Qass Cx i 3 ^ 
 
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 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
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J 
 
MANY LAN 
 
 MANY PEOPLE. 
 
 With One Hundred and Forty-Seven Illustrations. 
 
 ^^'■i. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 I 880. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE PLANT IN PERU .... 5 
 
 SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS 54 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA 66 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL: 
 
 I. The Count de Beauvoir in China 118 
 
 II. Batavia 130 
 
 III. Bangkok 141 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS 149 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS . 173 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER ..... 191 
 
 WITH THE COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA 221 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE 233 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE '"% . . . 241 
 
 iUN 12 im 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 
 J. B. LIPBIJsTGOTT & CO., 
 In the office of the Libr^igTrf bf Congress, at Washington. 
 
Searching for the Quinine-plant in Peru. 
 
 I^^I^/T IFIiE^ST. 
 
 A SOUTH AMERICAN storm was 
 descending like a deluge, and the 
 night was closing in — a mid-winter night, 
 for the month was July. A man wrapped 
 in a cloak streaming with wet pushed 
 his way through a house in a Peruvian 
 city, until he came to a bed-chamber 
 where a solitary traveler was sitting 
 among his note-books. 
 
 The city was the capital of Inca civ- 
 ilization — Cuzco, the Rome of the New 
 World. The visitor was Don Juan Sanz 
 of Santo Domingo, a prominent citizen 
 of that place. And the Marco Polo was 
 Mr. Paul Marcoy. 
 
 " What has got into your head to 
 come out in such weather?" frankly 
 asked the latter. 
 
 " I have something serious to discuss 
 with you," answered Don Juan, as he 
 took off his water-clogged mantle and 
 seated himself near the table. " A bear- 
 er of despatches has just come to me 
 from Lima. He is bound to return to- 
 morrow with the answer which I am 
 asked to make, and, before deciding on 
 that answer, it has occurred to me to see 
 you, to talk with you, and, in a word, to 
 ask a service." 
 
 " Shall it be a loan of a few hundred 
 thousand piastres for one of your spec- 
 ulations ?" 
 
 " Do not joke : I am talking quite se- 
 
 riously. The service I have to ask will 
 only demand a little of your good- nature 
 and the sacrifice of a few months of your 
 time." 
 
 " A few months ! You are too modest. 
 And what shall I be doing during those 
 few months ?" 
 
 "Nothing but what is very simple. 
 You shall walk about during a part of 
 the day ; you will observe ; you will 
 take notes ; you will replenish your 
 sketch-book. Besides this, you shall eat 
 and drink when you like, you shall rest 
 when you are lazy, and when evening 
 comes you shall sleep if you feel like it." 
 
 " But that is precisely what I am do- 
 ing here." 
 
 " No doubt. I only imagined that in 
 order to render me a good turn you 
 would be willing to do it elsewhere." 
 
 " Elsewhere ? What is the locality of 
 ' elsewhere' ? Come, let me see what is 
 asked of me. What is all this about ?" 
 
 " It is about filling a vacancy in one 
 of my enterprises." 
 
 "You forget that I know nothing of 
 commerce." 
 
 "Nor is it a commercial operation I 
 ask you to take part in, but simply some 
 preliminaries which I hope will lead to 
 one. I must explain. You are aware 
 that I have contributed a little influence 
 and a deal of money to the job of put- 
 
 5 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 ting Senor Menendez at the head of this 
 nation. He is now joyfully paying his 
 debts with the gold out of the treasury, 
 and he owes that felicity in part to me. 
 As I am not the man to allow a benefit 
 to be forgotten, I have asked him plain- 
 ly to do me a favor in return. I want 
 the exclusive privilege of commerce in 
 the cinchona trees in our eastern valleys. 
 They say the forests are full of them. 
 What do you see in it ?" 
 
 "It is the kind of thing that either 
 makes a Croesus of a man or leaves him 
 flat on his back. But what did the 
 president reply ?" 
 
 "That I should have the privilege just 
 as soon as I should discover the trees. 
 He exacts one thing, however. There 
 must be an ' interviewer.' The fame of 
 the cinchona-discovery must be worked 
 up in the newspapers at Lima. The 
 world must ring with those trees — as 
 soon as we find them. Sentimental and 
 humorous fever-stories in the feuilletons 
 — a series of botanical treatises, with the 
 latitude and longitude of the habitat, in 
 the official paper. He writes me that 
 he wishes to have the nations of the 
 world in general, and the South Amer- 
 ican republics in particular, imbibe a 
 lively idea of the resources of the 
 country." 
 
 "The South American frog still swell- 
 ing up to equal the North American ox !" 
 
 "Under the circumstances I have 
 thought of giving you an honorable 
 place in the expedition. You shall 
 sketch and botanize as you like. And 
 you may write it up. Verarevenga, at 
 Lima, shall translate you." 
 
 "Very well. I see something prom- 
 ising in your offer. I will give it my 
 ripe consideration, and you shall have 
 my answer in a week." 
 
 " I shall hardly wait a week. If you 
 make up your mind to go, it must be 
 done while I am folding this cigarette. 
 My despatch-bearer is waiting to go back 
 with my answer to Senor Menendez." 
 
 " You will certainly accord me a couple 
 of hours for reflection ?" 
 
 "Not a couple of minutes. I have 
 others to see. Perez, the retired colonel 
 Manuel Perez, will go. And I must de- 
 
 cide upon a trustworthy agent to send to 
 Bolivia after the bark-searchers. Once 
 for all : do you accept my proposition ?" 
 
 "Well, yes, since there is nothing else 
 to be done." Mr. Marcoy looked hastily 
 at his gun, his saddle-bags and his ward- 
 robe. "What is the hour of starting ?" 
 
 " Oh, you will not start for three weeks. 
 It will take that long to bring up my 
 BoHvians. I am told the bark-hunters 
 of Sorata are very skillful, and I intend 
 to draft five or six of them." 
 
 "Take your time, Don Juan. And 
 now, good-night. Look in, if you hap- 
 pen to be passing, in three weeks, and 
 you will find me with my spurs on, sit- 
 ting on a saddle." 
 
 Don Juan Sanz de Santo Domingo 
 grasped the hand of the traveler and 
 vanished into the driving storm. He 
 was used to it, for it rains in Cuzco, say 
 the Peruvians, thirteen months out of 
 the year. He was not, however, a native 
 of the town. The enterprising and the 
 prosperous are not born in a mountain- 
 city full of Indians. Alighting in Amer- 
 ica from his native Spain while still a 
 youth, he had hunted fortune through a 
 number of places on the Pacific coast 
 and the sierras, and had finally settled 
 at Cuzco. In this remote spot he ex- 
 hibited to the priests and the idlers the 
 phenomenon of a merchant and a man 
 of the world. He carried on his affairs 
 with a deal of noise, attacked the most 
 ■hazardous enterprises, incurred the most 
 desperate obligations, and threaded the 
 old Inca routes with his caravans and his 
 emissaries. He was fond of interfering 
 with politics, and was never more agree- 
 ably occupied than in backing Juan Jose 
 against Juan Pedro, supporting with his 
 funds the intrigues of a presidential can- 
 didate and preparing the downfall of the 
 president nominated by the nation. To 
 fix the public eye upon himself, and 
 teach the echoes the sound of his name, 
 appeared to be the object of this bold 
 Andalusian, whose style and features 
 betrayed more of the Moorish part of 
 his ancestry than of the Spanish. 
 
 He had established himself in a large 
 house on the street of Las Heladerias, 
 where the historian Garcilaso de la Vega 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN FERP 7 
 
 was born about the end of the fifteenth 1 of Cuzco, it had for its basement old 
 century. Like the majority of the houses l walls of the time of the Incas : these 
 
 old foundations are never colored or da'es from the time of Pizarro, who, to 
 whitewashed, while the rest is always economize time and workmanship, con- 
 daubed with tinted lime. This speciality tented himself with discrowning the old 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 edifices and erecting new stories upon 
 the old basements. Thanks to this cir- 
 cumstance — a happy one for archaeolo- 
 gists — the city is only transformed, as it 
 were, down to the middle of the body, 
 the upper half being Catholic and mod- 
 ern, the lower heathen and antique. It 
 was composed, like most of the better 
 houses of South America, of a large 
 ground-floor room for stores, carriages 
 or magazine, and a second story : in- 
 teriorly, it developed an oblong court- 
 yard, arched on three sides, and sup- 
 porting on these arches a wooden gal- 
 lery which communicated with the bed- 
 rooms. The arches were full of noisy 
 bird-cages and the court of sprawling 
 weeds, which the orders of the master 
 saved from disturbance. The mansion, 
 by its peculiar Bohemian air and its 
 festal lights visible long after midnight, 
 was a part of the advertisement of its 
 owner. The creditors of Don Juan, the 
 lawyers and professors, gave it out as 
 immoral and revolutionary. Another 
 portion of the citizens, the aristocrats, 
 the higher functionaries, and certain 
 members of the clergy who appreciated 
 costly wine and a varied bill of fare, 
 sang its praises in full chorus, and con- 
 ferred upon it, for reasons not worth 
 searching out, the name of the Casa de 
 Austria. 
 
 During the three weeks agreed upon 
 for time of grace the master of the House 
 of Austria bestirred himself in laying up 
 provisions of a variety which indicated 
 on his part a profound knowledge of the 
 human stomach. Nothing was forgot- 
 ten in this gastronomic museum — beef 
 cut in strips, smoked mutton, dried and 
 root vegetables, rice, sugar, chocolate, 
 coffee, to say nothing of biscuits and 
 conserves; 'then, to lubricate the masti- 
 cation of these arid viands, wines of 
 Spain and France, or so denominated, 
 Jamaica rum brought from Abancay, 
 and Martinique ab^nthe made up by a 
 certain old lady in Cuzco. Besides these 
 commodities, the liveher importations of 
 mules, mozos and mule-drivers filled the 
 court, and reduced its vegetable carpet 
 to bareness. But what mattered to the 
 proprietor of the House of Austria the 
 
 loss of a few tufts of herbage, when he 
 saw himself in fancy the proprietor of 
 entire forests of trees whose bark was 
 gold? 
 
 The arrival from the Bolivian frontier 
 of half a dozen bark-searchers, or casca- 
 rilleros — flat-faced, sepia-colored, stolid 
 Indians — in charge of a white leader, or 
 examinador de cascarilla, brought all 
 the activity to a focus, and precipitated 
 the departure. Not the least of these 
 preparations were the feasts of cere- 
 mony. It were too long to enumerate 
 the lunches, collations and dinners 
 which were offered during the last sev- 
 en days by the chief of the House of 
 Austria to his friends and acquaintances. 
 It is enough to observe that at the last 
 dinner of all, two priors of the monastery, 
 whose names charity excuses us from 
 giving, passed the night under the table, 
 while the chief of police, proudly ex- 
 posed on top of it, in an arm-chair sur- 
 rounded with candles, and crowned with 
 preserved fruits from the dessert, slept 
 soundly, oblivious of the dance which 
 the other guests conducted around him, 
 his secretary at their head. 
 
 At last came the day of departure. 
 The fact of the hour of six having been 
 fixed for the start was a sufficient rea- 
 son, in Peru, for a delay which was only 
 brought to a close at high noon. At 
 twelve o'clock, as all the timepieces in 
 the city were sounding, the master of 
 the House of Austria put foot in stirrup 
 to place himself at the head of his cav- 
 alcade and conduct it a suitable distance 
 out of town. As the troop of men, 
 horses and mules clattered through the 
 streets, the inhabitants of Cuzco, accord- 
 ing to their hostility or sympathy with 
 Don Juan, saluted the caravan with 
 laughter or with cheers. In half an hour 
 the last house of the suburb of the Re- 
 coleta was passed. A vast plain, sown 
 with white houses, gardens and fields, 
 stretched before the travelers toward the 
 mountains. The Spaniards, at the time 
 of the conquest, found this expanse peo- 
 pled with forty Inca villages, the satel- 
 lites of the great city of Cuzco. 
 
 The last appurtenance of the city of 
 Cuzco was the Tree of Farewells (Cha- 
 
 \, 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 chacu-mayoc), whose perforated trunk 
 and sparse foliage soon greeted the ex- 
 cursionists on a slope at the side of the 
 road. No citizen can undertake a jour- 
 ney without an impressive leave-taking, 
 performed under this tree, with the rela- 
 tions and friends who have so far borne 
 
 him company. Don 
 
 Juan Sanz de Santo 
 Domingo was not the ' 
 man to omit so noble ; 
 a ceremony, wherein 
 pathos might be ad- 
 vantageously joined 
 with splendor. A ' 
 whole case of cham- f 
 pagne, at six dollars ' 
 the bottle, was dissi- 
 pated on the occa- 
 sion, leaving only 
 boards, straw and 
 corks beneath the 
 historic tree, planted 
 by the fifth Inca, Ca- 
 pacYupanqui. Santo 
 Domingo drank his 
 glass with a graceful 
 toast to the travelers 
 he was so soon to dis- 
 miss. Colonel Perez 
 emptied his with dis- 
 dainful gravity, in- 
 stantly making signal 
 for another. Mar- 
 coy, alone perhaps 
 of all the company, 
 gave a thought, as 
 he lifted on high the 
 beaded nectar, to the 
 past splendors and 
 hapless fall of the city 
 whose clock - towers 
 flashed on the hori- 
 zon. 
 
 It is not necessary 
 here to supplement 
 the many interesting accounts of Cuzco 
 that have now and again been publish- 
 ed. Founded in the eleventh century 
 by Manco Capac, its walls, containing 
 a measure of thirty -three thousand 
 square yards, exist at the present time, 
 and form the mould into which the 
 modern city is poured, similar in plan 
 
 and extent to the Inca capital. It is to- 
 day the ordinary, rich, slatternly, priest- 
 infested town of Spanish America, with 
 a cathedral fabulously wealthy, fifteen 
 churches and thirteen convents and re- 
 ligious retreats. 
 
 Nor is it necessary to tell again of the 
 
 HE FOUND HIMSELF IN THE ILLUMINATED CHAl'EL OF 
 LAURAMARCA." — P. 12. 
 
 fabulous avatar of Manco Capac as he 
 springs like a Neptune from the waters 
 of Lake Titicaca, attended by his divine 
 sister, Mama Ocllo, and follows the 
 pointings of his golden rod to the centre 
 of the plain of Cuzco. The splendors 
 of Inca civilization, magnified by reflec- 
 tion as they pass into the tales of the 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 Spanisli historian, have left few visible 
 remn?iits except an old fortress or two, 
 some walls of monstrous stones, and 
 relics of pottery which adorn the parlors 
 of the rich merchants of the town. 
 
 " It is time to move," at last said Santo 
 Domingo, shattering his glass against 
 the wrinkled bark of the tree. " It is 
 a long road to Huaro, and we shall 
 be puzzled to make it before daylight 
 fails." 
 
 In fact, the evening prayer, the An- 
 gelas, was sounding from the village 
 church as the cavalcade entered Huaro, 
 a hamlet of nine hundred inhabitants 
 at the foot of the sierras. The travelers 
 instantly reined up their steeds and lifted 
 their hats, and listened, in a silence so 
 profound that the buzz of an insect would 
 have been audible, to the conclusion of 
 the oracion. When the bell had stop- 
 ped vibrating in the square tower of the 
 little church, and the llamas in the door- 
 yards had ceased to prick up their sen- 
 sitive ears at the sound, the caravan 
 recovered its hats : each one bowed 
 gravely to his neighbor in Spanish fash- 
 ion, and exchanged with him the cus- 
 tomary salute, "Buenas noches, sehor." 
 
 In the whole of Spanish America, but 
 especially in the larger towns, the mo- 
 ment of the Angelus has a strange at- 
 traction for the stranger. As the usage 
 requires every one to halt, no matter 
 where he may be, at the first stroke of 
 the bell, to interrupt his conversation 
 however important, and listen without 
 stirring until the conclusion of the chime, 
 the singularity of a whole population 
 surprised in a moment as it comes and 
 goes, held in a state of petrifaction, and 
 paralyzed as if by an enchanter, may 
 be imagined. On every side you see 
 gestures interrupted, mouths half open- 
 ed for the arrested remark, smiles oddly 
 lingering or passing into an expression 
 of prayer. You would fancy a nation 
 of statues. A town in South America, 
 at the tinkle of the Angelus, resembles 
 the city in the Arabiati Nights whose 
 inhabitants were turned into stones. 
 The magician here is the bell-ringer. 
 But hardly has the vibration ceased 
 when a universal murmur arises from 
 
 these thousands of oppressed lungs 
 Hand meets hand, question seeks an- 
 swer, conversations resume their course ; 
 horses feel the loosened bridle and paw 
 the ground ; dogs bark, babies cry, the 
 fathers swear and the mothers chatter. 
 The accidental turns thus given to 
 conversation are many, and sometimes 
 striking. Thus, on the present occasion, 
 the never-satisfied patriot Perez happen- 
 ed to have b«en conversing, at the en- 
 trance of the village, on his favorite 
 subject with the lawyer of Don Juan, 
 who was accompanying the first stage of 
 the excursion as a matter of politeness. 
 
 "We are masters of the situation," 
 the man of parchments was saying : 
 "we can win the people, and we have 
 possession of half the arms. At a given 
 moment we march upon the palace, we 
 demand the person of the incumbent — 
 Ave Maria piirissirna" continued the 
 lawyer, with a remnant of his severe ex- 
 pression, as the first note of the bell of 
 Huaro smote upon the air. When the 
 last sound had expired, the revolutionist 
 jerked his head with the quickness of a 
 water-wagtail, and continued furiously 
 the sentence interrupted five minutes 
 before — "to be hung in the public 
 square !" 
 
 Passing with a hospitable inhabitant 
 of Huaro a night that had some of the 
 characteristics of an orgy, Don Juan 
 and his train crossed the river betimes 
 next day, and ascended their first moun- 
 tain-pass. Vertigo, oppression and head- 
 ache were the price paid by some of these 
 inexperienced mountaineers for their in- 
 itiation into the mysteries of the clouds. 
 Recovering, however, before these un- 
 pleasant symptoms were very distinctly 
 pronounced, they found themselves, at 
 the end of three hours, masters of the 
 summit, and then began to dip into the 
 great plain beyond, taking their course 
 toward the south-south-east, in the di- 
 rection of Lauramarca. Passing through 
 the ever-mellowing temperatures of a 
 descending plain, they found themselves, 
 among the fresh scents of a circle of 
 enormous farms, and entered the streets 
 of the town amid the cheers and salutes 
 of the inhabitants. 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 At Lauramarca, a town of some im- j richest department in the presidency of 
 portance as a centre of agriculture — the ! Cuzco — -the explorers found, as every- 
 
 where else, that the reputation of Don 
 Juan had preceded him, and that his 
 presence was the signal for a splendid 
 
 manifestation. While the more vulgar 
 part of the troop, however, attended the 
 ball given in his honor by the principal 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 woolen-manufacturer of the place, and 
 the more practical explored the old gold- 
 and silver-mines of the neighborhood, 
 Marcoy, artist and scribbler, betook him- 
 self to a more pensive employment. 
 Leaving the dance at its height, he stole 
 out into the cool evening air, and bent 
 
 '' THIS MAN, BAREFOOT AND RAGGED, WAS 
 OF MARCAPATA." — P. I4. 
 
 his Steps .toward a tall, simply-shaped 
 building, whose roof-windows, stream- 
 ing with hght, attracted his attention. 
 A. latch in the wooden door gave him 
 easy entrance. He found himself in the 
 illuminated chapel of Lauramarca. The 
 walls, entirely without ornament, were 
 covered with a stucco mixed with glue 
 
 from the cactus, which shone with the 
 precise lustre of polished ivory. A life- 
 sized image of the Virgin, carved in a 
 white, translucent, alabaster-like stone 
 from Verenguela, stood upon a cube of 
 gray granite which served for altar. A 
 multitude of candles, set upon the floor, 
 pierced the pale tops 
 of a forest of lilies. 
 The perfume of these 
 plants, warmed by 
 the lights, filled the 
 room to the point of 
 enervation. The 
 traveler could not 
 recognize without a 
 thrill of feeling the 
 familiar odor of these 
 flowers, brought by 
 the Spanish colon- 
 ists to the feet of the 
 Andes, and now fill- 
 ing their churches 
 everywhere with a 
 perfume that seems 
 sacred to Rome and 
 Italy. Between the 
 odorous silence of 
 this neglected chapel 
 and the feast near 
 by, where everybody 
 had gone to drink 
 and dance, the con- 
 trast was so striking 
 that the coldest mind 
 would have been 
 seized by it. 
 
 The next chain to 
 cross was that of the 
 Andes of Avisca, 
 the attainment of 
 which cost the trav- 
 elers several hours 
 of hard climbing, for 
 which their dissipa- 
 tions overnight had 
 but ill prepared them. However sleepy 
 were the eyes that gazed upon the snow- 
 capped summits, they could not but ex- 
 pand with wonder at the spectacle of 
 the two enormous peaks which formed 
 the gateway of this new land of moun- 
 tains, and rose into the pure air like 
 two slender and immeasurable obelisks, 
 
 THE GOBERNADOR 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 dwarfing the minor tops around them. 
 These imposing giants, of well-defined 
 quadrangular form, and smoothed over 
 with bluish-colored ice, stood at each 
 side of the pass as if they supported the 
 sky. The Indians name them the Old^ 
 Grandfather and Old Uncle — Ausargate 
 and Tayangate. 
 
 In this elevated 
 region, where the 
 strangers were sur- 
 prised with every 
 possible caprice of 
 mountainous outline, 
 the scientific spirit of 
 the historiographer 
 was attracted by a 
 curious complication 
 among the second- 
 ary formations of the 
 rock. \\.vi2js,2i nodus, 
 or rocky knot, among 
 the Avisca Andes, of 
 the sort that elicits 
 from the wiseacres 
 of those regions the 
 opinion that the veins 
 of the rock are " tied 
 up." This nodus 
 was funnel-shaped, 
 eight miles across, 
 and seemed to be a 
 dry crater emerging 
 from the snow. 
 Peaks of trachite, 
 rough and jagged, 
 stood up like black- 
 ened fangs out of the unsullied white, 
 forming a most pecuhar and impressive 
 effect. Here too, out of the mouth of a 
 beautiful crystal lake among the peaks, 
 the party watched the issue of the river 
 Paucartampu, an affluent, as they sup- 
 posed, of the Ucayali, but, as the Eng- 
 lish traveler Markham asserts, of the 
 Madre de Dio — at any rate, one of the 
 streams whose easterly-flowing courses 
 prove to the traveler that he has crossed 
 the watershed of the Andes, parted com- 
 pany with the rivers flowing to the west- 
 ern coast, and begun to trace the mean- 
 ders of the feeders of the Amazon. 
 
 The Andes we're now behind them, 
 and the landscape closed around them 
 
 to the north, the south and the west. 
 Only the east lay open to their steps 
 and retained, as the day closed, a re- 
 flection of sunset at the rim of the sky. 
 Pushing forward their weary beasts, the 
 travelers made for their next stopping- 
 place, Marcapata. The rills from the 
 
 IS MY AMA DE LLAVES ' (HOUSEKEEPER), SAID THE 
 PRIEST." — P. 14. 
 
 summits began to gather volume and 
 form considerable streams : the lichens 
 of the snowy uplands were exchanged 
 for bushes and trees. There was a twi- 
 light vision of roofs and walls enclosed 
 in the green of orchards and farms : 
 then the night shut down as in an instant, 
 and the valley filled up with fog. For 
 a short time the footsteps of the beasts 
 broke through the sheet of mist and the 
 veil of silence, and then the cry of one 
 of the muleteers was heard. The troop 
 halted : a few straggling lights were seen 
 and a huddled group of thatched roofs. 
 The party were at Marcapata, the key 
 of the valleys to the east, the point where 
 they proposed to give up their horses and 
 
14 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 hire porters for the carriage of their pro- 
 visions into the wilderness— the end, in 
 fact, of their connection with the civil- 
 ization of the coast. Here too, their 
 patron and inspiring genius, the splen- 
 did Don Juan Sanz de Santo Domingo, 
 intended to bid them adieu. 
 
 Although the mules and horses made 
 sufficient jingle as the cavalcade entered 
 the village, no one seemed to be dis- 
 turbed by the intrusion. The muleteers 
 therefore began to lift up their voices of 
 Stentor, and call upon the people whose 
 names they knew, at the same time 
 striking with their wooden stirrups the 
 doors past which they rode. At this 
 racket a door opened, and an individ- 
 ual, candle in hand, appeared. This 
 man, barefoot and ragged, was the go- 
 bernador of Marcapata. lie came up 
 and asked if these might be the honor- 
 able travelers who were expected at his 
 humble village. Reassured on this point, 
 he offered to guide the party at once to 
 the house of the priest, who he assured 
 them was much more commodiously 
 lodged than himself. The intention was 
 evident, but Don Juan, with cruel prompt- 
 ness, relieved him of his inhospitable 
 illusion. From the height of his saddle 
 he read aloud the order of the prefect of 
 Cuzco, written on paper stamped with 
 the Peruvian arms, enjoining on him the 
 care of the travelers and their beasts, 
 and the performance of every duty that 
 might further their object. 
 
 The governor, quite crushed, humbly 
 opened the door of his hut. The interior 
 had the effect of completely relieving 
 the travelers of all desire for the hos- 
 pitality they had so frankly invoked. 
 An unfurnished hole, riddled for the ad- 
 mission of the winds, and containing for 
 furniture a heap of dirty sheepskins, was 
 ill the poor governor could offer them. 
 The visitors hastily asked to be guided 
 to the priest. 
 
 This ecclesiastic inhabited a small 
 house connected with the church. A 
 discreet knock at the door was hazarded, 
 which had two responses — the whine of 
 a woman and the bark of a dog. The 
 former asked with much bitterness who 
 was there at that hour of the night. The 
 
 hour was hardly seven. The governor 
 himself undertook to respond. 
 
 At the familiar voice the door was 
 half opened, and a female head appear- 
 ed : " Holy Virgin ! What are all those 
 men here for ?" 
 
 The inhospitality of this demand, set 
 down to the account of feminine bash- 
 fulness, was readily excused, and the 
 governor, resting outside, sent the trav- 
 elers in to find the priest. That worthy 
 man, who was supping with two or three 
 cats by his side, executed a sort of som- 
 ersault, and received the self-introduction 
 of Don Juan with his mouth half open 
 and half full. The merchant explained 
 the desire of the party for shelter, board 
 and beds. 
 
 The round visage of the pastor cloud- 
 ed over. " I am poor, and very slender- 
 ly lodged here," was all the unhappy 
 man could say. Santo Domingo had in 
 reserve, however, for the spiritual power 
 an argument as powerful as that which 
 had just so effectually tamed the tem- 
 poral. "Your poverty afflicts me very 
 much, my father," said he to the priest, 
 "but it will be a far greater sorrow to his 
 grace the bishop of Cuzco, who has sent 
 me to your address with the notion that 
 you might be able to serve me." 
 
 "What!" cried the holy man, "our 
 illustrious bishop has deigned to talk to 
 you about me ? — me, who never saw him 
 in my life !" 
 
 The priest was assured that he was 
 well known to his glorious superior, and 
 that his amiable hospitality would be 
 taken by the latter as a favor to himself. 
 On this the poor man of prayer insisted 
 that the whole party should enter and 
 sup with him. " Pescua ! Pescua!" cried 
 he. "It is my ama de Haves" (house- 
 keeper), said the priest. The woman, 
 frowning, entered for her instructions. 
 
 In short, the party, by adroit manip- 
 ulation of the governor and the padre, 
 were able to lodge with sufficient com- 
 fort. Half the gentlemen quartered 
 themselves upon the Church, half upon 
 the State, and the mozos and muleteers 
 were distributed through tha- village. 
 
 To this holy father the explorer ap- 
 plied for aid in engaging the Indian 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 15 
 
 porters who were to take the place of 
 their beasts of burden. The relations 
 of the good man with the aborigines 
 were of a peaceful character, and were 
 
 inspired by a rrutxim admirable for its 
 breadth and laconism. "Do no harm 
 to the Indian," said the curator of souls 
 — "God's law forbids it — but take car 
 
 " IMMEDIATELY BEGAN THE INSPECTION OF THE RECRUITS AT THE CHURCH DOOR." — P. I 7. 
 
 CO do him no good, for he is a brute that 
 is not worth the trouble." Under the 
 influence of this moderate alliance the 
 Indians were in the habit of coming to 
 the church at service-time, not for wor- 
 
 ship, but from curiosity and in the hope 
 of occasional employment. 
 
 The day after the arrival the priest 
 was notified by Santo Domingo that he 
 rould render a service by engaging the 
 
i6 
 
 SEAKCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 Indians to remain after the mass: it I tended the church, and were surprised 
 happened to be Sunday. The party at- | to hear, during an interval of the ob- 
 
 servances, an address from the priest to 
 the Indians, vi^ho were squatting rather 
 than kneehng in the nave. He described 
 
 the project of the strangers for an ex- 
 ploration of the valley, intimated me 
 duty which was expected of tlie nativv.s. 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-FLANT IN PERU. 
 
 n 
 
 and begged them to remain in the plaza 
 after mass, instead of going off to get 
 drunk and play at skittles. Mass over, 
 the Indians, conformably to this order, 
 assembled in the square and waited the 
 pleasure of the travelers. The priest 
 hurried off his sacerdotal robes, and 
 was quickly among them. Immediately 
 began the inspection of the recruits at 
 the church door. Each individual, plant- 
 ed square on both feet, broad-shouldered 
 and bulbous of chest, was introduced by 
 the sacred purveyor, who mentioned his 
 name, took him up by the chin, and 
 gave a list of his physical and moral 
 qualities. The Indian for his part allow- 
 ed himself to be punched, felt and turn- 
 ed about with a sort of simple smile, 
 rather proud than otherwise of this pub- 
 lic recognition of his points. In this way 
 the tale of assistants was quickly and 
 advantageously made up. 
 
 There was little more to do at Mar- 
 capata. On the next morning, Don Juan, 
 his lawyer and the eight or nine others 
 who had formed the escort sprang into 
 their saddles and set their faces toward 
 the inclement mountains for a return to 
 Cuzco. Of the party of bark-explorers 
 there remained but three individuals. 
 These were Manuel Perez, the former 
 
 colonel in the Spanish army, of the 
 Royal Alexander regiment, a resident 
 of Cuzco, who retained enough of his 
 old habits of vagabondage to wish to 
 join the expedition ; the writer and artist, 
 Mr. Paul Marcoy ; and the examinador 
 of barks from Bolivia, who accompanied 
 his band of bark-strippers or cascarille- 
 ros. The remaining trio, in their lone- 
 liness and desire for change of scene, 
 would have departed immediately, with 
 but slight adieux to the governor and the 
 priest. But the Indian porters engaged 
 at Marcapata exclaimed, with one accord 
 and with a strong sense of insult, that 
 they could never leave without a parting 
 debauch with their friends. A night of 
 unintermitted chicha and a morning of 
 dismal reaction ensued on the part of 
 these savage servitors. At length, ex- 
 cited by a few buckets of water judicious- 
 ly thrown over their heads, the Indians, 
 with many farewells to their wives and 
 comrades, prepared to start. They re- 
 joined the chiefs of the party, who, their 
 spurs laid aside and their saddles ex- 
 changed for a light walking equipment, 
 were impatiently summoning their at- 
 tendance. 
 
 IPJ^I^T SE002<riD. 
 
 THE crystal peaks of the Andes were 
 behind our explorers : before, were 
 their eastward- stretching spurs and their 
 eastward-falling rivers. On the moun- 
 tain-flanks, as the last landmark of 
 Christian civilization, nestled the village 
 of Marcapata, whose square, thatched 
 belfry faded gradually from sight, re- 
 minding the travelers of the ghostly min- 
 istrations of the padre and the secular 
 protection of the gobernador. Neither 
 priest nor edile would they encounter 
 until their return to the same church- 
 tower. Their patron, Don Juan Sanz 
 de Santo Domingo, was already picking 
 his way along the snowy defiles of the 
 mountains to attain again his luxurious 
 home in Cuzco. Behind the adventurers 
 lay companionship and society — repre- 
 sented by the dubious orgies of the 
 House of Austria — and the security of 
 civil government — represented by the 
 mortal ennui of a Peruvian citv. Before 
 
 them lay difficulties and perhaps dan- 
 gers, but also at least variety, novelty 
 and possible wealth. 
 
 Colonel Perez, Marcoy and the ex- 
 aminador retained their horses, and a 
 couple of the mozos their mules, the 
 remainder of the beasts being kept at 
 livery in Marcapata, and the muleteers 
 volunteering to accompany the troupe 
 as far as Chile-Chile : at this point the 
 bridle-path came to an end, and the 
 gentlemen would have to dismount, ac- 
 companying thenceforth their peons on 
 a literal "footing" of equality. 
 
 Two torrents which fall in perpendic- 
 ular cataracts from the mountains, the 
 Kellunu ("yellow water") and the Cca- 
 chi (" salt"), run together at the distance 
 of a league from their place of precipita- 
 tion. They enclose in their approach 
 the hill on which Marcapata is perched, 
 and they form by their confluence the 
 considerable river which our travelers 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 were about to trace, and which is called I the Spanish maps is termed the river of 
 by the Indians Cconi ("warm"), but on I Marcapata. 
 
 The first ford of the Cconi was passed 
 just outside the town, at a point where 
 the right bank of the river, growing 
 
 steeper and steeper; became impractica- 
 ble, and necessitated a crossing to the 
 left. The ford allowed the peons to 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 »9 
 
 stagger through at mid-leg on the un- 
 even pavement afforded by the large 
 pebbles of the bed. At this point the 
 valley of the Cconi was seen stretching 
 indefinitely outward toward the east, 
 enclosed in two chains of conical peaks : 
 their regular forms, running into each 
 other at the middle of their height, 
 clothed with interminable forests and 
 bathed with light, melted regularly away 
 into the perspective. Indian huts buried 
 in gardens of the white lily which had 
 seemed so beautiful in the chapel of 
 Lauramarca, hedges of aloe menacing 
 ±e intruder with their millions of steely- 
 looking swords, slender bamboos dain- 
 tily rocking themselves over the water, 
 and enormous curtains of creepers hang- 
 ing from the hillsides and waving to the 
 wind in vast breadths of green, were the 
 decorations of this Peruvian paradise. 
 
 The pretty lilies gradually disappear- 
 ed, and the thatched cabins became 
 more and more sparse, when from one 
 of the latter, at a hundred paces from 
 the caravan, issued a human figure. 
 The man struck an attitude in the path- 
 way of the travelers, his carbine on his 
 shoulder, his fist on his hip and his nose 
 saucily turned up in the air. Neither 
 his Metamora-like posture nor his dress 
 inspired confidence. 
 
 " He is evidently waiting for us," re- 
 marked Colonel Perez, an heroic yet pru- 
 dent personage : "fortunately, it is broad 
 day. I would not grant an interview to 
 such a salteador (brigand) alone at night 
 and in a desert." 
 
 The salteador wore a low broad felt, 
 on whose ample brim the rain and sun 
 had sketched a variety of vague designs. 
 A gray sack buttoned to the throat and 
 confined by a leathern belt, and trowsers 
 of the same stuffed into his long coarse 
 woolen stockings, completed his cos- 
 tume. He was shod, like an Indian, in 
 ojotas, or sandals cut out of raw leather 
 and laced to his legs with thongs. Two 
 ox-horns hanging at his side contained 
 his ammunition, and a light haversack 
 was slung over his back. This mozo, 
 who at a distance would have passed for 
 a man of forty, appeared on examina- 
 tion to be under twenty-two years of age. 
 
 It was likewise observable on a nearer 
 view that his skin was brown and clear 
 like a chestnut, and that his lively eye, 
 perfect teeth and air of decision were 
 calculated to please an Indian girl of his 
 vicinity. To complete his rehabilitation 
 in the eyes of the party, his introductory 
 address was delivered with the grace of 
 a Spanish cavalier. 
 
 "The gentlemen,'' said he, gracefully 
 getting rid of his superabundant hat, 
 "will voluntarily excuse me for having 
 waited so long with my respects and 
 ofters of service. I should have gone to 
 meet them at Marcapata, but my uncle 
 the gobernador forbade me to do so for 
 fear of displeasing the priest. Gentle- 
 men, I am Juan the nephew of Aragon. 
 It is by the advice of my uncle that I 
 have come to place myself in your way, 
 and ask if you will admit me to youi 
 company as mozo-assistant and inter- 
 preter." 
 
 The colonel, whose antipathy to the 
 salteador did not yield on a closer ac- 
 quaintance, roughly asked the youth 
 what he meant by his assurance. Mr. 
 Marcoy, however, was disposed to tem- 
 porize. 
 
 " If you are Juan the nephew of Ara- 
 gon," said he, "you must have already 
 learned from your uncle that we have 
 engaged an interpreter, Pepe Garcia of 
 Chile-Chile." 
 
 "Precisely what he told me, sefior," 
 replied the young man; "but, for my 
 part, I thought that if one interpreter 
 would be useful to these gentlemen on 
 their journey, two interpreters would be 
 a good deal better, on account of the 
 fact that we walk better with two legs 
 than with one : that is the. reason I have 
 intercepted you, gentlemen." 
 
 This opinion made everybody laugh, 
 and as Juan considered it his privilege 
 to laugh five times louder than any one, 
 a quasi engagement resulted from this 
 sudden harmony of temper. Colonei 
 Perez shrugged his shoulders : Marcoy 
 as literary man, took down the name of 
 the new-comer. The nephew of Aragon 
 was so delighted that he gave vent to a 
 little cry of pleasure, at the same time 
 cutting a pirouette. This harmless caper 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 allowed the pa.T} to detect, tied to his I an instrument which the Paganinis cfthtr 
 ha\ ersack, the loCc. . banjo, or chanuigu, \ country m ike for themselves out of half 
 
 "GENTLEMEN, I AM JUAN THE NEPHEW OF ARAGON." — P. I9. 
 
 a calabash and the unfeeling bowels of 
 the cat. 
 
 The priest, who had recommended 
 
 Pepe Garcia, had made mention of thai 
 person's fine voice, with which the church 
 of Marcapata was edified every Sunday. 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 Thegobernador, while putting in a word 
 for his nephew, and particularizing the 
 beauty of his execution on the guitar, 
 had insinuated doubts of the baritone 
 favored by the padre. Happy land, 
 whose disputes are like the disputes of 
 an opera company, and where people 
 are recommended for business on the 
 strength of their musical execution ! 
 
 Aragon quickly understood that his 
 friend in the expedition was not Colonel 
 Perez, who had insultingly dubbed him 
 the Second Fiddle (or Charango). He 
 attached himself therefore with the fidel- 
 ity of a spaniel to Mr. Marcoy, walking 
 alongside and resting his arm on the 
 pommel of his saddle. After an hour's 
 traverse of a comparatively desert pla- 
 teau called the Pedregal, covered with 
 rocks and smelling of the patchouli- 
 scented flowers of the mimosa, Aragon 
 pointed out the straw sheds and grassy 
 plaza of Chile-Chile. This rustic me- 
 tropolis is not indicated on many maps, 
 but for the travelers it had a special im- 
 portance, bearing upon the inca history 
 and etymological roots of Peru, for it was 
 the residence of their interpreter-in-chief, 
 Pepe Garcia. 
 
 Introduced by the latter, our explorers 
 made a kind of triumphal entry into the 
 village. The old Indian women dropped 
 their spinning, the naked children ceased 
 to play with the pigs and began to play 
 with the garments and equipage of the 
 visitors, and a couple of blind men, who 
 were leading each other, remarked that 
 they were glad to see them. 
 
 Garcia the polyglot, radiant with im- 
 portance, lost no time in dragging his 
 guests toward his own residence, a large 
 straw thatch surmounting walls of open- 
 work, which took the fancy of the trav- 
 elers from the singular trophy attached 
 above the door. This trophy was com- 
 posed of the heads of bucks and rams, 
 with those of the fox and the ounce, 
 where the shrunken skin displayed the 
 pointed sierra of the teeth, while the 
 horns of oxen and goats, set end to end 
 around the borders, formed dark and 
 rigid festoons : all vacancies were filled 
 up with the forms of bats, spread-eagled 
 and nailed fast, from the smallest variety 
 
 to the large, man-attacking vespertilio. 
 As a contrast to this exterior decoration, 
 the inside was severely simple : it was 
 even a little bare. A partition of bam- 
 boo divided the hut into kitchen and 
 bed-room, and that was all. Into the 
 latter of these apartments Pepe Garcia 
 dragged the saddles of his guests, and 
 in the former his two twin-daughters, 
 melancholy little half-breeds in ragged 
 petticoats, assisted their father to prepare 
 for the wanderers a hunter's supper. 
 
 Every moment, in a dark corner or 
 behind the backs of the company, Gar- 
 cia was observed caressing these little 
 girls in secret. Being rallied on his ten- 
 derness, he observed that the twins were 
 the double pledge of a union "longer 
 happy than was usual," and the only 
 survivors of fifteen darlings whom he 
 had given to the world in the various 
 countries whither his wandering fortunes 
 had led him. Still explaining and mul- 
 tiplying his caresses, the man of family 
 went on with his exertions as cook, and 
 in due time announced the meal. 
 
 This festival consisted of sweet pota- 
 toes baked in the ashes, and steaks of bear 
 broiled over the coals. The latter viand 
 was repulsed with horror by the colonel, 
 who in the effeminacy of a city life at 
 Cuzco had never tasted anything more 
 outlandish than monkey. Seeing his 
 companions eating without scruple, how- 
 ever, the valiant warrior extended his 
 tin plate with a silent gesture of applica- 
 tion. The first mouthful appeared hard 
 to swallow, but at the second, looking 
 round at his fellow-travelers with sur- 
 prise and joy, he gave up his prejudices, 
 and marked off the remainder of his 
 steak with wonderful swiftness. Stand- 
 ing behind his boarders, Pepe Garcia 
 had been watching the play of jaws and 
 expressions of face with some uneasi- 
 ness, but when the colonel gave in his 
 adhesion his doubts were removed, and 
 he smiled agreeably, flattered in his 
 double quality of hunter and cook. 
 
 The beds of the gentlemen-travelers 
 were spread side by side in the adjoin- 
 ing room, and Garcia gravely assured 
 them that they would sleep like the 
 Three Wise Men of the East. Unable 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 to see any personal analogy between I Melchior and Balthazar, the tired cava- 
 themselves and the ancient Caspar, | liers turned in without remarking on the 
 
 subject. They paused a moment, how- 
 ever, before taking up their candle, to set 
 forth to Garcia in full the circumstances 
 
 and nature of Juan of Aragon's engage- 
 ment. This explanation, which the close 
 quarters of the troop had made impos- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 23 
 
 sible during the journey, was received 
 in excellent part by the interpreter-in- 
 chief. 
 
 "Oh, I am not at all jealous of Ara- 
 gon," said he, "and the gentlemen have 
 done very well in taking him along. 
 He will be of great use. He is a bright, 
 capable mozo, who would walk twenty 
 miles on his hands to gain a piastre. 
 As an interpreter, I think he is almost 
 as good as I am." 
 
 Having thus smoothed away all 
 grounds of rivalry, the colonel, the ex- 
 aminador and Marcoy took possession 
 of their sleeping-room. Here, long after 
 their light was put out, they watched the 
 scene going on in the apartment they 
 had just left, whose interior, illuminated 
 by a candle and a lingering fire, was 
 perfectly visible through the partition of 
 bamboo. The dark-skinned girls, on 
 their knees in a corner, were gathering 
 together the shirts and stockings destined 
 for the parental traveling-bag. Garcia, 
 for his part, was occupied in cleaning 
 with a bit of rag a portentous, long-bar- 
 reled carbine, apparently dating back to 
 the time of Pizarro, which he had been 
 exhibiting during the day as his hunt- 
 ing rifle, and which he intended to carry 
 along with him. 
 
 The sleep under the thatched roof of 
 Pepe Garcia, though somewhat less 
 sound than that of the Three Magi in 
 their tomb at Cologne, lasted until a ray 
 of the morning sun had penetrated the 
 open-work walls of the hut. The colonel 
 rapidly dressed himself, and aroused the 
 others. A disquieting silence reigned 
 around the modest mansions of Chile- 
 Chile. The interpreter was away, Juan 
 of Aragon was away, the muleteers had 
 returned, according to instructions re- 
 ceived over-night, to Marcapata with the 
 anima Is, and the peons were found dead- 
 drunk behind the mud wall of the last 
 house in the village. 
 
 Aft(;r three hours of impatient waiting 
 there appeared — not Garcia and Aragon, 
 whose absence was inexplicable, but — 
 the faithful Bolivian bark -hunters in a 
 body. Not caring to stupefy themselves 
 with the peons, they had gone out for a 
 reconnoissance in the environs. Con- 
 
 templating the nodding forms of their 
 comrades, they now let out the dis- 
 couraging fact that these tame Indians, 
 madly afraid of their wild brothers the 
 Chunchos, had been fortifying them- 
 selves steadily with brandy and chicha 
 all the way from IVIarcapata. Disgusted 
 and helpless, Perez and the examinador 
 betook themselves to reading tattered 
 newspapers issued at Lima a month 
 before, and Marcoy to his note-book. 
 Suddenly a ferocious wild-beast cry was 
 heard coming from the woods, and while 
 the Indian porters tried to run away, and 
 the white men looked at each other with 
 apprehension, Pepe Garcia and Aragon 
 appeared in the distance. Their arms 
 were interlaced in a brother-like manner, 
 they were poising themselves with much 
 care on their legs, and they were drunk. 
 Well had the elder interpreter said that 
 he was not jealous of Aragon. They 
 rolled forward toward the party, repeat- 
 ing their outrageous duet, whose recep- 
 tion by the staring" peons appeared to 
 gratify them immensely. 
 
 The mozo, feeling his secondary po- 
 sition, had enervated himself slightly 
 — the superior was magisterially tipsy. 
 He wore a remarkable hat entirely with- 
 out a brim, and patched all over the top 
 with a lid of leather. His face, marked 
 up to the eyes with the blue stubble of 
 that beard which- filled him with pride 
 as a sign of European extraction, was 
 swollen and hideous with drunkenness. 
 He carried, besides the fearful blunder- 
 buss of the night before, a belt full of 
 pistols and hatchets. A short infantry- 
 sword was banging away at his calves, 
 and two long ox-horns rattled at his waist. 
 The interpreters had been partaking of 
 a little complimentary breakfast with the 
 muleteers in whose care the animals had 
 gone off to Marcapata. 
 
 A concentration of energy on the part 
 of the chiefs of the expedition was re- 
 quired to set in movement this unprom- 
 ising assemblage. The examinador un- 
 dertook the peons : he rapped them 
 smartly and repeatedly about the head 
 and shoulders, until they staggered to 
 their feet and declared that they were a 
 match for whole hordes of Indians : this 
 
24 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 courage, borrowed from the flask, gave I from genuine Chunchos they would take 
 strong assurance that at the first alarm | to their heels. Mr. Marcoy, feeling un- 
 
 able to do justice to the case of the 
 nephew, turned him over to Perez, whose 
 undisguised dislike made the work of 
 
 correction at once grateful and thorough. 
 Marcoy himself confronted the stolid 
 and sullen Pepe Garcia, insisting upon 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 25 
 
 the example he owed to the Indian por- 
 ters and the responsibility of his Cau- 
 casian blood. The half breed listened 
 for a minute, his eyes fixed upon the 
 ground : he then shook himself, looked 
 an instant at his employer, and planted 
 himself firmly on his legs. Then, de- 
 termined to prove by a supreme effort 
 that he was clear-headed and master of 
 his motions, he suddenly drew his sword, 
 hustled the Indians in a line by two and 
 two, pointed out to Aragon his position 
 as rear-guard, and cried with a voice 
 of thunder, ''Adelante f The porters 
 and peons staggered forward, knocking 
 against each other's elbows and totter- 
 ing on their stout legs. The three white 
 men, burdenless, but regretting their 
 horses, walked as they pleased, keeping 
 the train in sight. And John the nephew 
 of Aragon's guitar, dangling at his back, 
 brought up the rear, with its suggestions 
 of harmony and the amenities of life. 
 
 The first trait of aboriginal character 
 (after this parenthetical alacrity at drunk- 
 enness) was shown after some hours of 
 marching and the passage of a dozen 
 streams. The porters, weakened by 
 their drink and the extreme heat, squat- 
 ted down on the side of a hill by their 
 own consent and with a single impulse. 
 With that lamb-like placidity and that 
 mule-like obstinacy which characterize 
 the antique race of Quechuas, they ob- 
 served to the chief interpreter that they 
 were weary of falling on their backs or 
 their stomachs at every other step, and 
 that they were resolved to go no farther. 
 Pepe Garcia caused the remark to be 
 repeated once more, as if he had not un- 
 derstood it : then, convinced that an in- 
 cipient rebellion was brewing, he sprang 
 upon the fellow who happened to be 
 nearest, haled him up from the ground 
 by the ears, and, shaking him vigorously, 
 proceeded to do as much for the rest of 
 the band. In the flash of an eye, much 
 to their astonishment, they found them- 
 selves on their feet. 
 
 A judicious if not very discriminating 
 award of blows from the sabre then fol- 
 lowed, causing the Indians to change 
 their resolve of remaining in that par- 
 ticular spot, and to show a lively deter- 
 
 mination to get away from it as quickly 
 as possible. Each porter, forgetting his 
 fatigue, and seeming never to have felt 
 any, began to trot along, no longer lan- 
 guidly as before, but with a precision of 
 step and a firmness in his round calves 
 which surprised and charmed the trav- 
 elers. Pepe Garcia, much refreshed by 
 this exercise of disciphne, and perspiring 
 away his intoxication as he marched, 
 began to give grounds for confidence 
 from his steady and authoritative man- 
 ner. By nightfall the whole troop was 
 in harmony, and the strangers retired 
 with hopeful hearts to the privacy of the 
 hammocks which Juan of Aragon slung 
 amongst the trees on the side of Mount 
 Morayaca. 
 
 No effect could seem finer, to wander- 
 ers from another latitude, than this first 
 night-bivouac in the absolute wilderness. 
 The moon, seeming to race through the 
 clouds, and the camp-fire flashing in the 
 wind, appeared to give movement and 
 animation to the landscape. The In- 
 dians, grouped around the flame, seem- 
 ed like swarthy imps tending the furnace 
 of some fantastic pandemonium. Mean- 
 while, amidst the constant murmurs of 
 the trees, the nephew of Aragon was 
 heard drawing the notes of some kind 
 of amorous despair from the hollow of 
 his melodious calabash. The examina- 
 dor and Colonel Perez lulled themselves 
 to sleep with a conversation about the 
 beauties and beatitudes of their wives, 
 now playing the part of Penelopes in 
 their absence. To hear the eulogies of 
 the examinador, an angel fallen perpen- 
 dicularly from heaven could hardly have 
 realized the physical and moral qualities 
 of the spouse he had left in Sorata. The 
 Castihan tongue lent wonderful pomp 
 and magnificence to this portrait, and as 
 the metaphors thickened and the superb 
 phrases lost themselves in hyperbole, one 
 would have thought the lady in question 
 was about to fly back to her native stars 
 on a pair of resplendent wings. Colonel 
 Perez furnished an equally elaborate de- 
 lineation of his own fair helpmate. As 
 for the wife of Lorenzo, nobody knew 
 what she was like, and the panegyric 
 from the lips of her faithful lord rolled 
 
26 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 on in safety and success. But the per- 
 sonage called by Perez "his Theresa" 
 was a female whom anybody who had 
 passed through the small shopkeeping 
 quarters of Cuzco might have seen every 
 day, as well as heard designated by her 
 common nickname (given no one knows 
 why) of Malignant Quinsy ; and, arguing 
 in algebraic fashion from the known to 
 the unknown, it was not difficult to be 
 convinced that the poetic flights of the 
 examinador were equally the work of 
 fond flattery. 
 
 Surprised by a midnight storm, the 
 camp was broken up before the early 
 daylight, and our explorers' caravan 
 moved on without breakfast. This 
 necessary stop-gap was arranged for at 
 the first pleasant spot on the route. An 
 old clearing soon appeared, provided 
 with the welcome accommodation of an 
 ajoupa, or shed built upon four posts. 
 At the command of Alto alii! — "Halt 
 there !" — uttered by Perez in the tone he 
 had formerly used in governing his troops, 
 the whole band stopped as one person ; 
 the porters dumped their bales with a 
 significant ugh I the Bolivian bark-hunt- 
 ers laid down their axes ; and the gen- 
 tlemen arranged themselves around the 
 parallelogram of the hut, attending the 
 commissariat developments of Colonel 
 Perez. The site which hazard had so 
 conveniently offered was named Chaupi- 
 chaca. It was the scene of an ancient 
 wood-cutting, around which the trunks 
 of the antique forests showed themselves 
 in a warm soft light, like the columns of 
 a temple or the shafts of a mosque. 
 
 A detail which struck the travelers in 
 arriving was very characteristic of these 
 lands, filled so full of old traditions and 
 inca customs. Chaupichaca was marked 
 with a square terminal pillar, one of those 
 boundaries of mud and stones, called 
 apachectas, which Peruvian masonry 
 lavishes over the country of Manco 
 Capac. A rude cross of sticks sur- 
 mounted this stone altar, on which some 
 pious hand had laid a nosegay, now 
 dried — signifying, in the language of 
 flowers proper to masons and stone-cut- 
 ters, that the work was finished and left. 
 A little water and spirits spared from the 
 
 travelers' meal gave a slight air of resto- 
 ration to these mysterious offerings, and 
 a couple of splendid butterflies, whether 
 attracted by the flowers or the alcoholic 
 perfume, commenced to waltz around 
 the bouquet ; but the corollas contained 
 no honey for their diminutive trunks, 
 and after a slight examination they 
 danced contemptuously away. 
 
 At seven or eight miles' distance an- 
 other streamlet was reached, named the 
 Mamabamba. It is a slender affluent 
 of the Cconi, to be called a rivulet in 
 any country but South America, but here 
 named a river with the same proud ef- 
 frontery which designates as a city any 
 collection of a dozen huts thrown into 
 the ravine of a mountain. The Mama- 
 bamba was crossed by an extemporized 
 bridge, constructed on the spot by the in- 
 genuity of Garcia and his men. Strange 
 and incalculable was the engineering of 
 Pepe Garcia. Sometimes, across one of 
 these continually-occurring streams, he 
 would throw a hastily-felled tree, over 
 which, glazed as it was by a night's rain 
 or by the humidity of the forest, he would 
 invite the travelers to pass. Sometimes, 
 to a couple of logs rotting on the banks 
 he would nail cross-strips like the rungs 
 of a ladder, and, while the torrent boiled 
 at a distance below, pass jauntily with 
 his Indians, more sure-footed than goats. 
 The wider the abyss the more insecure 
 the causeway ; and the terrible rope- 
 bridges of South America, or the still 
 more conjectural throw of a line of woven 
 roots, would meet the travelers wherever 
 the cleft was so wide as to render timber- 
 ing an inconvenient trouble. Occasion- 
 ally, on one of these damp and moss- 
 grown ladders, a peon's foot would slip, 
 and down he would go, the load strap- 
 ped on his back catching him as he was 
 passing through the aperture : then, using 
 his hands to hold on by, he would com- 
 pose, on the spur of the moment, a new 
 and original language or telegraphy of 
 the legs, kickifig for assistance with all 
 his might. Juan of Aragon was usually 
 the hero to extricate these poor eslrays 
 from the false step they had taken, the 
 other peons regarding the scene with 
 their tranquil stolidity. A glass of bran- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 27 
 
 dy to the unfortunate would always com- I hope for a few more accidents of a^ like 
 pose his nerves again, and make him I nature and bringing a hkc consolation. 
 
