,' isn't at 
all 4 Philip's brook,' but the ' sweet waters' of the 
Golden Horn." 

"But, Cousin Will, isn't that rather more 
fanciful than mine was ?' ' 

4 4 Well, no matter, so long as both fancies are 
true. In the East one expects to be imaginative. ' ' 

It was certainly a most picturesque crowd that 
was passing before them. 



42 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" There comes a party of fine-looking fellows. 
Do you know what they are, Cousin Will?" 

' ' Do you see they are armed and have rows 
of little pockets filled with cartridges across the 
breasts of their brown, close-fitting coats ? They 
belong to the Circassian tribes. Such as they are 
the most turbulent and lawless men in Constanti- 
nople. A few months ago a band of them sur- 
rounded a man on one of these bridges, robbed 
him, and then went their way unmolested. 1 ' 

"At night?" 

u No; in broad day. But the times are quiet- 
er now, and there is no danger from them. There 
are some Greeks. They belong to another fine- 
looking race. Notice how becoming their dress 
is. The jacket and rich silk undervest and sash 
and loose trousers and silk stockings, all in plain 
neutral colors, are in excellent taste. And there 
are Persians, with conical felt-hats and long, flow- 
ing robes; and priests, with green turbans and 
white and fur-lined cloaks. All these are the 
more noticeable because of the plainness of their 
dress among the brilliant costumes about them; 
just as at home, in our black-dressed and gray- 
dressed crowds, we would very quickly notice a 
man dressed, for instance, like that one, in a red 
fez and blue jacket and crimson vest and white 
trousers, with bare legs, and yellow, pointed 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 43 

shoes. Here, you see, the rule is colors and com- 
binations such as those. The plainer colors are 
[the exception. n 

4 ' I believe I could watch this river or flower- 
garden or kaleidoscope or menagerie or circus, or 
whatever it is, all day without growing tired," 
said Harry. 

- ' Yes, and you would see something new and 
Oriental at almost every moment. Harry, do you 
remember that painting at home of the 1 Derby 
Day ' in England by C. Green ?' 1 

" Yes; a fine picture." 

" Well, I wish an equally skilful artist would 
strike for fame with ' Midday on the Stamboul 
Bridge.' The material is here. If he did his 
part he would wake and find himself famous. 
The landscape portion of such a painting would 
be hardly less interesting than the main subject. 
The middle distance would include, just at the 
end of the bridge, the large 4 New Mosque, 5 so 
called, not because it is new now, but was once, 
when it took its name, some hundreds of years 
ago. Then beyond, for the background, the land 
slopes from the water, and shows here and there 
all over it among rough buildings white minarets 
as slim as fingers, pointing above the domes of 
their mosques; and black cypresses that are almost 
equally slim growing singly or in groups, and 



44 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

that not merely seem like black-uniformed senti- 
nels, but are that; they are faithful long-lived 
sentinels over the dead. Each tree marks a place 
of burial, although often now, after the long 
years, no signs of the grave remain. Off to the 
left the land ends in Seraglio Point, pointing to- 
wards the heights of Scutari across the Bosphorus, 
and washed on the further side by the waves of 
the Sea of Marmora, and rough waves they are 
when the wind is in the south. 

' 'Seraglio Point was the earliest settled part 
of this old and storied city. Strange things and 
wonderful it has looked upon. One of the most 
thrilling times of all must have been no more 
than about four hundred years ago, when the 
Christians still held the city, but were fighting 
their last battles against the besieging Turks un- 
der Mohammed II. 

" There was some hope of final victory for the 
besieged, provided an expected Genoese fleet, 
with a supply of food and of soldiers, should 
arrive in time; and provided, further, that when 
it arrived it should dare to do so rash a thing as 
attack the strong Turkish fleet which was block- 
ading the harbor. 

"The Genoese ships hove in sight. The 
whole city could see them as far off as the horizon 
on the Sea of Marmora. There were but five 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



45 



ships, while the Turks had three hundred, though 
many of theirs must have been very small. It 
seemed unlikely that the allies would do anything 
•but come near enough to see their danger, and 
then turn about and sail away as fast as wind and 
oar could take them. But when they neared the 
port still they kept on, as though they were blind 
or foolhardy. A few of the Turkish ships may 
have been concealed around the Point, but most 
of them were in plain sight, curved across the 
mouth of the Bosphorus in order of battle. 

"The Genoese were not blind; they were he- 
roes worthy of the records of their race. They 
struck the Turkish fleet close by the crowded 
w r alls of the city. They fought their way back 
and forth through it with Greek fire, w T ith dis- 
charges of artillery, with hand-to-hand grappling 
and fighting, with crushing blows from their 
beaked prows. 

" The Turkish captains knew that Mohammed 
was watching it all from the shore, and that he 
w r as likely to hold them responsible for defeat 
with their lives. Of course they fought desper- 
ately. But it was useless. Their entire fleet was 
scattered up and down the shores of the Bos- 
phorus. The Genoese anchored safely inside the 
chain that protected the mouth of the Golden 
Horn. For the time the city was safe. 



46 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" But, Harry, we have spent a good part of the 
day here already; it's time for us to be moving." 

4 ' A little longer, Cousin Will. Just see what 
a brilliant show those soldiers make." 

" Yes, the Sultan keeps his army well equip- 
ped, whatever else he neglects. That officer on 
his splendid black horse has gold enough over his 
white uniform to make a fortune for the pov- 
erty-stricken wretches that he is almost running 
down. 

" And there, I suppose, is one of the Sultan's 
carriages, English built, with white driver and 
footman, and in the seat of honor a fine-looking 
negro in plain modern dress. He holds a place 
of great trust in the royal household. ' ' 

"And what a contrast," said Harry, u in that 
half-naked beggar behind, carrying what looks as 
much like a stuffed pig as anything, with its 
head and ears cut off. ' ' 

" It is a leather bottle of water, Harry. The 
man is so emaciated and so scantily clothed very 
likely he is some pilgrim devotee. Now, as he 
comes up to us, though we cannot understand 
him, perhaps he is doing what it is like them to 
do — offering us a drink of water in exchange for 
our prayers for the well-being of his soul. You 
will see that kind of bottle everywhere, here and 
in Palestine, carried about the streets by men and 



WATER-CARRIER, WITH SKIN BOTTLE. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 47 

by donkeys, sometimes with water for drink and 
sometimes for sprinkling the streets." 

U I suppose, " said Harry, "I might come to 
drink out of them, but I'd have to be half-fam- 
ished first." 

44 Well, if we must go on we must; but let's 
not hurry." 

They paid a bit of paper money at the toll- 
gate, then strolled leisurely along the bridge, past 
venders of fruit of many kinds (best of all, lus- 
cious egg-shaped oranges of Jaffa), past groups of 
men, past black steamboats that make the bridge 
a station in their frequent trips up and down the 
Bosphorus, across the long bridge, into Old Con- 
stantinople. 

It was growing late when they came to a quiet 
hillside street among the crooked streets of Stam- 
boul. Presently they stopped before one of the 
most substantial and attractive public buildings 
in Constantinople, and one which is the centre of 
work that has been in the past, and is likely to 
be in the future, of vast benefit to Turkey. The 
building is the 4 4 Bible House," the busy hive 
belonging to the American Board of Commission- 
ers for Foreign Missions. After the long voyage, 
and after the strangeness and tumult of the crowd- 
ed streets, the travellers gladly entered the quiet 
building. They inquired of the janitor for Doc- 



48 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

tor Wood. They were directed to his room on the 
second floor, but the door was locked. They 
passed from door to door marked with the famil- 
iar and honored names. Every door was closed. 
No one was at work. Was it a holiday ? 

But at last they were directed to a corner room 
in an upper story. They lifted the latch there, 
and, opening the door, found themselves suddenly 
no longer among a strange people, and no longer 
with the feeling that there were thousands of 
miles between them and anything home-like. 
They were among friends and at home. They 
were in the midst of a Christian prayer-meeting. 
It was a most welcome surprise to them and a 
pleasant introduction to the noble missionaries of 
Constantinople. 

When at last it was time for the travellers to 
take their leave the venerable Doctor Wood said 
to Will, 

"Now, Mr. Howard, you and your young 
friend must make my house in Scutari your home 
while you remain in this part of the world. You 
will be among friends there, and from there it 
will be easy to make such excursions as you may 
wish through the city and up and down the Bos- 
phorus. 1 ' 

Certainly, after their rough voyage, nothing 
could be pleasanter than to be received into such 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



49 



a harbor. They very gladly accepted the invi- 
tation. 

That evening Will and Harry were most kindly 
welcomed at the modest and beautiful home on 
the heights of Scutari. And the kindness of the 
evening was only a sample of the attention that 
continued to be shown them during the whole 
of their stay in the neighborhood of Constanti- 
nople. 



Harry's Trip. 



4 



50 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ST. SOPHIA. 

Doctor Wood said at the breakfast-table, 
4 4 Mr. Howard, are you and Master Harry inclined 
to walk this morning or to rest ?' ' 

u To walk, sir. It is not walking that we are 
tired of, but sailing. So where had we better go 
to-day ?" 

" You might visit the Mosque of St. Sophia, 
or the old walls w 7 ith the 4 Seven Towers. ' On 
Friday, if you like, I will go with you to see the 
4 Howling Dervishes.' " 

4 4 Then to-day we will go to St. Sophia. There 
is nothing in Constantinople I am more interested 
in than that." 

4 4 If you can gain admittance, it will be well 
for you to be there about noon." 

When Will and Harry had crossed in the little 
ferry steamer to Stamboul (Old Constantinople), 
and w r ere walking through the streets towards St. 
Sophia, Harry asked, 

4 4 If St. Sophia is a mosque, why is it named 
as though it was a Christian church? Why has n't 
it a Mohammedan name?" 



ST. SOPHIA. 



51 



Cousin Will answered, " It has a Moham- 
medan name which is sometimes used. But the 
original St. Sophia was built and named by a 
Christian emperor, by Constantine the Great, 
away back in the beginning of the fourth centu- 
ry. The first church was of wood, and was more 
than once burned down or pulled down before the 
present splendid temple of brick and stone was 
built on the same site, two hundred years later, 
by the Emperor Justinian. In the Middle Ages 
it was one of the richest and most sacred of all 
the Christian churches. But when the Turks 
came in the fifteenth century, and after terrible 
fighting won the city walls, everything was 
changed. The Turkish commander was Moham- 
med II. He marched his troops through these 
streets to the front of the church. Then he 
entered where, in a few minutes, we too will 
enter. Only he rode in on horseback, tradition 
says, with all his train; and instead of being 
peaceably inclined, as we are, when he found a 
vast crowd collected there of frightened women 
and children and old men, he slew them all or 
made captives of them. Those were fearful days 
in Constantinople. Ever since that time St. 
Sophia has been a Mohammedan mosque. n 

Now they had reached the courtyard of the 
great building. 



52 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

"See," said Will, "what a huge, irregular 
pile of brick and stone it is. From the outside it 
looks as though there was no plan or order about 
it, with its many domes and half-domes and min- 
arets against the sky. But we will find what it is 
inside, underneath these domes — that is, if we 
can get in. Come on, and we will try." 

At the heavily-curtained outer entrance they 
were met and stopped by one of the priests of the 
mosque. 

" Have you a permit?" he demanded. 
4 4 No, we have none." 

"Then it is against the rules to admit you." 

"But suppose we pay you, instead of paying 
for a permit?" 

"For twenty piasters* apiece you may come 
with me. 1 ' 

"Very good; we will pay you forty piasters." 

Then the curtain was swung aside and they 
were admitted ; but they had no more than crossed 
the threshold before they were checked sharply. 
They must remove their shoes, and then go on 
in their stocking-feet, or else make choice from 
among the light, heelless slippers that were spread 
beside the door. Neither alternative was agree- 
able. 

"The slippers are a deal too big," said Har- 

* About one dollar. 



ST. SOPHIA. 53 

ry, "but I suppose they are better than noth- 
ing." 

They chose the slippers, and went forward with 
their guide. 

"Is this the church?" asked Harry of Cousin 
Will. 

"No, though it might well be for its beauty 
and its size. It is a kind of great vestibule in- 
closing the inner church. Much of it is covered 
now with bright stucco over the old frescos and 
mosaics of the Christian time. The rest is pol- 
ished marble; and the floor, you see, is rich mar- 
ble mosaic. The guide says they are engaged 
now in the church in the mid-day worship, and 
he asks us to go into the galleries first. There 
we can see the interior and the w r orshippers with- 
out disturbing the service." 

As they followed the guide, Harry exclaimed 
in astonishment, 

"Why, I expected to find stairs into the gal- 
lery, and this, where he is leading us, is more 
like an up-hill wagon-road !" 

"Nothing could give us a better idea," said 
Will, "of the thickness and massiveness of the 
different parts of the mosque. This passage-way 
winds up through the middle of the wall, doub- 
ling back and forth on itself, and yet is wide 
enough for three horsemen easily to ride abreast 



54 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

in it. If Mohammed rode his horse here he had 
room enough and to spare. And all the propor- 
tions of the great church are in keeping. } ' 

They came out into the lowest of the broad 
galleries, and from it looked far down to the floor 
and far off and up, past clusters of columns and 
arches and lesser domes, towards the one wonder- 
ful dome flattened to the slightest possible curve, 
in imitation of the curve of the distant sky, which 
crowns and beautifies the whole. 

Harry looked and looked, and at last exclaimed, 

"How immense it is I" and then after a mo- 
ment, " and how beautiful it is !" 

And Will added, "There is nothing like it in 
all the world — 269 feet long, 243 wide, 180 high ! 
Polished stone- work everywhere ! — 107 stone col- 
umns of many colors, brought for their beauty 
from Egypt, from Ephesus, from Baalbec, from 
Rome. There are mosaic floors, partly covered 
with rich Turkish carpets. On the walls are gold 
mosaics and Mohammedan symbols and passa- 
ges from the Koran and abundance of stucco- 
work, covering what were once, in the old days, 
fair pictures of saints and angels and of Christ. 
Indeed, the sight of all is something to thrill one ! 
Your adjectives were right, Harry; 4 immense ' 
and 4 beautiful' it certainly is." 

They stood for a long time in the gallery. A 



ST. SOPHIA. 



55 



monotonous chanting filled the place. Looking 
down upon the lines of men on the pavement 
below, they could see them bowing and stooping 
with their foreheads to the ground, worshipping 
towards Mecca. They noticed that these lines of 
worshippers reached diagonally across the floor, 
instead of at right angles with the walls. It re- 
minded them again that the church had not been 
built for the convenience of Mohammedan devo- 
tees. It does not lie four-square towards their 
sacred city. 

When the service was ended and the greater 
part of the company had gone away, they went 
down from the gallery and entered the body of the 
mosque. There they wandered among columns 
and arches and stone fountains and praying places 
and chapels and pulpits. Many as they are, they 
give no slightest effect of crowding, so great is 
the space between the walls. The guide had 
seemed inclined to lead them only around the 
sides of the church in the shelter of the galleries. 
At last Will asked, " Would we be allowed to 
walk across the carpeted floor directly under the 
central dome?" 

The guide hesitated a moment, but answered, 
"Yes, if you would pass along without much 
stopping, so as not to attract attention. But only 
a few years ago such a thing could not have been. 



56 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

In fact, then you would not have been allowed 
here at all. If you had tried to get in you would 
have been killed ; and there are plenty who would 
have you out now if they dared to touch you. ' 5 

They walked quietly to the centre of the 
church, and standing there looked straight up be- 
tween the surrounding columns and arches and 
half-arches that narrowed above them, up to the 
sky-like dome at the centre, one hundred and 
eighty feet from where they stood. As they 
looked down again Harry staggered for a moment. 
He was actually dizzy, the distances were so great 
and the proportions so perfect. That was the last. 
They passed on over the rich rugs, with glimpses 
between of the richer marbles underneath, to the 
entrance, exchanged there the slippers for their 
own shoes, dismissed the attendants, and came 
from what seemed like an inner world, weird and 
mysterious and old, into the other noisy and 
crowded world outside. 



DERVISHES. 



57 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DERVISHES. 

The Howling and the Whirling Dervishes! 
Who would imagine that anywhere in the world 
there could be men with forms of religion and of 
worship such as theirs! 

In one of Will's frequent home letters he de- 
scribed the visit which they made with Doctor 
Wood to the establishment of some of these strange 
people. He wrote: 

u We are just back from visiting the Howling 
Dervishes. We reached their place after a long 
walk with Doctor Wood through narrow streets 
and then past a very large Moslem Cemetery, 
dark under its many cypress-trees and unique 
with its strangely figured and painted tombstones. 
There was a small courtyard, then an entrance 
hall where we exchanged our shoes for slippers, 
and beyond that the main room of the mosque. 
There we found seats outside of a railing under 
the galleries. The central part of the room in- 
closed by this railing was some forty feet square. 
At one side was a small shrine looking towards 
Mecca, and on the walls were hung iron scourges 



58 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



and knives and long rods, which were once used 
by the Dervishes as instruments of torture, and 
doubtless they would still be so used had not the 
Government of late forbidden it. Presently a com- 
pany of men gathered in the inclosure, and seated 
themselves on mats in a line reaching half way 
around the room. Most of them were in their or- 
dinary working dresses. There were several sol- 
diers in uniform and a number of negroes. Many 
looked like day-laborers and tradesmen. Besides 
these there were a number of priests — a chief priest 
and his attendants. 

" These were the Howling Dervishes. The 
service commenced with prayer and responsive 
chanting and bowing of themselves, much after 
the ordinary style of Mohammedan worship. This 
continued with increasing earnestness for about 
forty minutes. Then came the second part of the 
service. They all rose and stood in a long line 
shoulder to shoulder around the inclosure. The 
rugs were removed excepting a few that were 
placed in front of the line for the use of a number 
of old men who were to sit and act as leaders in 
the chanting and howling which followed. 

"Then they began, quite moderately at first, 
howling softly together and swaying themselves 
slightly — sidewise, forward, backward, forward, 
sidewise — in perfect time with their voices. But 



DKRVISHKS. 



59 



the howling increased and the swaying increased. 
The old men beat their hands faster and faster. 
The excitement seemed contagious, until at last 
the action was violent. The line swayed rapidly 
back and forth, far towards the left, back to the 
right, forward almost to the ground — faster, fast- 
er! And the howls! They were given with the 
full force of the men's lungs. It seemed impossi- 
ble that this could continue for many minutes, 
but they kept it up without a break for a full 
hour. Now and then some would show signs of 
oppression from the heat. Thereupon the attend- 
ant priests would step forward with their white 
caps and white robes, which the men would take 
in exchange for their thick fezes and outer gar- 
ments, until a good part of the line came to be 
dressed in white. The transfers were made with 
no pause in the howling and swaying. 

" At the end of the hour the voices were be- 
ginning to fail. A few had to fall out of the line 
and stagger from the room. Gradually the howl 
became scarcely more than a loud panting. Now 
the motion was varied slightly, but was still vio- 
lent — a rising on the toes and heavy settling again, 
and the sidewise swaying. With some this came 
to be seemingly mechanical, just an involuntary 
violent jerking of the muscles. It lasted a quar- 
ter of an hour longer, making the whole time 



60 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

after the introductory service an hour and a quar- 
ter. Then they rested. We thought they had 
finished, but, instead, they began all over again 
and went through with the same thing, only this 
time it had to be much shortened. 

" After that the service changed. Flasks of 
water were brought and placed before the priest. 
He made gestures and signs over, them, breathed 
on them, and blessed them. Then they were ta- 
ken away. They were to be used as medicines. 

' ' Nor was that the whole. A number of sick 
men now came forward to be healed. Their be- 
lief was that an evil spirit within them was tor- 
menting them. In turn they touched the priest's 
hands with their lips and forehead, and then lay 
down at full length on the floor before him. The 
priest at once pressed his foot upon their shoul- 
ders, and then stood upon them for a moment 
with his full weight. The idea was to force out 
the evil spirit that caused the sickness. Then 
they rose, saluted the priest again, and with- 
drew. 

" But neither was this the whole. They sup- 
pose that the priest is able not only to restore to 
health, but to insure continued health and an in- 
crease of strength. And so, after the sick men 
were gone, in came a troop of healthy-looking lit- 
tle children, three years old and over. In one 



DKRVISHKS. 



6l 



group were six little girls. After kissing the 
priest's hands they lay down, side by side, be- 
fore him. He walked deliberately over them, 
stepping from one to the other, then turned and 
walked back to his place. At the last a young 
man brought in a baby, possibly a year old, and 
seemingly sick. They laid it on the floor, with 
one man holding it by the feet and another by the 
shoulders, and then the old priest deliberately 
stepped on the child with his full weight, and 
stood there, just as he had on the grown men, 
only he appeared to be rather more careful now, 
stepping lightly and quickly, and steadying him- 
self by the attendants at his side. 

u That ended the service, excepting that there 
was to be something more of responsive prayer. 
We had seen and heard enough. As we with- 
drew we felt the need more than ever of the 
Christ-teaching for the little children and for the 
men and the women of these half-heathen lands." 

To the same letter Harry added a few com- 
ments on another somewhat similar class of fa- 
natics, the Whirling Dervishes. He wrote: 

1 1 Besides seeing those Howling Dervishes 
we have seen some whirling ones too; and odd 
enough they were ! They wore high felt hats, 
with no rim, and a brownish dress that covered 
them from their necks to their heels. For a while 



62 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

they sat around the room like men; but then all 
at once they rose and changed into tops. The 
way they did it was this: they formed in line, 
turned themselves from brown to bright green by 
throwing off their outer dress, and marched a few 
times around the room. Then each one, as he 
passed in front of the shrine and priest, stretched 
out his arms and began whirling, moving at the 
same time slowly to his place on the floor. 

" When the whole line had passed before the 
priest the entire floor was covered with them. 
They looked like open umbrellas, for they turned 
so fast their long, loose dresses flared out as 
though they w r ere hooped. I timed the fastest 
one among them. He turned fifty-four times a 
minute; just think, almost once a second! It 
lasted for ten minutes. Then they rested, but al- 
most right away commenced again. And so it 
kept on for an hour, w 7 hen the spinning stopped 
and the service was ended. 

4 1 There has been so very, very much to write 
about, and I have not begun to have time enough 
for writing it all; and now we are nearly ready 
to travel on again towards Syria." 



COAST OF ASIA MINOR. 



^3 



CHAPTER IX. 

COAST OF ASIA MINOR. 

The day came for leaving Constantinople. 
They had engaged passage by the French line of 
steamships for Syria. The u Rio Grande," of 
that line, would carry them as far south as Smyr- 
na; there they would change and take a coasting 
vessel for Beirut. They went on board their 
ship at four o'clock, and just as the sun was set- 
ting splendidly behind the city, and making the 
windows of Scutari blaze as though on fire, they 
sailed out from the Golden Horn and the Bos- 
phorus into the Sea of Marmora. 

The second evening brought them to Smyrna 
on the coast of Asia Minor; a busy city, with a 
fine harbor at the head of a mountain-encircled 
gulf — which gulf was all in a wild tumult as the 
ship entered it under the lashing of a fierce moun- 
tain storm. 

The next morning Harry and Will landed, and 
roamed through the narrow streets and up to the 
ruins of an ancient castle on the top of a steep 
hill back of the city. While they were climbing 
the hill, in a lonely place, they heard shoutings 



64 HARRY 7 S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

behind them. They looked around, and there, 
close to them, and apparently chasing them, were 
four wild-looking Turks. 

"Are they after us, Cousin Will?" 

"I think not. But they are certainly very 
earnest about something," answered Will, and he 
quietly cocked his pocket revolver. 

The shouting continued. 

1 1 Would they try to rob us ?" Harry exclaimed, 
a little startled. 

11 It isn't likely, though they look equal to it, 
and the place could not be better chosen. More 
likely they want to force us to pay toll or to take 
them for guides to the castle. We will wait and 
find out." 

The men came up, seemingly in great excite- 
ment. When they could make themselves under- 
stood it appeared that they were not robbers at all, 
but farmers. They had coins for sale. 

In answer to Will's sign-questioning they said 
they had found the coins while digging in their 
fields. One of the men hastened away to bring 
them. There was a small bagful. They ap- 
peared to be genuine, and Will was glad to bar- 
gain for a few of them. Then they received from 
the " robbers " a very friendly good-by and went 
their w r ay to the castle. 

There they made a long stay, resting under 



COAST OF ASIA MINOR. 



65 



the old walls and enjoying the grand view ont 
over the city and gulf. 

u I wish we had time," said Harry, " to go to 
the other side of these mountains to old Ephesus. 
We could do it, could n't we, if only the ship 
would wait a day?" 

u Yes, we could easily go and return in a day, 
and have time to see the little that is left of the 
old grandeur that was there in the time of Paul 
and their great goddess Diana. Suppose we read 
now about Paul's work there;" and he turned to 
the 19th chapter of Acts, 23-41, in his pocket 
Testament. 

They talked for a while longer about Ephesus; 
then Harry said, 

" Cousin Will, I am in a hurry to be right in 
the very places the Bible tells about." 

" You are in one of them now," replied Will. 
"This is one of the places which John names in 
Revelation. He was commanded to send his 
book to the church that is in Smyrna;* and he 
was told also to write certain encouraging words 
to 'the angel of the church that is in Smyrna. 'f 
Here was one of the most important and promi- 
nent of all the early Christian communities. 
Very possidly the pastor to whom reference was 
made as the ' angel of the church ' was Polycarp. 
* Rev. 1: 11. f Rev. 2:8 

Harry's Trip. C 



66 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



And it was here, in the middle of the second cen- 
tury, that Polycarp was martyred. 

"One of the early church Fathers gives a long 
account in Latin of the martyrdom as he had 
heard it described. 

4 1 He says that when Polycarp was brought to 
trial before the Roman officers he was urged to 
save himself by reviling Christ; but instead, he 
answered, 1 Eighty and six .years have I served 
Christ, and he never did me wrong; and how can 
I now blaspheme my King that has saved me? 
If you would know what I am, I tell you frankly, 
I am a Christian.' Then they brought him to 
the stake to be burned, and heaped the fuel about 
him and kindled the fire. Tradition says that 
when the fire was lighted, at first the flames would 
not touch their victim, but curved around him 
like an arch. Then a soldier pierced him through 
with his spear, and at that the blood flowed so as 
to put out the fire; and at the same time a dove 
flew from the wound, which some supposed was 
his soul escaping in that form to heaven. He 
was so saintly a man, and so closely associated 
with the apostle John and with the early interests 
of Christianity, that the church has always held 
him in reverence. The few writings of his which 
remain are of great value, especially in tracing 
the history of the books of the New Testament. 



COAST OF ASIA MINOR. 



6 7 



a Well, it is time to be moving towards the 
ship. Take one more look at the mountains, 
Harry, and the city and the gulf and the castle, 
for it is a fair picture, well worth remembering. 
Then we must go. ' ' 

They were on board the ship u L,a Seine" 
when she sailed at sunset for her voyage along 
the coast of Asia Minor to Beirtlt. 



68 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER X. 

COAST OF SYRIA. 

Harry and Will were on deck by daylight the 
next morning. They were sailing through beau- 
tiful scenery, close under bold spurs from the 
mainland of Asia Minor, in and out among isl- 
ands, past dangerous-looking rocks. 

In one place the ship swept around a rocky 
promontory whose height was crowned by a ruined 
castle w T ith white, flat-roofed houses clustered be- 
side it, and here and there among them the 
domes of mosques with their finger-like minarets 
pointing to the sky, and on the slope of the hill a 
dozen or so busy windmills. They sailed so near 
and so quickly, the pictures seemed like parts of 
a great panorama. 

"I don't want to leave all this and go be- 
low," said Harry, u but I'm too hungry to wait 
for the ten-o'clock breakfast. I'm going to try 
to get something to eat. ' ' 

1 c You know how to ask for their regular morn- 
ing meal ?" 

u Yes; if I say, 'Cafe,' they will bring me 
coffee and bread." 



COAST OF SYRIA. 



6 9 



"You can send the waiter with mine on 
deck." 

Harry went below to the cabin. After a rath- 
er long time he returned. 

"Well," he said, "I had a funny time get- 
ting my breakfast. 1 ' 

4 1 How was it ?' ' 

"I wanted the bread toasted, and I wanted a 
boiled egg. I made them understand about the 
bread by holding a piece of it over the hot coffee 
and pretending that it burned my fingers. But 
they couldn't make out at all at first what else I 
wanted. ' ' 

"I thought I had told you their word for 

peer. ' ' 

"You have, but they couldn't understand it. 
I suppose I mispronounced it. But I got the egg 
finally. I took a piece of paper and made a pic- 
ture that looked something like a hen. Then I 
hurried (so they wouldn't think I wanted a chick- 
en) and made an oval figure near the other. I 
showed it to them. They laughed, and in a min- 
ute brought me my boiled egg." 

They sailed on, through scenery that was often 
grand and always beautiful, until late that after- 
noon, when they reached the island of Rhodes. 
A long point of sand, covered thickly with black 
and white windmills, hid the town as they ap- 



70 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

proached. They rounded the point, and a little 
farther on cast anchor in front of the old towers 
of the Crusaders. 

Lighters, some of them with freight and some 
empty for taking away freight, swarmed about 
the ship, and there were smaller boats for the pas- 
sengers. The ship was anchored so far out there 
was no time for a visit to the shore. They had 
to be satisfied with a distant view of the ruined 
walls and of the narrow harbor entrance, once 
guarded by the great " Colossus of Rhodes," 
which was ranked as one of the seven wonders of 
the world, and w T ith thinking and talking of the 
time, two thousand years before, w T hen the place 
was rich and powerful and independent, and of 
the time, five hundred years before, when the 
Knights of St. John made it their home. 

" Did not those knights have something to do 
with the history of Jerusalem ?" asked Harry. 

"Yes, the order originated in Jerusalem. It 
was in this way. A hospital was built there in 
the eleventh century for the use of the pilgrims 
to the Holy Sepulchre. Its nurses were called 
'Brothers of St. John the Baptist, of Jerusalem.' 

' ' In time this came to be a military as well as 
religious order, and the brethren were called 
1 Knights. 1 They became very rich and power- 
ful, with establishments in all parts of Europe. 



COAST OF SYRIA. 7 1 

Their headquarters were at Jerusalem until the 
city was captured by Saladin in 1187. After- 
wards they were in Acre, one of the places we are 
to visit on the coast of Syria, and then, in the 
early part of the fourteenth century, they came to 
Rhodes. They captured the island and fortified 
it — you can see the ruins of their castles — and 
held it against the Saracens for over two hundred 
years. There has been fierce fighting about these 
hills and waters that are so quiet now. We can 
hardly imagine it, more than we can that there 
have been terrible earthquakes here. Only six- 
teen years ago two thousand houses were destroyed 
by an earthquake. 

"That lighter alongside appears to be the 
last, and it is nearly unloaded. We shall be un- 
der way again before dark. It is well we did 
not risk going on shore." 

They sailed from Rhodes at five o'clock. 

During a part of the next day — the second 
from Smyrna and the fourth from Constantino- 
ple — they were out of sight of land. On the fifth 
day they anchored for a few hours at Mercina. 
On the sixth they landed at Alexandretta, sailing 
again late in the afternoon. On the seventh day 
they passed Lattaque and Tripoli, and on the 
morning of the eighth day they approached Bei- 
rut. As they neared the anchorage the beauti- 



72 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

fully-located city covered the hills in front of 
them. To the right were other hills. To the 
left rose the peaks of Lebanon, capped apparently 
with white sand; but in fact the seeming sand 
was distant snow, covering peaks that were much 
higher than they looked in the clear atmosphere. 

"Do you see that large stone building high 
up on the hills, just at the right of the city?" 
asked Will of Harry. 

"Yes." 

"It is the American Mission College. The 
work there and at Miss Everett's mission-school 
and home for girls, and in the Bible House, and 
in the Protestant church, and in the different first- 
class hospitals, is making Beirut the chief city for 
progress and influence in all Syria. It is now an 
active, prosperous city, and the people themselves 
say that the result is due chiefly to the influence 
of the Christians." 

1 1 But I would n' t think it could have much 
trade with as poor a harbor as this is. I don't 
believe we could ever get ashore alive if there 
was much wind. ' ' 

" Yet, poor as the harbor is," answered Will, 
"it is the best on the coast; and besides, it has 
the trade of Damascus. We shall find to-morrow 
a fine road — the only good one in all Syria — cross- 
ing the mountains between the two cities." 



Coast of syria. 



73 



By this time they had reached the anchorage. 
The engines were stopped. The captain's order, 
"Let go!" rang from the bridge. The chains 
rattled and the ship swnng to her moorings. 

With the letting go of the anchor another 
stage of their long journey was ended. 

4 1 Here come a crowd of boats with shouting 
boatmen all eager to take us ashore. Now, Har- 
ry, we will say good-by to the ship and let land 
travel take the place for a while of ocean travel." 

They landed at the narrow stone pier, passed 
the Custom House without trouble, and were in 
the streets of Beirut. 

The remainder of the day was spent in ex- 
ploring the city and in preparing for the next 
day's journey across the mountains to Damascus. 



74 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XI. 

BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 

"Come, wake up, wake up, Harry," called 
Cousin Will early the next morning. 

"What time is it?" was the sleepy response. 

"Three o'clock. Get up ! You know to-day 
we begin our land travel in Syria. 5 ' 

In a minute Harry was out of bed. A good 
breakfast was ready for them of goat's milk, cof- 
fee and bread and butter, eggs and honey. 

Then they went out into the quiet streets to 
find their wav to the station of the diligence in 
which they had taken seats for their journey to 
Damascus. Their plan was to visit Damascus 
and Baalbec, and then return to Beirut. From 
Beirut Will expected to sail for Jaffa, though he 
hoped that some way would open in time by which 
they could make the whole journey by land. 

l< How still it is !" said Harry, as they walked, 
"and I would not have thought it could be so 
light as it is with only the stars shining; and how 
sweet the air is in some places ! I suppose there 
are gardens on the other side of these high walls." 

" Yes, and no doubt most beautiful ones. The 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 



75 



Oriental way is very different from ours — the op- 
posite of ours. We share our flower-beds and 
lawns and courts with the passers on the street. 
Here they shut in everything as closely as possi- 
ble." 

" It seems selfish," said Harry. 

" No, it is not that. The custom grew out of 
the need of high walls for protection. These re- 
gions are quiet now, but they have been wildly 
lawless at times." 

4 ' Do you know where you are, Cousin Will ? 
I am all turned around. You are going down 
this street when I thought we ought to keep to 
the right." 

"No, that would lead up to the Bible House 
and the mission church. I remember the way 
easily, so far, through the new part of the city. 
A little farther on, through the older streets and 
squares, it will be harder But if there is need 
we can inquire of some of these men that we 
meet with their loaded donkeys and camels. ' ' 

" Seems to me they are moving early." 

" Yes, but here, at this season, the night is 
more comfortable for travel than the day. ' ' 

They asked the way once, to be sure they 
were right; and then, after a walk of twenty min- 
utes through the streets of an Eastern city, they 
reached the diligence office. 



76 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

The scene there was a strange one. In the 
dim light a crowd was gathering, men and wo- 
men and children in Oriental dress, curious to see 
what travellers there were and to note all the 
preparations for the journey. 

"It seems odd," said Harry, u to think that 
our talk and our dress must be as strange to them 
as theirs is to us. Is this the stage we are to 
take, all ready for the horses here in the yard?" 

" Yes, that is the French diligence." 

" Is it like those they use in Switzerland over 
the Alps?" 

" Something like them. Here is the coupe in 
front under the driver's seat, and behind there is 
a second compartment, with the door opening to 
the rear. There is no 1 middle interior, ' and no 
1 banquette;' but in place of the banquette there 
is that covered place on top just behind the dri- 
ver." 

' 1 I wish we could ride up there. ' ' 
"We can as far as Sthorer." 
"How far is that?" 

" Half way. Another party has the seats en- 
gaged beyond." 

There was slight delay; but at half-past four 
the passengers and baggage were in their places; 
the six horses were harnessed, three abreast; all 
was ready for the start. The driver and the guard 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 77 

climbed to their seat in front of Cousin Will and 
Harry. The horn sounded, and they were off. 
They drove rapidly through the city and across 
the open country beyond; past square, flat-roofed 
houses and pleasant gardens and high hedges of 
cactus and palm-trees and groves of umbrella- 
pines, all sweet and beautiful and strange in the 
fresh morning air, across the narrow strip of open 
country to the foot of the mountains. Then the 
long ascent of the Lebanon range began, gradual 
at first, but steeper and steeper for many miles. 

"I never saw anywhere a better road than 
this," said Harry. 

"It is a first-class road in every respect, " re- 
plied Will, " and it is the same the whole way to 
Damascus. It is the only good road in all Syria. 
I wish its whole equipment was equally good. 
The wagons and coaches answer well enough, 
and some of the teams; but these harnesses ! I am 
afraid of them. 

" Do you see those patches of snow off to the 
left? It is what we thought was white sand as 
we saw it yesterday from the ship." 

" Yes, and it is plainly enough snow, now that 
we are so nearly up on a level with it. How high 
would you think the mountains are?" 

"They average about 7,000 feet, and nearly 
the whole range is the same as the part we are 



yS HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

crossing now, just as wild and lonely and bare of 
trees and bushes. You know there are two lines 
of mountains that we are to pass to-day. 

4 ' To the east of this Lebanon range, and run- 
ning parallel with it, is the lower, Anti-Lebanon 
range. Between them lies the long valley of 
Ccele-Syria.* Later we shall see, away off to the 
south at the end of the Anti-Lebanon range, the 
great snow-covered Mount Hermon. There are 
many references in the Bible to Hermon and Leb- 
anon. One of the most beautiful is in the 133d 
Psalm. 

11 But Lebanon is mentioned oftenest, perhaps, 
in connection with its cedars. They were among 
the noblest of trees, and in the Bible imagery are 
often used to illustrate greatness and strength of 
character and exaltation and power. There are 
a few cedars found still among the bare moun- 
tains, but they are very few, compared with the 
forests that once flourished here; those, for exam- 
ple, from which Hiram supplied Solomon with 
wood for his buildings at Jerusalem. Instead of 
trees there is scarcely anything now but bare rock 
all about us. ' ' 

" What sort of rock is it?" asked Harry. 

" Limestone, most of it. It is a stone which 
is easily worked; so the makers of this road have 
* " Hollow Syria." 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 79 

had little trouble either in building the road or in 
keeping it in repair. There is certainly need of 
keeping it in good order, for we are meeting trav- 
ellers over it all the time. There is another long 
train of covered wagons turning to one side to let 
us pass." 

" Do you suppose the Government owns 
them?" 

"No; they belong to the French company 
that have control of the road." 

"I like to see these lines of camels," said 
Harry, "and the rough-looking men who are 
leading them, and the donkeys with loads as big 
as themselves; but I wonder why almost all of 
them keep to the rough side foot-path instead of 
taking the smooth road. Perhaps it cuts off some 
of the curves, or the road may be too hard and 
smooth for them. I should think that the cam- 
el's big padded feet, that are made for the sand, 
would get sore here. ? 5 

"No; more likely they choose the path be- 
cause they would have to pay toll on the road. 
See those farmers working their bit of soil with 
wooden ploughs and teams of black buffaloes; 
and beyond them there is a group of Bedouins, 
with black tents, and flocks of black, long-eared 
goats and sheep." 

Up, up, up they climbed, slowly, through con- 



80 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

stantly varying scenes, with sometimes wild and 
sometimes beautiful pictures close at hand; while 
far behind these were views of the plain and of 
Beirut and of the sea. Up and up for hours, un- 
til at last towards noon the highest part of the 
pass was reached. 

Then they crossed to the steep eastern side, 
and the rapid descent began towards the great 
plain and the Anti-Lebanon range beyond. 

" Cousin Will," said Harry, "I don't like 
this kind of driving: six horses on the gallop 
down these hills and around these curves !" 

" Neither do I like it. But the driver and 
horses are used to it, and I suppose there is not 
much danger, if only nothing breaks. How dif- 
ferent a view this is from the one on the western 
side ! There is no sea here, only the rich plain, 
seven miles wide, and stretching as far as we can 
see, north and south. Away to the north, farther 
than we can see, lies Baalbec. ' ) 

At the top of a long descent the stage stopped, 
and the guard climbed to the ground. 

"What is the trouble now?" wondered Harry. 

The guard went to each side of the stage and 
loosened from the hooks on which they hung 
two skates — heavy flat pieces of iron. These he 
placed just in front of the rear wheels, so that 
when the stage started the wheels would run on 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 



8l 



them and rest there. The skates were held to 
their places by strong chains. The effect was 
the same as if he had chained the wheels, only 
instead of the wear coming upon the tires, it was 
transferred to the broad skates. 

The horses were started, and with a strain and 
a jolt the wheels came to their place, and the 
steepest part of the descent began. 

But the using of the skates seemed to have no 
effect in lessening the speed. It only relieved 
the pole horses somewhat and saved the guard 
the trouble of holding the brake, which was now 
left wholly and carelessly unwound. 

The road zigzagged down the mountain, doub- 
ling back and forth on itself, with the almost per- 
pendicular precipice now on one side and now on 
the other. 

It was in one of the most dangerous of these 
places that the forward horse on the inside took 
fright and tried to run. But for a horse to do 
that was seemingly nothing unusual in these re- 
gions. The driver took it coolly. The guard 
did not even put on the brake. But they went 
faster and faster, and the other horses were be- 
coming excited. Still the men were perfectly 
cool. Yet the road was narrow, and if a single 
wheel went over the edge the whole would go. 

They would fall at least thirty feet to a ledge that 

6 



82 HARRY'S TRIP TO THK ORIENT. 



might possibly stop them. If it did not, there 
would be no stopping till they were all dead to- 
gether at the foot of the precipice. Still they 
rushed along unconcernedly, and no doubt all 
would have gone well, and the horse soon have 
tired itself out or been controlled; but suddenly 
the rein that held the leaders broke. The three 
horses were wholly loose, and the most badly 
frightened one was pressing the others towards 
the edge. 

That ended the unconcern of the men. The 
frightened driver shouted to wind the brake, and 
tugged with all his might on the pole horses. 
The guard sprang to the loosened brake, though 
it seemed hardly possible that it would hold 
against the three horses even if he could wind it 
in time. The swaying of the stage hindered him. 
It almost pitched him from his hold. But it was 
his and their only hope now. Just ahead was an- 
other zigzag; they could never pass it at the rate 
they were going. He was desperate. Would the 
brake hold when it was wound? Now it was 
wound. He strained at it with all his might; he 
almost lost his hold again with fear, for it would 
not grip ! The wheels were whirling on as fast as 
before. 

Then Will leaned forward, and seizing the 
brake, and bracing himself, with all his strength 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 



83 



wrenched it a foot farther. Slower, slower; an- 
other wrench, hardly more than an inch this 
time; slower. It was enough; the horses felt the 
strain; it held them; they began plunging. 

"Down, down to their heads!" the driver 
shouted to the guard. 

He sprang in among them, for he was a brave 
fellow. A passenger followed him out of the 
window. The danger was over; but when those 
panting, trembling horses stopped there was no 
more than a foot between them all and death, 
over the precipice. 

Harry breathed again. 

Presently Will said, U I have been in many 
dangerous places, but, as far as I know, that was 
the narrowest escape with my life I ever had. If 
the stage had gone over there would have been 
no escape for us; we were in the worst place pos- 
sible, on the covered top. The others might have 
jumped. Think how your mother will thank 
God, Harry; and so may we that it is no worse." 

The harness was repaired, and in a few min- 
utes they were on their way again. But after the 
very next change of horses they had trouble again, 
though of a different sort. This time it was with 
a kicking horse. The risk was not nearly as great 
as before, though, with the style of road they were 
on, they were by no means safe. 



8 4 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



"The wisest thing for us to do," said Will, 
"is to find seats nearer the ground; at any rate 
until we change horses again. ' ' 

The stage had come to a stand-still, with the 
wild horse partly in and partly out of his harness, 
and plunging dangerously. • Several times he 
threw himself. Again and arain he tangled him- 

o o o 

self in the traces. Once they had to cut a trace. 

Some of the passengers insisted on walking 
ahead, But that made the matter worse, for 
when thev were overtaken, and the stao;e had 
stopped to pick them up, the same programme 
had to be repeated before they could start again. 

At last the driver found there was but one 
thing to do. He took the heavy raw-hide whip, 
and, as the guard let go the horses' heads and 
sprang back to his place, he used it over and over 
with all his strength on the frightened horse. 

o o 

The horse forgot to kick, and started with the 
others on the run. But they were soon controlled. 
Each time they started the process was repeated 
successfully. 

At last they reached the foot of the mountain 
in safety. A little farther on over a straight 
road, and they came to the half-way station — the 
noon halting place — at Sthorer. 

" On our way back from Damascus," said 
Will, "we shall leave the diligence at this sta- 



BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS. 



85 



tion, and strike off towards the north to Baalbec. 
I will try and arrange now for a guide and horses 
to be ready for us. ' ' 

The bargain was made with the station-master. 
He promised to furnish the horses, and go with 
them as guide. At one o'clock the stage was 
ready. They took their places again. 

For seven miles across the plain the road w T as 
straight as an arrow. The horses were put to the 
gallop. They crossed the river Litany. They 
rolled on past farmers at work on their rich land, 
past shepherds, past travellers on foot and on 
horseback, with donkeys and with camels. They 
reached the Anti-Lebanon range. 

The ascent here was much more gradual, and 
the scenery less grand, than on the Lebanon range. 
Very soon they had left all the greenness and fer- 
tility behind them. All the afternoon they rode. 
The roads were very dry. Their clothes were 
covered with the white dust. It was hot and 
close. They were shut in by bare white hills. 

Late in the day suddenly, close before them 
at a turn in- the valley, appeared a strip of the 
richest green against the white sand, trees of 
many sorts, vines, bushes, grass; all crowded to- 
gether in one mass of greenness. They swept into 
it, and it seemed at once as though they were in 
another land, as though the legends of the East 



86 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



were realities, and there were in truth Aladdin's 
lamp, and the wonder-working genii, who had 
transferred them in a flash from one world to an- 
other, the change was so sudden and so complete. 
They had reached the valley of the Abana, and 
were already in the suburbs of Damascus. 

"This is beautiful beyond anything I had 
anticipated, " said Will; " trees arching the road 
with their branches, the sight and the sound of 
the rushing river, bits of green meadow wher- 
ever the trees give room for them, with the grass 
set thick with fiery red poppies; it is beautiful in 
the extreme, in contrast with what we have been 
riding through to reach it. And see these larger 
openings where the water is stiller, and where the 
banks and wider meadows are covered with 
groups of brightly dressed men and women, and 
grazing horses and camels, with domes and white 
minarets in the distance showing- against the sky. 
It is like the old pictures we see of the ( lands of 
the blessed 1 and the 1 Happy Isles,' only here 
none of the customary angels are just now in 
sight." 

At six o'clock they reached the diligence sta- 
tion. They found their way to the one good 
hotel of the city. Their long day's ride was 
ended. They were in Damascus. 



DAMASCUS. 



87 



CHAPTER XII. 

DAMASCUS. 

Harry and Will are sitting under the citron- 
trees by the marble-inclosed fountain in the 
inner court of the hotel, waiting for breakfast. 

u Harry, do you know how old this city of 
Damascus is? n 

41 Thousands of years old, I suppose." 

4 4 No one knows just its age, but it is one of 
the very oldest cities in all the world. I was 
kept half awake a good part of last night by the 
dogs, that seem to be noisier here than they are 
even in Constantinople. I wish I could describe 
the things which I half dreamed and half thought 
about, which tradition and history say happened 
here in that far past time. For one thing, I 
seemed to see two altars on the eastern horizon. 
On the one altar there was an offering of fruits, 
and on the other there w T as a lamb. There were 
two men near by, and soon they were struggling 
together, and the one killed the other, and his 
blood ran down and stained to a bright red all 
the sand. They were Cain and Abel. Cain fled 
away and disappeared in a cave in the moun- 
tain. It seemed like a real picture, instead of only 



88 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

my thought of one of the Mohammedan traditions, 
which accounts in that way for the red color of 
Mount Kasiun, lying just outside of the city 
walls. They say that Abel was slain there, and 
that his blood stains the hill. Therefore they 
call it Kasiun, 'Red Hill.' 

"Then came another picture, of a company of 
travellers moving slowly over the desert, through 
dust and heat such as we suffered from yesterday; 
and coming, as we did, to the shade of trees, and 
to meadows and running waters. They were 
journeying with long trains of camels, and with 
flocks of goats and sheep, and with tents and 
baggage. And when they reached the running 
waters and the green fields of the Abana a pro- 
cession from the city came to meet them. *Then 
there was formal salutation in the Eastern style, 
the chief men embracing each other with their 
heads bowed on each other's shoulders, first on 
one shoulder and then on the other. And when 
they had saluted each other, they passed on and 
out of sight. The leader among the travellers 
was an old man, dark and stately, and of most 
reverend aspect. He was the patriarch Abraham 
who once lived in Damascus, and reigned here as 
king, according to the Mohammedans. They 
consider him one of their greatest prophets. 
They rank him next to Mohammed. 



DAMASCUS. 



8 9 



1 1 Then I saw two armies in line of battle, 
placed against each other and waiting for the 
command to advance. It was not near Damas- 
cus; it was far away on the borders of Canaan, 
that the armies were opposed to each other; but 
one of them, and the one that seemed much the 
more powerful of the two, belonged to Damascus. 
The other was the army of the Israelites. The 
battle was joined, and the Israelites were victori- 
ous. Then I saw that great Damascus became 
tributary for a while to King David. 

4 ' After that there appeared another company 
approaching the city walls. Among them was 
Mohammed. Presently he withdrew from the oth- 
ers, and took his stand on the crest of the moun- 
tain where it overlooks the whole beautiful city 
and plain. As he stood there and saw the won- 
derful beauty before him, he exclaimed, 'A man 
can enter Paradise but once; I prefer to wait and 
enter the Paradise above. ' Then he turned down 
the mountain and rode away from Damascus 
towards the desert." 

" What mountain was that?" asked Harry. 

1 1 Mount Kasiun again. The view from it is 
one of the most wonderful in the world. We will 
get donkeys and ride there ourselves after break- 
fast. 

"And the next thing I saw was a group of 



90 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

horsemen on the road from Jerusalem. They 
were all Jews and with stern, dark faces. They 
were drawing near to the walls of the city. 
Suddenly a most brilliant light flashed about 
them, and one of the men fell to the ground. It 
was Saul of Tarsus, and there was wonder and 
confusion among them all. After a time the 
fallen man arose, but he could not walk by him- 
self. He seemed to be blind. The others took 
him by the hand and led him towards the city. 
And they entered the gate and came to a long 
and crowded street. No one took much notice 
of them. They went on until they reached the 
house they sought. The entrance w T as only a 
narrow doorway in a high, windowless wall. 
They knocked. The door was opened and they 
disappeared within. * 

"And after that the only thing I saw was a 
very long procession. And it was composed of 
all the rulers who have governed in Damascus 
ever since it began to be a city. They wore 
jewelled crowns, and carried sceptres, and dressed 
in brilliantly colored robes, and moved so swiftly 
that it was like a line of light. A good part of 
all the nationalities of the Old World were there, 
and the last of the line were Turks. 

" The do°;s must have lessened their howling 
* Acts 9 :3-25. 



DAMASCUS. 



91 



about that time. I went sound asleep and slept 
till daylight." 

After breakfast Will and Harry went with 
donkeys and a guide to the summit of Mount 
Kasiun. Near the top they dismounted, and 
climbing a little higher, stood at the highest 
point, beside a small arched and domed building 
of stone and stucco. They could look down a 
thousand feet, and far, far off over green Damas- 
cus to the line of yellow desert that showed dimly 
beyond. At their right was a wild gorge, with 
the new Beirut road showing like a white thread 
at the bottom of it. Behind them and on both 
sides were bare mountains, excepting on the ex- 
treme right, where Mount Hermon towered, not 
bare, but covered with snow. In the foreground, 
between them and the city, with its domes and 
minarets and white houses among green trees, 
were clusters of round-topped stone mills and a 
treeless cemetery, and reaches of sand and hedges 
of cactus. 

The city itself and its orchards lay like an 
island in the midst of an ocean of sand which was 
shoreless north, south, and east, as far as the eye 
could reach into the hazy, golden -tinged dis- 
tance. 

u And this, Harry, is the world-renowned view 
of Damascus! I am not disappointed in it." 



92 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



"I suppose it was here," said Harry, c 1 that 
Mohammed stood when he compared Damascus 
with Paradise." 

" Yes, this vaulted monument is on the spot 
where tradition says he stood at the time." 

They descended and reentered the city. They 
roamed where they would through its narrow 
streets. They found the street called " Straight" 
by the guides for the benefit of travellers (but 
among themselves it is the " Street of Bazaars"). 
The " house of Judas" was shown them, and the 
u house of Ananias." 

" Do you think we can trust much to these 
traditions of places?" asked Harry. 

1 1 Not at all to some of them. Others may be 
correct. I think that the best way in all our 
Syrian travel will be to think, 'Just here, or else 
in places close by with like surroundings, such 
and such things occurred. 1 To try and determine 
with exactness disputed localities would often 
take time that might be used to much better ad- 
vantage in other ways. For example, we are 
outside now of the city, and there, by that walled- 
up gateway, was the place, the guide tells us, 
where Paul escaped when his friends lowered him 
at night in a basket from the top of the wall, 
helped (according to the guide) by Joseph the 
gate-keeper, who was martyred not long after for 



DAMASCUS. 93 

his part in the escape.* It may be the very place; 
but whether it is or not, certainly there, just be- 
yond, is something that makes the event seem 
very real and near. Do you see that . little house 
on the top of the wall ? If there was a fugitive 
inside the city to-day, and his enemies were watch- 
ing the gates to seize him, if only he had friends 
in that house it would be the easiest thing in the 
world, when night came, for them to lower him 
from the latticed window just at the edge of the 
wall, and send him away safe to the desert. " 

"I should think smuggling would have been 
easy in those times," said Harry. 

u Yes, excepting when they had watchmen 
on the walls and patrols outside. But even those, 
it is likely, could often be evaded. You know 
that much the same thing happened at Jericho 
when the spies of Joshua were almost captured 
inside the walls. They could not escape by the 
gates; but Rahab's house, where they were in 
hiding, was built just as that one is, on the wall. 
She let them down by a rope through the win- 
dow, and then told them to flee away to the moun- 
tain lest the pursuers should overtake them, and 
to hide there three days until their enemies had 
returned. Then they could safely go their way 
to the camp of the Israelites, f 

* Acts 9 : 25 ; 2 Cor. 11 : 33. f Josh. 2 : 15, 16. 



94 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" Now we must ride away from the walls over 
this wide and level road, with a few houses here 
and there, and trees and inclosed gardens. Not 
far off, the guide says, we shall come to the place 
where Saul was converted." 

Presently they reached the place. It was a 
green spot at the side of the road a few square 
yards in area. The roadway was curved to one 
side, as though to avoid desecrating the holy 
place, and had been worn away many inches be- 
low its grassy level during the years that had 
passed since the time of the miracle, or of the 
tradition which located here the miracle of the 
conversion. 

14 To-day, n said Harry, "it really seems as 
though we were in Bible lands." 

They visited the different quarters of the city — 
the Jews' quarter, the Mohammedan quarter, 
where the house-windows are all shut in with 
lattice-work, and where only veiled women are 
seen in the streets, and the Christian quarter, 
where there was a terrible massacre no longer 
ago than i860. 

They visited the Grand Mosque, which is to 
Damascus what St. Sophia is to Constantinople 
and St. Peter's to Rome, and the bazaars, that 
are like long covered streets, each street given to 
its special trade or work. 



DAMASCUS. 95 

At one place in these covered bazaars they 
turned through a narrow doorway, then up a 
rough flight of stairs that belonged to a private 
house, through another door, and so out to the 
roof of the house and bazaar. It was the only 
way they could reach what seemed to them the 
most interesting relic in Damascus — a fragment 
of an old ruin, the so-called u Triumphal Arch." 
The great cross stones were most carefully laid, 
and they and the capitals of the supporting col- 
umns were beautifully and richly carved. The 
columns themselves could not be seen. 

u They must be very, very old, " said Harry, 
c i because parts are so worn, and because of the 
surroundings. ' ' 

" There is another reason. It was built before 
the arch was used as commonly in architecture as 
it is now. The columns, you see, were so placed 
that the long stones of the roof could be laid flat 
from one to the other. The only approach to the 
shape of an arch is here, where these two stones 
are set against each other, end to end, like the 
sides of a triangle, 

" It is no 1 triumphal arch,' but maybe a frag- 
ment left from some great temple; and a wonder- 
ful temple it must have been, if the whole was 
on a scale to compare with the part." 



9 6 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A TURKISH BATH. 

" Harry," asked Cousin Will, "how would 
you like to take a genuine Turkish bath to-day ? 
There is no better place in all the East for it than 
Damascus. n 

"I'm rather afraid to try one," answered 
Harry. 

Will laughed. "Why?" 

"I'm afraid the washermen would soak me 
and rub me too much, as they do their own peo- 
ple, who are used to it." 

"It isn't as hard as you think; but I will 
teach you words enough, so you can stop them 
and explain if they get to kneading you too ac- 
tively." 

They went to one of the 'finest of the many 
bathing establishments of the city. Entering, 
they found the inner room floored with marble 
mosaics. In the centre of it was a large fountain 
of running water. Around the sides, and reached 
by steps, were carpeted alcoves; and against the 
three sides of these alcoves lounges were arranged, 
covered with rugs and pillows. 



A TURKISH BATH. 97 

Harry and Will were conducted to one of the 
alcoves. When they had disrobed behind screens 
of towels held by attendants, they were wrapped 
from head to foot in towels that were large enough 
for sheets. Then two muscular, scantily-clothed 
bathmen took charge of them, and led them from 
the room. 

An hour later, when they met in the alcove 
again, Harry told Will what his experience had 
been. 

u My big Turk proved to be a good-natured 
fellow. He seemed quite to enjoy steaming and 
sousing and scrubbing me. We went out of this 
room slowly through several smaller ones, and 
through narrow passage-ways. All of them were 
of stone, and each was hotter than the one before 
it. The man had given me a pair of wooden 
clogs to walk with. I thought they were to keep 
my feet off the wet marble, or perhaps to keep 
me from slipping. They were so clumsy and it 
was so hard walking I slipped them off, or rather, 
I stopped trying to keep them on, and they slipped 
off of themselves. But the stone floor was piping 
hot from a fire underneath. I was glad enough 
to get on to the clogs again. 

" By-and-by I was set down on a stone seat by 
the wall and left there. The bathman went off, 
I did n't know where. There was no light in the 

Harry's Trip. >J 



9S HARRY'S TRIP TO THa ORIENT. 



stone room excepting what came through narrow 
slits in the ceiling. It would have made a fine 
dungeon. It was not solitary confinement, though ; 
there was another criminal there, looking as for- 
lorn as I suppose I looked, wrapped in white 
towels and set on a stone. But I did not feel for- 
lorn. It was jolly. 

"All this time I was as warm as toast. The 
air was hot, but the place was so full of moisture 
that it was a pleasant heat. The floors and walls 
were dripping wet, and there were noisy foun- 
tains all about of cold and hot water. Before 
long I was all in a sweat. It was what the man 
was waiting for. He came back and felt of me, 
and then took me off into a corner and set me 
down again, this time on the floor, close by one 
of the stone basins. He squatted, more gracefully 
than I could, cross-legged beside me. I had sup- 
posed that somewhere I would be soused into the 
hot water; but instead, he dipped out the water 
and soused it by the bucketful over and over me. 
Then he soaped me all over, and then he rinsed 
me. By that time my skin was in the right con- 
dition; so he put on a rough sort of mitten, and 
began scrubbing me, turning me over and over on 
the marble floor to make thorough work of it. 
When he was satisfied he poured more water over 
me, wrapped me in dry towels, and brought me 



A TURKISH BATH. 99 

out. Here I am. I wonder if they are through 
with me?" 

"Yes," said Will, "you have nothing to do 
now but to lie back among the pillows and enjoy 
as long as you choose the after-pleasantness of a 
Turkish bath. Dream a while. It will be easy 
to do it whether you go sound asleep or not. 
Then you can dress, drink if you like the little 
cup of black coffee they will bring you, and go 
your way with me out into the heat and noise of 
the streets again. ' ' 

" Cousin Will, I think a Turkish bath is one 
of the very nicest things in the world. ' ' 

" So it is, when it is taken in Damascus." 



IOO HARRY'S TRIP TO TH£ ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DAMASCUS TO BAALBEC. 

"To-day," said Will, "we must leave all 
this great beauty, this rushing water and these 
fountains and gardens and covered streets crowd- 
ed with life and color. It is a pleasant picture to 
have for our very own all our lives long. I think 
we must send Nellie a bit of it. You remember 
how bright and musical the water was the day we 
went up Mount Kasiun. We will send her this: 

THE WATER-FALL. 

Your tones are silvery sweet 
Where foam and wavelet meet 
With ceaseless beat. 

You touch the rocky keys ; 
Far through the aisles of trees 
The music flees ; 

It ever flows as low 
As softest breezes go 
With cadence slow ; 

As softly ebbs and swells 
As though in distant dells 
Rang chimes of bells. 

' God's temple of the hills 
Is here. Fit music fills 
It from your rills. 



DAMASCUS TO BAAl,BIJC. 



IOI 



But there are more pictures elsewhere for us to 
find, some delicate and some rugged. The next 
one is at Baalbec. If we can get seats in the 
night post to Sthorer, we can breakfast there and 
reach Baalbec to-morrow noon. ' ' 

But when they came to the office they found 
that all the seats by the night stage had been 
taken. They engaged places instead for the next 
morning. And when the next morning came they 
said good-by to Damascus. By noon they had 
safely retraced their route over the Anti-L,ebanon 
range to Sthorer. There they found Andrea, the 
station-keeper, ready with saddled horses to guide 
them to Baalbec. 

Will and Harry were quietly eating their din- 
ner before starting, when a man, a stranger, ap- 
peared at the door of the room. The minute An- 
drea saw him he sprang up and rushed at him, 
and seizing him by the throat tried to force him 
away from the house. The two were separated; 
but after a minute the hubbub began again. A 
crowd gathered, shouting and excited. An Arab 
darted off, and came running back with his gun. 
Andrea got his gun. It looked very much as 
though there was to be a general fight. Will and 
Harry recognized the fact then that they were in 
lawless regions. They expected every instant to 
hear shots; and if the firing once began among 



102 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

such a crowd of wild-looking fellows there was 
no knowing how or when it would end. But 
gradually the confusion subsided. Andrea came 
back, sullen and fierce. The crowd dispersed. 

They thought they had engaged rather a rough 
specimen for their guide. He tried to tell them, 
in the little English he knew, what the trouble 
was all about. It proved to be about themselves. 
The man who had come to the door wanted to 
bargain with them to be their guide to Baalbec. 
Andrea did not want the bargain already made 
with himself to be interfered with, and he took 
the means he deemed best to prevent it. 

After dinner they mounted and rode away to- 
wards the north, up the valley, with the Lebanon 
range, grand and beautiful, on the left, and the 
lower Anti-Lebanon range on the right. Most of 
their way at first was through villages and over 
cultivated ground and pasture-land. 

When they had made half the distance they 
passed a large khan for the accommodation of 
travellers and shepherds. Many flocks of sheep 
and goats were grazing near by, and camels and 
horses. Men were sitting about, most of them 
heavily armed, sipping from their little cups of 
black coffee, and resting in the shade. Beyond 
that the way was wilder and lonelier. All the 
afternoon they rode. 



DAMASCUS TO BAALBKC. 103 

"Don't you think we ought to see the ruins 
from that ridge ahead ?" asked Harry. 

"Yes," answered Will; "it is getting late, 
and the guide says we can see them for an hour 
before we reach the village. ' ' 

But it was only after they had passed that 
ridge and several besides that at last they saw, far 
ahead, the trees and houses and ruins of Baalbec. 
They stopped their horses and stood for a while, 
looking and thinking, while the sun sank low to- 
wards the tops of Lebanon. 

Presently Harry spoke. " Cousin Will, I am 
disappointed. 5 ' 

" So am I to some extent. The ruins are not 
nearly as imposing from this distance as I sup- 
posed they would be. But we are a long way off. 
Wait until we are among them. I imagine it 
will be very different then." 

They rode rapidly forward again. On their 
left were the remains of a small ruined temple — 
only a few stone columns that had been taken 
from the greatly older and vaster ruins beyond. 
They were left standing now, in a small circle, 
with heavy cross-stones for the roof, some of 
them still in place and some fallen to the ground. 

"It is nothing," said Andrea, as Harry ques- 
tioned him; "nothing at all but only one little 
speck compared with what you shall see." 



104 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Bright little Syrian children from the village, 
who were playing there, watched the travellers 
curiously as they turned from the path and rode 
around the ruin. Farther on there were more 
children. They formed in line at the side of the 
path, and as Will and Harry passed saluted them 
with cries of " Good morning, good morning !" 
hoping for gifts of backsheesh in return, and igno- 
rant of the difference in English between u good 
morning ' 1 and ' 1 good evening. ' ' 

Just before entering the town the guide asked 
if they wished to stop there and visit the quarries 
from which most of the stone for the temples had 
been taken. 

V Is it far away?" asked Will. 

"No; only a minute. " 

{ ( Then we will go now. ' ' 

And to Harry Will said, "We shall find in 
this quarry something that has always greatly in- 
terested me — one of the largest hewn stones in 
the world. It is cut and squared and finished to 
a line, nearly ready to be taken away and placed 
in the temple wall. It measures sixty-nine feet 
in length, seventeen in height, and fourteen in 
width." 

They found the quarry only a few rods distant 
from the main path, over the slope of a rough 
hill; and there in the middle of it, with lesser 



DAMASCUS TO BAALBEC. 105 

giants all about, lay the one great giant of which 
they had been speaking. They rode to the side 
of it, and it towered high above them as they sat 
on their horses. They walked around it. Harry 
dismounted and clambered to its top. 

i 1 It seems as though I was on top of a flat- 
roofed house," he shouted down, "if only the 
stone was hollowed out and windows and doors 
cut in it. ' ' 

"Men who were able to shape it and move it 
might have done that if they had liked," an- 
swered Will. 

" Who were those men?" 

' 1 Come down from your perch and I will tell 
you about them." 

Harry clambered down, and they rode on to- 
wards the town. 

"No one knows certainly who the first build- 
ers were of the temples of Baalbec," said Will. 
" Some think that Baalbec is the same as the Bi- 
ble 4 Baal-gad,'* and that these stones w T ere cut 
and laid by king Solomon. We know, from the 
foundations of the temple area at Jerusalem, that 
the Jews understood such work. All the Moham- 
medan traditions point to some 'Suleiman,' and 
apparently to him as the builder. The oldest 
parts of the ruins are certainly as old as those 
* Josh. 11:17; 13:5- 



io6 harry's trip to the orient. 



times, and they may be much older. * But all 
periods are represented in Baalbec. The ruins of 
the oldest temples were used for newer ones, and 
the ruins of those in turn for newer still, over and 
over, down almost to present times. Very likely 
parts of the Temple of the Sun or of Jupiter are in 
the rouodi walls of the little native houses that we 
have been passing; and pieces of the slenderer 
columns are just the thing for rollers, such as we 
have noticed on the roofs, for smoothing and 
hardening their clav covering." 

" Did all the stone for the temples come first 
from those quarries?" asked Harry. 

11 Most of it. The foundations and the walls 
and the greater part of the columns are of the 
same dull-white limestone. But many of the col- 
umns were of the hardest kind of granite, most 
beautifully polished and carved. There are frag- 
ments of them now all about the ruins. Those 
must have been brought from Egypt. There is 
nothing of the sort nearer. I once compared two 
bits of stone, one from the Temple of the Sphinx 
in Egypt, and the other from these ruins. They 
were exactly alike. 5 ' 

1 1 It must have been hard work bringing the 
columns so far, n said Harry. 

* But probably the weight of authority would make Baal- 
bec a different place from " Baal-gad," and located farther 
south. 



DAMASCUS TO BAAI^BEC. 107 

4 ' Yes. We do not know how it was done. 5 ' 

"I don't wonder that they got discouraged 
with that great fellow in the quarry, and had to 
leave it there." 

u Oh, no; that was not the reason for leaving 
it. They were able to move it if they had cared 
to. We shall find other single stones just about 
as large in one of the foundation walls. ' ' 

After five hours of riding from Sthorer they 
passed through a high gateway into a neat white- 
washed inclosure and to the door of the khan 
where they were to lodge. They were glad to 
dismount. It had been a hard ride. 



Io8 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XV. 

RETURN TO BEIRUT. 

1 1 1 want my first near view of these fa- 
mous ruins of Baalbec to be by starlight, n said 
Will. "It is too late any way to explore them 
thoroughly before to-morrow; so we will rest a 
while and have dinner, and then go out and find 
them in the dark. ' 1 

Two hours later, when it was wholly dark, 
excepting for the brilliant starlight, Will and 
Harry were in the midst of the ruins. They were 
standing alone below the six lonelv columns of 
the " Great Temple. " Looking far up towards 
the sky they could see there the overhanging en- 
tablature and the outline of the rich Corinthian 
capitals, dark against the stars, with the graceful 
columns underneath. 

Said Will, "We were disappointed in the first 
view. This is all that I looked for, and more. 
Nothing of the kind could well be more impres- 
sive. 1 1 

"It was a heathen temple once," said Harry; 
"but it seems now as though it was a temple of 
God." 



RETURN TO BEIRUT. 109 

"Yes," answered Will; u in its ruin it is 
God's temple; and it seems to me to-night as 
though God was in his temple. ' ' 

The whole of the next morning was spent in 
the town and among the ruins. 

" I had no idea there was so much of a village 
here," said Harry. "In fact, I thought there was 
not much but ruins. ' ' 

" Andrea says there are 3,500 inhabitants, but 
there cannot be nearly as many as that. Yet 
, once Baalbec was as busy and prosperous as Da- 
mascus is now. ' ' 

They found remains of churches and temples 
in different parts of the town, but the most inter- 
esting ones were grouped together around the 
place they had visited the evening before; and of 
those the most imposing were the Temple of Ju- 
piter and the Temple of the Sun. 

The view they had by daylight did not lessen 
the impression of the night. They explored a 
series of massive subterranean Roman vaults, and 
an Arabic temple lighted, like the Pantheon at 
Rome, through an opening in the centre of the 
dome. All about were huge, fallen columns — 
many of which had been thrown down by the 
Arabs simply for the sake of the metal that was 
used in fastening the parts together — and Corin- 
thian capitals, and pieces of highly ornamented 



IIO HARRY'S TRIP TO THE} ORIENT. 

entablature and roofing. And there they found 
again, no more imposing in the daylight, but 
more beautiful, the six wonderful columns of the 
once wonderful " Great Temple. " The pedes- 
tals of these columns, in single pieces, were 
about even with Will's head as he stood beside 
them. The circumference of the shafts is 22 
feet. Each shaft, in but three pieces, is 62 feet 
in length, and the whole height of each, with 
capital and entablature, is 76 feet. There are but 
six columns standing now. Once there were 54, 
supporting the roof of a temple 290 feet long and 
160 feet wide. 

A few rods away is another temple, smaller 
than the first, but in much better preserva- 
tion, and showing more rich Corinthian decora- 
tion. 

And then the foundation for these immense 
superstructures, a vast platform 50 feet high ! 
All of the stones in them are huge; some are like 
the giant they had seen in the quarry. They 
found the place where three of the largest are set 
end to end in the face of the wall. 

"Why, Cousin Will," said Harry, "I thought 
you said these stones were a little smaller than 
the one in the quarry." 

"So I did," answered Will. "These are 
about 13 feet wide and high and 63 feet long." 



RETURN TO BEIRUT. m 

" Why, we have certainly walked much more 
than 63 feet from where this one commenced. " 

u But you have passed the end of the first 
stone. You are opposite the second one now." 

"Am I? And yet I thought I was looking 
carefully all the time to see where they came to- 
gether. ' ' 

V We will go back and find the place; for one 
of the strange things here is, not merely how 
they could quarry such stones, but how, when 
they had them quarried and shaped, they could 
place them so exactly in position." 

4 4 Here is the place where they meet. No 
wonder I overlooked it." 

u No wonder at all. Just think: after all 
these centuries, and after at least one great earth- 
quake, there is no room between them even to 
slip in the blade of my knife !" 

At two o'clock they mounted for their return 
to Sthorer. The people of the khan were gath- 
ered about to receive their backsheesh and to see 
them off. They rode out through the arched 
gateway, and, turning to the south, retraced the 
route of the previous day. Sometimes they 
walked their horses; sometimes they rode at a 
gallop. Once, when they drew rein, Will 
asked, 

" Harry, why were you riding back there with 



112 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



your teeth clenched as though you were charging 
a battery ?" 

"Was I ? I did n't know it. But going over 
loose stones like these on the run isn't much like 
our home riding." 

"The horses are trained to it. But if we do 
anv more horseback-riding in Syria we will have 
the native saddle, with high pummel and cantel 
and with covered wooden stirrups. I meant to 
have had them this time. They are more like 
what our Western riders at home use, and I like 
them better for rough work than these low Eng- 
lish saddles and iron stirrups. ' ' 

At seven they were back safely at Sthorer. 
There they were glad to find two young Ameri- 
cans travelling with horses to Beirut. The greet- 
ings on both sides were cordial and the talk ear- 
nest for the little time thev had together. The 
strangers were planning to leave the East by the 
next steamer from Beirut. 

"Are the horses you have good ones ?" asked 
Will. 

"Yes, first rate; the best we could find in 
Jerusalem." 

"And they and your man belong in Jerusa- 
lem and will have to go back there?" 

"Yes." 

"I believe that here is just the chance that 



RETURN TO BEIRTJT. 



"3 



Harry and I want. If we can make a bargain 
with your man, we will take him and his horses 
and go by land to Jerusalem instead of by steamer 
to Jaffa. We will travel without tents, stopping 
nights where we can along the way — at the hospi- 
ces, with the Arabs, wherever we happen to be." 

4 1 You could not do better. There is no other 
way you could be as independent and gain as good 
an idea of the country and the people. Where 
shall you be to-morrow in Beirut?" 

" At the Hotel Oriental." 

" We will find you there." 

Will and Harry were to start at midnight. 
They went to their rooms for a short sleep before 
the arrival of the post. The others would follow 
on horseback early in the morning. 

The next day in Beirut the proposed arrange- 
ment was carried out. By night Will and Harry 
were ready, with four horses engaged and two 
men, for the journey to Jerusalem. Their route 
was to be south along the coast as far as Mount 
Carmel, then inland to the Sea of Galilee, and 
then south again, across the plain of Esdraelon, 
through Samaria, to Jerusalem. 

A written agreement had been made with the 
men, defining each day's route and arranging for 
the details of the journey. They were to start 
the next day. 

Harry's Trip. 3 



ii4 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



Said Will, as he and Harry sat that evening 
in their room, 

1 1 It seems to me that that meeting with Davis 
and Norris at Sthorer was an exceedingly provi- 
dential thing. Excepting for it we would have 
been on our way now by to-day's steamer to Jaffa; 
but, instead, we have arranged exactly the plan 
w T hich I would have chosen in preference to any 
other. » 



BEIRUT TO THE DAMUR. 



115 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BEIRUT TO THE DAMUR. 

ThERE is a knock at the door. 
"Come in." 

Elias, entering respectfully , 4 c It is six o'clock, 
sir." 

( 1 Are the horses ready ?' 1 

u Yes, sir, they are at the door with Hassan.' y 

11 Come, Harry. Our men are prompt." 

The party that filed through the streets of Bei- 
rut on that pleasant May morning was by no 
means as large as "a caravan to Mecca." Be- 
sides William and Harry there was " Abraham 
Elias," engaged as "servant, guide, and interpre- 
ter. 1 ' He was a Syrian from the Lebanon, but had 
picked up a few English words and manners in 
serving at the hotels and as guide. He wore 
1 ' Frank clothes, ' ' excepting the head-dress. That 
was native, a large silk handkerchief of bright 
colors, falling back over the neck and shoulders 
to protect them from the sun, and held in place 
by a knotted cord around the forehead. He car- 
ried a large horse pistol, was dark, with a fiercely 
curled moustache, black eyes, and black hair. 



Il6 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

But in spite of his fine looks, it took only a short 
time to prove him either stupid or rascally, it was 
hard telling which. Most likely there was a 
combination of both qualities. He knew much 
less of English than an interpreter ought to know, 
was very careless; but was a fair guide, and ap- 
parently honest in money matters, w T hich latter 
fact he appeared to pride himself in as something 
unusual. 

" Hassan" w r as the "muktari," in charge of 
the horses and baggage. He was wholly native, 
picturesque, tough, good-natured, a Mohamme- 
dan. His dress a white turban wound about a 
crimson "fes," a loose blue jacket, red vest, sash, 
white baggy trousers to the knee, bare shins, red 
pointed, turned-up shoes. He was armed with a 
long gun, and generally rode perched on top of 
the load carried by the stout baggage horse. The 
baggage consisted only of two small boxes, shawls 
and blankets, and a reserve supply of needed 
provisions. Will was mounted on a stout gray 
horse. Harry rode a smaller bay. In leaving 
the city the 1 ( caravan ' 1 took the road leading 
south towards Sidon, nine hours distant — about 
twenty-seven miles. At first the way was over 
great hills of drifted sand, like drifted snow. Yet 
the sand-hills lay a full mile back from the sea. 
It was like a small desert. 



BEIRUT TO THE DAMUR. I17 

" Where does it all come from?" asked Harry. 
"It seems out of place here, so near the city and 
the mountains, and with everything fertile and 
green and beautiful close up to it. ' > 

" It came last from the sea," answered Will, 
" drifted inland by the strong southerly winds; 
but where the sea found it is uncertain. Some 
think the currents brought it all the way from 
the African shore; others, that it came from the 
mouth of the Nile; others, from the wash of the 
rivers along the Syrian coast. It is certainly a 
far traveller; and as certainly it is an unwel- 
come one. Wherever it came from, it is doing 
immense damage here. It has changed all this 
region from rich fields into a desert." 

Soon they w r ere on the seashore, riding close 
by the waves that broke musically over the peb- 
bles, or in other places more roughly and with 
deeper music against ledges of seaweed-covered 
rocks. During most of the day the course was 
the same, close by the waves on the sandy beach, 
but sometimes above the water over rough, stony, 
cliffs and bold headlands. 

They were about an hour south of Beirfit 
when Harry remarked, 

" What lots of travellers there are here— men 
and women and children, with donkeys and horses 
and camels, rich and poor, crowds of them !" 



Il8 HARRY" S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



"It must be unusual," said Will. "Elias, 
where are all these people flocking?" 

1 4 To see a prophet, sir. Most of them to get 
cured, sir." 

"Where is the prophet?" 

"He has a hut on the shore, sir, about an 
hour from here. We shall pass it. ' y 

"Who is he? What does he say about him- 
self?" 

"He had been sick many years. Then he 
had a vision. It was about a month ago. An 
angel came and told him if he would go to the 
sea and bathe and eat certain kinds of food, in a 
month he would be well. The time now is more 
than half gone, sir, and the prophet is almost 
cured, and he has himself cured many people just 
by touching them. So now all who can are 
flocking to see him. Some of them come a very 
long way, sir. ' 1 

"It would be a blessed thing for this people," 
said Will to Harry, "if they were as ready to 
believe in the true revelation from God as they 
are in these false revelations. It makes me think 
of the Saviour's prediction, that many false 
prophets would arise after him, who would de- 
ceive many."* 

Riding on, they soon reached the hut of the 
* Matt. 24 : ii. 



BEIRUT TO THE DA.MUR. 119 

prophet, with crowds gathered about it over the 
sand in a sheltered part of the shore. They 
stopped their horses to watch the picturesque 
groups. But they did not dismount. In a few 
minutes they rode on again towards the river 
Damur and their noon camping-ground. 

" Cousin Will,, there is another of those khans. 
We have seen so many of them without stopping, 
suppose we stop at this and find what they are 
like inside." 

u Yes. We will stop and rest a while here." 

They dismounted and gave their horses to 
Elias. The khan was a low, one-story structure 
built of rough stone, with a porch on the shady 
side raised a few inches from the ground. With- 
in were two or three dark, dismal rooms. 

"I wouldn't want to sleep in there," said 
Harry. " It 's dreadfully dark and dirty, and be- 
sides I dare say it swarms with fleas. ' ' 

' ' There is no doubt of that, 5 ' said Will. " But 
you may have to sleep in worse places before the 
trip is over. It is hardly likely though." 