 "THE MAMABAMBA WAS CROSSED BY AN EXTEMPORIZED KRIDGE." — P. 26. 
 
 The bridge of the Mamabamba con- I name, through an interval of forest where 
 ducted the party to a site of the same | might be counted most of the varieties 
 
28 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERL. 
 
 of tree proper to the equatorial high- 
 lands. Up to this point the vegetation 
 everywhere abounding had not indicated 
 the presence, or even the vicinage, of 
 the cinchona. The only circumstance 
 which brought it to the notice of the 
 inexperienced leaders of the expedition 
 would be a halt made from time to time 
 by the Bolivian bark-hunters. The ex- 
 aminador and his cascarilleros, touching 
 one tree or another with their hatchets, 
 would exchange remarks full of mean- 
 ing and mysteriousness ; but when the 
 colonel or Mr. Marcoy came to ask the 
 significance of so many hints and signals, 
 they got the invariable answer of Sister 
 Anna to the wife of Bluebeard : " I see 
 nothing but the forest turning green and 
 the sun turning red." The most prac- 
 tical reminder of the quest of cinchona 
 which the travelers found was an occa- 
 sional ajoupa alone in the wilderness, 
 with a broken pot and a rusted knife or 
 axe beneath it — witness that some eager 
 searcher had traveled the road before 
 themselves. The cascarilleros are very 
 avaricious and very brave, going out 
 alone, setting up a hut in a probable- 
 looking spot, and diverging from their 
 head- quarters in every direction. If by 
 any accident they get lost or their pro- 
 visions are destroyed, they die of hunger. 
 Doctor Weddell, on one occasion in Bo- 
 livia, landed on the beach of a river well 
 shaded with trees. Here he found the 
 cabin of a cascarillero, and near it a 
 man stretched out upon the ground in 
 the agonies of death. He was nearly 
 naked, and covered with myriads of in- 
 sects, whose stings had hastened his end. 
 On the leaves which formed the roof of 
 the hut were the remains of the unfor- 
 tunate man's clothes, a straw hat and 
 some rags, with a knife, an earthen pot 
 containing the remains of his last meal, 
 a little maize and two or three chunus. 
 Such is the end to which their hazardous 
 occupation exposes the bark-collectors — 
 death in the midst of the forests, far from 
 home ; a death without help and without 
 consolation. 
 
 It was not until after passing the ele- 
 vated site of San Pedro, and clambering 
 up the slippery shoulders of the hill call- 
 
 ed Huaynapata — the crossing of half a 
 dozen intervening streamlets going for 
 nothing — that the explorers were reward- 
 ed with a sight of their Canaan, the bark- 
 producing region. To attain this sum- 
 mit of Huaynapata, however, the httle 
 tributary of Mendoza had to be first got 
 over. This affluent of the Cconi, flow- 
 ing in from the south-south-west, was 
 very sluggish as far as it could be seen. 
 Its banks, interrupted by large rocks 
 clothed with moss, offered now and then 
 promontories surrounded at the base with 
 a bluish shade. At the end of the vista, 
 a not very extensive one, a quantity of 
 blocks of sandstone piled together re- 
 sembled a crumbling wall. Other blocks 
 were sprinkled over the bed of the stream ; 
 and by their aid the examinador and the 
 colonel hopped vaUantly over the Men- 
 doza, leaving the peons, who were less 
 afraid of rheumatism and more in danger 
 of slipping, to ford the current at the 
 depth of their suspender-buttons. 
 
 It was on the top of Huaynapata, 
 while the interpreters built a fire and 
 prepared for supper a peccary killed 
 upon the road, that Marcoy observed 
 the examinador holding with his Boliv- 
 ians a conversation in the Aymara dia- 
 lect, in which could be detected such 
 words as anaranjada and morada. 
 These were the well-known commercial 
 names of two species of cinchona. The 
 historiographer interrupted their conver- 
 sation to ask if anything had yet been 
 discovered. 
 
 "Nothing yet," replied the examina- 
 dor ; "and this valley of the Cconi must 
 be bewitched, for with the course that 
 we have taken we should long ago have 
 discovered what we are after. But this 
 place looks more favorable than any we 
 have met. I shall beat up the woods 
 to-morrow Avith my men, and may my 
 patron. Saint Lorenzo, return again to 
 his gridiron if we do not date our first 
 success in quinine-hunting from this very 
 hillock of Huaynapata !" 
 
 The above style of threatening the 
 saints is thought very efficacious in all 
 Spanish countries. Whether or no Saint 
 Lawrence really dreaded another expe- 
 rience of broiling, at the end of certain 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 29 
 
 hours the Bolivians reappeared, and 
 their chief deposited in the hands of the 
 
 colonel a few green and tender branches. 
 At the joyful shout of Perez, the man of 
 
 letters, who had been occupied in mak- 
 ing a sketch, came running up. Two 
 different species of cinchona were the 
 
 trophy brought back by Lorenzo, like 
 the olive-leaves in the beak of Noah's 
 dove. One of these specimens was a 
 
3° 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 variety oi the Carua-carua, with large 
 leaves heavily veined : the other was an 
 individual resembling those quinquinas 
 which the botanists Ruiz and Pavon have 
 discriminated from the cinchonas, to 
 make a separate family called the Quin- 
 quina cosmibiiena. After all, the dis- 
 covery was rather an indication than a 
 conquest of value. The examinador 
 admitted as much, but observed that the 
 presence of these baser species always 
 argued the neighborhood of genuine 
 quinine-yielding plants near by. 
 
 In the presence of this first success on 
 the part of the exploration set on foot 
 by Don Juan Sanz de Santo Domingo, 
 we may insert a few words on the nature 
 of the wonderful plant toward which its 
 researches were directed. 
 
 It is doubtful whether the aboriginal 
 inhabitants of Peru, Bolivia and Ecua- 
 dor were acquainted with the virtues of 
 the cinchona plant as a febrifuge. It 
 seeems probable, nevertheless, that the 
 Indians of Loxa, two hundred and thirty 
 miles south of Peru, were aware of the 
 qualities of the bark, for there its use 
 was first made known to Europeans. It 
 was forty years after the pacification of 
 Peru however, before any communica- 
 tion of the remedial secret was made to 
 the Spaniards. Joseph de Jussieu reports 
 that in 1600 a Jesuit, who had a fever 
 at Malacotas, was cured by Peruvian 
 bark. In 1638 the countess Ana of 
 Chinchon was suffering from tertian 
 fever and ague at Lima, whither she had 
 accompanied the viceroy, her husband. 
 The corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan Lo- 
 pez de Canizares, sent a parcel of pow- 
 dered quinquina bark to her physician, 
 Juan de Vega, assuring him that it was 
 a sovereign and infallible remedy for 
 "tertiana." It was administered to the 
 countess, who was sixty-two years of 
 age, and effected a complete cure. This 
 countess, returning with her husband to 
 Spain in 1640, brought with her a quan- 
 tity of the healing bark. Hence it was 
 sometimes called "countess's bark" and 
 "countess's powder." Her famous cure 
 induced Linnaeus, long after, to name 
 the whole genus of quinine-bearing trees, 
 in her honor, Cinchotia. By modern 
 
 writers the first k has usually been drop- 
 ped, and the word is now almost inva- 
 riably spelled in that way, instead of 
 the more etymological Chinchona. The 
 Jesuits afterward made great and effect- 
 ive use of it in their missionary expe- 
 ditions, and it was a ludicrous result of 
 their patronage that its use should have 
 been for a long time opposed by Protest- 
 ants and favored by Catholics. In 1679, 
 Louis XIV. bought the secret of pre- 
 paring quinquina from Sir Robert Tal- 
 bor, an English doctor, for two thousand 
 louis-d'or, a large pension and a title. 
 Under the Grand Monarch it was used 
 at dessert, mingled with Spanish wine. 
 The delay of its discovery until the sev- 
 enteenth century has probably lost to 
 the world numbers of valuable lives. 
 Had Alexander the Great, who died of 
 the common remittent fever of Babylon, 
 been acquainted with cinchona bark, his 
 death would have been averted and the 
 partition of the Macedonian empire in- 
 definitely postponed. Oliver Cromwell 
 was carried off by an ague, which the 
 administration of quinine would easily 
 have cured. The bigotry of medical sci- 
 ence, even after its efficacy was known 
 and proved, for a long time retarded its 
 dissemination. In 1726, La Fontaine, 
 at the instance of a lady who owed her 
 life to it, the countess of Bouillon, com- 
 posed a poem in two cantos to celebrate 
 its virtues ; but the remarkable beauty 
 of the leaves of the cinchona and the 
 delicious fragrance of its flowers, with 
 allusions to which he might have adorn- 
 ed his verses, were still unknown in 
 Europe. 
 
 The cinchonas under favorable cir- 
 cumstances become large trees : at pres- 
 ent, however, in any of the explored 
 and exploited regions of their growth, 
 the shoots or suckers of the plants are 
 all that remain. Wherever they abound 
 they form the handsomest foliage of the 
 forest. The leaves are lanceolate, glossy 
 and vividly green, traversed by rich 
 crimson veins : the flowers hang in clus- 
 tering pellicles, like lilacs, of deep rose- 
 color, and fill the vicinity with rich per- 
 fume. Nineteen varieties of cinchonce 
 have been established by Doctor Wed- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 3» 
 
 dell. The cascarilleros of South Amer- 
 ica divide the species into a category of 
 colors, according to the tinge of the bark : 
 there are yellow, red, orange, violet, gray 
 and white cinchonas. The yellow, among 
 which figure the Cmchona calisaya, lan- 
 cifolia, condamiftea, micrantha, ptibes- 
 cens, etc., are placed in the first rank : 
 the red, orange and gray are less esteem- 
 ed. This arrangement is in proportion 
 to the abundance of the alkaloid quhtme, 
 now used in medicine instead of the bark 
 itself. 
 
 The specimens found by the examina- 
 dor were carefully wrapped in blankets, 
 and the march was resumed. After a 
 slippery descent of the side of Huayna- 
 pata and the passage of a considerable 
 number of babbling streams — each of 
 which gave new occasion for the colonel 
 to show his ingenuity in getting over 
 dryshod, and so sparing his threatening 
 rheumatism — the cry of "Sausipata!" 
 was uttered by Pepe Garcia. Two neat 
 mud cabins, each provided with a door 
 furnished with' the unusual luxury of a 
 wooden latch, marked the plantation of 
 Sausipata. The situation was level, and 
 within the enclosing walls of the forest 
 could be seen a plantation of bananas, 
 a field of sugar-cane, with groves of 
 coffee, orange-orchards and gardens of 
 sweet potato and pineapple. The white 
 visitors could not refrain from an excla- 
 mation of surprise at the neatness and 
 civilization of such an Eden in the 
 desert. At this point, Juan of Aragon, 
 who had been going on ahead, turned 
 around with an air of splendid welcome, 
 and explained that the farm belonged to 
 his uncle, the gobernador of Marcapata, 
 who prayed them to make themselves at 
 home. Introducing his guests into the 
 largest of the houses, Juan presented 
 them with some fine ripe fruit which he 
 culled from the garden. Colonel Perez, 
 who never lost occasion to give a sly 
 stab to the mozo, asked, as he peeled a 
 banana, if he was duly authorized to 
 dispose so readily of the property of his 
 uncle : the youth, without losing a par- 
 ticle of his magnificent adolescent court- 
 esy, replied that as nephew and direct 
 heir of the governor of Marcapata it was 
 
 a right which he exercised in anticipation 
 of inheritance ; and that just as Pepe 
 Garcia, the interpreter-in-chief, had re- 
 galed the party in his residence, he, Juan 
 of Aragon, proposed to do in the family 
 grange of Sausipata. 
 
 Meantime, the examinador, who had 
 pushed forward with his men, returned 
 with a couple more specimens of quin- 
 quina, which they had discovered close 
 by in clambering amongst the forest. 
 Neither had flowers, but the one was 
 recognizable by its flat leaf as the species 
 called by the Indians ichtc-cascarilla, 
 from the grain ichti amongst which it is 
 usually found at the base of the Cordil- 
 leras ; and the other, from its fruit-cap- 
 sules two inches in length, as the Cin- 
 chona acntifolia of Ruiz and Pavon. 
 To moderate the pleasures of this dis- 
 covery, the examinador came up lean- 
 ing upon the shoulder of his principal 
 assistant, Eusebio, complaining of a 
 frightful headache, and a weakness so 
 extreme that he could not put one foot 
 before the other. 
 
 The sudden illness of their botanist- 
 in-chief cast a gloom upon tLe party, and 
 utterly spoiled the festive intentions of 
 young Aragon. Lorenzo was put to bed, 
 from which retreat, at midnight, his fear- 
 ful groans summoned the colonel to his 
 side. The latter found him tossing and 
 murmuring, but incapable of uttering a 
 word. His faithful Eusebio, at the head 
 of the bed, answered for him. The 
 honest fellow feared lest his master might 
 have caught again a touch of the old 
 fever which had formerly attacked him 
 in searching for cascarillas in the en- 
 virons of Tipoani in Bolivia. These 
 symptoms, recurring in the lower valleys 
 of the Cconi, would make it impossible 
 for the brave explorer safely to continue 
 with the party. As the mestizo pro- 
 pounded this inconvenient theory, a new 
 burst of groans from the examinador 
 seemed to confirm it. The grave news 
 brought all the party to the sick bed. 
 Colonel Perez, whom the touching com- 
 parison of wives made in the hammocks 
 of Morayaca had sensibly attached to 
 Lorenzo, endeavored to feel his pulse ; 
 but the patient, drawing in his hand by 
 
32 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 a peevish movement, only rolled himself 
 more tightly in his blanket, and increased 
 his groans to roars. Presently, exhaust- 
 ed by so much agony, he fell into a 
 slumber. 
 
 In the morning the examinador, in a 
 dolorous voice, announced that he should 
 be obliged to return to Cuzco. This 
 resolution might have seemed the ob- 
 stinate delirium of the fever but for the 
 mournful and pathetic calmness of the 
 victim. Eusebio, he said, should return 
 with him as far as Chile-Chile, where a 
 conveyance could be had; and he him- 
 self would give such explicit instructions 
 to the cascarilleros that nothing would 
 be lost by his absence to the purposes 
 of the expedition. Yielding to pity and 
 friendship, the colonel gave in his ad- 
 hesion to the plan, and even proposed 
 his own hammock as a sort of palanquin, 
 and the loan of a pair of the peons for 
 bearers. They could return with Euse- 
 bio to Sausipata, where the party would 
 be obliged to wait for the three. After 
 sketching out his plan, Colonel Perez 
 looked for approval to Mr. Marcoy, and 
 received an affirmative nod. The prop- 
 osition seemed so agreeable to the sick 
 man that already an alleviation of his 
 misery appeared to be superinduced. 
 He even smiled intelligently as he rolled 
 into the hammock. In a very short time 
 he made a sort of theatrical exit, borne 
 in the hammock like an invalid princess, 
 and fanned with a palm branch out of 
 the garden by the faithful Eusebio. 
 
 " Poor devil !" said Perez as the mourn- 
 ful procession departed : " who knows if 
 he will ever see his dear wife at Sorata, 
 or if he will even live to reach Chile- 
 Chile ?" 
 
 " Do you really think him in any such 
 danger?" asked the more suspicious 
 Marcoy. 
 
 " Danger ! Did you not see his mis- 
 erable appearance as he left us .''" 
 
 " I saw an appearance far from miser- 
 able, and therefore I am convinced that 
 the man is no more sick than you or I." 
 
 On hearing such a heartless heresy 
 the colonel stepped back from his com- 
 rade with a shocked expression, and 
 asked what had given him such an idea. 
 
 " A number of things, of which I need 
 only mention the principal. In the first 
 place, the man's sickness falling on him 
 like a thunder-clap ; next, his haste in 
 catching back his hand when you tried 
 to feel his pulse ; and then his smile, at 
 once happy and mischievous, when you 
 offered him the peons and he found his 
 stratagem succeeding beyond his hopes." 
 
 "Why, now, to think of it!" said the 
 colonel sadly; "but what could have 
 been his motive ?" 
 
 "This gentleman is too delicate to sus- 
 tain our kind of life," suggested Marcoy. 
 " He is tired of skinning his hands and 
 legs in our service, and eating peccary, 
 monkey and snails as we do. His Bo- 
 livians are perhaps quite as useful for 
 our service, and while he is rioting at 
 Cuzco we may be enriching ourselves 
 with cinchonas." 
 
 In effect, on the return of the peons 
 ten days, after, the examinador was re- 
 ported to have got quit of his fever short- 
 ly after leaving Sausipata, and to have 
 borne the journey to Chile-Chile remark- 
 ably well. He charged his men to take 
 back his compliments and the regrets he 
 felt at not being able to keep with the 
 company. 
 
 Nothing detained the band longer at 
 Sausipata. The ten days of hunting, 
 botanizing, butterfly-catching and sketch- 
 ing had been an agreeable relief, and 
 young Aragon had assumed, with suf- 
 ficient grace, the task of attentive host 
 and first player on the charango. The 
 returning porters had scarcely enjoyed 
 two hours of repose when the caravan 
 took up its march once more. 
 
 As usual, the interpreters assumed the 
 head of the command : the Indians fol- 
 lowed pellmell. Observing that some 
 of them lingered behind, Mr. Marcoy 
 had the curiosity to return on his steps. 
 What was his surprise to find these hon- 
 est fellows running furiously through the 
 farm, and devastating with all their might 
 those plantations which were the pride 
 and the hope of the nephew of Aragon ! 
 They had already laid low several cocoa 
 groves, torn up the sugar-canes, broken 
 down the bananas, and sliced off the 
 green pineapples. 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 r^ 
 
 Indignant at such vandalism, Marcoy I 
 caught the first offender by the plaited 
 tails at the back of the neck. "What 
 are you doing?" he cried. 
 
 *' I am neither crazy nor drunk, Tay- 
 tachay" (dear little father), calmly ex- 
 plained the peon with his placid smile. 
 " But my fellows and I don't want to be 
 sent any more to work at Sausipata." 
 As the white man regarded him with 
 stupefaction, "Thou art strange here," 
 pursued the Indian, "and canst know 
 nothing about us. Promise not to tell 
 Aragon, and I will make thee wise." 
 
 "Why Aragon more than anybody 
 else ?" asked Marcoy. 
 
 " Because Senor Aragon is nephew to 
 Don ReboUido, the governor, and Sau- 
 sipata belongs to Rebollido ; and if he 
 were to learn what we have done, we 
 should be flogged and sent to prison to 
 rot." 
 
 The explanation, drawn out with many 
 threats when the Indians had been driven 
 from their work of ruin and placed once 
 more in line of march, was curious. 
 
 The able gobernador of Marcapata 
 had had the sagacious idea of making 
 the local penitentiary out of his farm 
 of Sausipata ! It was cultivated entirely 
 by the labor of his culprits. When cul- 
 prits were scarce, the chicha- drinkers, the 
 corner-loungers, became criminals and 
 disturbers of the peace, for whom a so- 
 journ at Sausipata was the obvious cure. 
 Aragon, the nephew, shared his uncle's 
 ability, and visited the plantation month 
 by ]nonth. But the life in this paradise 
 was not relished by the convicts. The 
 regimen was strict, the food everywhere 
 abounding was not for them, and the 
 vicinity of the wild Chunchos was not 
 reassuring. Often a peon would appear 
 in the market-place of Marcapata wrap- 
 ped merely in a banana leaf, which, 
 cracking in the sun, reduced all pretence 
 of decent covering to an irony. This 
 evidence of the spoliation of a Chuncho 
 would be received in the worst possible 
 part by the gobernador, who would beat 
 the complainant back to his servitude, 
 remarking with ingenuity that Provi- 
 r'ence was more responsible for the acts 
 of the savages than he was. 
 
 This strange history, told with pro- 
 found earnestness, was enough to make 
 any one laugh, but Marcoy could not be 
 blind to its side of oppression and tyr- 
 anny. This was the way, then, that the 
 humble and primitive gobernador, who 
 had presented himself to the travelers 
 barefoot, was enriching himself by the 
 knaveries of office ! Marcoy could not 
 take heart to inform Juan of Aragon of 
 the devastation behind him, but on the 
 other hand he resolved to correct the 
 abuse on his return by appeal, if neces- 
 sary, to the prefect of Cuzco. 
 
 A frightful night in a deserted hut on 
 a site called Jimiro — where Marcoy had 
 for mattress the legs of one of the por- 
 ters, and for pillow the back of a bark- 
 hunter — followed the exodus from Sau- 
 sipata. The Guarapascana, the Sani- 
 aca, the Chuntapunco, flowing into the 
 Cconi on opposite sides, were succes- 
 sively left behind our adventurers, and 
 they bowed for an instant before the 
 tomb of a stranger, "a German from 
 Germany," as Pepe Garcia said, "who 
 pretended to know the language of the 
 Chunchos, and who interpreted for him- 
 self, but who starved iri, the wilderness 
 near the heap of stones you see." Leav- 
 ing this resting-place of an interpreter 
 who had interpreted so little, the party 
 attained a stream of rather unusual im- 
 portance. The reputed gold-bearing 
 river of Ouitubamba rolled from its tun- 
 nel before them, exciting the most vis- 
 ionary schemes in the mind of Colonel 
 Perez, to whom its auriferous reputation 
 was familiar. Nothing would do but that 
 the California process of "panning" must 
 be carried out in these Peruvian waters, 
 and the peons, niultuin reiucfantes, were 
 summoned to the task, with all the crow- 
 bars and shovels possessed by the ex- 
 pedition, supplemented by certain sauce- 
 pans and dishes hypothecated from the 
 culinary department. The issue of the 
 stream from under a crown of indigen- 
 ous growths was the site of this financial 
 speculation. Pepe Garcia was placed at 
 the head of the jnterprise. A long ditch 
 was dug, revealing milky quartz, ochres 
 and clay. The deceptive hue of the 
 yellow earth made the search a long and 
 
34 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 tantalizing one. At the moment when 1 tening in the large frying-pan which he 
 the colonel, attracted by something glis- I was agitating at the edge of the stream, 
 
 uttered an exclamation which drew all i caused everybody suddenly to look up 
 heads into the cavity of his receptacle, ' An equatorial storm had gathered un- 
 an answering sound from the heavens noticed over their heads. Inafewmin- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 35 
 
 utes a solid s'leet of warm rain, accom- 
 panied by a furious tornado sweeping 
 through the valley, caused whites and 
 Indians to scatter as if for their lives. 
 The golden dream of Colonel Perez and 
 the similar vision entertained by Pepe 
 Garcia were dissipated promptly by this 
 answer of the elements. On attaining 
 the neighboring sheds of Maniri the 
 gold - seekers abandoned their imple- 
 ments without remark to the services 
 of the cooks, and betook themselves to 
 wringing out their stockings as if they 
 had never dreamed of walking in silver 
 slippers through the streets of Cuzco. 
 They made no further attempt to wring 
 gold from the mouth of the Ouitubamba. 
 ' As for Maniri, it was the last site or hu- 
 man resting-place of any, the very most 
 trivial, kind before the opening of the 
 utter wilderness which proceeded to ac- 
 company the course of the Cconi River. 
 
 The Bolivians imagined an explora- 
 tion of a little stream on the left bank, 
 the Chuntapunco, which they thought 
 might issue from a quinine-bearing re- 
 gion. They built a little raft, and de- 
 parted with provisions for three or four 
 days. They returned, in fact, after a 
 week's absence, with seven varieties of 
 cinchona — the hirsuta, lanceolata, pur- 
 purea and ovata of Ruiz and Pa von, 
 and three more of little value and un- 
 known names. 
 
 During the absence of the cascarilleros 
 a flat calm reigned in the ajoupa of 
 Maniri. Garcia and the colonel, the 
 day after their unproductive gold-hunt, 
 betook themselves into the forest, osten- 
 sibly for game, but in reality to review 
 their hopeful labors by the banks of the 
 Ouitubamba. Aragon was detailed by 
 Ml. Marcoy to accompany him in his 
 botanical and entomological tours. On 
 these excursions the acquaintance be- 
 tween the mozo and the senor was con- 
 siderably developed. The youth had nat- 
 urally a gay and confident disposition, 
 and added not a little to the liveliness 
 of the trips. Marcoy profited by their 
 stricter connection to converse with him 
 about the cultivation of the farm at Sau- 
 sipata, making use of a venial deception 
 to let him think that the plan of ope- 
 
 rations had been communicated by the 
 governor himself. Aragon modestly re- 
 plied that the plantation in question was 
 only the first of a series of similar clear- 
 ings contemplated by his uncle at va- 
 rious points in the valley. Arrange- 
 ments made for this purpose with the 
 governors of Ocongata and Asaroma, 
 who were pledged with their support in 
 return for heavy presents, would enable 
 him soon to cultivate coffee and sugar 
 and cocoa at once in a number of haci- 
 endas. The enterprise was a splendid 
 one; and if God — Aragon pronounced 
 the name without a particle of diffidence 
 — deigned to bless it, the day was com- 
 ing when the fortune of his uncle, solidly 
 established, would make him the pride 
 and the joy of the region. 
 
 It may as well be mentioned here 
 that the subsequent career of the chest- 
 nut-colored interpreter is not entirely 
 unknown. In i860, Mr. Clement Mark- 
 ham, collecting quinine -plants for the 
 British government, came upon a splen- 
 did hacienda thirty miles from the village 
 of Ayapata, in a valley of the Andes 
 near the scene of this exploration. Here, 
 on the sugar-cane estat.e named San Jose 
 de Bellavista, he discovered "an intel- 
 ligent and enterprising Peruvian" named 
 Aragon, who appears to have been none 
 other than our interpreter escaped from 
 the chrysalis. His 'establishment was 
 very large, and protected from the sav- 
 ages by two rivers, Aragon had made a 
 mule-road of thirty miles to the village. 
 He found the manufacture of spirits for 
 the sugar-cane more profitable than dig- 
 ging for gold in the Ouitubamba or hunt- 
 ing for cascarillas along the Cconi. In 
 i860 he sent an expedition into the forest 
 after wild cocoa-plants. An india-rub- 
 ber manufactory had only failed for want 
 of government assistance. He contem- 
 plated the estabhshment of a line of 
 steamers on the neighboring rivers to 
 carry off the commerce of his planta- 
 tions. "Any scheme for developing the 
 resources of the country is sure to re- 
 ceive his advocacy," says Mr. Markham : 
 " it would be well for Peru if she con- 
 tained many such men." 
 
 (end of part second.) 
 
X^.A.I^T THIIIE^ID 
 
 EARLY on a brilliant morning, with 
 baggage repacked, and the lessen- 
 ing amount of provisions inore firmly 
 strapped on the shoulders of the Indians, 
 the explorers left their pleasant site on 
 the banks of the Maniri. The repose 
 allowed to the bulk of the party during 
 the absence of their Bolivian compan- 
 ions had been wholesome and refresh- 
 ing. The success of the bark-hunters in 
 their search for cinchonas had cheered 
 all hearts, and the luxurious supper of 
 dried mutton and chuno arranged for 
 them on their return gave a reminiscence 
 of splendor to the thatched hut on the 
 banks of the stream. This edifice, the 
 last of civilized construction they expect- 
 ed to see, had the effect of a home in 
 the wilderness. The bivouac there had 
 been enjoyed with a sentiment of tran- 
 quil carelessness. Little did the trav- 
 elers think that savage eyes had been 
 peeping through the forest upon their 
 fancied security, and that the wild peo- 
 ple of the valleys who were to work them 
 all kinds of mischief were upon their 
 track from this station forth. 
 
 The enormous fire kindled for break- 
 fast mingled with the stain of sunrise to 
 cast a glow upon their departure. Across 
 the vale of the Cconi, as though a pair 
 36 
 
 of sturdy porters had arisen to celebrate 
 their leavetaking, the cones of Patabam- 
 ba caught the first rays of the sun and 
 held them aloft like hospitable torches. 
 These huge forms, soldered together at 
 the waist like Chang and Eng, and 
 clothed with shaggy woods up to the 
 top, had been the guardian watchers 
 over their days in the ajoupa at Maniri 
 The sun just rising empurpled their dou- 
 ble cones, while the base and the sur- 
 rounding landscape were washed with 
 the neutral tints of twihght. 
 
 After passing the narrow affluent after 
 which the camping -ground of Maniri 
 was named, the party pursued the course 
 of the Cconi through a more level tract 
 of country. The stones and precipices 
 became more rare, but in revenge the 
 sandy banks soon began to reflect a heat 
 that was hardly bearable. As the im- 
 placable sun neared its zenith the party 
 walked with bent heads and blinded 
 eyes, now dashing through great plains 
 of bamboos, now following the hatchets 
 of the peons through thickets of heated 
 shrubbery. 
 
 Whenever the country became more 
 wooded in its character, the bark-hunt- 
 ers, whose quest obliged them to stray 
 in short flights around the win^s of the 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 2,1 
 
 column, redoubled their mazes. The 
 careless air of these Bolivian retrievers, 
 their vohintarv doublincrs thro'i'h the 
 
 most difficult jungles, and their easy 
 way of walking over everything with 
 their noses in the air, proved well their 
 
 indifference to the obstacles which were I Nothing could be more singular and 
 almost insurmountable to the rest. interesting than to see them consulting 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 one by one the indications scattered 
 around them, and deciding on their 
 probabilities or promises. Where the 
 height and thickness of the fohage pre- 
 vented them from seeing the sky, or 
 even the shade of the surrounding green, 
 they walked bent toward the ground, 
 stirring up the rubbish, and choosing 
 among the dead foliage certain leaves, 
 of which they carefully examined the 
 two sides and the stem. When by acci- 
 dent they found themselves near enough 
 to speak to each other — a rare chance, 
 for each peon undertook a separate 
 line of search— they asked their friends, 
 showing the leaves they had found, 
 whether their discoveries appertained to 
 the neighboring trees or whether the 
 wind had brought the pieces from a dis- 
 tance. This kind of investigation, pur- 
 sued by men who had prowled through 
 forests all their lives, might seem slightly 
 puerile if the reader does not understand 
 that it is often difficult, or even impos- 
 sible, to recognize the growing tree by 
 its bark, covered as it is from base to 
 branches with parasitic vegetation of 
 every sort. In those forests whatever 
 has a stout stem is used without scruplp 
 by the bignonias and air-plants, which 
 race over the trunk, plant their root- 
 claws in the cracks, leap over the whole 
 tree at a single jet, or strangle it with 
 multiplied knots, all the while adorning 
 it with a superb mantle of leaves and 
 blossoms. This is a difficulty which the 
 most experienced cascarilleros are not 
 able to overcome. As an instance, the 
 history is cited of a practico or specula- 
 tor who led an exploration for these trees 
 in the valley of Apolobamba. After 
 having caused to be felled, barked, 
 measured, dried and trimmed all the 
 cinchonas of one of those natural thick- 
 ets called manchas — an operation which 
 had occupied four months — he was about 
 to abandon the spot and pursue the ex- 
 ploration elsewhere, when accident led 
 him to discover, in the enormous trunk 
 buried in creepers against which he had 
 built his cabin, a Cinchona nitida, the 
 forefather of all the trees he had stripped. 
 In this kind of search the caravan 
 pursued the borders of the river, some- 
 
 times on this side and sometimes on 
 that, now passing the two-headed moun- 
 tain Camanti, now sighting the tufted 
 peak of Basiri, now crossing the torrent 
 called the Garote. In the latter, where 
 the dam and hydraulic works of an old 
 Spanish gold-hunter were still visible in 
 a state of ruin, the sacred golden thirst 
 of Colonel Perez once more attacked 
 him. Two or three pins' heads of the 
 insane metal were actually unearthed 
 by the colonel and displayed in a pie- 
 dish ; but the business of the party was 
 one which made even the finding of 
 gold insignificant, and they pursued 
 their way. 
 
 The flanks of these mountains, how- 
 ever, were really of importance to the bo- 
 tanical motive of the expedition. Along 
 the side of the Camanti, where the yel- 
 low Garote leaked downward in a rocky 
 ravine, the Bolivians were again success- 
 ful. They brought to Marcoy specimens 
 of half a dozen cinchonas, for him to 
 sketch, analyze and decorate with Latin 
 names. The colors of two or three of 
 these barks promised well, but the pearl 
 of the collection was a specimen of the 
 genuine Calisaya, with its silver-gray 
 envelope and leaf ribbed with carmine. 
 This proud discovery was a boon for 
 science and for commerce. It threw a 
 new light upon the geographical locality 
 of the most precious species of cinchona. 
 It was incontestably the plant, and the 
 Bolivians appeared amazed rather than 
 pleased to have discovered outside of 
 their own country a kind of bark proper 
 only to Bolivia, and hardly known to 
 overpass the northern extremity of the 
 valley of Apolobamba. This discovery 
 would rehabilitate, in the European mar- 
 ket, the quinine-plants of Lower Peru, 
 heretofore considered as inferior to those 
 of Upper Peru and Bolivia. The latter 
 country has for some time secured the 
 most favorable reputation for its barks 
 — a reputation ably sustained by the 
 efforts of the company De la Paz, ta 
 whom the government has long granted 
 a monopoly. This reputation is based 
 on the abundance in that country of two 
 species, the Cinchona calisaya and Bo- 
 liviana, the best known and most valued 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 39 
 
 in the market. But for two valuable 
 cinchonas possessed by Bolivia, Peru 
 can show twenty, many of them excel- 
 lent in quality, and awaiting only the 
 enterprise of the government and the 
 natural exhaustion of the forests to the 
 south. 
 
 This magnificent bit of luck, the find- 
 ing of the calisaya, awakened in the sus- 
 ceptible bosom of Mr. Marcoy an ardent 
 desire to explore for himself the site of 
 its discovery. But Eusebio, the chief 
 of the cascarilleros, assuming a myste- 
 rious and warning expression, informed 
 the traveler that the place was quite in- 
 accessible for a white man, and that he 
 had risked his own neck a score of times 
 in descending the ravine which separated 
 the route from the hillside where the for- 
 tunate plants were growing. He prom- 
 ised, however, to point out the locality 
 from afar, and to show, by a certain 
 changeable gloss proper to the leaf, the 
 precise stratum of the calisaya amongst 
 the belts of the forest. This promise he 
 forgot to execute more particularly, but 
 it appeared that the locality would never 
 be excessively hard to find, marked as 
 it was by Nature with the gigantic finger- 
 post of Mount Camanti. Placing, then, 
 in security these precious specimens 
 among their baggage, the explorers con- 
 tinued their advance along the valley. 
 
 The footing was level and easy. 
 Rocks and precipices were left behind, 
 and were displaced by a soft, slippery 
 sort of sand, where from space to space 
 were planted, like so many oases in a 
 desert, clumps of giant reeds. By a 
 strange but natural caprice these beds 
 of rustling verdure were cut in an infin- 
 ity of well-defined geometric forms. Seen 
 from an eminence and at a distance, this 
 arrangement gave a singular effect. In 
 the midst of these native garden-beds 
 were cut distinct and narrow alleys, where 
 the drifting sands were packed like arti- 
 ficial paths. It is unnecessary to add 
 that the soft footways, notwithstanding 
 their advertisement of verdure and shade, 
 proved to be of African temperature. 
 
 The last hours of daylight surprised 
 the travelers among the labyrinths of 
 these strange gardens. A suitable spot 
 
 was chosen for the halt. As the porters 
 were preparing to throw down their 
 packs, Pepe Garcia, who marched ahead, 
 announced the print of a South Amer- 
 ican tiger. The first care of the Indians, 
 on hearing this news, was to send forth 
 a horrible cry and to throng around the 
 marks. The footprints disappeared at 
 the thickest part of the jungle. After an 
 examination of the traces, which resem- 
 bled a large trefoil, they precipitated 
 themselves on the interpreter-in-chief, 
 representing how impossible it was to 
 camp out in the neighborhood of the 
 dreaded animal. But Pepe Garcia, ac 
 customed as he was by profession to try 
 his strength with the ferocious bear and 
 the wily boar, was not the man to be 
 afraid of a tiger, even of a genuine tigei 
 from Bengal. To prove to the porters 
 how slight was the estimation he placed 
 on the supposed enemy, and also to drill 
 them in the case of similar rencounters, 
 he pushed the whole troop pellmell into 
 the thickest part of the reeds, with the 
 surly order to cut down the canes for 
 sheds. Drawing his own knife, he slash- 
 ed right and left among the stems, which 
 the Indians, trembling, with fear, were 
 obliged to make into sheaves on the 
 spot and transport to the beach selected 
 for the bivouac. Double rows of these 
 aritndos, driven into the sand, formed 
 the partitions of the' cabins, for which 
 their interwoven leaves made an ap- 
 propriate thatch. The green halls with 
 matted vaults were picturesque enough : 
 each peon, seeing how easily they were 
 constructed, chose to have a house foi 
 himself; and the Tiger's Beach quickly 
 presented the appearance of a camp 
 disposed in a long straight line, of which 
 the timorous Indians occupied the ex- 
 tremity nearest the river. 
 
 No "tiger" appeared to justify the ap- 
 prehensions of the porters ; but what was 
 lacking to their fears from beasts with 
 four feet was made up to them by beasts 
 with wings. The night closed in dry and 
 serene. Since leaving Maniri, whether 
 because of the broadening of the valley, 
 the rarity of the water-courses or the 
 decreasing altitude of the hills, the ad- 
 venturers had been little troubled with 
 
40 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 fogs at night. The fauna of the region, 
 too, had offered nothing of an alarming 
 
 complexion, except the footprints of the 
 tiger in question : an occasional tapir or 
 
 peccary from the woods, and otters and 
 fish from the streams, had attracted the 
 shots of the party, but merely as wel- 
 
 come additions to their game-bags, not 
 as food for their fears. To-night, how- 
 ever, the veritable bugbear of the trop- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 41 
 
 ical forest paid them a visit, and left a 
 real souvenir of his presence. As the 
 Indian servants stretched themselves out 
 in slumber under the bright stars and in 
 the partial shelter of their ajoupas, a bat 
 of the vampire species, attracted by the 
 emanations of their bodies, came sail- 
 ing over them, and emboldened by the 
 silence reigning everywhere, selected a 
 victim for attack. Hovering over the 
 fellow's exposed foot, he bit the great 
 toe, and fanning his prey in the tradi- 
 tional yet inevitable manner by the nat- 
 ural movement of his wings, he gorged 
 himself with blood without disturbing 
 the mozo. The latter, on awakening in 
 the morning, observed a slight swelling 
 in the perforated part, and on exam- 
 ination discovered a round hole large 
 enough to admit a pea. Without rising, 
 the man summoned his companions, 
 who formed a group around him for the 
 purpose of furnishing a certain natural 
 remedy in the shape of a secretion which 
 each one drew out of his ears. With 
 this the patient made himself a plaster 
 for his wound, and appeared to think 
 but little of it. Questioned as to his 
 sensations by the white travelers, who 
 found themselves a good deal more dis- 
 turbed with the idea of the vampire than 
 they had been by any indications of 
 tigers or wild-boars, the fellow explained 
 that he had felt no sensation, unless it 
 might have been an agreeable coolness 
 to his sand-baked feet. The incident 
 seemed so disagreeable and so likely of 
 recurrence that Colonel Perez ever af- 
 terward slept with his feet rolled up in a 
 variety of fantastic draperies, while Mr. 
 Marcoy for several nights retained his 
 boots. 
 
 The path along the river-sands would 
 have been voluntarily followed by all the 
 more irresponsible portion of the party, 
 notwithstanding the blinding heats, on 
 account of its smoother footing. The 
 cascarilleros, however, objected that its 
 tufts of canes and passifloras offered no 
 promise for their researches. A com- 
 promise was effected. The porters, un- 
 der the command of Juan of Aragon, 
 were allowed to follow the shore, and 
 were armed with a supply of fish-hooks 
 
 to induce them to add from time to time 
 to the alarmingly diminished supply of 
 provisions. The grandees of the party 
 followed the Bolivians, whose specialty 
 entitled them to control practically the 
 direction of the route, and plunged into 
 the woods to botanize, to explore and 
 to search for game. A system of con- 
 versation by means of shouts and pis- 
 tol-shots was established between the 
 two divisions. The next night proved 
 the wisdom of this bifurcation. The 
 united booty of earth, air and water, 
 under the form of a squirrel, a pair of 
 toucans and a variety of fish, afforded 
 a meal which the porters described as 
 coinida opipara, or a sumptuous festi- 
 val. Lulled and comforted by the sen- 
 sation which a contented stomach wafts 
 toward the brain, the explorers, after 
 washing their hands and rinsing their 
 mouths at the riverside, betook them- 
 selves to a cheerful repose sub Jove, the 
 locality offering no reeds of the articu- 
 lated species with which to construct a 
 shelter. 
 
 The party, then, betook themselves to 
 slumber with unusual contentment, re- 
 peating the splendid supper in their 
 dreams, with the addition of eveiy fa- 
 mous wine that Oporto and Rheims 
 could dispense, when they were awak- 
 ened by a sudden and terrible storm. 
 A waterspout stooped over the forest and 
 sucked up a mass of crackling branches. 
 The camp-fire hissed and went out in a 
 fume of smoke. A continuity of thun- 
 der, far off at first, but approaching 
 nearer and nearer, kept up a constant 
 and increasing fusillade, to whose reports 
 was soon added the voice of the Cconi, 
 lashed in its bed and bellowing like the 
 sea. The surprising tumult went on in 
 a crescendo. The hardly - interrupted 
 charges of the lightning gave to the eye 
 a strange vision of flying woods and 
 soaring branches. Startled, trembling 
 and sitting bolt upright, the adventurers 
 asked if their last hour were come. The 
 rain undertook to answer in spinning 
 down upon their heads drops that were 
 like bullets, and which for some time 
 were taken for hail. Fearing to be 
 maimed or blinded as they sat, the party 
 
42 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 crowded together, placing themselves 
 back to back ; and, unable to lay their 
 heads uader their wings like the birds, 
 sheltered them upon their knees under 
 the protection of their crossed arms. 
 The fearful deluge of heated shot lasted 
 until morning. Then, as if in laughter, 
 the sun came radiantly out, the land- 
 scape readjusted its disheveled beauties, 
 and the ground, covered with boughs 
 distributed by the whirlwind, greedily 
 drank in the waters from heaven. Soon 
 there remained nothing of the memor- 
 able tempest but the diamonds falling 
 in measured cadence from the refreshed 
 and stiffened leaves. 
 
 Up to sunrise the unfortunates rest- 
 ed stoically silent, their knees in their 
 mouths, and receiving the visitation like 
 a group of statuary. The i^ain ceasing 
 with the same promptitude with which it 
 had risen, they raised their heads and 
 looked each other in the face, like the 
 enemies over the fire in Byron's Dream. 
 Each countenance was blue, and deco- 
 rated with long flat locks of adhesive 
 hair. The teeth of the whole party were 
 chattering like a concert of castanets. 
 The sun, like a practical joker, laughed 
 ironically at the general picture. 
 
 The first hours of morning were con- 
 secrated to a general examination of the 
 stores, especially the precious specimens 
 of cinchona. Bundles were restrapped, 
 the damp provisions laid out in the sun, 
 and the clothing of the party, even to 
 the most intimate garment, was taken 
 down to the river to be refreshed and 
 furbished up. A common disaster had 
 created a common cause amongst the 
 whole troop, and with one accord every- 
 body — peons, mozos, interpreters, bark- 
 strippers and gentlemen — set in motion 
 1 grand cleaning-up day. Napoleon- 
 like, they washed their dirty linen in the 
 family. Whoever had seen the strangers 
 coming and going from the beach to the 
 woods, clothed in most abbreviated fash- 
 ion, and seeming as familiar to the uni- 
 form as if they had always worn it under 
 the charitable mantle of the woods, would 
 have taken them for a savage tribe in the 
 midst of its encampment. It is probable 
 ihey were so seen. 
 
 Thanks to the intense heat of the sun- 
 shine, the garments and baggage of the 
 expedition were quickly dried. The first 
 were donned, the last was loaded on the 
 porters, and the line of march was taken 
 up. Up to noon the road lay along the 
 blazing sands under a sun of fire. All 
 the members of the party felt fresh and 
 hardy after the involuntary bath, except 
 one of the Indians, who was affected 
 with a kind of ophthalmia. This attack, 
 which Mr. Marcoy attributed partly to 
 the glare, partly to the wet, and partly 
 to a singular hobby peculiar to the in- 
 dividual of sleeping with his eyes wide 
 open, was of no long duration. The 
 pain which he complained of disappear- 
 ed with a few hours of exercise and with 
 the determination he showed in staring 
 straight at the god of day, who, as if 
 in memory of the worship formerly ex- 
 tended toward him in the country, deign- 
 ed to serve as oculist for the sufferer. A 
 little before sunset halt was made for the 
 night-camp in the centre of a beach pro- 
 tected by clumps of reeds in three quar- 
 ters of the wind. The Indian porters, 
 despatched for fish and firewood, return- 
 ed suddenly with a frightened mien to 
 say that they had fallen into the midst 
 of a camp of savages. The white men 
 quickly rejoined them at the spot indi- 
 cated, where they found a single hut in 
 ruins, made of reeds which appeared to 
 have been cut for the construction some 
 fortnight before, and strewn with fire- 
 brands, banana skins and the tail of a 
 large fish. Pepe Garcia, consulted on 
 these indications, explained that it was 
 in reality the camping-place of some of 
 the savage Siriniris, but that the narrow- 
 ness of the hut seemed to indicate that 
 not more than two of the Indians, prob- 
 ably a man and woman, had resided 
 there during a short fishing-excursion. 
 
 This discovery cast a shade over the 
 countenances of the porters. After hav 
 ing collected the provisions necessary 
 for a slender supper, they drew apart, 
 and, while cooking was going on, began 
 to converse with each other in a low 
 voice. No notice was taken of their be- 
 havior, however, though it would have 
 required little imagination to guess the 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININEZ-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 43 
 
 subject of their parliament. The tired I while their ears, more alert, could hear 
 eyes of the explorers were already closed, ' the confused murmur proceeding from 
 
 the Indians' quarter, where the dispo- 
 sition seemed to be to prolong the watch 
 inderinitely. 
 
 The dark hours filed past, and jocund 
 day, according to Shakespeare and Ro- 
 meo, stood tiptoe on the mountain-tops 
 
44 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 of Camanti and Basiri, when the travel- I rible cry. Lifting their heads in aston- 
 ers were awakened by a fierce and ter- | ishment, they perceived the faithful Pepe 
 
 " ARAGON AND HIS MEN FELL UPON THE DESERTERS WITHOUT MERCY."- — P. 45. 
 
 Garcia, his face disfigured with rage, 
 and his fist shaking vigorously in the 
 direction of the Indians, who sat lower- 
 
 ing and sullen in their places. Aragon 
 and the cascarilleros, collected around 
 the chief interpreter, far from trying to 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 45 
 
 calm his anger, appeared to feed it by 
 their suggestions. An explanation of 
 the scene was demanded. Eight of the 
 bearers, it appeared, had deserted, leav- 
 ing to their comrades the pleasure of 
 watching over the packages of cinchona, 
 but assuming for their part the charge of 
 a good fraction of the provisions, which 
 they had disappeared with for the relief 
 of their fellow-porters. This copious 
 bleeding of the larder drew from Colonel 
 Perez a terrible oath, and occasioned a 
 more vivid sentiment in the entrails of 
 Marcoy than the defection of the men. 
 If the evil was grand, the remedy was 
 correspondingly difficult. Indolent or 
 mercurial at pleasure, the Indians had 
 doubtless threaded the woods with wing- 
 ed feet, and were now far away. Mr. 
 Marcoy proposed therefore to continue 
 *-he march without them, but to set down 
 a heavy account of bastinadoes to their 
 credit when they should turn up again 
 at Marcapata. This proposition, as it 
 erred on the side of mercy, was unani- 
 mously rejected, and a scouting-party 
 was ordered in pursuit, consisting of the 
 bark-hunters and Juan of Aragon, to 
 whom for the occasion Pepe Garcia con- 
 fided his remarkable fowling-piece. 
 
 In the afternoon the extemporized po- 
 lice reappeared. The fugitives had been 
 found tranquilly sitting on the banks of 
 the river, distending their abdomens with 
 the stolen preserves and chocolate. Ara- 
 gon and his men fell upon the deserters 
 without mercy. The former, battering 
 away at them with the stock of his gun, 
 and the latter, exercising upon their 
 shoulders whatever they possessed in the 
 way of lassoes, axe-handles and sabre- 
 blades, maintained the argument effect- 
 ually for some time in this way, and did 
 not descend to questions until muscular 
 fatigue caused them to desist. The cat- 
 echism subsequently put to the porters 
 ehcited the reply, from the spokesman 
 of the recusants, that they were tired of 
 being afraid of the wild Indians ; that 
 they objected to marching into the dens 
 of tigers ; that, perceiving their rations 
 diminished from day to day, they had 
 imagined the time not far distant when 
 the same would be withdrawn altogeth- 
 
 er. It was curious, as it seemed to Mar- 
 coy when the argument was rehearsed 
 to him presently, that the fellows made 
 no complaint of being footsore, over- 
 charged with burdens or conducted into 
 paths too difficult for them. A jarking 
 admiration for the vigor with which, after 
 all, they played their crushing part of 
 beasts of burden, procured them immu- 
 nity from further punishment after their 
 return. Their bivouacs were simply 
 watched on the succeeding nights by 
 Bolivian sentinels. 
 
 After a few minutes allowed the stray- 
 ed sheep to rub their bruises, the march 
 was continued. The afternoon afforded 
 a succession of the same sandy river- 
 banks, dressed with reeds, false maize, 
 calceolarias and purple passion-flowers, 
 and yielding for sole booty a braxe of 
 wild black ducks, and an opossum hold- 
 ing in her pouch five saucy and scolding 
 little ones. The natural civet employed 
 as a cosmetic by this animal forbade the 
 notion of using it for food, and it was 
 thrown with its family into the river, 
 after being deprived of its glossy skin. 
 
 As evening approached, and as all 
 eyes were exploring the banks for a suit- 
 able camping-ground, a spacious and 
 even beach was fixed upon as offering 
 all the requisite conveniences. It was 
 agreed to halt there. Attaining the 
 locality, however, they were amazed to 
 find all the traces of a previous occupa- 
 tion. Several sheds, formed of bamboo 
 hurdles set up against the ground with 
 sticks, like traps, were grouped together. 
 Under each was a hearth, a simple ex- 
 cavation, two feet across and a few inches 
 deep, and filled with ashes. A few ar- 
 rows, feathers and rude pieces of pottery 
 were scattered around. They greeted 
 these Indian relics as Crusoe did the 
 footprints of the savages. Nor was it 
 more reassuring to observe, among other 
 callers like themselves who had left their 
 visiting-cards at the doors since the de- 
 parture of the proprietors, the sign-man- 
 ual of jaguars and tapirs, whose foot- 
 prints were plainly visible on the gravel. 
 
 A close examination was made of 
 every detail pertaining to the huts and 
 their accessories, and the interpreters 
 
46 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE- PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 were asked if it would be prudent to en- I Pepe Garcia and Aragon were of opinion 
 camp in a spot thus leased in advance. ] that it would be better to pass the night 
 
 there, assuring their employers that theie 
 would be no danger in sleeping among 
 the teraphim of the savages, provided 
 
 that nothmg v\as touched or displaced 
 Their motion was promptly adopted, to 
 the great discomfiture of the porters, who 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 47 
 
 were poised on one foot ready for flight. 
 A salute of five shots was fired, with a 
 vague intention of giving any listeners 
 the highest possible opinion of the white 
 explorers as a military power. An enor- 
 mous fire was kindled, sentinels were 
 posted, and the party turned in, taking 
 care, however, during the whole night 
 to close but one eye at a time. 
 
 Day commenced to blush, when all 
 ears were assaulted by a concerted howl, 
 proceeding from behind a bed of canes 
 on the other side of the river. "Alerta ! 
 los Chunchos f cried the sentinel. The 
 three words produced a startling effect : 
 the porters sprang up like frightened 
 deer ; Mr. Marcoy grasped a sheaf of 
 pencils and a box of water-colors with 
 a warlike air, and the colonel's lips were 
 crisped into a singular smile, indicative of 
 lively emotions. Hardly were the trav- 
 elers clothed and armed when the reeds 
 parted with a rattling noise, and three 
 nude Indians, sepia-colored and crowned 
 with tufts of hair like horses' tails, leaped 
 out like jacks-in-the-box. At sight of 
 the party standing to receive them they 
 redoubled their clamor, then, flourishing 
 their arms and legs and turning con- 
 tinually round, they gradually revolved 
 into the presence of the explorers. They 
 selected as chiefs and sachems of the 
 party such as bore weapons, being the 
 colonel, Marcoy and the two interpreters. 
 These they clasped in a warm, fulsome 
 embrace : they were smeared from head 
 to foot with rocoa (crude arnotta), and 
 their passage through the river having 
 dissolved this pigment, they printed 
 themselves off, in this act of amity, upon 
 the persons and clothing of their hosts. 
 While the white men, with a very bad 
 grace, were cleaning off these tokens of 
 natural affection, the new-comers went 
 on to present their civilities all around. 
 Two of the porters they recognized at 
 once, with their eagle eyesight, from 
 having relieved them of their shirts 
 while the latter were working out some 
 penalty at the governor's farm of Sausi- 
 pata, and proceeded to claim a warm 
 acquaintance on that basis ; but the 
 bearers, with equally lively memories 
 of the affront, responded simply with a 
 
 frown and the epithet of Siia-sica — double 
 thief. 
 
 Pepe Garcia undertook a colloquy, and 
 Aragon, not to be behindhand, flashed a 
 few words across the conversation, right 
 and left as it were, his expressions ap- 
 pearing to be in a different tongue from 
 those used by the chief interpreter, and 
 both utterly without perceptible resem- 
 blance to the rolling consonants and 
 gutturals of the savages. Marcoy im- 
 bibed a strong impression that the only 
 terms understood in common were the 
 words of Spanish with which the palaver 
 was thickly interlarded. This was the 
 first time the interpreters were put on 
 their mettle in a strictly professional 
 sense, and the test was not altogether 
 triumphant. However, by a careful 
 raising of the voice in all difficult pas- 
 sages, and a wild, expressive pantomime, 
 an understanding was arrived at. 
 
 The visitors belonged to the tribe of 
 Siriniris, inhabiting the space comprised 
 between the valleys of Ocongate and 
 OUachea, and extending eastwardly as 
 far as the twelfth degree. They lived at 
 peace with their neighbors, the Huat- 
 chipayris and the Pukiris. For several 
 days the reports of the Christian guns 
 [tasa-tasa) had advertised them of the 
 presence of white men in the valley, 
 and, curious to judge of their numbers, 
 they had approached.- They had form- 
 ed a cunning escort to the party, always 
 faithful but never seen, since the en- 
 campment at Maniri : every camping- 
 ground since that particular bivouac 
 they faithfully described. They were, 
 of course, in particular and direful need 
 of sirnias and bambas (knives and hatch- 
 ets), but their fears of the tasa-tasa, or 
 guns, was still stronger than their desires, 
 and their courage had not, until they 
 saw the strangers domiciled as guests in 
 their own habitations, attained the firm- 
 ness and consistency necessary for a 
 personal approach. The three dancing 
 ambassadors were ministers plenipoten- 
 tiary on the part of their tribe, located 
 in a bamboo metropolis five miles off. 
 