The owner of the khan spread straw mats on 
the floor of the shady porch. They lay down and 
rested, with their shawls for pillows, while the 
man went away to prepare their cups of coffee 
over a brazier full of coals in one of the dark 
rooms. 



120 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



Soon the coffee was brought, black and thick, 
in tiny china cups holding about two table-spoon- 
fuls each. They sipped it slowly, while Elias 
near by puffed contentedly at a nargileh. 

1 { Bring the horses, Elias. 5 ' 

" Yes, sir." 

They mounted, and rode again towards the 
Damur. As they crossed a very rocky strip pf 
shore, where the reefs reached out into the sea, 
making foam and currents and eddies, they saw 
a man wading in the water. He was carrying 
something in his hand, Harry could not make 
out what. 

"See how carefully he moves, as though he 
was afraid of slipping, or, more likely, of fright- 
ening something. Maybe he is crabbing," said 
Harry. 

Suddenly the man swung his arm and threw 
off over the water what he had been holding. He 
threw it with a whirling motion that made it 
spread gracefully before it fell, and showed it to 
be a large circular net. He was a fisherman. 
Again and again he threw the net, but seemingly 
with poor success, until they were out of sight. 

"This was always a noted coast for fisheries," 
said Will. " No doubt, away back in Old Testa- 
ment times, men were fishing here in this same 
way, with the same kind of nets. One of the 



BEIRUT TO THE DAMUR. 



121 



most noted of the old prophecies concerning Tyre 
tells of the time to come when fishermen would 
spread their nets to dry on rocks that were cov- 
ered then with the buildings of the prosperous 
city. ' ' * 

"I'm getting hungry, ' ' said Harry. ■ c It must 
be nearly noon." 

" Yes; and there ahead is the new bridge over 
the Damur. We will lunch there. It is the only 
place anywhere about, excepting another miser- 
able khan just beyond, that will give us the 
needed shade. ' ' 

"There is hardly a tree in sight, is there?" 
said Harry. ( ' The whole country seems bare of 
them." 

" But how beautiful and how large and thick 
the clumps of oleanders are ! If the sun was only 
a little lower they would give shadow enough for 
us. See what a pink crowd of them there is 
about that tumble-down ruin on the river just 
below the new bridge. ' ' 

u Do you know," said Harry, "what they 
make me think of by the way they grow? Of 
neglected lilac-bushes at home, in the yards of 
old country houses; only here they grow wild 
anywhere along the road. What is that ruin?" 

"It is the remains of the old bridge, or, rather, 
* Ezek. 26 : 14. 



122 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

of the old bridges; for again and again new ones 
have been built on the old Roman foundations, 
only to be mastered in time by the quiet little 
river flowing here softly now at our feet as though 
it never had the slightest thought of doing any- 
body or anything one bit of harm. But the quiet 
little river is a roaring giant sometimes. It 
drains a great stretch of mountainous country, so 
that heavy rains and melting snows affect it very 
quickly. But the new bridge that we reach now 
is likely to last. Here is a good place, in the 
shadow of this buttress, to dismount and lunch; 
only we are likely enough to be interrupted by pass- 
ers-by. There comes a line of camels now, w T ith 
their drivers; but no matter; we do not object to 
that; and if the people will stop and talk to us, 
and let us know what they are thinking about 
and what their ways of life are, so much the bet- 
ter. Get the lunch from the saddle-bags, EHas; 
and if you want coffee you can boil it at the little 
fire of sticks which those men have yonder by 
that flock of black goats. 1 ' 

" Oh, but this tastes good !" exclaimed Harry 
as they ate; " chickens and bread and honey and 
eggs and egg-shaped Jaffa oranges and figs. I 
wonder what they will give us in the places where 
we stop nights? Sometimes good food and some- 
times bad, I imagine." 



BEIRUT TO THE DAMUR. 123 

Two native women came walking down to- 
wards the bridge. One was old and blear-eyed; 
the other was younger and more attractive. They 
sat down on the ground near the servants and be- 
gan an earnest conversation with them. The 
faces of both were deeply tattooed in stars and 
lines and squares. 

" I never saw anything like that before," said 
Harry; "and I suppose they think it makes them 
handsome. I have seen sailors with tattooed 
hands and arms; but this is over their faces. Is 
it common here, do you think, tattooing like 
that?" 

"Yes; almost all the women show more or 
less of it. It is the fashion. They do it by prick- 
ing the figure they want into the skin with single 
needles, or with bundles of them, and then bind- 
ing gunpowder over the wounds. That gives the 
tattooing its bluish tinge. Elias, what are those 
women so earnest about?" 

"They are talking of the prophet, sir. The 
old woman has been to him to get cured of her 
sore eyes, sir." 

"Did he help her?" 

"Oh, yes, sir. Her eyes are much better; at 
least, so she says." 



124 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE DAMUR TO SIDON. 

IT was pleasant resting there by the river, but 
our travellers had rested long enough. It was 
time to ride on towards Sidon. 

The grazing horses were caught and saddled; 
the baggage was repacked. They mounted and 
rode again, over the sometimes sandy and some- 
times stony path, southward, along the cliffs and 
along the shore. 

1 1 I wonder if the road is like this all the way 
to Sidon?" said Harry. 

" Most of the way. Harry, how much do you 
know about Jonah ?' 1 

" About Jonah ! Nothing but w T hat the Bible 
tells. Does anybody ?' 1 

1 1 He is one of the favorite prophets of the 
Mohammedans, and they claim that it was on this 
shore that he was landed by the great fish, and 
that he was buried here. They have built a tomb 
at the place; we shall pass it soon. The Koran 
refers to him a number of times. In one place it 
gives the Mohammedan version of his story. It 
says that the ship in which he was sailing stood 



THE DAMUR TO SIDON. 



1^5 



still, that at last he sprang into the sea, where a 
great fish swallowed him, and then swam with its 
head above water, so as to give him air, until it 
cast him out on the shore. * 

"The tenth chapter of the Koran is named 
for Jonah; and it gives also a prayer of his, offered, 
the Mohammedans say, from the belly of the fish. 
It is brief, but they consider it a very holy prayer, 
and often offer it in their devotions, f 

"It is curious, too, what a resemblance there 
is between our Bible account of Jonah and some 
of the old Greek traditions. For example, one of 
them says that at Tyre (where we plan spending 
to-morrow night) Neptune, god of the sea, once 

* " Jonas was also one of those who were sent by us [i. e., 
God], when he fled into the loaded ship, and those who were 
on board cast lots among themselves, and he was condemned, 
and the fish swallowed him, for he was worthy of reprehen- 
sion. And if he had not been one of those who praised God, 
verily he would have remained in the belly thereof until the 
day of resurrection. And we cast him on the naked shore 
and he was sick, and we caused a plant of a gourd to grow 
up over him, and we sent him to a hundred thousand per- 
sons, or they were a greater number, and they believed, 
wherefore we granted them to enjoy this life for a season. " 
Koran, chap. 37. 

t " And remember Dhu' lnun (i. e., 1 the dweller in the 
fish ') when he departed in wrath and thought that we could 
not exercise our power over him. And he cried out in the 
darkness, saying, ' There is no God besides thee. Praise be 
unto thee ! Verily, I have been one of the unjust.' Where- 
fore we heard him and delivered him from affliction, for so 
do we deliver the true believers." Koran, chap. 21. 



126 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

sent out a great sea monster, which did terrible 
harm along the coast at every return of the tide. 
There was no way to appease the creature but by 
giving up to him Helen, the beautiful daughter 
of the king of the land. So Helen was chained 
to a rock within reach of the terrible, fire-breath- 
ing dragon. It saw her and rushed at her, and 
was just ready to seize her when Hercules inter- 
fered. With his drawn sword he leaped into its 
throat, and for three days and three nights fought 
there, until at last he conquered and killed the 
monster, and came forth, himself unharmed, ex- 
cepting that his hair was singed by the heat of the 
place. So one of the surnames of Hercules be- 
came 1 Triesperos ' (' three nights 

"And on this same coast, only farther south, 
at Jaffa, which is the port from which Jonah 
sailed, the scene was laid of another and one of 
the most familiar of the old Greek stories, the 
story of Andromeda. Andromeda, like Helen, 
was offered to appease the fury of a sea monster. 
In the time of Jerome (in the fourth century) the 
very rock where she was said to have been 
chained, near the entrance of the harbor, was 
shown to travellers. This time it was Perseus 
who came to the rescue. By means of the snaky 
Medusa's head which he bore he was able to turn 
the monster to stone. So he saved the maiden. 



THE DAMTJR TO SIDON. 



127 



"Then there are other Babylonian traditions. 
It is curious how they all seem to point with 
varying degrees of correctness to an event like 
that of which the Bible tells." 

They found the " Tomb of Jonah " on a long 
and wide reach of sand between two promonto- 
ries. It was only a low-domed structure, with a 
few rooms attached for the accommodation of the 
keeper and the many pilgrims who visit the so- 
called sacred place. Close by it was an ordinary 
khan. 

On again they rode, over sand and over rocks, 
above and beside the sounding sea, until late in 
the afternoon, w r hen they approached Sidon. On 
their left was the long reach of Sidon's groves 
and orchards; on the right the Mediterranean. 
Before them the shore swept in and then out with 
an even curve that held at its farther point, a 
mile away, the poor successor of the ancient 
mighty city of the Zidonians. 

"It would seem in keeping now," said Will, 
"if we could meet some broken-down, old, old 
man, born thousands of years ago, to tell us about 
Sidon." 

"What would he say?" 

" Perhaps something like this: 

" 'I am the " Spirit of Sidon." I was born 
a most vigorous child back in the times of the 



128 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

patriarchs,* and I can never die until Sidon 
wholly ceases to be. In the time of Joshua I was 
advanced enough to be called ' great ;'t and almost 
ever since, until within only a few years (only 
some four or five hundred years), mine has been 
one of the strongest and most beautiful and pros- 
perous of all the cities of Syria, though now, 
alas! it is weak and ragged and forlorn every 
way. 1 

"And then, if we encouraged him to talk on, 
no doubt he would tell us all about the wars he 
has been in, especially the terrible war with the 
Persians in the fourth century B. C., when, al- 
though he had a large army and many allies, and 
thought himself very strong, he was wholly and 
quickly defeated, but only through the treachery 
of some whom he thought friends. c It was an 
awful time,' he would tell us, i and it took us a 
long while to recover from it. Only think of 
it, 1 he would say, i one hundred of our chief citi- 
zens were betrayed to the Persian king;;}: and 
then five hundred more, who went out to try and 
make terms, were seized by him. They were all 
slain. And when my people found it was of no 
use to fight any longer, what do you suppose they 
did rather than fall into the hands of the cruel 

* Gen. io: 15, 19. t Josh. 11 : 8. 

t Artaxerxes III., Ochus., B. C. 359-33$. 



the: damur to sidon. 129 

Persians? They shut themselves up in their 
homes with their families, and then set fire to the 
houses and burned themselves to death, forty 
thousand of them ! 

1 1 ' That was 351 years before the time of Christ. 
Indeed, it took us a long while to recover from 
such an almost fatal blow as that. And then the 
victorious Alexander the Great came, and we 
were glad to open the city gates before him and 
receive him as our master in place of the Per- 
sians. We even helped him with our fleet in his 
long siege of our neighbor, Tyre. We were pros- 
perous under the Macedonians and under the 
Romans; but in the time of the Crusaders, ah, 
then we were all broken down again; and we 
have never been quite ourselves since. Truly it 
makes me very, very sad when I see in what a 
condition we are now, and remember what we 
once were. And it is not alone that we were 
once so strong for battle, but we were great mer- 
chants also. We were rivals of Tyre. Our ships 
and our merchandise went everywhere. Why, 
my friend Homer, in that poem of his which you 
may have seen, speaks of us often and most flat- 
teringly. Some of the bravest of the Grecian he- 
roes of whom he tells, Achilles and Agamemnon, 
wore armor made by us; and they surely had 
need of the best. In another place he names 

Harry's Trip. Q 



130 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

prizes that Achilles gave to the soldiers at the 

funeral games held after the death of his friend 

Patroclus. To the swiftest runner was given a 

large and beautiful silver bowl, made by us.* 

1 1 c And in another place he says that the most 

beautiful present which Menelaus, the brother of 

king Againemnon, could find for the son of his 

old comrade, Ulysses, was a gold and silver bowl 

made by our skilful workmen, f But it was not 

* " And then the son of Peleus placed in sight 
Prizes of swiftness : a wrought silver cup 
That held six measures, and in beauty far 
Excelled all others known ; the cunning hands 
Of the Sidonian artisans had given 
Its graceful shape, and over the dark sea 
Men of Phoenicia brought it, with their wares, 
To the Greek harbors." 

Iliad, Bryant's Tr., B. XXIII. 911 ff. 

t " Of all that in my house 
Are treasured up, the choicest I will give, 
And the most precious. I will give a cup 
Wrought all of silver save its brim of gold. 
It is the work of Vulcan. Phaedimus 
The hero, king of Sidon, gave it me, 
When I was coming home, and underneath 
His roof was sheltered. Now it shall be thine." 

Odyssey, Bryant's Tr., B. IV. 779 ff. 

" I give thee here 
Of all the treasures which my house contains 
The fairest and most precious. I present 
A goblet all of silver, save the lips, 
And they are bound with gold. It is the work 
Of Vulcan. Phaedimus the hero, king 
Of the Sidonians, gave it me when once 



THE DAMUR TO SIDON. 



our work in the metals alone that he honored in 
his poem. He says that when the mother of the 
Trojan Hector wished to make an offering to the 
great goddess Athene, she chose rich, embroi- 
dered robes, which were woven and embroidered 
by our fair women. * 

" 4 But now, alas and alas, all our glory is de- 
parted. We have no power; we manufacture 
almost nothing. Instead of great fleets we own 
only a few little fishing boats, in a harbor so 
choked with rocks and sand that none of your 
great ships could enter it if they would. Instead 
of the thousands of prosperous people who once 
dwelt here, now, alas, there are no more than one 
or two thousand. Indeed, we are in a most mis- 
erable condition. ' 

His palace sheltered me. He gave it me 
At parting, and I now would have it thine." 

Odyssey, B. XV. 143 ff. 

* " The queen 
Descended to her chamber, where the air 
Was sweet with perfumes, and in which were laid 
Her rich embroidered robes, the handiwork 
Of Sidon's damsels, whom her son had brought — 
The godlike Alexander — from the coast 
Of Sidon, when across the mighty deep 
He sailed and brought the high-born Helen thence. 
One robe most beautiful of all she chose 
To bring to Pallas, ampler than the rest, 
And many-hued ; it glistened like a star, 
And lay beneath them all." 

Iliad, Bryant's Tr., B. VI. 375 ff. 



133 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" And then we would try and comfort the old 
man by reminding him how much better off his 
city is than many another of the Syrian towns — 
than his old rival Tyre, for example; and how 
much good is being accomplished here, and in all 
the region about, by the noble band of mission- 
ary workers. And that would make us think to 
ask him if he did not once receive visits from the 
Founder of this beautiful religion which the mis- 
sionaries teach. 

u 'Yes,' he would say, c the Jesus Christ of 
whom they tell once passed here on a journey 
along our coasts,* and we wished that he could 
have remained long enough to do in this region 
the mighty works which he did in Capernaum 
and Bethsaida. If he had, I verily believe we 
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and 
ashes. As it was, we received some of his disci- 
ples who fled here and formed a church, after the 
stoning to death at Jerusalem of that good man 
Stephen, t 

4 * 1 And some years after, we had a most notable 
visit, though we thought much less of it then 
than I do now, from the very man who had stood 
by and held the clothes of those who stoned Ste- 
phen, but who had since then been converted near 
Damascus (you travellers may have seen the very 
* Matt. 15: 21 ff; Mark 7:24 ffi t Acts 11 : 19. 



THK DAMUR TO SIDON. 133 

place), and had become a wonderfully able and 
successful apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. His 
name was Paul. He was on his way to Rome. 
The ship touched here. He landed and was re- 
ceived by our Christians with much reverence 
and love.* He encouraged them greatly. He 
was a wonderful man. It seems to me as though 
it was all only yesterday, instead of more than 
eighteen hundred years ago. ' 

4 1 Now we must suppose the talkative old man 
to be dismissed. The long story has brought us 
to the entrance of the town, and we will have to 
use all care not to slip on the smooth pavements, 
or drive over the children and the men and 
women in the narrow streets." 

" Where are we to lodge to-night ?" asked 
Harry. 

u You have heard of the hospices of the Alps, 
the Hospice of St. Bernard, for example, where 
any who need shelter and food are received and 
cared for, and sent on their way without charge. 
The poorest pay nothing. The wealthier are 
expected to give according to their means. There 
are a number of such institutions through Pales- 
tine, most of them under the care of the Roman- 
catholics. We shall make use of several of them 
before we finish our journey. One of them, Elias 
Acts 27:3. 



134 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

says, is located here in Sidon, and he is trying to 
guide us to it now. I doubt, though, if he knows 
where it is. I have n' t much faith any way in 
the man's fitness for the work he has engaged to 
do." 

At last they reached the hospice. It was a 
large rambling old building of stone, used also as 
a monastery. But it was one of the church's fast 
days, and, according to Elias, the monks had no 
food for the travellers; and as nearly as they could 
understand him, there was no sleeping-place for 
them either; but they could make little sense of 
what he said. What could they do? 

" Elias, do you know the way to the Ameri- 
can Consul's?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then take us there." 

But he did not know the way; and when after 
considerable wandering he succeeded in finding 
the place, the consul was absent. 

It was coming to be rather a serious matter. 
They were thoroughly tired, and it was growing 
dark. If possible, they must find some one who 
could understand and speak English, and could 
direct them to some sort of lodging-place or tell 
them clearly in regard to the hospice. How 
about the American missionaries, whom they 
wished to meet but would have preferred to see 



the; damur to sidon. 



135 



after, rather than before they were lodged? Could 
they be found? Mr. Eddy, they were told, was 
away visiting some of the mountain stations; but 
his sister was at home. 

" Find their house,' ' said Will. 

And so they wandered about again. As they 
walked on, hungry and tired, half angry with 
Elias, and somewhat so with all Sidon, a long 
procession filled the narrow street in front of 
them. 

" There," Elias said, "is Miss Eddy and her 
school. 1 ' 

Will stepped forward, and upon introducing 
himself and Harry, was cordially welcomed. Her 
brother was at home, the lady said, and would be 
glad to meet them. His house was close by. 
She directed them to it. 

Soon Will and Harry stood at the door. They 
knocked. The native servant answered. 

u Is Mr. Eddy at home?" 

"No, sir. He went out a few minutes ago 
and will not return until late." 

Disappointed again ! There appeared to be no 
help for it. They decided to go back to the hos- 
pice. They would be allowed, no doubt, to camp 
somewhere inside its walls, and they could look 
for something to eat in the shops. 

But just as they were turning from the door, 



136 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

two young men came out. They were Americans, 
Mr. Dennis, a missionary of Beirut, and his bro- 
ther, from New York. The parties had never 
met before, but they had mutual friends, their 
distant homes were near each other, and besides 
they were Christians meeting in a far-away, un- 
christian land. They met almost like old ac- 
quaintances. 

The brothers were two of a party of tent-trav- 
ellers returning to Beirut. They were encamped, 
they said, just outside of the town. Mr. Eddy 
was there and would take tea with them, and 
they gave Will and Harry a cordial invitation 
to join the party, an invitation which they very 
willingly accepted. 

A pleasant evening was spent, partly at the 
tent and partly in a visit to the prosperous girls' 
school under the care of the ladies of the mission. 
What remained of the evening and the night, all 
five of the travellers spent with Mr. Eddy. One 
and another of the native Christians came in to 
meet the Christians from other lands. There 
was conversation concerning the success and 
present prosperity of the mission, concerning the 
work and the earnest workers, and the good 
promise which the past and the present give for 
the future. 

When it was time for the little company to 



THE DAMUR TO SIDON. 



137 



separate, and time, too, for the evening prayers, 
they asked Will to lead them in their worship. 
Then they separated, some to their homes, and 
the travellers to their welcome rest. The quiet of 
the night was broken only by the beating of the 
Mediterranean waves in the moonlight close out- 
side their chamber windows. Whenever they 
half awoke the waves seemed whispering them 
to sleep again with soft slumber songs. 



138 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SIDON TO TYRE. 

"Your ride to-day to Tyre will not be very 
different from yesterday's," said Mr. Eddy, as 
Will and Harry were mounting for their day's 
journey. " There is but little of special interest 
along the way. You will pass the site of old Sa- 
repta,* but you will scarcely be able to tell when. 
You might stop, though, and visit some old tombs 
not far from here, and only a short distance off 
your direct road; but it is rather hard to find 
them. I wish I could go and show you the 
way. 1 1 

u Elias, do you know where they are?" asked 
Will. 

" Yes, sir." 

"Are you certain? Have you been to them?" 

"I think I could find them." 

"I will tell you," said Mr. Eddy; "I will 
send my boy with you. That will be the surest 
way. 1 ' 

Cordial good-bys were spoken, and they rode 
away to the south. A mile or so from the town 
* Luke 4 : 26 ; 1 Kings 17 : 9 ff. 



SIDON TO TYRE. 1 39 

they found the tombs they were in search of. 
There were great holes in the ground where ex- 
cavations had been made. Clambering down 
into these they reached the entrances to the stone 
chambers, which had once been carefully-kept 
and sacred resting-places of the dead. Now they 
were half filled with dirt. The stucco-work was 
defaced and broken. The narrow recesses in the 
sides, where the embalmed bodies once rested in 
richly-carved sarcophagi, were open and empty. 
In one place only there remained a nearly perfect 
sarcophagus; but it had long before been opened 
and rifled. 

This detour had led them away from the sea- 
shore. They rode now through a rich farming 
region, with wide fields of ripened grain on either 
side. In some places the harvesters were already 
at work, with modern Ruths gleaning after them 
beside the path. 

Soon they reached the shore again. Then 
they rode on until noon without adventure, other 
than Elias' blunderingly letting his horse get 
loose when they had stopped for a few minutes to 
explore some caves hollowed in the sandstone 
cliffs above the path — caves that would make 
fine lurking-places for robbers, and very likely in 
their time were so used. After a rough chase the 
horse was cornered and captured. 



140 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

They rode till noon. Then they reached a 
pleasant camping-place under a tree near the 
double-arched bridge over the Litany. It was a 
beautiful picture that lay before them. There 
was a glimpse of water, the u eye of any land- 
scape," the stone bridge, picturesque against a 
background of hills, a large khan in the distance, 
and open meadow-land between, w 7 ith here and 
there cows and goats grazing over it. Very soon 
the travellers' horses, unsaddled and hobbled, 
were added to the picture, feeding contentedly in 
the foreground. 

Resting there under the trees, Will and Harry 
w r ere in no haste to resume the journey. They 
waited an hour or two, then ordered the horses, 
and Will said as they mounted, 

"Come, Harry, we will ride on w r hile EHas 
and Hassan are packing the saddle-bags. They 
will overtake us at the bridge, where we will 
stop to water the horses. 1 1 

As they approached the bridge they turned 
down to the right towards the sandy edge of the 
stream. All at once they heard a great shouting 
behind them. Looking back they saw their two 
men hurrying towards them, shouting and beck- 
oning with all their might. 

1 ' What is it all about ?' ' said Harry. ' ' They 
seem to be signing for us to run ; but that would 



SIDON TO TYRE. 



141 



be to ride right into the river, where there seems 
to be no trace at all of a ford. ' ' 

Will laughed. "No," he said, "the sign 
means to stop; though no wonder you thought 
they meant for us to go forward, waving their 
hands that way with the palms towards us. But 
what they want of us in such a hurry I don't 
know. We will wait and find what the trouble 
is." 

The trouble proved to be wholly imaginary. 
Will laughed again as the excited men came up 
and explained. 

"Harry," he said, "when they saw us turn 
towards the river they thought we were going to 
try and wade across. They knew the water was 
too deep for that, and it is likely there are quick- 
sands besides; so they made those signs— doing 
what would have been just the thing to send us 
forward if I had not known that what with us 
means, ' Go ahead/ with them means, 'Stop.' 
Now we will let the horses drink; then we will 
go on over the bridge. ' ' 

A few hours more of riding and they came ill 
sight of Tyre. Before them was a smooth sweep 
of white sand, curving around without a break 
to the little village which is the poor descend- 
ant of the old "Island Queen of the Mediterra- 
nean." 



142 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Elias, ashamed of his failure of the evening 
before to find lodgings in Sidon, had galloped 
ahead to make inquiries before the others should 
arrive. Hassan was lagging behind with the 
pack-horse. So Will and Harry rode alone in 
the evening stillness, silent themselves for a 
while, impressed most deeply with thoughts of 
what had been there in the past and of what was 
around them now. The ocean and the mountains 
and the sky — they were the same, and they alone. 
All else was changed. 

u Harry, " said Will, " often as we have 
thought about Tyre, how different this seeing of 
it makes the whole history seem — so much more 
real and vivid. ' ' 

" Yes, indeed." 

" Its secular history and its sacred history too. 
The Saviour's home in Nazareth, you know, was 
only some thirty miles away by the shortest route. 
Christ may often have been on these coasts. We 
know he once was.* When the disciples were 
scattered abroad by persecution, after the stoning 
of Stephen, some of them came here.f And 
Paul, you know, was here on his last journey to 
Jerusalem. He remained seven days with the 
disciples. J Luke tells how lovingly they took 
leave of him at the end of that time — all coming 

* Matt. 15 : 21; f Acts 11 : 19. % Acts 21 : 4. 



SIDON TO TYRE. 



H3 



out from the city a little way, and when they 
must separate, kneeling down to pray together on 
the ' smooth shore. ' * Not on a rocky shore, but 
where it was smooth, just as it is here where we 
are riding now. ' ' 

As they came nearer the town Will asked 
Harry if he saw any sign that the place was once 
an island, or any sign that they were riding now 
where Alexander the Great built his causeway 
through the water, connecting the island and the 
mainland, so that his troops might have a way to 
advance and storm the walls. 

" There isn't the least sign that I can see of 
anything of the sort," said Harry. 1 4 There is no 
difference in the beach, excepting that here it 
curves out more sharply, making a sort of bay; 
and we can see too across the sand-hills to another 
bay of the same sort on the other side." 

"Yet when Alexander came, three hundred 
years before the time of Christ, this was all open 
water. The island lay half a mile from the main- 
land, and the water was eighteen feet deep in the 
channel between. The Tyrians seem to have 
thought their city was impregnable. The water 
protected it; and, besides, they had walls that, on 
the land side, were one hundred and fifty feet 
high. It took Alexander seven months to cap- 
* Acts 2i : 5 (alyiaXbv — a smooth shore). 



144 HARRY* S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

ture the place. He built his causeway of timber 
from the Lebanon forests, and of stone that he 
found in the ruins of that part of Tyre which had 
once existed on the mainland. That accounts 
to some extent for there being no signs now of 
what was very likely once the largest part of 
Tyre, though never the strongest part. One al- 
most completed causeway the Tyrians destroyed. 
But at once Alexander began another that was 
larger still, and he pushed it through till it 
reached the walls. Then there was fierce hand- 
to-hand fighting. Both sides were well equipped 
with munitions of war — stones, javelins, bows, 
battering-rams. One novel means of defence the 
besieged used effectively. They brought hot sand 
from their furnaces and used it as boiling oil was 
often used. When the attacking columns rushed 
forward to scale the walls they rained the fine 
sand down upon them. It penetrated under their 
armor and was like fire against their flesh. After 
a long siege the place was captured. Eight thou- 
sand of the citizens were slain; three thousand 
were sold as slaves. Ever since, for two thousand 
years, the wind and the sea have been drifting the 
sand over the causeway, until it is all as you see 
it now. ' 5 

By this time they had reached the entrance to 
the town. Elias met them. He had found the 



SIDON TO TYRE). 



M5 



lodging-place to which the friends in Sidon had 
directed them, and had learned that they could 
be accommodated there. 

They were guided through the narrow streets, 
between high-walled houses and yards. Few 
people met them, and of those few it was sad to 
see how large a proportion were crippled in one 
way or another, most of them by entire or partial 
blindness. It was a dead, poverty-stricken, ruin- 
ous place. 

"How forlorn and miserable everything 
seems!" said Harry. 

They came to the port. One narrow pier 
reached out a few rods into deep water. Look- 
ing over the edge they could see that it was made 
in part of carefully finished columns and founda- 
tion stones that must once have been portions of 
beautiful temples or palaces. A few small boats 
were drawn up to the shore. 

"And this," said Will, "is all that is left of 
the city whose fleets once sailed to all parts of the 
known world and ruled the Mediterranean: a city 
which founded colonies like that of Carthage; 
which could hardly be mastered by the greatest 
conquerors of the world— withstood Nebuchadnez- 
zar for thirteen years, and it is not certain that he 
conquered then — which was great in the time of 
David and Solomon; which was called a strong 

Harry's Trip. IO 



146 HARRY'S TRIP TO THIS ORIENT. 

city* when it first appears in history; whose age 
no one knows. ' ' 

"How long has the place been as it is now?" 
asked Harry. 1 1 It must have had hard fortune 
again since those worst times, for it was well off 
in the time of Christ. ' 1 

4 1 Yes ; it recovered gradually from the blow 
Alexander gave it, and in the time of the Romans 
was very prosperous again. Much of its wealth 
was due to its dyes of Tyrian purple, made from 
a shell-fish of the genus Murex. It was still pros- 
perous in the time of the Crusaders, f One of the 
greatest of the Crusaders was buried here — Fred- 
erick Barbarossa. The fatal day for Tyre, which 
left her much as we see her now, came 150 years 
later. J At that time the Sultan of Egypt and 
Damascus was besieging Acre. After two months 
the city was captured. Then the Tyrians knew 
that their turn would come next, and they knew 
too what their fate would be if they resisted. Al- 
most to a man they left the city. The next day 
when the Saracens came they found it forsaken. 
They entered and sacked it unopposed. It never 
has recovered from that disaster, and probably 
never will. Though it has gained somewhat of 
late years, the prophecy in Ezekiel has been literal- 

* Josh. 19 : 29. t Tyre surrendered to the Crusaders in 

1124. x 1291. 



SIDON TO TYRE). 



147 



ly fulfilled which describes its site as a place left 
desolate, where fishermen dwell, and spread their 
nets on the lonely rocks.* But come, it is time 
to find what our quarters are to be for the night. ' y 

They were guided a few steps farther through 
the streets to a private house belonging to one of 
the native Christians — a teacher. They entered 
by a gateway through a high wall to an inner 
yard, from which a stairway led to the dwelling- 
rooms in the second story. There they were re- 
ceived by the members of the family. The place 
was much above the average, compared with the 
houses about it. There seemed to be even some 
degree of comfort. 

It was a good opportunity, they thought, to 

find how the better class of natives lived. So 

when Elias came and asked what arrangement 

they wished to make for supper, Will told him to 

request their host to provide the supper, and to 

let it be simply such native dishes as they w 7 ere 

accustomed to use. The room where they sat, 

and where they were to sleep, was furnished for 

the most part in European style; but around the 

sides there were continuous lounges. Upon these 

their beds were afterwards spread. 

* Ezek. 26 : 14. Writing in 1697, Maundrell says of it, " Its 
present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches that harbor 
in vaults and subsist upon fishing." Hasselquist (1766) says, 
" Here are about ten inhabitants, who live by fishing." 



148 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

By the time supper was served the travellers 
were thoroughly hungry. They came to the ta- 
ble, furnished also, though rather sparingly, with 
cutlery and crockery of English make, ready to 
do all possible justice to whatever was set before 
them. As they took their seats, however, the 
prospect for an enjoyable meal was poor, except- 
ing for their unusual appetites. But they hoped 
that things would taste better than they looked. 

"Harry, help yourself to the bread, M said 
Will. 

" You must mean this. But I wouldn't think 
so, excepting that it looks less unlike bread than 
anything else on the table, " remarked Harry, as 
he carefully tore a piece from one of a pile of thin 
brown cakes. u They are like home griddle- 
cakes in size and thickness. I wonder what they 
taste like. 5 - 

" Taste and see," said Will. 

Harry did so, guardedly. He quietly laid 
aside what was left. 

"It is the native bread," said Will, "such as 
the people always use. If only it was salted a 
little, and was brought crisp from the fire, it 
would be much more palatable. But oftenest the 
meal is simply mixed with water and baked in 
large batches over the coals or on hot stones." 

' 1 If there was butter, or something of the sort, 



SIDON TO TYRE. 149 

to go with it, ' ' said Harry, 4 1 I could eat it possi- 
bly. What is that, I wonder? It looks as though 
it might be good. It looks like nice rich cream. 
Please give me a little with the bread. ' ' 

" Yes, this is something wholesome; and it is 
a standard dish, with those who can afford it, 
all through the country. It is curdled goats' 
milk." 

"Is it? I'm glad of that. I've heard of it 
often ; now I will know how it tastes. I hope it 
is as good as it looks. ' ' 

Harry was encouraged, and helped himself 
bountifully; but at the first taste, 

1 1 Bah V ' he exclaimed, " it is like sour milk. ' ! 

"Well," said Will, "our hosts have been 
extravagant in their desire to favor us. Here 
are two other more substantial dishes, and such, 
certainly, as we have never seen at home. What 
one of them is I cannot guess. And the other I 
know only because I once saw a dish like it in 
Constantinople. We will try this unknown some- 
thing first. It looks as much like boiled cucum- 
bers as anything." 

"And it tastes like them !" exclaimed Harry, 
"tastes as I imagine they would, as near like 
them as any known thing in America can. And 
they are stuffed with something — with rice. 
Cousin Will, I'll thank you for a very little bit 



150 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

of the — the forlorn hope, the last dish on the bill 
of fare. 1 ' 

This proved to be the least unpalatable of the 
whole, but still a few mouthfuls were all they 
could eat of it. It consisted of little balls of rice 
wrapped snugly in pickled grape-leaves and then 
fried. 

"Iam glad to know what the better class of 
natives consider luxuries, ' 5 said Will; " but it is 
fortunate that we have something different in our 
saddle-bags, left over from lunch, else we would 
have to go hungry to bed. Wont you find Elias 
and ask him to bring the bread, honey, eggs, and 
oranges. ' 1 

" Yes, I will, and very gladly," said Harry. 

So finally they made a comfortable meal. Af- 
ter it, as they left the table, Harry remarked, 

" And besides all that was on the table which 
was peculiar, underneath it the whole time the 
fleas about my legs were — well, worse." 

They were weary with the long day. They 
sat for a while in the twilight, then were ready 
for rest. 

The next day was the Sabbath. Most of it 
they spent on the seashore. They could feel 
themselves much nearer to God there than any- 
where in the town. In the afternoon they found 
the ruins of what was once a beautiful Christian 



SIDON TO TYRK. 



church, where some of the early church fathers 
are supposed to have preached, and where doubt- 
less the crusaders met to worship during the years 
in which they held the city. 

Then they roamed on again towards another 
part of the sea. They crossed an open field scat- 
tered with graves, where the monuments were 
low, rectangular piles of flat stones. Among the 
tombs two little girls came hurrying, the one 
leading the other by the hand. The younger 
one was blind, and they came to beg. 

Reaching the shore, they found that it rose 
there in bold rocky cliffs far above the water. 
Where the height overlooks a low, black reef that 
the waves break against and race over, sometimes 
in foam and sometimes in dark currents, and 
where there were fishermen working on the rocks 
below mending their nets, they sat waiting in 
the beautiful deepening twilight until the night 
should be fully come. It was dark when they 
found their way back to the town. 



152 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TYRE TO ACRE. 

At half-past six the travellers were in the 
saddle, as fresh for the day's ride as if it was the 
first morning of their journeying instead of the 
third. And there was good need of an early and 
fresh start. The work before them would make 
the day a hard one. 

"We must reach Haifa to-night," said Will, 
"and Haifa is thirty-six miles away. The men 
want to take two days for it, not because it is 
too far, but because they generally do so, and be- 
cause it is gain for them to keep us on the way 
as long as possible. No doubt though that the 
ride will be a severe one. The way is long, and 
parts of the road are very bad. ' ' > 

"It could hardly be rougher than we have 
had already." 

c 1 No, but the badness is not in the roughness. 
It is in the steepness. There are bold spurs of 
the mountains between here and Acre, two of 
which are especially noted. They strike across 
from the main range, not almost to the sea, but 
quite to it, into it. There is not even a narrow 
passage-way along their bases, as there is, for 



TYRE TO ACRE. 1 53 

instance, between Mount Carmel and the water, 
but one must clamber over them as he best can, 
by paths that need sure-footed horses for safe cross- 
ing. The first of the promontories with its cliffs 
of white limestone shows there very plainly be- 
fore us now, though it is two hours away. Those 
cliffs give it its name, 4 The White Promontory.' 
There is another similar promontory six miles 
farther south, formerly called 4 The Ladder of 
Tyre.' " 

For two hours from Tyre they followed the 
curves of the shore. Then the rocks made a great 
wall before them. They turned a few rods in- 
land and began the slow ascent. Soon the path 
wound to the very face of the cliff, high over the 
water. There was no other course for it to take, 
and there was no passing there excepting as a way 
was cut in the perpendicular rock. In and out 
the path wound. Sometimes it w T as so steep and 
smooth that steps were cut for the horses' hoofs. 
It was much like climbing a ladder. They were 
two hundred feet straight up above the waves, 
which they could see, but scarcely hear, foaming 
over the flat, black reefs below. If they had 
taken one of the flint stones with which the white 
rock is dotted and lined, and reaching over had 
dropped it, it would hardly have touched any- 
thing until it reached the foam; and at every rod 



154 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



as they passed on the grouping of the reefs and 
the masses of white water at the base of the cliffs 
gave new pictures. There was constant change. 
It was a wild place. 

That was in the foreground, but when they 
raised their eyes and looked beyond, back towards 
Tyre, there was the fairest distant view, by far, 
of anything thev had vet seen along the coast. 
It was their last view of Tyre, lying beautiful 
now in a soft haze far away towards the horizon, 
and with the shining sea between. The descent 
began. It seemed steeper than the ascent, and it 
grew steeper and steeper. 

" Cousin Will," said Harry at last, "I am go- 
ing to dismount. This is altogether too suggestive 
of unintended somersets for horse and rider. To 
say nothing of the danger, I don't think we 
would look well rolling down this slope, for if 
we got a good start we should have to roll from 
top to bottom, it is so steep. ' ' 

He dismounted and walked the rest of the 
way. He led his horse, but was careful to keep 
to one side, out of the way in case he fell. They 
reached the foot of the pass in safety, and came 
again to a comparatively level path. As they 
rode Harry exclaimed, 

"Why, we are travelling by the side of what 
seems to be a paved road I" 



TYRE TO ACRE. 155 

"It is that," said Will. "The remains of 
what were most likely military roads are not 
uncommon in Syria, and this was one of the chief 
of them. The route that we are following now 
has always been the highway of armies. Alex- 
ander's camp was located near here, according to 
tradition, when he was planning his attack on 
Tyre." 

Two hours farther on they came to the last 
ridge, u Ras en Nakurah," the old " Ladder of 
Tyre." It is higher than the others, but the path 
is not as steep as that over the 4 ' White Promon- 
tory. ' ' It curves about, leading gradually upward 
towards an old tower that marks the summit of 
the ridge. There, suddenly, without the slightest 
previous sign of what was coming, the new view 
to the south opened before them. It was startling 
in its suddenness and its greatness. From the 
point where they stood the mountain falls away, 
almost perpendicularly for some hundreds of feet, 
down to an immense plain, which stretches off 
smooth, seemingly, as a floor, to a dim line of far 
mountains in the south, which they knew must 
be the range of Carmel, and in front of which, 
too far away to be easily distinguished, lies the 
city of Acre. 

It was the great " Plain of Acre," fertile as a 
garden, covered with fields of grain and pasture- 



156 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. - 

land and clumps of trees, dotted over with flocks 
of sheep and goats and droves of cattle as far as 
the eye could reach. To the east lines of decreas- 
ing hills bounded their view. The sea lay on 
the west. 

It was hardly as beautiful perhaps, this first 
view of the Plain of Acre, as their last view of 
Tyre had been a few hours before; but it was 
more striking, the sudden effect was more thril- 
ling, all was larger, grander. 

" Can we not noon here?" said Harry. "It 
is too splendid to leave, and we are so far up to- 
wards the sky it is cool and pleasant for resting. 1 1 

" I wish we could stay," answered Will, " for 
this is another of the views that one wants never 
to forget, one of the places where we seem lifted 
up nearer to God. But there is no safe place here 
for the horses, neither is there any grass or water. 
We will wait, though, while the men go on down 
to the foot of the pass. They can prepare the 
camp there, and we will follow at our leisure." 

The afternoon ride was as different as it well 
could be from that of the morning. It was 
through a rich farming region, over soft and easy 
paths, instead of up and down rock-stairs. 

It was growing late as they neared Acre, and 
Haifa is nearly three hours beyond Acre. Sev- 
eral times since morning Elias had spoken of the 



TYRE TO ACRE. 



157 



desirableness of shortening the day's journey and 
stopping for the night in Acre or near it. More- 
over, he and Hassan had evidently been delaying 
as much as possible all the afternoon. Now Elias 
referred to the matter again, indirectly, praising 
the attractiveness of a neighboring village as a 
lodging-place. Plainly there was a tendency to- 
wards rebellion. 

Will answered shortly that they would lodge 
that night at Haifa. "And we must explore Acre 
besides, " he said; " there is no time to lose. n 

With that he and Harry rode on at the gallop, 
scarcely looking behind again in their interest in 
what they were passing and approaching. There 
before them was the strongly fortified city of Acre, 
which had been a strong city in the days of the 
Judges,* and has been strong through all the cen- 
turies since, and is strong to-day. 

The city seemed to them to be built on a nat- 
ural rise of ground, close to the sea. But that 
was a mistake. The seeming hill was only the 
ruins of the old Acres that had lived and died in 
long succession since the first Acre was founded 
there thousands of years ago: just how many 
years ago no one knows. On every side of this 

* Judges 1:31. It is mentioned also in Acts 21:7, and 
frequently in the books of the Apocrypha, under its other 
name of Ptolemais. 



I5S HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

mound, excepting towards the sea, there was an 
almost perfectly open and level country, crossed 
by frequent roads and by the ruins of an ancient 
aqueduct. Since the beginning of the Christian 
era Acre has been captured by the Arabs, by the 
Genoese, by Sultan Saladin, by the Crusaders, by 
the Egyptians, by the Turks, by the Egyptians 
again, and finally, in 1840, by an allied English, 
Turkish, and Austrian fleet. It was one of the 
most important of the strongholds of the Crusa- 
ders, and the last that was yielded by them before 
they were driven wholly out of Syria. And still 
it w T as strong enough in 1799 to resist the French 
under Napoleon. He tried for sixty-one days to 
capture it, and failed. It is a strictly military 
city. There are no houses outside the walls. It 
is garrisoned. The one gate is closed at sun- 
down. 

The path led the two riders under an arch of 
the aqueduct, then turned sharply to the right to- 
wards the city. As they checked their horses 
they looked back. Elias and Hassan were no- 
where in sight. 

"Why, where can the men be?" exclaimed 
Harry. 

4 { We have come rather fast for Hassan with 
the baggage-horse, M said Will; "but Elias could 
easily have kept at least in sight. We will go 



TYRE TO ACRK. 1 59 

ou. Most likely he will appear soon from behind 
that line of trees. ' ' 

Now and then they looked back, expecting 
each time to see one or both of the men; but 
there was no sign of them. 

Will was growing stern. " There may be 
some accident," he said. "It looks, though, as 
if they were plotting to force us to stay here all 
night. " 

By this time they had reached the gate of the 
city. But they could not enter without running 
the risk of more delay by missing the men when 
they should finally arrive. Late as it was, the 
only way was to wait for them outside. So they 
waited, walking their horses back and forth, 
sometimes dismounting for a change and leading 
them. 

Loungers gathered about, seeing that some- 
thing was wrong, but unable to ask or to under- 
stand what it was. They could have had no 
doubt though that Will was very angry at some- 
thing or somebody. 

It was nearly sunset before the men appeared 
together in the distance, moving very leisurely 
along towards the place where they were waiting. 
As they came up Will accosted Elias. Hassan 
knew hardly a word of English. 

" Well, what do you mean by this?" 



l6o HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



"By what, sir?" said Elias innocently. 

"Tell me what you mean by this! What 
have you to say for yourself?'' 

11 Hassan wouldn't take the saddle-bags, sir; 
and I couldn't gallop after you with them." 

" You could have done it as easily as you gal- 
loped after that fox yesterday with the saddle- 
bags. But Hassan would have taken them; and 
if he would not, you could have walked your 
horse twice as fast as you did. ' ' 

"We thought there was time enough." 

' 'Time for what?" 

1 1 To reach Acre. We can' t go any farther 
than here to-night. We made no agreement to 
do it." 

"You did, a written agreement; and you will 
keep it !" 

"If it says that we would go in one day from 
Tyre to Haifa, we did not know it, sir." 

" You either knew it, or lied in pretending to 
understand English when I told you. And as for 
Hassan, the paper was translated for him. Now 
I know what you have been plotting and lagging 
for all day. Have you more excuses?" 

"We can't do it, sir. Hassan wont." 

" Hassan will, and so will you. Give me 
those saddle-bags, man, quick!" 

Elias unfastened them and handed them over 



TYRE) TO ACRE). 



161 



to Will. He took them and threw them over 
the pack-horse. 

u Hassan, Haifa, go !" he said, pointing down 
the beach. 

And Hassan went without delay. 

4 1 Now do you guide us through Acre — unless 
you have lied again in saying you know the 
way. ' ' 

Elias turned submissively and led the way 
into the city. 

They entered by the massive gate, and ex- 
plored, as rapidly as possible, the market-place, 
where the merchants were sitting with their wares 
on the pavements, so closely that it was hard 
to avoid riding over them and their customers. 
They explored the narrow streets, bordered with 
massive and, in places, ruined stone-work, and 
the dungeons, and a pretty mosque near by, with 
a courtway paved in rich mosaic, and with a 
fountain in the centre, and flowers and shrubs 
and trees. All that there was of interest they 
saw. 



Harry's Trip. 



II 



l6z HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A NIGHT RIDE TO HAIFA. 

They repassed the gateway. As they left the 
city and rode down towards the wide beach a 
very pretty picture was before them. It was the 
pleasantest hour of the day after the noon-time 
heat, and many towns-people had come out to 
enjoy it on the shore, old and young together, 
men, women and children, dressed in bright gar- 
ments and with happy faces, standing in groups, 
or walking and playing by the water. It was 
like a festival time. But it was only the pleasant 
daily festival time of the people for rest and gos- 
sip. 

Suddenly Elias struck his horse with his whip 
and dashed off through the crowd of people down 
the beach. In an instant the other horses were 
on the run, excited and unmanageable, eager to 
overtake their comrade. For a while they were 
wholly beyond control. There was no stopping 
them. All that the riders could do was to keep 
their seats and try to guide their horses. It was 
terrible for a moment. It seemed scarcely pos- 
sible that no one would be injured, as they 



A NIGHT RIDE) TO HAIFA. 163 

rushed among the children and the men and 
women. 

But it was quickly over. The crowd was 
behind them, and the open beach, smooth and 
hard as a floor, before them. The two horses flew 
over it; but the danger was past now. All that 
was needed was to keep a steady pressure on the 
bits. They would soon yield. In a few minutes 
they were walking quietly side by side. 

"I think it is excusable for us to look pale 
after that," said Will. " There was a group of 
three or four people straight in front of my horse. 
I thought they would be under his hoofs. I tried 
to turn, and I suppose I did, but my foot must 
almost have struck them as I swept by. I 
expected to hear a scream. How many there 
were, and which of them was nearest, I don't 
know. All I know is that one of them was a 
little child." 

Some two miles from Acre they came to the 
river Belus, and forded it where it winds through 
the sand and empties into the sea. It is dignified 
with the name of " river," but in reality is hard- 
ly more than a brook rising in a large marsh six 
miles away. 

Then for miles they rode around the curve of 
the beautiful bay alone, for Hassan and Elias 
were out of sight in advance. The city grew 



164 harry' s trip to the orient. 

dim behind them, and the white houses of Haifa 
and the outline of Mount Carmel against the 
sky were dim before them. The sun had sunk 
below the horizon in the west, and the full moon 
had risen from the plain on their left. The wind 
had died away. There were waves along the 
shore, but they were not boisterous; they only 
whispered. The west faded until the stars came 
out and the night was as dark as it could be with 
so fair a moon hung low in so cloudless a sky. 
It was weirdly beautiful. 

" I imagine," said Will, li that when we look 
back on this night ride around the Bay of Acre, 
it will be one of the times that we would be least 
willing of all to forget. 5 1 

In places they walked their horses. Some- 
times they rode side by side at full speed, gallop- 
ing close by the line of breaking waves where 
the wet sand muffled the sound of the horses' 
hoofs. Sometimes, for a rest, they would dis- 
mount and walk, leading their horses, with the 
bridles over their arms. 

Once, as they walked thus, they saw a delicate 
white shell resting on the sand, as though it had 
just been laid there, very softly, by the falling 
tide. Harry picked it up. It was nearly perfect; 
there was no flaw excepting a slight bruise on 
the tinted lip. 



A NIGHT RIDE) TO HAIFA. 165 

"Good!" exclaimed Will; "that is the mu- 
rex, the Murex trunculus, which I have been wish- 
ing we could find ever since we left Tyre." 

"Is it the kind they made the ( Tyrian pur- 
ple* from?" 

"Yes." 

"I am going to carry this little shell home 
with me as a relic, and a reminder of our ride 
to-night. Would n' t you ?' ' 

"Yes; it will have a double interest. " 

Harry pocketed it carefully. They mounted 
and galloped on again. 

"Do you know," said Will, "a few years ago 
we could not have been here at this time of night 
with any sort of safety. I suppose there has been 
more robbing of travellers in this region than 
almost anywhere else in Palestine. ' ' 

"Do you suppose there is any risk?" 

"Not much, if any; only enough at the most 
to add a trifle to the excitement. But after to-day, 
we shall be likely enough any time to meet wan- 
dering Bedouins. They come in from beyond the 
Jordan by way of the Plain of Esdraelon. They 
used to come often at harvest-time in large bands 
and ravage the whole country. But that seldom 
happens now. Usually they are as harmless as 
the travellers whom they meet, though no doubt 
they would be glad to rob them if they dared." 



l66 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

A little farther on and they drew near the 
mouth of the Kishon. They had overtaken and 
passed their men a short way back. 

"This is quite a river, M Harry said as they 
came in sight of it. " Can we cross it safely?" 

" Yes; but not in the narrowest part. There 
is always a sand-bar across the mouth, and by fol- 
lowing that and holding our feet well up on the 
horses' sides we will escape a wetting. In the 
summer, when the water is low and the west 
winds are strong, the bar conquers the river and 
bridges it wholly. Then the little water that is 
running sinks under the sand, and one can cross 
on foot. But in the rainy season men can cross 
only in boats, and horses have to swim. There 
is danger too from quicksands. The river was 
swollen like that in the Old Testament time when 
it bore so important a part in the destruction of 
Sisera's army, after its defeat by the Israelites 
under Deborah and Barak. * Sisera was en- 
camped on the Plain of Esdraelon between the 
Kishon and the mountains of Samaria. By Deb- 
orah's directions Barak marched from Mount 
Tabor with his ten thousand men and attacked 
the enemy fiercely, surprising and defeating them. 
Then he pursued them down the plain towards 
their strongholds located in the pass a few miles 
* Judges 5:21. 



A NIGHT RIDE TO HAIFA. 



167 



southeast of Haifa. The mountain on one side 
and the marshes of Thora with the Kishon on 
the other shut them in more and more close- 
ly. Very soon the mountain and the river 
touched in front of them. There was no escape. 
And yet just beyond rose their strong castle of 
Harosheth. If only they could have gained that 
they would have been safe. Those who were be- 
hind pressed upon the ranks in front. Horses 
and chariots and horsemen and footmen were 
driven into the water. Those who were not slain 
by the sword the river destroyed. None escaped. 
But where there was then such a raging river now 
it is likely we shall find hardly a sign of water. 
In the dry season the whole upper part of the 
Kishon disappears; and running water is found 
only between this point on the beach and a place 
three miles inland, where there are large constant 
springs. ' ' 

They reached the fording-place. Under the 
moonlight the water looked very beautiful. It 
was wider and rougher than they had expected, 
and by the line of the waves they knew that the 
ford led, not straight across, but in a curve far to 
the right out into the bay. But they had no 
thought of risk. 

" Come on, Harry !" and Will touched his 
horse with the spurs. The horse was afraid and 



1 68 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

tried to draw back, but he forced hiin in. Harry 
followed. 

The water only very gradually deepened — but 
it deepened surely — to the horses' fetlocks, to 
their knees, to their bellies; and they were not 
yet half way across. There was a strong current, 
and the wind against it raised a sea that began to 
make their horses stagger. Neither was it easy 
now to be certain of the direction: they could 
judge only by the roughness of the waves; a few 
feet either side and they would be in deep water. 
And now the water was well up on the horses' 
shoulders. It would not do to risk letting them 
swim here, unless they had to; the current was 
too strong and they were too far out. 

But at last they were on a level, and seeming- 
ly rather more than halfway across. Just then 
Will happened to glance seaward, and there, 
whether because they were in a more exposed 
place or because the wind had really risen, be- 
hold, was a great wave rushing towards them that 
would surely sweep their horses. If others were 
following it they certainly were in great danger. 
Will forgot all about himself. 

" Harry, quick, you are too far in; pull to the 
right!" he shouted; and then again, as he saw the 
wave almost upon them; " It 's too late; cling to 
your horse!" 



A NIGHT RIDE TO HAIFA. 1 69 

He wheeled his own just in time to make a 
stride or two towards Harry and then to face the 
wave. It drenched him and he felt his horse lose 
its footing; but only for a moment; then he stood 
firm aofain. He dashed the water out of his hair 
and eyes. There was terrible fear in his heart. 
There was Harry to the east of him clinging to 
his horse, and not far away; but the horse was 
swimming with only his head and floating mane 
out of the water, and swimming the wrong way — 
up the river towards still deeper water and quick- 
sands beyond. 

"Harry, drop out of the saddle, else you'll 
drown your horse, but cling to him! Now try 
and turn him! Keep cool and save your breath 
in case you have to swim." 

Would the horse turn? It seemed not. He 
was frightened and confused! Will was just ready 
to take the last chance, and a desperate one; he 
had thrown off his coat and in a minute would 
have been swimming after them, when the horse 
yielded and turned towards him. ' 

' 4 Now, Harry, hold as lightly as you can with 
one hand and try to swim with the other! A 
minute more, Harry; I can almost reach you." 

But he would never have reached him, though 
now he was almost within arms-length. The 
horse was trying again to turn towards the land, 



I JO HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

and Harry had no strength to hinder him. Will 
saw his hold loosening. 

" I can't do it, Cousin Will." 

In an instant Will spurred his horse a little 
nearer, slipped the long bridle over his head, and 
was in the water. A few strokes and he could 
just reach Harry and his horse. It was hard 
work for a minute; then he had them safe; both 
horses stood firm. He helped Harry into his sad- 
dle and regained his own. 

The waves were still running high, but the 
worst of it was over. Close together they went 
carefully on. The water shoaled rapidly — to the 
horses' knees, to their fetlocks. They were safe 
arain on the dry land. 

They looked back over the beautiful moon-lit 
water out of which they were escaped. It had 
been a sudden, wholly unanticipated danger. It 
seemed unreal, except for their dripping clothes. 
They said nothing; only a word from Will: 

1 1 1 When thou passest through the waters, I 
will be with thee; and through the rivers, they 
shall not overflow thee.' It is true literally for 
us, Harry." 

When they had seen their men come up and 
get safely through the now quieter water, they 
turned away and rode hard towards Haifa. It 
was late when they reached the town, but they 



A NIGHT RIDE TO HAIFA. 171 

found comfortable accommodations at an inn in 
the German quarter. 

The ride had been long and full of excite- 
ment; yet, when they had rested a little, they 
found that although tired, they were not u tired 
out." It was a comfortable, hungry and sleepy 
tiredness, Harry said. But the men fared worse. 
It was so late Hassan had trouble in finding food 
and lodging for his horses, and Elias had suc- 
cumbed to the night-riding and was down with 
chills. 

"I am sorry for them," Harry said; "but it is 
all their own fault." 

"They have had a needed lesson," Will said. 
"They are not likely to rebel again. The only 
safe way was to be decided with them at the 
first." 

Just as they were finishing supper Elias came 
into the room and said meekly to Will that Has- 
san wished to see him. 

"Let him come in," said Will. 

Hassan entered. 

"Well, what do you want?" 

Elias explained that he wanted the first pay- 
ment for the horses. 

"What was the bargain in regard to that?" 

"That you were to pay us on the fourth day, 
sir, from Beirut." 



172 harry's trip to the; orient. 

" And here at Haifa?" 
"Yes, sir." 

"But you have been pretending that the 
agreement was to go no farther than Acre on the 
fourth day. You can hardly claim now that I 
was wrong in saying that you two were plotting 
and lying. 1 1 

Will paid them and sent them off. He and 
Harry went to their rooms and to their beds, 
which Harry, upon inspection, reported to be re- 
markably free from the Eastern pest of fleas, clean 
and comfortable. In about two minutes they 
were sound asleep. 



HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 



173 



CHAPTER XXI. 

HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 

"WE have an easy ride before us to-day, n 
said Will, 4 4 across the hills to Nazareth. There 
will be time enough if we leave here by nine or 
ten. So we can take till that hour for our excur- 
sion to Mount Carmel. We will start at once. n 

u Do we want the men?" 

1 1 Hassan must go to take care of the horses. 
EHas may as well stay here till we return. ' ' 

Leaving the inn, they followed an easy path 
through the pleasant German settlement, through 
silvery old olive-orchards on the lower slopes of 
the mount, up a steeper, but still easy path six 
hundred feet to the summit. 

At an old monastery there they were received 
by the monks and ushered into the waiting-room 
of the establishment. They were thirsty after 
the ride, and a pleasant drink was brought them 
by one of the brethren, made from some prepara- 
tion of the juice of oranges. It was offered vol- 
untarily, without request on their part. Then 
they were urged to allow breakfast to be prepared, 
and could scarcely excuse themselves with the 



1/4 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



answer that they had already eaten. After rest- 
ing they were taken through the convent, and, at 
last, out upon its high, flat roof for the fine view 
of hills and plains and of the " Great Sea M to the 
west. 

"I wish," said Harry, " that we could have 
spent last night here, everything and everybody 
seem so pleasant." 

" Yes," answered Will. 14 But it would have 
been doing too much to have tried to reach here, 
yesterday evening. It would have been the last 
straw on the camel's back. Had you supposed 
that Mount Carmel was as long a mountain as it 
is? As we saw it yesterday, and have seen it 
this morning, it stretches away in a ridge twelve 
miles long, I should think, towards the hills of 
Samaria in the southeast. And it was near that 
end, not here, that the prophets of Baal assem- 
bled when Elijah called them together to prove 
by the test of fire whether Baal or Jehovah was 
the true God."* 

They left the roof of the convent, said good-by 
to the friendly monks, and were ready for the re- 
turn. Hassan brought the horses, but Harry pro- 
posed that they walk part way down; he wanted 
to explore a cave which they had seen while as- 
cending, by the roadside in the limestone rock. 

* i Kings 18 : 19 ff. 



HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 



175 



"For aught we know," said Harry, "it may 
sometimes have sheltered Elijah and EHsha." 

Will assented. They walked as far as the 
cave. Then they mounted and were soon back 
at the inn. Elias joined them, and they rode to- 
wards Nazareth. 

The route led for some miles along the base of 
Carmel and across the Plain of Acre towards the 
entrance between the hills to the Plain of Esdra- 
elon. They passed the large fountains of the Ki- 
shon, and a little farther on crossed the nearly dry 
bed of the stream, finding their way among thick 
clumps of blossoming oleander-bushes. There 
was no running water, only still pools, with a 
flock of goats among them and an Arab boy for 
keeper. 

They met many travellers. It w r as a much 
frequented way along which they were journey- 
ing. There were farmers, shepherds, traders, on 
foot and mounted, groups of evil-visaged Arabs. 
Once a finely-mounted Bedouin rode by, armed 
with a gun and sword and long, slim lance. 
They passed a migrating family. The three 
children were mounted on a diminutive donkey. 
The women wore head-dresses of copper coins, 
strung loosely together and laid over their fore- 
heads and hair. 

At one point, where the road forked, there was 



176 HARRY'S TRIP TO TH£ ORIENT. 

a dispute between Blias and Hassan as to which 
was the path they ought to take. Elias, as guide, 
had his way, and they kept to the right hand. 

But Elias was wrong, as he soon found. 
Then, instead of retracing their steps, they struck 
across through the growing wheat, that reached 
already to their horses' heads, towards the other 
path where it led to the north, up into the beau- 
tiful hill-country of Galilee. 

Now the scenery differed greatly from any- 
thing they had before found. They had left the 
sea and the plain behind them, though from time 
to time they had distant glimpses of the latter. 

One new feature in the landscape showed it- 
self before they had reached the summit of the 
first steep hill. They had seen scarcely a single 
fine tree, other than cultivated ones, since leaving 
Beirut. Now they were riding through splendid 
groves of oaks. 

"We must lunch under one of these great 
trees," said Will. 

1 ' There are as fine ones, sir," said Elias, "and 
there is a better view, just beyond at the top of 
the hill." 

"Very well, we will stop there." 

It w r as a noble tree which they finally chose 
as the green tent for their noon camp. The 
branches hung low and thick and sheltered them 



HAIFA TO NA2ARKTH. 



177 



thoroughly from the hot sun, and the heat was 
tempered besides by a cool breeze from the north. 
They spread their blankets over the grass and 
wild flowers. Elias brought the lunch. 

When they had eaten, they read for a while, 
wrote, transferred the flowers which they had 
found to their pocket-press,* talked over their 
plans, lying there at their ease under the green 
roof, on the green floor, near the breezy summit 
of this first of the hills of Galilee. So they rested 
for an hour or more. 

The afternoon ride was very varied — up and 
down hills, across inlying spurs from the Plain of 
Esdraelon covered with ripening grain, into deep 
valleys, over high plateaus, but all the time 
gradually ascending. Across one of these plat- 
eaus they had their first view of Mount Tabor. 
It seemed to lie like a great, black half-moon just 
beyond the edge of the plain. The impression 
was of a much larger, more imposing mountain 
than they had imagined. 

In and out, among the hills and over them, 
the path wound. It was lonelier and wilder 
than the way along the plain had been. Wild 
pigeons often flew up before them from clumps of 
bushes and the shelter of rocks and grass. Elias 

* They carried a miniature flower-press in which they kept 
what Harry called a " flower journal." 

Harry's Trip. 12 



178 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

wasted his powder and shot, and tried Will's 
patience, in vain efforts to shoot them. There 
were seldom any other birds or any animals in 
sight, but of insects there were many. The ants 
interested them. Often they rode over armies of 
them whose lines of march crossed the beaten 
footpath between the grain-fields. They were 
plundering the fields. Each ant as they marched 
was heavily laden with its burden of food, its 
grain of wheat. The busy multitudes reminded 
them of Solomon's advice to the sluggard.* 

And now they were approaching very near to 
Nazareth. There were more signs of inhabitants 
above them. Below, to their right, on the slope 
of the hill stood a substantial stone house in the 
midst of vineyards and silvery olive-orchards, and 
here and there were less extensive establishments. 
A few rods farther on, up the steep part to the ridge 
of the next line of hills — what would they see 
there? Simply a common Syrian town? No. 
They reached the summit, and there below them 
lay Nazareth ! Nazareth, a little Syrian town ; 
yes; but ah, how far from seeming commonplace ! 
Dear indeed it has been to the thoughts of mil- 
lions of little children, and of the middle-aged 
and the old. Nazareth, where the Christ-child 
dwelt with Mary and Joseph, and where he in- 
* Prov. 6 : 6. 



HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 



179 



creased in wisdom and stature and in favor with 
God and man, and whence at last he went out to 
finish the work which has redeemed the world. 

Nazareth ! home of Mary mild, 
Home of Jesus, Saviour-child, 
Quiet lie among your hills, 
Speak no word ; your honor fills 
All the world, and ever will 
While the world through vale and hill 
Humbly worship Mary's child, 
Jesus, Saviour, meek and mild. 

Let your maidens, if they will, 
At your fount their pitchers fill ; 
All the world will draw from thee 
Better water flowing free ; 
Let your maidens softly sing 
Round your ever-flowing spring; 
Softest words and water's flow 
Can but echo as they go, 
" Nazareth's Jesus now is King, 
Jesus, Saviour, him we sing." 

Nazareth ! home of God's own child, 
Home of Mary pure and mild, 
No proud scribes need now to show 
Whether good from you can go ; 
Tiny sparrows, nothing worth, 
Lilies fading from their birth, 
Tell of him whom Nazareth gave, 
Tell of Jesus, strong to save. 
Jesus, Saviour, gracious King ! 
All the world their praises bring. 

The steep hillside covered by its clinging 
houses, and the valley, and the encircling hills 
with their far-off views, and the precipice over 



l8o HARRY'S TRIP TO TH£ ORIENT. 

which the towns-people would once have cast the 
Saviour, all are the same now as they were 
eighteen hundred years ago. The stage is the 
same. Only the actors upon it are changed. 

"It will shorten the distance to the hospice, 
sir," said Elias, "if we keep right down the hill 
between the houses instead of going around. " 

1 1 Take the shortest way, if you can get the 
horses down there. It looks to me too steep for 
them." 

"It is steep, sir, and very dusty; but Hassan 
and I will lead them. ' 1 

They all dismounted. Will and Harry fol- 
lowed behind, while the horses with the men 
scrambled and slid and stumbled down the narrow 
streets, through clouds of white dust, to the com- 
paratively level streets below. There they re- 
mounted, and after riding a few rods farther, 
reached the spacious Franciscan hospice, where 
they hoped to find quarters for the night. 

"This looks comfortable from the outside," 
said Harry, as they waited for an answer to their 
knock. "I wonder what it is inside." 

"And the place is strong enough," said Will, 
"with its heavy doors and few windows and stone 
walls, to be a small fortress. Likely enough it 
has had to serve as such in its time." 

The bolts were drawn and the door swung 



HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 



181 



open. In the doorway stood a monk, round-faced 
and stout, with tonsured head and full beard. 
He wore a brown dress of coarse serge, cowled, 
girded at the waist with a cord, and reaching to 
the feet. It was " Fra Johannes " in the costume 
of his order. He and Elias conferred together. 

" Is n't he jolly-looking ?" remarked Harry. 
"No fear but he will take good care of us. I 
don't believe he lives on sour milk and pickled 
grape-leaves and boiled cucumbers!" 

" What does he say, Elias?" 

( { He says that you are welcome, sir, and will 
you dismount and go in?" 

Worthy Fra Johannes ! He received them at 
the door, and conducted them first to the long, 
dimly-lighted dining-room. There he placed re- 
freshments before them, to serve, he said, until a 
heartier meal could be provided. Then he showed 
them to their room. 

"Well, this is more promising for comfort 
than anything we have seen in a good while," 
said Will. 

"Isn't it though ! It 's a real clean, cosey lit- 
tle room." 

1 1 And what a busy market-place the window 
overlooks. Riders and footmen are passing. 
Merchants are there with their wares. Really 
this seems to be quite a stirring town. ' 1 



l8z HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 



"And if there isn't a blacksmith too, with 
his shop right in the street, there by the wall ! 
two of them, sitting on the ground with their 
stock in trade by them — hammers, nails, and 
horseshoes. It's certainly convenient for their 
. customers. There's a horseman, now, stopping 
to have his horse shod. ' ' 

Across the street behind a high stone wall 
were other buildings of the Franciscans, their 
convent and the Church of the Annunciation 
with its spires rising against the sky. 

I suppose we ought to explore the place 
before dark, oughtn't we?" said Harry. 

"Yes, there will not be much time in the 
morning. But there is very little I care to see 
among the so-called sacred places that they show. 
These stone buildings with their modern tradi- 
tions do not interest me nearly as much as the 
place itself, the hills and the valleys that are as 
they have always been. 

1 1 There is one spot though I would not fail to 
visit, the village fountain, the only one there is 
here, from which the women and children bring 
their daily supplies now, just as the women and 
children of Nazareth, with Mary and Jesus among 
them, brought theirs in the long-ago Bible times. 
We will hunt up Brother Johannes and inquire 
of him about the sights of the place." 



HAIFA TO NAZARETH. 



They found the good brother. When he un- 
derstood their errand he at once offered to be their 
guide. Most of the sacred places, he said, were 
held by their order; some few were held by 
the other sects. He took a bunch of great keys 
and went out before them bareheaded, as is the 
custom with the brotherhood. Many of the peo- 
ple whom they met as they walked saluted him, 
especially many of the little children. Some 
of them kissed his hand and pressed it first 
to their hearts then to their foreheads. One 
pretty little girl included Will and Harry in the 
respectful salutation. They visited the neighbor- 
ing Church of the Annunciation, built, accord- 
ing to the claim of the priests, on the spot where 
the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the birth of 
the Messiah. They were taken down a flight of 
stairs and shown "Mary's cave" as the exact 
place of the vision. A dim light is always kept 
burning there. The guide lighted a candle and 
led them back of the first cave to another, with 
a blackened outlet up through the rock to the 
outside air. This he said was Mary's kitchen. 
In different parts of the town they were shown 
the so-called synagogue where Christ read and 
expounded the Scriptures, and the workshop of 
Joseph, and a room containing a large flat stone, 
"the table of Christ and his disciples." 



184 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Said Will, 11 They show us these things with 
as much confidence as if they did not know that 
in the beginning of the thirteenth century Naza- 
reth was wholly destroyed by the Saracens — per- 
haps they do not know it — and that for three or 
four hundred years after, although the town was 
partly rebuilt, it was scarcely known to the Chris- 
tian world. Few pilgrims ever visited the place. 
It is only of late that the sacred places have been 
rediscovered or reinvented, and Nazareth restored 
to something of the favor which it possessed in 
the sixth and seventh centuries." 

"It seems to be a prosperous, lively place 
now," said Harry; "I mean compared with other 
villages that we have seen. 1 ' 

4 1 Yes, I suppose there are five or six thousand 
people living here now. One reason of its growth 
has been its nearness to the Plain of Esdraelon. 
Many of the farmers of that region, who would 
live there if they could be secure from the Bed- 
ouins, have their homes here instead." 

1 1 Fra Johannes tells me there is one other 
place he wants us to visit, the 1 Chapel of Mary's 
Well. 5 It belongs, he says, to the Greek Church, 
and it is built over the place where Mary used to 
come to draw water. It is quite at the end of 
the village." 

They reached the little church and found the 



HAIFA TO NA2ARKTH. 185 

interior lighted by dimly-burning lamps. In 
front of the shrine the attendant stooped and re- 
moved the cover from a small, dark hole in the 
floor, and, lowering a tin cup, brought up water 
for them to drink. It was from 4 4 Mary's Well," 
he told them. 

When they left the chapel the sun was nearly 
set; but they delayed a few moments longer, for 
they were close by the public fountain, where the 
women of the village were coming and going 
with large earthen w 7 ater-jars, carried easily on 
their heads and shoulders. It was a peculiar and 
suggestive picture; for the customs now of the 
people cannot be very different from what they 
were in the time of Mary, and the fountain is the 
very same. It is now, as it has always been, the 
" Fountain of Nazareth," though there is modern 
masonry about it and the water is caught in new- 
made troughs. 

They returned to the hospice. Dinner was 
ready. They took their places again at the long 
table and enjoyed thoroughly the well-served 
food — soup, meat, vegetables, and dessert. 

Then they bade Fra Johannes good night and 
withdrew to their room. But the night outside 
was too beautiful to leave it wholly for sleep. 
They sat by the window looking out into the 
moonlight. They recalled the varied later his- 



1 86 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



ton- of the place: how Xapoleon had rested there 
after defeating the Turks on the plain to the 
south; what the Saracens had done, and the Cru- 
saders; but they dwelt more than all, and again 
and again, on the thought that among these hills, 
under moonlight like this, through pleasant days 
and days of storm, influenced continually by such 
surroundings, Christ had dwelt, with Mary and 
Joseph, until the time was come for him to go out 
and begin his more open work in the waiting 
world. 

" After Nazareth," said Will, " the place 
where Christ dwelt oftenest was Capernaum, on 
the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. We must 
rest now to be ready for an early start to-morrow, 
and a ride as far as the lake, through Cana to Ti- 
berias." 



NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS. 187 



CHAPTER XXII. 

NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS. 

"EuAS, it is nearly seven o'clock. See if the 
horses are ready. ' ' 

1 4 They are at the door, sir. ' ' 

"Then we will start. Good-by, Fra Johan- 
nes. We are glad to have found so worthy a host 
to entertain pilgrims here in the home of our 
Lord. You might easily have done much to- 
wards making our recollection of Nazareth the 
opposite of what it will now always be. If all 
travellers remember you as w T e shall, you must 
have a wide circle of friends. Good-by. 1 5 

" Good-by, sir." 

They rode through the town, past the foun- 
tain, where the water-carriers were still busier 
than they had been the evening before, and up 
the hills opposite those they had descended in en- 
tering the town. Looking back they were im- 
pressed again with the beauty of the scene before 
them, where the town, with its stone churches 
and convents, lay among its fifteen rounded hills 
"like the centre of a flower among its petals," 
Harry suggested. 



1 88 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

They crossed the ridge, and the picture was 
shut away from their sight. A ride to the north- 
east of about four and a half miles brought them 
to 1 1 Kefr Kenna, ' ' a miserable village with a few 
stone and mortar houses and forlorn-looking in- 
habitants. It is Cana of Galilee,* where the Sa- 
viour attended the wedding-feast and made water 
wine,f where the nobleman of Capernaum came 
to ask Jesus to go down and heal his son, I and 
w T here the apostle Nathanael was born. § 

As they entered the narrow lanes between the 
houses they were at once besieged by a troop of 
boys, eager to hold their horses while they visited 
the room reputed to be that in which the first 
miracle was performed. In their eagerness, and 
their hope of obtaining backsheesh, these boys 
were altogether too forward; they were trouble- 
some. 

Harry had been a little way behind. Now he 
rode up beside his cousin. " Cousin Will," he 
said, "do you know, I feel as though I had just 
done a wicked thing — those fellows were so trou- 
blesome ! They wanted to lead my horse. I 
told them to clear out; but one of them, a tall, 

* There is a rival site farther north in "Kana el Jelll." Its 
name is strongly in its favor, while tradition is on the side of 
Kefr Kenna. f John 2 : 1-11. t John 4 : 46-50. g John 



NA2ARKTH TO TIBERIAS. 189 

slim fellow, laid his hand on my bridle. I had 
not seen his face at all; I only noticed that he 
seemed to be rather the leader among them. I 
hardly thought what I was doing, but I just drew 
my whip, lightly enough, across his hand. It 
wasn't a hard blow, but he let go and turned to- 
wards me, just surprised, not angry, apparently, 
in the least. It seemed as though I had struck 
the child Jesus ! For there was that very same 
type of face looking up at me which, you remem- 
ber, we saw once before in Damascus — which you 
called a typical face and said was like that which 
many of the old painters used in making their 
pictures of Christ. It really startled me ! There 
is the boy now. I wish you 'd call him up and 
let him hold all the horses. And I '11 give him 
double backsheesh besides." 

41 You are right," said Will. "It is that same 
peculiar type: jet-black hair, an intense face, dark 
and sensitive, with black eyes, the whole form 
slight and graceful. It is strange that we should 
have found it just here." 

They were taken into the feast-room. 

"This is not suggestive of weddings and mer- 
riment," said Will; "it is too dark and dingy. 
The place seems to be a sort of chapel now, w T ith 
its altar, and lamp burning before the shrine." 

4 4 I wonder, ' ' said Harry, 4 4 if the people sup- 



190 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

pose that those six earthen jars along the wall 
are the original stone ones?" 

' 1 Very likely. But we have seen all there is 
here, and different enough everything is, house 
and all, from what we imagine the place to 
have been where the wedding -feast was held 
and the first recorded miracle of the Lord was 
performed. ' 1 

Towards the middle of the afternoon they 
were riding along an extended plateau — though 
without appreciating how high they were above 
the sea, the ascent had been so gradual and irreg- 
ular. 

" Would you like, sir, to ride over to that hill 
for the sake of the view from it?" asked Elias, 
pointing to a rocky ridge of ground, some sixty 
feet high in the highest part, a quarter of a mile 
away on the left. 

11 Is it especially interesting there?" 

" It is a very good view, sir. 1 1 

"What hill is it? I supposed there was no 
view about here at all equal to Mount Tabor." 

Elias gave some name, but one they were not 
familiar with. 

" Is there any path to it?" 

"No, sir; but we can find our way across the 
country." 

"I think it's not worth while, Harry, taking 



NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS. 191 

the time. I am in a hurry to reach Tiberias and 
the Sea of Galilee." 
"So am I." 

But after a few minutes Will spoke again: 
4 ' Yet we are hardly wise. There is time 
enough to reach Tiberias easily before dark, and 
if we fail to climb this hill we may be losing 
more than we think. EHas, lead the way there 
by the smoothest path you can find." 

But the smoothest w r ay was too rough for fast 
riding. They could only walk their horses over 
stony, uneven ground. Crossing the compara- 
tively level space in front they neared the foot of 
the hill. There were two slight elevations of un- 
equal height connected by an irregular central 
ridge. 

They rode leisurely up the gradual ascent. 
Several times they stopped while Harry dis- 
mounted to gather new varieties of flowers that 
were abundant all about them. There was one 
variety especially that attracted them, a bright, 
star-shaped flower of crimson and black — anem- 
ones the natives call them, according to Elias. 

Said Harry, " If we can press these so that 
they will keep their colors till we reach home, I 
believe they will be the prettiest flowers that we 
have found. Cousin Will, I wonder what we 
shall see in just a few minutes more ? I ima- 



192 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



gine not very much; the hill isn't high enough; 
but I'm curious to know. I'll ride ahead and 
look." 

As he reached the top of the ridge Will saw 
him stop suddenly and heard him cry out in as- 
tonishment. He had good reason to do so. Will 
in turn urged his horse forward up to Harry's 
side. There he sat for a while without a word. 
Then he dismounted and, signing to Elias to stay 
behind with the horses, walked off to the farthest 
point of the ridge. By nothing that he had ever 
seen before had he been impressed as he was by 
this. He wanted to be alone. Presently he beck- 
oned to Harry, who had also dismounted, to join 
him. 

"Harry, it is not too much to say this has 
been just overwhelming to me ! I have felt more 
nearly than I ever have before, and more, I ima- 
gine, than I shall at Jerusalem itself, what the 
old Crusaders felt at their first sight of the Holy 
City: they were ready to throw themselves from 
their horses and kneel down on the ground and 
cover their faces. The unexpectedness of it all 
adds to the effect of it. I know well enough now 
where we are. We are on Mount Hattin. These 
are the 1 Horns of Hattin.' It is the place where 
Christ spoke to the disciples the Sermon on the 
Mount, the Mount of the Beatitudes. It is the 



NA£ARKTH TO TIBKRIAS. 193 



New Testament Mount Sinai.* Because we ap- 
proached from the west we thought it was only a 
little hill, sixty feet high or so; but here on this 
side it goes sheer down five hundred feet, steep 
almost as a precipice, to the plain, which appears 
from this distance smooth as a floor ; and then 
down again five hundred feet more to the blue 
gem there, dark as the bluest sky — a sapphire 
set in the midst of circle after circle of receding 
hills and mountains, with Mount Hermon as 
the last, snow-crowned in the north ; that gem 
which is the gem of the whole world, the Sea of 
Galilee. 

O shining sea ! O silver-sweet 

iEolian harp of Galilee, 
No wind-swept waves in all the world 

Can speak like thee. 

The softest ripples on thy shore, 
Thy wildest waves, cannot forget ; 

World-words of love, world-words of peace, 
They echo yet. 

gem, set deep among the hills 
Of Galilee ! O sacred sea, 

Once swept by Jesus' breath in words 
That deathless be, 

Upon this mount where Jesus taught, 
This altar reared in lofty state, 

1 yield myself anew to Him 
Who made thee great. 

* The site of the Sermon on the Mount is not fully deter- 
mined, but tradition and fitness point to Mount Hattin. . 



Harry's Trip. 