 The white men could not well avoid 
 laying down their tasa-tasa and disburs- 
 ing sirutas and bambas. The savages, 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 after this triumph of diplomacy, sudden- 
 ly turned, and, thrusting their fingers in 
 their mouths, emitted a shrill note, which 
 had the effect of enchanting the forest 
 of rushes across the river, and causing 
 it to give birth to a whole ballet of naked 
 coryphei. Nine men, seven women and 
 three dogs composed the spectacle, of 
 which the masculine part, the human 
 and the canine, proceeded to swim the 
 stream and fraternize with the strangers. 
 The women rested on the bank like riv- 
 er-nymphs : their costume was some- 
 what less prudish than that of the men, 
 the coat of rocoa being confined to their 
 faces, which were further decorated with 
 joints of reed thrust through the nose 
 and ears. A glance of curiosity darted 
 across the water by the colonel was sur- 
 prised in its flight by the ambassadors, 
 who addressed a hasty word or two to 
 their ladies : the latter, with one quick 
 and cat-Hke gesture, whipped off each a 
 branch of the nearest foliage, and were 
 dressed in a single instant. 
 
 To reward all these vociferous men- 
 dicants with the invaluable cutlery was 
 hardly prudent. Seeing the hesitation 
 of their visitors, the savages adopted 
 other tactics. Hurling themselves across 
 the river, they quickly reappeared, arm- 
 ed with all the temptations they could 
 think of to induce the strangers to barter. 
 The scene of these savages coming to 
 market was a picturesque one. Enter- 
 ing the water, provided with their objects 
 of exchange, which they held high above 
 their heads, and swimming with the right 
 arm only, they began to cut the river di- 
 agonally. The lifting of the waves and 
 the dash of spray almost concealed the 
 lile of dusky heads. Nothing could be 
 plainly seen but the left arms, standing 
 out of the water as stiff and inflexible 
 as so many bars of bronze, relieved 
 against the silvery brightness of the 
 water. These advancing arms were 
 adorned with the material of traffic — 
 bird-skins of variegated colors, bows and 
 arrows, and live tamed parrots standing 
 upon perches of bamboo. The white 
 spectators could not but admire the na- 
 tive vigor, elegance and promptitude of 
 their motions as they rose from the wa- 
 
 ter like Tritons, and, throwing their treas- 
 ures down in a heap, bounded forward 
 to give their visitors the conventional 
 signals of friendship. A rapid bargain 
 was concluded, in which the sylvan 
 booty of the wild men (not forgetting the 
 prudent exaction of their weapons) was 
 entirely made over to the custody of the 
 explorers in exchange for a few Birming- 
 ham knives worth fourpence each. 
 
 However curious and amicable might 
 be their new relations with the savages, 
 the party were desirous to put an end to 
 them as soon as possible. Pepe Garcia 
 announced that the pale chiefs, wishing 
 to resume their march, were about to 
 separate from them. This decision ap- 
 peared to be unpleasant or distressful in 
 their estimation, and they tried to reverse 
 it by all sorts of arguments. No answer 
 being volunteered, they shouted to their 
 women to await them, and betook them- 
 selves to walking with the party. One 
 of the three ambassadors, a graceful 
 rogue of twenty-five, marked all over 
 with rocoa and lote, so as to earn for 
 himself the nickname of "the Panther," 
 gamboled and caracoled in front of the 
 procession as if to give it an entertain- 
 ment. His two comrades had garroted 
 with their arms the neck of the chief in- 
 terpreter : another held Juan of Afagon 
 by the skirt of his blouse, and regulated 
 his steps by those of the youth. This 
 accord of barbarism and civilization had 
 in it something decidedly graceful, and 
 rather pathetic : if ever the language 
 natural to man was found, the medium 
 in circulation before our sickly machinery 
 of speech came to be invented, it was in 
 this concert of persuasive action and 
 tender cooing notes. The main body 
 of the Siriniris marched pellmell along 
 with the porters, whom this vicinage 
 made exceedingly uncomfortable, and 
 who were perspiring in great drops. 
 
 At the commencement of a wood the 
 whites embraced the occasion to take 
 formal leave of their new acquaintances. 
 As they endeavored to turn their backs 
 upon them they were at once surround- 
 ed by the whole band, crying and ges- 
 ticulating, and opposing their departure 
 with a sort of determined playfulness 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 49 
 
 At the same time a word often repeated, 
 the word Hiiatmmio, began to enter large- 
 ly into their conversation, and piqued 
 the curiosity of the historiographer. 
 Marcoy begged the interpreter to pro- 
 cure him the explanation of this perpet- 
 ual shibboleth. Half by signs, half in 
 the polyglot jargon which he had been 
 employing with the Siriniris, Garcia 
 managed to understand that the word 
 in question was the name of their vil- 
 lage, situated at a small distance and in 
 a direction which they indicated. In 
 this retreat, they said, no inhabitants re- 
 mained but women, children and old men, 
 the rest of the braves being absent on a 
 chase. They proposed a visit to their 
 capital, where the strangers, they said, 
 honored and cherished by the tribe, 
 might pass many enviable days. 
 
 The proposed excursion, which would 
 cause a loss of considerable time and a 
 deflection from the inteuded route, was 
 declined in courteous terms by Marcoy 
 through the interpretation of Pepe Gar- 
 cia. Among civilized folk this urbane 
 refusal would have sufficed, but the sav- 
 ages, taking such a reply as a challenge 
 to verbal warfare, returned to the charge 
 with increased tenacity. It were hard 
 to say what natural logic they put in 
 practice or what sylvan persuasions they 
 wrought by, but their peculiar mode of 
 stroking the white men's backs with their 
 hands, and the softer and still softer in- 
 flections which they introduced into their 
 voices, would have melted hearts of 
 marble. In brief, the civilized portion 
 adopted the more weakly part and allow- 
 ed themselves to be led by the savage 
 portion. 
 
 The colonel and Pepe Garcia were still 
 more easily persuaded than Mr. Marcoy, 
 and only awaited his adhesion. When 
 it was finally announced the Siriniris re- 
 newed their gambols and uttered shouts 
 of delight. They then took the head of 
 the excursion. A singularity in their 
 guides, which quickly attracted the no- 
 tice of the explorers, was the perfect in- 
 difference with which they took either 
 the clearings or the thickets in their path. 
 Where the strangers were afraid of tear- 
 ing their garments, these unprotected 
 4 
 
 savages had no care whatever for their 
 skins. It is true that their ingenuity in 
 gliding through the labyrinth resembled 
 magic. However the forest might bristle 
 with undergrowth, they never thought 
 of breaking down obstacles or of cutting 
 them, as the equally practiced Bolivians 
 did, with a knife. They contented them- 
 selves with putting aside with one hand 
 the tufts of foliage as if they had been 
 curtains or draperies, and that with an 
 easy decision of gesture and an elegance 
 of attitude which are hardly found out- 
 side of certain natural tribes. 
 
 The city of Huatinmio proved to be 
 a group of seven large sheds perched 
 among plaintains and bananas, divided 
 into stalls, and affording shelter for a 
 hundred individuals. The most sordid 
 destitution — if ignorance of comfort can 
 be called destitution — reigned every- 
 where around. The women were espe- 
 cially hideous, and on receipt of presents 
 of small bells and large needles becanie 
 additionally disagreeable in their antics 
 of gratitude. The bells were quickly in- 
 serted in their ears, and soon the whole 
 village was in tintinnabulation. 
 
 A night was passed in the hospitality 
 of these barbarians, who vacated their 
 largest cabin for their guests. A repast 
 was served, consisting of stewed monkey: 
 no salt was used in the cookery, but on 
 the other hand a dose of pimento was 
 thrown in, which brought tears to the 
 eyes of the strangers and made them 
 run to the water-jar as if to save their 
 lives. The evening was spent in a gen- 
 eral conversation with the Siriniris, who 
 were completely mystified by the form 
 and properties of a candle which Mr. 
 Marcoy drew from his baggage and ig- 
 nited. The wild men passed it from 
 hand to hand, examining it, and singeing 
 themselves in turn. Still another marvel 
 was the sheet of paper on which the 
 artist essayed a portrait of one of his 
 hosts. The finished sketch did not ap- 
 pear to attract them at all, or to raise 
 in their minds the faintest association 
 with the human form, but the texture 
 and whiteness of the sheet excited their 
 lively admiration, and they passed it from 
 one to another with many exclamatiori? 
 
50 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE- PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 of wonder. Meantime, a number of 
 questions were suggested and proposed 
 through the interpreter. 
 
 The formahty of marriage among the 
 Siriniris was found to be quite unknown ; 
 the most rudimentary idea of divine wor- 
 ship could not be discovered ; the treat- 
 ment of the aged was shown to be con- 
 temptuous and neglectful in the extreme ; 
 and the lines of demarcation with the 
 beasts seemed to be but feebly traced. 
 Finally, Mr. Marcoy begged the inter- 
 preter to propound the delicate inquiry 
 whether, among the viands with which 
 they nourished or had formerly nourish- 
 ed themselves, human flesh had found 
 a place. Garcia hesitated, and at first 
 declined to push the interrogation, but 
 after some persuasion consented. The 
 Siriniris were not in the least shocked at 
 the question, and answered that the flesh 
 of man, especially in infancy, was a de- 
 licious food, far better than the monkey, 
 the tapir or the peccary ; that their na- 
 tion, in the days of its power, frequently 
 used it at the great feasts ; but that the 
 difficulty of procuring such a rarity had 
 increased until they were now forced to 
 strike it from their bill of fare. 
 
 The night passed without disturbance, 
 and the next day's parting was accom- 
 panied by reiterated requests for a repe- 
 tition of the visit. The Panther, who 
 since their arrival had oppressed the 
 travelers with a multitude of officious at- 
 tentions, escorted them into the woods, 
 and there took leave of them with a ges- 
 ture of his hand, reheving their eyes of 
 his slippery, snake-like robe of spots. A 
 knife from their stores, slung round his 
 neck like a locket, smote his breast at 
 each step as he danced backward, and 
 a couple of large fish-hooks glanced in 
 his ears. 
 
 With a feeling of relief and satisfied 
 curiosity the exploring party left behind 
 them the traces of these children of Na- 
 ture, and returned toward the river. 
 The cascarilleros, all for their business, 
 had regretted the waste of time, and now 
 betook themselves to an examination of 
 the woods with all their energy. After 
 several hours of march their efforts were 
 crowned with success. Eusebio present- 
 
 ly rejoined his employers, showing leaves 
 and berries of the Cinchona scrobiculata 
 and pubescens : the peons, on their side, 
 had discovered isolated specimens of 
 the Calisaya, which, joined with those 
 found on Mount Camanti, indicated an 
 extended belt of that precious species. 
 This was not the best. A veritable treas- 
 ure which they had unearthed, worth all 
 the others put together, was a line of 
 those violet cinchonas which the native 
 exporters call Cascarilla inorada, and 
 the botanists Ci7ichona Boliviana. The 
 trees of this kind were grouped in threes 
 and fours, and extended for half a mile. 
 This repeated proof that the most val- 
 uable of all the cinchonas, together with 
 nearly every one of the others, were to 
 be discovered in a small radius along 
 the valley of the Cconi, filled the explo- 
 rers with triumph, and demonstrated be- 
 yond a doubt the sagacity of Don Santo 
 Domingo in organizing the expedition. 
 
 The purpose and intention of the jour- 
 ney was now abundantly fulfilled. Had 
 the travelers rested satisfied with the 
 liberal indications they had found, and 
 consented to place themselves between 
 the haunts of the savages and the abodes 
 of civilization, with a tendency and de- 
 termination toward the latter, they might 
 have returned with safety as with glory. 
 The estimate made by Eusebio, how- 
 ever, of the trend or direction of the 
 calisaya groves, induced him to forsake 
 the bed of the Cconi, and strike south- 
 eastwardly, so as to cross the Ollachea 
 and the Ayapata. 
 
 " But the mountains are disappearing," 
 hazarded Mr. Marcoy. "Will not the 
 cinchonas disappear with them ?'.' 
 
 "Oh," answered the majordomo, like 
 a pedagogue to a confident school-boy, 
 " the senor knows better how to put ink 
 or color on a sheet of paper than how to 
 judge of these things. The plain, the 
 campo llajio, is far enough to the east. 
 Before we should see the disappearance 
 of the mountains, we should have to 
 cross as many hills and ravines as we 
 have left behind us." 
 
 " What do you think of doing, then ?" 
 naturally demanded Marcoy, who had 
 long since begun to feel that the expedi- 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU 
 
 51 
 
 tion had but one chief, and that was the 
 sepia-colored cascarillero from BoUvia. 
 
 "Everything and nothing," answered 
 Eusebio. 
 
 These enigmas always carry the day. 
 The apparatus of march was once more 
 set in motion toward the adjacent water- 
 sheds. After a considerable journey — 
 rewarded, it must be said, with a succes- 
 sion of cinchona discoveries — they halt- 
 ed near a clearing in the forest, where 
 large heaps of stones and pebbles, ar- 
 ranged in semicircles, attracted their at- 
 tention. The cascarilleros explained this 
 appearance as due to former arrange- 
 ments for gold-washing in an old river- 
 bed, the San Gavan or the Ayapata, 
 that had now changed its locality. 
 
 While examining the unusual appear- 
 ance an abominable clamor burst from 
 the woods around, and a band of Siriniris 
 appeared, led by a lusty ruffian crowned 
 with oriole feathers, whom the travelers 
 recognized as having been among their 
 previous acquaintances. 
 
 The encounter was very disagreeable, 
 but the strangers determined to make 
 the best of it. The manner of this band 
 of Indians was somewhat different from 
 that of the others. They brought noth- 
 ing for barter, and had an indescribably 
 coarse and hardy style of behavior. 
 
 The travelers determined to buy a 
 little information, if nothing better, with 
 their knives and fish-hooks. Garcia was 
 accordingly instructed to demand the 
 meaning of the heaps and causeways of 
 stones. The savages laughed at first, 
 but fi.nally informed the visitors that the 
 constructions which puzzled them so had 
 been made by people of their own race 
 many years ago, for the purpose of gath- 
 ering gold from the river which used to 
 run along there, but which now flowed 
 seven miles off. 
 
 This information was dear to the his- 
 toric instinct of Marcoy. He spoke, by 
 his usual proxy, to the Indian of the 
 oriole, commanding him not to begin 
 every explanation by laughing, as he 
 had been doing, but to answer intelli- 
 gently, promising a reward of several 
 knives. The savage exchanged a rapid 
 glance with his fellows, and then he and 
 
 they stood up as stiff and mute as the 
 trees. Marcoy then asked him if he had 
 never heard hisTfather or his grandfather 
 speak of the great city of San Gavan, 
 built hereabouts formerly by the Spanish 
 chevaliers, and which the Caranga and 
 Suchimani Indians from the Inambari 
 River had destroyed by fire. 
 
 The evident recognition of this legend 
 by the savages, and their rapid exchange 
 among themselves of the words sacapa 
 huayris Ipafios, induced Marcoy to ask 
 if they could guide them to the site of 
 the former city. They answered that a 
 day's march would be sufficient, and 
 pointed with their arms in the direction 
 of north-north-west. 
 
 The temptation to see the place whose 
 golden renown, after having made the 
 tour of the American continent, had 
 reached Spain and the world at large, 
 was too strong to be resisted. Colonel 
 Perez, besides the magic attraction which 
 the mention of gold had for him, felt his 
 national pride touched by the idea of a 
 place where his compatriots had added 
 such magnificence to the Spanish name, 
 and gained so many ingots of gold by 
 paddling in the streams. The cascari- 
 lleros were delighted to extend their jour- 
 ney, in hopes of yet larger discoveries. 
 As for the porters, since the manifesta- 
 tions of the savages they clung to the 
 party with as much anxiety as they had 
 ever shown to escape from it. 
 
 In 1767 the city of San Gavan, re- 
 maining intact amid the ruin of all its 
 neighbors, was the sole disburser of the 
 riches of the Caravaya Valley. The 
 gold-dust, collected throughout the whole 
 territory on a government monopoly, was 
 brought thither upon the backs of In- 
 dians, melted into ingots, and distributed 
 to Lima and the world at large. On the 
 night of the i 5th and i6th of December 
 in that year the wealthy city was fired by 
 the Carangas and the Suchimanis, and 
 all the inhabitants slain with arrows or 
 clubs. The first lords of the soil had re- 
 sumed their rights. 
 
 When the news of the event was 
 brought to Lima, the viceroy of the pe- 
 riod, Antonio Amat, swore on a piece of 
 the true cross to exterminate every In- 
 
52 
 
 SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 dian in Peru. It is to the persuasions of 
 his favorite, Mariquita Gallegas, that the 
 preservation of the native tribes from a 
 bloody extirpation is due. This woman, 
 La Perichola, whose caricatured hkeness 
 we see in the most agreeable of Offen- 
 bach's operas, and whose deeds of mercy 
 and edifying end in a con- 
 vent entitle her to s o m e 
 charitable consideration, 
 persuaded her royal lover to 
 operate on the natives with 
 missionaries and teachers 
 rather than with fire and 
 sword. Antonio Amat 
 yielded, and the Indians 
 have survived. 
 
 Let no traveler go to 
 South America and cross 
 the Andes with the idea of 
 unearthing a Nineveh or a 
 Babylon on the site of San 
 Gavah. The emissaries of 
 Don Santo Domingo were 
 quickly standing, among 
 the grinning and amused 
 Indians, on the locality of 
 the Golden Depot of San 
 Gavan. But Nature had 
 thoroughly reclaimed her 
 own, and the place, indi- 
 cated again and again by 
 the savages with absolute 
 unanimity, showed noth- 
 ing but mounds of fern 
 and moss under canopies 
 of forest trees. 
 
 A day's rest and a sketch 
 or two were consecrated by 
 M a r c y to this historic 
 spot, the grave of a civil- 
 ization. It had been well 
 if he had restrained his 
 feelings of romance, and 
 betaken himself with his companions to 
 the hoijieward track. 
 
 As the explorers were breakfasting in 
 the morning on a squirrel and a couple 
 of birds shot among the vanished streets 
 of San Gavan, a disagreeable incident 
 supervened. The wild Indians had dis- 
 appeared over-night. But now, seem- 
 ingly born instantaneously from the 
 trees, a throng of Siriniris burst upon 
 
 the scene, rushing up to the travelers, 
 straining them repeatedly in a rude em- 
 brace, then leaving them, then assault- 
 ing them again, and accompanying 
 every contact with the eternal cry, Siriita 
 inta menea — "Give me a knife." Each 
 member of the troop had now six sav- 
 
 ' ANOTHER SAVAGE HAD FOUND A FAIR OF LINEN 
 PANTALOONS." — P. 53. 
 
 ages at his heels, and they were not 
 those of the day before, but a new and 
 rougher band. The chiefs of the party 
 rushed together and brandished their 
 muskets. This forced the savages to re- 
 tire, but gave to the rencounter that hos- 
 tile air which, in consideration of the 
 disparity of numbers, ought at all haz- 
 ards to have been avoided. The wild 
 men quickly formed a circle around the 
 
 #>^ 
 
SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. 
 
 53 
 
 artillery. The latter, fearing for their por- 
 ters and the precious baggage, leaped 
 through this circle and joined their ser- 
 vants, making believe to cock their fire- 
 arms. Upon this the Indians, half 
 afraid of the guns, vanished into the 
 woods, first picking up whatever clothing 
 and utensils they could lay their hands 
 on. In an instant they were showing 
 these trophies to their rightful owners 
 from a; safe distance, laughing as if they 
 would split their sides. One of the 
 naked rascals had seized a flannel un- 
 dershirt of the colonel's, which was dry- 
 ing on a branch. His efforts to intro- 
 duce his great feet into the sleeves were 
 excruciating. Another savage had found 
 a pair of linen pantaloons, which he was 
 endeavoring to put on like a coat, ap- 
 pearing much embarrassed with the pos- 
 terior portion, which completely masked 
 his face. Aragon had seen a young 
 reprobate of his own age make off with 
 a pair of socks of his property. Detect- 
 ing the rogue half hidden by a tree, the 
 mozo made a sortie, seized the Indian, 
 and by a violent shake brought the 
 property out of his mouth, where it had 
 been concealed as in a natural pocket. 
 
 The travelers immediately threw them- 
 selves into marching order and took up 
 their line of route. The savages fol- 
 lowed. At the first obstacle, a mass of 
 matted trees, they easily rejoined the 
 party of whites. 
 
 Then, for the first time, the idea of 
 their power seemed to strike them, and 
 they precipitated themselves upon the 
 porters, who took to flight, rolling from 
 under their packs like animals of burden. 
 In a moment every article of baggage, 
 every knife and weapon, was seized, and 
 the red-skins, singing and howling, were 
 making off through the woods. Among 
 them was now seen the Siriniri with 
 orioles' feathers, who must have guided 
 them to their prey. 
 
 The expedition was pillaged, and pil- 
 laged as a joke. The thieves were heard 
 laughing as they scampered off like deer 
 through the woods. 
 
 It was hard to realize at once the gravity 
 of the misfortune. No one was hurt, no 
 one was insulted. But provision.s, cloth- 
 
 ing, articles of exchange and weapons 
 were all gone, except such arms and 
 ammunition as the travelers carried on 
 their persons. A collection of cinchonas 
 was in possession of one of the Bolivians, 
 though it represented but a fraction of 
 the species discovered. The besiegers, 
 however, had disappeared, and a west- 
 erly march was taken up. Good time 
 was made that day, and a heavy night'-j 
 sleep was the consequence. With the 
 morning light came the well-remember- 
 ed and hateful cry, and the little army 
 found itself surrounded by a throng of 
 merry naked demons, among whom were 
 some who had not profited by the dis- 
 tribution of the spoils. At the magic 
 word siruta all these new-comers rushed 
 in a mass upon the white men. Marcoy 
 managed to slip his fine ivory-handled 
 machete within his trowser leg, but every 
 other cutting tool disappeared as if by 
 magic from the possession of the ex- 
 plorers. The shooting-utensils the sav- 
 ages, believing them haunted, would not 
 touch. Then, half irritated at the ex- 
 haustion of the booty, the amiable chil- 
 dren of Nature burst out into open de- 
 rision. The artists of the tribe, filling 
 their palms with' rocoa, and moistening 
 the same with saliva, went up to their 
 late patrons and began to decorate their 
 faces. The latter, judging patience their 
 best policy, sat in silence while the deli- 
 cate fancy of the savages expended itself 
 in arabesques and flourishes. Perez and 
 Aragon had their eyes surrounded with 
 red spectacles. The face of Marcoy, 
 covered with a heavy beard, only allow- 
 ed room for a "W" on the forehead, 
 and Pepe Garcia was quit for a set of 
 interlacings like a checkerboard. Hav- 
 ing thus signed their marks upon their 
 visitors, the aborigines retired, catching 
 up here and there a stray ball of cord 
 or a strip of beef, saluting with the hand, 
 and vanishing into the woods with the 
 repeated compliment, Em^iiki — " I am 
 off." 
 
 The victims rested motionless for fif- 
 teen minutes : then pellmell, through the 
 thickest of the brush and down the steep- 
 est of the hill, blotted out under gigantic 
 ferns and covered by umbrageous vines, 
 
54 
 
 THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 stealing along water-courses and skirting 
 the sides of the mountains, they rushed 
 precipitately westward. 
 
 Two months after the priest of Marca- 
 pata had dismissed with his benediction 
 the party of confident and enthusiastic 
 explorers, he received again his strayed 
 flock, but this time in rags, armed with 
 ammunitionless guns and one poor knife, 
 wasted by hunger, baked by the sun, and 
 tattooed like Polynesians by the briers 
 and insects. The good man could not 
 repress a tear. "Ah, my son," said he 
 as he clasped Marcoy's hand, " see what 
 it costs to go hunting the cascarilla in 
 the lai>d of the infidels !" 
 
 The exploradons started by Don Juan 
 Sanz de Santo Domingo came to prof- 
 itable result, but not to his advantage. 
 Three weeks after the pioneers arrived 
 again in Cuzco, Don Juan started an- 
 other expedition, on a much larger scale, 
 to accomplish the working of the cin- 
 chona valleys, under charge of the same 
 Bolivians, who could make like a bee 
 for every tree they had discovered. A 
 detachment of soldiers was to protect 
 the party, and the working force was 
 
 more than double. Finally, the night 
 before the intended stait, the Bolivian 
 cascarilleros, with their examinador, dis- 
 appeared together. It is probable thai 
 Don Juan's scheme, nursed, according 
 to custom, with too much publicity, had 
 attracted the attention of the merchants 
 of Cuzco, who had found it profitable to 
 buy off the bark-searchers for their own 
 interest. 
 
 The crash of this immense enterprise 
 was too much for Don Juan. Threaten- 
 ed with creditors, Jews, escribanos and 
 the police, he retired to a silver-mine he 
 was opening in the province of Abancay. 
 This mine, in successful operation, he 
 depended on for satisfying his creditors. 
 He found it choked up, destroyed with 
 a blast of powder by some enemy. Un- 
 able to bear the disappointment, Don 
 Juan blew out his brains in the office 
 belonging to his mine. A month after- 
 ward, Don Eugenio Mendoza y Jara, the 
 bishop of Cuzco, sent a couple of In- 
 dians for the body, with instructions to 
 throw it into a ditch : the men attached 
 a rope to the feet and dragged it to a 
 ravine, where dogs and vultures disposed 
 of the unhallowed remains. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHP:NS. 
 
 TH E day is a happy one to the student- 
 traveler from the Western World in 
 which he first looks upon the lovely plain 
 of Athens. Rounding the point where 
 Hymettus thrusts his huge length into 
 the sea, the long, featureless mountain- 
 wall of Southern Attica suddenly breaks 
 down, and gives place to a broad ex- 
 panse of fertile and well-cultivated soil, 
 sloping gently back with ever-nai rowing 
 bounds until it reaches the foot-hills of 
 lofty Pentelicus. The wooded heights 
 of Parnes enclose it on the north, while 
 bald Hymettus rears an impassable bar- 
 rier along the south. In front of the 
 gently recurved shore stretch the smooth 
 
 waters of the Gulf of Salamis, while be- 
 yond rises range upon range of lofty 
 mountain-peaks with strikingly varied 
 outline, terminating on the one hand in 
 the towering cone of Egina, and on the 
 other in the pyramidal, fir-clad summit 
 of Cithaeron. Upon the plain, at the 
 distance of three or four miles from the 
 sea, are several small rocky hills of pic- 
 turesque appearance, isolated and seem- 
 ingly independent, but really parts of a 
 low range parallel to Hymettus. Upon 
 one of the most considerable of these, 
 whose precipitous sides make it a natural 
 fortress, stood the Acropolis, and upon 
 the group of lesser heights around and 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 55 
 
 in the valleys between clustered the 
 dwellings of ancient Athens. 
 
 It was a fitting site for the capital of a 
 people keenly sensitive to beauty, and 
 destined to become the leaders of the 
 
 world in matters of taste, especially in 
 the important department of the Fine 
 Arts. Nowhere are there more charm- 
 ing contrasts of mountain, sea and plain 
 — nowhere a more perfect harmony of 
 
 picturesque ettect Ihe sea ib not a 
 dreary waste of waters without bounds, 
 but a smiling gulf mirroring its moun- 
 tain-walls and winding about embosomed 
 isles, yet ever broadening as it recedes, 
 and suggesting the mighty flood beyond 
 
 from which it springs. The plain is not 
 an illimitable expanse over which the 
 weary eye ranges in vain in quest of 
 some resting-place, but is so small as to 
 be embraced in its whole contour in a 
 single view, while its separate features — 
 
56 
 
 THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 the broad, dense belt of olives which 
 marks the bed of its principal stream, 
 the ancient Cephissus, the vineyards, the 
 grain-fields and the sunny hillside pas- 
 tures — are made to produce their full im- 
 pression. The mountains are not near 
 enough to be obtrusive, much less op- 
 pressive ; neither are they so distant as 
 to be indistinct or to seem insignificant. 
 Seen through the clear air, their naked 
 summits are so sharply defined and so 
 individual in appearance as to seem al- 
 most like sculptured forms chiseled out 
 of the hard rock. 
 
 The city which rose upon this favor- 
 ed spot was worthy of its surroundings. 
 The home of a free and enterprising race 
 endowed with rare gifts of intellect and 
 sensibility, and ever on the alert for im- 
 provement, it became the nurse of letters 
 and of arts, while the luxury begotten of 
 prosperity awakened a taste for adorn- 
 ment,'and the wealth acquired by an ex- 
 tended commerce furnished the means 
 of gratifying it. The age of Pericles 
 was the period of the highest national 
 development. At that time were reared 
 the celebrated structures in honor of the 
 virgin-goddess who was the patron of 
 Athens — the Parthenon, the Propylaea, 
 the Erechtheum — which crowned the 
 Acropolis, and were the glory of the city 
 as they were the masterpieces of Grecian 
 architecture. During the preceding half 
 century many works of utility and of 
 splendor had been constructed, and the 
 city now became renowned not only in 
 Greece, but throughout the ancient world, 
 for the magnificence of its public build- 
 ings. Thucydides, writing about this 
 time, says that should Athens be destroy- 
 ed, posterity would infer from its ruins 
 that the city had been twice as populous 
 as it actually was. Demosthenes speaks 
 of the strangers who came to visit its 
 attractions. But the changes of twenty- 
 three centuries have passed upon this 
 splendor — a sad story of violence and 
 neglect — and the queenly city has long 
 been in the condition of ruin imagined by 
 Thucydides. Still, the spell of her influ- 
 ence is not broken, and the charm which 
 once drew so many visitors to her shrines 
 still acts powerfully on the hearts of schol- 
 
 ars in all lands, who, having looked up to 
 her poets, orators and philosophers as 
 teachers and loved them as friends, long 
 to visit their haunts, to stand where they 
 stood, to behold the scenes which they 
 were wont to view, and to gaze upon 
 what may remain of the great works of 
 art upon which their admiration was 
 bestowed. 
 
 So the student-pilgrim from the West- 
 ern World with native ardor strains his 
 sight to catch the first gMmpse of the 
 Athenian plain and city. He is fresh 
 from his studies, and familiar with what 
 books teach of the geography of Greece 
 and the topography of Athens. He 
 needs not to be informed which moun- 
 tain-range is Parnes, and which Penteli- 
 cus — which island is Salamis, and which 
 Egina. Yet much of what he sees is a 
 revelation to him. The mountains are 
 higher, more varied and more beautiful 
 than he had supposed, Lycabettus and 
 the Acropolis more imposing, Pentelicus 
 farther away, and the plain larger, the 
 gulf narrower, and Egina nearer and 
 more mountainous, than he had fancied. 
 He is astonished at the smallness of the 
 harbor at Peirasus, having insensibly 
 formed his conception of its size from 
 the notices of the mighty fleets which 
 sailed from it in the palmy days when 
 Athens was mistress of the seas. He is 
 not prepared to see the southern shore of 
 Salamis so near to the Peiraeus, though 
 it explains the close connection between 
 that island and Athens, and throws some 
 light upon the great naval defeat of the 
 Persians. In short, while every object 
 is recognized as it presents itself, yet 
 a more correct conception is formed of 
 its relative position and aspect from a 
 single glance of the eye than had been 
 acquired from books during years of 
 study. 
 
 Arrived at the city, his experience is 
 the same. He needs no guide to con- 
 duct him to its antiquities, nor cicerone 
 to explain in bad French or worse Eng- 
 lish their names and history. Still, 
 unexpected appearances present them- 
 selves not unfrequently. Hastening to- 
 ward the Acropolis, he will first inspect 
 the remains of the great theatre of Uio- 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 57 
 
 nysus, so familiar to him as the place 
 where, in the presence of all the people 
 and many strangers, were acted the plays 
 of his favorite poets, Eschylus and Soph- 
 ocles, and where they won many prizes. 
 Hurrying over the eastern brow of the 
 hill, he comes suddenly upon the spot, 
 enters at the summit, as many an Athe- 
 nian did in the olden time, and is smit- 
 ten with amazement at the first glance, 
 
 
 and led to question whether this be in- 
 deed the site of the ancient theatre. He 
 finds, it is true, the topmost seats cut in 
 the solid rock, row above row, stripped 
 now of their marble lining and weather- 
 worn, but yet the genuine ancient seats of 
 the upper tier. These he expected to find. 
 But whence are those fresh seats which 
 fill the lower part of the hollow, arranged 
 as neatly as if intended for immediate 
 
 
 ^ *^ ... -- - — 'iX Sr^ *t5 
 
 » *:i-1. 
 
 
 THEATRE OF DIONYSUS (BACCHUS), 
 
 use ? and whence the massive stage be- 
 yond ? He bethinks himself that he has 
 heard of recent excavations under the 
 patronage of the government, and closer 
 inspection shows that these are actually 
 the lower seats of the theatre in the time 
 of the emperor Hadrian, whose favorite 
 residence was Athens, and who did so 
 much to embellish the city. The front 
 seats consist of massive stone chairs, 
 each inscribed with the name of its oc- 
 cupant, generally the priestess of some 
 one of the numerous gods worshiped by 
 that people so given to idolatry. In the 
 
 centre of the second row is an elevated 
 throne inscribed with the name of Ha- 
 drian. The stage is seen to be the an- 
 cient Greek stage enlarged to the Roman 
 size to suit the demands of a later style 
 of theatrical representation. 
 
 After looking in vain for the seal oc- 
 cupied by the priestess of the Unknown 
 God, our traveler passes on and enters 
 with a beating heart the charmed precincts 
 of the Acropolis itself. The Propylica, 
 which he has been accustomed to re- 
 gard too exclusively as a mere entrance- 
 gate to the glories beyond, impresses 
 
58 
 
 THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 him with its size and grandeur, and the 
 little temple of Victory by its side with 
 its elegance.* But the steepness of the 
 ascent perplexes him. It seems imprac- 
 ticable for horses, yet he knows by un- 
 
 exceptionable testimony that t)it Athe- 
 nian youth prided themselves upon driv- 
 ing their matched steeds in tne great 
 Panathenaic procession which once ev- 
 ery four years wound up the hill, ttanng 
 
 the sacred peplus to the temple of the 
 goddess. A closer examination reveals 
 
 * The latter contains, among other relics of a balus- 
 trade which protected and adorned the platform of the 
 temple, the exquisitely graceful torso of Victory unty- 
 ing her sandals, of which casts are to be seen in most 
 ?f the imiseums of Europe 
 
 the transverse creases of the pavement 
 designed to give a footing to the beasts, 
 as well as the marks of the chariot- 
 wheels. Nevertheless, the ascent (and 
 much more the descent) must have been 
 a perilous undertaking, unless the teams 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 59 
 
 were better broken than the various ac- 
 counts of chariot-races furnished by the 
 poets would indicate. Entering beneath 
 the great gate, a httle distance forward 
 to the left may readily be found the site 
 of the colossal bronze statue of the war- 
 rior-goddess in complete armor, formed 
 
 by Phidias out of the spoils taken at 
 Marathon. The square base, partly 
 sunk in the uneven rock, is as perfect as 
 if just put in readiness to receive the 
 pedestal of that famous work. A road 
 bending to the right and slightly hol- 
 lowed out of the rock leads to the Par- 
 
 VICTORY UNTYING HER SANDALS. 
 
 thenon. The outer platform which sus- 
 tains this celebrated temple is partly 
 cut from the rock of the hill and partly 
 built up of common limestone. The 
 inner one of three courses, as well as the 
 whole superstructure, is formed of Pente- 
 lic marble of a compact crystalline struc- 
 ture and of dazzlinsj whiteness. Long 
 
 exposure has not availed to destroy its 
 lustre, but only to soften its tone. The 
 visitor, planting himself at the western 
 front, is in a position to gain some ade- 
 quate idea of the perfection of the noble 
 building. The interior and central parts 
 suffered the principal injury from the 
 explosion of the Turkish powder maga- 
 
6o 
 
 THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 zine in 1687. The western front remains 
 nearly entire. It has been despoiled, 
 indeed, of its movable ornaments. The 
 statues which filled the pediment are 
 gone, with the exception of a fragment 
 
 or two. The sculptured slabs have been 
 removed from the spaces between the 
 triglyphs, and the gilded shields which 
 hung beneath have been taken down. 
 Of the magnificent frieze, representing 
 
 the procession of the great quadrennial 
 festival, only the portion surrounding 
 the western vestibule is still in place.* 
 
 * Among the figures of this bas-relief, twelve are 
 recognized by their lofty stature and sitting posture 
 as those of divinities. One group is represented in 
 rhe engraving. 
 
 Still, as these were strictly decorations, 
 and wholly subordinate to the organic 
 parts of the structure, their presence, 
 while it would doubtless greatly enhance 
 the effect of the whole, is not felt to be 
 essential to its completeness,. The whole 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 61 
 
 Doric columns still bear the massive en- 
 tal:)lature sheltered by the covering roof. 
 The simple greatness of the conception, 
 the just proportion of the several parts, 
 together %\ ith the elaborate finishing of 
 
 the whole work, invest it with a charm 
 such as the works of man seldom pos- 
 sess — the pure and lasting pleasure 
 which flows from apparent perfection. 
 Enteung the piincipil ^paitment of the 
 
 ■building, traces are seen of the stucco 
 and pictures with which the walls were 
 covered when it was fitted up as a Chris- 
 tian church in the Byzantine period. 
 Near the centre of the marble pavement 
 is a rectangular space laid with dark 
 
 stone from the Peireeus or from KIcusis. 
 It marks the probable site of the colos- 
 sal precious statue of the goddess in gold 
 and ivory — one of the most celebrated 
 works of Phidias. The smaller apart 
 ment beyond, accessible only from the 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 opposite front of the temple, was used 
 by the state as a place of deposit and 
 safekeeping for bullion and other val- 
 uables in the care of the state treasurer. 
 Having examined the great temple, 
 and tested the curvature of its seeming- 
 ly horizontal lines by sighting along 
 the unencumbered platform, and having 
 stopped at several points of the grand 
 portico to admire the fine views of the 
 city and surrounding country, the trav- 
 eler picks his way northward, across a 
 thick layer of fragments of columns, 
 statues and blocks of marble, toward the 
 low-placed, irregular but elegant Erech- 
 theum, the temple of the most ancient 
 worship and statue of the patron-goddess 
 of the city. This building sits close by 
 the northern as the Parthenon does by 
 the southern wall of the enclosure. It 
 has suffered equally with the other from 
 the ravages of time, and its ruins, though 
 less grand, are more beautiful. Most of 
 the graceful Ionic columns are still stand- 
 ing, but large portions of the roof and 
 entablature have fallen. Fragments of 
 decorated cornice strew the ground, some 
 of them of considerable length, and af- 
 ford a near view of that delicate orna- 
 mentation and exquisite finish so rare 
 outside the limits of Greece. The ele- 
 vated porch of the Caryatides, lately re- 
 stored by the substitution of a new figure 
 in place of the missing statue now in the 
 British Museum, attracts attention as a 
 unique specimen of Greek art, and also 
 as showing how far a skillful treatment 
 will overcome the inherent difficulties of 
 a subject. The row of fair maidens look- 
 ing out toward the Parthenon do not seem 
 much oppressed by the burden which 
 rests upon them, while their graceful 
 forms lend a pleasing variety to the 
 scene. Passing out by the northern 
 wing of the Propylaea, a survey is had 
 of the numerous fragments of sculpture 
 discovered among the ruins upon the 
 hill, and temporarily placed in the an- 
 cient Pinacotheca. The eye rests upon 
 sweet infant faces and upon rugged 
 manly ones. Sometimes a single fea- 
 ture only remains, which, touched by 
 the finger of genius, awakens admira- 
 tion. A naked arm severed from the 
 
 trunk, of feminine cast, but with muscles 
 tightly strained and hand clenched as in 
 agony, will arrest attention and dwell in 
 the memory. 
 
 North-west of the Acropolis, across a 
 narrow chasm, lies the low, rocky height 
 of the Areopagus, accessible at the south- 
 east angle by a narrow flight of sixteen 
 rudely-cut steps, which lead to a small 
 rectangular excavation on the summit, 
 which faces the Acropolis, and is sur- 
 rounded upon three sides by a double 
 tier of benches hewn out of the rock. 
 Here undoubtedly the most venerable 
 court of justice at Athens had its seat 
 and tried its cases in the open air. Here 
 too, without doubt, stood the great apostle 
 when, with bold spirit and weighty words, 
 he declared unto the men of Athens that 
 God of whom they confessed their igno- 
 rance ; who was not to be represented 
 by gold or silver or stone graven by art 
 and man's device ; who dwelt not in 
 temples made with hands, and needed 
 not to be worshiped with men's hands. 
 In no other place can one feel so sure 
 that he comes upon the very footsteps 
 of the apostle, and on no other spot can 
 one better appreciate his high gifts as 
 an orator or the noble devotion of his 
 whole soul to the work of the Master. 
 How poor in comparison with his life- 
 work appear the performances of the 
 greatest of the Athenian thinkers or 
 doers ! 
 
 A little more than a quarter of a mile 
 west of the Acropolis is another rocky 
 hill — the Pnyx — celebrated as the place 
 where the assembly of all the citizens 
 met to transact the business of the state, 
 A large semicircular area was formed, 
 partly by excavation, partly by building 
 up from beneath, the bounds of which 
 can be distinctly traced. Considerable 
 remains of the terrace-wall at the foot 
 of the slope exist — huge stones twelve 
 or fourteen feet in length by eight or ten 
 in breadth. The chord of the semicircle 
 is near the top of the hill, formed by the 
 perpendicular face of the excavated rock, 
 and is about four hundred feet in length 
 by twenty in depth. Projecting from it 
 at the centre, and hewn out of the same 
 rock, is the bema or stone platform from 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 63 
 
 which the great orators from the time of 
 Themistocles and Aristides, and perhaps 
 of Solon, down to the age of Demos- 
 thenes and the Attic Ten, addressed the 
 mass of their fellow-citizens. It is a 
 
 massive cubic block, with a linear edge 
 of eleven feet, standing upon a gradu- 
 ated base of nearly equal height, and is 
 mounted on either side by a flight of 
 nine stone steps. From its connection 
 
 with the most celebrated efforts of some 
 of the greatest orators our race has yet 
 seen, it is one of the most interesting 
 relics in the world, and its solid structure 
 will cause it to endure as long as the 
 world itself shall stand, unless, as there 
 
 is some reason to apprehend will be the 
 case, it is knocked to pieces and carried 
 off in the carpet-bags of travelers. No 
 traces of the Agora, which occupied the 
 shallow valley between the Pnyx and the 
 Acropolis, remain. It was the heart of 
 
64 
 
 THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OE ATHENS. 
 
 the city, and was adorned with numer- 
 ous public buildings, porticoes, temples 
 and statues. It was often thronged with 
 citizens gathered for purposes of trade, 
 discussion, or to hear and tell some new 
 thing. 
 
 Half a mile or more to the south-east, 
 on the banks of the Ihssus, stood a 
 magnificent structure dedicated to Olym- 
 pian Zeus — one of the four largest tem- 
 ples of Greece, ranking with that of De- 
 meter at Eleusis and that of Diana at 
 Ephesus. Its foundations remain, and 
 sixteen of the huge Corinthian columns 
 belonging to its majestic triple colon- 
 nade. One of these is fallen. Break- 
 ing up into the numerous disks of which 
 it was composed — six and a half feet in 
 diameter by two or more in thickness — 
 and stretching out to a length of over 
 sixty feet, it gives an impressive concep- 
 tion of the size of these columns, said 
 to be the largest standing in Europe. 
 The level area of the temple is now used 
 as a training-ground for soldiers. Close 
 by, and almost in the bed of the stream, 
 which is dry the larger part of the year, 
 issues from beneath a ledge of rock the 
 copious fountain of sweet waters known 
 to the ancients as Calirrhoe. It furnish- 
 ed the only good drinking-water of the 
 city, and was used in all the sacrifices to 
 the gods. A little way above, on the op- 
 posite bank of the Ilissus, is the site of 
 the Panathenaic stadium, whose shape is 
 perfectly preserved in the smooth grass- 
 grown hollow with semicircular extremi- 
 ty which here lies at right angles to the 
 stream, between parallel ridges partly 
 artificial. 
 
 Northward from the Acropolis, on a 
 slight elevation, is the best-preserved 
 and one of the most ancient structures 
 of Athens — the temple of Theseus, built 
 under the administration of Cimon by 
 the generation preceding Pericles and 
 the Parthenon. It is of the Doric order, 
 and shaped like the Parthenon, but con- 
 siderably inferior to it in size as well as 
 in execution. It has been roofed with 
 wood in modern times, and was long 
 used as a church, but is now a place of 
 deposit for the numerous statues and 
 sculptured stones of various kinds — 
 
 mostly sepulchral monuments — which 
 have been recently discovered in and 
 about the city. They are for the most 
 part unimportant as works of art, though 
 many are interesting from their antiquity 
 or historic associations. Among these 
 is the stone which once crowned the 
 burial-mound on the plain of Marathon. 
 It bears a single figure, said to represent 
 the messenger who brought the tidings 
 of victory to his countrymen. 
 
 Near the Theseium was the double 
 gate (Dipylum) in the ancient wall of 
 the city whence issued the Sacred Way 
 leading to Eleusis, and bordered, like 
 the Appian Way at Rome, with tombs, 
 many of them cenotaphs of persons who 
 died in the public service and were deem- 
 ed worthy of a monument in the public 
 burying-ground. Within a few years an 
 excavation has been made through an 
 artificial mound of ashes, pottery and 
 other refuse emptied out of the city, and 
 a section of a few rods of this celebrated 
 road has been laid bare. The sepul- 
 chral monuments are ranged on one 
 side rather thickly, and crowd some- 
 what closely upon the narrow pavemen , 
 They are, for the most part, simple, thick 
 slabs of white marble, with a triangular 
 or pediment-shaped top, beneath which 
 is sculptured in low relief the closing 
 scene of the person commemorated, fol- 
 lowed by a short inscription. The work 
 is done in an artistic style worthy of the 
 publicity its location gave it. On one of 
 these slabs you recognize the familiar 
 full-length figure of Demosthenes, stand- 
 ing with two companions and clasping 
 in a parting grasp the hand of a woman, 
 who is reclining upon her deathbed. 
 The inscription is, Collyrion, wife of 
 AgathoJt. On another stone of larger 
 size is a more imposing piece of sculp- 
 ture. A horseman fully armed is thrust- 
 ing his spear into the body of his fallen 
 foe — a hoplite. The inscription relate? 
 that the unhappy foot -soldier fell at 
 Corinth by reason of those five ivofds 
 of his I — a record intelligible enough, 
 doubtless, to his contemporaries, but 
 sufficiently obscure and provocative of 
 curiosity to later gererations. 
 
 There are other noted structures .it 
 
THE SITE AND ANTIQUITIES OF ATHENS. 
 
 Athens, such as the Choragic Monu- 
 ment of Lysicrates — the highest type of 
 the Corinthian order of architecture, as 
 
 the Erechtheum is of the Ionic and the 
 Parthenon of the Doric — but want of 
 space forbids any further description of 
 
 MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES. 
 
 them. Let the American traveler visit 
 Athens with the expectation of finding a 
 city occupying the most charming of 
 sites, and containing by far the most in- 
 5 
 
 teresting and important monuments of 
 antiquity, in their original position, to bf 
 found in the whole world. 
 
 J. L. T. Phillu'S. 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 ALGIERS FROM THE SEA. 
 
 A FACT need not be a fixed fact to 
 be a very positive one ; and Ka- 
 bylia, a region to whose outline no geog- 
 rapher could give precision, has long ex- 
 isted as the most uncomfortable reality 
 in colonial France. Irreconcilable Ka- 
 bylia, hovering as a sort of thunderous 
 cloudland among the peaks of the Atlas 
 Mountains, is respected for a capacity it 
 has of rolling out storms of desperate 
 warriors. These troops disgust and con- 
 found the French by making every hut 
 and house a fortress : like the clansmen 
 
 of Roderick Dhu, they lurk behind the 
 bushes, animating each tree or shrub 
 with a preposterous gun charged with a 
 badly - moulded bullet. The Kabyle, 
 when excited to battle, goes to his death 
 as carelessly as to his breakfast : his 
 saint or marabout has promised him an 
 immediate heaven, without the critical 
 formality of a judgment-day. He fights 
 with more than feudal faithfulness and 
 with undiverted tenacity. He is in his 
 nature unconquerable. So that the 
 French, though they have riddled this 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 67 
 
 thunder-cloud of a Kabylia with their 
 shot, seamed it through and through 
 with mihtary roads, and estabhshed a 
 
 beautiful fort natiottal right in the mid- 
 dle of it, on the plateau of Souk-el- Arba, 
 possess it to-day about as thoroughly a? 
 
 " IMPREGNABLE KABYLIA 
 
 we Americans might possess a desirable 
 thunder-storm which should be observed 
 hanging over Washington, and which 
 we should annex by means of electrical 
 communications transpiercing it in every 
 
 direction, and a resident governor fixed 
 at the centre in a balloon. France has 
 gorged Kabylia, with the rest of Algeria, 
 but she has never digested it. 
 
 A trip through Algeria, such as we 
 
68 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 now propose, belongs, as a pleasure- 
 excursion, only to the present age. In 
 the last it was made involuntarily. Only 
 sixty years ago the English spinster or 
 spectacled lady's - companion, as she 
 crossed over from the mouth of the Ta- 
 gus to the mouth of the Tiber, or from 
 Marseilles to Naples, looked out for cap- 
 
 ture by "the Algerines" as quite a rea- 
 sonable eventuality. (Who can forget 
 Topfer's mad etchings for Bachelor But- 
 terfly, of which this little episode forms 
 the incident ?) Her respectable mind 
 was filled with speculations as to how 
 many servants "a dey's lady" was fur- 
 nished with, and what was the amount 
 
 BOUGIE, AND HILL OF GOURAYA. 
 
 of her pin-money. A stout, sound-wind- 
 ed Christian gentleman, without vices 
 and kind in fetters, sold much cheaper 
 than a lady, being worth thirty pounds, 
 or only about one-tenth the value of 
 UncJe Tom. 
 
 The opening up of Algeria to the mod- 
 ern tourist and Murray's guide-books is 
 in fact due to the American nation. So 
 late as 1815 the Americans, along with 
 the other trading nations, were actually 
 paying to the dey his preposterous trib- 
 ute for exemption from piratical seizure. 
 In this year, however, we changed our 
 mind and sent Decatur over. On the 
 2Sth of June he made his appearance at 
 Algiers, having picked up and disposed 
 of some Algerine craft, the frigate Ma- 
 shouda and the brig Estido. The Al- 
 gerines gave up all discussion with a 
 messenger so positive in his manners, 
 and in two days Decatur introduced our 
 consul-general Shaler, who attended to 
 the release of American captives and the 
 positive stoppage of tribute. 
 
 The example was followed by other 
 nations. Lord Exmouth bombarded Al- 
 giers in 1 816, and reduced most of it to 
 
 ashes. In 1827 the dey opened war 
 with France by hitting the French con- 
 sul with his fan. Charles X. retorted 
 upon the fan with thirty thousand troops 
 and a fleet. The fort of Algiers was ex- 
 ploded by the last survivor of its gar- 
 rison, a negro of the deserts, who rush- 
 ed down with a torch into the powder- 
 cellar. Algeria collapsed. The dey 
 went to Naples, the janizaries went to 
 Turkey, and Algeria became French. 
 
 From this time the country became 
 more or less open, according as France 
 could keep it quiet, to the inroads of that 
 modern beast of ravin, the tourist. The 
 Kabyle calls the tourist Roumi (Chris- 
 tian), a form, evidently, of our word 
 Roman, and referable to the times when 
 the bishop of Hippo and such as he 
 identified the Christian with the Roman- 
 ist in the Moorish mind. 
 
 Modern Algiers, viewed from the sea, 
 wears upon its luminous walls small 
 trace of its long history of blood. As 
 we contemplate its mosques and houses 
 flashing their white profiles into the sky, 
 it is impossible not to muse upon the 
 contrast between its radiant and pictu- 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 69 
 
 resque aspect and its veritable character 
 as the accomphce of every crime and 
 every baseness known to the Oriental 
 mind. To see that sunny city basking 
 between its green hills, you would hardly 
 think of it as the abode of bandits ; yet 
 two powerful tribes still exist, now living 
 in huts which crown the heights of 
 Boudjareah overlooking the sea, who 
 formerly furnished the boldest of the 
 pitiless corsairs. To the iron hooks of 
 the Bab (or gate) of Azoun were hung 
 by the loins our Christian brothers who 
 would not accept the Koran ; at the 
 Bab-el-Oued, the Arab rebels, not con- 
 founded even in their deaths with the 
 dogs of Christians, were beheaded by 
 the yataghan ; and in the blue depths 
 we sail over, whose foam washes the 
 bases of the temples, hapless women 
 have sunk for ever, tied in a leather bag 
 between a cat and a serpent. 
 
 The history, in truth, is the history — 
 always a cruel one — of an overridden 
 nation compelled to bear a part in the 
 wickedness of its oppressors. This ru- 
 bric of blood may be read in many a 
 dismal page. Algeria was a slave be- 
 fore England was Christian. The great- 
 est African known to the Church, Au- 
 gustine, has left a pathetic description 
 of the conquest of his country by the 
 Vandals in the fifth century : it was at- 
 tended with horrible atrocities, the ene- 
 my leaving the slain in unburied heaps, 
 so as to drive out the garrisons by pes- 
 tilence. When Spain overthrew the 
 Moors she took the coast-cities of Mo- 
 rocco and Algeria. Afterward, when 
 Aruch Barbarossa, the "Friend of the 
 Sea," had seized the Algerian strong- 
 holds as a prize for the Turks, and his 
 system of piracy was devastating the 
 Mediterranean, Spain with other coun- 
 tries suffered, and we have a vivid pic- 
 ture of an Algerine bagnio and bagnio- 
 keeper from the pen of the illustrious 
 prisoner Cervantes. " Our spirits failed " 
 (he writes) "in witnessing the unheard- 
 of cruelties that Hassan exercised. Ev- 
 ery day were new punishments, accom- 
 panied with cries of cursing and ven- 
 geance. Almost daily a captive was 
 thrown upon the hooks, impaled or de- 
 
 prived of sight, and that without any 
 other motive than to gratify the thirst of 
 human blood natural to this monster, 
 and which inspired even the execution- 
 ers with horror." 
 
 While our fancy traces the figure of 
 the author of Do7i Quixote, a plotting 
 captive, behind the walls of Algiers, the 
 steamer is withdrawing, and the view of 
 the city becomes more beautiful at every 
 turn of the paddles. We pass through 
 a whole squadron of fishing-boats, hov- 
 ering on their long lateen sails, and 
 seeming like butterflies balanced upon 
 the waves, which are blue as the petal 
 of the iris. Algiers gradually becomes 
 a mere impression of light. The details 
 have been effaced little by little, and 
 melted into a general hue of gold and 
 warmth : the windowless houses and the 
 walls extending in terraces confuse in- 
 terchangeably their blank masses. The 
 dark green hills of Boudjareah and Mus- 
 tapha seem to have opened their sombre 
 flanks to disclose a marble-quarry : the 
 city, piled up with pale and blocklike 
 forms, appears to sink into the moun- 
 tains again as the boat retires, although 
 the picturesque buildings of the Casbah, 
 cropping out upon the summit, linger 
 long in sight, hke rocks of lime. As we 
 pass Cape Matifou we see rising over its 
 shoulder the summits of the Atlas range, 
 among whose peaks we hope to be in a 
 fortnight, after passing Bona, Phihppe- 
 ville and Constantina. 
 
 Saihng along this coast of the Mediter- 
 ranean resembles an excursion on one 
 of the Swiss lakes. Four hours aftei 
 passing Algiers, in going eastwardly to- 
 ward the port of Phihppeville, we come 
 in sight of Dellys, a little town of poor 
 appearance, where the hussars of France 
 first learned the peculiarities of Kabyle 
 fighting. This warfare was something 
 novel. In place of the old gusty sweeps 
 of cavaliers on horseback, faUing on the 
 French battalions or glancing around 
 them in whirlwinds, the soldiers had 
 to extirpate the Kabyles hidden in the 
 houses. It was not fighting — it was fer- 
 reting. Each house in Dellys was a fort 
 which had to be taken by siege. Each 
 garden concealed behind its pahngs the 
 
70 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 "flower" of Kabyle chivalry, only to be 
 uprooted by the bayonet. The women 
 fought with fury. 
 
 We follow our course along these ex- 
 quisite blue waters, and soon have a 
 glimpse, at three miles distance, of an 
 
 isolated, abrupt cone, trimmed at the 
 summit into the proportions of a pyra- 
 mid. It is the hill of Gouraya, an enor- 
 mous mass of granite which lifts its 
 scarped summit over the port of Bougie, 
 called Salda by Strabo. We approach 
 
 ^- /i-DELAVlLLB 
 ROMAN RELICS AT PHILIPPEVILLE. 
 
 and watch the enormous rock seeming 
 to grow taller and taller as we nestle be- 
 neath it in the beautiful harbor. Bougie 
 lies on a narrow and stony beach in the 
 embrace of the mountain, white and co- 
 quettish, spreading up the rocky wall as 
 far as it can, and looking aloft to the 
 protecting summit two thousand feet 
 above it. We abstain from dismount- 
 ing, but sweep the city with field-glasses 
 from the deck of the ship, recollecting 
 that Bougie was bombarded in the reign 
 of the Merrie Monarch by Sir Edward 
 Spragg. We trace the ravine of Sidi- 
 Touati, which breaks the town in half 
 as it splits its way into the sea. Here, 
 in 1836, the French commandant, Salo- 
 mon de Mussis, was treacherously shot 
 while at a friendly conference with the 
 sheikh Amzian, the pretext being the 
 
 murder of a marabout by the French 
 sentinels. The incident is worth men- 
 tioning, because it brought into light 
 some of the nobler traits of Kabyle cha- 
 racter. The sheikh, for kiUing a guest 
 with whom he had just taken coffee, was 
 reproached by the natives as "the man 
 who murdered with one hand and took 
 gifts with the other," and was forced by 
 mere popular contempt from his sheikh- 
 ship, to perish in utter obscurity. 
 
 Putting on steam again, we recede 
 from Bougie, and passing Djigelly, with 
 its overpoweringly large barracks and 
 hospital, doubhng Cape Bougarone and 
 sighting the fishing-village of "Stora, we 
 arrive at the new port-city of PhUippe- 
 ville. This colony, a plantation of Louis 
 Philippe's upon the site of the Roman 
 Russicada, has only thirty-four years of 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 71 
 
 existence, and contains twenty French- 
 men for every Arab found within it. It 
 differs, however, from our American 
 thirty-year-old towns in the interesting 
 respect of showing the traces of an older 
 civilization. French savants here ex- 
 
 amine the ruins of the theatre and the 
 immense Roman reservoirs in the hill- 
 side, and take "squeezes " of inscriptions 
 marked upon the antique altar, column 
 or cippus. On an ancient pillar was 
 found an amusing grafita, the sketch of 
 
 LION-SHAPED ROCK, HARBOR OF BONA. 
 
 some Roman schoolboy, showing an 
 aqimrms (or water-carrier) loaded with 
 his twin buckets. Philippeville, nursed 
 among these glowing African hills, has 
 the look of some bad melodramatic joke. 
 Its European houses, streets laid out with 
 the surveyor's chain, pompous church, 
 and arcades like a Rue de Rivoli in min- 
 iature, make a foolish show indeed, in 
 place of the walls, white, unwinking and 
 mysterious, which ordinarily enclose the 
 Eastern home or protect the Arab's wife 
 behind their blinded windows. 
 
 If we leave Philippeville in the even- 
 ing, we find ourselves next morning in 
 the handsome roadstead of Bona. This, 
 for the present, will terminate our ex- 
 amination of the coast, for, however fond 
 we may be of level traveling, we cannot 
 reasonably expect to get over the Atlas 
 Mountains by hugging the shore. The 
 harbor of Bona, though broad and beau- 
 tiful, is somewhat dangerous, concealing 
 numbers of rocks which lurk at about 
 the surface of the water. Other rocks, 
 standing boldly out at the entrance of 
 the port, offer a singular aspect, being 
 sculptured into strange forms by the sea. 
 One makes a very good statue of a lion, 
 lying before the city as its guard, and 
 looking across the waves for an enemy 
 as the foam caresses its monstrous feet. 
 
 Dismounting from shipboard, we be- 
 come landsmen for the remainder of oui 
 journey, and wave adieu to the steam- 
 boat which has brought us as we linger 
 a moment on the mole of Bona. This 
 city is named from the ancient Hippo, 
 out of whose ruins, a mile to the south- 
 ward, it was largely built. The Arabs 
 call it "the city of jujube trees" — 
 Beled-el-Huneb. To the Roumi (or 
 Christian) traveler the interest of the 
 spot concentrates in -one historic figure, 
 that of Saint Augustine. In the basilica 
 of Hippo, of which the remains are be- 
 lieved to have been identified in some 
 recent excavations, the sainted bishop 
 shook the air with his learned and pene- 
 trating eloquence. Here he exhorted 
 the faithful to defend their religious lib- 
 erty and their hves, uncertain if the Van- 
 dal hordes of Genseric were not about 
 to sweep away the faith and the lan- 
 guage of Rome. Here, where the forest 
 of El Edoug spreads a shadow like that 
 of memory over the scene of h'.s walks 
 and labors, he brought his grand life of 
 expiation to a holy close, praying with 
 his last breath for his disciples oppressed 
 by the invaders. We reach the site of 
 Hippo (or Hippone) by a Roman bridge, 
 restored to its former solidity by the 
 French, over whose arches the bishop 
 
72 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 must have often walked, meditating on 
 his youth of profligacy and vain scholar- 
 ship, and over the abounding Divine 
 grace which had saved him for the edi- 
 fication of all futurity. 
 
 Bona has a street named Saint Augus- 
 
 tine, but it is, by one of the strange para- 
 doxes which history is constantly play- 
 ing us, owned entirely by Jews, and 
 those of one sole family. This fact in- 
 dicates how the thrifty race has pros- 
 pered since the French occupancy 
 
 SHOPKEEPER AT BONA. 
 
 Formerly oppressed and ill treated, tax- 
 ed and murdered by the Turks, and only 
 permitted to dress in the mournfulest 
 colors, the Jew of Algeria hid himself as 
 if life were something he had stolen, and 
 for which he must apologize all his days. 
 Now, treated with the same liberality as 
 any other colonist, the Jew indulges in 
 every ostentation of dress except as to 
 the color of the turban, which, in small 
 towns like Bona, still preserves the black 
 hue of former days of oppression. On 
 Saturdays the children of Jacob fairly 
 blaze with gold and gay colors. On 
 their working days they line the princi- 
 pal streets, eyeing the passers-by with a 
 cool, easy indifference, but never losing 
 a chance of business. In Algeria this 
 race is generally thought to present a 
 picture of arrogance, knavery and rank 
 cowardice not equaled on the face of 
 the globe. An English traveler saw 
 
 an Arab, after maddening himself with 
 opium, and absinthe, run a-mok among 
 the shopkeepers who lined the principal 
 street of Algiers. Selecting the Hebrews, 
 he drove before him a throng of twenty, 
 dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, 
 who allowed themselves to be knocked 
 down with the obedience of ninepins. 
 A Frenchman stopped the maniac after 
 he had killed one Jew and wounded sev- 
 eral, none of them making any effort at 
 defence. 
 
 A few narrow streets, bordered with 
 Moorish architecture, contain the native 
 industry of Bona. It is about equally 
 divided between the Jews and the M'za- 
 bites, who, like the Kabyles, are a rem- 
 nant of the stiff-necked old Berber tribe. 
 The M'zabites preserve the pure Arab 
 dress — the haik, or small bornouse with- 
 out hood, the broad breeches coming to 
 the knee, the bare legs, and the turban 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 73 
 
 rolled up into a coil of ropes. Thus ac- 
 coutred, and squatting in the ledges of 
 their small booths, the jewelers, black- 
 smiths and tailors of Bona are found at 
 their work. 
 
 Returning to Philippeville by land. 
 
 and remaining as short a time as possible 
 in this unedifying city, which is a bad 
 and overheated imitation of a French 
 provincial town, we concede only so 
 much to its modern character as to hire 
 a fine open carriage in which to proceed 
 
 CONSTANTINA. 
 
 inland toward Constantina. This city 
 is reached after a calm, meditative ride 
 through sunny hills and groves. After 
 so quiet a preparation the first view of 
 Constantina is fairly astounding. En- 
 circled by a grand curve of mountainous 
 precipices, rises a gigantic rock, washed 
 by a moat formed of the roaring cas- 
 cades of the river Rummel. On the 
 flat top of this naked rock, like the Sty- 
 lites on his pillar, stands Constantina. 
 The Arabs used to say that Constantina 
 was a stone in the midst of a flood, and 
 that, according to their Prophet, it would 
 require as many Franks to raise that 
 stone as it would of ants to lift an egg 
 at the bottom of a milk-pot. 
 
 This city, under its old Roman name 
 of Cirta, was one of the principal strong- 
 holds of Numidia. In 1837 it was one 
 of the most hotly-defended strongholds 
 of the Kabyles. The French have re- 
 
 named, as "Gate of the Breach," the 
 old Bab-el-Djedi'd, wkere Colonel La- 
 moriciere entered at the head of his 
 Zouaves. The city had to be conquered 
 in detail, house by house. Lamoriciere 
 himself was wounded ; the Kabyles, 
 driven to their last extremity, evacuated 
 the Casbah on the summit of the rock, 
 and let down their women by ropes into 
 the abyss ; the ropes, overweighted by 
 these human clusters, broke, piling the 
 bodies and fragments of bodies in heaps 
 beneath the precipice, while some of the 
 natives descended the steep rock safely 
 with the agility of goats. 
 
 Of all the large Algerian cities, Con- 
 stantina is that which has best preserved 
 its primitive signet. In most quarters it 
 remains what it was under the Turks. 
 These quarters are still undermined, 
 rather than laid out, with close and 
 crooked streets, where the rough white 
 
74 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 houses are pierced with narrow win- 
 dows, closed to the inquisitive eye of 
 the Roumi. The roofs are of tile, for 
 the winters on the hills are too severe to 
 permit the flat, terraced roofs of Algiers 
 or Bona. These white houses, roofed 
 
 with brown, give a perfectly original as- 
 pect to the city as seen from any of the 
 neighboring eminences. The plateau of 
 Mansourah is connected with the town 
 by a magnificent Roman biidge, two sto- 
 ries in height, restored by the French. 
 
 ROMAN BRIDGE At CONSTANTINA. 
 
 From this bridge, which is three hun- 
 dred feet high by three hundred and fif- 
 teen feet in length, and has five arches, 
 you look down into the bed of the Rum- 
 mel, while the vultures and eagles scream 
 around you, and you recite the words 
 of the poet El Abdery, who called this 
 river a bracelet which encircles an arm. 
 The gorge opens out into a beautiful 
 plain rich with pomegranates, figs and 
 orange trees. The sea is forty - eight 
 miles away. 
 
 The last bey of Constantina, not know- 
 ing that he was merely building for the 
 occupancy of the French governors who 
 were to come after him, decreed himself, 
 some fifty years ago, a stately pleasure- 
 dome, after the fashion of Kubla Khan. 
 From the ruins of Constantina, Bona 
 and Tunis, Ahmed Bey picked up what- 
 ever was most beautiful in the way of 
 Roman marbles and carving. With 
 these he built his halls, while the Rum- 
 mel, through caverns measureless to 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 75 
 
 man, ran on below. Some Frenchman I the freedom of this curious piece of 
 of importance will now-a-days give you I Turkish construction, where, among 
 
 bey's palace, constantina. 
 
 storks and ibises gravely perched on 
 one stilt, you examine the relics of Ro- 
 man history, preserved by its very de- 
 
 stroyers, according to the grotesque 
 providence that watches over the study 
 of archaeology. 
 
76 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 You are told how Ahmed, wishing to 
 adorn the walls of his gallery or loggia 
 with frescoes, of which he had heard, 
 but which he had no artist capable of 
 executing, whether Arab, Moor or ]q\v, 
 applied to a prisoner. The man was 
 
 a French shoemaker, who had never 
 touched a brush : he vainly tried to de- 
 cline the honor, but the bey was inflex- 
 ible : " You are a vile liar : all the Chris- 
 tians can paint. Liberty if you succeed, 
 death if you disobey me." 
 
 SHAMPOOING THE ROUMI. 
 
 Extremely nervous was the hand 
 which the painter malgre ltd applied to 
 the unlooked-for task. From the labori- 
 ous travail of his brain issued at length 
 an odd mass of arabesques with which 
 the walls were somehow covered. His 
 invention exhausted, he awaited in an 
 agony of fear the inspection of his Turk- 
 ish master. He came, and was enchant- 
 ed. The painter was free, and the bey 
 observed ; "The dog wanted to deceive 
 me : I knew that all the Christians could 
 paint." 
 
 You are amazed to find, in this nest 
 of Islamite savagery and among these 
 wild rocks, the uttermost accent of mod- 
 ern French politeness. Your presence 
 is a windfall in quarters so retired, and 
 you sit among orange plants and stray- 
 
 ing gazelles, while the military band 
 throws softly out against the inaccessible 
 crags the famous tower-scene from the 
 fourth act of // Trovatore. As night 
 draws on, tired of your explorations, 
 you seek a Moorish bath. 
 
 Let no tourist, experienced only in the 
 effeminate imitations of the hummum to 
 be found in New York or London, expect 
 similar considerate treatment in Algeria. 
 He will be more likely to receive the at- 
 tention of the M'zabite bather after the 
 fashion narrated in the following para- 
 graph, which is a quotation from an 
 English journalist in the land of the 
 Kabyles : 
 
 "We were told to sit down upon a 
 marble seat in the middle of the hall, 
 which we had no sooner done than we 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 n 
 
 became sensible of a great increase of 
 heat : aftei this each of us was taken 
 into a closet of milder temperature, 
 where, after placing a white cloth on the 
 floor and taking off our napkins, they 
 laid us down, leaving us to the further 
 
 operations of two naked, robust negroes. 
 These men, newly brought from the in- 
 terior of Africa, were ignorant of Arabic ; 
 so I could not tell them in what way I 
 wished to be treated, and they handled 
 me as roughly as if I had been a Moor 
 
 HAMMO-EL-ZOUAOUI. 
 
 inured to hardship. Kneeling with one 
 knee upon the ground, each took me by 
 a leg and began rubbing the soles of 
 my feet with a pumice stone. After this 
 operation on my feet, they put their 
 hands into a small bag and rubbed me 
 all over with it as hard as they could. 
 The distortions of my countenance must 
 have told them what I endured, but they 
 rubbed on, smiling at each other, and 
 sometimes giving me an encouraging 
 look, indicating by their gestures the 
 good it would do me. While they were 
 thus currying me they almost drowned me 
 by throwing warm water upon me with 
 large silver vessels, which were in the 
 basin under a cock fastened in the wall. 
 When this was over they raised me up, 
 putting my head under the cock, by 
 which means the water flowed all over 
 my body ; and, as if this was not suf- 
 ficient, my attendants continued plying 
 their vessels. Then, having dried me 
 with very fine napkins, they each of 
 
 them very respectfully kissed my hand. 
 I considered this as a sign that my tor- 
 ment was over, and was going to dress 
 myself, when one of the negroes, grimly 
 smaling, stopped me till the other return- 
 ed with a kind of earth, which they began 
 to rub all over my body without consult- 
 ing my inclination. I was as much sur- 
 prised to see it take off all the hair as 
 I was pained in the operation ; for this 
 earth is so quick in its effect that it burns 
 the skin if left upon the body. This 
 being finished, I went through a second 
 ablution, after which one of them seized 
 me behind by the shoulders, and setting 
 his two knees against the lower part of 
 my back, made my bones crack, so that 
 for a time I thought they were entirely 
 dislocated. Nor was this all, for after 
 whirling me about like a top to the right 
 and left, he delivered me to his comrade, 
 who used me in the same manner : and 
 then, to my no small satisfaction, opened 
 the closet door." 
 
78 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 This is the true Moorish bath. Mean- 
 time, the M'zabite or negro, as he dislo- 
 cates your legs, cracks your spinal col- 
 umn of dances over you on his knees, 
 drones forth a kind of native psalmody, 
 which, melting into the steamy atmo- 
 sphere of the place, seems to be the 
 
 litany of happiness and of the pure 
 in heart. Clean in body and soul as 
 you never were before, skinned, depi- 
 lated, dissected, you emerge for a new 
 life of ideal perfection, feeling as if you 
 were suddenly relieved of your body. 
 There is held every Friday at Con- 
 
 " BALEK 
 
 stantina a grand assembly of the fire- 
 eating marabouts, the fanatics who have 
 given so much trouble to their French 
 rulers. Every revolution among the 
 Kabyles is a religious movement, set in 
 motion by the wild enthusiasm of the 
 "saints." The religious orders of Ka- 
 bylia, all of them differing in various 
 degrees from Turkish Mohammedanism, 
 are of some half dozen varieties, adapted 
 to minds of various cultivation. Some, 
 as that of Sidi-Yusef-Hansali, are mild 
 in their rites and of a purely didactic or 
 religious nature. This latter sect origin- 
 ated in Constantina, comprises two thou- 
 sand brothers or khouans, and was in 
 1865 under the authority of Hammo-el- 
 Zouaoui, a direct descendant of Yusef- 
 Hansali. An hour passed in the college 
 of this order, where the whole formula 
 of worship consists in saying a hundred 
 times "God forgive!" then, a hundred 
 other times, "Allah ill' Allah: Moham- 
 med ressoul Allah!" may be monotonous, 
 but it is not revolutionary. From this 
 
 tautological brotherhood, through vari- 
 ous degrees of emotional activity, you 
 arrive at the wild doings of the fire- 
 eaters, or followers of Mohammed-ben- 
 Aissa. This Aissa was a native of Mek- 
 nes in Morocco, where he died full of 
 years and piety three hundred years ago. 
 His legend states that being originally 
 very poor, he attempted to support his 
 family in the truly Oriental manner, not 
 by working for them, but by spending 
 his whole time at the mosque in prayer 
 for their miraculous sustenance. His 
 inertia and "his faith were acceptable to 
 Mohammed, who appeared to Aissa's 
 wife with baskets of food, and to Aissa 
 with the order to found a sect. The al- 
 legory expressed by the disgusting actions 
 of the order would seem to be that any- 
 thing is nourishment to the true believer. 
 They therefore exhibit themselves as eat- 
 ing red-hot iron, scorpions and prickly 
 cactus. Various travelers, some of them 
 cool hands and accurate observers, have 
 seen these khouans at their horrible 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 79 
 
 feasts without being able to explain the 
 imposture. A British soldier, an experi- 
 enced Indian officer, happened to be in 
 
 Kabylia just before the breaking out of 
 the great Sepoy rebellion in India, and 
 was introduced to one of the fire-eating 
 
 ^^^^^P&=^^y-//-/ / V G- 
 
 A STREET IN CONSTANT] NA. 
 
 orgies by Major Deval at Tizi-ouzou, 
 where our journey into Kabylia is to 
 terminate. With his own eyes he saw a 
 
 khouan, excited by half an hour's chant- 
 ing and beating the tom-tom, drive a^ 
 sword four inches deep into his chest by 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 THE GREAT MOSQUE, CONSTANTINA. 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 8l 
 
 hitting it with a tile. The man marched 
 around and exhibited it to the congrega- 
 tion as it quivered in his naked body. 
 Another seared his face and hands with 
 a large red-hot iron, holding it finally 
 with his mouth without other support. 
 Another chewed up an entire leaf of a 
 cactus with its dangerous spikes, which 
 sting one's hands severely and remain 
 rankling in the flesh. Another filled his 
 mouth with live coals from a brazier, 
 and walked around blowing out sparks. 
 Another swallowed a living scorpion, a 
 small snake, broken glass and nails. 
 The spectator was in the midst of these 
 enthusiasts, being touched by them in 
 their antics, yet he could detect no foul 
 play, except that he imagined the sword 
 in the first-named experiment to have 
 been driven into -an old wound or be- 
 tween the skin and the flesh. It was to 
 counteract the influence of the fire-eating 
 marabouts that the French government 
 sent over Robert Houdin, the ingenious 
 mechanician, but though he eclipsed 
 their wonders by tricks of electricity and 
 sleight, he has left but a lame explana- 
 tion of the "juggleries" of the Algerine 
 saints. 
 
 The worst attribute of these khouans 
 is, that after having excited the ignorant 
 Kabyles to many a losing war by their 
 magnetism, they remain themselves be- 
 hind the curtain, safe and sarcastic. 
 
 In the Moorish quarter of Constan- 
 tina, where the streets are about five feet 
 wide, you sit down to watch the per- 
 petual come-and-go of the inhabitants. 
 Taking a cup of fragrant coffee — which, 
 as the reader knows, is in Eastern coun- 
 tries eaten at the same time that it is 
 drunk — you sit on a stone bench of the 
 coffee-house and contem.plate mules, 
 horses, asses, passengers, buyers, sellers, 
 loungers, Arabs, Turks, Kabyles, Jews, 
 « 6 
 
 Moors and spahis. On every side you 
 hear the cry of "Balek! balek !" This 
 means "Look out!" and the word is 
 closely followed by the causative fact. 
 The street is unpaved, the horse is un- 
 shod, the hoofs cannot be heard, and 
 you have hardly time to efface yourself 
 against a wall when a cavalier passes by 
 like a careless torrent, scattering the 
 white bornouses centrifugally from his 
 pathway as he advances. The streets, 
 as we observed, are very narrow. Each 
 has its own manufacture. Here are the 
 tailors ; here, in this deafening alley, 
 are the blacksmiths ; farther on are the 
 shoemakers, and you are driven mad 
 with wonder at the quantities of slippers 
 made for a people which goes eternally 
 barefoot. Springing out of this daedal 
 intricacy of booths and workshops rise 
 the slender minarets of prayer, of which 
 the principal one belongs to a mosque 
 said to be the most beautiful in Algeria. 
 The interior of this chief mosque is not 
 deprived of ornament, having its col- 
 umns of pink marble, its elliptical Moor- 
 ish arches, and its tiles of painted fay- 
 ence set in the walls. In the centre is 
 the pulpit, coarsely painted red and 
 blue, where the imaum recites his pray- 
 ers. Three small, lofty windows are fill- 
 ed with carved lacework. The floor is 
 spread with carpets for tlje knees of the 
 rich, with matting for the poor. Over 
 all rises the square, crescent - crowned 
 minaret — no belfry, but a steeple where 
 the chimes are rung by the human voice. 
 Night and day, from the heights of their 
 slender towers, the muezzins toll out 
 their vibrating notes like a bell, inviting 
 the faithful to prayers with the often- 
 heard signal: "Allah ill' Allah :■ Mo- 
 hammed resoul Allah !" 
 
 (end of part first.) 
 
82 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 
 I kOM (.()\S1AMINA lU SET IF. 
 
 THE Roumi who leaves Constantina 
 for Setif has a choice of two routes 
 — one picturesque, lively and covered 
 with Roman remains ; the other perfect- 
 ly arid, and distinguished by the fact 
 that in five miles there are just four 
 trees. 
 
 He turns, however, as he settles him- 
 self in his stirrup amongst the interested 
 Arab population of Constantina, to cast 
 a last look at the ugly French streets 
 in which, as a tourist, his lot was cast. 
 The Arab quarters, where life still flows 
 on in the old African style, have seized 
 his attention exclusively, and he remem- 
 bers with a kind of contemptuous re- 
 morse that he has paid no regard to the 
 smart modern edifices and offices that 
 belong to French occupation. Yet one 
 of these, at least, the staring Napoleonic 
 Palais de Justice, would yield him a ro- 
 mance from time to time. 
 
 Here, in December, 1872, twenty-one 
 natives of the Belezma were tried at a 
 court of assizes for the massacre, last 
 April, of twelve French colonists. The 
 affair was a sequel of the French-Prus- 
 sian war. The natives, for a long time 
 past on good terms with strangers, be- 
 
 came insolent, boasting that France was 
 ruined, and that all the French would 
 soon disappear from Algeria. Some of 
 the tribes, however, remained, if not 
 friendly, at least less hostile. The re- 
 volt had become almost general, and on 
 the 2 1st of April the sheikh Brahim of 
 the Halymias informed the little colony 
 near Batna that they were no longer 
 safe in the forest, and offered to escort 
 them into Batna. These colonists were 
 the workmen at the saw- mills of a M. 
 Prudhomme, about ten miles out of the 
 town. The Europeans, consisting of 
 thirteen men, one woman named Dorliat 
 and her four children, set out the next 
 morning, accompanied by Brahim and 
 about forty of his men. On arriving in 
 a ravine they were suddenly attacked by 
 a large body of the rebels. Six of the 
 party, who were in the rear, succeeded 
 in escaping, but twelve of the men were 
 massacred. Madame Dorliat, it is said, 
 owed her life to a native named Abdal- 
 lah at the saw-mills, who, on seeing her 
 in tears before starting, said to her : 
 "Woman, you have nothing to fear : no 
 harm will be done to you or to your chil- 
 dren. As for the men, I will not answer 
 
THE KOUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 83 
 
 for them." As she continued to weep, 
 he added : "Listen ! When you see the 
 guns pointed at your breast, say this 
 prayer : ' Allah ! Allah ! Mohammed 
 racoul Allah !' and you will be saved." 
 He also taught the same prayer to her 
 children. In the midst of the slaughter 
 
 MOUNTAIN ARABS. 
 
 several Arabs had leveled their firearms 
 at her to shoot her, when she remem- 
 bered Abdallah's lesson, and throwing 
 herself on her knees to them repeated 
 the invocation. The murderers stopped, 
 made her say it over again, and asked, 
 "Do you mean it?" On her replying 
 in the affirmative they spared her, but 
 stripped her entirely naked, and took 
 from her three of her children : she only 
 recovered them thirty -two days later, 
 and one of them died from a sabre-cut 
 in the head, received during the fight. 
 The woman's husband was among the 
 killed, and so was the proprietor of the 
 mill, M. Prudhomme. Of the twenty ac- 
 cused brought to trial at Constantina, 
 twelve were condemned to death and 
 three to hard labor ; the others, among 
 
 whom was the sheikh Brahim, being 
 acquitted. 
 
 Severe justice is the only condition on 
 which French supremacy can be main- 
 tained in the country, and probably for 
 the general Arab populace the rule of 
 the Gauls is a judicious one. But it is 
 to be questioned whether 
 the rule of fa/wn is the 
 right one for the Kabyles. 
 In 1871, at the height of 
 the French troubles with 
 the Commune, formidable 
 revolts were going on 
 among the descendants 
 of those untamable 
 wretches whom Saint 
 Arnaud smoked out in 
 a cave. In July the gar- 
 rison at Setif heard the 
 plaint of a friendly cadi, 
 named D'joudi, who had 
 been wantonly attacked 
 for his 1 o y a 1 1 y to the 
 French by some organ- 
 ized mutineers under 
 Mohammed Ben-Hadad. 
 The poor wretch had 
 been obliged to flee, with 
 his women and his flocks, 
 into the protection of his 
 country's oppressors. 
 Since the chassepot has 
 succeeded' in reducing 
 the Kabyles once more 
 to a superficial obedience, the courts 
 have been busy with the sentences of 
 their insubordinate leaders. France im- 
 itates England's sanguinary policy in 
 her treatment of rebellious and semi- 
 civilized tribes. Eight of the leaders of 
 the Kabyle revolt of 1871 have been 
 condemned to death, and a number of 
 others have been sentenced to various 
 terms of imprisonment. The Kabyles 
 will take their revenge when another 
 European war places the Algiers colo- 
 nists at their mercy. 
 
 The guides who accompany the trav- 
 eler serve, in the absence of the trees, to 
 attract his scrutiny. These mountain 
 Arabs are superb fellows. Lips almost 
 black, and shaded with lustrous beards, 
 set off their perfect teeth, white, small. 
 
84 
 
 THE KOUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 and separated like those of a young dog. 
 Their black eyes are soft or stern at will. 
 They are usually of middle size, large- 
 
 chested, as befits Arabs from the hills, 
 with small heads and finely - tapered 
 wrists and ankles. They are dressed in 
 
 AN ARAB UOUAR. 
 
 red, with a covering of two bornouses — i tached to their boots of red morocco, 
 a white one beneath, and a black one which come up to the knee ; for the 
 fastened over. Long iron spurs are at- | Algerian Arab, a bare-legged animal 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 85 
 
 when walking, is a booted cavalier when 
 mounted. The white haik, or toga, is 
 fastened around the temples. The horse 
 of the principal guide is a fine iron-gray, 
 with an enormous tail of black — high- 
 stepping, and carrying his elaborately- 
 draped burden as proudly as a banner. 
 
 In contrast to this imposing guard of 
 honor, the traveler minces along on a 
 dumb, timid mule, who smells the ground 
 in a sordid and vulgar manner, and is 
 guided by a pitiful rope bridle. Such 
 are the hackneys and the guides, en- 
 gaged on the recommendation of the 
 
 THE WASHERWOMEN. 
 
 commandant of Constantina, who un- 
 dertake to carry us to Setif and on to 
 Bou-Kteun in Kabylia. 
 
 Setif, the ancient metropolis of this 
 part of Mauritania, and celebrated for a 
 brave defence against the invading Sara- 
 cens, is now the healthiest spot occupied 
 by the French in all Algeria. It lies on 
 a great table a mile above the sea, is 
 fortified, and has four good streets, but 
 pays for its salubrity by the extreme out- 
 spokenness of the climate. It is subject 
 to snow for six months, and is enveloped 
 in a cloud of dust the other six. It is 
 in the midst of a great grain-producing 
 country, and is famed for its market, 
 held every Sabbath. The surrounding 
 folk dress for market, instead of dress- 
 ing for Sunday, and exhibit the whitest 
 of bornouses above the dustiest of legs 
 
 as they sit crooning over trays of eggs 
 or onions, brought far on foot through 
 the powdery roads. 
 
 As we leave Setif we are overtaken 
 by the lumbering stage-coach, which 
 plunges and jolts over the road to Sibou- 
 Areridj — a coach apparently about the 
 age of the carriage of General Wash- 
 ington, for Algeria is the infirmary of all 
 the worn-out French diligences. Sibou- 
 Areridj is reached and passed, and a 
 few miles farther on is encountered an 
 Arab douar, or assemblage of tents form- 
 ing a tribal fraction. This woven village, 
 although we have attained the limits of 
 Kabylia, reminds us that we have not 
 yet reached the Kabylian abodes : an 
 Arab lives in a tent in all localities out- 
 side the great cities — a Kabyle, never. 
 However poor the hut in which the 
 
86 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 Ivabylian artisan starves and labors, it 
 must be a solid mansion founded upon 
 llie soil, and its master must feel himself 
 a householder. Our douar proves to be 
 an encampment belonging to the mara- 
 bouts, or high religious orders, situated 
 on a large plot of ground in the owner- 
 
 ship of the saints, and extending up to 
 the limits of Kabylia. Composed of a 
 circle of tents numbering about fifty, 
 and exhibiting numbers of fine horses 
 picketed near the tent-doors, it is as fine 
 a specimen as we shall see of the patri- 
 archal life inherited from the unfatherlv 
 
 THE STONE TURBAN. 
 
 father of Ishmael. The pavilions are 
 of a thick camel's hair stuff, very labori- 
 ously made by the women, which swells 
 up in the rain and completely excludes 
 moisture. They are striped brown and 
 yellow, but a splendid tabernacle in the 
 centre, of richer colors and finer fabric, 
 bears at the apex a golden ball with 
 plumes of ostrich feathers, the sign of 
 authority. This tent is oval in form, 
 resembling an overturned ship. It is 
 the residence and office of the sheikh, 
 or chief of the douar : several douars 
 united form a tribe, governed by a caid. 
 We venture to visit the sheikh, assured 
 by our spahi guides that we shall be 
 welcome. We are received blandly by 
 the officer, offensively by his dogs, a 
 throng of veritable jackals who scream 
 around our feet as we enter. The in- 
 terior, rich and severe at once, exhib- 
 its saddles and arms, gilded boxes and 
 silken curtains, without a single article 
 
 of furniture. The sheikh treats us to 
 mild tobacco in chiboukhs — another sign 
 that we are not yet in Kabylia : never 
 is a Kabyle seen smoking. We recip- 
 rocate by offering coffee, made on the 
 spot over our spirit-lamp — a process 
 which the venerable sheikh watches as 
 a piece of jugglery, and then dismisses 
 us on our way with the polite but final 
 air which Sarah may be supposed to 
 have used in dismissing Hagar. 
 
 The douar, like a city, has suburbs 
 of greater squalor than its interior, and 
 among them, under the palm trees, we 
 see women washing clothes or engaged 
 in the manufacture of couscoussou, a 
 dish common to the Arab, the Kabyle 
 and the traveler hereabouts, and so im- 
 portant that a description of its prepara- 
 tion may be acceptable. 
 
 In the opening of a small tent, then, 
 we paused to watch an old moukere (or 
 daughter of Araby), whose hands look 
 
THE ROUAII IN KABYLIA. 
 
 87 
 
 as if she had been stirring up the com- 
 post-heap of bones, pickings and dirt 
 before the door. With these hands she 
 loUs dexterously a quantity of moisten- 
 ed flour upon a plate. Long habit has 
 made it easy to her, and in an incredibly 
 short time she has formed a multitude 
 
 of small grains — her hands, it must be 
 said, looking a great deal cleaner after 
 the process. On the fire is a pot of 
 water, just placed. She interrupts her 
 labor to throw in a piece of kid, which, 
 with a quantity of spices, she stirs around 
 with her callous hand, almost to the 
 
 bOU KTEUN 
 
 c; 
 
 boiling-pitch of the water. She then 
 addicts herself once more to the manu- 
 facture of the flour-grains, of which she 
 has directly made a perfect mountain. 
 The water now boiling, she places the 
 granulated paste in a second earthen pot 
 or vase, whose bottom, pierced like a 
 colander with holes, fits like a cover 
 upon that in which the meat is boiling. 
 The steam cooks the grains, which are 
 afterward served upon a platter, with the 
 meat on top and the soup poured over. 
 All travelers agree that, when you do 
 not witness the preparation, couscoussou 
 is a toothsome and attractive dish, fit to 
 be set beside the maccaroni of Rossini. 
 On the plateau outside the douar we 
 find the cemetery, with its tombs ; for 
 the Arab, content to sleep under tissue 
 while he lives, must needs sleep under 
 mason-work after he is dead. Under 
 the koubba, or dome, is seen a sarcoph- 
 agus covered with a crimson pall, the 
 tomb of a dead marabout : banners of 
 yellow or green silk, the testimony of so 
 many pilgrimages to Mecca, hang over 
 
 the dead. In the graveyard round about 
 are tombstones roughly sculptured, and 
 the stone turbans indicating the cranium 
 of a Mussulman ; the Arab, again, after 
 building his house of camel's hair, order- 
 ing his last turban to be woven by the 
 stone-mason ! 
 
 We pass along a sterile country, with 
 chalky rocks cropping from the ground 
 and making our way increasingly dif- 
 ficult. All is dry as a lime-basket. The 
 climate here, completely wanting in the 
 sense of a just medium, knows no re- 
 source between the utter desiccation of 
 all the water-courses in summer and an 
 outpouring in winter which carries away 
 trees, crops and arable earth, presenting 
 the farmer with a result of boulders and 
 sand. The rocks sound beneath our 
 animals' feet for an hour or two : we dip 
 into a ravine and attain Bou-Kteun, our 
 first Kabylian town. 
 
 It is night, and we invoke the hos- 
 pitality of the village chief, called by 
 the Kabyles the amin. Our prayers are 
 not refused. The amin receives the 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 strangers, not so much from a feeling 
 of social etiquette, of which he knows 
 little, as from his religion, which com- 
 mands him to receive the guest as the 
 messenger of God. He comes to the 
 threshold, kisses our hands without ser- 
 vility, waits on us at a supper which he 
 is too polite to share, and presents us 
 with a prayer at our bedside. Bou- 
 Kteun, situated halfway up the " Red 
 Plateau," guards the pass called the 
 Gates of Iron. It is an uninteresting 
 village, the official house being alone 
 respectable amidst a town of huts. As 
 the amin accompanies us a little way 
 outside the burgh, we remark, among 
 the young orchards, stumps of olive and 
 fig trees sawn away at the base. The 
 amin shows them with sad satire, saying 
 in explanation, " French Roumi :" it was 
 the Christian French. 
 
 That is the term, meaning no compli- 
 ment, which the Kabyle fits to all Eu- 
 ropeans alike. In vain the Frenchman, 
 writhing with intellectual repugnance, 
 explains that he is not a Christian — that 
 he is a Voltairean, a creature of reason, 
 an zlhanme. The Kabyle continues to 
 call him a Roumi, which will bear to be 
 translated Romanist, being imitated from 
 the word Rome and applied to all Catho- 
 lics. These same tribes doubtless called 
 Saint Augustine a Roumi, and he return- 
 ed the epithet Barbari or Berbers — a 
 name which the emperors applied with 
 vast contempt to the hordes and mon- 
 grel population of exiles and convicts 
 that peopled Mauritania, and which 
 the natives retained until the Arab in- 
 vasion, when they changed Berber for 
 Kebaile. 
 
 The Romans conquered the shores 
 and the plains. You find none of their 
 ruins among the mountains, where the 
 Berbers, from the Roman occupation to 
 the French, have preserved an inde- 
 pendence never completely subdued. 
 
 The Kabyle villages are united into 
 federations. If these federations engage 
 in quarrels — which is by no means rare 
 — or if a village is menaced by an 
 enemy, signals are placed in the mina- 
 rets to appeal to the towns of the same 
 party. These are easily seen, for all 
 
 the villages are on hilly crests and visible 
 from a distance. From the summit of 
 Taourit el Embrank we can count more 
 than twenty of these Kabyle towns, 
 perched on the peaks around us, and 
 separated by profound chasms. 
 
 Every trait points out the distinction 
 between the Kabyles and the surround- 
 - ing Arabs. The Arabs seek laziness as 
 a sovereign good ; the Kabyles are great 
 artificers. The Arabs imprison theit 
 wives ; the Kabyle women are almost 
 as free as our own. The Kabylian ad- 
 herence to the Mohammedan faith is bul 
 partial, and is variegated by a quantity 
 of superstitions and articles of belief 
 indicating quite another origin. While 
 the Koran proclaims the law of retalia- 
 tion, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, the 
 more humane Kabyle law simply exiles 
 the criminal for ever, confiscating his 
 goods to the community. It is true, the 
 family of a murdered person are expect- 
 ed to pursue the homicide with all the 
 tenacity of a Corsican vendetta, but the 
 tribal laws are kept singularly clean from 
 the ferocity of individual habits. A 
 strange thing, indicating probably a de- 
 rivation from times at least as early as 
 Augustine, is that the Kabyle code (a 
 mixture, like all primitive codes, of law 
 and religion) is called by the Greek term 
 canon [kanonn). An institution of great 
 protective use, in practice, is the safe- 
 conduct, or anaya, a token given to a 
 guest, traveler or prescript, and which 
 protects the bearer as far as the ac- 
 quaintance of the giver extends : it may 
 be a gun, a stick, a bornouse or a letter. 
 The anaya is the sultan of the Kabyles, 
 doing charity and raising no taxes — 
 "the finest sultan in the world," says 
 the native proverb. The Kabyles press 
 into all the towns and seaports for em- 
 ployment with the same independence 
 as if they were a neighboring nationality. 
 They build houses, they work in car- 
 pentry, they forge weapons, gun-barrels 
 and locks, swords, knives, pickaxes, 
 cards for wool, ploughshares, gun-stocks, 
 shovels, wooden shoes, and frames for 
 weaving. They weave neatly, and their 
 earthenware is renowned. In addition, 
 they are expert and shameless counter- 
 
THE KOUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 89 
 
 feiters. Yes, the fact must be admitted : 
 these rugged mountaineers, so proud, 
 and, according to their own code, so 
 honorable, never blush to prepare imita- 
 tions of the circulating medium, which 
 they only know as an appurtenance and 
 inxention of their civilized conquerors. 
 
 In his rude hovel, with all the sublimities 
 of Nature around him, this child of the 
 wilderness looks up to the summits of 
 the Atlas, "with peaky tops engrailed," 
 and immediately thereafter looks down 
 again to attend to the engrailing of his 
 neat five-franc pieces, which can hardly 
 
 TOBRIZ. AN ENEMY OF THE GuILLGTINE. 
 
 be told from the genuine. This multi- 
 plication of finance was punished under 
 the beys with death. The bey of Con- 
 stantina arrested in one day the men of 
 three tribes notorious for counterfeiting, 
 and decapitated a hundred of them. 
 There was lately to be seen at Constan- 
 tina the executioner who was charged 
 with this punishment, the very individual 
 who cut off the ingenious heads of all 
 these poor money-makers, and did not 
 
 "cut them off with a shilling." He ap- 
 peared to modern visitors as a modest 
 coffee-house keeper in the Arab quarters, 
 who would serve you, for two cents, a 
 cup of coffee with the hand that had 
 wielded the yataghan. He was an old 
 Turk, with wide gray moustaches, dress- 
 ed in a i-emarkable and theatrical fash- 
 ion. He wore a yellow turban of colossal 
 size, and an ample orange girdle over a 
 dress of light green. Poor Tobriz — that 
 
 G 
 
 4 
 
9° 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 was his name — was violently opposed to I geria. In the days of his prosperity an 
 i!ie introduction of the guillotine in Al- I enormous sabre was passed through his 
 
 THE IRON GATES. 
 
 flaming girdle. In the early years of 
 the French conquest Tobriz was employ- 
 ed in the decapitations, which were exe- 
 
 cuted with a saw, and must have been a 
 horrible spectacle. He remembered well 
 the execution of the hundred counter- 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 feiters in one night, and their heads ex- 
 posed in the market. 
 
 A rapid descent from Bou-Kteun to 
 the bed of a river of the same name, 
 and a pursuit of the latter to its conflu- 
 ence with the river Biban, lead through 
 impressive ravines to the Iron Gates. 
 The waters of the Biban, impregnated 
 with magnesia, leave their white traces 
 on the bottoms of the precipices which 
 enclose them. The mules pick their 
 way over paths of terrible inclination. 
 At length, at a turn in the overhanging 
 reddish cliffs, where a hundred men 
 
 could hold in check an entire army, we 
 find ourselves in front of the first gate. 
 It is a round arch four yards in width, 
 pierced by Nature between the rocks. 
 The second is at twenty paces off, and 
 two others are found at a short distance. 
 Between the first and second we ob- 
 serve, chiseled in the stone above the 
 reach of the water, ''L Arinee Fi'aiK^aisc, 
 1839," engraved by the sappers attach- 
 ed to the army of the duke of Orleans 
 on the passage of the expedition. 
 
 (END OF PART SECOND.) 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 THE AMIN OF KAALA. 
 
 EMERGING from these gloomy 
 cafions, and passing the Beni-Man- 
 sour, the village of Thasaerth (where 
 razors and guns are made), Arzou (full 
 of blacksmiths), and some other towns, 
 92 
 
 we enter the Beni-Aidel, where numerous 
 white villages, wreathed with ash trees, lie 
 crouched like nests of eggs on the sum- 
 mits of the primary mountains, with the 
 magnificent peaks of Atlas cut in sap- 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 93 
 
 phire upon the sky above them. At the 
 back part of an amphitheatre of rocky 
 summits, Hamet, the guide, points out a 
 
 little city perched on a precipice, which 
 is certainly the most remarkable site, 
 outside of opera-scenery, that we have 
 
 ever seen 
 thousand 
 quarters. 
 
 It is Kalaa, a town of three | fined situation, to be perpetually dispu- 
 inhabitants, divided into four ting with each other, although a battle 
 which contrive, in that con- I would disperse the whole of the tax- 
 
94 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 payers over the edges. Although ap- I Kalaa may be approached in passing b> 
 parently inaccessible but by balloon, | Bogni. It is hard to give an idea of the 
 
 COURTYARD IN KAI.AA. 
 
 difficulties in climbing up from Bogni 
 to the city, where the hardiest traveler 
 feels vertigo in picking his way over a 
 
 path often but a yard wide, with perpen- 
 diculars on either hand. Finally, after 
 many strange feelings in your head and 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 95 
 
 along your spinal marrow, you thank 
 Heaven that you are safe in Kalaa. 
 
 the women promenade without veils and 
 covered with jewels, and the city is clean, 
 
 The inhabitants of Kalaa pass for rich, i which is rare in Kabylia. There are four 
 
 OUR IDA, THE LITTLE ROSE. 
 
 amins (or sheikhs) in Kalaa, to one of 
 whom we bear a letter of introduction. 
 The miaya never fails, and we are re- 
 
 ceived with cordiality, mixed with state- 
 liness, by an imposing old man in a 
 white bornouse. '" Enta amin ?" asks the 
 
96 
 
 THE KOUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 Roumi. He answers by a sign of the 
 head, and reads our missive with care. 
 Immediately we are made at home, but 
 conversation languishes. He knows 
 nothing but the pure Kabyle tongue, 
 and cannot speak the mixed language 
 of the coasts, called Sabir, which is the 
 pigeon-Fiench of Algiers 
 and Philippeville. 
 
 "Enta sabir el arbi?" — 
 " Knowest thou Arabic ?" 
 asks our host. 
 
 "Makach" — "No," we 
 reply. "Enta sabir el 
 Ingles f" — " Canst thou 
 speak English ?" 
 
 ''Makach" — "Nay," an- 
 swers the beautiful o 1 d 
 sage, after which conversa- 
 tion naturally languishes. 
 
 But the next morning, 
 after the richest and most 
 assiduous entertainment, 
 we see the little daughter 
 of the amin playing in the 
 court, attended by a ne- 
 gress. The child-language 
 is much the same in all 
 nations, and in five min- 
 utes, in this land of the 
 Barbarians, on this terri- 
 ble rock, we are pleasing 
 the infant with wiles learnt 
 to please little English-speaking rogues 
 across the Atlantic. 
 
 The amin's daughter, a child of six 
 years, forms with her slave a perfect 
 contrast. She is rosy and white, her 
 mouth is laughing, her peeping eyes are 
 laughing too. What strikes us partic- 
 ularly is the European air that she has, 
 with her square chin, broad forehead, 
 robust neck and sturdy body. A glance 
 at her father by daylight reveals the 
 same familiar type. Take away his 
 Arab vestments, and he would almost 
 pass for a brother of Heinrich Heine. 
 His child might play among the towers 
 of the Rhine or on the banks of the 
 Moselle, and not seem to be outside her 
 native country. We have here, in a 
 strong presentment, the types which 
 seem to connect some particular tribes 
 of the Kabyles with the Vandal in- 
 
 vaders, who, becoming too much ener- 
 vated in a tropical climate to preserve 
 their warlike fame or to care for retiring, 
 amalgamated with the natives. The in- 
 habitants on the slopes of the Djordjora, 
 reasonably supposed to have descended 
 from the warriors of Genseric, build 
 
 KABYLE SHOWING GERMANIC ORIGIN. 
 
 houses which amaze the traveler by their 
 utter unlikeness to Moorish edifices and 
 their resemblance to European struc- 
 tures. They make bornouses which sell 
 all over Algeria, Morocco, Tunis and 
 Tripoli, and have factories like those of 
 the Pisans in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Contrast the square and stolid Kabyle 
 head shown in the engraving on this 
 page with the type of the Algerian Arab 
 on page 494. The more we study them, 
 or even rigidly compare our Arab with 
 the amin of Kalaa, the more distinction 
 we shall see between the Bedouin and 
 either of his Kabyle compatriots. The 
 amin, although rigged out as a perfect 
 Arab, reveals the square jaw, the firm 
 and large-cut mouth, the breadth about 
 the temples, of the Germanic tribes ; it 
 is a head of much distinction, but it 
 shows a large remant of the purely ani- 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 97 
 
 mal force which entered into the strength 
 of the Vandals and distinguished the 
 Germans of Ceesar's day. As for the 
 Kabyle of more vulgar position, take 
 away his haik and his bornouse, trim 
 the points of his beard, and we have a 
 perfect German head. Beside these we 
 
 TYI'E OF ALGERIAN ARAIi. 
 
 set a representative Arab head, sketched 
 in the streets of Algiers. See the feline 
 characteristics, the pointed, drooping 
 moustache and chin-tuft, the ext^^ne 
 retrocession of the nostrils, the thin, 
 weak and cruel mouth, the retreating 
 forehead, the filmed eye, the ennui, the 
 terrestrial detachment, of the Arab. He 
 is a dandy, a creature of alternate flash 
 and dejection, a wearer of ornaments, a 
 man proud of his striped hood and orna- 
 mental agraffes. The Kabyle, of stur- 
 dier stuff, hands his ragged garment to 
 his son like a tattered flag, bidding him 
 cherish and be proud of the rents made 
 by Roumi bayonets. 
 
 It must be admitted that the Kabyles, 
 with a thousand faults, are far from the 
 fatalism, the abuse of force and that 
 7 
 
 merging of individualism which are 
 found with the Islamite wherever he ap- 
 pears. Whence, then, have come these 
 more humane tendencies, charitable cus- 
 toms and movements of compassion ? 
 There are respectable authorities who 
 consider them, with emotion, as feeble 
 gleams of the great Chris- 
 tian light which formerly, 
 at its purest period, illumi- 
 nated Northern Africa. 
 
 It is the opinion of some 
 who have long been con- 
 versant with the Kabyles 
 that the deeper you dive 
 into their social mysteries 
 the more traces you find 
 of their having once been 
 a Christian people. They 
 observe, for instance, a set 
 of statutes derived from 
 their ancestors, and which, 
 on points like suppression 
 of thefts and murders, do 
 not agree with the Koran. 
 We have spoken of their 
 name for the law — kanoun : 
 evidently the resemblance 
 of this to xayuiv must be 
 more than accidental. 
 Another sign is the mark 
 of the cross, tattooed on 
 the women of many of the 
 tribes. -These fleshly in- 
 scriptions are an incarnate 
 evidence of the Christian past of some 
 of the Kabyles, particularly such as are 
 probably of Vandal origin. They are 
 found especially among the tribes of the 
 Gouraya, are probably a result of the 
 Vandal invasion, and consist in the 
 mark or sign of the cross, half an inch 
 in dimension, on their forehead, cheeks 
 and the palms of their hands. It ap- 
 pears that all the natives who were 
 found to be Christians were freed from 
 certain taxes by their Aryan conquerors ; 
 and it was arranged that they should 
 profess their faith by making the cross 
 on their persons, which practice was thus 
 universalized. The tattooing is of a 
 beautiful blue color, and is more orna- 
 mental than the patches worn by our 
 grandmothers. 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 Our final inference, then, is, that the 
 Kabyles preserve strong traces of cer- 
 tain primitive customs, which in certain 
 cases are attributable to a Christian 
 origin. 
 
 A true city of romance, a Venice iso- 
 lated by waves of mountains, and built 
 upon piles whose beams are of living 
 crystal, Kalaa, all but inaccessible, at- 
 
 tracts the tourist as the roc's ^gg attract- 
 ed Aladdin's wife. For ages it has been 
 a city of refuge, a sanctuary for person 
 and property in a land of anarchy. No- 
 where else are the proud Kabyles so 
 skillful and industrious — nowhere else 
 are their women so much like Western 
 women in beauty and freedom. 
 
 The Kabyle woman preserves the lib- 
 
 KABVLE WOMEN. 
 
 erty which the female of the Orient 
 possessed in the old times, before the 
 jealousy of Mohammed made her a bird 
 in a cage, or, as the Arab poet says, "an 
 attar which must not be given to the 
 winds." In Kabylia the women talk 
 and gossip with the men : their villages 
 present pretty spectacles at sunset, when 
 groups of workers and gossipers mingled 
 are seen laughing, chatting and singing 
 to the accompaniment of the drum. 
 Some of these women are really hand- 
 some, and are freely decorated, even in 
 public, with the singular enamels which 
 are their peculiar manufacture, and with 
 threads of gold in their graceful che- 
 loukas or tunics. 
 
 But Kalaa, like the picturesque " Peas- 
 
 ant's Nest" described by Cowper in his 
 Task, pays one natural penalty for the 
 rare beauty of its site. It pants on a 
 rock whose gorges of lime are the seat 
 of a perpetual thirst. In vain have the 
 suffering natives sunk seven basins in 
 one alley of the town, the cleft separating 
 the quarter of the Son of David from 
 that of the children of Jesus [Aissa). 
 The water only trickles by drops, and, 
 though plentiful in winter, deserts them 
 altogether in the season when their air- 
 hung gardens, planted in earth broughi 
 up from the plains, need it the most. 
 As the mellowing of the season brings 
 with it its plague of aridity, recourse is 
 had to the river at the bottom of the 
 ravine, the Oued-Hamadouch. Then 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 99 
 
 from morning to night perpendicular I are seen descending and ascending the 
 chains of diminutive, shrewd donkeys | precipice with great jars slung in net- 
 
 -Uela. 
 KAllYLE GROUP. 
 
 work. But the Hamadouch itself in the i ulation counting three thousand mouths, 
 sultry season is but a thread of water, I Then the folks of Kalaa would die of 
 easily exhausted by the needs of a pop- I thirst were it not for the foresight of a 
 
lOO 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 marabout of celebrity, whom chance or 
 miracle caused to discover a hidden 
 spring at the bottom of the rock. By 
 the aid of subscriptions among the rich 
 he built a fountain over the sources of 
 the spring. 
 
 It is a small Moorish structure, with 
 
 two stone pilasters supporting a pointed 
 arch. In the centre is an inscription 
 forbidding to the pious admirers of the 
 marabout the use of the fountain while 
 a drop remains in the Hamadouch. To 
 assist their fidelity, the spring is effect- 
 ually closed except when all other sources 
 
 yusef's fountain. 
 
 have peremptorily failed, in the united 
 opinion of three amins (Kabyle sheikhs). 
 When the amins give permission the 
 chains which restrain the mechanism 
 are taken off, and the conduits are open- 
 ed by means of iron handles operating 
 on small valves of the same metal. In 
 the great droughts the fountain of Mara- 
 bout Yusef-ben-Khouia may be seen sur- 
 rounded with a throng of astute, white- 
 nosed asses, waiting in philosophic calm 
 amid the excitement and struggle of the 
 attendant water-bearers. 
 