13 



194 HARRY'S TRIP TO TH£ ORIENT. 

They delayed as long as it was possible for 
them to delay, if they were to reach Tiberias 
before dark. Then they mounted and turned 
reluctantly away. When they had descended 
the Horns they kept to the right so as to reach 
the village of Hattin at the foot of the moun- 
tain. 

As they rode Will said, "It was 1,800 years 
ago, Harry, when that first multitude was gath- 
ered here, according to tradition, to listen to the 
Saviour saying, with the other beatitudes, 4 Bless- 
ed are the peacemakers. } History tells that near- 
ly 1,200 years later a very different multitude 
met, not to seek peace, but to fight in one of the 
deadliest conflicts of the Crusades. 

"It was in the year 1187. A truce had been 
agreed upon between the Saracens and the Crusa- 
ders; but the latter had violated it. A band of 
them, under the command of Raynald of Chatil- 
lon, had plundered a rich caravan on its way 
from Damascus to Arabia. When restitution 
could not be obtained, Sultan Saladin marched 
with a great army into Palestine. He met the 
Crusaders on this plain of Hattin — 2,000 knights, 
8,000 heavy-armed foot-soldiers, and many light 
troops beside. 

1 ( The battle began at daybreak ; and at once 
what is always terrible became exceptionally so. 



NAZARETH TO TIBKRIAS. 1 95 

On both sides the fight was for religion; on both 
it was for dominion. On the side of the Crusa- 
ders it soon became also a battle for life. They 
were out-generaled at every point; they were sur- 
rounded. They failed even to obtain water, 
though close by, near the village of Hattin, there 
was a fountain of the best of water; and soon they 
were perishing from thirst under the intense heat 
of the July sun. 

* 4 They became desperate. The Holy Cross, 
which the bishops of Acre and Lydda had brought 
to the war from Jerusalem, was already captured. 
Many of the bravest were slain. There was no 
hope. The battle became a slaughter. A small 
company of knights, those of Count Raymond, 
drew together, and charged through the enemy's 
ranks and escaped towards Tyre. The others, 
the few who were left alive, were pressed back to 
the Horns. There they fought a little longer. 
Three times the Saracens charged up the slope, 
and then the fight was ended. Some had been 
forced over the edge of the precipice. The rest, 
with the King of Jerusalem among them, surren- 
dered. Saladin received the captives in his tent. 
Most of them he received with kindness; but the 
one man whose violation of the truce had re- 
newed the war he cut down before them all with 
his own sword. Afterwards two hundred knights 



196 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



were beheaded. The king and the princes were 
imprisoned in Damascus. 

"It was the death-blow to the power of the 
Crusaders in Palestine. By September most of 
the lesser strongholds of the country were occu- 
pied, and in October Jerusalem itself yielded to 
Saladin." 

After a steep descent from the upper plain the 
travellers regained a beaten path near the village 
of Hattin. They entered the village, and, find- 
ing their way among the flat-roofed, irregular- 
ly-placed huts, came out beyond on the lower 
plain, or, rather, plateau, which they had looked 
down upon from the Horns of Hattin, that tow- 
ered now above them five hundred feet against 
the sky. 

Their course lay across this plateau by an easy 
path towards the lake, which was now hidden 
again in its deep basin. 

u You can't see Tiberias or the lake, sir," said 
Elias, "until we are close upon them. The de- 
scent to them is very steep. But we are nearly 
there. ' ' 

Soon they reached the abrupt edge of the plat- 
eau. They were close above the lake; and the 
town of Tiberias, with its ruined walls and poor 
houses, lay immediately below them. 

They accomplished safely the steep descent — 



NA2ARKTH TO TIBERIAS. 197 

it was the second of the two steps down from the 
summit of Mount Hattin — and entered the town 
by what was once a gateway, but now seemed 
hardly more than a break in the ruined wall. 

Within, not far from the gate, they found the 
Latin hospice. It furnished them with fairly 
comfortable quarters; though neither in its ac- 
commodations nor in its brethren did it equal the 
hospice at Nazareth, excepting that here, back of 
the house, was a pleasant little garden, walled in, 
and carefully kept in simple style by one of the 
monks. 

As soon as possible Will and Harry sallied 
from the hospice. Outside the heavy gate of 
the courtyard a lane led down to the left, along 
which women and children were passing, carry- 
ing large earthen water-jars balanced on their 
heads and shoulders; and men too were there, 
leading their horses and donkeys and goats to 
drink. Following this lane they came to the 
lake — came to a silvery beach sloping evenly 
down to the rippling waters of what seemed to 
them, as they stooped and touched it, the sacred 
Sea of Galilee. 

Close by was a ruined tower of black stone. 
They clambered to it. There they could see the 
fair lake stretching away far to the north and 
south. Behind them were old fortifications of the 



198 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Crusaders, and opposite, the gray cliffs of the 
eastern shore. 

Presently they returned. Then they wan- 
dered for a time throngh the intricate, dirty 
streets of the once beautiful town — this namesake 
of the great Emperor Tiberius. As the sun was 
setting they came again to the edge of the lake 
for one more look at its beauty. And there they 
gained for themselves a bright "good night " be- 
fore returning to the gloomy hospice; for drifting 
slowly by the spot where they stood went a clumsy 
sail-boat filled full with a merry crowd of young 
people with bright faces, in holiday dress. They 
were singing, and as they sang they accompanied 
their voices loudly with a rhythmic clapping of 
their hands. Catching sight of Will and Harry 
the singers signaled to them with their hands and 
voices, and when the signal was returned re- 
doubled their music and laughter and noise. 

"If we could translate their singing," said 
Will, " the jingle would be something like 
this: 

Thus we row, lightly now, 

On the sea ; 
Singing free, glad as thou, 

Galilee. 

Like thy waves beating time 

On our boat, 
Beat our hands to our rhyme 

While we float. 



NAZARETH TO TIBERIAS. 199 

Shadows deep round us creep, 

Now good night ; 
Spirits kind watch will keep 

Till the light. Good night. 

So singing and laughing they drifted out of 
sight. And when the travellers had seen the 
moon shining above the lake they too drifted 
away into the land of dreams. 



200 harry's trip to the orient. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE SHORE OF GEXXESARET. 

"What was it Elias was so excited about 
just now, Cousin Will?" 

1 4 When I asked where the horses were, he 
said that Hassan told him we were going to Tell 
Hum to-day by boat, and that travellers never 
made the trip with horses. 1 ' 

" Did n't he know better than that?" 

c< Certainly he did, but he hoped we did not. 
He wanted a holiday for himself and Hassan. It 
would be nonsense to take a boat to-day. It 
w^ould be pleasant if we could be sure of the wind 
and could stop as we shall want to along the way; 
but the water now is like glass, and it is likely to 
stay so. It would be dangerously hot too on the 
w^ater. It promises to be the hottest day we have 
had yet." 

"What did you tell Elias?" 

"To say to Hassan that we would be ready to 
mount in exactly fifteen minutes." 

In fifteen minutes they mounted at the hos- 
pice gate. Their day's ride was to be northward 
along the lake as far as Tell Hum, and back to 



THE SHORE OF GENNESARET. ZOI 



Tiberias for another night. This would take 
them to four places of interest, the "Round Foun- 
tain " and u Fountain of the Fig-tree n on the 
Plain of Gennesaret, Tabighahjust beyond, and 
north of that again Tell Hum, one of which 
places marks the location of ancient Capernaum, 
but which one is undetermined. 

As they left Tiberias their course led at first, 
by a narrow path, along the face of hills that ad- 
vance to the very edge of the water. Here the 
view includes nearly the whole lake. 

"How large is this Sea of Galilee?" asked 
Harry. 

" About thirteen miles long and five miles 
across here; seven miles at the widest part. Ti- 
berias lies some five miles from the southern end 
of the lake, and is the only town of any impor- 
tance on the whole shore. 7 ' * 

They were at the narrowest and worst part of 
the cliff path when they saw a loaded camel 
approaching. They made haste to give as much 
room as possible. That at the best would have 
been no more than enough; but while the others 
passed safely, Will's horse balked when he tried 

* Tiberias was built in the time of Christ, by Herod Anti- 
pas, who named it in honor of the Emperor Tiberius, and 
made it his capital. It is mentioned but three times in the 
Bible, and no visit of Christ to it is recorded. 



202 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

to force him to the edge of the path. No wonder, 
for it looked like a choice for the horse between 
a fall over the rocks for himself or a fall from 
his back for his rider. Before Will could master 
him, the camel was swinging down close upon 
them, swaying heavily like a ship in rough water, 
a foot or so to each side as he came. 

As he passed the swing was towards Will. 
In an instant they struck sharply, and horse and 
camel and man were struggling together. It was 
a collision, not between ships at sea or of knights 
in harness, but between a horse with its rider 
and a camel, and with the advantage wholly on 
the camel's side. 

It was quickly over. They had crowded past, 
and Will had kept his seat; but he had no incli- 
nation to challenge another joust. 

"I came out better than I hoped," he said. 
"I wonder what the camel's load was. Certainly 
it was not bags of grain. It felt against my knee 
like stone." 

The path improved. 

11 Cousin Will, do you believe in witches 
flying through the air?" asked Harry; " because, 
if you do, I think a flock of them must have got 
snarled up in that tree, and escaped only with the 
loss of a good part of their clothes;" and he 
pointed to a solitary tree ten or fifteen feet high. 



THK SHORK OK GKNNKSARKT. 203 

1 1 It does look strange," said Will. " Shreds 
of cloth of all colors and materials are fluttering 
from every part of it EHas, what does all that 
mean ?" 

" It is a sacred tree, sir, and the bits of clothes 
are the offerings of pilgrims, mostly of those 
going for their health to the warm baths south of 
Tiberias." 

i 1 A flowering bush of that species would make 
a sensation at home," remarked Harry. "I won- 
der if I can't pick one of the blossoms." 

" I would n't try. You had better be satisfied 
with these crowds of oleanders; or here is a pret- 
ty bush and a new one, with pink, funnel-shaped 
flowers. They are like little morning-glories 
that are tired of climbing and so have decided to 
blossom on a bush instead of a vine. 5 ' 

"Well, I will take one of them for the press 
and put it next to the { anemone ' that we have 
to remind us of Mount Hattin." 

But Harry had a pleasanter reminder still to 
bring away. They saw a poor native coming 
along the path towards them. He was carrying 
a load of wood, and had besides in his hand a 
bunch of some delicately scented green herb. As 
he passed the travellers and they were anticipa- 
ting a demand for backsheesh, or an indifferent or 
hostile stare, instead he quietly slipped the plant 



204 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

he held into Harry's hand, and with a kindly 
look kept on his way. 

4 'Indeed that pleases me," said Will. "It 
was a small matter, but it was genuine kindness, 
doing a pleasant thing for entire strangers with 
no thought of reward. ' ' 

" I do n't know what it is," said Harry, "that 
he has given me, but it shall certainly have a 
place of honor among my flowers." 

About three miles north of Tiberias the hills 
drew back, at the most two miles, from the shore, 
and made room at their feet for the lovely Plain 
of Gennesaret, about three miles long. The place 
was covered now with flowers and grass on its 
pasture land, and with great fields of grain di- 
vided only by bushy water-courses, and along the 
shore where their path wound with clumps of 
flaming oleanders. 

As they descended to the plain, Magdala lay 
at their left, a miserable village now of a few 
stone and clay huts, but once the home of one of 
the faithful Marys of the New Testament story — 
Man- Magdalene. 

Xear Magdala they came to a large Arab en- 
campment. The tents were pitched, and about 
them were feeding cattle and unloaded camels. 

"Harry, I expect we shall have no better 
chance than this for an experiment you ought to 



THE SHORE OF GKNNESARET. 205 

try somewhere in Palestine. You have been 
riding horses and donkeys; don't you want to 
try a camel ? We have seen plenty of the awk- 
ward beasts, but you can't appreciate them until 
you *ve been on one." 

"It's just what I want to do! And big as 
they are, if I don't keep on better than I did on 
that bit of a donkey at Gibraltar I'll feel as 
though I ought to go to riding sheep." 

The old fellow they finally hired looked as if 
he had been through the wars, with patches of 
matted hair over his body, and a big beard, and 
callous pads at his knees. Harry at once dubbed 
him " Methuselah." 

u Methuselah, you need grooming. Would I 
like to do it? No, sir, not while you are showing 
your teeth in that style, and craning your long 
neck round and hissing like a great cat. So you 
do n't want to mind your master and get down on 
your knees for me ! Have you the rheumatism ? 
I 'd think so by the fuss you make. There, now 
you're down! Mr. Arab, you can't understand 
my language, I know; but I make signs to you. 
Please to just keep between him and my skin un- 
til I'm on top of him. If he's to nip either of 
us, I must say I 'd rather it would be you. Am I 
ready? No. Keep him down till I get a good 
hold in front." 



206 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Will laughed. 

" What are you laughing at, Cousin Will?" 

" You '11 know in a minute." 

"Now I'm ready; up with you, old fellow." 
And leaning well forward, Harry pulled at his 
head. 

But he had forgotten — with camels it is the 
other end that gets up first. It was sudden, very; 
he found himself more nearly astride the camel's 
neck than his back; but before he got his breath 
he was pitched the other way, for now it was the 
front end that was getting up. 

However, he kept on top somewhere, and now 
settled himself again in the saddle. He laughed 
down at Will. 

"Why didn't you tell me that they get up 
cow-fashion instead of horse-fashion ? You knew 
a roll on the grass wouldn't hurt me? Well, I 
was near taking it. Now go ahead, Methuselah. 
Ah, I have no more faith in your rheumatism !" 
And he shouted back to Will, "I'm glad I got 
used to rough weather on the 'Norman Monarch;' 
you'd think there was a big sea running if you 
were up here." 

And so he disappeared beyond the high olean- 
der-bushes, with the Arab running before. He 
soon returned, and brought his steed to a halt at 
Will's side and slid to the ground. 



THE SHORE OF GKNNESARET. 20J 

" It's a good sort of gymnastics, Cousin Will. 
It doesn't take long that way to get all the sha- 
king one wants. Alexander the Great on Bu- 
cephalus isn't to be compared to it." 

They remounted their horses and rode away. 
A little to the west of the encampment was the 
deep ravine down which they might have come 
the day before, from Mount Hattin, if they had 
not preferred the other route across the plateau to 
Tiberias. 

M Cousin Will, that's a wild-looking place." 

44 Yes, and there has been wild work there. 
Do you see those dark spots high up on the face 
of the precipice?" 

44 Yes." 

4 4 They are entrances to caverns which honey- 
comb the whole rock. With the village above 
them they used to be called Arbela. In the time 
of Herod the Great they were an almost impreg- 
nable stronghold for robbers. Josephus tells how 
difficult it was for the king's army, which had 
marched against them, to dislodge them.* The 
precipice was so steep and high it was impossible 
to climb to the caverns. What could the soldiers 
do? At last they tried making large chests, 
which were filled with armed men, and then 
lowered by means of iron chains to the mouth of 
* " Antiquities," Book XIV. Ch. XV. 



208 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT, 



the caves. Then when the robbers rushed out 
against them the soldiers caught them with long 
hooks, and pulling them off, dashed them down 
the precipice to the rocks below. Or where they 
kept out of reach and under cover the soldiers 
would leave the chests and either charge into the 
caves or build fires at their mouths to fill them 
with smoke, and so suffocate or burn to death the 
wretched victims. 

" Some surrendered; some preferred to die. 
In one cave there was an old man, with his wife 
and seven sons — for the robbers had their families 
with them, and their property. The others were 
ready to yield; but the father would not assent, 
though the soldiers, and Herod himself, offered 
them pardon. He would rather that all should 
die. One after the other he slew his sons and 
the mother, and cast their bodies down the preci- 
pice. Then he cast himself after them. 

" By such methods the difficult work yonder 
along the face of those cliffs was accomplished. 
The robbers were exterminated. 1 1 

They were riding now across the plain in 
search of the " Round Fountain." Elias did not 
know where it was. He had never visited it. 
He had inquired at Magdala, and thought he 
could find it; but, as it was, they only happened 
upon it. They were already a mile and a half 



THE SHORK OF GENNKSARET. 209 

from the lake-shore when, off to the right of their 
course, Will spied, among thick bushes, what 
looked to him like a circular pile of low mason- 
ry. He pointed it out to EHas. 

"That cannot be the place, sir." 

i 1 1 think it is. At any rate I am going to 
see. ' ' 

He dismounted and pushed his way through 
the brush. 

4 ' This is it Come on, Harry, ' ' he called back. 
And Harry followed. 

The fountain proved to be a shallow pool of 
clear water, over fifty feet in diameter, and sur- 
rounded with a solid wall of hewn stones. 

"Why does any one think that Capernaum 
was here ?' ' asked Harry. 

' ' We know from the Bible that the city was 
on or near this plain,* and not far from the sea- 
shore, f And Josephus says J that the plain is 
watered by a highly fertilizing spring called Ca- 
pharnaum by the natives. And he adds, as if he 
considered it a thing easily possible, that some 
have supposed the fountain to be connected un- 
derground with the river Nile because it produces 
a fish similar to the Coracin of Egypt. All that 

* Compare John 6:17 with Matt. 14 : 34 and Mark 6 : 53. 
t Matt. 4 : 13 ; 9:1; 13 : 1 ; Mark 2 : 13 ; John 6 : 17. 
t "Wars." Book III. ch. X. 

14 



2IO HARRY'S TRIP TO THIS ORIENT. 

would seem to imply that the fountain he was 
describing lay at a considerable distance from the 
lake." 

4 1 There are fish enough in here now," said 
Harry, 1 ' and how tame they are ! But I see no 
ruins about. ' ' 

" There are arguments for and against each of 
the different sites, and as yet there is no conclu- 
sive proof for either of them, and I doubt if there 
ever will be. Now we will hasten on to the 
4 Fountain of the Fig-tree 5 at the northern end of 
the plain. The way would be shortened if we 
could ride directly towards it, but there is no get- 
ting the horses through the tangles of bushes and 
vines on the banks of this stream. It is of no use 
for you to try, Elias. We will ride back to the 
lake and then keep the path along the shore." 

In about an hour the hills closed in again ab- 
ruptly before them, ending the plain and shut- 
ting it in completely from whatever was beyond. 
There was no room for a goat even to pass be- 
tween the cliff and the water. 

Only a few feet back from the lake and at the 
very foot of the precipice grows a gnarled, ragged, 
rock-grasping fig-tree. Its roots are coiled like 
snakes over and among the boulders. Either from 
this rugged patriarch among fig-trees, or from 
some member of its long line of ancestors, the 



TH£ SHORK OF GKNNKSARI^T. 211 

fountain beneath takes its name. It is called 
" Ain et Tin," the Fountain of the Fig-tree. 

It is a romantic place, and a favorite camping- 
ground for travellers and shepherds. There is no 
village near it now. There is only a ruinous khan, 
Khan Minyeh, by which name the place is some- 
times called, and which Dr. Robinson and many 
others regard as the site of ancient Capernaum. 

The travellers rested for a while in the shade 
of the fig-tree and refreshed themselves from the 
fountain. Then they betook themselves to the 
path leading over the cliffs towards Tabighah.* 
As they climbed, Will said, 

"This reminds me of the 'Ladder of Tyre,' 
only all here is on a much smaller scale. But do 
you notice a curious thing about this path ? It is 
hewn in the solid rock like a long trough or aque- 
duct, and an even grade seems to have been care- 
fully kept all the way. Some believe that once 
the abundant waters at Tabighah were carried in 
this trough across the hill, to be used in irrigating 
the northern part of the Plain of Gennesaret and 
for supplying the city there (which possibly was 
Capernaum) with more water than the Fountain 
of the Fig-tree could give. The fountains of Ta- 
bighah are lower than this ridge, but they are so 
powerful the water could easily have been raised 
* Tabighah is fifteen minutes from Ain et Tin. 



212 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



to the required level. You can see Tabighah now 
below us. 5 ' 

u Yes; and it must once have been quite a 
place, with all those ruined walls and aqueducts 
and arches. And what a fine rush of water there 
is all about. It is not one stream that we have to 
ford, but many little streams, coming from all di- 
rections. This is fine. I would like a bath here. 1 ' 

"We had better wait and take that in the 
lake at Tell Hum." 

* 1 This, you said, is another of the sites claimed 
for Capernaum." 

' 1 Yes, some make that claim ; and others 
think the place was a large manufacturing sub- 
urb of Capernaum. Now thirty minutes farther 
north, and we will reach the limit of our ride at 
' Tell Hum." 

Thirty minutes over rolling hills, and they 
were at Tell Hum. 

" Oh, what a desolate place this is!" ex- 
claimed Harry; "hot, no fountains, scarcely a 
tree, no living thing in sight, excepting that one 
dog barking at us; no houses, excepting those 
few miserable huts; no ruins either that are any- 
thing but loose piles of black stones !" 

" If this was Capernaum, the woe that Christ 
pronounced against it has surely come to pass. * 
* Matt. 11:23. 



THE SHORE OF GENNESARET. 313 

You notice, Harry, there are more signs here of a 
large city than we have found elsewhere — unless 
at Tabighah. From the top of this stone hut you 
can see that a large part of the slope of the hill is 
covered with ruins, such as they are, all over- 
grown with weeds and briers. ' ' 

1 1 And they are all of black stone. ' ' 
" Most of them are — of black basalt. But do 
you see over there those white stones lying to- 
gether? Not many; only a few. They are of 
pure, pink-veined marble, and some of them are 
very finely carved. Possibly they are parts of 
what was once a small and beautiful synagogue 
of the Jews; perhaps it was the synagogue which 
the centurion built whose servant Christ healed 
in Capernaum."* 

"Do you suppose these huts are occupied 
now?" 

u Not permanently; only by wandering shep- 
herds. ' ' 

' ! How many lizards there are running over the 
stones! They seem to enjoy the fiercely hot sun." 

u Now suppose we take our bath, while EHas 
arranges lunch in the shadow of this wall. EHas, 
we will be back in a few minutes." 

* Luke 7:5. So careful an authority as Lieut. Warren 
says, " If Tell Hum be Capernaum, this is without doubt the 
synagogue built by the Roman centurion. " 



214 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" It 's a poor place to eat in, sir." 
"Why so?" 

" Can't we go back to Ain et Tin?" 

" That will take too long. I 'm hungry." 

" There 's no water here, sir." 

"But you can bring it from the lake." 

"I can't stop here, sir. I 'm afraid." 

' ' You are afraid ! Of what ?' ' 

1 1 Of snakes, sir— terribly afraid of them. If I 
saw one, I'd run from here to Jerusalem. And 
this is just the place for them, sir." 

"Well, well; you are a brave fellow! I 
should think you would be ashamed of yourself." 

"I am; but I can't help it, sir." 

"Evidently you cannot; so just spread a bit 
of something to eat on this flat rock, keeping a 
good look-out all the w^hile for your foes; then 
get on your horse and sit there, out of their 'reach, 
till we have bathed and eaten. We will not be 
long. Then we will ride back and finish our 
lunch and our nooning under the arches at Tabi- 
ghah." 

The shore here was stony; but they enjoyed 
their bath notwithstanding. Returning, they 
took a bite of food, then mounted and rode back 
to Tabighah. 

There, under an arch of old masonry that 
shielded them from the hot sun, by the side of 



THE SHORE OF GENNESARET. 215 

swift streams, they finished their lunch and rested 
for an hour. 

Since starting, here and there along the shore 
Harry had picked up pretty little shells and pock- 
eted them. He spread them out now on the rock 
where they were sitting. 

Said Will, U I would keep some of the nicest 
of those, Harry. You could arrange them pretti- 
ly at home, perhaps in the shape of a cross or an 
anchor; and then you could write under them 
words something like these: 

Shells that were born where the sacred sea 

Mirrors the hills of Galilee, 

Softly your pearly lips whisper to me 

Words that are sweet as words can be ; 

Only the words that the Master gave, 

Stilling Gennesaret's raging wave, 

But words that were signs of his mighty will — 

You whisper them yet, his ' Peace, be still. 1 

" Is n't that pretty! Indeed, I'll keep the 
shells. They will please Nellie and Mary." 

When they were ready to start again, after 
their noon rest, the horses had wandered off across 
the water, and Elias was nowhere to be seen. 
They sent a small Arab, who had been an atten- 
tive spectator as they ate, in search of him. Pres- 
ently he returned with a bigger Arab, who offered 
to carry them on his back over the stream. That 
was easier than to try to ford it. He landed them 



2l6 HARRY'S TRIP TO THK ORIENT. 

safely on the southern bank. Elias and the horses 
were found. They crossed the ridge again, de- 
layed for a few minutes at the Fountain of the 
Fig-tree, skirted the shore of the Plain of Gen- 
nesaret, and reached Magdala. 

All day the heat had been intense. The sea- 
basin, lying as it does six hundred feet below the 
level of the Mediterranean, and having all its 
coasts shut in by hills, at times is like an oven. 
It was so to-day. And there had been no breath 
of wind to temper the heat. The, water had been 
like glass, and it was like glass as they rode past 
Magdala. But in five minutes more a great surge 
of wind, from the gorges to the west, had rushed 
down upon them, and sweeping across the sea 
was beating its waters white. In ten or fifteen 
minutes a gale was blowing, from the force of 
which they were glad to be somewhat sheltered 
as they passed within the line of cliffs towards 
Tiberias. 

u These sudden storms are peculiar to the 
lake," said Will; "I am glad we are experien- 
cing one of them. It must have been like this 
that night when Christ saved his disciples from 
shipwreck, when he rebuked the winds and the 
sea, and they obeyed him, and there was a great 
calm."* 

* Matt. 8 : 26. 



MOUNT TABOR. 



217 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MOUNT TABOR. 

U WE have a picturesque addition to our car- 
avan this morning," said Harry, as they took the 
path from Tiberias towards Mount Tabor. 

"Yes, EHas was telling me about it: a little 
white donkey and its tall Mohammedan master. 
They belong in Jerusalem. They are on their 
way back after a pilgrimage for the man's health 
to the hot baths below Tiberias. ' 5 

* 4 What a queer pair it is ! You would think 
the man could carry the donkey as well as the don- 
key could the man. His feet nearly touch the 
ground as he rides. If they prove as interesting 
as they are odd-looking, we shall be glad of their 
company." 

The time from Tiberias to Mount Tabor is 
about five and a half hours. The route is past 
Khan el Tujjar (Khan of the merchants) towards 
the southwest. 

They came at last in sight of the mountain. 
" Tabor is finer than I supposed," said Harry. 
"I knew its shape was something like a haystack, 
but I had no idea the haystack was as large as it 
is." 



2l8 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

"The summit is more than a thousand feet 
above the Plain of Esdraelon, and nearly two 
thousand above the Mediterranean. It and Mount 
Carmel are the finest mountains in this region, as 
well as among the most interesting ones historical- 
ly. You remember that when we crossed the Ki- 
shon we talked about the gathering here of the 
Israelites under Barak and Deborah, before they 
marched down to attack Sisera.* That is the 
chief event of all that are recorded as having ever 
happened on Tabor. As to the shape of the 
mountain, it varies according to the side one views 
it from. From the north and south its outline is 
nearly the arc of a circle, as we see it now; but 
from the east it is a truncated cone with the sum- 
mit slightly rounded, while from the west it is 
wedge-shaped. All this side is covered with a 
forest of oak-trees and terebinth and mock-orange; 
but on the other side there is little besides bare 
limestone cliffs. See how fine the trees are in 
front of us ! They cover the mountain to the 
very top. The oaks are equal to those we passed 
on our way to Nazareth. n 

u We ought to lunch under one of them 
again, n said Harry. 

"We will; and it is near enough noon to 
camp now. ' ' 

* Judges 4 : 6-15. 



MOUNT TABOR. 



219 



After lunch they undertook the steeper part of 
the ascent. There is but one path that can be 
followed on horseback, and even that in places 
is scarcely safe. Once especially Will's horse 
was nearly down. The little w r hite donkey did 
the best. It seemed as sure-footed and uncon- 
cerned over the rough paths as a goat. They 
reached the summit without serious accident. 
There they rode through extensive ruins to the 
hospice where they were to spend the night. 

"Why ! judging from the amount of tumble- 
down walls all about," exclaimed Harry; " there 
must once have been a good many people living 
up here. ' ' 

" There were," said Will. "The Old Testa- 
ment references render it probable that either a 
town or a fortress, or perhaps both, existed here 
as early as the time of Joshua; and we know from 
Josephus that a fortified city was here sixty years 
after Christ. In the time of the Crusaders church- 
es and convents were erected by them. So these 
ruins mark a long and very varied history. No 
one lives here now excepting the few monks who 
have charge of the hospice, with their attendants. 
The nearest village is at the foot of the moun- 
tain." 

After supper they climbed to the roof of the 
hospice by the rough steps and ladders, and waited 



220 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

there while the sun went down grandly over what 
is perhaps the most varied and suggestive view 
that any single mountain-top of equal height in 
Palestine or in the world can give. Far-away 
snow-capped Hermon bounded the view in the 
north; Gilboa and the hills of Samaria were in 
the south; the valley of the Jordan was to the 
east; the Mediterranean Sea far off in the west. 
The great Plain of Esdraelon which they had 
crossed, and the heights around it, had been the 
scene of great battles and wonderful miracles, the 
memory of which was recalled by the names of 
Joshua and Gideon, of Ahab, Elijah, and Elisha, 
of Saul and Jonathan, of our Lord himself, and 
of Napoleon and Kleber in modern times. For 
a while they talked over the events of deep inter- 
est which this view brought to mind ; then they 
clambered to the ground and went within doors 
out of the cold, for the nights are cold there, 
up towards the stars, almost two thousand feet 
above the sea. 



MOUNT TABOR TO JE2REEL. 221 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MOUNT TABOR TO JE2REEX,. 

"Come Harry, it's morning again. Don't 
you hear the pigs grunting about the door? and 
somebody is thrashing one of the dogs till he yelps 
again. The chapel bell is ringing. Horses and 
oxen and roosters and dogs and pigs and men are 
all evidently awake." 

" I should think they were," sleepily growled 
Harry, as he tumbled out of bed. ' ( If only the 
donkey would join in now !" 

The morning was clear and bracing. While 
waiting for breakfast they wandered away from 
the noise and uncleanness of the hospice inclo- 
sure to the ruins near by of the "Crusaders' 
Church," and through a break in the surround- 
ing wall looked off again over the beautiful view 
across the Sea of Galilee to the now familiar 
northern landmark of snowy Hermon. 

After breakfast they were not sorry to leave 
the hospice. Their impression was that a not 
very saintly community was located in the an- 
cient and sacred place. 

"We shall make better progress down the 



222 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

mountain on foot than on horseback," said Will. 
i 4 1 suppose, Elias, the path is the same that we 
came up by. ' ' 

u Yes, sir, and you can save a good distance 
by cutting off the curves in the steepest places. ' ' 

Will and Harry walked ahead, and were soon 
far down the mountain. Finally they stopped 
on a large rock under an oak to wait for the 
horses. And they waited and waited. 

"It seems to me they are a long while getting 
down," remarked Will at last. 

"Look there, Cousin Will; isn't that the 
white donkey away off there to the right, bobbing 
along like a big sheep ?" 

u Yes, and there is Elias on the rocks still 
farther away, and Hassan and the horses are no- 
where in sight. ' ' 

u Do you see ! the donkey's master is beckon- 
ing to us ! We must be on the wrong path." 

" Then they misdirected us. They said there 
was no turn. But you remember we noticed a 
path just above here crossing this at right angles. 
No doubt they turned there." 

" It's well we stopped to rest when we did." 

"And well the white donkey was there to 
catch your eye. ' ' 

In a few minutes they caught up with the 
horses, and, mounting, rode slowly towards the 



MOUNT TABOR TO 223 

south. But they were not clear of the mountain 
yet. They came out upon bold bluffs overhang- 
ing the southern plain. 

"Here we can see," said Will, "as though it 
was a great map spread before us, almost the 
whole of our route for to-day. Right below us 
is Deburieh, so called, possibly, after the prophet- 
ess Deborah. At any rate the two names are the 
same. From the village you can see our path 
leading across the plain towards Endor on the 
heights opposite, where the witch lived, to see 
whom Saul risked so much on the night before 
his fatal battle with the Philistines. * 

c ' Not far off to the right, on the same spur of 
hills, lies Nain. You remember how the Saviour 
met there the funeral procession bearing from the 
city the dead body of the widow's only son, whom 
He raised to life and restored to his mother, f 

"Then around the hill we will come to Sulem, 
the ancient Shunem,J the town of the 'Shunam- 
mite woman ' who built a little chamber on the 
wall of her house and furnished it with c a bed and 
a table, and a stool and a candlestick ' for the 
prophet Elisha,§ and who was herself most high- 
ly favored by the c holy man of God ;' it is the 
place, too, where the Philistines were encamped 



* i Sam. 28 : 7 ff. 

X Present Arabic name, Solam. 



f Luke 7 : 11 ff. 
\ 2 Kings 4 : 10. 



224 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

the night that Saul went to Endor.* And op- 
posite Shunem at Jezreel, that same night, the 
Israelites were stationed ready for battle. On 
the plain between, the battle was to be fought. 
From Je^reel there will be a long ride across the 
Plain of Esdraelon to Jenin. There the plain 
meets the hills of Samaria, and there we will 
spend the night, if the town can furnish any sort 
of a fit lodging-place. 

"Now we will move on and find what all 
these places prove to be upon nearer acquaint- 
ance, and what our reception will be in them. 
Endor has no very desirable reputation. You 
know some one was telling us before we left 
Beirut of trouble he once had there. And there 
is a chance too of our meeting Bedouins on the 
plain." 

It was a scramble again safely made (but 
only by dismounting and taking it on foot) down 
to the base of the mountain. Then there was an 
easy path, with a chance at last for a gallop across 
the plain, which is an offshoot of the Plain of 
Esdraelon, towards Endor. 

" How unusually attractive the village looks, " 
said Will, as they drew near to Endor clinging 
to the steep slope of the hills among its trees. 
" But what a hubbub there is among the people." 
* i Sam. 28 : 4. 



MOUNT TABOR TO JK2REKL. 22j 

" I hope it isn't anything about us that causes 
it," said Harry. 

' ' It looks more like a quarrel among them- 
selves." 

Elias undertook to guide them up into the 
village, and to the " Witches' Cave" above it, 
but he lost his way at the very first. They were 
between two rows of huts, and the lane in front 
was too steep to climb. 

" Harry," said Will, " do n't you want some 
exercise? Suppose you dismount and walk up." 

" Indeed I'll not! and I don't believe you 
would advise it. I don't care to be eaten alive. 
I should think there were more half-starved, ugly 
curs here than there are men. There comes 
another one, full tilt at the horses' heels, and 
he's starting out all his friends and neighbors! 
Whew! what a yelping. It's worse than Con- 
stantinople and Damascus. I suppose if I were 
to jump down among them they would run, but 
I wouldn't care to try it unless there was need." 

" Elias, if you don't know the way, say so, 
and ask some of these men to guide us." 

By inquiring they at last found the Witches' 
Cave. It is in the face of the hill above the vil- 
lage. They dismounted and went inside through 
the narrow entrance. Two old hags were there, 
homely and wild-looking enough, one of them 

Harry's Trip. I ^ 



226 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

especially, to have served as models for the origi- 
nal witch, if, indeed, she was anything like what 
most imagine her to have been. With a sort of 
pail made of leather they were dipping up water 
for the horses from a spring that half filled the 
cavern. 

Quite a company had gathered by the time 
Will and Harry were ready to remount. They 
gave liberal fees to the women who had watered 
the horses, and to three or four men and boys be- 
sides, who had served as guides and hitching- 
posts, and rode off towards Nain, leaving the 
whole party in high good humor. 

" I think, " said Harry, " the people of Endor 
have been slandered. Their chief fault is that 
they keep too many villanous curs. ' ' 

Nain, three-quarters of an hour away, is of in- 
terest only as associated with the raising from the 
dead the widow's son. Now it is nothing but a 
small, dilapidated village. 

Beyond Nain the path curved around the hill 
until Shunem was in sight, lying a little below 
them among its orchards and long hedges of cac- 
tus. 

" They have here a new style of fencing," re- 
marked Harry, as they rode through the town. 

"Yes, and a very efficient kind it is. It 
would not be possible to get through these prick- 



MOUNT TABOR TO JEZREEI*. 227 

ly cactus-hedges without cutting one's way; and 
they make an attractive show besides, with their 
yellow blossoms. ' 1 

They lunched in a grove of fig-trees. It was 
inclosed by a high cactus-hedge, which in one 
place had been partly broken down, leaving an 
arched passage-way, under which they rode. The 
horses and the white donkey were turned loose 
among the trees. The rugs were spread in a 
shady place for Will and Harry. At a little dis- 
tance Blias and Hassan and the white donkey's 
master made their coffee and smoked and gos- 
siped. 

In the afternoon the ride was first across the 
plain lying in front of Shunem, and the scene of 
Saul's battle with the Philistines,* to Jezreel. 

"Think how different a place this must have 
been in King Ahab's time," said Will, as they 
climbed the steep ascent of a hundred feet to the 
town. 4 1 It was the favorite city of Ahab, where 
he and his wicked queen, Jezebel, held their 
court. But after Jehu seized the government 
and destroyed the house of Ahab the place lost 
its importance. We can look out now over the 
plain, just as the watchman and the queen and 
Joram were doing on that last day. They saw 
some one driving furiously down there to the 
* i Sam. 31 : 1. 



228 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



east, whose driving, they said, was like the dri- 
ving of Jehu. King Joram went out to meet 
him, and Jehu drew a bow with his full strength 
and slew him in his chariot. There are no walls 
and high windows now in Jezreel, but there were 
then. As Jehu entered the city the painted queen 
looked from one of the windows above the gate- 
way. He called to those with her to cast her out; 
and she was thrown under the horses' feet and 
trodden to death. So Jehu reigned, and prophecy 
was fulfilled; and the glory of Jezreel began to 
fade to what we see about us now. ' ' * 

Will referred once more, as they left the vil- 
lage, to Saul's fate. 

u Do you see those higher hills to the south- 
east," he asked, " of which this is a spur?" 

" Yes." 

" They are the ' hills of Gilboa.' " 
' ' Where Saul died ?" 

"Where Saul and Jonathan died, and many 
another with them. Saul fled there after the 
stray arrow had pierced his armor in the battle 
with the Philistines. He was defeated and 
wounded. He could not escape. When his 
armor-bearer refused to slay him, he drew his 
own sword and fell upon it and died, f 

"All the nation mourned for the great ones 
* 2 Kings 9. t 1 Sam. 31 : 3-6. 



MOUNT TABOR TO 229 

who had fallen. David especially lamented, with 
unequalled tenderness, over the beauty of Israel 
that was slain in the mountains of Gilboa; over 
those who were lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
and in their death were not divided, who were 
swifter than eagles and stronger than lions; over 
the mighty fallen in the midst of battle; over that 
friend whose love for him was wonderful, passing 
the love of women. * 

"Now we will descend for the last time to the 
plain, this time to the main division of it. To 
the south of us are the hills of Samaria. Just at 
their foot is Jenin, where we must spend the 
night. Now for a gallop. Come on; spur your 
horse, Harry. It 's a splendid race-course !" 



* 2 Sam. i : 17-27. 



230 



HARRY'S TRIP TO TH£ ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A NIGHT AT JENtN. 

EATE in the afternoon they were riding 
through a lane between two long lines of cactus- 
hedge. The place is the entrance to the village 
of Jenin, the En-ganniin of the Old Testament.* 
Will and Elias had been talking together. Now 
Will said to Harry, 

"We are likely to have here the roughest 
night of the journey. We knew before that 
there was no hospice in the place, and Elias says 
there are only two houses fit for us to stay at. 
He thinks we can get into one of them if the 
owner is not away. ' 1 

"I wonder if it will be worse than that night 
at Tyre?" 

"Oh, I imagine so. Only 1 worse' is hardly 
the word, for this is just what we have been want- 
ing. We were in a native's house in Tyre; but 
the family was Christianized and lived partly in 
modern fashion. Here we will have to take the 
real, unmodified Syrian style, whatever it may 

* The place is mentioned twice in Scripture: Josh. 19:21, 
and 21 129. 



A NIGHT AT JEnJn. 



231 



prove to be. I am glad of it. It will be inter- 
esting, but, I imagine, not comfortable. Is this 
the place, Blias?" 
" Yes, sir." 