 Seen hence, from the base of the pre- 
 
 cipice, where abrupt pathways trace their 
 zigzags of white lightning down the rock, 
 and where no vegetation relieves the 
 harsh stone, the town of Kalaa seems 
 some accursed city in a Dantean Inferno. 
 Seen from the peaks of Bogni, on the 
 contrary, the nest of white houses cov- 
 ered with red tiles, surmounted by a glit- 
 tering minaret and by the poplars which 
 decorate the porch of the great mosque, 
 has an aspect as graceful as unique. In 
 a vapory distance floats off from the eye 
 the arid and thankless country of the 
 Beni-Abbes. On every level spot, on 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 every plateau, is detected a clinging 
 white town, encircled with a natural 
 wreath of trees and hedges. They are 
 all visible one from the other, and perk 
 up their heads apparently to signal each 
 other in case of sudden appeal : it is by 
 a telegraphic system from distance to 
 distance that the Kabyles are collected 
 
 What a strange landscape ! And what 
 a race, brooding over its nests in the 
 eagles' crags ! Where on earth can be 
 found so peculiar a people, guarding 
 their individuality from the hoariest an- 
 tiquity, and snatching the arts into the 
 clefts of the mountains, to cover the 
 languid races of the plains with luxuries 
 borrowed from the clouds ! The jew- 
 elry and the tissues, the bornouses and 
 haiks, the blacksmith-work and am- 
 munition, which fill the markets of Mo- 
 rocco, Tunis and the countries toward 
 the desert, are scattered from off these 
 crags, which Nature has forbidden to 
 man by her very strongest prohibi- 
 tions. 
 
 We are now in the midst of what 
 is known as Grand Kabylia. The 
 coast from Algiers eastward toward 
 Philippeville, and the relations of some 
 of the towns through which we have 
 passed, may be understood from the 
 following sketch : 
 
 THE LATEST IMPROVED REAPER. 
 
 for their incorrigible revolutions. Two 
 ruined towers are pointed out, called by 
 the Kabyles the Bull's Horns, which in 
 1847 poured down from their battlements 
 a cataract of fire on Bugeaud's chas- 
 seurs d' Orleans, who climbed to take 
 them, singing their favorite army-catch 
 as well as they could for want of breath : 
 
 As-tu vu la casquette, la casquette, 
 As-tu vu la casquette du Pere Bugeaud? 
 
 Far away, at the foot of the Azrou-n'hour, 
 an immense peak hfting its breadth of 
 snow-capped red into the pure azure, the 
 populous town of Azrou is spread out 
 over a platform almost inaccessible. 
 
 Algiers 
 
 AuiiiaJe. 
 
 Dellys. 
 
 « Bougie. 
 
 Setif. * 
 
 The scale of distances may be im- 
 agined from the fact that it is eighty- 
 seven and a half miles by sea from 
 Algiers to Bougie. The country known 
 as Grand Kabylia, or Kabylia par ex- 
 cellence, is that part of Algeria form- 
 ing the great square whose corners 
 are Dellys, Aumale, Setif and Bougie. 
 Though these are fictitioiis and not 
 geographical limits, they are the near- 
 est approach that can be made to fixing 
 the nation on a map. Besides their 
 Grand Kabylia, the ramifications of the 
 tribe are rooted in all the habitable parts 
 of the Atlas Mountains between Moroc- 
 co and Tunis, controlling an irregular 
 portion of Africa which it is impossible to 
 define. It will be seen that the country 
 of the tribe is not deprived of seaboard 
 nor completely mountainous. The two 
 ports of Dellys and Bougie were their 
 sea-cities, and gave the French infinite 
 
102 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 trouble : the plain between the two is 
 the great wheat-growing country, where 
 the Kabyle farmer reaps a painful crop 
 with his saw-edged sickle. 
 
 In this trapezoid the fire of rebellion 
 never sleeps long. As we write comes 
 the report of seven hundred French 
 troops surrounded by ten thousand na- 
 
 tives in the southernmost or Atlas region 
 of Algeria. The bloody lessons of last 
 year have not taught the Kabyle sub- 
 mission. It seems that his nature is 
 quite untamable. He can die, but he is 
 in his very marrow a republican. 
 (end of part third.) 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 103 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA 
 
 CONCLUDING PART, 
 
 ABD-EL-KADER 
 
 A NOBLE life, whose course belongs 
 to the subject of these pages, is, 
 while they are preparing, apparently 
 drawing to a close. The severe illness 
 now reported of Abd-el-Kader, coming 
 upon old age, disappointment, war and 
 the lassitude of a great purpose foiled, 
 can have but one result. Dimmed to- 
 day, as our hurrying century so rapidly 
 dims her brightest renowns, Abd-el- 
 Kader's existence has only to cease and 
 his memory will assume the sacred 
 splendor of the tomb. 
 
 Hapless Washington of a betrayed 
 revolution ! In these latter days of en- 
 forced quiet in Palestine how his early 
 scenes of African experience must have 
 
 flooded his mind! — his birth, sixty-six 
 years ago, in a family group of Moslem 
 saints ; the teachings of his beautiful 
 mother Leila and of his marabout father ; 
 his pilgrimage when eight years old to 
 Mecca, and his education in Italy ; his 
 visions among the tombs, and the crown 
 of magic light which was seen on his 
 brows when he began to taste the en- 
 chanted apple; then, with adolescence, 
 the burning sense of infidel tyranny that 
 made his home at Mascara seem only a 
 cage, barred upon him by the unclean 
 Franks ; and soon, while still a youth, 
 his amazing election as emir of Mascara 
 and sultan of Oran, at a moment when 
 the prophet-chief had just four oukins 
 
I04 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 (half-dimes) tied into the corner of his 
 bornouse ! 
 
 "Godwin send me others," said young 
 Abd-el-Kader. 
 
 The tourist remembers the trinity-por- 
 trait of him, by Maxime David, in the 
 Luxembourg Gallery at Paris, where his 
 face, framed in its white hood, is seen 
 
 AN AGHA OF KAKYLIA HUNTING WITH THE FALCON. 
 
 in full, in profile and in three-quarters 
 view. The visage is aquihne, olive- 
 tinted, refined; but we can describe it 
 
 more authentically in the terms of one 
 of his enemies, Lieutenant de France, 
 who became his prisoner in 1836, and 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 105 
 
 who followed his movements for five 
 months, taking down his daily talk and 
 habits like a Boswell, but leavinsr noth- 
 
 ing in his narrative that is not to the 
 sultan's credit. Of Abd-el-Kader at 
 twenty-eight the lieutenant says : " His 
 
 THE DISCIPLES OF TOFAIL. 
 
 face is long and deadly pale, his large I rather aquiline : his beard is thin, but 
 black eyes are soft and languishing, his | jet-black, and he wears a small mous- 
 mouth small and delicate, and his nose i tache, which gives a martial character 
 
io6 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 to his soft, delicate face, and becomes 
 him vastly. His hands are small and 
 exquisitely formed, and his feet equally 
 beautiful." Every interlocutor leaves a 
 similar portrait, impressing upon the 
 mind the image of some warrior-saint 
 of the Middle Ages, born too late, and 
 
 beating out his noble fanaticism against 
 our century of machines and chicanery. 
 Himself, according to some accounts, 
 a Berber, the young marabout early saw 
 the importance of inducing the Kabyles 
 to join with him and his Arabs in expel- 
 ling the French. He affiliated himself 
 
 A KOUKBA, UK MARAbUU 1 'S TOMB. 
 
 with the religious order of Ben-abd-er- 
 Rhaman, a saint whose tomb is one of 
 the sacred places of Kabylia ; and it is 
 certain that the college of this order fur- 
 nished him succor in men and money. 
 He visited the Kabyles in their rock- 
 built villages, casting aside his military 
 pomp and coming among them as a 
 simple pilgrim. If the Kabyles had 
 received him better, he could have 
 shown a stouter front to the enemy. 
 But the mountain Berbers, utterly un- 
 used to co-operation and subordination, 
 met him with surprise and distrust. 
 
 At least, such is the account of Gen- 
 eral Daumas : in this interesting relation 
 we are forced to depend on the French. 
 Daumas, amply provided with docu- 
 ments, letters and evidence, has ar- 
 
 ranged in his work on La Grande Ka- 
 bylie the principal evidence we possess 
 of this epoch of Abd-el-Kader's life. 
 
 The chief appeared in 1836 at Bordj- 
 Boghni and at Si-Ali-ou-Moussa among 
 the mountains. The Kabyle tribes vis- 
 ited him in multitudes. He addressed 
 them at the door of his tent, and these 
 rude mountaineers found themselves 
 face to face with that saintly sallow vis- 
 age, those long gazelle eyes and the 
 prophetic countenance framed in its 
 apostolic beard. Raising his arms in 
 the attitude of Raphael's Paul at Lystra, 
 he said simply, " I am the thorn which 
 Allah has placed in the eye of the 
 Franks. And if you will help me I will 
 send them weeping into the sea." 
 
 But when it came to a demand for 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 107 
 
 supplies, the Kabyles, says Daumas, 
 utterly refused. 
 
 "You have come as a pilgrim," said 
 their amins, "and we have fed you with 
 kouskoussu. If you were to come as a 
 chief, \^ishing to lay his authority on us, 
 instead of white kouskoussu we should 
 
 treat you to black kouskoussu " (gun- 
 powder). 
 
 Abd-el-Kader, without losing the se- 
 renity of the marabout, argued with the 
 Kabyles, and succeeded in obtaining 
 their reverence and adhesion ; but when 
 he mounted his horse to go the amins 
 
 KABYLE MEN. 
 
 significantly told him to come among 
 then, always as a simple pilgrim, de- 
 mandmg hospitality and white kous- 
 koussu. 
 
 At Thizzi-Ouzzou he met the tribe of 
 Ameraouas, who promised to submit to 
 his authority as soon as the fractions 
 surrounding that centre should do so. 
 The Sons of Aicha received him with 
 honor and games of horsemanship. At 
 the camp of Ben Salem the chiefs of 
 several tribes came to render homage to 
 the noble marabout, descendant of Ber- 
 oer ancestry and of the Prophet. From 
 thence he sought tribes still more wild, 
 discarding his horse and appearing 
 among the villagers as a simple foot- 
 
 pilgrim. The natives approached him 
 in throngs, each family bearing a great 
 dish of rancid kouskoussu. Laying 
 the platters before his tent and plant- 
 ing their clubs in them, all vociferated, 
 "Eat! thou art our guest;" and the 
 chieftain was constrained to taste of 
 each. Finally, near Bougie he happen- 
 ed to receive a courier sent by the 
 French commandant. The Kabyles im- 
 mediately believed him to be in treason- 
 able communication with the enemy, and 
 he was forced to retire. 
 
 The young chief was in fact at that 
 time in peaceful communication with the 
 French, having made himself respected 
 by them in the west, while they were 
 
io8 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 attending to the subjugation of Constan- 
 tina and founding of Philippeville in the 
 east. Protected by the treaty of Taafna 
 
 in 1837, Abd-el-Kader was at leisure to 
 attempt the consolidation of his little 
 empire and the fusion of the jealous 
 
 KABYLE WOMEN. 
 
 tribes which composed it. The low 
 moral condition of his Arabs, who were 
 for the most part thieves and cowards, 
 and the rude individuality of his Ka- 
 
 byles, who would respect his religious but 
 scoff at his political claims, made the 
 task of the leader a difficult one. To 
 the Kabyles he confided the care of his 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 109 
 
 saintly reputation, renouncing their con- 
 tributions, and asking only for their 
 prayers as a Berber and as a khouan of 
 the order of Ben-abd-er-Rhaman. For 
 a few years his power increased, without 
 one base measure, without any soilure 
 on the blazon of increasing prosperity. 
 In 1840 the sultan of Oran, at the zenith 
 of his influence, swept the plains beneath 
 the Atlas with his nomad court, defend- 
 ed by two hundred and fifty horsemen. 
 Passing his days in reviewing his troops 
 and in actions of splendid gallantry, he 
 resumed the humility of the saint at 
 evening prayers : his palace of a night 
 received him, watched by thirty negro 
 tent-guards ; and here he sheltered his 
 lowly head, whose attitude was perpet- 
 ually bowed by the habitual weight of 
 his cowl. The French soon became 
 jealous, and encroached upon their 
 treaty. The duke of Orleans, we are 
 told, had Abd-el-Kader's seal counter- 
 feited by a Jewish coiner at Oran, and 
 with passports thus stamped sent scout- 
 ing-partiestowardthe sultan's dominions, 
 protected by the sultan's- forged safe- 
 conduct. Open conflict followed, and a 
 succession of French razzias. In 1845, 
 Colonels Pelissier and St. Arnaud, under 
 Marshal Bugeaud, conducted that expe- 
 dition of eternal infamy during which 
 seven hundred of Abd-el-Kader's Arabs 
 were suffocated in a cave-sanctuary of 
 the Dahra. This sickening measure was 
 put in force at a cul-de-sac, where a few 
 hours' blockade would have command- 
 ed a peaceful surrender, 
 
 " The fire was kept up throughout the 
 night, and when the day had fully dawn- 
 ed the then expiring embers were kicked 
 aside, and as soon as a sufficient time 
 had elapsed to render the air of the 
 silent cave breathable, some soldiers 
 were directed to ascertain how matters 
 were within. They were gone but a few 
 minutes, and then came back, we are 
 told, pale, trembling, terrified, hardly 
 daring, it seemed, to confront the light 
 of day. No wonder they trembled and 
 looked pale ! They had found all the 
 Arabs dead — men, women, children, all 
 dead ! — had beheld them lying just as 
 death had found and left them — the old 
 
 man grasping his gray beard ; the dead 
 mother clasping her dead child with the 
 steel gripe of the last struggle, when all 
 gave way but her strong love." 
 
 Abd-el-Kader's final defeat in 1848 
 was due less to the prowess of Lamori- 
 ciere and Bugeaud than to the cunning 
 of his traitorous ally, the sultan of Mo- 
 rocco, who, after having induced many 
 of the princely saint's adherents to de- 
 sert, finally drove him by force of num- 
 bers over the French frontier. Confront- 
 ing the duke of Aumale on the Morocco 
 borders, he made a gallant fight, but 
 lost half his best men in warding off an 
 attack of the Mencer Kabyles. Fatigued 
 now with a long effort against over- 
 whelming pressure, and world-weary, 
 he met the duke at Nemours, on the sea- 
 coast close to the Morocco line. Depos- 
 iting his sandals, Arab-fashion, outside 
 the French head-quarters, he awaited the 
 duke's signal to sit down. 
 
 " I should have wished to do this 
 sooner," said the broken chief, "but I 
 have awaited the hour decreed by Al- 
 lah. I ask the aman (pardon) of the 
 king of the French for my family and 
 for myself." 
 
 Louis Philippe could not come in con- 
 tact with this pure spirit without an 
 exhibition of Frankish treachery, like 
 tinder illuminating its foulness at the 
 striking of steel. The sultan's surrender 
 was conditioned on the freedom to retire 
 to Egypt. The French government no 
 sooner secured him than it treacherously 
 sent him to prison, first to the castle of 
 Pau, then to that of Amboise near Blois,. 
 where he was kept from 1848 to 1852, 
 when the late emperor made an early 
 use of his imperial power to set him at 
 liberty. Since his freedom, at Constan- 
 tinople, Broussa and Damascus the ex- 
 sultan has continued to practice the rig- 
 ors and holiness of the Oriental saint, 
 proving his catholic spirit by protecting 
 the Christians from Turkish injustice, 
 and awaiting with the deep fatigue of a 
 martyr the moment destined to unite his 
 soul with the souls of Washington, Boz- 
 zaris and L'Ouverture. 
 
 This noble life, which impinges a mo- 
 ment on our course through Kabylia, is 
 
no THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 surely the most epical of our century, I lack of a hero while Abd-el-Kader's 
 which can never be reproached for the | name is remembered. 
 
 DEFILE OF THIFILKOULT. 
 
 The descent from the rock-perched I the first plateau, our Roumi traveler and 
 city of Kalaa having been made in safe- his guides arrive in a few hours at the 
 ty, and the animals being remounted at | modern, fortified, but altogether Ka- 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 bylian stronghold of Akbou. Here a 
 letter from a French personage of im- 
 portance gives us the acquaintance of a 
 Kabyle family of the highest rank. 
 
 The ancestors of Ben-Ali-Cherif, re- 
 motely descended from Mohammed 
 through one of his sisters, were of Ka- 
 byhan race, and one of them, settled in 
 Chellata, near Akbou, founded there a 
 prosperous college of the Oriental style. 
 Ben-AU-Cherif, born in Chellata and 
 residing at Akbou, receives the tourist 
 with a natural icy dignity which only a 
 czar among the sovereigns of Europe 
 could hope to equal : those who have 
 but seen Arabs of inferior class can form 
 no notion of the distinction and lofty 
 gravity of the chiefs of a grand house 
 (or of a grand tent, as they are called) : 
 the Kabyle noble is quite as superb as 
 the Arab. 
 
 Ben-Ali seats us at a rich table cover- 
 ed with viands half French and half 
 Oriental : a beautiful youth, his son, 
 resembling a girl with his blue head- 
 drapery and slim white hands, places 
 himself at table, and attracts the con- 
 versation of the guest. The young man 
 answers in monosyllables and with his 
 large eyes downcast, and the agha sig- 
 nificantly observes, "You will excuse 
 him if he does not answer : he is not 
 used to talk before his father." 
 
 The host, disposing of the time of his 
 guests, has arranged a series of diver- 
 sions. The valley of the river Sahel is 
 full of boars, and panthers and monkeys 
 abound in the neighboring spurs of the 
 Zouaouas. While the Roumi are ex- 
 amining his orchards of oranges and 
 pomegranates the agha's courtyard fills 
 wi<h guests, magnificent sheikhs on Bar- 
 bary horses, armed with inlaid guns. 
 These are all entertained for the night, 
 together with the usual throng of para- 
 sites, who choke his doors like the clients 
 of the rich Roman in Horace. 
 
 At sunrise the party is mounted. The 
 mare of the agha, a graceful creature 
 whose veins form an embroidery over 
 her coat of black satin, is caparisoned 
 with a slender crimson bridle, and a 
 saddle smaller than the Arab saddles 
 and furnished with lighter stirrups. The 
 
 Christian guests are furnished with ver- 
 itable arquebuses of the Middle Ages; 
 that is to say, with Kabyle guns, the 
 stock of which, flattened and surmount- 
 ed with a hammer of flints, is ignited by 
 a wheel-shaped lock, easier to be man- 
 aged by a Burgundian under Charles 
 the Bold than by an unpretending mod- 
 ern Roumi. 
 
 The usual features of an Algerian hunt 
 succeed. A phantom-like silence per- 
 vades the column of galloping horsemen 
 up to the moment when the boar is beat- 
 en up. Then, with a formidable clamor 
 o{ " Haou ' haou !" from his pursuers, 
 the tusked monster bursts through the 
 tamarinds and dwarf palms : after a long 
 chase he suddenly stops, and then his 
 form instantly disappears under the gi- 
 gantic African hounds who leap upon 
 him and hang at his ears. A huntsman 
 dismounts and stabs his shoulder with 
 the yataghan. After a rest the chase is 
 resumed, but this time under the form 
 of a hawking-party. 
 
 Only the djouads and marabouts — that 
 is to say, the religious or secular nobles 
 — have the privilege of hunting with the 
 falcon. The patrician bird, taken by 
 the agha from the shoulder of his hawk- 
 bearer, is about 'as large as a pigeon, the 
 head small, beak short and strong, the 
 claws yellow and armed with sharp tal- 
 ons. The bird rides, upon his master's 
 leather glove until a hare is started : 
 then, unhooded and released, his first 
 proceeding is to dart into the zenith as 
 if coinmissioned to make a hole in the 
 sky. No fear, however, that the poor 
 panting quarry is lost for an instant from 
 the vision of that infallible eye, which 
 follows far aloft in the blue, invisible and 
 fatal. Soon the cruel bird drops like an 
 aerolite, and, as the deed is explained to 
 us, doubles up his yellow hand into a 
 fist, and deals the animal a sharp blow 
 on the skull. Directly, as the horsemen 
 approach, he is found with his obtuse 
 head bent over his prey, digging out its 
 eyes by the spoonful. 
 
 By noontide the troop is naturally 
 famished. A luncheon, has, however, 
 been prepared by the thoughtfulness ot 
 the agha. Riding up to a tent which ap- 
 
112 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 pears as by magic in the wilderness, the I discovered. Two fires are burning in 
 provisions for a sumptuous repast are | the open air, and are surrounded by a 
 
 host of servants or followers. The Rou- I borhood of the preparations, and are 
 mi and their host adjourn from the neigh- | served under a plane tree beautiful as 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 113 
 
 that whose Umbs were hung by Xerxes 
 with bracelets. A soup, absolutely set 
 on fire with red pepper, introduces the 
 repast : pancakes follow, and various 
 meats smothered with eggs or onions. 
 Then two half-naked cooks stagger up 
 bearing on a wooden dish, under a gold- 
 bordered napkin, a sheep roasted entire 
 and still impaled with the spit. The 
 chief cook takes hold of the skewer and 
 draws it violently toward himself, apply- 
 ing a smart stroke with his naked heel 
 to the tail of the creature — a contact 
 which would seem almost as trying as 
 the ancient ordeal of the ploughshares, 
 or as the red-hot horseshoes which the 
 fire-eating marabouts are accustomed to 
 dance upon. The Roumi travelers taste 
 the succulent viand, taste again, eat till 
 ashamed, and are ready to declare that 
 never was mutton properly dressed be- 
 fore. If possible, they vow to introduce 
 the undissected roast, the bonfire, the 
 spit and the cook with imperturbable 
 heel into the cuisine of less-favored lands 
 more distant from the sun. 
 
 Champagne, which the cunning IVlus- 
 sulmans do not consider as wine^ washes 
 the meal, and coffee and pale perfumed 
 tobacco supplement it. But when the 
 appetite has retired and permitted some 
 sharpness to the ordinary senses, the 
 travelers are amazed at the gradual and 
 silent increase which has taken place in 
 their numbers. Every group of guests 
 is augmented by a circle of prone and 
 creeping forms that, springing apparent- 
 ly from the earth, are busily breaking 
 the fragments of the feast under the care 
 of the servitors, who appear rather to 
 encourage than repel them. Ben-Ali- 
 Cherif, being interrogated, replies calm- 
 ly, "They are Tofailians." 
 
 The Tofailian is a parasite on system, 
 an idler who elevates his belly into a 
 divinity, or at least a principle. His 
 prophet or exemplar is a certain Tofail, 
 whose doctrine is expressed in a few 
 practical rules, respectfully observed and 
 numerously followed. " Let him who at- 
 tends a wedding-feast," says one of his 
 apophthegms, "having no invitation, 
 avoid glancing here and there dubious- 
 ly. Choose the best place. If the guests 
 
 are numerous, pass through boldly with- 
 out saluting any one, to make the guests 
 of the bride think you a friend of the 
 bridegroom, and those of the groom a 
 friend of the bride." 
 
 An Arab poet said of Tofail : " If he 
 saw two buttered pancakes in a cloud, 
 he would take his flight without hesita- 
 tion." 
 
 A Tofailian of marked genius once 
 learned that a festival was going on at 
 a grand mansion. He ran thither, but 
 the door was closed and entrance im- 
 possible. Inquiring here and there, he 
 learned that a son of the house was 
 absent on the Mecca pilgrimage. In- 
 stantly he procured a sheet of parch- 
 ment, folded it, and sealed it as usual 
 with clay : he rolled his garments in the 
 dust and bent his spine painfully over a 
 long staff. Thus perfect in what an 
 actor would call his reading, he sent 
 word to the host that a messenger had 
 arrived from his son. "You have seen 
 him?" said the delighted Amphitryon, 
 "and how did he bear his fatigues?" 
 " He was in excellent health," answer- 
 ed the Tofaihan very feebly. "Speak, 
 speak!" cried the eager father, "and 
 tell me every detail : how far had he 
 got?" "I cannot, I am faint with hun- 
 ger," said the simple fellow. Directly 
 he was seated at the highest place of 
 the feast, and every guest admired that 
 splendid appetite — an appetite quite .pro- 
 fessional, and cultivated as poulterers 
 cultivate the assimilative powers of livers. 
 " Did my son send no letter ?" asked the 
 poor father in a favorable interval caused 
 by strangulation. "Surely," rephed the 
 good friend, and, comprehending that 
 the critical moment had arrived, he 
 drew to himself a chine of kid with one 
 hand while he unwound the letter from 
 his turban with the other. The seal was 
 still moist, and the pilgrim had not found 
 time to write anything on the parchment. 
 "Are you a Tofailian ?" asked the host 
 with the illumination of a sudden idea. 
 "Yea, in truth, verily," said the stranger, 
 struggling with his last mouthful. " Eat, 
 then, and may Sheytan trouble thy di- 
 gestion !" The parasite was shown the 
 door, but he had dined. 
 
 .j^;o|^ iy)F. 
 
114 
 
 THE ROUMl IN KABYLIA. 
 
 Men of rank and wealth, like Ben- 
 Ali-Cherif, turn the Tofailian into a pro- 
 verb, and thus laugh at a plague they 
 cannot cure. 
 
 The Algerine coast has enriched our 
 language with at least two words, re- 
 spectively warlike and peaceful — razzia 
 diiid fantasia. The latter is applied to a 
 
 game of horsemanship, used to express 
 joy or to honor a distinguished friend. 
 A spirited fantasia is organized by the 
 guests of the agha on returning to Ak- 
 bou. Twenty of the best-mounted horse- 
 men having gone on before, and being 
 completely lost to sight in the whirlwind 
 of- dust created by their departure, all 
 
 POVERTY AND JEWELS, 
 
 .of a sudden reappear. Menacing their 
 host and his companions like an army, 
 they gallop up, their bornouses flying 
 and their weapons flashing, until at a 
 few paces they discharge their long guns 
 under the bodies of the horses opposite, 
 and take flight like a covey of birds. 
 Loading as they retire and quickly form- 
 ing, again they dash to the charge, shout- 
 
 ing, galloping, and shooting among the 
 legs of their host's fine horses : this sham 
 attack is repeated a score or two of times, 
 up to the door of the agha's house. The 
 Bedouins, in their picturesque expression, 
 are making the powder talk. Finer horse- 
 manship can nowhere be seen. Their 
 horses, accustomed to the exercise, enter 
 into the game with spirit, and the riders, 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 115 
 
 secure in their castellated saddles, sit with 
 ease as they turn, leap or dance on two 
 feet. Used, too, from infancy to the 
 society of their mares, they move with 
 them in a degree of unity, vigor and 
 boldness which the English horseman 
 never attains. The Arab's love for his 
 horse is not only the pride of the cava- 
 
 lier : it is an article of faith, and the 
 Prophet comprehended the close unity 
 between his nation and their beasts when 
 he said, "The blessings of this world, 
 up to the day of judgment, shall be sus- 
 pended to the locks which our horses 
 wear between their eyes." 
 
 Truly the Oriental idea of hospitality 
 
 GEORGE CHRISTY IN AFRICA. 
 
 has its advantages — on the side of the 
 obliged party. This haughty ruler, on 
 the simple stress of a letter from a French 
 commandant, has made himself our serv- 
 ant and teased his brain for devices to 
 amuse us. His chief cook precedes us 
 to his birthplace at Chellata, to arrange 
 a sumptuous Arab supper. After a ride 
 made enervating by the simoom, we de- 
 scend at the arcaded and galleried Moor- 
 ish house where Ben-Ali-Cherif was born, 
 and are visited by the sheikh of the col- 
 lege which the agha maintains. It is a 
 
 strang'e, peaceful, cloistered scene, con- 
 secrated to study and hospitality. Chel- 
 lata, white and silent, sleeps in the gi- 
 gantic shadow of the rock Tisibert, and 
 in its graveyard, among the tombs of 
 sacred marabouts, walk the small bald- 
 headed students reciting passages of law 
 or of the Koran. Algeria is dotted over 
 with institutions [zaouias) similar to this, 
 which, like monasteries of old, combine 
 the functions of seminaries and gratuitous 
 inns. That of Ben-Ali-Cherif, to which 
 he contributes from his own purse a sum 
 
ii6 
 
 THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 equal to sixteen thousand dollars a year, [ 
 is enshrined in buildings strewn around 
 the resting-place of his holy ancestors. 
 The sacred koubba (or dome) marking 
 the bones of the marabout is swept by 
 shadows of oak and tamarind trees : 
 professors stray in the shadow, and the 
 pupils con their tasks on the adjoining 
 tombstones. 
 
 Every impression of Chellata is silver- 
 ed over, as with a moonlight of benef- 
 icence, by the attentions of Ben-Ali's 
 house-steward, who rains upon our ap- 
 petites a shower of most delicious kous- 
 koussu, soothes us with Moorish coffee, 
 and finishes by the politeness of lighting 
 and taking the first whiff of our cigarette 
 — a bit of courtesy that might be spared, 
 but common here as in parts of Spain. 
 
 With daybreak we find the town of 
 Chellata preparing to play its role as a 
 mart or place of industry. The labor 
 seems at first sight, however, to be con- 
 fined to the children and the women : 
 the former lead the flocks out at sunrise 
 to pasture in the mountain, the women 
 make the town ring with their busy work, 
 whether of grinding at the mill, weaving 
 stuff or making graceful vases in pottery. 
 The men are at work in the fields, from 
 which they return at nightfall, sullen, 
 hardy and silent, in their tattered haiks. 
 These are never changed among the 
 poor working-people, for the scars of a 
 bornouse are as dignified as those of the 
 body, and are confided with the garment 
 by a father to his son. The women, as 
 we have remarked before, are in a state 
 of far greater liberty than are the female 
 Arabs, but it is more than anything else 
 the liberty to toil. Among these moun- 
 taineers the wife is a chattel from whom 
 it is permissible to extract all the useful- 
 ness possible, and whom it is allowable 
 to sell when a bargain can be struck. 
 The Kabyle woman's sole recreation is 
 her errand to the fountain. This is 
 sometimes situated in the valley, far 
 from the nodding pillar or precipice on 
 which the town is built. There the trav- 
 eler finds the good wives talking and 
 laughing together, bending their lively 
 — sometimes blonde and blue -eyed — 
 faces together over their jars, and gos- 
 
 siping as in Naples or as in the streets 
 around Notre Dame in Paris. The Ka- 
 byles — differing therein from the Arab? 
 — provide a fountain for either sex ; and 
 a visit by a man to the women's foun- 
 tain is charged, in their singular code of 
 penal fines, "inspired by Allah," a sum 
 equal to five dollars, or half as much as 
 the theft of an ox. 
 
 By the white hght of day -dawn we 
 quit Chellata, with the naked crests of 
 the Djurjura printing themselves on the 
 starry vault behind us and the valley 
 below bathed in clouds. As we descend 
 we seem to waken the white, red-roofed 
 villages with our steps. The plateaus 
 are gradually enhvened with spreading 
 herds and men going forth to labor. 
 We skirt the precipice of Azrou-n'hour, 
 crowned with its marabout's tomb. The 
 plains at our feet are green and glorious, 
 pearled with white, distant villages. 
 Opposite the precipice the granite rocks ' 
 open to let us pass by a narrow portal 
 where formerly the Kabyles used to 
 stand and levy a toll on all travelers. 
 This straitened gorge, where snow 
 abounds in winter, and which has vari- 
 ous narrow fissures, is named the Defile 
 of Thifilkoult : it connects the highways 
 of several tribes, but is impassable from 
 December to April from the snow and 
 the storms which rage among the cliffs. 
 We are still four thousand feet above 
 the plain, whose depth the swimming 
 eye tries in vain to fathom, yet the snowy 
 peaks above us are inaccessible. De- 
 scending chains of rocks mingled with 
 flint and lime, we attain a more clement 
 landscape. Kabyle girls crowd around 
 a well called the Mosquitoes' Fountain, 
 a naked boy plays melancholy tunes on 
 a reed, and the signs of a lower level 
 are abundant in the fields of corn and 
 orchards of olive. But the rugged moun- 
 tains, in whose grasp we have found so 
 many wonders, are not left without re- 
 gret. The most picturesque part of our 
 course is now behind us, and as day 
 dies upon our crossing through Iferaou- 
 enen, we turn back to behold the fine 
 line of the mountains, half sad and re- 
 gretful. 
 
 While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa, 
 
THE ROUMI IN KABYLIA. 
 
 Fourteen expeditions were found neces- 
 sary by the French between 1838 and 
 1857 to subdue the Kabyles, who under 
 leaders such as Ben-Salem, Ben-Kassim, 
 the Man-with-the-Mule, the Man-with- 
 the-She-Ass, and other chiefs less cele- 
 brated, defended their territory step by 
 step. In the great chastisement of 1857, 
 Marshal Randon, after subduing this part 
 of the Djurjura ridge in detail, deter- 
 mined to preserve the fruits of victory 
 by two new constructions — a fort and 
 a military road. France was to reside 
 among her unwilling colonists, and she 
 was to possess an avenue of escape. 
 The building of these two conveniences, 
 as we may call them, over the smoking 
 ruins of victory, was a conspicuous ex- 
 ample of the excellent engineering genius 
 of the nation. An English officer. Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Walmsley, witnessed, and 
 has left a spirited account of, the great 
 conquest, and the immediate improve- 
 ment of it. The strongholds of the 
 Djurjura (it being May, 1857) were 
 taken : the most difficult, Icheriden, was 
 soon to fall, yielding only to the assault 
 of the Foreign Legion — that troop of 
 Arabs and of Kabyles from the Zouaoua 
 plain wherefrom we derive the word zou- 
 ave. Marshal Randon selected for his 
 fort the key of the whole district : it was 
 a place known as the Souk-el-Arba 
 ("Market of Wednesday"). It was in 
 the heart of the Beni Raten land, and 
 in a spot where three great mountain- 
 ridges ran down into the plain of the 
 Sebaou. These ridges, subdued and 
 friendly, would be held in respect by 
 the garrison of the fort, and the other 
 ridge of Agacha, still rebellious, would 
 likewise terminate at the fort. The 
 works were immediately laid out and 
 quickly built. As the road sprang into 
 its level flight like magic, the peeping 
 Kabyles, perfectly unaware that they 
 were conquered, laughed in derision. 
 "It is to help the cowards to run away," 
 they said. In due time rose the pale 
 walls of the citadel, with mountains 
 above and hills below. The Kabyles 
 call it the White Phantom. Their songs, 
 the " traditions " of illiterate tribes, recite 
 
 the building of the terrible stronghold : 
 "The Roumi has arrived at the Market: 
 he is building there. Weep, O my eyes ! 
 tears of blood. The children of Raten 
 are valiant men : they are known as 
 masters of the warlike art. They fell 
 upon the enemy at Icheriden. The 
 Franks fell like lopped branches. Glory 
 to those brave men ! But the Roumi 
 has peeled us like seeds. The powder 
 talks no more. The warlike men are 
 fainting. Cover thyself with mourning, 
 O my head !" 
 
 As the tourist turns the summit of 
 Aboudid suddenly appears, like an or- 
 namental detail in a panorama, this 
 vast fortress, originally named Fort Na- 
 poleon, and since the collapse of the 
 empire called Fort National. During 
 the French troubles of 1871, in the 
 month of August, General Ceres was 
 obliged to inspire terror by burning the 
 village of Thizzi-Ouzzou beneath, and 
 then went on to relieve the fort. When 
 the next opportunity will occur for the 
 Beni Raten to assert their rights it is im- 
 possible to tell. We descend from the 
 fort, and all becomes commonplace. 
 The charred ruins of Thizzi-Ouzzou in 
 its valley-bed. are being replaced by 
 new buildings. All wears a look of 
 every-day thrift. The Arab, moving his 
 household goods, drives before him his 
 poor dingy wife, loade'd down with worth- 
 less valuables and also with copper jew- 
 els, in which she clanks like a fettered 
 slave. A negro musician from the Des- 
 ert, a true African minstrel, capers be- 
 fore us and beats the tom-tom, until, 
 distracted with his noise, we pay him 
 and bombard him off the face of the 
 road with projectiles. 
 
 From Thizzi-Ouzzou to Algiers it is 
 but four hours' journey, and the four 
 hours are passM in a diligence. Yes, 
 our circumstances are subdued to the 
 conditions of the diligence ! Adieu, our 
 spahi guides, hke figures from Lalla 
 Rookh ! Adieu, our dream of an Afri- 
 can Switzerland ! The Roumi, outside 
 of Kabyha, quickly fades into the light 
 of common day, and becomes plain 
 Tom or Harry. 
 
ii8 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 I.— THE COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN CHINA. 
 
 WITHIN the last twenty years the 
 East has opened wide its gates, 
 and China, Japan and India are as anx- 
 
 ious to become acquainted with the later 
 but more fully developed civilizations of 
 Europe and this country as we are to 
 
 examine their social, political and indus- I from English, American, German and 
 trial systems. We have had accounts ' French travelers in the East, each tinged. 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 119 
 
 in a measure, with the national spirit of 
 their respective countries. In the case 
 of the traveler, as of the astronomer, a 
 certain allowance, known as the per- 
 sonal equation, has to be made in re- 
 ceiving the accounts of his observations. 
 
 The journey round the world made 
 by the count de Beauvoir in company 
 with the duke de Penthievre, son of the 
 prince de Joinville, is entitled to especial 
 notice, as the attentions shown to the 
 travelers by the Chinese and Japanese 
 authorities enabled them to obtain the 
 best conditions for investigating various 
 matters of interest. 
 
 On landing at Shanghai their hearts 
 v/ere gladdened by seeing "on the quay 
 a French custom-house official, with his 
 kepi over his ear, his rattan in his hand, 
 dressed in a dark-green tunic, and full 
 of the inquisitiveness of the customs in- 
 spector — as martial and as authoritative 
 as in his native land." The appearance 
 of the population here struck our trav- 
 elers as different from that of the native 
 Chinese farther south. Those were yel- 
 low, copper-colored, lean, and slightly 
 clad in garments of cotton cloth ; these 
 were rosy as children and fat as pigs : 
 they were besides wrapped up in four 
 or five pelisses, worn one over the other, 
 lined with sheepskins, so that a single 
 man smelt like a whole flock of sheep. 
 Their style of dress was this : half a doz- 
 en waistcoats without sleeves, covered 
 with a single overcoat with extremely 
 long sleeves, falling down to their knees. 
 These garments made them resemble 
 balls of wool rather than men. 
 
 By accident, the party passed first 
 through the quarter of the town devoted 
 to the restaurants. Here they were for 
 every grade of fortune, from the mil- 
 lionaire to the ragged poor. The street 
 filled with these latter was terrible : it 
 swarmed with thousands of beggars, 
 hardly human in form and almost naked, 
 though there was frozen snow upon the 
 ground. A group, seeming even joyous, 
 attracted attention. The cause of their 
 happiness was a dead dog which they 
 had found in one of the gutters. Even, 
 however, in this degradation the polite- 
 ness of these people struck our French- 
 
 men forcibly. The guests gathered about 
 this fortuitous repast treated each other 
 with a ceremonious deference strange 
 enough in such surroundings. In a still 
 lower stratum, however, among even a 
 more degraded class, whose feasts were 
 obtained from the live preserves carried 
 upon their own persons, this politeness, 
 the last quality a Chinaman loses from 
 the degradation of poverty, was wanting. 
 
 A few miles from Shanghai lies Zi-Ka- 
 Wai, a colony founded by the Jesuits, 
 of which our traveler gives a most in- 
 teresting account. The road to Zi-Ka- 
 Wai lay over a sandy plain intersected 
 with canals. On both sides of the road 
 were hundreds of coffins resting upon 
 the surface of the ground. In the north- 
 ern part of China there are no grave- 
 yards, and the coffins were arranged 
 sometimes in piles in the fields. It is 
 said that they thus remain until a change 
 takes . place in the reigning dynasty, 
 when they are all destroyed. As the 
 present dynasty has reigned about three 
 hundred years, the accumulation may 
 be imagined. This traditional respect 
 for the inviolability of the dead is one 
 of the chief obstacles in the way of the 
 introduction of the telegraph and rail- 
 road in China. A commercial house in 
 Shanghai had built a telegraph to Wo- 
 Soung to announce the arrival of the 
 mail, but in a few dajs the wire was cut 
 in more than five hundred placg s — at all 
 the points where its shadow from the 
 rising sun fell upon the coffins lying on 
 the ground. 
 
 At Zi-Ka-Wai the Jesuits have an 
 educational institution, and, dressed in 
 the Chinese costume, smoking the long 
 native pipes, received their visitors with 
 great cordiality. Their pupils are divided 
 into three classes. The first consists of 
 the children of the neighboiing towns 
 who have been deserted by their parents 
 and left to die of hunger. The majority 
 of them are lepers, and have been more 
 or less perfectly cured by the Fathers. 
 When brought to the institution they are 
 thoroughly cleaned, being rubbed with 
 pumice stone. They receive an indus- 
 trial as well as a literary education. In 
 one building they are taught to read and 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 write, and in another are the schools for 
 shoemaking, carpentering, printing and 
 other manual arts ; so that, being re- 
 ceived at the age of five or six, at twenty 
 to twenty-one they are launched upon 
 the world with an education and a trade. 
 
 There are about four hundred children 
 in this class, and the activity, the order 
 and organization of the workshops, and 
 the exquisite cleanliness of the surround- 
 ings, are delightful to see. Near at hand 
 is a school of a higher grade, to which 
 
 the most promising pupils are transfer- 
 red for the study of Chinese literature. 
 The system of teaching here is peculiar : 
 all the pupils are required to study aloud, 
 and the din is in consequence deafening 
 and incessant. Then there is the hisrh- 
 
 est class, consisting of about two hun- 
 dred and fifty youths, the sons of rich 
 mandarins, who pay heavily for their 
 instruction. These are destined to be- 
 come rhetoricians, and, step by step, 
 bachelors, licentiates, doctors, then man- 
 
SKETCHES OE EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 darins and members of the governing 
 class of the Middle Kingdom. The 
 studies are Chinese, and the Fathers 
 have with wonderful patience learned 
 not only the Chinese language, as well 
 as its written characters, but also the 
 nice critical points of its idioms, so as 
 to be able to teach with authority the 
 poetry and legends and the commen- 
 taries upon the writings of Confucius. 
 This they have done for the purpose of 
 having an opportunity to convert the or- 
 phans they have adopted, and thus by de- 
 grees introduce into the government an 
 element which will be essentially Chris- 
 tian. Thus far, the profession of Chris- 
 tianity is not essentially incompatible 
 with the office of mandarin, though it is 
 impossible to hold this position without 
 performing some idolatrous rites. 
 
 On the 13th of March the ice was 
 sufficiently broken to open the naviga- 
 tion of the Pei-Ho, and the party started 
 upon the steamer Sze-Chuen for Tien- 
 Tsin and Pekin. They were joined by 
 an English commissioner of the Chinese 
 custom-house, whose position as a high 
 functionary of the Celestial government, 
 together with his knowledge of Chinese, 
 proved of great service. The trip to 
 Pekin was brought to a sudden tempo- 
 rary close by the Sze-Chuen running 
 aground on the bar of the Pei-Ho, where 
 she remained nearly two days, but was 
 finally got off after the removal of a 
 part of her cargo. 
 
 The navigation of the Pei-Ho is dif- 
 ficult on account of the narrowness of 
 the stream and its exceedingly sinuous 
 course. Frequently the steamer had to 
 be towed by a line passed on shore and 
 fastened round a tree. At Tien-Tsin the 
 travelers landed, and witnessed a review 
 of some imperial cavalry regiments 
 mounted upon Tartar ponies, with high 
 saddles and short stirrups. The war- 
 riors wore queues and were dressed in 
 long robes. Their moustaches gave 
 them, however, a fierce martial air, and 
 they were armed with English sabres 
 and American revolvers. 
 
 Tien-Tsin ("Heaven's Ford") is a 
 city of about four hundred thousand in- 
 habitants, and lies at the junction of the 
 
 Imperial Canal with the Pei-Ho. The 
 country from here to Pekin, about three 
 days' journey by land, is sandy, and 
 the trip is made a very disagreeable one 
 by the clouds of dust, which blind the 
 traveler and effectually prevent any ex- 
 amination of the country passed through 
 
 The cavalcade comprised seven of the 
 native carts, each drawn by two mules. 
 Their construction may be thus de- 
 scribed : A sort of barrow made of blue 
 cloth hangs like a box upon an axletree 
 about a yard long, furnished with two 
 clumsy wheels. It is impossible to lie 
 down in them, because they are too 
 short, nor can a bench to sit on be placed 
 in them, because they are too low. As 
 a compensation, however, they are so 
 hght that they can go anywhere. The 
 driver sits on the left shaft, where he is 
 conveniently placed for leaping down 
 to beat the mules. These are harnessed, 
 one in the shafts and the other in front, 
 with long traces tied upon the axletree 
 near the left wheel. As they are guided 
 only by the voice, the course of t'ne cart 
 depends chiefly upon the fancy they 
 may take for following or neglecting the 
 road ; while from the manner in which 
 they are harnessed their draught is al- 
 ways sideways, and they therefore trot 
 obliquely. 
 
 At Yang-Soun the party was joined 
 by a mandarin with a crystal button, 
 sent by the governor of the province of 
 Tien-Tsin, Tchoung-Hao, with a pro- 
 fusion of passports and safe-conducts. 
 During the rest of the journey this man- 
 darin, Ching, led the way in his cart 
 drawn by a fine black mule, and on 
 arriving at the villages on the route dis- 
 played his function, as a man of letters, 
 by putting on an immense pair of spec- 
 tacles, the glasses of which were about 
 three inches in diameter. At Ho-Chi- 
 Wou the procession halted during the 
 middle of the day, and was photograph- 
 ed by one of its members. The curious 
 crowd of spectators which gathered in 
 every village to inspect the "foreign 
 devils" scattered when the camera was 
 posed, and for a few moments our trav- 
 elers were freed from their intrusiveness. 
 
 Starting next morning at daylight, at 
 
SKETCHES OF EASIERN TRAVEL. 
 
SKETCHES OE EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 123 
 
 ihree in the afternoon the party entered 
 Pekin. The relief was great to leave 
 the sandy, dusty road for one of the 
 paved ways which radiate from the city. 
 The first sight of the city struck the 
 travelers as the most grandiose spectacle 
 of the Celestial Empire. In front rose 
 a high tower, with a five-storied roof of 
 green tiles, pierced with five rows of 
 large portholes, from which grinned the 
 mouths of cannon ; while to the right 
 and left, as far as could be seen, stretch- 
 ed the gigantic wall surrounding the city, 
 built partly of granite and partly of 
 large gray bricks, with salients, battle- 
 ments and loopholes, wearing a decided- 
 ly martial air. This impression was 
 somewhat modified, however, by the 
 discovery that the grinning cannons 
 were made of wood. The entrance 
 v/as under a vaulted archway, through 
 which streamed a converging crowd of 
 Chinese, Mongols, Tartars, ivith their 
 various costumes, together with blue 
 carts, files of mules and caravans of 
 heavily-loaded camels. 
 
 Pekin was built by Kublai-Khan about 
 1282, near the site of an important city 
 which dated from the Chow dynasty, or 
 some centuries before the Christian era. 
 The city covers an enclosed space about 
 twenty miles in circumference. It is 
 rectangular in form, and divided into 
 two parts, the Chinese and the Tartar 
 cities. The walls of the Tartar city are 
 the largest and widest, being forty to 
 fifty feet high, and, tapering slightly 
 from the base, about forty feet wide at 
 the top. They are constructed upon a 
 solid foundation of stone masonry rest- 
 ing upon concrete, while the walls them- 
 selves are built of a solid core of earth, 
 faced with massive brick : the top is 
 paved with tiles, and defended by a 
 crenelated parapet. Bastions, some of 
 which are fifty feet square, are built 
 upon the outside at distances of about 
 one hundred feet. There are sixteen 
 gates, seven of which are in the Chinese 
 town, six in the Tartar town, and three 
 in the partition wall between these two. 
 In the centre of the Tartar city is an 
 enclosure, also walled, called the Impe- 
 rial City, and within this another, called 
 
 the Forbidden City, which contains the 
 imperial palaces and pleasure-grounds. 
 Broad straight avenues, crossing each 
 other at right angles, run through the 
 whole city, which in this respect is very 
 unlike other Chinese towns. A stream 
 entering the Tartar city near its north- 
 west corner divides into two branches, 
 which enter the Imperial City and sur- 
 round the Forbidden City, and then 
 ur'ting again pass through the Tartar 
 and Chinese towns, to empty in the 
 Tung-Chau Canal. 
 
 The foreign legations are in the south- 
 ern part of the Tartar city, on the banks 
 of this stream. The top of the walls 
 forms the favorite promenade of the for- 
 eign settlers, and from here a fine view 
 of the whole city is obtained. M. de 
 Beauvoir, however, from his more min- 
 ute examination, comes to the following 
 conclusions: "This immense city, in 
 which nothing is repaired, and in which 
 it is forbidden under the severest penal- 
 ties to demolish anything, is slowly dis- 
 integrating, and every day changing 
 itself into dust. The sight of this slow 
 decomposition is sad, since it promises 
 death more certainly than the most vio- 
 lent convulsions. In a century Pekin 
 will exist no longer; it must then be 
 abandoned : in two centuries it will be 
 discovered, like a second Pompeii, bur- 
 ied under its own dust." 
 
 The gates of Virtuous Victory and of 
 Great Purity, the temples to the Heav- 
 ens, to Agriculture, to the Spirit of the 
 Winds and of the Thunder, and to the 
 Brilliant Mirror of the Mind, occupied 
 the attention of the party. They saw 
 the gilded plough and the sacred har- 
 row with which the emperor yearly traces 
 a furrow to obtain divine favor for the 
 crops, as well as the yellow straw hat he 
 wears during this ceremony ; and also 
 the vases made of iron wire in which he 
 every six months burns the sentences 
 of those who have been condemned to 
 death in the empire. They visited also 
 the magnificent observatory built by 
 Father Verbiest, a Jesuit, for the emperor 
 You-Ching, in the seventeenth century. 
 The instruments are of bronze, and 
 mounted upon fantastic dragons, and 
 
124 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 are still in good condition, though they 
 have been exposed to the open air all 
 this time. One of them was a celestial 
 sphere eight feet in diameter, containing 
 all the stars known in 1650 and visible 
 in I'ckin. 
 
 Visits to the theatres, to the temple of 
 the Moon, that of the Lamas, that of 
 Confucius, and to others made the days 
 spent in Pekin pass quickly. Among 
 the wonders shown was the largest sus- 
 pended bell in the world— the great bell 
 
 •of Moscow has never been hung — twen- 
 ty-five feet high, weighing ninety thou- 
 sand pounds, and richly sculptured. 
 
 The private life of the Chinese it is 
 almost impossible for a stranger to take 
 
 part in. To do so requires a knowledge 
 of Chinese, which can be gained only 
 by years of assiduous study, and that 
 the applicant should, as far as possible 
 in dress and general appearance, make 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 himself a Chinese. Even then, com- 
 plete success is gained only by a for- 
 tunate combination of circumstances. 
 The streets devoted to shops of all kinds 
 afford, however, to the traveler a never- 
 ending succession of changing and in- 
 teresting pictures. Yet the general spirit 
 of the Chinese leads them also to be 
 sparing of all outward decoration, re- 
 serving their forces for interior display. 
 The Forbidden City even, though mar- 
 velous stories are told of its interior 
 splendors, has outside a mean appear- 
 ance. "A pagoda of the thirty-sixth 
 rank has more effect than the sacred 
 dwelling of the Son of Heaven." 
 
 In the military quarters, and in those 
 inhabited by the nobility, the party in 
 their wanderings were struck with an 
 expression of disdain on the counte- 
 nances of those natives whom they met. 
 Elsewhere the curiosity to see the for- 
 eigners was even greater than the Chi- 
 nese themselves ever excited in the 
 capitals of Europe ; but at home the 
 higher classes passed the foreigners with- 
 out even turning to look at them, or else 
 glanced at them indifferently or disdain- 
 fully. Some of the noble class walked, 
 but generally they rode in carts similar 
 to that of the mandarin Ching. The 
 higher the rank of the owner, the farther 
 behind are the wheels placed. With a 
 prince's cart they are so far behind that 
 the rider hangs between them and the 
 mule. Palanquins, carried upon the 
 shoulders of the porters, offer another 
 and the most convenient means of loco- 
 motion used in China : this method is, 
 however, forbidden except for princes 
 and ministers of state. 
 
 In the busy streets of trade the scene 
 is most animated. Thousands of scar- 
 let signs with gilded inscriptions hang 
 from oblique poles raised in front of the 
 shops. Carts, palanquins, mules, cam- 
 els, coolies, soldiers and merchants 
 throng the streets, while to add to the 
 confusion myriads of children play about 
 your legs, and the old men carrying 
 . their kites toward the walls add to the 
 singularity of the scene. The kites, rep- 
 resenting dragons, eagles, etc., are man- 
 Aged with a dexterity which comes only 
 
 from a lifelong practice. They arc some- 
 times furnished with various solian at- 
 tachments which imitate the songs of 
 birds or the voices of men. The pigeons 
 also in Pekin are frequently provided 
 with a very light kind of aeolian harp,, 
 which is secured tightly to the two cen- 
 tral feathers of their tails, so that in fly- 
 ing through the air the harps sound 
 harmoniously. This curious, indistinct 
 note had excited the count's attention, 
 and he learned its cause from a pigeon 
 which fell dead at his feet, having in its 
 flight struck itself against the cord of 
 one of the kites. Their use was ex- 
 plained by the natives as a protection 
 against the hawks which are vei-y com- 
 mon in Pekin. 
 
 Passing one day the place of execu- 
 tion, the travelers were shocked to see 
 that the heads of the executed were ex- 
 posed to the public gaze, labeled with 
 the crimes for which they had suffered. 
 Such sights as this, with the terrible filth; 
 of all the Chinese cities, the squalid suf- 
 fering of the poor and the want of sym- 
 pathy with indigence and disease, sug- 
 gested to the count, as they too frequent- 
 ly suggest to European visitors, that the- 
 degradation of the Chinese is hopeless. 
 Yet such sights were common a few 
 generations ago in every European cap- 
 ital, and the same causes which have 
 led to their cessation there are at work 
 to-day in China, and bid fair to produce 
 the same results. 
 
 The service of the custom-house, which . 
 has been put into the hands of Euro- 
 peans, and under the management of 
 Mr. Robert Hart has been thoroughly 
 organized, is having a great influence in 
 civilizing the government, as well as in 
 diffusing European ideas and methods 
 among the people. A fixed rate of 
 charges, an honesty of administration 
 which is beyond question, prompt activ- 
 ity in the transaction of business, have 
 replaced the depredations and the old 
 methods in use under mandarin rule. 
 It is the desire of the manager of the 
 custom-house to inaugurate in China the 
 establishment of a system of lighthouses, 
 to organize the postal system, to intro- 
 duce railroads and telegraphs and to- 
 
\26 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 127 
 
 open the coal-mines of the empire. 
 Success in these ..reforms means bring- 
 ing China into the circle of inter -de- 
 pjn,dent civilized nations; and so far all 
 the steps in this direction have been sure 
 and successful ones. 
 
 On leaving Pekin, our party set out to 
 visit the Great Wall of China, which 
 lies about three days' journey from that 
 capital, on the route to Siberia. Mon- 
 golian ponies served for the means of 
 transportation on this trip. These shag- 
 ■gy little animals were as full of tricks as 
 they were ugly. The cavalcade was fol- 
 lowed by two carts for carrying the money 
 of the expedition. The whole of this 
 capital amounted to about one hundred 
 and fifty dollars, in the form of hundreds 
 of thousands of the copper coins of the 
 country, made with holes in their centres 
 and strung by the thousand upon osier 
 twigs. This is the only money which 
 circulates in the agricultural portions of 
 China, and a "barbarian " has to give a 
 pound weight of them for a couple of 
 eggs. The country soon began to be- 
 come hilly, with the mountains of Mon- 
 golia visible in the distance. Trains of 
 camels were passed, or could be seen 
 winding in the plain below. 
 
 The next day the party arrived at the 
 Tombs of the Emperors. These are the 
 tombs of the Ming emperors, one of the 
 most briUiant dynasties of Chinese his- 
 tory. They lie in a circular valley which 
 opens out from a great plain, and is sur- 
 rounded by limestone peaks and granite 
 domes, forming a barren and waste am- 
 phitheatre. The grandeur of its dimen- 
 sions and the awful barrenness of its 
 desolation make it a fit resting-place 
 for the imperial dead of the last native 
 dynasty. At the foot of the surround- 
 ing heights thirteen gigantic tombs, en- 
 circled with green trees, are arranged in 
 a semicircle. Five majestic portals, about 
 eight hundred yards apart, form the en- 
 trance to the tombs. From the portico 
 giving entrance to the valley to the 
 tomb of the first emperor is more than 
 a league, and the long avenue is mark- 
 ed first by winged columns of white 
 marble, and next by two rows of animals, 
 carved in gigantic proportions. Of these 
 
 there are, on either side, two lions stand- 
 ing, two lions sitting ; one camel stand- 
 ing, one kneeling ; one elephant stand- 
 ing, one kneeling ; one dragon stand- 
 ing, one sitting ; two horses standing ; 
 six warriors, courtiers, etc. The lions 
 are fifteen feet high, and the others equal- 
 ly colossal, while each of the figures is 
 carved from a single block of granite. 
 
 At the end of the avenue are the tombs, 
 with groups of trees about them. Each 
 tomb is really a temple in which white 
 and pink marble, porphyry and carved 
 teak -wood are combined, not indeed 
 with harmony or taste, but, what is rare 
 in China, with lines of great purity and 
 severity. One of the halls of these 
 tombs is about a hundred feet long by 
 about eighty wide. The ceiling is from 
 forty to sixty feet high, and is supported 
 by rows of pillars, each formed of a single 
 stick of teak timber eleven feet in cir- 
 cumference. These sticks were brought 
 for this purpose from the south of China. 
 Though they have been in position over 
 nine hundred years, they appear as 
 sound as when first posed, nor has the 
 austere splendor of the structure suffered 
 in any degree. 
 
 The sombre obscurity well befits these i 
 sepulchral dwellings, and the dull sound 
 of the deadened gongs struck by the 
 guardians makes the vaults reverberate 
 in a singular and impressive way. Be- 
 hind the memorial temple rises an arti- 
 ficial mound about fifty feet high, access 
 to the top of which is given by a rising 
 arched passage built of white marble. 
 On the top of the ipound is an imposing 
 marble structure consisting of a double 
 arch, beneath which is the imperial tab- 
 let, a large slab, upon which is carved a 
 dragon standing on the back of a gigantic 
 tortoise. The remains of the emperor 
 are buried somewhere within this mound, 
 though the exact spot is not known : this 
 precaution, it is said, was taken to pre- 
 serve the remains from being desecrated 
 in a search for the treasures which were 
 buried with him, while the persons who 
 performed this last office were killed 
 upon the spot, in order further to pre- 
 serve the secret. 
 
 From this gigantic effort to preserve 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 129 
 
 the memory of the dead our party has- 
 tened to the Great Wall, an equally im- 
 mense work to preserve the living from 
 the incursions of their neighboring ene- 
 mies. Perhaps nowhere in the world 
 are to be found in such close proximity 
 two such striking evidences of the waste 
 of human labor when undirected by sci- 
 entific knowledge. The wall is to-day, 
 and was from the first, as worthless for 
 the purpose it was intended to serve as 
 the temples are for obtaining immortal- 
 ity for the bodies they enclose. 
 
 Leaving the town of Nang-Kao, the 
 party soon found themselves at the en- 
 trance of the pass of the same name, 
 and during the six leagues which sepa- 
 rated them from the wall the spectacle 
 kept increasing in grandeur. The gorge 
 at first was savage and sombre, shut 
 in closely by the steep mountain-sides. 
 Soon the first support of the Great Wall 
 appeared in a chain of walls, with bat- 
 tlements and towers, built over the prin- 
 cipal mountain-chain, and as far as the 
 eye could reach following all the peaks. 
 The effect of this wall is most striking. 
 Like some enormous serpent it stretches 
 away in the distance, climbing rocks 
 which appear impracticable, and which 
 would be so without its aid. The count 
 was convinced that it would be as dif- 
 ficult to climb it for the purpose of de- 
 fending it as it would be to do so in 
 order to attack it. This first support of 
 the wall is in itself a giant work. 
 
 As the party advanced in the val- 
 ley, in the far distance the crenelated 
 outlines of two other similar and paral- 
 lel walls appeared, situated also upon 
 the crests. The Great Wall was built 
 about 2CO B. c. as a barrier against the 
 Tartar cavalry. It is said to have been 
 built in twenty-two years. It was every- 
 where constructed of the materials at 
 hand. On the plains it was built of a 
 core of earth, pounded, and faced with 
 tiles, the top being also covered with 
 tiles and furnished with a parapet. On 
 the mountains of stratified rock the 
 facing was made of masonry, and the 
 core of earth and cobble-stones. Where 
 che rock is such as fractures irregularly, 
 9 
 
 the wall is of solid masonry, tapering to 
 the top, which is sharp. Throughout its 
 whole length it is defended by towers 
 occurring every few hundred feet. Ev- 
 ery mountain-pass and weak point was 
 defended by a fortified tower. At pres- 
 ent the wall is in various conditions of 
 preservation, according to the materials 
 used in its construction. In the valleys, 
 which were the points to defend, it has 
 gradually crumbled to a mere heap of 
 rubbish, which the plough year by year 
 still further scatters. 
 
 The Great Wall is, however, a won- 
 derful monument of the labor and or- 
 ganization of the Chinese nation two 
 thousand years ago. The illustration is 
 from a photograph taken on the spot by 
 one of the party. In order to take a 
 view which should be most effective the 
 camera was placed upon the wall itself. 
 
 On their return to Pekin the party vis- 
 ited the ruins of the famous Summer 
 Palace, Yuen-Ming-Yuen. The avenues 
 were formerly adorned with porticoes, 
 monuments and kiosques, which are 
 now masses of ruins. Only two enor- 
 mous bronze lions, the largest castings 
 ever made in China, remain, and these 
 simply because the allies could not carry 
 them away. To have attempted it would 
 have required the building of a dozen 
 bridges over the streams between here 
 and Tien-Tsin. The chapel of the Sum- 
 mer Palace escaped destruction only 
 from the fact that it was situated upon 
 a rock so high that the flames did not 
 reach it. Looking at the confused ruins 
 which are all that remain of this won- 
 derful collection of the most admirable 
 products of fifteen ages of civilization, of 
 art and of industry, the count de Beau- 
 voir says truly that no honest man can 
 help shuddering involuntarily. Though 
 his sentiment of national loyalty is very 
 strong, yet he cannot avoid exclaiming, 
 " Let us leave this place : let us run from 
 this spot, where the soil burns us, the 
 very view of which humbles us. We 
 came to China as the armed champions 
 of civilization and of a religion of mercy, 
 but the Chinese are right, a thousand 
 times right, in calling us barbarians." 
 
130 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 II.— BATAVIA. 
 
 BATAVIA, ho ! and just ahead at 
 that!" exclaimed the captain of 
 our gallant East Indiaman as the en- 
 tire party of passengers sprang to the 
 quarter-deck on the first cry of " Land 
 ahead !" It was scarcely five o'clock in 
 the morning — not dawn between the 
 tropics — but our impatience could brook 
 no delay, and despite impromptu toilettes 
 and yet unswabbed decks, with sluices 
 of sea-water threatening us at every turn, 
 we hastened forward to catch the earliest 
 possible glimpse of the quaint old city 
 of which we had heard such varied ac- 
 counts. "You'll think a good part of it 
 was built in Holland three centuries 
 ago," said our captain, "then boxed up, 
 sent across the waters, and dropped 
 down, pell-mell, in the midst of the 
 jungle." We all laughed incredulously 
 at the time, but remembered his words 
 afterward. 
 
 Batavia, one of the strongholds of 
 Dutch power in the East, occupies the 
 north - western extremity of the island 
 of Java. It is composed of two distinct 
 settlements, known, respectively, as the 
 "Old City" and the "New City." The 
 former, built directly on the seaboard, 
 consists mainly of warehouses, stores 
 and government offices, with a pretty 
 extensive mingling of native dwellings 
 and bazaars. The business-houses oc- 
 cupied by Europeans are all built in the 
 old Dutch style of centuries ago, and 
 their venerable appearance is largely 
 augmented by the mould and discolora- 
 tion of the sea-air ; while the tout ensem- 
 ble presents an ancient and dilapidated 
 aspect strangely at variance with the lux- 
 uriant verdure of the tropical scenery and 
 the brilliant tints of the picturesque Ori- 
 ental costumes everywhere visible. The 
 New City is a terrestrial Paradise, with 
 broad avenues shaded by majestic trees, 
 spacious parks, and palace - dwellings 
 of indescribable elegance — a quaint com- 
 
 mingling of city and country, of Oriental 
 luxuriousness with the Hollander's cha- 
 racteristic love of solidity. In truth, the 
 New City is not a city at all, but a con- 
 tinuous succession of beautiful villas em- 
 bowered in orange groves, and surround- 
 ed by palms and banians, upon which 
 climb and clamber flowering vines and 
 creepers innumerable, while birds are 
 singing, bees humming and butterflies 
 fluttering their gauzy wings, utterly re- 
 gardless of the proprieties of city life. 
 
 At eight o'clock we found ourselves in 
 the custom-house, surrounded by Dutch 
 revenue-officers, whose insignia of office 
 seemed to consist of the huge bunches 
 of keys with which they were armed. 
 Their stylish uniforms and fair pale faces 
 were singularly in contrast with the 
 chocolate -colored skins, naked busts, 
 scarlet girdles and green or yellow tur- 
 bans of the crowds of native porters 
 who stood ready to take charge of the 
 baggage as fast as it was examined. 
 Having seen our effects disposed of, we 
 set out for our quarters in the New City, 
 attended by the Bengalese comprador 
 who was to serve as guide and purveyor- 
 general during our stay in the island. 
 We were driven in the neatest of pony 
 palanquins, drawn by horses scarcely 
 larger than Newfoundland dogs, over 
 smooth, well-shaded roads, amid luxu- 
 riant fields and meadows, and for a good 
 portion of the route by the banks of a 
 beautiful canal, all aglow with busy life. 
 Here and there were sampans and bud- 
 gerows, some loaded with merchandise, 
 and others with passengers, their light 
 sails spread and pennons gayly flaunt- 
 ing in the breeze, while men, women and 
 children, bathing and swimming in the 
 smooth waters, sported like fish in their 
 native element, and never dreamed of 
 the possibility of danger. 
 
 Among the majestic trees that formed 
 natural archways above our heads, shut- 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 131 
 
132 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 ting out completely the sun's fervid rays, 
 we noted especially the banians and 
 cotton trees, the latter frequently be- 
 sprinkling our heads and shoulders with 
 what seemed at first glance a shower of 
 
 bona fide snow, but on examination 
 proved only the light, fleecy .down of 
 sea-island cotton. Conspicuous among 
 the trees we encountered on that pleasant 
 morning drive was the Palmier du voy- 
 
 ageur, more generally known as the 
 talipai or priestly palm, which was 
 described in a recent number of this 
 magazine. 
 
 One characteristic feature of Javanese 
 
 residences is their superb baths. The 
 pools are usually of marble or granite, 
 of such huge dimensions that one may 
 float and flounder like fish in a pond, 
 while the superintendent of the bath 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 ^3: 
 
 keeps in constant play a brace of jets 
 that send their sparkhng spray over the 
 bather's head and shoulders with most 
 refreshing results. The water is clear 
 as crystal, and sufficiently cool for the 
 
 relaxed state of the system in a tropical 
 clime. Everybody bathes three times a 
 day, and one would far sooner dispense 
 with a meal than do without either of 
 these stated baths. 
 
 The usual routine of European life 
 in India is to rise at "gun-fire" (five 
 o'clock), go out for an airing in boat or 
 palanquin for two full hours, bathe and 
 dress at eight, take breakfast at nine. 
 
 lunch at one, and siesta from two to four, 
 when everybody retires, and, whether 
 one wishes to sleep or not, he is secure 
 of interruption, and has the full benefit 
 of being e7i deshabille for the two most 
 
'34 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 oppressive hours of the day. At four the 
 second bath is taken ; at five all go out 
 in full dress in open carriages, and after 
 a rapid drive over some of the public 
 thoroughfares, the horses are walked 
 
 slowly up and down the esplanade, where 
 all the fashionable world assemble at 
 this hour to see and be seen, and ex- 
 change passing courtesies or comments. 
 At half-past six "the course" is deserted. 
 
 and brilliantly-lighted dining-rooms are 
 thronged with guests eager to test the 
 quality of the rich and varied delicacies 
 of which an Oriental dinner consists. 
 This is the principal meal of the day, 
 
 and, occupying often two or three hours, 
 it is made not merely an epicurean feast, 
 but also an intellectual and social ban- 
 quet. Strong coffee, served in the tini- 
 est of porcelain cups, follows the guests 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 135 
 
 on their return to the drawing-rooms, 
 anr*. music, conversation, reading and 
 conpany till up the hours till midnight, 
 when the third bath is taken immediate- 
 ly before retiring. This routine is sel- 
 d'>m varied, except by the arrival of 
 st "angers, bent, like our party at Bata- 
 v'"', on sight-seeing. We soon wearied 
 
 LIEUTENANT OF THE SULTAN'S GUARD. 
 
 of the very voluptuousness of this stereo- 
 typed course of indulgence, and wel- 
 comed in preference the fatigues and 
 annoyances of exploring the thousand 
 objects of interest that were beckoning 
 us onward to jungle, mountain or sea- 
 coast. Our friends, who were old resi- 
 dents, shook their heads knowingly, and 
 prophesied sunstroke or jungle fever; 
 but we went sight -seeing continually, 
 filled our specimen baskets, arid escaped 
 both fever and sunstroke. The climate 
 of Batavia is, however, extremely insalu- 
 brious for Europeans : a deadly miasma 
 everywhere overshadows its luxuriant 
 groves and lurks among the petals of 
 its brightest flowers, rendering absolutely 
 
 necessary regular habits of life. Before 
 the occupation of the New City, when 
 merchants and officers all resided on 
 the seaboard, in the immediate vicinity 
 of their business-places, the mortality 
 was fearful, till utter depopulation seem- 
 ed to threaten the colony. The inland 
 location of the New City is more salubri- 
 ous, and the extensive grounds that 
 surround each dwelling give abun- 
 dant freedom for ventilation, while 
 the few hours passed by business or 
 professional gentlemen at their offices 
 — and those the best hours of the 
 day, from breakfast to luncheon — 
 are not deemed specially detrimental 
 to health, even for foreigners. The 
 Malays, Chinese and East Indians 
 generally reside anywhere with im- 
 punity. 
 
 As our ship would be several weeks 
 in port, discharging and taking in 
 cargo, we availed ourselves of so 
 fortunate an opportunity to explore 
 some of the native settlements in the 
 interior of the island. A Dutch of- 
 ficer, long resident in Java, kindly 
 offered his escort, and obtained for 
 us such passes and other facilities as 
 were nee.,ded. Our first stopping- 
 place was at Bandong, the capital 
 of one of the finest provinces of Java. 
 It is under the nominal control of a 
 native prince, who bears the title of 
 " regent," holding his office under the 
 government of Holland, from which 
 he receives an annuity of about forty 
 thousand dollars. Among the natives 
 he maintains the state of a grand Orien- 
 tal monarch, and his subjects prostrate 
 themselves in profoundest reverence be- 
 fore him ; but both he and his domain 
 are really controlled by half a dozen res- 
 ident Hollanders, at the head of whom 
 is the prefect. The palace of the regent 
 is a massive structure, completely sur- 
 rounded by beautiful gardens ; and just 
 beneath the windows where we sat I 
 noticed a picturesque little lake, about 
 which were sporting joyously at the 
 evening hour a group of the young maid- 
 ens of the palace. They were graceful 
 and lovely in the careless abandon of 
 their glee, but they no sooner perceived 
 
136 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 the white faces of the foreigners looking 
 down at them than they fled hke fright- 
 ened doves, hiding themselves in a 
 grove of bananas, in any single leaf of 
 which one of these dainty demoiselles 
 might have clothed herself entire. 
 
 We found the regent surrounded by 
 crowds of native attendants, among 
 whose prostrate forms we wended our 
 way to his presence. He was seated 
 on a raised dais at the upper end of 
 the audience - hall, and received us 
 with the courteous dignity of a well- 
 bred gentleman. His dress was that 
 ordinarily worn by Malayan rajahs — 
 a brocade silk sarang fastened by a 
 rich girdle, a loose upper garment of 
 fine muslin, and a massive turban of 
 blue silk wrought in figures of gold. 
 Costly but clumsy Arabic sandals, 
 and a diamond-hilted h'is or dagger 
 of fabulous value, completed a cos- 
 tume that looked both graceful and 
 comfortable for a warm climate. He 
 greeted the ladies of our party with 
 marked empressement, thanked them 
 for their visit, and conducted them in 
 person to the entrance of the sera- 
 glio to make the acquaintance of his 
 wives and daughters. 
 
 The next evening we were all in- 
 vited to be present at the gavnne- 
 lang, or orchestral and dramatic en- ^ 
 tertainment, in the harem of this \ 
 prince. The invitation was gladly 
 accepted, and so novel an exhibi- 
 tion I have seldom witnessed. 
 Many of the musicians were masked, 
 and wore queer-looking, conical caps 
 that looked like exaggerated extinguish- 
 ers, and a sort of light armor in which 
 their unaccustomed limbs were evidently 
 ill at ease. Occupying a conspicuous 
 position in the very front, I noticed a 
 Siamese ra^«a/ - player, robed in the 
 native dress — or rather tmdress — of his 
 country, and his hair cut a la Bangkok. 
 He was singularly expert in the use of 
 his instrument ; and I learned afterward 
 that, though taken to Java as a slave, 
 his great musical talents had won for 
 him not only liberty, but the highest fa- 
 vor of the regent of Bandong. He was 
 the only rahnat-player in the gamme- 
 
 lang, but there were some two hundred 
 timbrels, half a dozen drums, ten or 
 twelve tom-toms, twenty violins, sixteen 
 pairs of cymbals, and any imaginable 
 number of horns, flutes and flageolets. 
 I leave the reader to imagine the amount 
 of noise produced by such a combina- 
 tion : my ears did not cease tingling for 
 
 SOLDIER OF THE SULTAN S GUARD. 
 
 a week. But everybody praised the mu- 
 sic, and evidently enjoyed the fun. The 
 dancing was like all Oriental dancing, 
 very voluptuous and enthusiastic, adapted 
 especially to display the exquisite charms 
 ©f the performers and move the passions 
 of the audience. The play that followed 
 possessed no merit, except in the bewil- 
 dering beauty of the girlish actresses, 
 and their superb adornments of natural 
 flowers artistically arranged in coronets 
 and wreaths, with costly pearls and dia- 
 monds. The play itself was simply a 
 farce — a series of ridiculous passages be- 
 tween some lovesick swains and their 
 rather tantalizing lady-loves, who event- 
 ually escaped, amid a shower of roses 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 137 
 
 and bon-bons, from their pursuers, and 
 disappeared behind a huge pahn tree, 
 which the next instant had vanished 
 into air, roots, branches and all. 
 
 After a somewhat adventurous ascent 
 of Mount Tan-kon-bau-pra-hou, a hur- 
 ried visit to the volcanoes of Merbabou 
 and Derapi (the former nine thousand 
 feet high, the latter eight thousand five 
 hundred), and a ghmpse at the sacred 
 woods of Wah-Wons, we turned our faces 
 toward Sourakarta and Djokjokarta, the 
 two grand principalities of Java still re- 
 maining under native rule. Each is 
 governed by an independent sultan, 
 whom the Dutch have never been able 
 to subjugate ; and they are allowed, only 
 by sufferance, to keep a diplomatic agent 
 or "resident" at the courts of these 
 monarchs. We had been forewarned, 
 ere setting out on our tour, of the state 
 maintained by these proud Oriental 
 princes, and the utter impossibility of 
 obtaining an audience without fulfilling 
 to the very letter all the requirements of 
 courtly usage. So we had sent forward 
 some costly presents to each of the sul- 
 tans, with letters written in Arabic and 
 French, praying for the honor of an in- 
 terview. Our messenger to the court of 
 Sourakarta soon returned, accompanied 
 by a native officer and five soldiers in 
 full uniform, with a courteous letter of 
 welcome from the sultan to his capital. 
 He did not say to his court, and we 
 were left in doubt as to whether we 
 should see him, after all. But the day 
 of our entree was a most propitious one, 
 as on that very morning this renowned 
 monarch had been made the happy 
 father of his twenty-eighth child. To 
 this fortunate event we doubtless owed 
 our reception at the court of this very 
 exclusive potentate, who, we were told, 
 almost invariably declined the proffered 
 civilities of foreigners. Bonfires, illumi- 
 nations and processions seemed the or- 
 der of the day, business was suspended, 
 bells were ringing, gongs sounding, and 
 everybody was taking holiday, in com- 
 memoration of an event that seemed to 
 have lost none of its novelty even after 
 nearly a score and a half of repetitions. 
 
 The palace is built in pagoda form. 
 
 with abundant architectural adornments, 
 and is surrounded by a semicircle of 
 smaller buildings of much the same ap- 
 pearance, though somewhat less im- 
 posing. The grandest view is at night, 
 when the whole immense pile, from base 
 to turret, is one blaze of light that but 
 for the abundant tropical growth might 
 be seen for miles away. The sultan is 
 a well-informed and courtly gentleman, 
 with a pohsh of mind and manners we 
 were quite unprepared to find hidden 
 away in the heart of Java. He is said 
 to be the most distinguished of all the 
 Malayan princes of this isle. He con- 
 versed with readiness on the general 
 aspect of political affairs in Europe and 
 America, inquired for the latest intelli- 
 gence, and before we left invited us to 
 be present at a grand military review 
 on the following day. The garb of the 
 troops, both officers and men, consists 
 of long silken sarangs confined by em- 
 broidered girdles, gold or €\\vQr bangles in 
 lieu of boots, and costly turbans adorned 
 with precious stones — a garb that looked 
 better suited to the harem than the bat- 
 tle-field ; but their manoeuvres certainly 
 did credit to their royal instructor in 
 military tactics. The distinguishing 
 weapon of Malayan soldiers, both in 
 Java and elsewhere, is the kris, worn at 
 the back and passed into the girdle. 
 This is always carried both by officers 
 and men, and very frequently civilians : 
 the long sword is worn only by officers. 
 After the review we were presented to 
 the sultan's eldest son, a tall slender 
 young man, somewhat over twenty, with 
 fierce, gleaming black eyes, and a pro- 
 fusion of black hair falling below his 
 shoulders. His countenance indicated 
 both intelligence and firmness, and his 
 appearance might have been distingue 
 but for his strangely effeminate dress of 
 damask silk made like a girl's, his anklets 
 and bracelets, gold chains and jeweled 
 girdle, and a mitre-shaped coiffure of 
 lalack and gold studded with enormous 
 diamonds, any one of which would make 
 the fortune of a Pall-Mall pawnbroker. 
 A score of attendants about his own age 
 were standing at the back of the young 
 heir, while four diminutive dwarfs and 
 
I3S 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 four jesters in comic garb crouched at 
 his feet, and innumerable other subordi- 
 nates — such as the fan-holder, the hand- 
 kerchief-holder, the tea- and bouquet- 
 holders, etc. etc. — made up the retinue 
 
 of this youthful dignitary. At a subse- 
 quent interview the sonsoiihounan pre- 
 sented me to his mother and several 
 other ladies of the royal harem. The 
 sultan was first married at the ag^e of 
 
 THE ELDEST SON OF THE SULTAN OF SOURAKARTA. 
 
 twelve, and had at the time of our visit 
 forty-eight wives. 
 
 There is very much to interest the 
 tourist in this Javanese city, so unlike 
 the Anglo-Oriental settlements one meets 
 
 elsewhere in the East, nor does he soon 
 weary of its noble sultan and splendid 
 Oriental court; but time forbade our 
 tarrying longer than the third day, after 
 which we pressed onward to the neigh- 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 139 
 
 boring principality of Djokjokarta. This 
 is the name most conspicuous in Java- 
 nese history, since there, from 1825 to 
 1830, floated victoriously the colors of 
 the revolt, and victory was purchased at 
 
 last only by the blood of fifteen thousand 
 soldiers, of whom eight thousand were 
 Europeans, and Djokjokarta remained 
 as it was before, an independent sove- 
 reignty. The sultan, who belongs to an 
 
 THE SULTAN OF DJOKJOKARTA. 
 
 ancient family, is fine-looking, with a 
 somewhat martial air, and a native dig- 
 nity evidently the heritage of high birth. 
 On our first interview he wore above the 
 ordinary silk sarang a tight-fitting jacket 
 
 of French broadcloth (blue), richly em- 
 broidered and trimmed with gold lace. 
 He displayed also a collection of crosses, 
 stars, and other decorations conferred 
 by various European powers, the French 
 
I40 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 predominating. He had evidently a 
 partiality for la belle Frattce, and ex- 
 hibited with no little pride an album 
 containing photographs of Louis Phi- 
 lippe and Louis Napoleon. He con- 
 versed well in several languages, read- 
 ily using either Arabic or French in lieu 
 of his vernacular, and was evidently up 
 to time in regard to the current polit- 
 ical topics of the day. He introduced 
 the ladies of our party to his young and 
 beautiful sultana, and invited them to 
 accompany her to the inner apartments 
 of the harem. We found the private 
 apartments of the seraglio, like so many 
 others I visited all over the East, superb- 
 ly magnificent in the display of gold and 
 jewels, in costly carpets and exquisite 
 hangings, in the most lavish exhibition 
 of pictures, mirrors, statuettes and bijou- 
 terie generally. There were glowing 
 tints and warm, rich colors, but all was 
 sensuous : wealth and splendor were 
 
 everywhere visible, but neither modesty 
 nor true womanly refinement. 
 
 The sultan afterward entertained us 
 by the exhibition of a curious collection 
 of monkeys and apes. Some were of 
 huge proportions, full four feet in height, 
 and looking as fierce as if just captured 
 fi'om their native jungles, while the tiny 
 marmosets were scarcely eight inches 
 long. The orang - outangs and long- 
 armed apes had been trained to go 
 through a variety of military exercises ; 
 and when one of us expressed surprise 
 at their seeming intelligence, the sultan 
 said gravely, "They are as really men 
 as you and I, and have the power of 
 speech if they chose to exercise it. They 
 do not talk, because they are unwilling 
 to work and be made slaves of." This 
 strange theory is generally believed by 
 the Malays, in whose language orang- 
 outa7ig is simply ''man of the woods." 
 Fannie R. Feudge. 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 141 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 III.— BANGKOK. 
 
 WE left Singapore — which, though 
 an English colony, is a very Ba- 
 bel of languages and nations — in a Bom- 
 bay merchantman, whose captain was 
 an Arab, the cook Chinese, and the four- 
 teen men who composed the crew belong- 
 ed to at least half that many different na- 
 tions, whilst our party in the cabin were 
 English, Scotch, French and American. 
 After eight days of rather stormy weath- 
 er we disembarked at the mouth of the 
 Meinam River, thirty miles below the 
 city of Bangkok. Owing to the sand- 
 bar at the mouth, large vessels must 
 either partially unload outside, or wait 
 for the flood-tide when the moon is full 
 to pass the bar ; and to avoid the delay 
 consequent upon either course, we took 
 passage for the city in a native sampan 
 pulled by eight men with long slender 
 oars. The trip was a delightful one, 
 giving us enchanting glimpses of the 
 grand old city long before we reached 
 it. Amid the mass of tropical foliage, 
 gleaming out from among clustering 
 palms and graceful banians, we could 
 discern the gilded spires of gorgeous 
 temples and palaces, of. which Bangkok 
 boasts probably not less than two hun- 
 dred. The temples, with their glittering 
 tiles of green and gold, and graceful 
 turrets and pinnacles from which hang 
 tiny tinkling bells that ring out sweet 
 music with every passing breeze, their 
 tall, slender pagodas and picturesque 
 monasteries, stand all along the banks 
 of the river, its most conspicuous adorn- 
 ments. But pre-eminent, both for height 
 and splendor, is Wat Chang, visible, all 
 but its base, from the very mouth of the 
 river. Its central spire, full three hun- 
 dred feet in height, towers grandly above 
 the surrounding turrets and pagodas, the 
 white walls gleaming out from the dark 
 foliage of the banian, and the feathery 
 fringes of the palm reflected on its shin- 
 ing roof. 
 
 The two main entrances to the royal 
 
 palace are of white masonry very elab- 
 orately adorned. Groups of elegant col- 
 umns support a capital composed of 
 nine crowns rising one above the other, 
 and terminating in a slender spire of 
 some forty feet. The whole is inlaid in 
 exquisite mosaics of porcelain, the va- 
 rious colors arranged in quaint devices, 
 so as to produce the happiest effect, 
 while the reflection of the sun's rays 
 upon the glazed tiles, the numberless 
 turrets and pinnacles of the lofty pile, 
 and the porticoes and balconies of pure 
 white marble opening from every win- 
 dow, and leading to delectable conser- 
 vatories, luxurious baths or fairy groves 
 and arbors, present, as grouped togeth-' 
 er, a sight worth a trip across the waters 
 to enjoy. The engraving represents one 
 of these entrances, and His Majesty 
 Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mong- 
 kut, the late supreme king of Siam, on 
 his return from his usual afternoon prom- 
 enade. This "promenade," however, 
 was not a walk, a ride or a drive, but an 
 airing in one of the royal state barges. 
 For the late king, true to the usages of 
 his forefathers, continued to the very 
 close of his life to make all his tours, 
 public and private, with very rare ex- 
 ceptions, by water. This has heretofore 
 been the custom of all classes, the gen- 
 tly-flowing Meinam being the Broadway 
 of Bangkok, and canals, intersecting the 
 city in every direction, its cross streets. 
 Every family keeps one or more boats 
 and a full complement of rowers ; pal- 
 aces and temples have their gates on 
 the river ; and upon its placid waters 
 move in ever-varying panorama life's 
 shifting scenes of weddings and funerals, 
 business and pleasure, from early morn 
 till long past midnight. Only since the 
 accession of the present kings have 
 streets been constructed along the river- 
 banks ; and these young princes, as a 
 sort of concession to European customs, 
 now take occasional drives in open car- 
 
142 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 illtllllllllll lliliii-^^n uiMii u» rill 1 1 JlliTriHlyljlllllIll ullhUflll II* 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 143 
 
 riages, attended by liveried servants, 
 though for state processions boats are 
 still in vogue. His Majesty the late king 
 was ordinarily conveyed to the jetty in 
 a state palanquin, and handed from it 
 
 into his boat, without the sole of his boot 
 ever touching the ground. This has 
 been the custom of Siamese monarchs 
 from time immemorial, but I have some- 
 times seen both the late kings wave 
 
 ELEPHANT ARMED FOR WAR. 
 
 .aside their bearers and jump with agile 
 dexterity into their boats, as if it were a 
 relief to them to lay aside courtly eti- 
 quette and act like ordinary mortals. 
 The royal palanquins are completely cov- 
 
 ered with plates of pure gold inlaid with 
 pearls, and the cushions are of velvet 
 embroidered, and edged with heavy gold 
 lace. They are borne by sixteen men 
 robed in azure silk saranes and shirts of 
 
144 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 embroidered muslin. The umbrella is 
 of blue, crimson or purple silk, and for 
 state occasions is richly embroidered, 
 and studded with precious stones. So 
 also are those placed over the throne. 
 
 the sofa, or whatever seat the king hap- 
 pens to occupy. 
 
 The late supreme king, who died in 
 1868 at the age of sixty-five, was tall and 
 slender in person, of intellectual coun- 
 
 tenance and noble, commanding pres- 
 ence. His ordinary dress was of heavy, 
 dark silk, richly embroidered, with the 
 occasional addition of a military coat. 
 He wore also the decorations of several 
 orders, and a crown — not the large one. 
 
 which is worn but once in a lifetime, and 
 that on the coronation-day — but the one 
 for regular use, which is of fine gold, 
 conical in shape and the rim completely 
 surrounded by a circlet of magnificent 
 diamonds. This prince, the most illus- 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 U5 
 
 trious of all the kings of Siam, spent 
 many of the best years of his life in the 
 priesthood as high priest of the kingdom. 
 He was a profound scholar, not only in 
 
 Oriental lore, but in many European 
 tongues and in the sciences. In public 
 he was rather reticent, but in the retire- 
 ment of the social circle and among his 
 
 FUNERAL PILE FOR THE SECOND KING. 
 
 European friends the real symmetry of 
 his noble character was fully displayed, 
 winning not only the reverence but the 
 warm affection of all who knew him. 
 He died universally regretted, and the 
 young prince now reigning as supreme 
 
 king is his eldest surviving son : the 
 second king is his nephew. 
 
 Among the choice treasures of Siam 
 are her elephants, but they belong ex- 
 clusively to the Crown, and may be em- 
 ployed only at the royal command. 
 
146 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 They are used in state processions and 
 in traveling by the king and members 
 of the royal family, and in war at the 
 king's mandate only. It is death for a 
 Siamese subject, unbidden by his sove- 
 reign, to mount one of His Majesty's ele- 
 phants. In war they are considered very 
 effective, their immense size and weight 
 alone rendering them exceedingly de- 
 structive in trampling down and crush- 
 ing foot-soldiejs. The howdah is placed 
 well up on the animal's back, and in it 
 sits a military officer of high rank, with 
 an iron helmet on his head, and above 
 him a seven-layered umbrella, as the 
 insignia of his royal commission. On 
 the croup sits the groom, guiding the 
 royal beast with an iron hook, while all 
 about the officer are disposed lances, 
 javelins, pikes, helmets and other mu- 
 nitions of war, which he dispenses as 
 they are needed during the progress of 
 a battle. I have been told that as many 
 as six or seven hundred of these colossal 
 creatures are often marched and mar- 
 shaled in battle together ; and so per- 
 fectly are they trained as to be guided 
 and controlled without difficulty, even 
 amid the din of firearms and the con- 
 flict of contending armies. Sometimes 
 on the king's journeys into the interior 
 a train of fifty or sixty will be marched 
 in perfect order, their stately stepping 
 beautiful to behold, but their huge feet 
 coming down wi'L a jolt that threatens 
 to dislocate every joint of the unfortunate 
 rider. 
 
 I have spoken of the gorgeousness of 
 the Bangkok temples, but I must not 
 forget to mention the colossal statue of 
 Booddh that reposes in one of them. It 
 is one hundred and seventy feet in length, 
 of solid masonry, perfectly covered with 
 a plating of pure gold, and rests quite 
 naturally upon the right side, the recum- 
 bent position indicating the dreamless 
 repose the god now enjoys in tiirwana. 
 This is supposed to be the largest image 
 of Gautama, the fourth Booddh, in ex- 
 istence, and it is an object of the pro- 
 foundest veneration to every devout 
 Booddhist. 
 
 Incremation of the dead is the custom 
 in Siam, and while there I was present 
 
 at several royal funerals, each marked 
 by more lavish display of costly mag- 
 nificence than we Americans ever see 
 on this side the water. Shortly after I 
 left the country occurred the death of 
 the patriotic second king, so well and 
 favorably known among us as Prince 
 T. Momfanoi, the introducer of square- 
 rigged vessels and many other improve- 
 ments, and afterward as King Somdet 
 Phra Pawarendr Kamesr Maha Waresr. 
 The body was embalmed, and lay in 
 state for nearly a year before the burn- 
 ing took place. The count de Beauvoir 
 reached Bangkok just in time to see the 
 royal catafalque, of which he gives a 
 somewhat amusing account. He says : 
 "The body, having been thoroughly 
 dried by mercury, was so doubled that 
 the head and feet came together, and 
 after being tied up like a sausage was 
 deposited in a golden urn on the top of 
 the mausoleum." He speaks of the 
 state officers in attendance by day and 
 by night, and the dead king, from the 
 golden urn on the very summit of the 
 altar, holding his court with the same 
 pomp and parade as during his life. 
 A more affecting ceremony is the com- 
 ing at noon and eve of the crowds of 
 beautiful women, not yet absolved from 
 their wifely vows, to converse with their 
 loved and lamented lord, and the de- 
 positing of letters and petitions in the 
 great golden basket at the foot of the 
 mausoleum, with the confident expecta- 
 tion that these loving missives will reach 
 the deceased and be answered by him. 
 These royal catafalques are costly and 
 magnificent, being covered with plates 
 of gold, while the silks and perfumes 
 consumed with a single body cost thou- 
 sands of dollars. 
 
 M. de Beauvoir describes an interview 
 with the king, surrounded by ten of his 
 offspring, including the seventy-second 
 child. I well remember the eldest son, 
 the present supreme king, now in his 
 twentieth year, looking when five years 
 old the exact counterpart of this one — 
 his graceful little figure, dimpled cheeks, 
 eyes lustrous as diamonds, and the 
 glossy, raven hair, close shaven at the 
 back, while the foretop was coiled in a 
 
SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 147 
 
 smooth knot, fastened with jeweled pins 
 and twined with fragrant flowers. The 
 dress was very simple — only two gar- 
 ments of silk or embroidered muslin — 
 but the deficiency was more than made 
 
 up by jewelry, of which, in the form of 
 chains, rings, anklets and bracelets, he 
 wore almost incredible quantities, while 
 his golden girdle was studded with costly 
 diamonds. 
 
 Polygamy prevails in its fullest extent 
 in Siam, especially among those of noble 
 or royal lineage ; and the higher the 
 rank the larger the number of wives, 
 those of the supreme king amounting 
 
 ordinarily to five or six hundred. Of 
 these, the "superior wife" holds the 
 rank of queen : she resides within the 
 harem proper, where are the private 
 apartments of the king, and her children 
 
148 
 
 SKETCHES OF EASTERN TRAVEL. 
 
 ENTRANCE TO THE ROYAL HAREM. 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 149 
 
 are always the legal heirs. For the other 
 wives or concubines, their children and 
 attendants, there is a whole circle of 
 buildings, connected by balconies with 
 the palace royal. All these are hand- 
 somely fitted up, but what is called "the 
 harem " pre-eminently is more gorgeous 
 than our dreams of fairy palaces or en- 
 chanted castles of genii. Long suites of 
 apartments with frescoed walls, ceihngs 
 of gold and pearl, floors inlaid with ex- 
 quisite mosaics of silver and ebony, and 
 with hangings of costly lace, velvet and 
 satin, huge waxen candles, and lamps 
 fed with perfumed oil that are never suf- 
 fered to expire, mirrors, pictures, and 
 statuettes innumerable, with cups, basins, 
 and even spittoons, of pure gold, — all 
 these are but a tithe of the lavish adorn- 
 ments of this Oriental paradise, where 
 
 birds sing, flowers bloom, and the sounds 
 of low sweet music ever greet the ear of 
 the favored visitor. The accompanying 
 engraving will give some idea of the 
 general appearance of the entrance to 
 the harem, with its burnished roof of 
 green and gold, its graceful turrets and 
 mosque-like pinnacles, and its base of 
 pure white marble, chaste and elegant. 
 But neither language nor pictorial illus- 
 tration can convey to the mind any 
 adequate realization of its bewildering 
 beauty ; and Count de Beauvoir but 
 echoes the language of every traveler 
 who has visited Bangkok when he de- 
 clares, in his recent work, that "its tem- 
 ples and palaces are the most splendid 
 of even the gorgeous East." 
 
 Fannie R. Feudge. 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 BY GEORGE CHAWORTH MUSTERS. 
 I. 
 
 IN April, 1869, chance took me to the 
 remote colony of the Falkland Isl- 
 ands, with the purpose of taking thence 
 a passage to Buenos Ayres to arrange 
 some business-matters. During my stay 
 in the settlement the coast of Patagonia, 
 in the survey of which H. M. S. Nassau 
 was then engaged, formed a frequent 
 topic of conversation. I had formerly, 
 when stationed on the south-east coast 
 of America, read with delight Mr. Dar- 
 win's work on South America, as well 
 as Fitzroy's admirable Narrative of the 
 Voyage of the Beagle, and had ever 
 since entertained a strong desire to pen- 
 etrate, if possible, the little-known in- 
 
 terior of the country. Now, at length, 
 a favorable opportunity seemed to have 
 arrived for carrying out the cherished 
 scheme of traversing the country from 
 Punta Arenas to the Rio Negro, Valdivia, 
 or even to Buenos Ayres. The accounts 
 given me of the Tehuelche character 
 and of the glorious excitement of the 
 chase after the guanaco, graphically de- 
 scribed by a seaman, Sam Bonner, who 
 had been much on the coast and had 
 resided at the Santa Cruz station, made 
 me more than ever anxious to prosecute 
 this plan ; and, having a tolerable ac- 
 quaintance with Spanish, which lan- 
 guage many of the Indians know well, 
 
15° 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 it seemed to me possible to safely trav- 
 erse the country in company with some 
 pne or other of their wandering parties. 
 Accordingly, I bestirred myself to ob- 
 tain information as to the best way of 
 getting such an introduction to the In- 
 dians as would probably secure their 
 consent ; to which end most material 
 assistance was afforded by Mr. Dean of 
 Stanley, who kindly provided me with 
 letters of introduction to Captain Luiz 
 Piedra Buena, an intelligent Argentine 
 well known in Stanley, the owner of a 
 schooner — in which he worked the seal- 
 fisheries on the coast — and also of a 
 trading-station at the Middle Island, on 
 the Santa Cruz River. 
 
 This settlement consists of only three 
 houses, built on an island called " Pa- 
 bon," marked as Middle Island, in Islet 
 Reach, in Fitzroy's chart. Don Luiz P. 
 Buena holds it by virtue of a grant from 
 the Argentine government, which has 
 also conferred on him the commission 
 of captain in the navy, with power to 
 prevent all foreign sealers from tres- 
 passing on the valuable seal-fisheries on 
 the coast. The island is about a mile 
 and a half long, and has an average 
 breadth of some three hundred and fifty 
 yards. Access is obtained from the 
 south shore by a ford, about fifty yards 
 across, only passable at low water. The 
 northern channel is wider and deeper, 
 and the swiftness of the current renders 
 it impas>able save by a boat, which is 
 moored ready to ferry over Indians de- 
 sirous of trading, and is also useful for 
 bringing wood for fuel, which is not ob- 
 tainable on the island. About a hun- 
 dred yards from the ford stands the prin- 
 cipal house, substantially built of bricks, 
 with tiied roof, containing three rooms, 
 and a sort of porch to shelter a nine- 
 pounder commanding the entrance. It 
 is further defended by a stockade, over 
 which floats the Argentine flag, and be- 
 yond it a fosse, which is filled with water 
 by the spring tides. The object of these 
 fortifications is to afford protection in 
 case of the Indians proving troublesome 
 when under the influence of rum. A 
 second house was situated about fifty 
 yards off, and being generally used as a 
 
 store, bore the name of the Almacen . 
 at this time being empty, one room served 
 as a sleeping-place for some of the men, 
 and the other had been given up for the 
 accommodation of Casimiro — an Indian 
 of whom both the missionaries and Her 
 Majesty's surveyors have made frequent 
 mention — and his family. A third house, 
 which stood at the eastern end of the 
 island, was unoccupied. Near it a small 
 plot had been tilled, and potatoes, tur- 
 nips and other vegetables had been suc- 
 cessfully raised. As the lower part of 
 the island is liable to be overflowed at 
 high springs, a ditch had been cut across^ 
 to drain off the water, and there was 
 consequently no lack of irrigation. The 
 ground was covered with stunted bushes, 
 the small spike-thorn round thistle and 
 coarse grass. The few sheep appeared 
 to thrive well, but decreased very sensi- 
 bly in number during the winter, as on 
 days when game was scarce one fell a 
 victim to the ravenous appetite engen- 
 dered by the keen air of Patagonia. A 
 numerous troop of horses grazed on the 
 mainland, in a tract below the Southern 
 Barranca, called the "Potrero," where 
 the grass, though coarse, grew in rank 
 luxuriance. When wanted for hunting, 
 the entire stud was brought across the 
 river in the morning and driven into the 
 corral, but ordinarily one alone was kept 
 on the island ready for emergencies. 
 
 With Don Luiz P. Buena and his ami- 
 able and accomplished senora I subse- 
 quently made acquaintance which ripen- 
 ed into friendship, but, though his guest, 
 I was at present personally unknown to 
 him. In his absence, his representative, 
 Mr. Clarke, whom I had known some 
 years previously in the Falklands, did 
 all he could to make me feel at home. 
 He was a handsome young fellow of 
 twenty-five, and an excellent specimen 
 of the versatile and cosmopolitan New 
 Englander, "raised" in Salem, Massa- 
 chusetts, where he had been brought up 
 as a builder, though he afterward "ship- 
 ped himself on board of a ship." In 
 his nautical life he had been mate of the 
 Snow Squall, in a homeward voyage 
 from Shanghai, when she was chased 
 off the Cape of Good Hope by the Ala- 
 
AT HOME WITH THE TATAGONIANS. 
 
 151 
 
 bama, and but for the pluck of the cap- I powers of the craft, another item would 
 tain and crew, and the wonderful sailing: bave been added to Mr. Adams' "little 
 
 
 Miiiiii 11 
 
 bill." As it was, the beautiful vessel I steadiness of the crew, and their well 
 fairly outsailed the swift steamer. The I deserved attachment to the captain, were 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 most strongly proved on this occasion. 
 As there was no alternative between put- 
 ting in for water at St. Helena — where 
 it was too probable the Alabama would 
 pounce upon the prize — and running 
 home upon half a pint per diem each 
 man, the captain left it to the crew to 
 decide, and they chose the latter course. 
 'Mr. Clarke had spent three months 
 traveling and hunting in company with 
 the Tehuelches, which had made him a 
 most expert hand with lasso or bolas, 
 and well acquainted with the Indian 
 character; and it was pleasant to hear 
 that he entertained a very high opinion 
 of their intelligence and generous dis- 
 position. He treated them with fairness 
 and considerate kindness, and they re- 
 paid him by confidence and friendship. 
 Five other employes made up the rest 
 of our party. No social distinctions, 
 however, prevailed, and the inhabitants 
 of Pabon lived in pleasant equality. 
 The charge of the dogs and horses and 
 the duty of supplying meat devolved on 
 two — Gonzalez, a gaucho, a native of 
 Patagones, who was as much at home 
 in the schooner on a sealing-excursion 
 as in the saddle balling an ostrich ; and 
 Juan Isidoro, a swarthy little man whose 
 sparkling black eyes told of his Indian 
 blood, a native of Santiago del Estero : 
 he had been sent as a soldier to Rio 
 Negro, whence he had managed to de- 
 sert, and make his way with Orkeke's 
 Indians to the settlement. Next comes 
 Juan Chilenb, a bright, fresh-complex- 
 ioned youth of nineteen years, to look 
 at whom was refreshing after the swarthy 
 and weather-beaten physiognomies of 
 the others. Then Antonio, a Portuguese, 
 by turns gaucho, whaler or sealer, al- 
 ways ready with a song or a merry jest, 
 and on occasion equally quick with his 
 knife. Holstein furnished the last, but 
 by no means least important — a strong- 
 built, good-natured, rather stupid fellow, 
 generally selected as the butt of the rest, 
 who always styled him "El Cooke," a 
 sobriquet earned by his many voyages 
 in that capacity on board various ships. 
 Such were the companions of my resi- 
 dence at Pabon, besides whom more 
 than a score of dogs of all sorts slept 
 
 anyhow and anywhere, and followed 
 anybody, giving their masters the pref- 
 erence. 
 
 Every Sunday all hands, except one 
 — the cook of the week — left on guard, 
 went hunting, and, as occasion required, 
 during the week, the gauchos would pro- 
 ceed to supply the larder with guanaco 
 or ostrich, the latter being, however, rare. 
 Idleness was unknown : when not hunt- 
 ing, woodcutting or salt-raising, manu- 
 factures were the order of the day. We 
 picked stones and worked them round 
 for bolas, and covered them with the 
 hide stripped from the hock of the gua- 
 naco, the soga or thong connecting the 
 balls being made from the skin of the 
 neck, the method of obtaining it being 
 as follows : The head having been cut 
 off, and an incision made just above the 
 shoulder, the skin is dragged off in one 
 piece, and, after the wool has been pick- 
 ed off, is softened by hand and carefully 
 cut into strips, which are closely plaited. 
 Of this leather we also made serviceable 
 bridles, lassos, stirrup-leathers, and, in 
 fact, horse-gear generally. Sometimes 
 we would have a fit of making pipes, 
 and all hands would be busy sawing out 
 wood or hard at work boring the bowls ; 
 at others, spurs were the rage, made by 
 the simple Indian method of sticking 
 sharpened nails into two pieces of wood, 
 secured together by thongs fastened un- 
 der the foot and round the leg ; or again, 
 we would work silver, and come out with 
 our knife-sheaths glittering with studs. 
 On non-hunting days 1 invariably prac- 
 ticed the use of the bolas, and caught 
 almost every shrub on the island. 
 
 The evenings were passed in play- 
 ing the American game of "brag." 
 Cash being unknown, and no one being 
 disposed to risk the loss of his gear, the 
 stakes were simply so many black beans 
 to a box of matches ; and as much ex- 
 citement prevailed as if each bean or 
 perota had been a five-dollar piece. 
 
 The sketch of our life at Pabon would 
 be very incomplete without asking the 
 reader to accompany us on a hunting- 
 excursion. Game had become very 
 scarce in our immediate vicinity, and 
 our only farinaceous food was black 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 15: 
 
 beans varied by maize, which was too j much used. The meat went woiukrful- 
 troublesome in the preparation to be I ly quick, so we determined to extend the 
 
 sphere of the hundng a litile more afield, j daylight the horses were brought up, 
 Accordingly, one fine frosty morning at ' caught and saddled, mantles and spurs 
 
154 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 donned, and eight of us, including two 
 Indians, Casimiro and El Zurdo, set off 
 to make a circle — /. e., enclose and drive 
 an area of land on the southern shore 
 of the river, finishing at the Missionaries' 
 Valley. Casimiro and Gonzalez accord- 
 ingly started, and the remainder follow- 
 ed in turn. During our drive down, one 
 guanaco was captured by El Zurdo and 
 Isidoro, and on our arrival near the val- 
 ley of Los Misionarios I chased a gua- 
 naco, but, being without dogs and a tyro 
 with the bolas, failed to capture him. 
 However, on rejoining my companions, 
 who had now finished the circle, I found 
 that they had only killed one ostrich, 
 which, through the carelessness of some 
 of the party, the dogs had mauled to 
 such an extent as to render the greater 
 part of the meat unserviceable. The 
 day had been unusually warm, without 
 any wind. Though a bank of white 
 clouds on the horizon seemed to threaten 
 snow, it was agreed to camp out and try 
 our chance of getting a good supply of 
 meat on the following day ; so we pro- 
 ceeded to a sheltered place in the valley 
 and bivouacked under the lee of a big 
 incense bush, while the horses were turn- 
 ed loose and a fire was made, on which 
 the remains of the ostrich were soon 
 cooking under the master hand of Casi- 
 miro. After supper, which was rather 
 stinted in quantity, we smoked a pipe, 
 and lay down to sleep. About three I 
 woke up, feeling, as I thought, a heavy 
 weight pressing on my mantle, and found 
 that above two inches of snow had fallen 
 and that it was still snowing. At day- 
 light it came on to rain, but quickly 
 changed to snow again ; so we made 
 a fire and waited for an hour to see if 
 the weather would clear. At last, on a 
 gleam of sickly sunshine appearing, we 
 proceeded to arrange the circle, Casimi- 
 ro starting first. Emerging from the val- 
 ley and ascending to the high pampa, 
 we met a terrific gale of wind from the 
 south, driving before it small snow in 
 freezing blasts ; but two ostriches jump- 
 ed up from behind a bush, and Mr. 
 Clarke balled one of them with great 
 dexterity. This was very cheering, as 
 we were all very hungry. But, as it was 
 
 impossible to face the driving sleet and 
 wind, which prevented us from seeing 
 .ten yards before us, we adjourned to the 
 valley, leaving Casim.iro, who was not 
 visible, to his own pursuits. Suddenly, 
 El Zurdo discovered smoke behind a 
 clump of trees, and, to our great delight, 
 there was our friend before a good fire, 
 nicely sheltered from snow and wind, 
 within an arbor neatly cut out of a 
 bush. We adjourned to the fire an(J 
 had breakfast ; invigorated by which, 
 and encouraged by a lull in the storm, 
 we started off to renew the chase, but 
 soon got separated by the thick snow- 
 storm. Mr. Clarke, El Zurdo, Gonzalez 
 and myself, who were together, came 
 close upon a herd of guanaco making 
 for the coast to escape the gale. The 
 dogs gave chase and killed some, others 
 were balled : in fact, a regular slaughter 
 took place, and eight or ten carcases 
 were soon lying on the plain. Now 
 came the tedious job of cutting up. I 
 found myself standing alone by a dead 
 guanaco, none of the others being visi- 
 ble, though not fifty yards distant. I 
 proceeded as best I could to arrange the 
 meat, and was about half through the 
 task, with fingers nearly frozen, when 
 I discovered Mr. Clarke and El Zurdo, 
 and shortly after it cleared up, and the 
 remainder of our party, all loaded with 
 meat, arrived. Thus supplied, we turn- 
 ed our faces homeward, and a little be- 
 fore sundown reached Santa Cruz, where 
 a steaming kettle of coffee soon dispelled 
 our cold and put us into good spirits. 
 