" Well, knock at the gate." 

i i There is no seeing through or over the wall 
to find first what accommodations there are in- 
side," said Harry. "It might be part of a fort. 
It looks as though they were afraid of being at- 
tacked. ' ' 

" Very likely they do fear that. You notice 
all the houses are much the same. They are in 
an exposed place — so near to the plain and the 
roaming Bedouins." 

The knock was answered; and after a little 
parleying between Elias and the man, EHas re- 
ported that they could stay there if they chose. 

The top of the gateway was too low to ride 
under. They dismounted and led their horses 
into the yard of the establishment. At the fur- 
ther end of this walled yard, opposite the en- 
trance, was the house, built of stone, with an 
arched dome-like roof. Harry pushed through 
the one small door to explore the inside. In a 
minute he w r as back. 

"It doesn't take long to see all there is in 
there. There is only one room, with a slit in the 
wall on one side for a window, a clay floor, and 



232 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

two or three shelves. There's a sort of box on 
one side, the place of honor, I suppose, where we 
can spread our blankets for a bed. But the room 
is dreadfully close and damp. I wouldn't think 
any fresh air had been let in for a week, and the 
woman has just been pouring over the floor two 
or three jars of water. I suppose she w r ants to 
make it as clean for us as she can at short no- 
tice." 

" Well, we might as well take possession and 
make ourselves at home. We will build a fire 
in the brazier and take it into the room. That 
will help get rid of some of the bad odors. Elias, 
ask them what they have here to eat. ' ' , 

Elias withdrew to a corner of the yard to 
which the man and woman had betaken them- 
selves, and where they were cooking their own 
supper over a handful of coals. 

In the meantime the horses had been fastened 
for the night, and the donkey with them, near the 
door of the house. The donkey's master had 
spread his rugs on the ground, and having squat- 
ted himself upon them, was soberly smoking, pre- 
pared to spend the night there rather than inside, 
wisely, as it proved. 

Hassan, when he had fed the horses, found a 
place near him. 

Elias returned and reported. 



A NIGHT AT jKNiN. 



^33 



4 4 They say you are welcome to the use of ev- 
erything they have — house and rugs and wood and 
brazier and water — but they haven't a thing to 
eat excepting the native bread which they are 
cooking now. ' ' 

- * Come with us, then, into the village, and 
we will see what we can get. We ought to find 
a chicken and some eggs, at least. These you 
could cook. ' 5 

They found the market-place and made their 
purchases. In roaming about the streets after- 
wards they came to a cafe, where a number of 
rough men, and among them several in uniform, 
were occupying low cane-bottomed stools around 
the door. They stopped and talked with the men. 
The soldiers were a part of a government pa- 
trol for the road towards Nablus and Jerusalem. 
There was need of them, EHas said. They were 
heavily armed with swords and big horse-pistols, 
clumsy, but showing delicate workmanship on 
the richly-inlaid stocks. Will examined the 
weapons, and as he handed them back took 
from his pocket his own comparatively tiny re- 
volver. 

"That seems to astonish them," remarked 
Harry. 

" They want to know how many times it will 
fire," said EHas, " and how far off it will kill." 



234 HARRY'S TRIP TO THH ORIENT. 



1 1 Ask them if that chicken up the path yon- 
der is for sale. ' ' 

M Yes, sir, it is." 

Bang! bang! bang! bang! 

"Go get it, Elias. How many times was it 
hit?" The men were examining it curiously. 

u Four times they say, sir." 

u It is very well to confirm the natives in these 
parts, 1 1 said Will to Harry, as they walked back 
to their lodging-place, 14 in the idea which they 
have that we foreigners always go thoroughly 
armed, and that we would not be slow or unskil- 
ful in using our weapons if there were occasion 
for it." 

They had good success in preparing their sup- 
per. It was inartistically cooked and roughly 
served, but that mattered nothing with appetites 
such as theirs. What remained after the feast 
Elias stored away under the open box that was 
to serve them as a bed, for lack, as he thought, 
of any safer place. 

The travellers sat late that evening outside 
the door. They were in no haste to venture in- 
side, where they had small hopes of spending a 
comfortable night. But finally they entered and 
lay down where they had arranged their shawls 
and blankets. 

For a while there was a dim light from a flaring 



A NIGHT AT JKnIn. 235 

candle. That went out, and then the place was 
dark as Egypt, excepting where a few red coals 
smouldered in a corner in the brazier. Soon they 
were dead too. There wasn't a glimmer, except- 
ing as the starlight outside just showed the door- 
way. 

Presently the partly-open door was swung a 
little farther, and they could see a dark shape 
glide through. Another and another followed, 
until there must have been a dozen men some- 
where in the room! Who might they be? What 
was going on ? There was no knowing. Who- 
ever they were, they seemed, from the sounds, to 
spread their rugs on the floor and lie down and go 
to sleep. It was not likely there was any danger. 
They found afterwards there was none. The 
place was a sort of inn ; but the situation was not 
helpful to sleep, if all else had been well. Half 
an hour passed. 

" Are you asleep, Cousin Will?" 

u No ; good night." 

Another half-hour or so; then, 

" Cousin Will, are you asleep?" 

"No." 

i 4 Well, are we two you and I, or are we some- 
body else? It seems as though we couldn't be 
ourselves. I never in my life was in so queer a 
place." 



236 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

"Go to sleep." 
A long silence; then softly, 
u Cousin Will, are you asleep ?" 
"No, and not likely to be, I think. M 
4 1 Did you hear that noise under us ? What 
was it?" 

14 I do n ■ t know ; something stealing our chick- 
en, I suppose— cats, most likely. It's too late to 
save it. Go to sleep if you can; I can't." 

Another long silence ; then softly once more, 
but very earnestly, 

14 Cousin Will, are you asleep?" 

"No." 

14 Do you know — I've just thought — when 
that woman was soaking the floor after we came, 
I supposed she was trying to clean up for us. It 
wasn't that. You know there 's no other way to 
do it. She was soaking the fleas to keep them 
quiet; wasn't she?" 

"I've no doubt of it; and instead she drove 
them all, every one, right here to the only dry 
place they could find in the room. Good night; 
go to sleep. ' ' 

"I'll try; but if I do I know I '11 dream I 'm 
on Mount Ararat, with fleas swimming in from 
everywhere. Good night." 

With the very first sign of morning Will rose 
and made his way into the fresh air. (Harry was 



A NIGHT AT JEnJn. 



^37 



asleep at last.) He roused Hassan to feed the 
horses in a hurry, and EHas to get together what 
was left for breakfast. 

When Harry appeared, very soon after, all was 
ready. They ate, paid their host, led out the 
horses, mounted, and rode off through the beau- 
tiful morning, drawing deep breaths of the sweet 
air, and gradually losing the feverishness of the 
night in the coolness and purity of the new day. 

So they left Jenin, gladly taking their way 
towards Nablus through the " hill country of 
Samaria. ' ' 



238 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

JENIN TO NABI,C~S. 

For five hours they rode towards the south, 
through a region of very great beauty and inter- 
est. Sometimes the path was through green 
meadows and yellow fields of grain. Sometimes 
it led along the sides of the hills, so giving birds- 
eye views of the harvesters at work, either on the 
plains, cutting and loading their harvest, or about 
their villages, threshing and storing it. These 
villages are never located on the plain itself, but 
oftenest on the summits of little knolls. Some- 
times, again, the path would lead straight up and 
over high hills, out of one valley into another. 
Then there would be grand distant views. Once 
especially it was so, when the Mediterranean and 
a bit of the Plain of Jaffa showed away off in the 
west, and at the same time, in the north, once 
more and for the last time, the white top of Mount 
Hermon. 

"This is all far more than I anticipated," 
said Will ; ' 1 more every way. I have read so 
many descriptions of travel here I thought that I 
could almost find my way alone, and that I knew 



JENiN TO NABLUS. 239 



just what the general aspect of the country would 
be. But it is not so. The valleys are deeper and 
more beautiful than I had any idea of; the moun- 
tains are higher and grander; the distances seem 
greater. There is more of richness and variety 
and fertility. It is as I would have it, for after 
this the land will always seem to me more as I 
would wish the home of the Saviour to seem. 
Palestine has been belittled in my thought ; I 
suppose just because I have seen so many poor 
pictures and maps and little models of it. 

1 ' We are not far now from the site of Dothan. 
It is to the west of us, with fine pasture-lands 
about it to-day, as there were when Joseph's breth- 
ren led their flocks there and plotted to destroy 
the dreamer. * And later, you remember, it was 
there that EHsha was besieged by a Syrian army, 
until he prayed to God, and the Syrians were 
struck with blindness and led away to the king 
of Israel in Samaria, f 

" The village just before us on the top of that 
knoll is Sanur. It is strongly located. All this 
long plain which it commands in winter is a 
great lake. When it dries up in the spring they 
sow it, and see what rich harvests follow. Not 
far beyond is another similar town, Jeba. There 
the path w T e are to take to Samaria branches 
* Gen. 37: 17 ff. f 2 Kings 6 : 13 ff. 



240 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

off to the right from the direct route to Nab- 
lus." 

In about five hours from Jenin the travellers 
reached Sebustieh, the ancient city of Samaria, 
the capital of the Ten Tribes from the time of 
Omri* until the kingdom was destroyed in 721 
B. C. and the- people carried away captive into 
Assyria. 

4 ' If the glory of the old city was equal to the 
glory of its site," said Will, "it must have been 
one of the fairest cities of the world. The view 
from the top of this hill, six hundred feet above 
the valley, is a noted one, and certainly it is 
worthy of its reputation. ' 1 

c 1 And what a strong place it must have been 
when it was fortified. Think, Cousin Will, of 
an army having to fight its way up to where we 
are standing. 1 ' 

"Armies have tried to do that. The city has 
withstood terrible sieges. Once especially the 
famine and distress of every kind inside the walls 
were awful. The inhabitants were ready to eat 
human flesh in their hunger, f The Syrians tried 
twice to capture the city without success. But 
when the king of Assyria came and besieged it 
for three years it was forced to yield at last. 
That was the death-blow to the kingdom of Is- 

* 1 Kings 16:23, 2 4- B. C. 925. f 2 Kings 6:24 ff. 



JENIN TO NABIAJS. 



rael. The Ten Tribes were carried away captive, 
and people of other nationalities were introduced 
to occupy the depopulated land. * 

" Alexander the Great, John Hyrcanus, one 
of the Maccabees, and especially Herod the Great, 
all had more or less to do with the after-history of 
the place. Herod made it very beautiful with 
temples and colonnades and walls. Some of the 
ruins here belong to his time. ' ' 

" How strange it seems," said Harry, " to see 
great columns like those yonder standing and ly- 
ing about in a ploughed field almost as though 
the farmers had sowed a wrong sort of seed and 
these had come up instead of grain. They are as 
regularly placed as rows of corn. ' ' 

" Altogether there are about one hundred and 
thirty of those carved and polished columns. At 
this spot on the summit of the hill it is very likely 
there was built a great temple to Baal. We know 
there was one somewhere hereabouts, which Jehu 
broke down after the slaying of the priests of 
Baal, when he was purifying the kingdom from 
the evils introduced by the house of Ahab. n f 

" There are no other ruins here of much ac- 
count, excepting this interesting church of the 
time of the Crusaders, the 1 Church of St. John.' 
It still shows traces of very graceful architecture. 
* 2 Kings 18 : 9 ff. f 2 Kings io : 17 ff. 

Harry's Trip. I 6 



24-2 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

And down one long flight of stairs there is a small 
room, with marble flooring laid in pretty mosaic, 
which shows on its walls even now the coats of 
arms of old crusading knights who lived, and it 
may be died here. We will examine the church, 
and then ride on to Nablus. M 

About two hours later they were in the midst 
of another of the fairest scenes of Palestine; not 
now on the mountains, but between them. They 
were riding through the " Valley of Xablus. n 

"Some travellers praise this valley as the 
most beautiful place in Palestine; and I am not 
sure but they are right," said Will. 

"It reminds me of the approach to Damas- 
cus. M 

"Yes, it is much like that in the abundance 
of its rushing waters and the rich vegetation — ■ 
trees and bushes and gardens and orchards and 
bits of meadow; but here the mountains crowd 
down on both sides of us as they do not there. " 
1 1 The pass grows narrower and narrower. 1 1 
11 And just before reaching the narrowest part, 
between Mount Ebal and Gemini, there lies 
Nablus, the ancient Shechem, much the largest 
and most prosperous city that we have seen since 
leaving Beirut. Its population now is about five 
thousand. n 

Nablus is a walled city. Soon they were ri- 



JENiN TO NABI/tfS. 



243 



ding through the gateway and along narrow and 
very slippery paved streets. They turned to the 
left, across a little bridge, and rode up to the large 
Latin hospice where for the last time they were 
to receive hospitality from the monks of Pales- 
tine. 

As they examined the establishment Harry 
thought the prospect for the night was good, but 
only as compared with their previous night at 
Jenin. 

What remained of the daylight they used in 
wandering across the quaint city, through its nar- 
row and often covered streets, past a few of the 
eighty springs that help to make the city and the 
valley beautiful, and a little way up the slope of 
Mount Gemim beyond. The visited a plain Mo- 
hammedan mosque, and in another part of the 
city climbed the ruined tower of a little church 
set deep among groves of fig-trees and pomegran- 
ates and fragrant orange-trees. As they looked 
out and down upon the city, and up to the moun- 
tains on opposite sides, Harry said, 

"It is so beautiful, suppose we stay here till 
dark. Can't we ?" 

"Yes," Will answered. "It is pleasanter 
here than in the hospice, and it is easier here 
to recall the wonderful things that have happened 
in the history of the place. For instance, imagine 



244 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



what the effect must have been when Jotham 
stood on these shelving rocks just above us, after 
Abimelech had slain all the others of Gideon's 
sons, and shouted to the people his warning 
against their making Abimelech king. * 

"That was in the time of the Judges. Later 
it was here that the people gathered after the 
death of Solomon to choose his successor. Reho- 
boam expected to be king, but the Ten Tribes 
rejected him and chose Jeroboam instead. So 
the kingdom was divided, f Jerusalem remained 
the capital of Judah and Benjamin. This city 
for a while was the capital of the new confeder- 
acy. 

1 1 In the final overthrow of Israel by the Assyr- 
ians nearly all the Jews were removed from this 
region and foreigners brought in to take their 
place. That accounts for the hostility between 
the inhabitants of Judaea and the Samaritans. It 
showed itself again and again, both in the Old 
Testament history and in the Xew. The two 
people were not brethren. The one class were 
Jews, the other foreigners, or a mixture of foreign- 
ers and a few of the original inhabitants. 

"Three hundred years before Christ the Sa- 
maritans built on Mount Gerizim a rival temple 
to that at Jerusalem, It was destroyed about 
* Judges 9 : 5 ff. t i Kings 12 : 16, 20. 



JEnIn TO NABLt'S. 



245 



B. C. 129; but the place is held sacred yet The 
modern Samaritans — there are about one hundred 
and fifty of them — are holding one of their festi- 
vals there now. But of all the events that have 
ever happened here, the most imposing, by far, 
was the gathering between these two mountains 
of all the tribes of Israel, soon after they had 
entered the Promised Land. They had come to 
listen to the rehearsal of the law and to the solemn 
blessings and cursings which were shouted back 
and forth before the whole people from the slopes 
of the opposite mountains. * That was the most 
imposing event; but after all it is not the one 
which I love best to think about. Do you know 
what that is ? 

"It happened fifteen hundred years later, in 
the New Testament time, when Christ w T as jour- 
neying with his disciples by the same route that 
we are following, but in the opposite direction, 
from Jerusalem to Galilee. They came to the 
outskirts of the city, to 1 Jacob's Well,' which we 
will see to-morrow, and being wearied with the 
day's journey, just as we sometimes are, he sat 
there, resting and awaiting his disciples, who had 
come into the city to buy food; and yet although 
he was weary and might easily have remained 
silent if he had chosen, he did not so choose. 
* Deut. 27 : 11 ff.; Josh. 8 : 33 ff. 



246 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

Instead he spoke words to the Samaritan woman 
which not merely helped her and her friends, but 
have helped you and me, Harry — have helped 
the whole world. To my thought, nothing of 
greater moment than that ever happened in the 
region of Nablus. ' ' 

When the sun had set in the twilight, Will 
and Harry walked back across the city to their 
night's lodging-place. As they entered, a small 
congregation was gathering in the chapel of the 
convent for the evening service. They joined 
the company, and there silently in their own way 
they worshipped God, while the responses and the 
rude music of the choristers and the mumbled 
reading and recitation of the priest went on mo- 
notonously about them. 

( c Elias, to-morrow night we must be in Jeru- 
salem. ' ' 

"It will be a very long day's ride, sir." 

"I know it will. Tell Hassan to be ready 
with the horses by sunrise, or a little before." 

"Yes, sir;" and Elias withdrew. 

1 ' I imagine, ' ' said Harry, ' 1 there would have 
been rebellion over that, except for what the 
men learned at Acre." 

1 4 Very likely. Travellers usually make two 
stages between Nablus and Jerusalem." 



NABL#S TO JERUSALEM. 



247 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

NABI/frS TO JERUSALEM. 

At four o'clock the travellers rode through 
the court of the convent and turned into the 
path leading towards Jerusalem. It was still 
dark. The sky was overcast, the air chilly. 
Ebal and Gemim showed dimly on either side, 
and closed in upon them nearer and nearer as 
they rode towards the east, until in the narrowest 
place the two were hardly more than sixty rods 
apart. It was light by the time they reached 
u Jacob's Well," a mile or two from the city. 

" There is scarcely any doubt," said Will, 
that this is really the well which Jacob dug when 
he came with his flocks from Padan-aram to 
sojourn in the land of the Canaanites, and that 
it was here that the Saviour sat and talked with 
the woman of Sychar. When she spoke of the 
mountain in which her forefathers worshipped, 
and when Christ said, 1 The hour cometh when ye 
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusa- 
lem, worship the Father,' no doubt they looked 
to the mountain yonder and the Samaritan tem- 
ple, whose ruins can yet be seen. There is little 



248 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

of interest about the place now excepting for its 
associations. The well is so filled with rubbish 
that there is no chance of careful examination 
of it; but we know from the reports of other trav- 
ellers that it was cut evenly through the solid 
rock, with a diameter of nine feet and a depth of 
at least one hundred and five feet." 

By nine o'clock the clouds had disappeared 
after a few drops of rain had fallen, rare enough 
at this season in Palestine. During the rest of 
the day the sun blazed with intense heat, espe- 
cially where the path led, as it often did, over 
long reaches of bare rock. The hot sirocco blew 
also from the south. 

They camped at noon in a grove of olives 
near the " Robbers' Cave," a place of doubtful 
reputation in former times and not over safe, 
Elias thought, even now. They made but a short 
nooning. The air in the valley under the trees 
was almost stifling, and motion through it, even 
011 horseback, was more comfortable than the 
dead stillness. 

''Cousin Will, did you ever see anywhere as 
mean a road as this? The fields on each side 
seem clear enough; if we could get up into them 
it would be easier going; but here! It seems 
as though they had chosen the washed-out bed of 
a brook for the roadway, and then had cleared 



NABI^frS TO JERUSALEM. 249 

their land by pitching all the round pebble-stones 
they could find over into it. ' ' 

"That is just what they have done. I don't 
know about the brook ; I should think there mio-ht 
be a rush of w r ater here during the winter rains; 
but the farmers do really clear their fields at 
times at the expense of the paths." 

"It doesn't seem as if the horses could keep 
their feet over them. They couldn't excepting 
as they go like snails. The white donkey does 
better." 

Up and down, through valleys and over bare 
mountain ridges, close along the sides of hills, up 
and down, but for the most part gradually ascend- 
ing, they rode until late in the afternoon, when 
they drew near to Jerusalem. They were ap- 
proaching from the north; their first view would 
be from Mount Scopus. They rode rapidly ahead 
of the men. A few minutes more, and they .would 
look down upon the Holy City! At last they 
saw it, the central city of the world. They dis- 
mounted, and holding their horses by the bridles, 
looked long in silence upon the picture before 
them. The silence was broken by Will. 

"In truth," he said, "it is the 'central city 
of the world.' I like the figure which the old 
rabbinical writers used. 'The whole world,' 
they said, 'is an eye; the white of the eye is the 



250 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

ocean surrounding the land; the black iris is the 
dry land; the pupil is Jerusalem; and the image 
in the pupil is the temple. ' * 

" It is easy to recognize the different localities 
in and about the city. This Mount Scopus, to 
the north, rises 2,715 feet above the level of the 
Mediterranean. It was here that Titus made his 
headquarters during the siege of Jerusalem in the 
year 70. There to the east of the city is the 
Mount of Olives. We must go there to-morrow. 
Between it and the walls is the 4 Valley of Je- 
hoshaphat,'t with the brook Kidron; and meet- 
ing this almost at right angles to the south of 
the city is the ' Valley of Hinnom. 1 

' • Inside the walls, which are for the most 
part of the time of the Crusaders, the one object 
prominent above the crowded houses is the beau- 
tiful 'Dome of the Rock.' It occupies part of 
the temple area on Mount Moriah. Mount Zion 
is opposite, with the great ' Tower of David ' by 
the Jaffa Gate. 

"We shall have time for nearer views of 
these places before we leave the city, though no 
more time than we shall need, if we take the 
next steamer from Jaffa for home. We want to 

* "Otho Lex," p. 266. 

t This is not the valley mentioned in the prophecy of 
Joel, chapter 3 : 2, 12. 



NABLTJS TO JERUSALEM. 2^1 

take that steamer, for every one tells us it is get- 
ting too hot to stay here much longer. ' ' 

They rode on down the slope of the bare hill 
towards the city. Half a mile from the walls 
they came to the " Tombs of the Kings." 

1 1 It would take but a few minutes, and would 
save our coming again, if we stopped now to ex- 
plore these tombs," said Will. 

They found a doorway in the high board fence 
with which the present owners have surrounded 
the place. The keeper received them. Candles 
were lighted, and stooping as they went, they 
crept through the narrow passages. The work 
was more elaborate and on a larger scale than 
anything of the kind they had yet seen. There 
is an outer court sunk in the solid rock about 
ninety feet square and twenty feet deep. On one 
side runs a long portico, with columns in the 
centre. A very low entrance- way at the end of 
the portico leads into, a dark ante-chamber nine- 
teen feet square and seven or eight feet high. 
Out of this there are three passages leading into 
other rooms, which contain crypts for the sar- 
cophagi and bodies of the dead. From one of the 
rooms another passage leads down into a large 
vault with more crypts along its sides. All the 
excavations were made in exceedingly hard rock. 
It was so long and difficult a w 7 ork, it seems as 



252 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



though only kings were likely to have underta- 
ken it. Probably that is one reason for the name, 
"Tombs of the Kings." The doors have disap- 
peared now, but they were of stone, hung on 
stone hinges. 

It was a pleasant contrast, as Harry and Will 
came out into the light, to see two pet gazelles 
playing and feeding on the grass; and it was a 
contrast again to find outside the inclosing fence 
all the grove and the paths towards the city filled 
with crowds of gayly-dressed people, of every age 
and condition, hastening towards their homes. It 
was some festival time, and they were returning 
from the day's merry-making. 

The travellers passed through the wall at the 
Damascus Gate, and at once were in the narrow, 
busy, slippery streets of Jerusalem. The goal 
was reached. Their horseback-ride through Pal- 
estine was ended. All they would do now would 
be to make short excursions in and near the city. 
After a few days they would go down by stage to 
Jaffa in time to embark by the next steamer. 

They found comfortable lodgings at the Ger- 
man hotel. The servants were dismissed — Elias 
without regret and with only his pay, Hassan 
with a liberal backsheesh. With two or three 
exceptions Hassan had done remarkably well. 
He was a quick, jovial, steady little fellow, and 



NABI/&S TO JERUSALEM. 253 

efficient in his department. The white donkey 
(none the worse for his journey) and his master, 
benefited by his visit to the springs of Tiberias, 
had parted from them as they neared the city. 

It was time to rest. They were thoroughly 
tired with the day's ride. They had been in the 
saddle twelve hours. They might dream of the 
Holy City, but they could see no more of it until 
the morrow. 



254 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

AROUND JERUSALEM. 

u lT seems good to be where there are mails 
again," said Harry, as he and Will sat reading 
their letters before going out to explore the city. 

Their plan this morning was to ride first to 
Bethlehem. 

Isa, their new guide, soon arrived with the 
horses; but they preferred walking as far as the 
Jaffa Gate; the streets were too steep and slippery 
for safe riding. 

Outside the gate they mounted, and keeping 
to the left, rode past bare fields, between walls of 
flint stone, over rough roads, to the south. 

After an hour and a half they neared Bethle- 
hem. The distant view of the town above its 
terraced hills was very attractive, worthy of the 
thoughts it suggested to the travellers of Ruth 
and Naomi and David and the Saviour, and the 
songs of angels and listening shepherds; but the 
town itself is not in keeping. It seems too mod- 
ern, too busy and bustling and selfish, ever to have 
been the birthplace of the Prince of Peace. And 
to make it worse, as they entered the gates they 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 



255 



found there had just been a fight with a neighbor- 
ing village in regard to a piece of land. Prison- 
ers had been brought in, and now the government 
soldiers had arrived to enforce order. 

4 ' I wanted it to be still and quiet and beauti- 
ful here," said Harry, "with the people going 
about as though they knew they were in a sacred 
place, and feeling and showing a kindly spirit, 
with all the women like Raphael's Marys, and 
the men as sedate as Joseph, and the children lit- 
tle angels. They're far from that. I'd like to 
make these young rascals understand that when 
we say we do n't want their curiosities we mean 
it. What a shouting lot of them there are ! As 
to the women, they are not Marys, but they are 
fairly handsome, or rather, are less ugly than most 
that we have seen. It seems not to be the fashion 
here to tattoo their faces; and their coin head- 
dresses and rings and bracelets are rather be- 
coming." 

They reached the "Church of the Nativity," a 
great rambling, irregular pile. In fact, it is three 
churches under one roof — Latin, Greek, and Ar- 
menian. 

c 1 Look there, Harry ! Do you see that Turk- 
ish soldier lolling on the pavement ? He is sta- 
tioned here to keep the priests of the different 
churches from quarrelling — from fighting with 



2 56 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



each other. The same thing has to be done in 
other places. It is done even in the 1 Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre' in Jerusalem, especially dur- 
ing the time of the Easter pilgrimages." 

They were conducted to all the traditional 
1 1 holy places ' ' —to the ' 1 Cave of the Nativity, ' ' to 
the manger, to the cell in which St. Jerome spent 
many years while at work on his translation of 
the Bible, to his tomb. 

When they had completed the survey they left 
the church, and soon after rode again through the 
arched gateway of the walls and along the nar- 
row hill-path back to Jerusalem. 

In the afternoon they visited Bethany. Leav- 
ing the city by the Damascus Gate, they followed 
the line of walls around to the right as far as St. 
Stephen's Gate, facing the Mount of Olives. 

From this gate the path descends steeply to 
the level of the brook Kidron, in the valley of 
Jehoshaphat. They crossed its dry bed, and at 
once began the ascent of the Mount of Olives. 
They passed the walls of the Garden of Gethsem- 
ane on their right without stopping, planning to 
delay there on their return from Bethany. When 
they reached the summit, they turned and looked 
long and thoughtfully over the impressive view 
before them. 

" To my mind," said Will, 11 the sight of Je- 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 



257 



rusalem from this point is more satisfying than 
from any other place. The deep ravine between 
us and the city walls, and the nearness of the tem- 
ple area with its mosques, help the effect greatly; 
and perhaps the thought of the times the Saviour 
rested here on his way to and from Bethany has 
something to do with it. We are one hundred 
feet above the highest part of the city, and five 
hundred and fifty feet above the brook Kidron in 
the bed of the valley. But look the other way, 
Harry, to the east. ' ' 

Harry looked, and exclaimed with surprise. 

" Why, I had no thought, " he said, u of see- 
ing so plainly the Dead Sea and the mountains of 
Moab. n 

11 Nor had I; but there certainly are the moun- 
tains, and there is the wonderful sea shining in 
the sun, four thousand feet below us, like a sheet 
of silver. Do you notice the light haze over the 
water ? It tells even at this distance something 
of what the intense heat there must be. No won- 
der we are told that it is too hot now safely to go 
there. And then such a tumbling together as 

o o 

there is of hills and valleys nearer to us, between 
us and Bethany! I had supposed there was an 
easy, even slope from where we stand down to- 
wards the village; that it was quiet scenery, rather 
than bold and beautiful, through which the Sa- 

Harry's Trip. I *J 



258 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

viour passed .in his morning and evening walks 
between Jerusalem and the house of Lazarus. But 
this is bold, and it is exceedingly beautiful even 
now when there is scarcely anything excepting 
natural beauty of location to make it attractive ; 
no woods now, no pleasant villages, no quiet, 
happy homes, as there once were when Christ 
passed here to and from Jerusalem. 

"Have you ever thought, Harry, why it was 
that the Saviour loved to rest so often in Beth- 
any? — not because they were wiser or richer or 
nobler in Lazarus' home than in other places, but 
just because there he was certain always of a lov- 
ing welcome. And if that was so, if it was that 
w r hich made this home a dear Bethany to him, 
how many other Bethanys there ought to be in 
the world, home Bethanys and heart Bethanys 
also, where Christ will be so loved and welcomed 
that he will enter in, not for a night, as he used 
to do there, but to abide always! His brief visits 
were glad times to Martha and Mary and Laza- 
rus. It is by having our hearts Bethanys, and 
Christ abiding in them, that we can best be glad 
and strong, Harry; true men, pure and unselfish, 
noblemen every way, because Christlike. Think 
how it would be if every place in the world, ev- 
ery little hamlet, every home, every heart, was 
that way! Well, all we can do is to see that our 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 259 

own hearts, and as many others as we can reach, 
are Bethanys." 

They were in no haste to descend from the 
summit of the mountain. Presently Harry broke 
a long silence. 

" Cousin Will, do you remember, away back — 
it seems a long time ago — -the evening before w T e 
left home, at prayers father read the one hundred 
and twenty-fifth Psalm ?" 

1 ' Yes, the Psalm which declares that as the 
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the L,ord 
is round about his people from henceforth even for 
ever. ' 1 

1 ' And I said how strange it seemed to think 
that before long I should see those mountains; and 
now we do see them." 

"And to me," said Will, " those verses will 
always have a deeper meaning than heretofore ; 
for I had thought of 4 the mountains,' whose pro- 
tection is compared to that of God, as being sim- 
ply one line of hills encircling the city like a line 
of encamped soldiery. But how much more there 
is than that! Instead of one line of mountains, 
there is camp after camp of them about the city 
as far as we can see ; and not in one direction 
only, but we can see them towards the Jordan and 
beyond and to the south, and we came over them 
all the way from the Plain of Bsdraelon in the 



260 harry's trip to the orient. 



north, and on the west they reach to the Plain of 
Jaffa. Indeed, if God is 'round about' one like 
that, a man is safe, absolutely safe, always. 1 1 

They turned from the summit and rode for a 
mile and more among the hills down to Bethany. 
Eager boys followed them as they entered the vil- 
lage, and when they dismounted stood ready to 
hold their horses and to show them the i 1 Tomb 
of Lazarus" and the " House of Simon the 
Leper." 

Though there is no probability that the dark 
passage-way of forty steps or so, down which they 
went with lighted tapers, is the place of the great 
iniracle,* and none that the ruined house was ever 
the scene of the feast where Mary broke the ala- 
baster box of ointment and anointed Christ for his 
burial, f and though the rude huts have nothing 
suggestive of the home that Jesus loved, still it 
was not hard to imagine a different scene, a beau- 
tiful, shaded village with quiet streets, and with 
the one home especially in it that was dearest of 
all to the Saviour, because always he was certain 
there of a loving welcome from those who had 
learned of him and chosen the better part. It was 
not hard to imagine that Bethany. 

They mounted their horses and rode back to- 
wards Jerusalem, following now the main road 
* John ii. f Matt. 26:6. 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 261 



from the Jordan and Jericho along the southern 
side of Olivet. As the road curved to the right 
around the mountain, suddenly in full view be- 
fore them lay the Holy City. They had come to 
the very place where Christ stood with his disci- 
ples when in his sympathy and love he mourned 
over the city and exclaimed in infinite tender- 
ness, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the 
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto 
thee; how often would I have gathered thy chil- 
dren together, as a hen doth gather her brood 
under her wings, and ye would not ! n * 

At the foot of the mountain they turned aside 
to visit the Garden of Gethsemane. The tradi- 
tional spot is inclosed now with a high wall of 
stone, which effectually hides from the passers-by 
the whole interior. They were admitted by the 
keeper. Within they found a carefully-cultivated 
garden of brilliantly-blooming flowers, laid out in 
regularly-formed beds and fenced inclosures. If 
that had been all, the impressions could only 
have been unpleasant, out of harmony with the 
thoughts suggested by the name Gethsemane; but 
it was not all. Among the flowers there stood 
old, old olive-trees, so hoary and reverend, and so 
in keeping with one's thoughts of the solemn 
grove where Christ wept and prayed before the 
* Luke 13 : 34. 



262 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

crucifixion, that at once they drew and held the 
attention. And underneath one of these ancient 
olives, seated on a rude bench, was an old, old 
monk, reading, and so absorbed in the little book 
which he held that he seemed not to know that 
the travellers were there as they passed before 
him. It was perhaps the story of the Garden that 
he was reading. So when they went away from 
the inclosure their feelings were not wholly dif- 
ferent from what they would have been if the 
place had remained unchanged by the hands of 
men through the centuries and they had known 
it to be the real Gethsemane. 

Instead of going north towards the Damascus 
Gate, they turned now to the south and rode along 
the Valley of Jehoshaphat. 

" You will be surprised," said Will, "at the 
number of graves and tombs along these valleys. 
This slope on our right, below the temple area, 
is considered a most sacred place. All Moham- 
medans desire to be buried here. And opposite 
on our left is another cemetery of the Jews. Look 
just above the Moslem burying-ground. Do you 
see a large stone there built out from the city 
wall?" 

" Yes." 

"There is a foolish tradition which declares 
that at the resurrection the judgment-seat will be 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 



263 



by that stone, and that as the dead rise from these 
many graves they will at once be required, as a 
test, to pass along a line stretched from the stone 
across the valley. Only the good will succeed. 
The wicked will fall and be lost. 

( 1 Farther south you see other tombs on the 
left. They are certainly very ancient, but their 
full history is not known. One of them is called 
the Tomb of Jehoshaphat, another of Absalom, an- 
other of St. James, another of Zechariah. That 
of Absalom has the appearance of a miniature 
temple; those of Jehoshaphat and St. James are 
rock caves, much like others which we have seen. 
Zechariah's is curiously formed by cutting away 
the original rock until only the monument is 
left." 

They passed the " Fountain of the Virgin," 
with a long flight of steps leading down to the 
water, and the u Pool of Siloam," and the vil- 
lage of Siloam along the cliffs on the left, and 
the " King's Gardens." 

From the Valley of Jehoshaphat they turned 
west into the Valley of Hinnom. They saw more 
cemeteries, and the " Potter's Field" that was 
bought with the thirty pieces of silver which 
Judas returned to the Sanhedrin after he had be- 
trayed his Lord. * 

* Matt. 27 : 3 flf. . 



264 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Entering the Valley of Hinnom from the 
north, and lying between Mount Moriah and 
Mount Zion, is the Valley of the Tyropceon. 
This valley is filled now, in large part — as to 
some extent are all the valleys about Jerusalem — 
with the accumulated rubbish of the city's cen- 
turies of peace and war, of destruction and re- 
building. 

"We will explore that valley to-morrow," 
said Will. "Now we will go on to the south 
and w T est of Mount Zion, towards the Jaffa Gate. ' ' 

" Do look there, Cousin Will ! Is n't that ter- 
rible !" exclaimed Harry. "They must be lep- 
ers!" 

They had come to a part of the road where 
these miserable people congregate to beg of the 
passers-by. Hospitals have been provided for 
them, but many prefer not to occupy them. 
They pressed after the travellers, not offering to 
touch them, but exhibiting their maimed limbs, 
crying and muttering. It was pitiable in the ex- 
treme. 

The "Tower of David " was now a near and 
a conspicuous landmark before them. Very soon 
they reached it. Just beyond is the Jaffa Gate, 
and there they reentered the city. They had 
completed the circuit of the walls. Giving their 
horses to Isa, they found their way on foot, close- 



AROUND JERUSALEM. 



265 



ly attended a good part of the distance by a most 
persistent beggar, down the narrow streets to their 
lodgings. 

It had been a crowded day, and, for the most 
part, a very satisfactory one. The impression 
left by their visit to Bethlehem was not wholly 
pleasant, but the unpleasant parts could not de- 
stroy the charm of the thought that it was there 
that so much which was beautiful and blessed 
had occurred. The one thought that it was even 
there, under those very skies, that the dear child 
Jesus was born was enough to thrill them then; 
and they did not forget it when they had returned 
to their Western homes. It was some months la- 
ter, near Christmas-time, that one day Harry re- 
ceived a letter from Cousin Will inclosing this: 



UNDER A STAR. , m 

„ K. W. N. 


y-«p- p. — j» — | — * 


H r-i - 




—m — 


Un - der a star in the 


u * * wh-i — 1 

Ho - ly Land 




rs 




1 & 1 



<» — & — # e — & — J ^ — — L - 9 — g * — 1 

Li - eth a child in the mother's arms. "Sleep," she sings," sleep, 




266 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



























ba - 


by, sleep, 
— *s 


Angels will guard thee from 
1 ^ 


a 


i a - larms." 
- - — , 






^ 


§- : 


1 



Under that star from the distant East 
Journey the magi with gifts for a king. 

Unto whom do wise men thus 
Presents of gold and of incense bring? 

Under the stars the shepherds watch, 
Keeping their flocks in the silver light. 

Hark ! the angel choirs proclaim, 

" Christ is the King who is born to-night!" 

Here in the homes of a Western clime, 
Under the stars let our music ring, 

While to him, that Saviour-king, 
Offerings the richest — our hearts — we bring. 



SACRED SITES. 



267 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SACRED SITES. 

" This morning we are to visit the 'Haram 
Area,' the site of the old Jewish temple on the 
summit of Mount Moriah in the southeast corner 
of the city. Not long ago it would have been 
impossible to explore the place, as we can easily do 
now with a pass from the officials and an official 
guard. 5 ' 

i ' We have had fine views of the area from a 
distance, ' ' said Harry. 4 ' Now I am curious to 
find what it is like close by. n 

Upon reaching the entrance they were admit- 
ted without trouble to what the Mohammedans as 
well as the Jews consider one of the most sacred 
places in the world. It is the most sacred place, 
next to Mecca, the Mohammedans say. Moham- 
med taught that a single prayer offered here is 
equal to a thousand offered elsewhere. 

Near the centre of the Haram Area rises a most 
beautiful structure. It is the "Dome of the 
Rock."* Outside and in it is rich with marble- 
work and tiles and stained glass and gold. 

* Kubbet es-Sakhrah. 



268 HARRY* S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" I had always supposed it to be a rather plain 
building, M said Harry, as they stood before it, " of 
interest mostly because of its location and pecu- 
liar architecture; but instead it is like a beautiful 
bouquet of well-arranged flowers. 1 } 

"It would certainly be easy to find here all 
the prominent colors of flowers," said Will. 
" There is variety enough in the mosaics alone 
for that." 

Flights of stairs lead to a platform, partly 
paved in marble, 550 feet in length from north to 
south, and 450 feet in width. At the centre of 
this platform is built the beautiful domed octagon 
around and over the sacred rock, which rock, tra- 
dition says, was the threshing-floor of 1 4 Araunah 
the Jebusite, 1 1 where David sacrificed in the time 
of the great plague; the site also of the altar of 
sacrifice in Solomon's temple; and later still, the 
place from which Mohammed ascended into Para- 
dise. All that and more is claimed for it. The 
diameter of the octagon is 170 feet. Each side 
measures 67 feet in length and is 46 feet high. 
These walls are laid in marble mosaic of rich pat- 
terns and colors, and with the roof are also orna- 
mented with glazed tiles, many of them of a 
bright blue color. From the roof of this first story 
rises another wall, which is pierced near the top 
with windows that light the interior; and above 



SACRED SITES. 



269 



the whole, 40 feet in height and 65 feet in diam- 
eter, cased in lead and crowned with a golden 
crescent, rests the "dome." The whole altitude, 
including the platform, is 170 feet. The interior 
is even richer than the outside, with its circles of 
marble columns and niches and mosaic pavement. 
The "rock" is cream-colored limestone, irreg- 
ular in shape, about 57 feet long in the longest 
part, and 43 feet wide. It is protected from any 
touch, and in part from sight also, by a close iron 
fence. 

The guide led them by a narrow passage-way 
underneath the rock, to show them, he said, how 
it was suspended between earth and heaven. The 
apparent supports at the sides, he explained, were 
only light masonry, with no strength of them- 
selves to keep the rock in place. A hole in the 
rock roof of the cave he also explained as having 
been caused by the head of Mohammed when he 
passed there on his way to Paradise. 

Another of his stories was concerning some 
silver nails in a part of the pavement under the 
dome. He said they marked the number of peri- 
ods through which the world would continue to 
exist. Originally there were nineteen nails; now 
there are but three left; and these three would 
have been removed long ago and the world de- 
stroyed, excepting that Satan, who had stolen 



2/0 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

away the others and was removing these also, w r as 
discovered just in time, and driven off by the 
angel Gabriel !* 

A few rods from the "Dome of the Rock," 
at the end of a line of delicate arches, is a very 
graceful carved pulpit, with a flight of steps lead- 
ing up to it 

Farther on, in the very southern part of the 
area, is a large rambling mosque, or rather col- 
lection of mosques, the Mosque El Aksa, the 
Mosque of Omar,f with small grotesque columns 
beside the shrine, the Mosque of Abu Seka. 
Near by are the so-called " Stables of Solomon," 
great underground excavations, with many an- 
cient columns. They noticed in one place an 
iron grating covered with shreds of cloth. It 
was another sacred place. It reminded them of 
the tree of offering they had seen near Tiberias, 
covered with rags— the " witches' tree," as Harry 
had called it. 

At one part of the wall, near the closed golden 
gateway, they mounted to the battlements and 

* It is uncertain when the "Dome of the Rock" was 
built; probably in the seventh century, and perhaps by the 
Caliph Omar. 

f The " Dome of the Rock " is often called the " Mosque 
of Omar," but incorrectly. Strictly it is not a mosque at all, 
for there is no shrine towards Mecca; but one of the four 
portals opens in that direction. 



SACRED SITES. 



271 



rested there a while, looking off over the Valley 
of Jehoshaphat towards the Mount of Olives. 

4C All here is very quiet and peaceful now," 
said Will. " Even that little bird is not afraid 
to hop about the walls. But many and many a 
time, instead of little birds flying safely, there 
have been piles of dead bodies here, and crowds 
of men, sometimes fighting hand to hand, some- 
times defending the walls from foes outside. 

u Think of that one time among the many, 
hardly forty years after the Saviour died, when 
the Romans stormed this height and burned the 
temple ! They had gained a part of the city. 
Titus was planning for a final assault the next 
morning, and he had given orders not to bum 
the holy place. But when night came the Jews 
made a fierce sally. They were repulsed. Then 
it was that one of the pursuing soldiers without 
orders flung a torch through a gilded door into 
the temple chambers. All at once they were in 
flames. It was a signal for the wildest excite- 
ment and for fierce and general renewal of the 
battle. 

" Titus could not restrain his furious legions. 
They fell upon the people crowded here in the 
temple area, and slew them by thousands. They 
lay in heaps about the altars; the steps of the 
temple ran with blood; 6,000 women and chil- 



272 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

dren and unarmed men were burned to death in 
one of the cloisters! 

u When it had all ended, when the soldiers, 
who had been like madmen, were restrained, and 
when the rest of the city was occupied and Titus 
had been saluted as victor and Caesar, then the 
number of the slain was known: 1,100,000 Jews 
had fallen in the war; 97,000 were prisoners! 

"And yet now, as I said, it seems as though 
it had always been as quiet and as safe here as it 
is for us and the birds to-day. I suppose there is 
no other city in the world which has known in 
its time as much misery and suffering as has fallen 
to the lot of Jerusalem. 

"But we must go. We want to see the old 
foundation-stones of these walls and the Jews' 
( Wailing-Place,' in the Tyropceon Valley, and 
Robinson's Arch."] 

When they had dismissed the numerous at- 
tendants and left the Haram Area, Isa led them 
by hot and narrow and filthy streets through the 
Jews' quarter, until they reached a somewhat 
wider, quiet inclosure, a few rods in length, 
with a common stone wall on one side, and over- 
shadowed on the other by the high, ancient foun- 
dations of the temple area. It is the Jews' 
" Wailing-Place. " From all parts of the world 
Jewish pilgrims come to sit here before the high, 



SACRKD SITKS. 273 

bevelled stones, or to lean lovingly against them, 
while they bewail the desolation that has fallen 
upon Zion. Without doubt some of these stones 
were placed where they now are as long ago as in 
the time of Herod, and possibly the date was 
much earlier. 

Not far south of the Wailing-Place, in the Ty- 
ropoeon Valley, is a bit of ruin called { 1 Robin- 
son's Arch." As they stood beside it Will said, 

"This has always seemed to me one of the 
most interesting relics about Jerusalem. Lately 
Lieut. Warren, of the Palestine Exploring Expe- 
dition, has made further examinations and further 
discoveries in regard to it. It was known from 
historical records that a great bridge once reached 
across this valley, connecting Mount Moriah and 
Mount Zion. The bridge was here as late as the 
time of the Romans. Titus stood on it to confer 
with the Jews in the temple after he had captured 
Mount Zion. But every sign of the structure had 
at last disappeared, unless this bit of arch was a 
part of it. Dr. Robinson believed it was a part. 
And he was right; for Lieut. Warren has found, 
directly opposite across the valley, the other end 
of the bridge — a buttress of great stones built 
against the side of Mount Zion. When he had 
found that, he thought he ought to find also, be- 
tween these ends, some remains of the rest of the 

Harry's Trip. J 3 



2/4 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

fallen arch and the floor of the bridge. So he be- 
gan digging again. He dug fifty feet below the 
present level of the valley before he was through 
the accumulated rubbish. 

"Then he found what he was in search of — 
some remains of the great bridge itself. There 
could be no doubt in regard to it; the shapes of 
the stones which he had uncovered were what 
they must have been to correspond with the curve 
of the first arch as estimated from the fragments at 
the end. It was a splendid bridge. The width 
of its roadway was upwards of fifty feet, the span 
of each supporting arch was forty-one feet, and 
some of the single stones weighed at the least 
twenty tons. Titus ordered it broken down. 

M Now we will go back to the hotel, and after 
dinner we will visit the ' Church of the Holy Sep- 
ulchre.' " 

In the afternoon, as they descended the few 
steps w r hich lead into the court in front of the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Will remarked 
concerning the place, 

"This much we know: that for sixteen cen- 
turies this spot has been held in highest esteem 
as the site of the crucifixion and burial of our 
Lord. As long ago as the time of the Emperor 
Constantine and his mother St. Helena, a church, 
or monument of some sort, was erected to mark 



SACRSD SITES. 



275 



the spot. The present church is the finest in the 
city, and, as far as we know, is finer than were 
any of its predecessors. It took the place in 1808 
of one that was destroyed by fire." 

" But how very old and dingy parts of the out- 
side look: and this stone pavement, how worn it 
is !' 5 said Harry. 

• ' Yes, the pavement is worn smooth by the 
thousands of pilgrims who come here every year, 
especially during the Easter festivals. Only a 
part of the wide doorway is open for the few vis- 
itors, but we are free to enter. Inside we shall 
find such a bewildering collection of chambers 
and cells and caves and stairways and galleries it 
would be foolish to try to trace them all. There 
are some seventy different 'stations' which the 
priests would show if we cared to see them. 
Here, as at Bethlehem, one roof covers the w T hole; 
and here also soldiers have to be always on guard 
to keep peace between the priests of the different 
sects. 

" Here on our right, as we enter, is a chamber 
with the tombs of the Crusaders Baldwin and 
Godfrey. Next to it is the ( Chapel of Adam. , 
What do you suppose they say caused this split 
in the rock of the wall ?' ' 

u I've no idea," said Harry. 

"The earthquake at the time of the cruci- 



2j6 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

fixion ! Up these stairs is the ( Chapel of Calvary * 
and here they show in the rock three holes, one 
of them with a silver covering, where they claim 
the crosses of the Saviour and of the thieves were 
set." 

They descended to the first floor again and 
found near the entrance, midway between "Cal- 
vary" and the "Sepulchre," the "Stone of Unc- 
tion," where the body of the Saviour was laid 
for its anointing before the burial, according to 
the tradition. Then they entered between two 
large buttresses into the imposing rotunda of the 
church, in the centre of which is the beautiful 
marble "Chapel of the Sepulchre." Within this 
chapel there is first the "Room of the Angels" 
who w r atched at the door of the sepulchre — and a 
piece of rock is shown as a part of the great stone 
w r hich they rolled from the mouth of the tomb. 
Then tomes a low passage, opening into what is 
to the pilgrim the holiest of holy places — a cham- 
ber about six feet square and seven feet high, in 
the middle of which is the tomb, covered with a 
marble slab. Possibly it is the very place in the 
garden of Joseph of Arimathaea where the body of 
the dear Saviour was laid, dead at last after the 
agony of Gethsemane and Calvary ; but the 
weight of evidence is against it. 

When they turned from the Sepulchre it was 



SACRED SITKS. 



277 



nearly dark; but they wandered through the gor- 
geously-decorated Greek portion of the church, 
and to one and another of the minor shrines, until 
it was time to close the doors for the night. 

As they walked homeward Harry said, "I 
wish there was some way of knowing how true 
the traditions are — whether any of these places 
are the real places. 1 ' 

"The chief of the traditions are certainly very 
old, n answered Will. " That alone is enough to 
make them interesting. Whether or not the claims 
they make can possibly be true depends in large 
part upon what the position was of the ancient 
walls of the city. The crucifixion and the en- 
tombment we know were outside of the city lim- 
its; therefore if the line of the ancient walls was 
outside of the site of the church, as the present 
walls are, the traditions are false. But if the line 
was inside, some of them may be true. That 
has been a difficult question to determine; but 
the best authority now is against the traditions." 



278 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

FROM JERUSALEM TO JAFFA. 

( ( Do you remember, Harry, the other day we 
noticed near the Damascus Gate a low, dark open- 
ing in the rock under the wall above a heap of 
rubbish ?' 1 

" Yes, like the mouth of a cave." 

"We must spend a little while in there this 
morning." 

They walked to the Damascus Gate. Outside 
the wall, a few rods to the east, they found the 
entrance which they sought to the great subter- 
ranean quarries that are known to exist under a 
large part of Jerusalem. They had provided 
themselves with candles. These they lighted as 
soon as they entered. 

u Had we planned for any extended explora- 
tion in here," said Will; "it would have been 
safest to have brought compasses and lines as 
well as candles. It is an easy place for losing 
one's self. When Dr. Barclay a few years ago 
discovered, or rediscovered the place, he found in 
an out-of-the-way part a skeleton, probably of 
seme former careless explorer." 




JAFFA. 



FROM JERUSALEM TO NEW YORK. 279 

"That isn't reassuring/' remarked Harry. 
"Isa, don't you lead us too far away from that 
bright hole yonder where we came in. It looks 
a good distance off already. ' ' 

' 1 We will be careful, ' ' said Will. 

u My! what was that?" exclaimed Harry, as 
something swept by him in the darkness with a 
rush and a whirr. 

"Bats," said Isa. "There are hundreds of 
them here. It 's a fine place for them." 

Gradually descending, they wound their way 
among great supporting columns farther and far- 
ther from the entrance. The first chamber is 
750 feet long, and the roof 30 feet high. Un- 
derneath, the floor is covered with heaps of rub- 
bish, fallen stone and chippings from the rock. 
In places they could see nothing of the roof, 
only the pitchy darkness above and all about 
them. Other galleries and chambers open be- 
yond. 

"When Titus captured Jerusalem," said Will, 
"some of the Jews who had been fighting inside 
the walls on Mount Moriah mysteriously disap- 
peared. Very likely it was into caverns such as 
these, and perhaps connected with these, that 
they escaped. Whether they ever found their 
way out I don't know." 

"There it is again, about people coming in 



280 harry's trip to the: orient. 

here to die ! Say, Cousin Will, let us get out of 
this, any way." 
"Why?" 

4 ' Have n't you seen enough ? I have, a plen- 
ty." 

u Yes; and the rest I suppose would show 
nothing different. We will go home. Lead the 
way. ' ' 

"I lead the way! I can't! I'm as turned 
about as though I was a top. I haven't the 
remotest idea which way is out. Cousin Will, 
it isn't pleasant here. It's not merely getting 
lost, but I'm thinking besides, what if a few 
tons more of this earth and stone w T ere all ready 
to come down, and are only waiting to start 
until we walk under and jar it a trifle ! It might 
put our candles out, you know, and dampen the 
matches too much to light them again. Why 
do n't you turn around and start for the outside ! 
I might begin to get nervous after a while if you 
do n't. But what is that light ahead ? Are there 
two entrances to this?" 

" No, " said Will, ' 1 only one. The light that 
you see is where we entered. We have been on 
our way out for a good while." 

"Well, well!" exclaimed Harry, "I think I 
was turned about. I feel as though I must be 
looking from the wrong side of my head, or walk- 



FROM JERUSALEM TO NEW YORK. 281 

ing backwards. However, I'm very glad to get 
here without having those rocks put our candles 
out and spoil our matches. ' ' 

There was but little more to see or to do in 
Jerusalem. They walked often about the streets, 
observing the busy life there; they visited again 
and again the places of chief interest; they wrote 
the last letters home, telling how nearly ended 
their time in Palestine was and when they ex- 
pected to sail. The day came to pack their small 
amount of luggage. They were ready for the 
Jaffa stage. 

About four o'clock that afternoon a porter 
took the baggage to the west gate. They fol- 
lowed on foot. The " stage" was waiting. It 
was a small, strongly-built wagon such as alone 
could be dragged safely over the exceedingly 
rough road and the steep hills between Jerusalem 
and the Plain of Sharon. 

By nine o'clock the roughest of the riding 
was accomplished. They had reached Latrone, 
near the edge of the great plain, a town famous 
in the history of the Maccabees. They rested for 
an hour and then rode on again, hour after hour, 
in the darkness towards the 1 1 Great Sea." They 
were crossing the fertile land on the north of 
Philistia the home of the Philistines, those dead- 
ly foes of the Israelites. 



282 HARRY'S TRIP TO THK ORIENT. 

"We are taking the same journey, n said Will, 
( 1 that was so often taken in Old Testament and 
in New Testament times, and is taken still by 
thousands every year; for Jaffa always has been, 
and is still, the chief seaport of Jerusalem. There 
is talk now of a railroad between the two cities. 
It would be easy to build it where we are riding, 
but difficult through the mountains." 

On and on they rode, hour after hour, mile 
after mile. Presently the moon rose and helped 
them to pass the time by giving them a dim pan- 
orama of moonlit pictures. Will took the reins 
to warm himself and to keep awake. Then for 
a while they made better progress. At last they 
reached the edge of the wonderful orchards of 
Jaffa, which surround the city for miles; but so 
wide are they that still on and on they rode, 
through the fragrant avenues of trees, for another 
hour before they reached the city walls. 

The sun was just rising when, thoroughly 
wearied, they dismounted from the stage at the 
hotel door. After resting half the forenoon they 
sallied out to walk through the busy, Oriental-like 
town of Jaffa and to stand again beside the fa- 
miliar sea. From a distance Jaffa is a picturesque 
place, built as it is on a rocky promontory and 
with many of its streets so steep that the roofs of 
the lower houses are nearly on a level with the 



FROM JERUSALEM TO NEW YORK. 283 

doors of those above. They came presently to the 
sea wall in front of the town. 

1 1 And this, ' ' said Will, as they stood looking off 
over the water, 1 ( is one of the three best harbors 
on the coast; and yet you see that even here there 
is no shelter whatever excepting for the smallest 
craft. They can get in past the reefs; but large 
ships must either go by without stopping, or risk 
anchoring outside in the open roadstead, just as 
that steamer yonder has done. She must be the 
'Juno' on which we are to sail to-night. There 
is a small boat coming in now loaded from the 
ship. Do you see it?" 

"Yes, and it seems to be driving with the 
wind straight towards the white water on those 
reefs ! If they come much nearer they can't work 
clear of them. I don't believe they can do it 
any way ! There ! They are right on them. 
They will upset !" 

But the next minute the boat was sweeping 
through a narrow channel that could scarcely be 
seen, clear of the rocks, but with the foam break- 
ing close on either side. Once inside the reefs, 
and it was safe, in comparatively still water. 

" I am sorry there is so much wind for us to- 
day," said Harry. "I hope it will go down by 
evening. ' ' 

"And so do I," answered Will. "If it is 



284 HARRY' a TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

much worse we cannot safely get off to the ship. 
There are more accidents here, by far, than on all 
the rest of the coast together. Sometimes it is 
so rough that even the steamships do not venture 
to anchor." 

At last the time had come for leaving Pales- 
tine. Very soon the "Juno" would weigh anchor 
and steam for Egypt. They must go on board. 
Though the wind had not gone down, there was 
a crowd of boats at the landing ready to take 
them off. They chose one. The baggage was 
put in the bows. They took their places at the 
stern. The word was given, and the men rowed 
out against the wind and the waves. 

It was very rough. Down they would go into 
the trough of the sea out of sight, then up towards 
the sky, to balance there on the curve of the wave, 
and then over just in time to escape the breaking 
edge of foam. Then there would be a smoother 
reach for a few strokes, then the great waves 
again, large enough to have swamped them but 
for the care of the skilful boatmen. 

But by far the most dangerous time would be 
when the boat reached the ship, and Will knew 
it. He said nothing at first when Harry won- 
dered how in the world they were to get on board 
the u Juno" from such a rolling support as their 
boat; but as they neared the ship, he said, 



FROM JERUSALEM TO NEW YORK. 285 

u Now, Harry, if you were ever careful and 
quick in your life, be careful and quick here. 
You see the ship's steps hanging at the gangway 
with rope supports at the sides, and the lower 
platform deep in the water for a moment, and out 
again with every wave that passes. What you 
have to do at the word, when our boat rises, is to 
seize those ropes. If there is time before the boat 
sinks, step to the platform; but if not, be sure and 
not let go the ropes to get back into the boat; 
hang by them, no matter where the boat goes, 
and pull yourself to the step. 1 ' 

Now they were alongside the great black 
hulk that towered high above them. One of the 
rowers stood at the bows to prevent the boat 
being crushed against the ship. 

u Are you ready ?" asked Will. 

4 4 Yes, ' ' answered Harry, 4 4 when you give 
the word. ' ' 

A great wave came sweeping along the ship's 
side. The boat rose to it and balanced for a mo- 
ment opposite the steps. 

u Now!" shouted Will. 

In a moment the wave had passed and the 
boat was swept down and away; but Harry was 
swinging in the air, with both hands fast hold of 
the ropes and both feet on the steps. He clam- 
bered up and reached the ship's deck safely. He 



286 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



had little idea what relief Will felt at seeing him 
there. 

As soon as the boat could be brought again 
into position, Will followed, and the baggage. 

As the sun was setting over Syria the "Juno M 
weighed her anchor, her engines throbbed, under 
her stern the blades of the propeller churned the 
water to foam. Slowly gaining headway, the 
great ship turned her prow to the south and dis- 
appeared in the twilight. 



EGYPT. 



287 



CHAPTER XXXII, 

EGYPT. 

Morning again at sea ! "It seems like old 
times on the 4 Norman Monarch,'" Harry said, 
"only this is an Austrian ship, instead of a ship 
under English colors. ' ' 

Down in the "Juno's" small cabin the air had 
been close and warm, but up here on deck, with 
no roof but the sky, the air was to their lungs 
what the w 7 ater of bubbling New England springs 
is for drink. They had been on deck ever since 
the stars began to fade. There had been a splen- 
did sunrise. They had seen, as Homer would put 
it, the rosy-fingered dawn leap from her couch 
beyond the eastern waves. It had the look of a 
real leap. Will declared he had never seen the 
like of it except on Eastern waters. It was due, 
he thought, to the clearness of the air even dow r n 
close to the horizon. There was no sign of even 
the least mist. 

After a lunch of fresh air they were hungry 
for something more. 

"Let 's have them bring us our breakfast here 
on deck, Cousin Will. I don't believe I could 



288 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

eat a mouthful in the cabin, but now I am as 
hungry — as those black and white gulls are or 
pretend to be. Poor fellows! I don't like to 
cheat them, but watch them now when I throw 
them a bit of paper." 

It was a pretty sight — the graceful sweeping 
down of the long-winged birds, the excitement, 
the low calling to each other, and then the try- 
ing to seize the white paper as it drifted away in 
the rough wake of the steamship. 

Will ordered their breakfast. It was promptly 
and nicely served. Jaffa oranges, boiled eggs, 
delicate Vienna bread, and cups of tea flavored 
with thin slices of lemon. 

An hour later Harry, looking towards the 
south, suddenly exclaimed, 

"Why, Cousin Will, what is that? It looks 
straight enough and tall enough to be the mast of 
a ship against the sky, but it is too thick and 
there is no hull. It might be a rock, but I never 
saw a rock so like a finger. Can it be a light- 
house ?" 

Will looked. He was surprised too. " I had 
not expected it yet," he said, " but it must be the 
beacon at Port Said, away out at the end of the 
breakwater that helps form the harbor. Watch, 
Harry, for soon we will have the first sight of the 
short, our first view of Egypt." 



KGYPT. 



289 



But when, a little later, they saw the shore, 
they saw nothing beautiful or imposing. Indeed, 
in all this part of Egypt there is nothing of natu- 
ral beauty, and, excepting for man's works, there 
would be nothing even of special interest. The 
country is a flat stretch of sand, but through the 
midst of it man has run the Suez Canal, and here 
at its terminus he has built Port Said. 

Heavy masonry helps to make a good harbor. 
The town is not at all like most Eastern cities. 
It is all new, with wide, well-kept streets, wooden 
houses, broad verandahs, crowds of boats and 
shipping. 

The travellers landed, passed easily with their 
hand-baggage through the custom house, and found 
their way to a hotel. 

They were accustomed by this time to Orien- 
tal ways and Oriental costumes. On a smaller 
scale there was as much variety of dress here as 
at the long bridge in Constantinople across the 
Golden Horn. One novelty, though, was the 
dress of the negroes — long robes that were white 
as snow on men tall and stately and black as 
coals. 

There was nothing, except their interest in 
the canal, to keep the travellers long at Port Said. 
It did not take much time to inspect the terminal 
locks and the harbor and the shipping. 

Harry'aTrip. 



29O HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

Will found that a small steam messenger-boat, 
which sometimes carried passengers, would start 
about midnight for Ismailia, half way through 
the canal. It was just the chance they wanted. 
It would be dark at starting, but the moon would 
rise later. The prospect was good for a romantic 
boat-ride through the desert. 

And it was romantic from beginning to end. 
The romance began when they were called at 
midnight and found a man waiting outside the 
hotel to guide them through the almost pitch- 
dark streets to the boat. Either he was unfamil- 
iar with the way, or the boat was too small for 
easy finding. At last they discovered the craft. 
It lay below them, a black little affair, snorting 
w 7 ith its small steam-pipes, and with a boisterous 
crew on board. 

" Cousin Will, hadn't we better get back to 
the hotel and wait for daylight?" 

u Oh, no, this is just what we want. Halloa 
down there ! Shall we come aboard ? Can you 
hold two men more ?" 

Some sort of a response came back. They 
could not tell what, only that it was not Eng- 
lish. 

" Come on, Harry. Jump carefully for the 
deck — what there is of one. 1 ? 

So they got aboard. Two or three other pas- 



EGYPT. 



291 



sengers and the captain and his crew were in the 
cabin laughing and talking. 

Will and Harry went in and stowed away their 
baggage. Then they found a good lookout place 
just in front of the pilot-house. There they set- 
tled themselves for the rest of the night. Soon 
the fastenings were cast off, the men went to their 
posts, the uproar ceased, and the boat glided out 
into open water. 

The trip was begun. In a few minutes the 
town was behind them. They were steaming 
down a long ribbon-like mirror that reflected the 
stars and nothing else excepting the dim outlines 
of high banks of sand. Later on a shining face 
suddenly looked at them over the left bank. It 
was the moon, come to change the black mirror 
to silver and to give something more of shape to 
what were only spectres before — to stakes and 
passing boats and higher piles of sand. 

4 4 Harry, do you know that when they were 
digging the canal a good part of these miles of 
sand was carried out just by the basketful on the 
heads of the natives — the fellaheen ? 

" But there was room for them all and more in 
making a canal 100 miles long, 330 feet wide, and 
20 feet deep. 

"It was a great work, but this is not the first 
canal that Egypt has had. A long time ago, 



292 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

away back in the time of the Pharaohs, one was 
begun over this same route. It was a long, long 
while before it was finished. But that was made 
not so much for the passage of boats as to be a 
sort of fortification, a great moat for protection 
against Asiatic enemies. 

' 1 Then there was a very important canal from 
Alexandria, forty miles across to the Rosetta 
branch of the Nile. That was rebuilt by Mo- 
hammed Ali, and opened in 1820. It was an 
immense work; 250,000 persons were employed 
in the digging of it. And so poorly were they 
cared for that 200,000, it is said, died before it 
was finished. But it was a great help to Alex- 
andria. It made it practically a port of the Nile." 

So, looking and listening and sometimes talk- 
ing, they watched at the bows of the little boat 
until the night was gone. When the sun rose, as 
the moon had risen, everything was changed 
again. Through breaks in the sand wall they 
could look off now over the rough surface of the. 
desert. There was no sign of life. But only a 
little farther on and they came to two great hives 
of life. They were two huge India steamships 
that were preparing to get under weigh again after 
their night's halt. The little despatch-boat, as it 
ran alongside of them, was like a salmon beside 
whales. 



EGYPT. 



293 



Half way to Suez, and at the point where the 
canal widens into Lake Timsah, they reached 
Ismailia. It is a small station on the railroad 
from Suez to Cairo and Alexandria. 

Here they left the boat, took the first train 
from Ismailia, whizzed across what was once the 
Land of Goshen and the home of the Hebrews, 
and that evening were in Cairo. 



294 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

CAIRO. 

■ [ Oh, the donkeys, the donkeys, the donkeys. 
I don't care, Cousin Will, if it is Cairo, and I 
ought to be thinking about pyramids and greater 
things. I y m thinking about donkeys, and I can't 
help it. They are everywhere. Look at that 
bright little fellow now across the street from us. 
4 A miserable donkey ' indeed ! He looks like a 
little king, with a donkey-boy to wait on him as 
servant; and he couldn't be better robed — a 
crimson velvet-lined saddle, silk tassels, silk 
bridle, well fed, well groomed ! If ever again at 
home I hear donkeys sneered at, I'll just refer 
the slanderer to the Cairo donkeys for refutation. 
I don't wonder they are worth as much here as 
horses, the nicest of them. ' ' 

1 1 But fine as your donkey is, Harry, suppose 
you go over and try to hire the little king for work. 
No doubt that is what it is waiting for. Get 
two; we shall need them all the time in going 
about Cairo and out to the Pyramids. To be 
sure we might take carriages. Would you rath- 
er?" 



CAIRO. 295 

4 ' Indeed I wouldn't. It is bad enough, as it 
is, to have so much of what might be New York 
about us — wide streets, modern buildings, nice 
carriages, European style of dress and stores and 
hotels. We wont make it seem worse still by 
ourselves driving about in a carriage, will we? 
Think of riding that way to the foot of the Pyra- 
mids ! I expect that some day they will have a 
railway to the top, and that plenty of folks will 
prefer that way of mounting them. 1 1 

"Well, we will not patronize the carriages. 
Go and get the donkeys. But no, you needn't 
either. Look there ! The boys have seen us, and 
here they come with a rush, a crowd of them. 
Whew, what a shouting; swinging arms, dark 
faces, red caps, white donkeys, black donkeys. 
Let them keep it up a minute. What a lot of 
English words and names they have picked up: 
1 Boston,' ( America,' 1 Yankee Doodle,' 'Good 
donkey,' c No kick.' There that 's enough ! We 
take you and you. Now the rest of you clear 
out, and do you two wait here in front of the 
hotel until we are ready to start." 

They sat a while longer on the piazza, watch- 
ing the panorama of the well-filled street before 
them. 

There was much that was not greatly differ- 
ent from what they had already become familiar 



296 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

with in Oriental towns. Some things were whol- 
ly new. It interested them to see the "syces" 
running before the carriages of dignitaries to clear 
the way, just as in the old Bible times footmen ran 
before their masters' chariots. Sometimes two 
would run side by side, sometimes there would be 
but one. They were very picturesque, with their 
bare legs and bright costumes of red and white. 

Sometimes an officer of the khedive would 
ride past, or there would be a line of white uni- 
formed soldiers. Presently they saw approaching 
from the right a long line of camels. As they 
reached the space in front of the hotel all at once 
the man who was leading them seemed greatly 
troubled, and the camels themselves were fright- 
ened. 

1 ' What is the matter with them, Cousin Will ?' ' 

"I don't know; I see nothing wrong, nothing 
for them to be afraid of. ' ' 

"They seem to be afraid to step; they just 
creep along as though something was hurting 
them, or as cattle would on ice, or a smooth-shod 
horse; but we are a long way from ice in this 
heat. What can it be, I wonder !" 

But in a minute Harry had his answer from 
the camels themselves, poor things ! and it was a 
very plain answer. They had all got safely past 
excepting the last one in the line. Suddenly that 



CAIRO. 



297 



one seemed afraid to even stir; and then when it 
tried, quick as a flash its legs spread from under 
it and it sank heavily to the ground, not forward 
or on its side, but straight down, and in a minute 
was dead. 

"Poor thing! poor thing!" exclaimed Will. 
"It was the water on the paved street that they 
were afraid of. I never knew it before, but it 
seems to be as dangerous to them as ice. And 
if they do slip, their peculiar build makes them 
more likely to fall in this ugly position than in a 
safer way. No wonder it kills them. Their 
great padded feet were made not for the paved 
ways, but for the desert and the sand. But we 
have waited here long enough. Mount your 
fiery steed, Harry, and we will set out for a don- 
key ride about the city. Lead the way, Has- 
san." Hassan w 7 as their new guide. 

It took but a few minutes to reach a less mod- 
ern part of the town. Here the streets were nar- 
row and much more Oriental in their aspect; 
and in the oldest part, in 4 1 Old Cairo, ' ' there was 
scarcely anything excepting themselves that was 
not wholly Egyptian. 

They came to a crowd gathered around a jug- 
gler and his boy. When the man saw them stop 
his face brightened with hope of bountiful " back- 
sheesh." He recommenced his programme. He 



298 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

handled poisonous snakes. He seemed to swal- 
low knives and to run a sword down his throat. 
He forced irons through his flesh. He appeared 
to draw from his mouth impossibly long coils 
of cord and ribbons. Then he and the boy twist- 
ed themselves into various sorts of knots, with 
other gymnastic performances. They stayed a 
while, more to watch the crowd than to see the 
tricks. 

u Before we come to El Azhar, the great 
school, will you see a little school, sir, a chil- 
dren's school?" asked Hassan. 

"If it is near here, yes." 

"It is near here, sir." 

"Then lead the way." 

They came to the place. Leaving the don- 
keys they climbed a rough flight of stone steps in 
an old building. The door before them was 
closed, but as they approached it they heard a 
great tumult of voices within. 

"They must be at recess," remarked Harry, 
"and having a lively time of it too." 

They were admitted. There were some thir- 
ty bovs sitting there on the floor, and all were 
busy studying — at the top of their voices. It 
was n't recess. If it had been it w r ould have been 
quieter. To study that way aloud is the custom 
in all their schools. 



CAIRO. 



299 



They soon returned to the street, and, mount- 
ing, jogged on again, with the donkey-boys run- 
ning behind, up to the citadel and the alabaster 
mosque of Mohammed Ali. Here there was 
trouble. The priest in charge of the gateway of 
the mosque for some reason objected when Has- 
san proposed to go in. 

Hassan was inclined to persist. He only 
wanted, he said, to cross the court so as to reach 
a point where they would have a splendid view 
of the city and the Nile valley. 

But " No," the priest said. 

1 1 Come on after me, ' ' Hassan called to Will 
and Harry, and was for pushing his way in. 

The priest shouted, and half a dozen of his 
mates came rushing across the court to his help. 
For a moment, before Will could get to them and 
interfere, it looked as though there would be a 
free fight. Hassan was a large, muscular fellow, 
with an authoritative look and way about him, 
and apparently very resolute. He was much ex- 
cited now and seemed to think he could thrash 
all the priests and force an entrance; and possi- 
bly he could have done so had it been worth 
while. 

Will pushed in among them, and, getting in 
front of Hassan, ordered him back. He reluc- 
tantly obeyed, and finally led them by other en- 



300 harry' s trip to the; orient. 

trances and passage-ways to the chief points oi 
interest within the large inclosure. But plainly, 
for some reason, the man they had engaged for 
their guide was not popular among those who 
knew him; and this became more and more evi- 
dent as they went about with him. They found 
the reason for it later when they were at the Pyr- 
amids. 

Returning from the citadel and the beautiful 
mosque, with its walls and columns of pure ala- 
baster, they stopped at what is one of the oldest 
and largest religious schools in the world. It 
is the great central school of the Mohammedans 
for the study of the Koran and all Arabic litera- 
ture. It is held in the very spacious mosque El 
Azhar. As one walks among the slender sup- 
porting columns, there are seated all about him 
on the floor hundreds of eager students in small 
groups around their instructors and leaders. It is 
said that sometimes there are thousands in attend- 
ance at one time, and they come from all parts of 
the Moslem world. 

That afternoon they took a short camel ride 
outside the city to the " Tombs of the Caliphs.'* 
The mosque-like groups of buildings, with their 
large domes, are imposing from the outside, but 
within there is very little of interest. 

To close the busy day, after tea they found 



CAIRO. 3OI 

their way through the lighted streets to the pleas- 
ant rooms of the American Mission. Dr. Lan- 
sing received them very kindly. ' They were 
interested in hearing from him of the work of 
the mission and of its success, especially in the 
school department. Before leaving they had 
planned with the doctor the details of a trip tq 
the site of old Memphis and the tombs of the 
" Sacred Bulls." He would go with them, he 
said, the first part of the way, on the cars about, 
an hour's ride up the Nile valley to Helwin, 
where he had work connected with the mission. 

When they reached the hotel again and theii 
rooms, they were thoroughly prepared for a night 
of sound sleep. They were glad too for the quiet 
and the rest of the Sabbath day that followed. 



3°2 



HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A SABBATH DAY IN CAIRO. 

The last Sabbath in the East ! It dawned as 
fair as an ideal Sabbath could; and all its hours, 
from the beginning to its close, seemed to Will 
and Harry to be ideal also. Yet that was not be- 
cause the city they were in showed much sign of 
Sabbath-like rest and peace. Rather it was be- 
cause there was a real Sabbath day in their 
hearts. The Sabbath was within them, as the 
kingdom of God is "within" the Christian. So 
the day could no more seem altogether like other 
days, no matter what was about them, than a 
dark road could seem wholly dark to a man car- 
rying a well-trimmed lamp along it. 

Something like that was the thought Will 
suggested at their morning reading and prayers, 
before he and Harry came down to breakfast and 
to the noise and tumult in and about the busy 
hotel. 

Perhaps their philosophy would have been 
tried, and they too would have become restless, 
if they had been forced to remain there all day. 
But to remain indoors was by no means their 



A SABBATH DAY IN CAIRO. 303 

plan. Not all of Cairo is un-Sunday-like. Very 
far from it, as they found. 

Early in the forenoon they left the hotel. At 
the foot of the steps the donkey-boys were lying 
in wait, as usual. They sprang to meet them, as 
clamorous as ever, but Will waved them away. 
They would walk this time. 

Directly opposite the hotel are the beautiful 
Ezbekieh Gardens, large, and shaded and adorned 
with all manner of tropical growth. 

There they entered and at once were in com- 
parative quiet. They walked slowly. There 
was no haste. In some of the pleasantest places 
among the fountains they sat down and waited, 
talking quietly. When they left the gardens a 
few steps more brought them to their destination, 
the pleasant chapel of the Cairo Mission. 

Dr. Lansing had asked Will to meet with the 
English-speaking congregation in their services 
for the day, and to talk with them as a Christian 
visitor from a distant land that they all knew and 
loved, and that w T as a fatherland to them in their 
w r ork for Christ. 

Frequent services were to be held during the 
day. One of them was in progress when Will 
and Harry entered and quietly took their places 
in the rear of the large congregation. 

They could understand nothing of what was 



304 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

said. All the exercises were in Arabic, under 
the lead of the missionaries; but they knew that 
this company of quiet worshippers were believers 
in the one God as known through Christ, and 
that they were only a part of the many who in 
this land had been helped by the missionaries up 
to better things. No wonder they honor their 
teachers and love them; no wonder that these 
missionaries, like those they had seen in Constan- 
tinople and Scutari and Beirut and Sidon, are 
recognized as a blessing through the entire com- 
munity where they have made their home ! 

The Arabic service was followed by another 
in English. Most of the natives remained, and 
they were joined by others, residents and visitors 
in the city. It was pleasant speaking to such an 
audience. It seemed as though they must be, as 
they appeared to be, eager to hear and heed. It 
was like speaking from a far country over great 
oceans to a little company of those who were bro- 
thers because they were Christians. It was like 
bringing from a land where food is never lacking 
a few handfuls to those who would have starved 
but for the earnest working in the vineyard of 
their small band of God's faithful husbandmen. 

At the close of the morning service there was 
pleasant greeting among those who could no 
longer seem strangers to each other. The trav- 



A SABBATH DAY IN CAIRO* 305 

ellers were not allowed to return for the remain- 
der of the Sabbath to the unhomelike hotel. 
They were welcomed into the missionary circle 
and home as though they were a part of it. 

There were other services before the day 
closed. It was a full day. 

As they walked back through the brief twi- 
light to the hotel, Will said, 11 Has it been a good 
day, Harry?" 

" Indeed it has, one of our best Sundays.' 1 

"And how pleasant it is, Harry, and always 
will be, for us to think of this and all of the meet- 
ings we have had with these Eastern Christians, 
on Sundays and sometimes on week-days, ever 
since we left the 4 Norman Monarch.' Do you 
remember the first meeting?" 

"Yes, indeed, after we had just landed in 
Constantinople, when we found the missionaries 
holding their noon prayer-meeting in the upper 
story of the Bible House." 

" And then that Sunday morning away up on 
the heights of Scutari, when we met the mission- 
aries in the pleasant parlor of the 1 Girls' Home 
School,' to which so many ladies of New England 
had given of their wealth and their love; and the 
prayer-meeting in Beirut; and another Sunday in 
Damascus, and that evening in Sidon. And then, 
besides the real Sabbaths, there have been so 

Harry's Trip. 20 



306 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

many times, Harry, that seemed almost as holy 
and helpful just because of their association. You 
remember how wonderfully it was so at Mt. Hat- 
tin, where we had our first sudden view of the 
Sea of Galilee. And that was only one place 
among the many. 

"I tell you, Harry, it ought to help us ahead, 
it must help us, it must make us better Chris- 
tians — stronger, gladder, more unselfish, more 
Christlike every w r ay — to have seen these places, 
and to have thought of Christ as though he was 
right with us, as we have done, all the way from 
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon here to Egypt. 
These times, scattered along our line of travel, as 
we look back at them, seem shining w r ay-marks 
for the road. They are pearl-hours among the 
common hours. We shall always be the richer 
for them." 

"And this our last Sabbath in Egypt, Cousin 
Will, is one of the best pearls of them all." 

Later in the evening, as they sat in their 
room, Will had one word more concerning % the 
day and the walk back in the twilight. 

"Harry," he said, "it seemed to me, as we 
were coming home to-night, as though that twi- 
light after such a day was God's benediction to 
us. It seemed to me something like this;" and 
he read from a paper he had been pencilling : 



A SABBATH DAY IN CAIRO. 



3°7 



TWILIGHT. 

The twilight is come ; 

The great day-flower 
That blossomed at dawn 

From a starry bower 
Is fading, faint and slow, 

Unwilling to fold 

Its petals of gold 
For the night's benediction low. 
The twilight is come. 

Now that twilight has come 

And the rose of the day 
That blossomed at dawn 

Is fading away, 
Hear, Lord, my evening call ; 

Thou God of might 

And God of the light, 
Let thy peace on my spirit fall, 
Now that twilight is come. 