 The northern hills abounded with 
 puma, some of which, killed in our 
 hunts, were of unusual size, measuring 
 fully six feet, exclusive of the tail, which 
 is generally half the length of the body. 
 They are, of course, most numerous 
 where the herds of guanaco and the 
 ostriches abound : in the southern part 
 of Patagonia their color is more of a 
 grayish-brown than that of the species 
 found in the Argentine provinces. These 
 "leones," as they are universally called 
 in South America, always appeared to 
 me to be the most catlike of all the 
 felidfe. They are very timid, always 
 running from a man on horseback, and, 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 155 
 
 by day at least, from a pedestrian : they 
 run for a short distance in a series of 
 long bounds at great speed, but soon 
 tire, and stand at bay behind or in the 
 midst of a bush, and, sitting upon their 
 haunches, spit and swear just like a 
 monstrous tabby, sometimes endeavor- 
 ing to scratch with their formidable 
 claws, but rarely springing at the pur- 
 suer. Mr. Clarke on one occasion had 
 his mantle torn off in this manner. At 
 another time, when hunting in the vicin- 
 ity of Santa Cruz, I observed from a dis- 
 tance Gonzalez hacking with his knife at 
 a big incense bush, and on reaching the 
 spot found him occupied in clearing 
 away branches to allow him to knock a 
 huge puma on the head with his bolas. 
 He was dismounted and attended by his 
 dogs, which bayed the animal. Still, 
 had the puma not been a cur, he could 
 doubtless have sprung out and killed or 
 severely wounded the gaucho. The In- 
 dians affirm that the puma will attack a 
 single man alone and on foot ; and in- 
 deed subsequently an example of this 
 came under my notice : however, if a 
 person should be benighted or lost, he 
 has only to take the precaution of light- 
 ing a fire, which these animals will never 
 approach. They are most savage in the 
 early part of the spring or breeding-sea- 
 son, when, according to my experience, 
 they are found roaming over the country 
 in an unsettled manner : they are then 
 also thinner than at other times, but, like 
 the wild horse, they are generally pretty 
 fat at all times of the year. The females 
 I saw were sometimes accompanied by 
 two cubs, but never more. The meat 
 of the puma resembles pork, and is good 
 eating, though better boiled than roasted, 
 but one or two Indians of my acquaint- 
 ance would not touch the meat. The 
 hide is useful either for saddle-cloths or 
 to make mantles of; and owing to its 
 greasy nature it can be softened with less 
 trouble than that of the guanaco. In 
 Santa Cruz one of the men had a pair 
 of trousers made of lion's skin, which, 
 worn with the hair side out, was imper- 
 vious to wet. From the hock and lower 
 part of the hind legs boots may be 
 constructed similar to those made from 
 
 horse hide, and are in common use 
 amongst the Indians and also the gau- 
 chos of Plata. These, however, are 
 only made from pumas of large size, 
 and they wear out very quickly. To 
 kill a puma with a gun is rather a diffi- 
 cult matter, as, unless the ball enters his 
 skull or strikes near the region of the 
 heart, he has as many lives as his relation 
 the cat. I once put three revolver bul- 
 lets into one, and ultimately had recourse 
 to the bolas as a more effective weapon. 
 When wounded they become very sav- 
 age, but they are at all times bad cus- 
 tomers for dogs, which they maul in a 
 shocking manner. The Indian dogs are 
 trained to stand off and bay them, keep- 
 ing out of range of the claws ; neverthe- 
 less, they not unfrequently get killed. 
 Perhaps the simplest way of taking the 
 pumas is to throw a lasso over them, as 
 directly they feel the noose they lie down 
 as if dead, and are easily despatched. I 
 was particularly struck, as are all hunt- 
 ers, with their eyes — large, brown and 
 beautifully bright, but with a fierce glare 
 that does not appeal to any feelings of 
 compassion. I shall never forget the 
 expression in the eyes of one puma, best 
 described by the remark made by one 
 of the Indians as he reined back his 
 horse, expecting a spring : " Mira los 
 ojos del diablo !" (" Look, what devil's 
 eyes!") 
 
 By this time even the kind compan- 
 ionship of Mr. Clarke failed to reconcile 
 me to the tedious monotony of our life. 
 The game also became scarcer and 
 scarcer, and at the beginning of August 
 I began to think it would be better and 
 more amusing to migrate to the Indian 
 camp, where, at any rate, plenty of meat 
 was procurable. Accordingly, when the 
 Indians came over again on a visit, I 
 bought a horse, or rather changed away 
 a revolver for one (a three-year old, 
 newly-broken), and started in company 
 with Orkeke, Campan, Cayuke and 
 Tankelow, four Indians, all of whom 
 were previous acquaintances. I was 
 ushered into Orkeke's toldo with due 
 ceremony, and we took our seats by the 
 fire. I had brought a bag of coffee with 
 me ; so we set to work and roasted 
 
156 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 some, after which one of the Chilians 
 was given the task of pounding it be- 
 tween stones, and we all drank what the 
 Indians not inappropriately term "pot- 
 water." Many Indians crowded in to 
 have a look at us, and among others 
 that I noticed was a remarkably pretty 
 little girl of about thirteen years of age, 
 a niece of Orkeke's, who took some 
 coffee, when offered, in a shy and bash- 
 ful manner which was delightful to con- 
 template. In due time we all retired to 
 rest, and a little before daylight I was 
 woke up by the melodious singing of an 
 Indian in the next toldo. Shortly after- 
 ward, Orkeke went out and harangued 
 the inmates of the remaining toldos, and 
 presently the horses were brought up, 
 and most of the men started for the 
 chase. Snow had fallen during the 
 night, a biting cold wind was blowing, 
 and Orkeke told me there were very few 
 animals about. I took this as a hint not 
 to ask for a horse, so contented myself 
 with sauntering round and examining 
 the encampment. Some of the men 
 were playing cards, one or two sleeping, 
 whilst the women were almost univer- 
 sally employed in sewing guanaco man- 
 tles. About 3 p. M., Casimiro arrived 
 with his family, and proceeded to the 
 tent of a southern Indian, named Crime, 
 and shortly afterward the hunting-party 
 returned by twos and threes, but the 
 chase had not been attended with much 
 success. We passed the evening pleas- 
 antly enough, making acquaintance with 
 each other, and Keoken, the little girl, 
 instructed me in the Indian names of 
 the various objects about the place. 
 
 The most important among the In- 
 dians were Orkeke, the actual cacique, 
 and his brother Tankelow, who possess- 
 ed the greater number of horses ; Casi- 
 miro, whose leadership was still rather 
 in posse ; Camillo, Crime, Cuastro, Ca- 
 yuke, etc. One more must be mention- 
 ed by name — Waki, a perfect Hercules 
 in bodily frame, and a thoroughly good- 
 natured fellow, with whom I became 
 great friends. The whole were housed 
 in five toldos — by which Spanish name 
 the Indian kau or tents, strongly resem- 
 bling those of our own gypsies, are 
 
 known. They were pitched in a shel- 
 tered hollow, with their fronts facing the 
 east, to avoid the bitter violence of the 
 prevalent westerly winds. 
 
 Fitzroy has given an excellent de- 
 scription of the toldo, but to those read- 
 ers who are unacquainted with it a brief 
 sketch will not be unacceptable. A row 
 of forked posts about three feet high is 
 driven into the ground in a slightly 
 slanting position, and a ridge-pole laid 
 across them ; in front of these, at a dis- 
 tance of about seven feet, a second row, 
 six feet high, with a ridge-pole ;' and at 
 the same distance from them a third 
 row, eight feet high, each slanting a lit- 
 tle, but not at the same angle. A cov- 
 ering made of from forty to fifty full- 
 grown guanaco skins, smeared with a 
 mixture of grease and red ochre, is 
 drawn over from the rear, and the great 
 drag of the heavy covering straightens 
 the poles : it is then secured by thongs 
 to the front poles, while hide curtains 
 fastened between the inner poles parti- 
 tion off the sleeping-places, and the bag- 
 gage piled round the sides of the tent 
 excludes the cold blast which penetrates 
 under the edge of the covering. The 
 fire is kindled in the fore part or mouth 
 of the tent. In very bad weather, or 
 when encamped for the winter, an ad- 
 ditional covering is secured to the front 
 poles and brought down over an extra 
 row of short posts, making all snug. It 
 is a common arrangement for relatives 
 or friends to combine their toldos, when, 
 instead of bringing down the coverings 
 to the ground at the side, they are made 
 to overlap, and thus one tent roof will 
 cover two or three distinct domestic 
 interiors. 
 
 The furniture of the toldos consists of 
 one or two bolsters and a horse hide or 
 two to each sleeping compartment, one 
 to act as a curtain and the other for bed- 
 ding. The bolsters are made of old 
 ponchos or lechus, otherwise called man- 
 dils — woven blankets obtained from the 
 Araucanos, who are famous for their 
 manufacture — stuffed with guanaco wool 
 and sewn up with ostrich or guanaco 
 sinews. The bolsters do duty as pillows 
 or as seats, and help to form the women's 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 157 
 
 saddles on the march. Besides these, 
 the women all own mandils for their 
 beds. The men occasionally use the 
 cloths worn under the saddles for seats 
 when the ground is damp, but as a rule 
 all the inmates of the toldo squat upon 
 Nature's carpet, which has the advan- 
 tage of being easily cleaned, for the Te- 
 huelches are very particular about the 
 cleanliness of the interior of their dwell- 
 ings, and a patch of sod accidentally 
 befouled is at once cut out and thrown 
 outside by the women. 
 
 The cooking-utensils are simple, con- 
 sisting of an asador, or iron spit, for 
 roasting meat, and an occasional iron 
 pot, which serves for boiling and also for 
 trying-out ostrich grease and marrow, 
 which is employed both for cooking and 
 for mixing with the paint with which the 
 faces of both sexes are adorned. To 
 these, wooden platters and armadillo 
 shells, to serve broth in, are sometimes 
 added. The duty of pitching and ar- 
 ranging the toldos on the halt and strik- 
 ing them for the march, as well as load- 
 ing the poles, covering and furniture on 
 the horses, devolves entirely upon the 
 women, who display great strength and 
 dexterity in the work. 
 
 The order of march and method of 
 hunting which constitute the daily rou- 
 tine are as follows : The cacique, who 
 has the ordering of the marching and 
 hunting, comes out of his toldo at day- 
 light, sometimes indeed before, and de- 
 livers a loud oration, describing the order 
 of march, the appointed place of hunt- 
 ing and the general programme : he then 
 exhorts the young men to catch and 
 bring up the horses and be alert and 
 active in the hunt, enforcing his admo- 
 nition, by way of a wind-up, with a 
 boastful relation of his own deeds of 
 prowess when he was young. Some- 
 times the women while the chief is ha- 
 ranguing rekindle or blow up the embers 
 of the fire and prepare a slight breakfast, 
 but not invariably. Some cold meat is 
 also occasionally reserved from the even- 
 ing meal, and placed in a hide bag to be 
 carried with them on the march, to be 
 given to the children when they are 
 hungry. But the general custom for the 
 
 men is to wait until the day's hunt has 
 supplied fresh meat. When the cacique's 
 "oration " — which is very little attended 
 to — is over, the young men and boys 
 lasso and bring up the horses, and the 
 women place on their backs the bolsters 
 of reeds, tied with hide thongs, mantles 
 and colored blankets, which form their 
 saddles ; others are strapping their belts 
 on, or putting their babies into wicker- 
 work cradles, or rolhng up the skins that 
 form the coverings of the toldos, and 
 placing them and the poles on the bag- 
 gage-horses ; last of all, the small break- 
 ers which are carried on the march are 
 filled with water. The women mount 
 by means of a sling round the horses' 
 necks, and sit astride of their bolster- 
 saddles ; their babies — if they possess 
 any — and their pet dogs are hoisted up, 
 the babies being stowed in the cradles 
 behind them : then they take their bag- 
 gage-horses in tow and start off in single 
 file. The men, who generally wait until 
 all are ready, then drive the spare horses 
 for a short distance, and having handed 
 them over to the charge of rheir wives 
 or daughters, retire to a neighboring 
 bush, where a fire is kindled, pipes are 
 lighted, and the hunt commenced in the 
 following inanner : Two men start off 
 and ride at a gallop round a certain area 
 of country, varying according to the 
 number of the patty, lighting fires at 
 intervals to mark their track. After the 
 lapse of a few minutes two others are 
 despatched, and so on until only a few 
 are left with the cacique. These spread 
 themselves out in at crescent, closing in 
 and narrowing the circle on a point 
 where those first started have by this 
 time arrived. The crescent rests on a 
 base-line formed by the slowly-proceed- 
 ing line of women, children and bag- 
 gage-horses. The ostriches and herds 
 of guanaco run from the advancing 
 party, but are checked by the points- 
 men, and when the circle is well closed 
 in are attacked with the bolas, two men 
 frequently chasing the same animal from 
 different sides. The dogs also assist in 
 the chase, but the Indians are so quick 
 and expert with the bolas that unless 
 their horses are tired, or they happen to 
 
i5« 
 
 AT no ME WITH THE PA TAG ONI A AS. 
 
 have gambled away their bolas, the dogs I very frequently found in the circles, and 
 are not much called into use. Puma are | quickly despatched by a blow on the 
 
 head from a ball. On one occasion I I blow, the skull of an unusually large 
 saw Waki completely crush, by a single I one. The Indian law of division of the 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 '59 
 
 game prevents all disputes, and is as 
 follows : The man who balls the ostrich 
 leaves it for the other who has been 
 chasing with him to carry or take charge 
 of, and at the end of the hunt it is di- 
 vided — the feathers and body from the 
 head to the breast-bone and one leg be- 
 longing to the captor, the remainder to 
 the assistant. In the case of guanaco, 
 the first takes the best half in the same 
 manner : the lungs, heart, liver, kidneys 
 and the fat and marrow bones are some- 
 times eaten raw. The Tehuelches also 
 cut out the fat over the eyes, and the 
 gristly fat between the thigh-joints, which 
 they eat with great gusto, as also the 
 heart and blood of the ostrich. Owing 
 to the entire absence of farinaceous food, 
 fat becomes a necessary article of diet, 
 and can be consumed in much larger 
 quantities than in more civilized coun- 
 tries. That this is not merely owing to the 
 inclemency of the climate is proved by 
 the appetite for fat which the gauchos in 
 the Argentine provinces acquire. When 
 the hunt is finished and the birds cut up 
 and divided, fires are kindled, and whilst 
 stones are heating the ostrich is plucked, 
 the wing-feathers being carefully tied to- 
 gether with a piece of sinew. The bird 
 is then laid on its back and drawn ; the 
 legs are carefully skinned down, and the 
 bone taken out, leaving the skin ; the 
 carcase is then separated into two halves, 
 and the back-bone having been extract- 
 ed from the lower half, and the meat 
 sliced so as to admit the heated stones 
 laid in between the sections, it is tied up 
 like a bag, secui-ed by the skin of the 
 legs, with a small bone thrust through 
 to keep all taut : this is placed on the 
 live embers of the fire, a light blaze being 
 kindled when it is nearly done to per- 
 fectly roast the outside meat. During 
 the process of cooking it has to be turn- 
 ed frequently to ensure all parts being 
 
 thoroughly cooked. When ready it is 
 taken off the fire, and the top part being 
 cut off and the stones extracted, the 
 broth and meat are found deliciously 
 cooked. The party, generally consist- 
 ing of twos or fours, sit round the dish 
 and eat the meat, sopping it in the broth. 
 The back part, which consists nearly 
 altogether of fat (when the ostrich is in 
 good condition), is then divided, pieces 
 being given to each and reserved as tid- 
 bits for the women and children. When 
 the head and breast half are to be cook- 
 ed, the bone is not extracted, but the 
 wings turned inside and the breast cav- 
 ity filled with heated stones, and tied up 
 with half of the skin of the legs, which 
 have been divided, additional pieces of 
 meat from the legs having been placed 
 in the breast cavity. The fat of the 
 breast is divided amongst the party at 
 the fireside, the owner in all cases re- 
 serving none or a very small piece for 
 himself, as the others who are cookmg 
 at the same fire are sure to give him 
 plenty. The cacique generally receives 
 the largest share, or, if he is not present, 
 the greatest friends of the owner. The 
 wing-feathers are carefully taken to the 
 toldos and stored with others for future 
 trade. The ostrich is most thoroughly 
 eaten, thc^izzard, which is large enough 
 to fill both hands, being carefully cook- 
 ed by the insertion^ of a hot stone and 
 roasted : the eyes, too, are sucked, and 
 the tripe devoured ; but when the birds 
 are thin they are simply skinned, and 
 the carcase left to the pumas. After the 
 meal concluding the hunt is finished, a 
 pipe is handed round, saddles are re- 
 adjusted and the game placed on them, 
 and the party adjourn to the toldos, 
 which by this time have been pitched 
 and arranged by the women. 
 
 (end op faht first.) 
 
i6o 
 
 AT HOAIE WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANh;. 
 
 BY GEORGE CHAWORTH MUSTERS. 
 II. 
 
 THE hills on the northern side of the 
 valley of the Rio Chico are bare 
 and rugged, rising abruptly out of irreg- 
 ular forms, while the southern heights 
 are lower, and present more of the steep 
 declivities known as barrancas, inter- 
 rupted at intervals by high, rugged hills 
 of basalt, often assuming the appearance 
 of ruined castles, closing in at the bends 
 of the winding river. To one of these — 
 a remarkable hill under which we were 
 encamped on August 23, about one hun- 
 dred and twenty miles from Santa Cruz — 
 I gave the name of Sierra Ventana, from 
 a window-like opening through its peak : 
 the Indians called it Mowaish. In many 
 places the bases of these hills are form- 
 ed entirely of a description of lava ; and 
 one of the Chilians informed me that 
 whilst passing over a ridge he had ob- 
 served several large masses of pure iron : 
 this, however, I was inclined to disbe- 
 lieve, as, although farther up the coun- 
 try iron-ore exists in large quantities, I 
 only observed in this part a species of 
 ore similar to that common at Drobak 
 in Norway. 
 
 During the expedition up the Rio Chico 
 I had an opportunity of witnessing the 
 ceremonies with which the attainment 
 of the age of puberty of one of the girls 
 was celebrated according to custom. 
 Early in the morning the father of the 
 child informed the cacique of the event : 
 the cacique thereupon officially commu- 
 nicated the intelligence to the acting 
 doctor or medicine-man, and a consider- 
 able shouting was set up, while the doc- 
 tor adorned himself with white paint and 
 was bled in the forehead and arms with 
 a sharp bodkin. The women immedi- 
 ately set to work to sew a number of 
 mandils together. When the patchwork 
 was finished, it was taken with pomp 
 and ceremony by a band of young men, 
 \\ ho marched round the poles — already 
 
 fixed to form a temporary toldo — sing- 
 ing, whilst the women joined in with the 
 most dismal incantations and bowlings. 
 After marching round several times, the 
 covering was drawn over the poles, and 
 lances were stuck in front adorned with 
 bells, streamers and brass plates that 
 shook and rattled in the breeze, the 
 whole thing when erected presenting a 
 very gay appearance (its Indian name 
 literally meaning "The pretty house "). 
 Tht jirl was then placed in an inner 
 part of the tent, where nobody was ad- 
 mitted. After this everybody mounted, 
 and some were selected to bring up the 
 horses, out of which certain mares and 
 fillies were chosen and brought up in 
 front of the showy toldo, where they 
 were knocked on the head by a ball, 
 thus saving the blood (which was se- 
 cured in pots) to be cooked, being con- 
 sidered a great delicacy. It is a rule 
 amongst the Indians that any one assist- 
 ing to take off the hide of a slaughtered 
 mare is entitled to a piece of meat, but 
 the flesh was on this occasion distributed 
 pretty equally all round. Whilst the 
 meat was cooking, Casimiro, who was 
 ruler of the feast, sent a message for me 
 to come to Crime's toldo, where I found 
 him busy working at a saddle, in the 
 construction- of which he was, by the 
 way, an adept. His wife had a large 
 iron pot bubbling on the fire, containing 
 some of the blood mixed with grease. 
 When the mess was nearly cooked, we 
 added a little pepper and salt and cofh- 
 menced the feast. Previous to this I 
 had felt a sort of repugnance to eating 
 horse, as perhaps most Englishmen — 
 except, indeed, the professed hippoph- 
 agists — have ; but hunger overcame all 
 scruples, and I soon acquired quite a 
 taste for this meat. Casimiro informed 
 me, after the meal was concluded, that 
 thei'e v/ould be a dance in the evenins:. 
 
AT HOME Wirii THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 i6i 
 
 \ looked forward with great anticipation I saw some of the women proceed to col- 
 to this "small and early,'" and shortly | lect a considerable quantity of firewood, 
 
 1/ \^y^\\ iiiiiiiiiii i||ii iifp^^^^^^^^ 
 
 1 
 
 which was placed outside the tent. Pres- I outside the sacred precincts. The wo- 
 eritly, toward dusk, a fire was made, first ! men all sat down on the grass round 
 
l62 
 
 ^i///OME IVITFI THE rATAGONlAXS. 
 
 about, but at some distance from the I except four and the musicians. The or- 
 men, who were all seated on the grass, | chestra consisted of a drum made by 
 
 stretching a piece of hide over a bowl, I of the thigh-bone of a guanaco, with 
 filso a sort of wind instrument formed holes bored in it. which is placed to the 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 163 
 
 r louth and played, or with a short bow 
 having a horsehair string. When all 
 was ready, some of the old hags all the 
 time singing in their melodious way, the 
 band struck up, and four Indians, muf- 
 fled up in blankets so that their eyes 
 only were visible, and their heads adorn- 
 ed with ostrich plumes, marched into 
 the ring and commenced pacing slowly 
 round the fire, keeping time to the 
 music. After two or three promenades 
 the time gradually quickened until they 
 went at a sort of trot ; and about the 
 fifth round, dancing fast to the music, 
 they threw away their mantles, and ex- 
 hibited themselves adorned with white 
 paint daubed all over their bodies, and 
 each having a girdle of bells extending 
 from the shoulder to the hip, which 
 jingled in tune to their steps. The first 
 four consisted of the chiefs Casimiro, 
 Orkeke, Crime and Camillo, who, after 
 dancing with great action (just avoiding 
 stepping into the fire), and bowing their 
 plumed heads grotesquely on either side 
 to the beats of the drum, retired for a 
 short time to rest themselves, after which 
 they appeared again and danced a dif- 
 ferent step. When that was over, four 
 more appeared, and so on until every 
 one, including the boys, had had a fling. 
 Sometimes, to give greater effect, the 
 performers carried a bunch of rushes in 
 one hand. About 9 p. M., everybody 
 having had enough, Casimiro gave the 
 sign. The band stopped playing, and 
 all retired to bed. The dancing was not 
 ungraceful, but was rendered grotesque 
 by the absurd motions of the head. It 
 was strictly confined to the men, the 
 women being only allowed to look on. 
 
 At the beginning of November we fell 
 in with a party of northern Indians, 
 under a chief named Hinchel, on which 
 occasion the ceremonial of welcome was 
 duly observed. Both parties, fully arm- 
 ed, dressed in their best and mounted on 
 their best horses, formed into opposite 
 lines. The northern Indians presented 
 the gayest appearance, displaying flan- 
 nel shirts, ponchos and a great show 
 of silver spurs and ornamental bridles. 
 The chiefs then rode up and down, dress- 
 ing the ranks and haranguing their men, 
 
 who kept up a continual shouting of 
 "Wap, Wap, Wap." I fell in as a full 
 private, though Casimiro had vainly 
 endeavored to induce me to act as " Cap- 
 itanejo" or officer of a party. The Bue- 
 nos Ayrean colors were proudly display- 
 ed on our side, while the Northerns car- 
 ried a white weft, their ranks presenting 
 a much better drilled aspect than our 
 ill -disciplined forces. Messengers or 
 hostages were then exchanged, each side 
 deputing a son or brother of the chief 
 for that purpose ; and the new-comers 
 advanced, forined into columns of threes 
 and rode round our ranks, firing their 
 guns and revolvers, shouting and brand- 
 ishing their swords and bolas. After 
 galloping round at full speed two or three 
 times, they opened ranks and charged 
 out as if attacking an enemy, shouting 
 " Koue " at every blow or thrust. The 
 object of attack was supposed to be the 
 " Gualichu " or demon, and certainly the 
 Demon of Discord had need to be ex- 
 orcised. Hinchel's party then halted 
 and reformed their line, while we, in our 
 turn, executed the same manoeuvres. 
 Afterward the caciques advanced and 
 formally shook ha:nds, making, each in 
 turn, long an.d complimentary speeches. 
 This was repeated several times, the 
 etiquette being to answer only " Ahon " 
 or Yes until the third repetition, when 
 all begin to talk, and formality is gradu- 
 ally laid aside. It was rather a surprise 
 to find etiquette so rigorously insisted 
 on, but these so-called savages are as 
 punctilious in observing the proper forms 
 as if they were Spanish courtiers. 
 
 Guanaco-hunting having proved a fail- 
 ure, Orkeke, to my great delight, pro- 
 posed a visit to the wild-cattle country. 
 The camp was accordingly struck, and 
 following more or less the valley of the 
 river, which flowed after one turn nearly 
 due east, we shortly came out into an. 
 open plain running up between the 
 mountains, at the head of which we en- 
 camped by some tall beeches on the 
 bank of the stream. The whole of the 
 latter part of the plain traversed was 
 literally carpeted with strawberry plants 
 all in blossom, the soil being of a dark, 
 peaty nature. Young ostriches were now 
 
164 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 numerous, and in every hunt some were I tion to our dinner. Tiie children had 
 captured and formed a welcome addi- \ several alive as pets, which they used to 
 
 let loose and then catch with miniature I Our programme was to leave all the wo- 
 bolas, generally ending in killing them. I men.toldos and other encumbrances \x\ 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 165 
 
 Lnis spot, named "Weekel," or Chay- 
 kash — a regular station which Hinchel's 
 party had occupied a few weeks previ- 
 ously — and proceed into the interior in 
 search of cattle. The following morn- 
 ing at daylight horses were caught and 
 saddled, and, after receiving the good 
 wishes of the women, who adjured us 
 to bring back plenty of fat beef, we 
 started off just as the sun was rising be- 
 hind the hills to the eastward. The air 
 was most invigorating, and we trotted 
 along for some distance up a slightly 
 irregular and sandy slope, halting after 
 an hour or two by the side of a deli- 
 ciously clear brook flowing east, where 
 ve smoked. We had previously passed 
 guanaco and ostrich, but no notice was 
 taken of them, the Indians having larger 
 game in view. After passing this brook, 
 the head-water of the river near which 
 we had left the toldos, we skirted a large 
 basin-like plain of beautiful green pas- 
 ture, and after galloping for some time 
 entered the forest, traveling along a path 
 which only permitted us to proceed in 
 Indian file. The trees were in many 
 places dead — not blackened by fire, but 
 standing up like ghostly bleached and 
 bare skeletons. It is a remarkable fact 
 that all the forests on the eastern side 
 are skirted by a belt of dead trees. At 
 length, however, just as we came in sight 
 of a curiously-pointed rock which in the 
 distance resembled the spire of a church, 
 we entered the forest of live trees : the 
 undergrowth was composed of currant, 
 bay and other bushes, whilst here and 
 there were beds of yellow violets, and 
 the inevitable strawberry plants every- 
 where. After crossing a stream which, 
 flowing from the north, afterward took a 
 westerly course, thus proving that we 
 had passed the watershed, we proceeded, 
 under cover of a huge rock, to recon- 
 noitre the hunting-ground. The scenery 
 was beautiful : a valley, about a mile 
 wide, stretched directly under us ; on 
 the southern verge a silver line marked 
 the easterly river, and another on the 
 northern tlie'one debouching in the Pa- 
 cific ; whilst above, on both sides, rose 
 high mountains covered with vegetation 
 and almost impenetrable forests. On 
 
 the western side of the valley a solitary 
 bull was leisurely taking his breakfast, 
 and above our lookout rock a huge con- 
 dor lazily flapped his wings. These were 
 the only specimens of animal life in view. 
 Pursuing our way in perfect silence, as 
 from the first entrance into the forests 
 speaking had been prohibited, we fol- 
 lowed the leader along the narrow cattle- 
 path, passing here and there the remains 
 of a dead bull or cow that had met its 
 fate by the Indians' lasso, and at length 
 descended to the plain. It was about 
 mid-day and the day was warm, so we 
 halted, changed horses, looked to our 
 girths, got lassos ready for use, and then 
 started on. As we were proceeding we 
 observed two or three animals amongst 
 the woods on the opposite side^ but, 
 knowing that it would be useless to fol- 
 low, pursued our course up the valley. 
 Having crossed the western stream, we 
 at once entered a thicket where the path 
 was scarcely distinguishable from the 
 cover, but our leader never faltered, ami 
 led the way through open glades alter- 
 nating with thick woods, on every side 
 of which were cattle-marks — many being 
 holes stamped out by the bulls — or wal- 
 lowing-places. The glades soon termi- 
 nated in forests, which seemed to stretch 
 unbroken on either side. We had ex- 
 pected before reaching this point to find 
 cattle in considerable numbers, but the 
 warmth of the day had probably driven 
 them into the thickets to seek shelter. 
 We now commenced to ascend over a 
 dangerous path, encumbered here and 
 there with loose boulders and entangled 
 in dense thickets, whilst we could hear 
 and catch occasional glimpses of the 
 river foaming down a ravine on our left ; 
 and presently arrived at the top of a 
 ridge where the forests became more 
 uniformly dense, and we could with 
 great difficulty pursue our way. It was 
 a mystery to me how Orkeke, who acted 
 as guide, knew where we were, as on 
 one occasion the slightly-marked paths 
 diverged in different direcdons, and 
 on another we literally found ourselves 
 amongst fallen trees in a forest so dense 
 that the light of day scarcely penetrated 
 its shades. Our leader, however, never 
 
i66 
 
 AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 hesitated, but led us onward in all con- 
 fidence. Whilst brushing along, if I 
 may be allowed the term, trying to keep 
 the leader in sight, I heard something 
 tapping on a tree, and, looking up, saw 
 close above me a most beautifully-fea- 
 thered red-crested woodpecker. We at 
 length commenced to descend, and, after 
 passing many channels of rivulets issu- 
 ing from springs, where a slip of the 
 horse's foot on the wet and mossy stones 
 would have occasioned something worse 
 than broken bones, as they were situated 
 on the edge of a deep ravine, finally 
 emerged from the woods, and found our- 
 selves on a hill of some three hundred 
 feet in height, whence we looked down 
 on a broad plain in the form of a triangle, 
 bounded by the river flowing through 
 the ravine on the north side, and on the 
 southern by another coming from the 
 south, which two streams united in one 
 large river at the western apex, at a dis- 
 tance of about perhaps a league. Above 
 and around, on all sides excepting to the 
 west and the ravines through which the 
 rivers flowed, rose the unbroken wall 
 of the lofty mountains of the Cordillera, 
 many of their peaks snow-clad. No 
 sound was to be heard except the rush- 
 ing of the river in the ravine, and no 
 animal hfe to be seen except a condor 
 or two floating high above us in the clear 
 sky. The scene was sublime, and I view- 
 ed it in silence for some minutes, till the 
 pipe, being. handed to me, dispelled all 
 nascent poetic tendencies. The Indians 
 remained silent and looked disgusted, as 
 a herd of cattle had been expected to be 
 viewed on the plain below. We descend- 
 ed to the flats and crossed the river, on 
 the banks of which "Paja" or pampa- 
 grass grew in abundance, as well as the 
 bamboo-like canes from which Arau- 
 canian Indians make their lance shafts, 
 and a plant called by the Chilians 
 "Talka," the stalk of which, resembling 
 rhubarb, is refreshing and juicy. On 
 the northern edges and slope of the ra- 
 vine behind us towered graceful pines 
 sixty feet high, which, though an im- 
 passable barrier of rock prevented close 
 inspection, appeared to be a species of 
 Araucaria : the bark was imbricated, 
 
 and the stems rose bare of branches Tor 
 two-thirds of their height, like those fig- 
 ured by M. Gay. Many -had been car- 
 ried down by landslips, and lay tossed 
 and entangled on the sides of the ra- 
 vine. The increase of temperature after 
 passing the watershed was sensibly great, 
 amounting to from seven to ten degrees, 
 and the vegetation far more luxuriant, 
 the plants presenting many new forms 
 unknown at the eastern side. After 
 leaving the plain and crossing the shal- 
 low stream, we left our mantles, and 
 girthed up near a tree in a thicket fes- 
 tooned with a beautiful creeper, having 
 a bell-shaped flower of violet radiated 
 with brown. The variety of flowers 
 made an Eden of this lovely spot : 
 climbing clusters of sweet-peas, vetches, 
 rich golden flowers resembling gorgeous 
 marigolds, and many another blossom, 
 filled the air with perfume and delighted 
 the eye with their beauty. Proceeding 
 still westward, we entered a valley with 
 alternate clumps of trees and green pas- 
 tures, and after riding about a mile I 
 espied from a ridge on one side of the 
 valley two bulls on the other side, just 
 clear of the thick woods bordering the 
 ascent of the mountains. The word 
 was passed in whispers to the cacique, 
 and, a halt being called under cover of 
 some bushes, a plan of attack was ar- 
 ranged in the following manner : Two 
 men were sent round to endeavor to 
 drive the animals to a clearing where it 
 would be possible to use the lasso, the 
 remainder of the party proceeding down 
 toward the open ground with lassos, 
 ready to chase if the bulls should come 
 that way. For a few minutes we re- 
 mained stationary, picking the suaw- 
 berries, which in this spot were ripe, 
 although the plants previously met with 
 were only in flower. At the end of five 
 minutes spent in anxiously hoping that 
 our plan would prove successful, a yell 
 from the other side put us on the alert, 
 and we had the gratification to see one 
 of the animals coming straight toward 
 our cover. Alas ! just as we were pre- 
 paring to dash out he turned on the edge 
 of the plain, and after charging furious- 
 ly at his pursuer, dashed into a thicket, 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIA NS. 
 
 167 
 
 where he stood at bay. We immediately 
 closed round him, and, dismounting, I 
 advanced on foot to try and bring him 
 down with the revolver: just as I had 
 got within half a dozen paces of him, 
 an", behind a bush was quietly taking 
 air, at his shoulder, the Indians, eager 
 for beef, and safe on their horses at 
 a considerable distance off, shouted, 
 " Nearei ! nearer!" I accordingly step- 
 ped from my cover, but had hardly 
 moved a pace forward when my spur 
 caught in a root : at the same moment 
 "El Toro " charged. Entangled with 
 the root, I could not jump on one side 
 as he came on ; so when within a yard 
 I fired a shot in his face, hoping to turn 
 him, and wheeled my body at the same 
 instant to prevent his horns from catch- 
 ing me, as the sailors say, "broadside 
 on." The shot did not stop him, so I 
 was knocked down, and, galloping over 
 me, he passed on with my handkerchief, 
 which fell from my head, triumphantly 
 borne on his horns, and stopped a few 
 yards off under another bush. Having 
 picked myself up and found my arms 
 and legs all right, I gave him another 
 shot, which, as my hand was rather 
 unsteady, only took effect in the flank. 
 My cartridges being exhausted, I return- 
 ed to my horse and found that, besides 
 being considerably shaken, two of my 
 ribs had been broken by the encounter. 
 The Indians closed round me, and 
 evinced great anxiety to know whether 
 I was much hurt. One, more courageous 
 than the rest, despite the warnings of the 
 cacique, swore that he would try and 
 lasso the brute, and accordingly ap- 
 proached the infuriated animal, who for 
 a moment or two showed no signs of 
 stirring : just, however, as the Indian 
 was about to throw his lasso it caught 
 in a branch, and before he could extri- 
 cate it the bull was on him. We saw 
 the horse give two or three vicious kicks 
 as the bull gored him : at length he was 
 lifted clean up, the fore legs alone re- 
 maining on the ground, and overthrown, 
 the rider alighting on his head in a bush. 
 We closed up and attracted the bull in 
 another direction, then went to look for 
 the corpse of our comrade, who, how- 
 
 ever, to our surprise, issued safe from 
 the bush, where he had lain quiet and 
 unhurt, though the horse was killed. 
 
 The first question asked about the 
 Patagonians by curious English friends 
 has invariably had reference to their 
 traditionary stature ; Are they giants or 
 not ? Whether the ancestors of the Te- 
 huelches — to whom alone, by the way, 
 the name Patagonians properly applies 
 — were taller than the present race is 
 uncertain, though tales of gigantic skele- 
 tons found in Tehuelche graves are cur- 
 rent in Punta Arenas and Santa Cruz. 
 The average height of the Tehuelche 
 male members of the party with which 
 I traveled was rather over than under 
 five feet ten inches. Of course no other 
 means of measurement be-sides compar- 
 ing my own height were available,' but 
 this result, noted at the time, coincides 
 with that independently arrived at by Mr. 
 Cunningham. Two others, who were 
 measured carefully by Mr. Clarke, stood. 
 six feet four inches each. After joining 
 the northern Tehuelches, although the 
 Southerners proved generally the tallest, 
 I found no reason to alter this average, 
 as any smaller men that were met with 
 in their company were not pure Te- 
 huelches, but half-bred Pampas. The 
 extraordinary muscular development of 
 the arms and chest is in all particularly 
 striking, and as a rule they are well- 
 proportioned throughout. This fact calls 
 for especial mention, as others have 
 stated that the development and strength 
 of the legs is inferior to that of the arms. 
 Even Mr. Cunningham alleges this to 
 be the case, but I cannot at all agree, 
 with him. Besides the frequent oppor- 
 tunities afforded me of scrutinizing the 
 young men engaged in the gaine of ball, 
 in which great strength and activity are 
 displayed, or when enjoying the almost 
 daily bath and swimming or diving, 1 
 judged of the muscular size of their legs 
 iDy trying on their boots, which in nearly 
 all cases were far too large for me, al- 
 though the feet, on the other hand, were 
 frequently smaller than mine. The 
 height of their insteps is also worthy of 
 remark, one example of which may suf- 
 
I 68 
 
 AT J/OA/E WITH 71 IE PATAGONIAAS. 
 
 tire. Having negotiated an exchange I ufactured by Messrs. Thomas, foi some 
 of an excellent pair of high boots, man- j necessary article with a Tehuelche, the 
 
 'i^ m ^^!^'f 
 
 ■in 
 
 
 
 
 t^ 
 
 
 /"T/ 
 
 < td 
 
 
 t J .« Jill winiUP> > ' 'H^ 
 
 
 
 '1. — N,' "O^k '^^■7; 
 
 '1 ' n 
 
 K ' ;, - j-«r^',---r"^' ,,lr *y rifc. v^ 
 
 < 1 * 
 
 
 bargam fell through because he was un- j high-arched instep proving an insuper- 
 able to get his foot into the boot, the I able obstacle to farther progress. 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 169 
 
 Their faces, of course, vary in expres- 
 sion, but are ordinarily bright and good- 
 humored, though when in the settle- 
 ments they assume a sober, and even 
 sullen, demeanor, Waki and Cayuke, 
 two friends of mine, are particularly 
 present to my recollection as having 
 always had a smile on their faces. 
 Their ever-ready laughter displays uni- 
 versally good teeth, which they keep 
 white and clean by chewing "maki," a 
 gum which exudes from " the incense 
 bush, and is carefully gathered by the 
 women and children. It has a rather 
 pleasant taste and is a most excellent 
 dentifrice, worthy to rival Odonto or 
 Floriline, and it is used simply as such, 
 and not, as M. Guinnard says, because 
 their greediness is so great that they 
 must chew something. Their eyes are 
 bright and inteUigent, and their noses — 
 though, of course, presenting different 
 types — are as a rule aquiline and well- 
 formed, and devoid of the breadth of 
 nostril proper to the ordinary ideal of 
 savage tribes. The peculiar prominence 
 over the eyebrows has been noticed by 
 all observers, and retreating foreheads, 
 though observable, are exceptional. The 
 thick masses of hair and the obvious 
 risk, which would deter the most zealous 
 craniologist from endeavoring to meas- 
 ure their heads, must be deemed suf- 
 ficient excuse for my not being able to 
 state whether they are dolichokephalic 
 or brachykephalic — a point, however, 
 which I confess did not particularly at- 
 tract my observation ; but for the partial 
 comfort of anthropologists, be it noted 
 that both Chilians and myself inter- 
 changed hats with some Tehuelches, 
 especially Orkeke and Hinchel, without 
 finding misfits. The complexion of the 
 men is reddish-brown — that is to say, 
 when cleansed from paint, and, like an 
 old picture, restored to its pristine tint, 
 which is not quite so deep as to warrant 
 Fitzroy's comparison of it to the color of 
 a Devon cow. 
 
 The scanty natural growth of beard, 
 moustaches, and even eyebrows, is care- 
 fully eradicated by means of a pair of 
 silver tweezers, and I was often urged 
 to part with my beard and undergo this 
 
 painful operation, but I naturally object- 
 ed to complying with the request. The 
 men's heads are covered with thick, 
 flowing masses of long hair, of which 
 they take great care, making their wives 
 or other female relatives brush it out 
 carefully at least once a day. Very few 
 appeared to have gray hair, though there 
 were a few exceptions, one very old 
 man's hair being of a snowy whiteness, 
 which contrasted strangely with his 
 tawny face. The women have, as far 
 as I could judge, an average height of 
 about five feet six : they are very strong 
 in the arms, but seldom walk, beyond 
 fetching the supplies of wood and water, 
 all their journeys being performed on 
 horseback. Their hair, which is of no 
 great length, scarcely indeed equaling 
 that of the men, and very coarse, is 
 worn in two plaited tails, which on gala- 
 days are artificially lengthened, prob- 
 ably with horsehair interwoven with 
 blue beads, the ends being garnished 
 with silver pendants. This practice, 
 however, is confined, I think, to the un- 
 married ladies. 
 
 The young women are frequently 
 good-looking, displaying healthy, ruddy 
 cheeks when not disguised with paint. 
 They are "modest in behavior, though 
 very coquettish, and as skilled in flirta- 
 tion as if they had been taught in more 
 civilized society, appealing as prettily 
 for help as a young lady in imaginary 
 difficulties over a country stile. Thus^ 
 when at Orkeke's request I led the way 
 through a river — halfway across the 
 channel suddenly deepened, with mud- 
 dy bottom, and an abrupt bank to land 
 on — I heard a plaintive appeal, " Mus- 
 ter, help me ! my horse is too small." 
 Exposure and work do not age them as 
 soon as might be expected, but when 
 old they become most hideous beldams, 
 and the most weird-like witches imagined 
 by Dore would be surpassed by a trio 
 of Tehuelche grandams. The dress of 
 the men consists of a chiripa or under- 
 garment round the loins, made of a 
 poncho, a piece of cloth, or even of a 
 guanaco mantle ; but, whatever the ma- 
 terial, this article of dress is indispens 
 able and scrupulously worn, their sense 
 
lyo 
 
 Jl^ HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 of decency being very strong. All other I and warm skin - mantle, which, worn 
 garments are supphed by the capacious | with the fur inside and the painted s.de 
 
 out, will keep the wearer dry for a con- I This is often dispensed with in the ch ^se, 
 siderable time in the wettest weather. | but if worn when riding is secured at the 
 
AT HOME WITH THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 171 
 
 waist by a belt of hide or leather if it 
 can be obtained. When in camp 'the 
 belt is not used, and the garment is worn 
 loose, something after the fashion of the 
 melodramatic assassin's cloak. When 
 sitting by the fireside, or even when 
 walking about, the furred part of the 
 mantle is generally kept up over the 
 mouth, as the Tehuelches aver that the 
 cold wind causes sore gums — a habit 
 which assists in rendering their guttural, 
 and at all times rather unintelligible, 
 language more difficult of comprehen- 
 sion to the novice. 
 
 The women's dress consists of a man- 
 tle similar to that worn by the men, but 
 secured at the throat by a large silver 
 pin with a broad disk, or a nail, or thorn, 
 according to the wealth or poverty of 
 the wearer ; and under this is a loose 
 calico or stuff sacque, extending from 
 the shoulders to the ankle. When trav- 
 eling the mantle is secured at the waist 
 by a broad belt ornamented with blue 
 beads and silver or brass studs. The 
 boots worn by the women are similar to 
 those described, with the exception that 
 in their preparation the hair is left on 
 the hide, while it is carefully removed 
 from those of the men. The children 
 are dressed in small mantles, but are 
 more frequently allowed to run about 
 naked up to the age of six or eight : their 
 little boots are made from the skin taken 
 from the fore legs of the guanaco, soft- 
 ened in the hand. The small children 
 generally remonstrated strongly and ef- 
 fectually against wearing this article of 
 clothing, and, whatever the severity of 
 the weather, preferred running about 
 barefoot. The cradles for the babies are 
 formed of strips of wickerwork interlaced 
 with hide thongs, fitted with a cover to 
 keep sun and rain off, and made of a 
 convenient shape to rest on the saddle- 
 gear of the mother when on the march. 
 They are ornamented, if the parents are 
 wealthy, with little bells, brass or even 
 silver plates. The women are fond of 
 ornaments, wearing huge earrings of 
 square shape, suspended to small rings 
 passing through the lobe of the ear; 
 also silver or blue-bead necklaces. The 
 men also wear these necklaces, and 
 
 adorn their belts, pipes, knives, sheaths 
 and horse-gear with silver. Those who 
 can afford it also indulge in silver spurs 
 and stirrups : most of their ornaments, 
 except the beads, are homemade, being 
 beaten out of dollars obtained by com- 
 merce in the settlements. Both sexes 
 smear their faces, and occasionally their 
 bodies, with paint, the Indians alleging 
 as the reason for using this cosmetic thai 
 it is a protection against the effect of the 
 winds ; and I found from personal ex- 
 perience that it proved a complete pre- 
 servative from excoriation or chapped 
 skin. The paint for the face is composed 
 of either red ochre or black earth mixed 
 %rith grease obtained from the marrow- 
 bones of the game killed in the chase, 
 all of which are carefully husbanded by 
 the women, and when opportunity offers 
 pounded and boiled in the large pots, 
 the grease and gelatine being carefully 
 skimmed off and secured. On state oc- 
 casions, such as a birth-feast, and for a 
 dance, the men further adorn themselves 
 with white paint or powdered gypsum, 
 which they moisten and rub on their 
 hands, and make five white finger-marks 
 over their chests, arms and legs. The 
 usual morning toilette is simple : after 
 the plunge in the river, which is almost 
 always the first thing — except of course 
 when circumstances prevent it — indulged 
 in by both sexes, who bathe scrupulous- 
 ly apart, and generally before daylight, 
 the men's hair is dressed by their wives, 
 daughters or sweethearts, who take the 
 greatest care to burn any hairs that may 
 be brushed out, as they fully believe that 
 spells may be wrought by evil-intention- 
 ed persons who can obtain a piece of 
 their hair. From the same idea, after 
 cutting meir nails the parings are care- 
 fully committed to the flames. After 
 the hair-brushing, which is performed by 
 means of a rude hand-brush, the women 
 adorn the men's faces with paint : if in 
 mourning they put on black paint, and 
 if going to fight, sometimes put a little 
 white paint under the eyes, which assists 
 in contrast to the other in giving a sav- 
 age expression. The women paint each 
 other's faces, or if possessed, as some- 
 times occurs, of a fragment of looking- 
 
AT HOME WITH THE FATAGONIANS. 
 
 glass, paint their own. Both sexes tattoo 
 on the forearm, by the simple process of 
 puncturing the skin with a bodkin and 
 inserting a mixture of blue earth with a 
 piece of dry glass : the usual patterns 
 consist of a series of parallel lines, and 
 sometimes a single triangle or a double 
 triangle, the upper one resting on the 
 apex of the lower. I myself had one 
 line tattooed by a fair enslaver, and con- 
 fess that the process was rather painful. 
 The religion of the Tehuelches is dis- 
 tinguished from that of the Pampas and 
 Araucanians by the absence of any trace 
 of sun-worship, although the new moon 
 is saluted, the respectful gesture being ac- 
 companied by some low muttered words 
 which I never could manage to hear. 
 They believe in a great and good Spirit, 
 though they think he lives "careless of 
 mankind." They have no idols or ob- 
 jects of worship, nor — if a year's expe- 
 rience can enable one to judge — do they 
 observe any periodical religious festival 
 on which either the good or evil spirit is 
 adored. The mention of this by other 
 travelers can only be explained by con- 
 fused accounts which have attributed 
 Araucanian customs to the totally dis- 
 tinct Patagonians. The belief which 
 prompts all their religious acts is that in 
 the existence of many active and jna- 
 licious evil spirits or demons, of whom 
 the principal one is always on the watch 
 to cause mischief. To propitiate or drive 
 away this spirit is the function of the 
 wizard, or doctor, or medicine-man, who 
 combines the medical and magical arts, 
 though not possessed of an exclusive 
 faculty for either. All sacrifices of mares 
 and horses, not at stated times, but as 
 occasion requires, such as a birth, death, 
 
 etc., are intended to propitiate the Gua- 
 lichu. When a child hurts itself, the 
 slaughter of mares seems to partake ai 
 once of the nature of a thank-offering 
 that the hurt was no worse, and a pro- 
 pitiation to avert further harm. 
 
 Whilst in their native wilds I observed 
 little immorality amongst the Indians : 
 in the settlements, however, when de- 
 based by intoxication, they are no doubi 
 depraved and loose in their ideas. But 
 it must be recorded that on the entry of 
 the Indians into the settlements of the 
 Rio Negro at a subsequent period, most 
 of the young women and girls were left 
 with the toldos in Valchita, outside the 
 Travesia, to be out of the way of temp- 
 tations. There are many Tehuelche 
 youths now growing up who have tht- 
 greatest abhorrence of liquor ; and 1 
 hope that in time this abstinence will 
 spread farther among them, for they 
 possess no intoxicants of their own, and 
 the rum is an import from the Christians, 
 the ill effects of which they are well able 
 to discern. 
 
 One word of advice to the future trav- 
 eler may conclude this imperfect sketch. 
 Never show distrust of the Indians : be- 
 as free with your goods and chattels as 
 they are to each other. Don't ever 
 ■want anything done for you — always 
 catch and saddle your own horse. Don't 
 give yourself airs of superiority, as they 
 do not understand it, unless you can 
 prove yourself better in some distinct 
 way. Always be first, as you are not 
 likely to be encumbered by a wife or 
 gear, in crossing rivers or any other dif- 
 ficulties : they will learn by degrees to 
 respect you. In a word, as you treat 
 them so they will treat you. 
 
A TOUR, IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 173 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 "\ T 7HAT a prospect I 
 
 A six months* 
 tour in the China seas, with the 
 promise of touching at points of interest 
 
 "all along the'coast," sketching all man- 
 ner of sccrxQs^kl iibiiu/n, and gathering 
 specimens inJHverv department of nat- 
 
 ural science ! Who could withstand such 
 a temptation ? True, I had been over the 
 <Mound before — -had lingered long and 
 
 lovingly among the temples and palms 
 and all the indescribable wealth of trop- 
 ical life and scenery as it lay outspread 
 
174 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 beneath the soft, warm skies and float- 
 ing, fleecy clouds, the glorious starlight 
 gleamings and golden sunsets, that con- 
 stitute the great charm of the dreamy 
 East. But memories of former tours had 
 only whetted the appetite for a repeti- 
 tion of the feast, and I made no delay in 
 accepting the invitation. The Lady of 
 Lyons had touched at Singapore for wa- 
 ter and provisions, bringing to us, in the 
 person of her commander, the famihar 
 face of an old friend, the genial com- 
 panion of our first year's life in the 
 Orient. Then "auld lang syne " had to 
 be discussed, and the interval that bridged 
 the past and present talked over ; but the 
 vessel was to sail in two days at farthest, 
 so said her chief, and our communings 
 must perforce be adjourned to where the 
 friendship began — on shipboard. For- 
 tunately, such inveterate excursionists 
 needed short time for preparation. Light 
 grass-cloth suits and straw hats, of which 
 a fresh supply can be purchased at any 
 point of the journey, do not require 
 "Saratogas" for packing, books and 
 baskets are easy of transit, and the 
 ubiquitous comprador looks out for the 
 rest. So a bright, breezy morning in 
 the waning days of August found our 
 little party "all aboard," and ready to 
 enter with eager zest upon such explo- 
 rations and adventures as the future 
 might offer. ,, 
 
 ]\Iy earliest cruise in the China Seas 
 had been among the almost continuous 
 chain of islands, the narrow passages, 
 reefs and shoals, that form the distin- 
 guishing features of the entire route from 
 New South Wales to the island of For- 
 mosa by the north-eastern course, bring- 
 ing successively to view the mountain- 
 peaks of Australia, the dense forests of 
 New Guinea, the emerald verdure of 
 Gillolo and Morty, the abrupt cliffs of 
 Mindanao, and others of the lovely Phil- 
 hppine group. The course of the Lady 
 of Lyons was to the south-west of Borneo, 
 along the shores of a distinct division of 
 these tropic islands, chief among which 
 are Sumatra, Java and Timor. These, 
 with Floris, Bally, Sumbawa and a host 
 of smaller isles, mostly of volcanic origin, 
 and many of them uninhabited, form 
 
 the natural boundary between the Indo- 
 China Sea and the Pacific. After several 
 days' cruising among the myriad of tiny 
 islets that render navigation in the Java 
 Sea so replete with danger, the Straits 
 of Sunda were passed, and then the nar- 
 row strait that separates Timor from Om- 
 bay. For the latter we were fortunate in 
 having a full moon and a strong wester- 
 ly breeze, enabling us to make the pas- 
 sage by night, and thus obtaining such a 
 vision of radiant beauty as comes but 
 rarely even beneath tropic skies. On 
 our right were distinctly visible the clear 
 smooth outlines of Timor, with its fringed 
 verdure reaching down to the very wa- 
 ters, while on the left towered in grandeur 
 the volcanic peaks of Floris, Panthar 
 and Ombay, seeming to rise out of the 
 very bosom of the sea, their sides wreath- 
 ed in fleecy vapor, and their lurid summits 
 seeming to pierce the blue ether. 
 
 At daylight we anchored off the coast 
 of Timor, and spent the day in roaming 
 about in the vicinity of the Portuguese 
 settlement of Baton Guidi, a miserably 
 dilapidated trading ranche, equally at va- 
 riance with the verdant tropical beauty 
 all around and the splendor of the con- 
 quests achieved in these seas by the sword 
 of Albuquerque in old days. With a most 
 genial chmate, and a soil of perennial 
 verdure capable of producing in abun- 
 dance all the tropical fruits and grains, 
 this island of Timor, as large as that of 
 Sicily, has a population of scarcely more 
 than five hundred thousand ; and, though 
 a flourishing depot of trade in the early 
 part of the seventeenth century, it is now 
 rapidly sinking into insignificance. The 
 Portuguese have under cultivation only 
 a narrow belt of soil on the seaboard in 
 the immediate vicinity of Baton Guidi, 
 where, intermingled with forest trees, 
 grow luxuriantly grapes, bananas, gua- 
 vas and shaddocks. The Chinese have a 
 settlement on the northern coast, whence 
 they export sandal-wood, wax, fruits and 
 fish to Java and Singapore, driving a 
 brisk trade and growing rich by industry 
 and frugality, as John Chinaman always 
 does, settle where he may. The aborig- 
 inal Malays still occupy some portions 
 of the interior, living in a condition so 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 175 
 
 littic above that of the brutes as to fur- 
 nish the best apology for Darwinism it 
 has been my fortune to meet in any part 
 of the world. The residue, comprising 
 perhaps the major portion of this lovely 
 
 island, is the heritage of monkeys, who 
 gibe and chatter from tree to tree, and 
 certainly seem to thrive, "multiply and 
 increase" in this stronghold of their race. 
 The third day found us again undo 
 
 
 weigh, steering toward the Moluccas or 
 Spice Islands, of which Amboyna is the 
 most noted, as well as the chief empor- 
 ium of trade, and the residence of the 
 Dutch governor. To this group also be- 
 
 long Morty and Gillolo, north of the line, 
 and Booro, Obi, Batchian, Mysole, Wai- 
 gou, the Isles of Banda and Salawatti 10 
 the south — a vast territory of rich arable 
 and forest lands, suggestive of wondrous 
 
! 76 
 
 A rOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 possibilities under better management ; 
 but many of the islands are wholly un- 
 cultivated, showing dense forests, into 
 which man has probably never pene- 
 trated, though the timber is said to be of 
 the finest quality. Amboyna is specially 
 devoted to the culture of the clove, and 
 the Isles of Banda to the nutmeg. 
 