He has granted the prayer. He has given 

Me thee, dear Light ; 
Thyself a most sweet benediction 

From the God of night. 



308 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF THE SACRED BUIXS. 

The travellers are at Helwin. According to 
plans they had made with Dr. Lansing, they had 
come up from Cairo the evening before. They 
had spent the night with him at this little town 
of the khedive's on the edge of the desert, and 
now in the very early morning were standing at 
the door, waiting for the donkey-boys to bring 
them their steeds. 

" Harry," said Cousin Will, "between this 
sunrise and the next sunset we are likely to have 
more variety of adventure than on any other day 
of the few days we spend in Egypt. Here we 
are on the desert this side of the Nile. We must 
go down into the 'Valley,' get across the river, 
pass over the site of old Memphis to the desert 
again on the other side, the west side. There we 
shall want to explore the underground 1 Tombs of 
the Sacred Bulls.' Then we will have a long 
donkey ride down the river, among the fields and 
villages of the natives, back to Cairo. Here are 
the donkeys. They wont be as lively when we 
leave them to-night. 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRED BUU<S. 309 

"Good-by, doctor. Thank you again for your 
care of us. ' * 

They set off at a brisk trot, with the boys run- 
ning behind, ready, according to circumstances, 
to hasten the donkeys' pace by vigorous pokes 
with their sticks, or to check it and guide them 
by pulling at their tails. These boys were small, 
wiry fellows, who ordinarily could have travelled 
all day without wearying; but this day gave; 
promise of being terribly hot, and would test the 
endurance of the whole party. 

Indeed, they had not gone far before Will and 
Harry were glad to add a bit more of color and 
picturesqueness to the cavalcade by unfurling 
their bright green and white sun-umbrellas. 

u Cousin Will, " said Harry, "did you hear the 
doctor tell me that we could not have travelled 
here as we are doing now with any sort of coun 
fort, hardly with safety, if it had been as hot as it 
usually is at this time of the year ?' ' 

* ( Yes. I know the last of May is late for 
Egypt. We could not stay much longer if we 
wanted to. But we are fortunate. The weather 
is cooler, they say, than it has been before in 
twenty years at this season." 

And now they were not far from the Nile. 

" Cousin Will, how are we ever to get across 
the river? I see nothing but a mast ahead. We 



3IO HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

are not going in a sail-boat, are we ? There will 
be quite a crowd, any way, four of us and two 
donkeys and all these foot-passengers besides, if 
they are bound, as they seem to be, the same 
way with us. I wouldn't like to be upset and 
drowned, even if it was in the Nile." 

" I knew only that there was some sort of a 
ferry here, Harry. Apparently that clumsy affair 
with its big lateen sail is the ferry-boat There 
is only a light wind now, but it looks as though a 
very small puff would be able to capsize the whole 
affair. There's a crowd on board already, yet 
they seem to be waiting for us. ' ' 

They came to the edge of the great river. 
They had not seen it before, excepting from a 
distance. It was running swift and muddy along 
the low, sloping bank. 

" It looks like the Mississippi below its junc- 
tion with the Missouri," said Will. 

The boat had grounded five feet or so from 
the bank. 

"How are we to get aboard, Cousin Will? 
Most everybody is barefoot and can wade con- 
veniently, but I suppose they expect us to walk 
that narrow plank at the stern. I would rather 
take a running jump, if only I could be sure of 
my footing when I struck." 

"We had better keep to the plank. But I see 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRED BUU«S. 3II 

no way of getting the donkeys in, unless the boys 
pick them up and hand them in as they would a 
sheep, or else follow the tactics which those don- 
key-boys of Gibraltar adopted. ' ' 

The latter method was the one they followed. 
The donkeys would not step into the water, but 
facing them towards the boat, the boys pushed 
from behind until they had to jump. They came 
aboard safely. The drivers clambered after, and 
all was ready for the crossing to the opposite 
bank. 

With much shouting, and with much creak- 
ing and swaying of boom and mast, that voyage 
was safely accomplished. It was easy disembark- 
ing, but then there was a hard scramble up the 
bank, which on this side is very steep and 
high. 

Safely up, they came at once into the midst of 
rich fields of grain and groves of great palms, 
date-palms, but not now in fruit. Close by a 
" shadoof n was at work, slowly raising the water 
for irrigating the land. A short distance away, 
under the trees, was a small village of square huts 
called " Mitrahenny." 

As they rode on they knew, although for a 
long time there was no slightest evidence of it 
about them, that they were riding over the site 
of what was once the very chief of the cities of 



312 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

Egypt, ancient Memphis, the Noph and Moph of 
Scripture.* 

Said Will, u How strange to think that where 
we are riding now once great Memphis rose, 
the capital of Egypt for nearly a thousand years 
under the shepherd kings, as well as later under 
other dynasties. Its circuit was seventeen miles. 
Immense temples were in it— to Isis, to Serapis, 
to the Sun. It was the centre of Egypt for poli- 
tics, for learning, for religion. Yet see what it 
is now — a sort of fertile farm, this part of it, and 
farther on a desert. The city had so entirely dis- 
appeared that for a long, long time no one ever 
even suspected that this was its site; and when at 
last a few began to make the claim it was hard to 
feel certain about it. Some accepted the theory, 
and some said it could not be a true one." 

" I don't wonder. Are they certain now? I 
don't see how they can be." 

" Yes, they are certain. The proof, when it 
came, was very plain and very interesting. You 
know that one of the chief of the gods of the 
Egyptians was the sacred bull Apis.f Now an 
ancient historian, Strabo, in describing Memphis, 

* Isa. 19 : 13 ; Jer. 2 : 16 ; 46 : 14, 19 ; Ezek. 30 : 13, 16 ; Hosea 
9:6. 

t These bulls were black, with certain white spots on the 
face and side. 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRED BULLS. 313 

had said that the approach to the temple, and to 
the great underground tomb of the Bulls, was 
through a splendid colonnade of Sphinxes. But 
what had become of this colonnade ? There 
seemed to be no signs of it here. No wonder 
that men said this could not be the place. 

" But one day, as lately as i860, an antiquari- 
an and explorer named M. Mariette came across 
what appeared to him to be the head of a Sphinx 
just showing above the drifting sand. 

U M. Mariette remembered the old description 
of Strabo. He was greatly excited, as he might 
well be. If he could find that avenue, and the 
temple and the tomb, where for 1,500 years the 
bulls had been worshipped when alive and sol- 
emnly buried when dead, it would be a notable 
discovery. It would make the identification of 
the site complete and would reveal many other 
things of value and interest. If he could find 
what he hoped for ! But could he ? 

M He began digging eagerly, deeper and deep- 
er. He wasn't after gold, but after what seemed 
to him much better than gold. And what do you 
suppose he found ? 

1 ' As he dug through the sand, sometimes sev- 
enty feet below the surface, lo, one after another 
the sphinxes appeared, until one hundred and 
forty-one were uncovered, and the pedestals of 



314 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

many more that had been overthrown. And be- 
sides, although the temple to which they once led 
could not be found, he did find the great Tomb of 
the Bulls. We shall come to it presently. That 
is our goal, as it was his." 

"Get up, donkeys! Punch them, boys! 
Hurry on to the Tombs !" shouted Harry. 

And so away they went on the run over the 
rich black soil of the Nile plain, but it was only 
for a short time. 

"Whoa! whoa! Look out there, Cousin 
Will ! But wasn't I near riding head and heels, 
donkey and all, into that hole ! What can any- 
body want here of a hole of that bigness ? It 
might be the grave of a fifty-foot giant. O Cous- 
in Will, look there ! It 's enough to frighten one. 
Look down there ! There is the giant himself ! M 

" There he is, sure enough. Well, this is a 
discovery, Harry. I wasn't expecting it, though 
I know now what it is. Here's a break in the 
ground where we can get down to the old statue, 
for it is old, as old as the time of Moses. There, 
now we are down and can examine it in detail. 
Do you see how fine the face is, and how care- 
fully the whole was carved and polished? It is 
badly battered now, but it was a splendid statue 
when it stood, fifty feet high, in front of the tem- 
ple of Phtah. It lies in the mud now, and you 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRED BUIXS. 315 

and your donkey were near tumbling over it — 
this once proud statue of Rameses the Great, who 
reigned 4,000 years ago and conquered nations 
and built temples and cities. Truly, Harry, a 
very appropriate scripture to think of here is that 
word of Isaiah: 4 Is this the man that made the 
earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that 
made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the 
cities thereof, that opened not the house of his 
prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all 
of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 
But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abomi- 
nable branch, and as the raiment of those that are 
slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down 
to the stones of the pit.' " Isa. 14 : 16-19.* 

They clambered out of the pit and in some- 
what quieted mood proceeded on their way. 

Soon they reached the desert again. They 
had crossed the fertile valley. That was all be- 
hind them. Their path now led in and out 
among high mounds of drifted sand that often 
were full of broken pieces of brick and bits of 
crockery from the ruins of the vanished city. It 
was slow travelling, and hard and hot. 

In the midst of these sand-drifts, where there 

* According to many writers it was the daughter of this 
Rameses II., called the Great, who took Moses from the bul- 
rushes. 



316 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

was no sign of verdure or of ordinary habitation, 
suddenly they came upon a square-built house 
with wide veranda and low roof, shaded and quiet 
and cool, and with Arabs coming and going about 
it. 

This was the well-kept station of those who, 
for the present, had the care and charge of the 
" Tombs of the Sacred Bulls." 

Will and Harry were glad to dismount and 
rest. The shade and the drinks of cool water that 
were brought were needed refreshment. 

When at length they were ready to explore 
the tombs, one of the Arabs, after taking from its 
place a heavy key and a candle, signed to them 
to follow him. 

He led the way until they came to a steep de- 
scent dug through the yielding sand and walled 
on either side. At the bottom a massive door was 
unlocked and opened. The candle was lighted, 
they descended a flight of steps, and were in the 
tomb, deep under ground, in what would have 
been absolute darkness but for the little glimmer 
of light in the hand of the Arab. The air was 
close. 

" Cousin Will, " whispered Harry, "I believe 
this is going to be worse than the time we had in 
those caves under Jerusalem.' ' 

However, they soon forgot the strangeness in 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRfiD BUU<S. .317 

the interest of what they saw. The place they 
found to be a long tunnel hewn through solid rock 
for more than a third of a mile, but with the ac- 
cessible part something over two hundred yards in 
length. On each side of the tunnel are chambers, 
and for each chamber there is a huge granite sar- 
cophagus. Most of these sarcophagi remain where 
they were placed when the carefully-embalmed 
bulls were placed within them. They are made 
from single blocks of stone, very highly polished, 
and covered all over with delicate hieroglyphics 
telling of the birth and history and death and 
burial of the dead god — the bull mummy which 
they once contained. They were all closed origi- 
nally with heavy granite covers. ■ 

An effort was made a few years ago to remove 
one of these sarcophagi to the Egyptian museum 
at Boulak, but the undertaking failed. They suc- 
ceeded in moving it into the main passage; there 
they left it. Its great weight made it impossi- 
ble for them to drag it up the inclined plane to 
the surface. Yet these same blocks had been 
brought to Memphis by the workmen of those 
times, nearly six hundred miles from the quarries 
of Syene. 

u Cousin Will, don't you suppose it was partly 
because the children of Israel had seen the Egyp- 
tians worshipping these bulls that they were so 



31S HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



ready to make that golden calf at Mt. Sinai and 
to worship it?" 

14 Yes. It was natural that if they began to 
long for a visible object of worship, what they 
had seen of the Egyptians' reverence for the sa- 
cred bull helped to incline them towards making 
a similar image to represent the unseen Jehovah. 
But, Harry, you must not think that the bull was 
the only animal reverenced by the Egyptians. 
Many others were worshipped, though not as 
widely nor with as much of splendor. For in- 
stance, there was a species of ibis that was wor- 
shipped almost everywhere. Its carefully -pre- 
served mummies are found by the million, though 
the bird itself has now become extinct. Croco- 
diles, monkeys, snakes — all had their devotees. " 

44 Cousin Will, here's a step-ladder. Can't I 
get up and climb over into one of the sarcoph- 
agi?" 

14 Yes, if you want to, into this one; its cover 
is partly off. There is no mummy in there now." 

Harry climbed in. There was plenty of room. 
The space was large and the sides were smoothly 
and evenly cut. Soon he scrambled out. 

They had seen enough, and retraced their 
steps. They were glad to regain the light and air 
of the upper world. 

While they rested again at the station they 



MEMPHIS: TOMBS OF SACRED BULLS. 319 

talked of many things — of what they had just 
seen, with all that it suggested, and of the neigh- 
boring ' ' Pyramids of Sakkari. ' ' There are eleven 
of these pyramids in the midst of what was once 
an immense graveyard of the Egyptians. One of 
the eleven, the " Stepped Pyramid," some think 
is even older than the Great Pyramids of Ghizeh. 
Its shape is unique, for the base, instead of being 
square, is oblong, and it has the peculiar 4 4 stepped 
sides. ' ' 

But as Harry and Will talked it seemed to 
them that there was one series of events in the 
long and strange history of the region about them 
that was grander in itself and in its results than 
anything besides that had ever occurred there. 

"Just think, Harry. Imagine again what all 
this region once was, how it was teeming with 
life and splendor, a great royal city, and then re- 
member that it was here probably that Moses and 
Aaron came to tell Pharaoh that he must let their 
people go ; here that the plagues fell ; here that 
the first-born died ; here that the mighty king 
yielded at last before a mightier Jehovah, and 
with all his people hastened to obey and to let 
God's people depart from this land of their terri- 
ble bondage. ' Pharaoh rose up in the night, he 

and all his servants, and all the Egyptians 

And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and 



320 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

said, Rise up and get you forth from among my 
people, both ye and the children of Israel ; and 
go, serve the Lord as ye have said. . . . And the 
Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they 
might send them out of the land in haste.' Ex. 
13 : 30-33. 

"But we have rested long enough; it is time 
for us to go, Harry. ' ' 

They bade the Arabs good-by, remounted 
their donkeys, and set out on their long ride down 
the valley to Cairo. 

All the afternoon they rode. The drivers 
lost their way among the many intersecting paths 
and canals and embankments; but there was no 
loss in that excepting of time. It gave a better 
opportunity for seeing the country, and the peo- 
ple at work and in their homes. They knew the 
general direction they were to take. 

They found no waste land. Every spot was 
cultivated. In places the people were threshing 
their grain in primitive fashion, just as in Bible 
times, by driving oxen with drags over and 
over the threshing-floor. Others were harrowing 
throwing the grain high in the air, that so the 
wind might separate it from the chaff. Here and 
there a camel passed loaded with straw, and don- 
keys carrying produce to Cairo. 

The afternoon lengthened. It was very hot. 



Memphis: tombs of sacred buxls. 321 

They rode slowly, for their own comfort and out oi 
pity for the tired donkey-boys and their tired beasts. 
In one place — it was near the fine bridge by 
which they recrossed the Nile — Will's donkey 
stumbled and partly fell. If it had been a horse 
there might have been a serious accident. As it 
was, Will's feet were so near the ground he simply 
found himself standing over the fallen steed, with 
nothing to do but to step over his head and wait 
until he righted himself. 

It was long after dark when they dismounted 
in front of their hotel. The day had been a full 
day, but a satisfactory one. 

"Here, boys, is your pay," said Will, hand- 
ing them a liberal backsheesh. 

They took the money, glanced at it, and thrust 
it back into his hand with gestures and words 
of intense disgust. 

Will laughed; he received the money quietly 
instead of arguing with them as they had expected, 
and slipping it into his pocket, turned away and 
mounted the steps of the hotel with Harry. 

He was hardly across the piazza and at the 
door before the boys were at his side with all im- 
aginable meekness and humility, begging him to 
give them whatever he chose. 

He paid them and they were gone. 



Harry's Trp 



21 



322 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE PYRAMIDS. 

' 1 Harry, if all goes well, this will be one of 
the white days of our trip. Think of at last 
climbing the Pyramids ! A year ago, at home, 
you had no reason for supposing you would ever 
see them. They seemed farther away than the 
moon — which at any rate was in sight; yet here 
we are ready to mount the two donkeys which 
have the glory, that they do not appreciate, of 
being the last of the long succession of our carri- 
ers between New Haven and the base of Cheops. 
The 4 Norman Monarch J was the first. These 
two Cairo donkeys are the last. All honor to 
them. I hope they will bear us well. 

" Come on. There is Hassan striding down 
the pathway, majestic in black tasseled fez and 
loose robe of silk, baggy trousers, white stockings, 
and yellow slippers. He turns out of the way 
for nobody. He might be owner of a good part 
of Cairo or the whole of it, or partner of the khe- 
dive. See him cuff the donkey-boys. They 
seem quite in awe of him. 

"Good morning, Hassan; why are you so free 
with your fists ?" 



THE PYRAMIDS. 



3^3 



" It 's the best way, sir. It 's the only way to 
get along with the natives, sir. ' ' 

u Do you think so? But while you are with 
us do n' t be quite so ready to use that method 
as you were the other day at the Alabaster 
Mosque." 

" I wont, sir." 

Soon they were mounted and off for the Pyra- 
mids. Out of the city, across the Nile bridge, 
westward they went. 

As they rode Harry asked, u Cousin Will, you 
called one of the Pyramids the Pyramid of Che- 
ops. Why has it that name ?" 

u Of the seventy Pyramids in Egypt, the three 
at Ghizeh, where we are bound now, are the 
finest; and of the three, the Pyramid of Cheops is 
the most interesting. It takes its name from the 
monarch w r ho built it. It is the largest of them 
all. It covers thirteen acres. It is supposed that 
100,000 men were at work on it for thirty years. 
Cheops built it for his sepulchre, 2,000 years or 
more before the time of Christ." 

They were hardly more than clear of the city 
before they saw away in front of them, still and 
massive and clear cut against the sky, the familiar 
picture, the original of what they had so often 
seen in books and on canvas. There before them 
were those works of man which for massiveness 



324 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

are the nearest like works of God of anything 
that men have ever made. 

Were they disappointed in this distant view of 
them ? Indeed they were ! 

u O Cousin Will," exclaimed Harry, "J 
don't know but I would rather never have seen 
them at all than to have seen them so much less 
than I anticipated ! 4 Mountains of rock ' indeed ! 
'wonders of the ages !' I feel as though it was a 
fraud; as though somebody had been cheating 
me. Hardly that though. It is more that I feel 
just sorry and disappointed. Don't you feel so, 
Cousin Will?" 

" Yes, I do. And yet when we come to think 
about it, they must be farther away than they 
seem to us to be in this clear atmosphere; and if 
that is so, we can easily understand why they ap- 
pear now to be so small. Do you know the phi- 
losophy of it? Whenever one sees an object and 
is about to judge of its size, there is always first 
an involuntary estimate concerning its distance. 
A baby, because he thinks that the moon is with- 
in reach, thinks also that it is small enough to be 
grasped by his chubby little hands. Have you 
not sometimes looked up suddenly through a clos- 
ed window and thought you saw a large bird far 
away among the clouds or over the tree-tops, but 
instead it was only a tiny fly crawling along the 



the pyramids. 



325 



pane? So in looking at the Pyramids, the rays 
of light that come from them enter into our eyes 
at a certain angle and form the picture on the 
retina. We have to judge of the distance. If 
we imagine that they are very much nearer to 
us than they really are, we cannot help at the 
same time judging them to be very much smaller 
than they really are. If we could realize that 
they are many miles away, and yet are large 
enough to fill this angle of vision, we would easi- 
ly appreciate them as immense." 

Two hours' ride from Cairo, with frequent 
interruptions from unrepaired paths, brought the 
travellers to the foot of the great hills of stone. 

A crowd of Arabs flocked around them as they 
approached, some of them eager to take charge 
of the donkeys, others as eager to be hired as 
guides and assistants to the top, others trying 
to sell little mementos — seals and charms and 
idols — which they declared they had found in 
the tombs, but which more likely were all of 
English make. 

The Arabs were quieted somewhat and in- 
duced to give space with the help of Hassan. 
Hassan they seemed to know well and to look at 
askance. Plainly, besides having no liking for 
him, they were rather afraid of him. 

The travellers rested a while on their blankets 



3^6 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

spread over the sand before undertaking the 
ascent. 

1 1 What do you say now, Harry, to the height 
of the Pyramids ?" asked Will, as they lay look- 
ing up the more than four hundred and fifty feet 
of rock stairs that sloped above them. 

"I say this is very much more like what I 
expected, yet it isn't quite all that I hoped for. 
However, I do n' t complain. I am satisfied ; and 
I imagine that before we get to the top I will be 
more than satisfied. It will be like climbing a 
small mountain. Whew ! would n't it have been 
a great place once for sliding down hill w 7 hen it 
was covered smoothly from top to bottom with 
polished stone! I believe I shall be half afraid 
now of falling, and having not a slide, but a very 
bumping roll, before we are through. How un- 
even the steps are, Cousin Will ! from two feet to 
four or five, aren't they? And the color of the 
rock! I thought it was dark, and instead it is 
almost white — a sort of cream color. ' ' 

1 1 Yes, it is all made of a light limestone, ex- 
cepting in places along the passages and in the 
lining of the inner chambers ; there a very hard 
granite-like rock is used. Well, are you rested? 
If you are, now for the climb. How much help 
do you want, Harry?" 

"The Arabs seem to think I want them 



THE PYRAMIDS. 327 

all. Do you suppose I really need any of 
them?" 

' ' Indeed you do. We will have two of them 
apiece. They will help by climbing ahead and 
then pulling us up step by step. We will dis- 
pense with the third fellow who wants to go be- 
hind and push. 

" Now you four men — you and you and you 
and you y understand — just you four and no others, 
are the men we hire; and understand again, only 
when we are through with you will we pay you. 
The rest of you can go along if you want the 
climb, but not one backsheesh will the rest of you 
get from us. ' ' 

Nevertheless a good part of the whole tribe 
did go with them to the very top. It was in the 
vain hope that their frequent offers of help and of 
water and of food would at last be appreciated 
and accepted. Hassan was to stay behind. 

c 4 Now, Harry, here at this corner is the start- 
ing-place. Up we go. Do n' t hurry, and be sure 
and stop — don't forget this — be sure and stop, no 
matter how often, whenever you are in the least 
out of breath or tired.' ' 

It was exciting work — the light-robed Arabs, 
dark, agile, quick as cats, springing along the 
easiest places, then reaching down with their 
bare muscular arms to Will and Harry; a strong 



328 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

clasp of hands ; a half step and a half spring ; 
higher and higher ! Once as they held him Har- 
ry missed his footing. There was hardly a hand's 
breadth any way to rest npon. As he stepped he 
lost his balance and swung sharply to the right. 
It would have been a bad fall, but quick as a flash 
the Arabs braced back against the wall. They 
kept their grip on his hands. Another pull, and 
he was safely up on the broader step at their 
side. 

Half way to the summit they stopped for a 
long rest. It seemed to them that from this point 
the pyramid was more awe-inspiring than from 
any other place. Now there was a great slope 
below them as well as above them. They were 
like a little group of ants clinging to a huge wall. 
Here at last, where they had least expected it, 
they found that the sense of immensity and gran- 
deur and majesty was all and more than they had 
ever anticipated. 

Presently they were climbing again, and soon 
they were at the summit. The apex of the pyra- 
mid has been broken away. The top now is a 
roughly -levelled platform a few feet square. 
Looking down and off* from this height the trav- 
ellers could see their donkeys at the foot of the 
pyramid like mice and the men like pigmies; 
they could mark the clear-cut line where the sand 



THK PYRAMIDS. 329 

curved in and out against the green of the fertile 
Nile valley. On the one side of them the bare 
desert stretched away as far as they could see, shi- 
ning yellow in the sunlight ; on the other side 
were the Nile and Cairo and scattered villages 
and fertile fields. Close beside them, and rather 
above their level because of its higher foundation 
and its unbroken apex, towered the second pyra- 
mid. A part of its smooth casing is still in place 
near the summit. One of the persistent Arabs, 
noticing that they were talking about this pyra- 
mid, eagerly offered his services. He was earnest 
to be allowed to entertain them by running down 
one pyramid and up the other. 

" It will be great fun," he declared; " I will 
do it in a minute. I will do it for one franc — I 
will do it for half a franc. ' 1 

" Harry, we must get rid of them in some way. 
They are too troublesomely talkative. As though 
we cared for their monkey antics on the pyramids 
and their gossip and jokes in broken English! 

"Away with you, all of you! Go down; go 
down five steps; so many — as many as my fin- 
gers—and stay there until I say, Come. Go!" 

Then they had peace. They talked but little 
to each other ; but when it was time to descend 
Will said, 

"Harry, we ought to be better men for what 



330 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

these pyramids and the desert and the great Nile 
valley have been saying to us, better men for 
what God has been saying to us through them. 
I have been thinking how — great and old as it all 
is — it is not as lasting and as grand as are the 
souls of the millions who have lived and died 
here, not as lasting and as wonderful as our own 
souls, Harry. The men that built these huge 
monuments built up at the same time their own 
character and destiny, and these will last on when 
the pyramids themselves are no more." 

"How wonderful! And isn't it just so with 
us too, Cousin Will?*' 

" Yes, indeed. And how careful we ought to 
be to build aright!" 

The descent was easy, comparatively, and 
rapid. They reached the base without mishap. 

In the distance Hassan was seen approaching. 
The Arabs, who had flocked around again with 
their calls for backsheesh and offers of relics, sud- 
denly quieted at sight of him, and as he strode 
nearer drew off with dark looks. But as they 
went one of them muttered to Will, 

c 1 That man bad. We no like him. He no 
good Mohammedan. He bad man. He drink 
whiskey. He fight. ' ' 

u Ah, Harry, that tells the story. To their 
credit be it said, no true Mussulman will drink 



THE) PYRAMIDS. 331 

alcoholic liquors. Plainly Hassan uses them. 
They know it, and hate him as a renegade. 
Moreover, he fights ; so, besides hating him, they 
are afraid of him. I doubt, though, if. it is fear 
alone that makes them shun him. They are sen- 
sible ; they do not want to get into a needless 
quarrel. 

u It is noon ; we have had exercise enough to 
make us hungry. Hassan, find a good place and 
spread the lunch." 

They rested an hour or so. Then Will said, 
"Now it is time to explore the interior of 
the pyramid. We will find the ' King's Cham- 
ber.' » 

They climbed to the entrance in the side of 
the pyramid, a dark hole opening into the stone. 
Once probably there was an imposing entrance- 
way. A narrow passage leads beyond. They 
crept along carefully, with an Arab in front car- 
rying a dim candle, and a line of Arabs behind. 
Much of the way they had to stoop as they went 
under the low ceiling. In one place a shaft, 
black and deep, opened directly in their path. 
They could advance only by climbing past it 
along a narrow shelf at the side. 

1 ' Evidently, 1 ' remarked Harry, c ' whoever 
built this did not mean it to be a thoroughfare." 

" Indeed they did not," said Will. "They 



332 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE) ORIENT. 

worked hard to hide their inner chambers and to 
secure them for ever from all possible intrusion. 
If the Pyramids are sepulchres, their builders 
meant that no intruder should ever find and dis- 
turb their embalmed bodies after they were once 
entombed." 

At the very centre of the pyramid the tunnel 
which they had been following opened suddenly 
into what in the dimness seemed to be a very 
lofty and spacious chamber. 

c ' For one franc I illuminate, ' ' exclaimed an 
Arab. 

" Illuminate, then," answered Will. 

The fellow had picked up somewhere a bit of 
magnesium. As he touched it with a match and 
the light from it flashed out clear and strong, the 
walls and ceiling of the chamber seemed to ap- 
proach, as though to shut them in and make an 
undesired sarcophagus for them all. Really the 
place is a room some 34 feet long by 17 wide and 
19 high, lined smoothly throughout with great 
blocks of granite-like stone. 

The light gleamed brightly for only a few sec- 
onds; then the sarcophagus seemed darker than 
ever. That Arab was a fraud, but the bargain 
had been made and he received his promised 
reward. 

Near the centre of the chamber, and the only 



THE PYRAMIDS. 



333 



thing in it, is a large block of stone, hollowed 
and fitted to receive a cover. There have been 
various theories as to what it is. Probably it is a 
sarcophagus and once contained the body of the 
royal builder of the pyramid. 

There was nothing to keep them long in this 
uncanny place. The candle was burning low; 
the air was heavy w 7 ith the fumes from the " illu- 
mination. " They were ready to get outside as 
soon as possible. 

Suddenly there was a little puff. The candle 
was out. They were in absolute darkness. They 
could not see an inch before them. Harry had 
been roaming about the chamber, but just then, 
fortunately, he was standing near Will. Will 
clutched him; then they waited. 

The silence was as absolute as the darkness. 

But in a minute a voice spoke. 

"We can't get out. You pay us large back- 
sheesh and we try."- 

Will's answer was entirely effective. First 
they heard the sharp double click of his revolver. 
They easily understood what that meant. Then 
he said, 

"Now, fellows, we don't want any of this. I 
understand just what you are after, but it is of no 
use. You think you can frighten us into giving 
you money, as you frightened the Englishman 



334 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

you had in here the other day. But, as it hap- 
pens, you are the ones that have most reason to 
be afraid. Such tricks are not safe play now-a- 
days. Now light that candle, and be quick about 
it; it's getting late." 

And they were quick. They protested it was 
all a joke, just for fun; they would do so no more. 
And during the remainder of the day they were 
model attendants. They retraced their steps with- 
out further adventure. 

Later they went with Hassan and the still per- 
severing retinue of Arabs off 300 feet east of the 
second pyramid to where the Sphinx crouches in 
its bed of drifting sand, or, rather, on its rock-bed, 
with robes of drifted sand about it. 

"What a strange, strange creature it is," said 
Harry, when they had walked around it and were 
standing at last facing it where the sand slopes up 
from its front. "It makes me feel as solemn as 
an ancient sage to look at it, it is so old and still 
and strange — part bird and part man and part 
beast." 

"It would seem stranger still, Harry, if we 
could see the whole of it. Now, with the sand 
drifted half way over its body, there is nothing to 
show that underneath is a large platform of the 
native rock, and that between its fore paws is a 
little temple for the use of worshippers. This 



THE PYRAMIDS. 



335 



fine sand is as hard to deal with as snow; harder, 
for this lasts where snow wonld melt. 

u Who carved and built the Sphinx no one 
knows. You see it is made partly from the solid 
rock and partly from masonry, in all about 173 
feet long and 56 feet high. It must be at least as 
old as the Pyramids. Neither do we know the 
meaning of it, unless it is a sort of symbol of the 
power and wisdom perhaps of Egypt, perhaps of 
their kings, perhaps of their gods. 5 ' 

They lingered long about these mighty relics. 
The shadows from them were stretching far away 
towards the Nile when at last they called Hassan 
to bring the donkeys. They mounted and rode 
away — away from the Pyramids, away from the 
great, silent Sphinx, away from the clamor of the 
Arabs. They turned often for a last look, but in 
good time were safely back in the busy city. It 
was their last day in the neighborhood of Cairo. 



336 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

ALEXANDRIA. — HOME. 

Another fair morning, but most of it was to 
be spent on the cars. There was an early good- 
by to the pleasant friends they had made in Cai- 
ro. They drove to the station. The train was 
ready. In a few moments Cairo and the Pyra- 
mids and the Sphinx all were behind them. 
They were speeding away swiftly northward to- 
wards Alexandria. Another day and Alexandria 
also would be behind them and they afloat again 
on the blue Mediterranean. 

They left Cairo at 8 A. M. Early, in the after- 
ternoon they were skirting the great, shallow 
Lake Mareotis. At 2 o'clock they were in Alex- 
andria. After a good dinner at the Hotel de I 1 
Europe, facing the pleasant Frank Square, they 
went to the office of the Italian Steamship Com- 
pany and bought their tickets for the steamer that 
was to sail the next day. 

As they left the office a crowd of boys with 
their donkeys began clamoring at the edge of the 
sidewalk. They chose the two best -looking 
beasts, mounted, and jogged away along the w T ide 
and modern-looking streets. 



ALEXANDRIA. — HOME. 337 

" Where shall we go, Cousin Will ?" 

"Anywhere that the donkeys and their dri- 
vers want to take us. We must see "Pompey's 
Pillar/ y Besides that there is very little now of 
much interest in Alexandria. Cleopatra's Nee- 
dles, that used to stand down by the water, and 
that are 3,000 years old, are both gone — one to 
England and the bank of the Thames, the other 
to America, to Central Park in New York. We 
might visit the excavations under the city, but 
after what we have seen elsewhere they would 
not be of much interest; besides it would take 
more time than we have to spare." 

" Start your donkeys towards Pompey's Pil- 
lar, boys." 

"It seems strange, Harry, how little there is 
left of this that was once one of the greatest cities 
of the world. When Alexander the Great con- 
quered Egypt, 300 years before Christ, he changed 
the capital from Memphis to this place. Before 
there had been nothing here excepting a poor lit- 
tle village. But at once the village sprang into 
a great and splendid city. Soon it had some 
600,000 inhabitants. There were palaces and 
temples and museums and libraries. Its library 
came to be the very largest of ancient times. 
There were in it 400,000 volumes or rolls, some 
say 700,000. Think of that many, all made by 

Harry's Trip. 22 



338 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

hand ! Part of them were burned when Julius 
Caesar besieged the city. Others were preserved 
for a while in the great heathen temple of Jupiter 
Serapis; but when that last of the heathen tem- 
ples was destroyed, in the time of Theodosius the 
Great, most of the manuscripts went with it; and 
the last were lost when the Arabs came and cap- 
tured the city in the seventh century. There 
have been vast changes in the fortunes of the 
place. There has been much fighting over it. 
It has had many masters. 

"One great result of Alexander's choice of a 
seaport for the capital was the changing the nation 
almost at once into a great maritime and commer- 
cial power. Previously they had been almost 
entirely an agricultural people. Very soon the 
harbor was one of the busiest places in the Med- 
iterranean. It was crowded with shipping. A 
good part of the trade of the world passed there. 
At its entrance, on the island of Pharos, they built 
their famous lighthouse — the most famous of an- 
cient times. There is no island there now. The 
space has all filled in between it and the shore, so 
that what was an island is now a part of the main- 
land. But on the point there will shine to-night, 
just as there shone 2,000 years ago, a brilliant 
and much-needed light." 

At last they approached Pompey's Pillar. 



ALEXANDRIA. —HOME. 339 

It stands alone, a tall sentinel on a slight rise of 
ground somewhat out from the newer part of the 
city. It is made of reddish granite. The length 
of the shaft is 73 feet. The whole height is a 
little short of 100 feet. 

u Why is it called Pompey's Pillar, Cousin 
Will?" 

"That title is a misnomer. An inscription 
in Greek tells that it was the work of an Egyptian 
governor, Publius by name, and that he erected 
it not in the honor of Pompey, but of the Emper- 
or Diocletian. That was about 500 years ago. 
So, compared with some of the monuments we 
have seen, Pompey' s Pillar is no more than a baby 
in age. ' ' 

Not far from the pillar is an entrance to some 
of the excavations beneath the city. Just as Will 
and Harry were riding away a guide appeared. 
He was very earnest in trying to persuade them 
to explore these subterranean passages under his 
lead. According to him, they would miss a great 
deal if they refused. But, apparently much to 
his surprise, they resisted the temptation. Turn- 
ing away, they rode back to the city and to their 
hotel. 

They sat late that night enjoying the fragrant 
air and the night sounds — some of them. The 
occasional howling of the near dogs was not en- 



34-Q harry' s trip to the orient. 

joyable, but the noisiest ones were far away, far 
enough away for distance to lend something of 
enchantment even to them. The street calls and 
cries, a sound from somewhere of musical instru- 
ments and voices, the twitter now and then of 
a bird, and the hum of insects — it was all very 
peaceful and restful. It was a pleasant evening 
for the last evening in Egypt. And the last ( 4 good 
night n before they were asleep was the muezzin 
call from a slim minaret against the sky: 

"God is most great! There is no deity but 
God! Mohammed is the apostle of God! Come 
to prayer ! Come to security ! God is most great ! 
There is no deity but God. 1 1 

It seemed to Harry that he had been asleep 
about two minutes when he opened his eyes and 
found the room full of morning sunlight. Will 
was up moving quietly about, packing their 
hand boxes and strapping the shawls and wraps. 

" Awake, are you, Harry? Was it I or the 
sun that did it? No matter. I w T ould have 
called you in a minute any way. ' ' 

"Is it a good day for sailing, Cousin Will? 
Is it still ? I hope we '11 not have as rough water 
as we had at Jaffa. ' 1 

i ' There is hardly a breath of wind. Instead of 
being tossed towards the sky, up and down among 
great waves, w r e are likely, to go rowing out to 



ALEXANDRIA. — HOME. 



341 



our steamship over water that is like a mirror. 
We wont have to practise gymnastics and risk a 
wetting in getting on board the 1 India, ' as we had 
in boarding the 'Juno. 5 " 

After breakfast they drove to the custom 
house. A block away they were besieged by 
porters, clamoring to be allowed to carry their 
small amount of luggage. One of them sprang 
up and clung to the side of the carriage as they 
drove. 

They reached the custom house doors, rescued 
their boxes from the many hands that were grasp- 
ing at them, entered, and handed over the lug- 
gage for the inspection of the officials. There 
was a slight examination, a few questions were 
asked, nothing contraband was found. They 
paid the required fee and passed on towards the 
crowd of boats waiting for passengers at the stone 
steps. Here the hubbub recommenced, or, rather, 
swelled again, for it had not wholly ceased since 
they came in sight. There was not much choice 
in the boats. All were in good order. They se- 
lected one. 

" How much to the 1 India 

" That all right, sir. Get in, get in." 

u No; tell me how much." 

" Anything; what you choose, sir; we fix that 
afterwards." 



34-2 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

" Do as I say, or hand out the luggage. We 
can take another boat. 1 ' 

At once a dozen more boats were offered. 
But now the first boatmen were entirely submis- 
sive. 

"Get in; all right. Five franc each." 

" One franc and no more." 

"Yes, yes; one franc; all right. " 

There was no more delay or trouble. The 
amount named was the regular fee for such ser- 
vice. The men could have no excuse now for 
stopping, as they sometimes do, midway between 
the shore and the ship to haggle about the price 
and demand payment. They pulled steadily and 
rapidly out from among the smaller craft, over 
the still water, past larger ships at anchor. Here 
there was more room, and the four muscular fel- 
lows made the oars bend and the water foam as 
they drove their boat ahead. They were early. 
If they hastened they might be back in time for 
another trip with more passengers. 

They reached the ship. In the sheltered har- 
bor, and with a breeze so light that it only made 
"cats' paws" here and there over the surface, 
the great "India" lay as motionless as though 
she was an island shaped like a ship. They easi- 
ly climbed the steps to her deck. The oarsmen 
were paid. They scrambled back to their tiny- 



ALEXANDRIA. — HOME. 343 

looking little boat, pushed off, and sped away 
rapidly towards the distant pier. 

Will and Harry went below to their state-room 
to make all ready for the voyage. Soon they re- 
turned to the quarter-deck. Resting there under 
an awning that sheltered them from the sun, 
which would be burning hot at mid-day, they 
waited, watching the changing picture about 
them. Other boats were coming and going, some 
with passengers and some with freight. There 
was more and more of interest and of action as 
the time approached for sailing. 

By noon the time had come. All was ready. 
The signal was given to clear the ship. The 
small boats rowed quickly away, and, as they 
rowed, the very last good-by from Egypt sounded 
in the shoutings of their tawny crew. 

Another signal from the captain. A bell 
tinkled in the engine-room below; and in a mo- 
ment what had just been like an island in the 
form of a ship was alive in every part. The ' ' In- 
dia" turned slowly, gathered headway, and soon 
was surging swiftly northward, past the tower of 
the " Pharos Light," out into the calms and the 
storms of the Mediterranean. 

Will and Harry were to travel for a few 
months more in other lands, but their pleasant 
journeying together in the Orient was ended. 



344 HARRY'S TRIP TO THE ORIENT. 

On one of the last days of August the steam- 
ship "Bolivia," from Edinburgh, slowed down 
to receive her pilot in a thick fog off New York 
harbor. The next morning she steamed inside of 
Sandy Hook, past the Highland lights, up the 
lower bay, and through the Narrows towards her 
berth at the foot of Dey Street, New York city. 
Standing by the railing on her upper deck were 
Harry and Will. A few hours later and they 
were in the midst of a welcome such as only 
home can give. 