 The island of Amboyna is composed 
 of two mountainous peninsulas, united 
 at their eastern extremity by a narrow 
 isthmus. Fronting the beautiful bay 
 stands Port Victory, built by the Portu- 
 guese in the early part of the sixteenth 
 century, and taken by the Dutch in 1605. 
 The anchorage-ground is underneath the 
 very walls of this fort — a safe, wide har- 
 bor where usually float vessels of half a 
 score of nations. We landed at evening, 
 the glorious tropical sunshine bathing 
 with the gold of its expiring rays roof 
 and gable, tree and shrub, and shedding 
 a bright haze over the smooth waters, 
 into which dipped great fern leaves twice 
 the height of a man, while whole for- 
 ests of graceful trees filled up the back- 
 ground. On the coast are extensive fac- 
 tories for storing, selling and shipping 
 the spices, while toward the interior, as 
 far as the eye can reach, stretch the plan- 
 tations whose balsamic perfume fills the 
 air. Amboyna is also a grand depot for 
 shells, which are shipped to every quar- 
 ter of the civilized world. Many rare 
 and beautiful varieties, among them the 
 ear-shell, so called from its exact resem- 
 blance to the human ear, and the exqui- 
 site paper nautilus, are peculiar to Am- 
 boyna. Choice specimens of the flesh- 
 tinted ear-shells bring readily five hun- 
 dred rupees a pair, and are eagerly sought 
 for by naturalists and amateur collectors. 
 The Chinese, who are by far the most 
 thrifty portion of the population, drive a 
 brisk trade in shells and corals, shipping 
 to Singapore and Canton, and amassing 
 fortunes by the traffic. They are also 
 largely engaged in the cultivation and 
 sale of spices, and their plantations are 
 said to be the best on these islands. The 
 unflagging industry of the Chinese is so 
 strikingly in contrast with the indolence 
 and effeminacy of the European resi- 
 dents their neatness and thrift so unlike 
 
 the filth and squalor of the Malays, and 
 their good-humor under all circumstances 
 so imperturbable, that they are universally 
 respected, often holding offices of honor 
 and emolument in the municipality ; and 
 by the annual payment of a trifling poll- 
 tax they are permitted to have in their 
 own quarter a Chinese police force, in- 
 spector-general and port-captain, with 
 whom alone they have to deal in affairs 
 among themselves, while the officers re- 
 port at stated times to the local authori- 
 ties appointed by the Dutch government. 
 
 It is now about two centuries and a 
 half since the Chinese began to settle in 
 Amboyna, and though, in accordance 
 with their invariable custom of taking 
 wives of the people among whom they 
 colonize, they have all along intermar- 
 ried with the Malays, their children have 
 been reared in their own national pecu- 
 liarities of religion, dress and language. 
 Nature, too, has seemed to aid them, for 
 these Chinese children of Malayan moth- 
 ers retain, after all these years of colon- 
 ization, not only the thrift, industry and 
 wonderful business capacity of their 
 fathers, but the identical high cheek- 
 bones, square foreheads and oblique 
 angle of the eye that characterize the 
 native-born Celestial of unmixed descent. 
 
 The entire population of Amboyna is 
 scarcely forty thousand for both penin- 
 sulas, and of these some ten or twelve 
 thousand reside within the settlement. 
 The town, which is composed of three 
 distinct quarters, is built so completely 
 in the rear of the fort as to be almost 
 hidden from the sea by the shadow of 
 its immense walls. In the European sec- 
 tion, which is that nearest the citadel, the 
 houses are painted or plastered white, 
 and with their graceful colonnades or 
 verandahs, an abundance of shade trees 
 and an occasional flower-garden in front, 
 they present a cool and attractive ap- 
 pearance. To the left is the Malay cam- 
 pon_<^, with bamboo huts built on each 
 side of a little stream that discharges its 
 waters into Amboyna Bay. The low, 
 thatched roofs are often hidden by the 
 thick jungle that is suffered to intrude 
 almost to the doors of the cabins ; and 
 the whole asoect is one of shadowv 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 177 
 
 gloom, in strong contrast with the neat, 
 cheery air of the Chinese quarter, where 
 each house is adorned with painted silk 
 lanterns, and with gayly-colored screens 
 
 that freely admit the breeze without in- 
 terfering with the privacy of the domestic 
 menage. 
 
 At Ternate and Tidor reside the only 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF GOVERNOR AMARAL AT MACAO. 
 
 two native princes who yet retain even a 
 semblance of power over their ancient 
 dominions ; and these two islands, among 
 the smallest of the Molucca group, are 
 rather the political centres of the aborig- 
 
 inal inhabitants than agricultural or com-, 
 mercial establishments. The people, in 
 feature, habits and national character- 
 istics, are the most perfect type of the 
 Malay race to be met with anywhere, 
 
178 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 while the language is said to be spoken 
 with greater purity in the Moluccas than 
 in any other of their settlements. Hence 
 it has been argued that the Moluccas 
 form the cradle of the Malayan race, 
 
 though their original country is not cer- 
 tainly known. But traditions current ai 
 Celebes, Malacca, Singapore and Suma 
 tra all point to the Moluccas, and assign 
 their oriein to the beginning of the twelfth 
 
 century. The story is, that a pirate chief 
 of the Celebes touching at the Moluccas 
 a number of his people deserted, and 
 concealed themselves in the jungle till 
 the ship had sailed. The island was 
 
 then uninhabited, except by a few fish- 
 ermen and their families, who had come 
 here to ply their trade. They lived in 
 boats, and are supposed to have belong- 
 ed to the Orang Laut, "men of water/' 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 179 
 
 so numerous about Singapore, and about 
 the most pitiable and degraded specimens 
 of humanity known to exist. They are 
 born, live and die in boats, usually go 
 
 naked, and subsist entirely on fish, worms 
 and grubs. The men who deserted took 
 the daughters of these fishermen for wives 
 and drove off the males of the party, re- 
 
 SAO QUA S SHOP AT CANTON. 
 
 taining two of their boats for foraging 
 expeditions to the neighboring islands, 
 whence wives were obtained for those 
 of the party not already supplied. They 
 grew, in time, to be a numerous people. 
 
 sent colonies to Sumatra, Singapore, 
 Malacca and Celebes, and, rising to do- 
 minion, expelled or destroyed the abo- 
 rigines and took possession of their lands. 
 The Malays of modern times exhibit the 
 
i8o 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 lawless habits of their fathers, and seem 
 to retain the peiichant of their maternal 
 ancestors for boat-life, the combination 
 forming the piratical proclivities for which 
 the entire race is noted. We saw from 
 our ship's deck several of their pleasure- 
 excursions, always by water, in the long, 
 narrow batteaux called by the Malays 
 ko7'o-koro. They are usually paddled 
 by half a dozen oarsmen, and are fur- 
 nished also with a rude mast and sail of 
 cocoa matting. The stroke of the oars 
 is invariably accompanied by music, of 
 which the Malays are passionately fond. 
 Their instruments — cymbals, timbrels, 
 and occasionally drums — are of very 
 primitive make, whilst their songs, im- 
 provised for the occasion, are often ten- 
 der and touching. It is a current saying 
 among the Malays that "all the love of 
 a man's nature is thrown into his songs, 
 and all the hate goes out at the point of 
 his kris (dagger)." 
 
 Before taking leave of the Moluccas 
 we paid a visit, by special invitation, to 
 the Malayan rajah at Ternate, the grand 
 inducement being to witness the famous 
 "sword-dance" that was announced for 
 the occasion. It was performed by a 
 score or two of ten-year-old boys, who 
 rushed pell-mell into the arena, appar- 
 ently on murderous thoughts intent, but 
 armed only with wooden swords. Their 
 costume was an imitation of that of the 
 Spanish hidalgo, except the hats, which 
 were monstrous affairs of black felt curi- 
 ously decorated with the wings and tails 
 of birds-of-paradise, so wound and twist- 
 ed up with other materials as to form im- 
 mense turbans. The clang of wooden 
 blades and the echo of bare feet over 
 the smooth inlaid floor, with the cheery 
 sounds of fresh young voices, rang 
 through the spacious saloon : piquant 
 brown faces were aglow with fun, and 
 mischievous black eyes danced danger- 
 ously as these youthful Terpsichoreans 
 flew wildly around in several very grace- 
 ful and exciting dances. There was no 
 selection of partners, but each took po- 
 sition according to his own fancy as 
 they whizzed and whirled simultaneously 
 about each other within the circumfer- 
 ence of an imaginary circle, performing 
 
 the most eccentric gyrations and describ- 
 ing a variety of figures utterly incompre- 
 hensible to the uninitiated. After these 
 came martial exercises, a sort of hand- 
 to-hand combat of the entire company, 
 each selecting his own opponent ; and the 
 affair wound up by a general rush upon 
 their leader, driving him into a corner, 
 and then surrounding him with a circle 
 of crossed swords, and compelling him 
 to capitulate for his release. Then they 
 formed themselves into two bands, and 
 carried on a mock battle with all man- 
 ner of unheard-of manoeuvres — so skill- 
 fully managed, however, on both sides 
 that forty minutes elapsed before either 
 gained an advantage. At last one of the 
 leaders captured his opponent's sword, 
 and, snapping the blade in twain, threw 
 the pieces across the stage, for which in- 
 trepid act he was rewarded by the gift of 
 a real sword from his sovereign, while 
 the vanquished retired in disgrace. Sev- 
 eral epic poems illustrative of the war- 
 dances were recited, and occasionally a 
 stout little improvisatore, who could not 
 have seen more than eight years, enter- 
 tained us with a farcical song that elicit- 
 ed thunders of applause. 
 
 From this exhibition we passed to the 
 supper-room, and spent an hour very 
 pleasantly in conversation with the rajah 
 — "sultan" by courtesy, but really only 
 a pensioned official under the Dutch gov- 
 ernment, from which he receives an an- 
 nuity of about fourteen thousand dollars. 
 It is rather amusing to watch the stereo- 
 typed forms of etiquette so punctiliously 
 observed between the "sultan" and the 
 "resident" on all public occasions, each 
 extremely chary of yielding an iota to 
 the other. There happened to be a 
 court-ball given by the resident during 
 our stay, at which the sultan, his lady 
 (the Hollanders will acknowledge but 
 otie of the sultan's numerous wives as 
 such) and his adult children were guests. 
 According to the programme, the resident 
 received the sultan at the door of the 
 main reception-room, embraced him, and 
 led him to a seat beside his own. The 
 ball was opened by the resident with the 
 sultana, having for his vis-a-vis the sul- 
 tan, upon whose brown palm rested the. 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 181 
 
 white glove of the Hollander's fair-hair- 
 ed dame. At supper there were two 
 tables precisely alike, at one of which 
 the host presided, at the other his illus- 
 
 trious guest — an arrangement intended 
 to waive the solution of the very difficult 
 enigma as to which of these illustrious 
 potentates was entitled to precedence. 
 
 THK TAOU-TAI OF SHANGHAI PRESENTING HIS DAUGHTER TO THE OFFICERS OF THE 
 
 BAYONNAISE. 
 
 The rajah is a handsome specimen of 
 his race, a well-preserved, rather intel- 
 lectual man of sixty, with a fund of dry 
 humor and an eager zest for novelty and 
 
 excitement. His dress, when we saw 
 him, was ordinarily a dark silk saratig, 
 with a jacket of blue or green velvet 
 richly embroidered, and confined at the 
 
l82 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 waist by a jeweled girdle, with a silken 
 turban of vast dimensions profusely stud- 
 ded with glittering gems. 
 
 From the Moluccas we steered direct 
 for the China coast, leaving the Philip- 
 pine Islands to be visited on our return. 
 Our first stopping-place was Macao, the 
 approach to which is exceedingly pic- 
 turesque, the white houses outspread be- 
 tween green hills, and presenting in front 
 a long line of tasteful dwellings over- 
 looking a lovely bay. The heights are 
 crowned with the spires and turrets of 
 churches and convents, and the city is 
 flanked by two forts on the plain, while 
 on the central mount, which is steep and 
 towering, stands the Monte. This is the 
 largest of the fortifications, mounting 
 forty-seven guns, and commanding not 
 only the harbor, but the little cove of 
 Macao and the encircling Praya Grande, 
 with the principal buildings that occupy 
 the plains between these heights. The 
 Portuguese, like the Spaniards, have the 
 art of clothing their buildings and cities 
 with an *air of antiquity ; and Macao, 
 with its narrow streets and the quaint 
 architecture of its public edifices, looks 
 venerably ancient. The city contains 
 about thirty thousand Chinese, with a 
 drifting European population of from 
 six to ten thousand, but its government, 
 religion and customs are essentially Por- 
 tuguese. A stranger will find many ob- 
 jects of interest in this quaint old city. 
 Among the first that attracted us was 
 the Cave of Camoens, the lovely grotto 
 wherein the exiled poet of Lusitania 
 courted his muse, and sang the praises 
 of the first -bold hero who doubled the 
 "Cape of Storms," thus opening to the 
 Western World the princely treasures of 
 India. The cave is in the Casa Gardens, 
 and the mansion beneath which one has 
 to pass to the garden and grotto is held 
 by a Portuguese family of distinction, 
 with the proviso that strangers shall be 
 freely^admitted at all times. The pas- 
 sage through the basement conducts to 
 a large enclosure and a hill having its 
 base laid off in terraces, all planted with 
 shrubbery. From the terraces upward 
 are steep pathways winding through the 
 jungle-growth of the hillside, and by one 
 
 of these the cave is entered. There were 
 formerly, we were told, a tablet and 
 white-coated bust of the poet placed in 
 the natural niche where he loved to sil 
 and muse, but the bust we could find no 
 traces of, and the existing tablet is one 
 of a date too recent ever to have been 
 seen by the ill-fated poet, while its in- 
 scription is in French. The author we 
 were unable to ascertain. Even more 
 interesting than the cave is the little ob- 
 servatory on the farther brow of the hill, 
 whence may be seen the Temple of the 
 Queen of Heaven on the outskirts of the 
 city, the Halfway Pagoda lying midway 
 between Canton and Whampoa, Casa 
 Bianca far up the harbor, innumerable 
 Chinese junks and flower-boats, with the 
 clustering hamlets along the shore, and 
 off in the distance Priests' Island, occu- 
 pied, so say the Chinese, exclusively by 
 Booddhist priests, without either woman 
 or child to mar its sacred shades. What 
 a delectable time those seven thousand 
 men must have ! The flower-boats, as I 
 learned afterward, are a peculiar insti- 
 tution of the Chinese, especially in the 
 vicinity of Canton. Their exte7Hor, the 
 only part I saw, is adorned with wreaths 
 and garlands of fresh flowers mingled 
 with pretty arabesques. The interior 
 was described to me as the very abode 
 of sensual luxury, furnished with silk 
 hangings, gayly- colored lanterns, mir- 
 rors, pictures and lounges fit to adorn 
 the palace of a queen : their use is that 
 of theatres for the most debasing plays, 
 amorous concerts and sensual pleasures 
 of the lowest grade. 
 
 One day of our stay at Macao was 
 given to the exploration of Mr. Beale's 
 botanical garden, with its manifold trea- 
 sures of plants native and foreign, his 
 aviaries and aquariums. Among the 
 flowers were some choice varieties of the 
 pink and white lotus ( 7V5^;;z^/^.?fl; ;z£'/z/;/^^i9) , 
 so cherished by the Chinese in connec- 
 tion with their religious rites, and care- 
 fully cultivated in every Chinese temple. 
 Scarlet asclepias mingled their brilliant 
 blooms with variegated bignonias and 
 real Oriental daffodils, while a dozen or 
 more charming varieties of tropical lilies 
 shed their sweet perfume, and all along 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 183 
 
 the trellis -work between orange and 
 almond trees clambered vines of the 
 winged passion-flower and bride -like 
 moon -creeper with its scented waxen 
 
 blooms, twining and interlacing their 
 graceful foliage in lofty festoons or trail- 
 ing like huge floral serpents along the 
 ground. Chinese lanterns of pale blue 
 
 A CUCK-FIUHT IN A STREET IN MANILLA. 
 
 *■ 
 
 and rose-colored silk hung everywhere, 
 and when lighted up at night a sort of 
 luminous haze that -seemed transcend- 
 ently lovely enveloped every object be- 
 iongfing- to this magic scene. Some, of 
 
 the aquariums contained queer-looking 
 monsters in the way of flying-fish, sea- 
 crabs and star-fish that could live only 
 in salt water, while in others sported 
 myriads of gold and silver fish of several 
 
1 84 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 varieties. But most charming of all the 
 treasures these beautiful gardens contain 
 are the aviaries, in looking at which the 
 visitor forgets everything else. One of 
 them, in the rear of the dwelling, is forty 
 feet long, some fifteen feet wide, and of 
 sufficient height to accommodate two 
 large trees and some good-sized rocks. 
 Here the birds find ample room to ex- 
 ercise, build nests and rear their young, 
 as freely as in their native woods ; for, 
 walls and roof being of fine wire, neith- 
 er air nor sunshine is obstructed, while 
 grass and shrubbery thrive as well with- 
 in as without the pavilion. A large pool 
 in the centre furnishes the aquatic birds 
 with a sporting-place that they evident- 
 ly enjoy. The immense family, com- 
 posed of birds from so many climes and 
 of habits so diverse, dwell together in 
 perfect harmony under their spacious 
 canopy. And how wondrously gay they 
 looked in their many-tinted plumage ! 
 Gold and silver pheasants, graceful as 
 lovely ; pink-nosed Java sparrows, prim 
 and prudish ; flaunting cockatoos, paro- 
 quets, adjutants and macaws ; English 
 nightingales, peerless in song as demure 
 in color ; exquisite mandarin ducks, only 
 four inches long from the point of their 
 crimson beaks to the tip of their parti- 
 colored tails ; and scores of others that I 
 cannot even name rendered the air vo- 
 cal with their songs. Rarest of all was 
 a specimen of the bird-of-paradise of the 
 species known as the Paradisea apoda, 
 distinguished by its brightly-tinted curv- 
 ing fillets of some fourteen inches in 
 length springing from beneath the wings. 
 This bird has been in Mr. Beale's pos- 
 session twenty years, and was the only 
 one he had ever known tamed or kept 
 in confinement without dying in a few 
 months. 
 
 Adjoining the Casa Garden is the Eu- 
 ropean cemetery, and near by is the Gate 
 of St. Anthony and a stone cross that 
 commemorates a miracle. This was no 
 less an affair (so said my Portuguese 
 guide) than the descent of the saint from 
 heaven when Macao was attacked by the 
 Dutch in 1622, and miraculously saved to 
 its Portuguese owners. There are thou- 
 sands of good citizens in Macao who be- 
 
 lieve this wonderful story; and the cross 
 was erected in grateful recognition of the 
 services of their patron saint, who was at 
 the same time elected colonel of the Ma- 
 cao regiment, the pay and rations accru- 
 ing therefrom being duly collected by his 
 faithful stewards the priests of St. An- 
 thony's church. 
 
 It was on the outskirts of this usually 
 quiet city that Captain Amaral, the Por- 
 tuguese governor of Macao, was atro- 
 ciously murdered by Chinese ruffians in 
 1849. Though his rare energy and fix- 
 edness of purpose, coupled with extra- 
 ordinary diplomatic ability, enabled him, 
 without money or ships at command and 
 with but a handful of soldiers, to save the 
 city confided to his keeping from deser- 
 tion and utter ruin, his intrepidity cost 
 him his life. Captain Amaral's refusal 
 to yield to the unjust requisitions of the 
 Chinese local authorities, and his stern 
 integrity to his own government, had, 
 very soon after his appointment, won for 
 him the bitter animosity of the viceroy 
 and mandarins of Canton, where for 
 weeks previous to his murder placards 
 had been posted offering a reward of 
 five thousand dollars for his head — cer- 
 tainly with the knowledge, if not the con- 
 nivance, of the viceroy. But the imme- 
 diate cause of dissatisfaction was the 
 closing by the Portuguese governor of 
 the Chinese custom-house at Macao, and 
 his subsequent order for the removal of 
 several Chinese tombs to make way for 
 a new city road. Though duly informed 
 by his friends of the threats of vengeance 
 these innovations had invoked, and urged 
 not to venture abroad alone and unarm- 
 ed, he only smiled at what he deemed 
 groundless apprehensions, and continued 
 his walks and rides as before. Shortly 
 before sunset on the 22d of August, when 
 he was returning to his residence after 
 his usual ride, attended by a single aid, 
 several Chinamen surrounded the two 
 horsemen, and while a lad, holding in 
 his hands a long bamboo to which was 
 tied a bouquet, approached the governor, 
 as if to present the flowers, one of the 
 ruffians struck him a blow in the face. 
 As he reeled in the saddle six armed 
 men joined in the attack. They soon 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 l8^ 
 
 unhorsed the governor and despatched 
 him, the aid escaping, though badly 
 wounded. The miscreants, after cutting 
 off the head and one hand of their vic- 
 tim, fled, carrying with them their bloody 
 
 trophies, and were suffered by the Chinese 
 guards to make good their escape through 
 the gates without challenge. The news 
 soon flew through the settlement, being 
 received by the natives with exultation, 
 
 by the foreigners with horror and indig- 
 nation. Satisfaction was demanded of 
 the viceroy, who at first carelessly de- 
 clined interference ; and many curious 
 developments of a Celestial's ideas of 
 
 justice were brought to view in the com- 
 plications that followed ere the final ad- 
 justment by recourse to arms. 
 
 Formosa, called by the Chinese Tei- 
 Wan, is the granary of China, and one 
 
1 86 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 of the most fertile spots in the world. 
 The rice-plantations are extensive and 
 extremely prolific — miles upon miles of 
 flooded fields and waving paddy, till the 
 traveler's eye wearies of the monotony. 
 The scenery of Hiang-Chau, another rice- 
 island visited en route to Hong-Kong, is 
 charmingly picturesque, the fields being 
 laid off in terraces, and watered by in- 
 numerable small streams, which are con- 
 veyed by ingenious contrivances to every 
 section ; and above all waved the slender 
 graceful stalks loaded with the ripening 
 grain. The cultivation of the rice crop 
 is carried on everywhere with the same 
 primitive plough drawn by bufialoes, 
 with crowds of patient, much-enduring 
 women, ankle-deep in water from morn 
 till night, sowing the seed, removing and 
 resetting the plants ; and when the crop 
 is ready to be gathered the women still 
 are those who bear the chief burden of 
 onerous duty. Hence the Chinese ax- 
 iom : "The gods give to the cultivator 
 two unfailing helpers — women and buf- 
 faloes ; and if either be wanting the 
 harvest fails also." 
 
 Both at Canton and Hong-Kong — in- 
 deed, everywhere in China — a stranger 
 will be attracted by the unique appear- 
 ance of the Chinese shops. During 
 the day they are thrown entirely open 
 in front, with the wares tastefully ar- 
 ranged on the other three sides of the 
 apartment, a small stairway in one cor- 
 ner leading to the upper or dwelling por- 
 tion of the house. These shops are very 
 models of neatness, some of them con- 
 taining a varied assortment of costly 
 wares, and occasionally works of art ; 
 while the owners, with their long queues 
 and costly silken garments, sit in their 
 places of business like princes in their 
 drawing-rooms, exhibiting a quiet dig- 
 nity, and even courtliness, strangely un- 
 like the manners of the races about 
 them. Every line of merchandise is duly 
 represented — silks, teas, fancy goods, 
 lacquered wares, jewelry, plate, time- 
 pieces, books, musical instruments, birds' 
 nests, confections, drugs : everything that 
 can be called for, native and foreign, is 
 now obtainable in the large cities on the 
 coast, so rapid has been the improve- 
 
 ment in the last twenty years. But the 
 ushering in of the new epoch has not 
 entirely banished the old, as witness the 
 stores where gods are made and sold for 
 silver dollars ! Ay, and "warranted" too 
 — a god of wealth ''sure to makee glow 
 liche," says the polite vender; gods of 
 fair weather and guardians of health ; 
 gods for the sailor and for the farmer — 
 for every condition of life, every emer- 
 gency, and at all prices. Among the 
 most attractive of the shops are the 
 fruit- and flower-stalls, usually adorned 
 with pretty bird-cages, while John China- 
 man deals out his dainty wares, served 
 in exquisite porcelain or glass, with lav- 
 ishing salaams and courtly words. Few 
 visitors at Canton will fail to recall the 
 shop of the venerable Sao Qua on Old 
 China street, or the gentle breeding of 
 the accommodating owner with his frost- 
 ed hair and long wadded gown of dark 
 silk. Huge silken lanterns hung at the 
 entrance, and at the upper end was the 
 inevitable altar, never wanting in either 
 dwelling or place of business, on which 
 fresh offerings of tea, cakes and fruit 
 were laid every morning, and incense 
 burned perpetually. The old man said 
 the fire had never once gone out since 
 the days of his grandfather, who built 
 and furnished the house, to which Sao 
 Qua had duly succeeded, and which his 
 son would inherit after him. Said son was 
 a frolicsome little five-year-old, exuberant 
 with boisterous mirth, thei child of Sao 
 Qua's old age and his inseparable com- 
 panion. It was beautiful to see them 
 thus together, the weary old man seem- 
 ing to grow young again in loving con- 
 templation of the child's merry pranks ; 
 and the little one always tendei and 
 gentle when he approached the doating 
 sire, whose years and infirmities were an 
 enigma his fresh young nature sought in 
 vain to comprehend. 
 
 At Shanghai, the regular communica- 
 tion by mail and telegraph, the constant 
 meeting with travelers from all parts of 
 the world, and the frequent association 
 in daily life with his compatriots, render 
 it difficult for a European to realize that 
 he is in China at all ; that is, in the for- 
 eign quarter of the city, but the native 
 
A rOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 1S7 
 
 section is sufficiently Oriental in build- 
 ings, costume and customs to dispel the 
 illusion. Shanghai is a busy, bustling, 
 thriving business-mart, but is not attract- 
 ive as a residence. The taoit-tai, the 
 
 highest municipal officer of Shanghai, is 
 a mandarin of the third order. The post 
 was held at the time of our visit by a 
 man of intelligence and liberal policy, 
 who acknowledged the superiority of 
 
 Western civilization, and used the in- 
 fluence of his position for the advance- 
 ment of his people in useful knowledge 
 iind arts. He had a lovely daughter of 
 whom he was very proud, and whom he 
 
 took great delight in introducing j dis- 
 tinguished foreigners. Admiral de la 
 Graviere mentions her and her .presen- 
 tation to the officers of the Bayo'nnaise, 
 and remarks on the fact of her feet be- 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 ing unpressed — a point to which the 
 taon-tai called their attention. It is 
 noteworthy that while the Tartars after 
 their conquest forced upon the Chinese 
 the Manchoo style of hair-dressing, they 
 themselves have in very few instances 
 adopted for their daughters the barbar- 
 ous Chinese custom of compressing the 
 feet. Hence, with the members of the 
 imperial family, and indeed with all 
 high-born Tartar ladies, the feet are 
 suffered to retain their normal condition. 
 
 We took Japan on our return, and 
 then the Philippine group, spending two- 
 thirds of a month in cruising among 
 these fairy islands, making occasional 
 excursions into the interior, and study- 
 ing the habits and pastimes of Manilla, 
 the metropolis as well as the chief ship- 
 ping-port of the Philippines. From the 
 great area of this group, stretching from 
 the ninth to the eighteenth degree of 
 north latitude, the climate exhibits a far 
 greater variety than can be found in 
 most tropical islands ; while the soil has 
 an equally diversified character, being 
 in some localities of primitive formation, 
 abounding in metallic ores, and in others 
 volcanic, with a wondrous degree of fe- 
 cundity. The scenery is varied and pic- 
 turesque, and the geographical position 
 of this lovely archipelago cannot fail to 
 strike the tourist as being singularly fe- 
 licitous. Situated close to the coast of 
 China, with which it has an extensive 
 trade, in convenient proximity to the 
 thriving empire of Japan, connected by 
 an unbroken chain with all the islands 
 to the south and west for thousands of 
 miles, and lying in the direct route be- 
 tween the Old and New Worlds, it af- 
 fords a convenient stopping -place for 
 large numbers of vessels, especially on 
 the outward passage. 
 
 Spain has for centuries guarded with 
 jealous care this fairest of all her Eastern 
 colonies, and seeking to bind more firm- 
 ly about her brow so regal a coronet of 
 ocean gems, vigorous efforts were made 
 from the first not only to convert the 
 people to the Catholic faith, but so to 
 inculcate Spanish habits and tastes that 
 tne presence of the conquerors should 
 become essential to the conquered. A 
 
 very large proportion of the present in- 
 habitants are, at least nominally, Chris- 
 tians, and the incorporation of Spanish 
 dignity and intelligence with native ar- 
 dor and vivacity has produced a race 
 the most high-toned, bold and energetic 
 of all the tribes of the Asiatic archipela- 
 goes. The Philippine gentleman carries 
 himself with true Spanish hauteur, while 
 his very sports betray a mingling of the 
 tastes of Old Spain with the native indo- 
 lence and grace of this voluptuous clime. 
 But in lieu of bull- baiting the Philippine 
 Islander solaces himself with cock-fights, 
 into which he enters with real gusto, and 
 one must be an eye-witness of a Manilla 
 spurring-match to conceive, even faintly, 
 the excij:ement of such a scene. The 
 ordinarily placid, indolent native forgets, 
 with the debut of his favorite game-fowl, 
 all his constitutional sluggishness, phys- 
 ical and mental : his eyes gleam like 
 those of a fiery serpent, his slight figure 
 dilates with intense excitement, and a 
 nervous tremor is apparent in every mo- 
 tion. For the time, that gay-colored lit- 
 tle bird which for weeks or nrionths he 
 has been carefully training for the con- 
 flict, and which he holds now so love- 
 ingly between his arms, is all the world 
 to him — his solitary investment for future 
 fame and fortune — the single die upon 
 which he would not hesitate to stake his 
 entire family, or even his own life. And 
 the bystanders, of whom there is always 
 a crowd, are scarcely less interested. 
 With each successive trial of skill be- 
 tween the combatants the excitement 
 waxes more intense, betting grows bold- 
 er, and the motley gang become almost 
 frenzied in their curiosity as to the re- 
 sult. These cock-fights and the cere- 
 monials of his religion are the only oc- 
 casions when a Philippine Islander for- 
 gets to be nonchalant and dignified ; but 
 these, by their very excess of ardor, 
 make up for the lack of all others. Not 
 only is the penchnttt for such games 
 traceable directly to Spanish influence, 
 but the local authorities boast of deriv- 
 ing a considerable revenue from the 
 taxes levied upon them. 
 
 Desiring to get some glimpses of the 
 aboriginal life where it was least tram- 
 
A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 189 
 
 meled by foreign influence, we arranged 
 a visit to the great island of Luconia, 
 governed in part by a native rajah, and 
 peopled by nearly two millions of souls. 
 
 Starting two hours before sunset in a 
 native btidgerow pulled by half a dozen 
 oarsmen, we reached the island by day- 
 light, and having breakfasted on nee and 
 
 SERVANTS OF DOCTOR BURGER AT BATA\TA. 
 
 shellfish curry with a party at a little fish- 
 ing-village on the coast, we set forth in 
 search of adventures. Our conveyance 
 was a primitive one — a sort of caleche 
 -drawn by oxen, sure-footed, trusty beasts, 
 
 but indolent and slow like all their sur- 
 roundings : the very rivulets seem to flow 
 sluggishly, and the grand, beautiful river, 
 that fertilizes some of the lovehest vales 
 and meadows in the world, forces its wav 
 
tgo 
 
 A TOUR IN THE CHINA SEAS. 
 
 over shelving rocks in a noiseless cata- 
 ract, as if under protest. Our road lay 
 between long lines of palma christi and 
 guava trees laden with fruit and foliage, 
 while the hedges were lined with the 
 ever-blooming melastroma, fragrant and 
 fair as a bride adorned for her spouse. 
 Here and there a bamboo hut or rural 
 cottage proclaimed the presence of the 
 wood-cutter or farmer, and women and 
 girls flitted about in dainty and singular- 
 ly seductive garb, that displayed the sym- 
 metry of voluptuous forms even more 
 perfectly than an undress could do. Yet, 
 withal, there was evident modesty, even 
 coyness, that forbade all thoughts of un- 
 due familiarity. From the widespread 
 doors of the cottages we saw constantly 
 such scenes as the illustration portrays 
 — a young mother, with the careless 
 abandon of conscious innocence, spend- 
 ing the sultry hours of midday in her 
 swinging hammock watching the gam- 
 bols of her offspring — the little ones, as 
 well as the mother, very prodigies of 
 grace and buoyant health. 
 
 At the charming little village of Taal, 
 the most populous and thrifty of the Lu- 
 conian settlements, we saw for the first 
 time the tiny looms in which are woven 
 the exquisite pineapple scarfs and hand- 
 kerchiefs so famous for their delicate 
 texture. The modus operandi seemed 
 very simple. The fibre of the tuft of 
 leaves at the top of the fruit is stripped 
 out, cleaned, carded and spun by hand 
 — the best to exceeding fineness. The 
 looms are quaint little affairs of novel 
 construction, and both hands and feet 
 are used in operating them. The ex- 
 quisite embroidery is all the work of 
 men, whose pliant fingers are never suf- 
 fered to be stiffened by rough labor. 
 These scarfs and handkerchiefs can be 
 purchased only at Manilla; and so great 
 is the demand that they are usually sold 
 three or four years in advance of their 
 manufacture. At Gassig, a village of 
 thirty thousand inhabitants, there is a 
 brisk trade with Manilla in the products 
 of the islands — gold, sugar, sapan-wood, 
 ebony, indigo, coffee, sulphur, cotton, 
 cordage, mother-of-pearl shells, tortoise- 
 shell and many m.inor articles — but the 
 
 native traders ship nothing direct lu ji.u- 
 rope. All passes through the hands of 
 foreign merchants, mainly those of Ma- 
 nilla, and the revenues are immense. 
 
 Taking a reluctant leave of this peace- 
 ful Arcadia, its flowery vales and simple- 
 hearted people, we continued our route fo 
 Calcutta, touching at Batavia, the quaint 
 old city described in a former number 
 of this Magazine. An old friend, a 
 wealthy Hollander, offered the hospital- 
 ities of his house during the few days 
 we were to remain, and at evening we 
 were driven in pony palanquins to his 
 elegant mansion in the "new city." Em- 
 bowered in palms and orange trees, with 
 its spacious balcony supported by mar- 
 ble columns and its sumptuous appoint- 
 ments inviting to luxurious repose, it 
 seemed a very paradise — meet abode 
 for the fair-haired wife and blooming 
 young daughters who welcomed us so 
 kindly. We dined the next day at the 
 mansion of Dr. Burger, and spent some 
 agreeable hours among the wonders of 
 his gardens and green-houses, filled with 
 all manner of floral beauty and fragrance. 
 Flowers and birds were the doctor's 
 grande passion, and both v/ere carefully 
 tended by the numerous retinue of fe- 
 male servants, whose position in that 
 abode of affluence was a mere sinecure : 
 their wants being amply supplied, they 
 had little to do besides waiting on their 
 own husbands and children. 
 
 Dr. Burger used to be one of the nota- 
 bilities of Batavia, and a general favorite 
 among his friends. A man of liberal 
 education, large fortune and many ec- 
 centricities, he led an easy, idle life 
 among his books and flowers, devoting 
 his abundant leisure to the indulgence 
 of his own refined tastes, his money to 
 the relief of suffering wherever he found 
 it, and his genial good-humor to the in- 
 creased happiness of every living thing 
 within his reach. His abode furnished 
 a fair type of the multitude of elegant 
 bachelor establishments that abound in 
 all the European settlements of the East 
 — abundantly provided with all manner 
 ofdelights, and theirhospitable doors ever 
 open to the tourist and the stranger. 
 
 Fannie R. Feudge. 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROAIE. THE PAINTER. 
 
 191 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 *HF caravan took a route that was ] of such choice spirits, and the aspect of 
 not very new, but it was made up things became so novel from their fresl^ 
 
 and unconventional point of view, that 
 the spectacle of Egypt was in a measure 
 transfigured, and took on changes as of 
 
 a familiar garment worn inside out 
 Gerome, the leader, was at home in Cai 
 ro. The little band chose for him tlie 
 
192 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GAROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 title of Colonel ; which must be pro- 
 nounced trisyllabically, Co-lo-nel, or it 
 will acquire an American, militia-train- 
 ing, stand-up-for-a-drink sort of flavor, 
 as far as possible from the humor in 
 which it was conferred. Readers of 
 these pages who have admired those 
 dramatic compositions of his, those tell- 
 ing anecdotes expressed m color, those 
 epigrams of antique nisiory wnich con- 
 stitute Gerome the Plutarch of painters 
 — and more especially his " Cleopatra," 
 the cunning ivory woman, 
 
 traced about by jewels which outline, 
 
 Fire-frame, and keep distinct perfections, lest they 
 melt 
 
 To soft smooth unity ere half their hold be felt ; 
 
 Yet, o'er that white and wonder, a Soul's predom- 
 inance 
 
 I' the head so high and haught, except one thievish 
 glance 
 
 From back of oblong eye, intent to count the slain, 
 
 — may be glad of a personal introduction, 
 which, however, shall be shorter than a 
 formula of Sir Charles Grandison's. The 
 painter of " Cleopatra " and " The Death 
 of Caesar " is a dark, energetic man, with 
 quick black eyes set under a very broad 
 forehead, and a triangular, top-shaped 
 face, whose apex, the chin, is shadowed 
 by an arching moustache. With his 
 alert motions, his height and weight kept 
 serviceably at a medium, his taste in 
 dress plain and business - like, and a 
 directness of manner so absolute that 
 trifling with him is out of the question, 
 Gerome is a man whom you would call 
 a grave person even when he laughs ; 
 but his sincerity, his reasonableness and 
 mental superiority make him the best of 
 traveling -companions. Only, whereas 
 the others are going to Egypt in an ex- 
 alted spirit of larkmg, the pencil-Plutarch 
 is descending upon the land of Pharaoh 
 with as fell a purpose as ever sent a 
 Highland chieftain raiding upon the Low- 
 lands : his artistic larder needs replen- 
 ishing, and he is going after his milch 
 cow. 
 
 This expedition was so far a crisis with 
 Gerome that he went out a black-haired 
 man and returned perfectly gray. There 
 is something memorable in the particular 
 action that at once distinctly deprives 
 one of one's youth : it is like a vigil of I 
 
 arms, where a young knight leaves his 
 sable locks upon the altar. 
 
 All Europeans in Cairo behave pre- 
 cisely alike : the mysterious Eastern 
 charm runs away with all of them to- 
 gether. Our Parisians, installed in the 
 house of a rich French cook emeritus, 
 had hardly disposed of their first grand 
 nine-course dinner when they retired to 
 dream, one and all, of the same plan. 
 "For my part, I know very well what 1 
 am going to do," said each to himself as 
 he buttoned the mosquito-net of his own 
 particular bed. "I shall get up at four 
 o'clock, take a donkey and seek adven- 
 tures until breakfast-time." And so ac- 
 curately was every traveler bitten by the 
 same maggot in the same place that they 
 all had the pleasure of finding them- 
 selves together, each on a donkey, a little 
 before sunrise. 
 
 The ex-cook's mansion forming almost 
 the corner of the great native street of 
 Cairo, the Muskee, the first tableau was 
 naturally afforded by that finest of Cai- 
 rene boulevards. The Muskee, with its 
 shops and coffee-houses, is an Orient in 
 itself, and he would be a stupid braggart 
 who, after living in it for three years, 
 should pretend to have seen all its in- 
 teresting features. At the extremity of 
 the Muskee a broad covered footway 
 separates into two the quarter where the 
 bazaars are grouped : turning to the left, 
 the bazaar of the jewelers is reached ; to 
 the right are the carpets and raiment, 
 the slippers, harness and saddles. The 
 first duty of inexperienced travelers is to 
 load themselves down with cumbrous 
 articles of purchase. Our caravan did 
 not fail at the present emergency, and 
 Saint Eloi himself could hardly have 
 kept count of the bracelets, the neck- 
 laces, the daggers and pistols, made very 
 probably in Brussels, which the ardent 
 Orientalists swept into their carpet-bags. 
 The carved woodwork on the coffers and 
 street-signs of the merchants attracted 
 the admiration of every artist in the 
 group, while the Persian rugs (many of 
 which are sold in Cairo) seemed to them 
 adorable enough for an artist to say his 
 prayers upon, especially those with fan- 
 tastic figures on white grounds. The 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GAROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 193 
 
 simple jewels prepared for the Fellah 
 women were objects of eager research, 
 partly on account of their broad statu- 
 esque styles and partly on account of the 
 
 singular manner of paying for them. In 
 one dish of the scales is placed your 
 chosen lot of trinkets, in the other your 
 gold, and the equilibrium of the two 
 
 'tfl/J< i/y^MM^-^il 
 
 FATMA. (by J. L. GEROME.) 
 
 forms the payment : in this sort of jew- 
 elry the workmanship is valued at noth- 
 ing at all. 
 
 One of the party had the fortune to 
 stumble on a pair of ancient bracelets 
 13 
 
 remarkable for their exquisite chasing : 
 they were received afterward in France, 
 in circles of taste, with open arms — even 
 by those beauties whose rounded wrists 
 were seemingly too slender to support 
 
194 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 the weight of forty centuries of graven- 
 work. 
 
 It is always a philosophical pleasure 
 to spoil a good story, and we feel impel- 
 led to give the sequel to the affair of the 
 antique bracelets, one or both of which 
 fell into the hands of Edmond About. 
 About was accompanying Gerome with 
 a heart as light and a wit as ready as in 
 the old days of the Ecole Normale, when 
 he used to write mock eulogies or com- 
 bative arguments about Bossuet against 
 young Hippolyte Taine and Francisque 
 de Sarcey, or composed ridiculous tales 
 destined to perish in an oblivion of laugh- 
 ter amongst his talented circle of school- 
 fellows. The catastrophe of the Egyp- 
 tian bracelet has been betrayed to us 
 through young Florent Heller, now in 
 America — the secretary of About in Al- 
 sace, and in his capacity of artist a pupil 
 of Gerome's. On the return of the car- 
 avan to Paris, About betook himself to 
 a jeweler with his bracelet, meaning to 
 have it cleaned and restored, and not a 
 little proud of the possession of a gen- 
 uine antique — the real antiques are so 
 scarce ! The wise craftsman turned it 
 over and about in his accomplished 
 hands. A few turns, and he had twisted 
 it into two pieces, revealing the existence 
 of a screw in the middle. The novelist 
 began to look supernally wise, for the 
 ancient Egyptians have not generally 
 been credited with knowing the principle 
 of the screw. "Let me see," said the 
 jeweler: "there are only the firms of 
 Chose et Cie. and Messrs. Un Tel who 
 make screws of that sort : I can tell you 
 in a moment who fabricated this one." 
 He examined it critically a minute, and 
 decided : " This screw is the manufacture 
 of Chose — not a doubt about it." The 
 poor bracelet, hopelessly degraded by 
 cold professional analysis, passed into 
 strict retirement : it was no longer boast- 
 ed of. About had been fancying it on the 
 wrist of Cleopatra or of his own fancy- 
 feigned Momie : it turned out to be only 
 a masterpiece of modern counterfeiting, 
 which the first Paris artisan was able to 
 nail — or rather screw — to the counter. 
 
 The day after the acquisition of the 
 bracelet About formed an expedition to 
 
 visit the mosques of Cairo, inviting Le- 
 noir to accompany him. We have no 
 intention of intruding on the privacy of 
 all the members of the party : the Doc- 
 teur, the Photographer, the Naturalist 
 (familiarly called the Taxidermist or 
 Empailleur'), the Hercules with the 
 Buckskin Gloves, and the valetudinarian 
 who suffered from a sunstroke at Se- 
 nouhres, though they contributed in no- 
 table degrees to the interest of the party, 
 shall rest for us unnamed. But Lenoir, 
 who has made the difficult plunge into 
 publicity by means of the double spring- 
 board of literary and artistic success, is 
 fair prey for the general eye, and he who 
 in his time has made so many outrage- 
 ous caricatures of his fellows shall be 
 lightly sketched by us. 
 
 It is incredible how the atelier Gerome 
 could spare him, for he was the life and 
 soul of the rollicking band of Gerome's 
 pupils, as he is now of the master's 
 Egyptian caravan, where he forms the 
 youngest member and the pet. He led 
 all the studio games, superintended the 
 alumni dinners, and delivered the ora- 
 tions, on which occasions his quiet, sar- 
 castic style, full of ready allusions and 
 apt quotations, provoked those smiles that 
 are more flattering than open laughter. 
 Visitors to his studio remarked on the 
 door a sketch in charcoal — Ci-git Paul- 
 Marie Lenoir, the phrase usual on 
 tombstones. Entering, an interior stuff- 
 ed with artistic curiosities met the eye. 
 Among the bric-a-brac one large bust, a 
 female head and shoulder in the gran- 
 diose, Michael-Angelesque style of the 
 mysterious "Marcello," was sure to at- 
 tract attention ; and the young artist, 
 suddenly quitting his sarcastic manner, 
 would say respectfully, "It was the gift 
 of Marcello to my father." This intima- 
 tion would probably strike the visitor 
 dumb, for in the Bohemian world of the 
 ateliers nothing could be more dignified 
 than an acquaintance with a mythical 
 lady of genius, who went under a mas- 
 culine name, and who had been com- 
 promised by the attentions of the em- 
 peror. Other characteristics added to 
 the immense repute of Lenoir among- 
 the scholars : he was known to possess 
 
IX A CARAVAN WITH G A ROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 195 
 
 the personal friendship of the patron, 
 Gerome himself; finally, what is never 
 noxious to a character in a society of 
 jolly beggars, he was reputed rich. He 
 certainly was able to sport garments cut 
 
 in an exaggerated English style, such as 
 proclaimed him a creve, almost a goni- 
 ineux ; and he never sold, or even fin- 
 ished, a picture. 
 
 Since his journey, however, Lenoir has 
 
 thrown some of his fanciful conceptions 
 into the market, and a few have found 
 their way to America. The Persian lover 
 liding up the doorsteps of his mistress's 
 house to reach a flower aloft to her bal- 
 cony, the Japanese ferry propelled by 
 
 swarthy swimmers, the infant of Japan 
 dragging a toy mammoth along the street 
 by a gay ribbon, and the Hindoo ele- 
 phant upright on its hind quarters for 
 the amusement of the ladies of the zena- 
 nah, have been familiarized here, either 
 
tpb 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GAROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 in the original paintings or by means of 
 prints. And surely that picture of his 
 imported by Mr. Avery last winter — a 
 view of the "Entrance to a Mosque," 
 consisting entirely of the mass of assort- 
 ed slippers left outside by the faithful — 
 is the same which he made on this au- 
 spicious tour of inspection, and of which 
 he remarks, dissimulating the identity 
 of the painter, "One of the band made a 
 study in the mosque of El-Achraf. Our 
 donkeys being left at the door, we expe- 
 rienced for the first time the necessity 
 of conforming to the rule which forbids 
 one's shoes to follow their master into 
 the sacred place. Nothing could be 
 more drolly lugubrious than the battal- 
 ion of our gaiters in battle array deject- 
 edly waiting for us on the steps : they 
 seemed to be envying us our luck of 
 getting in." 
 
 It was no contemptible privilege to ap- 
 proach with Edmond About the jealous 
 doors of the Mohammedan churches, for 
 that brilliant author, who has never 
 shown backwardness in availing him- 
 self of courtly favor, had made use of 
 his letters of introduction, and rode 
 through Cairo with an escort of officers 
 or cawas who glittered with gold, and 
 displayed his pockets filled with imperial 
 firmans whose authority made accessible 
 the most impenetrable sanctuaries. 
 
 In the case of the great mosque of the 
 Mameluke sultan Hassan, the party, after 
 going through an immense gallery which 
 contained a station of armed sentries, 
 were conducted by a sheikh to a dimin- 
 utive door concealed in draperies, which 
 gave access to the tomb-chamber of the 
 dead sultan. This chamber is in fact the 
 interior of the great dome — a dome which 
 soars over all the edifices of Cairo like 
 the head of a colossus. Within, there is 
 a fearful majesty about this gigantic 
 cover of a sepulchre : looking up into 
 the air, the eye is dizzied with the pro- 
 digious distance of the vault, which is 
 decked with enormous pendentives and 
 stalactites of sculpture, now in a state 
 of dilapidation. Every day some mas- 
 sive fragment of the decoration falls 
 splintering upon the floor, like a thun- 
 derbolt from the hiarhest zenith. Far 
 
 from taking measures against the dan- 
 ger, the Arabs accept as a favor these 
 celestial aerolites, which have the prop- 
 erty of sending straight to Paradise those 
 of the faithful who have the good for- 
 tune to be under them. But the Prank- 
 ish intruders, who would receive no such 
 benefit from a fortuitous pulverizing, were 
 hurried out by the sheikh after a visit as 
 brief as it was rare. 
 
 The El-Hakem mosque, the most an- 
 cient in Cairo, and now a ruin, the El- 
 Azhar, called the Magnificent, and at 
 once mosque, college and hospital, were 
 successively visited ; but there are more 
 than four hundred of the sacred edifices 
 in Cairo, and the most enterprising trav- 
 eler can hardly hope to see them all. 
 What struck the infidel visitors was the 
 perfect equality with which nobles and 
 beggars worshiped together, and the 
 animated attention with which they lis- 
 tened to the dull, endless reading of the 
 Koran from the vietiber or pulpit. The 
 corpulent millionaires of Cairo do not 
 snore in church, and the young men do 
 not nod : Saint Paul would here have 
 lost the occasion for one of his finest 
 miracles. 
 
 Theleast considerable of these mosques 
 is a triumph of Saracenic grace. The 
 mosque of Amru is not only as old as the 
 year A. D. 640, and the cradle of Islam- 
 ism in Egypt, but is furnished with a Fat 
 Man's Misery, or unnaturally contracted 
 passage. A pair of small columns near 
 the entrance, cut out of a single bit of 
 marble, and running together at the cap- 
 itals and bases, are credited from time 
 immemorial by pious Arabs with various 
 engaging qualities, among others that of 
 prolonging the lives of those who are 
 able to pass between them without break- 
 ing the ribs. The excursionists in a body 
 took an early opportunity of submitting 
 themselves to the test. Most of them, 
 thanks to their youth and genteel slim- 
 ness, slipped through like letters at the 
 post, but there was one hero in the num- 
 ber whose powerful bulk threatened to up- 
 root the columns at each of his vigorous 
 efforts. " He will pass !" — " He will not 
 pass !" — ^" He will !" At each conjecture 
 of his solicitous friends the Samson re- 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE FAINTER. 
 
 197 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 doubled his energy. He passed, but at 
 a terrible ransom. 
 
 In another part of the same mosque 
 the faithful are promised eternal felicity 
 in case they can touch, after marching 
 blindfold for some distance along a wall, 
 a certain black square imbedded in it. 
 The Franks had such uniform success in 
 laying hand on the lucky stone that the 
 sheikh in charge appeared to imbibe 
 some doubt of their good faith — a doubt 
 possibly not without foundation. Strange, 
 juvenile people, which runs toward its 
 eternal salvation in sack-races and games 
 of hoodman-blind ! 
 
 In leaving El-Barbouk, El-Achraf and 
 their neighbor mosques it was impossible 
 not to pause for a comprehensive survey 
 of the whole group of edifices, a suburb- 
 an settlement usually called the Valley 
 of Tombs, but more properly the City of 
 the Caliphs. The group of oval domes 
 floating one above the other, the thread- 
 ed minarets whose every stage is a mar- 
 vel of sculpture, the golden Turkish em- 
 blems forming a constellation of moons 
 above the whole, the faultless Saracen 
 grace of the general architecture — to 
 which, here and there, cling the remains 
 of old iridescent tile-work — all make up 
 a composition surpassing the most elabo- 
 rate effect of the most sumptuous theatre. 
 The Valley of Tombs is decidedly one 
 of the most pictorial scenes in the whole 
 East. 
 
 Our dilettanti regretfully quitted this 
 beautiful dream of the Orient of Saladin 
 and Haroun. Returning into the city, 
 they passed the Tombs of the Mame- 
 lukes, a collection of funereal monuments 
 forming a succession to the Caliphs' Val- 
 ley, and diminishing, without doing vio- 
 lence to, the suite of fair Eastern forms 
 which constitutes that radiant picture. 
 The mausoleums, placed close together, 
 and relieved against the mountain of 
 Mokattam, present an aspect as pic- 
 turesque in their kind as the bouquet of 
 mosques. They are sheltered under cat- 
 afalques of stone and sculptured wood- 
 work, which struck some of the party as 
 nearly analogous to Persian decorative 
 styles. Might artists from Persia have 
 executed these monuments, or at least 
 
 been charged with their ornamentation ? 
 It is possible enough. On the coverings 
 of these tombs are small decorative 
 cupolas remarkably like the peculiar 
 tapering ogive of the Persian dome, 
 which gencrrJly makes the outline of a 
 mere triangle with rounded corners. 
 These elegant sepulchres are thickly 
 planted, and form a little special necrop- 
 olis where one perceives a very select 
 efflorescence of the best modern Orient- 
 alism. Those cruel Mamelukes must 
 have been at bottom persons of great 
 distinction to be followed by sculptors so 
 candidly effeminate, so amateurish of 
 whatever was most aristocratic and fine 
 in Arab art. Our fastidious Frenchmen 
 sniffed in the tombs of the Mamelukes 
 a vague odor, as of primeval Jockey 
 Club : these fine mousquetaires of Islam, 
 said they, must have been in their time 
 collectors of pictures and connoisseurs 
 of Japanese porcelain, like us ! 
 
 They re-entered the city by the gate 
 El-Karafah, having gone out by the Bab- 
 el-Nasr, the Gate of Victory. Every- 
 where was a new group, a new incident — 
 combinations of figures, costumes, pic- 
 ture-motives, which stung with the high- 
 est ardor these enthusiastic young pen- 
 cils, as yet unfleshed in the Orient. The 
 Gate of Victory, with its two lofty square 
 towers, had been the first study which 
 Gerome had made on his earliest jour- 
 ney to Egypt : the junior painter of the 
 band felt it only a piece of faithful dis- 
 cipleship to sacrifice there a piece of 
 clean canvas. A rival attraction, how- 
 ever, was the sacred bath and protecting 
 palm tree of the mosque of Amru — the 
 church of the more or less impassable 
 pillars ; and the eager youths, defying 
 the stings of the enemy, leaped outside 
 their mosquito-nets in the French cook's 
 house to pass a good part of the night 
 in the lightest of costumes among their 
 preparatives — their brushes, their can- 
 vas-stretchers, their boxes and the little 
 armory of colors contained in those shin- 
 ing cartouches of sheet tin. 
 
 These explorings and sketches were 
 not all done at once : the photographer 
 of the party was the only one who could 
 pretend to get " instantaneous " impres- 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROmE THE PAINTER. 
 
 199 
 
 sions. The great day of the official visit 
 to the mosques was finished up by About 
 and his invited companions with a pres- 
 entation to the ambassador from Persia, 
 the economical notion having- occurred 
 
 to them that it would be well enough to 
 go somewhere with their embroidered 
 guard of cawas where it would be worth 
 the display. Nothing is more comical 
 than the ceremonious turn given to after- 
 
 noon calls in the East. The strangers 
 passed the allotted time in receiving from 
 a person they did not know a succession 
 of compliments on the honor they con- 
 ferred by using his house and consuming 
 his provisions. They were stuffed with 
 
 candies and inundated with coffee, none 
 of which might be refused, and they 
 pushed etiquette so far as to imitate those 
 involuntary guttural noises which indicate 
 repletion, and which in Oriental lands 
 are accepted by your host as the most 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 delicate flattery. The Persian ministry 
 was a dream of luxury, an edifice lined 
 with porphyry and gold ; yet the most 
 incongruous Westernisms intruded every- 
 where to spoil the effect : vulgar mahog- 
 any chairs were offered the visitors as an 
 attention sure to please, and lithographs 
 of Victoria and the shah in yellow-paint- 
 ed frames were hung amongst pictures 
 studded with pearl and precious metals. 
 The Frenchmen accepted everything with 
 bland admiration, and gave affable sa- 
 lutes to the ambassador's sons, young 
 men more Parisian than Persian, clothed 
 by Dusautoy, and having nothing na- 
 tional about them but the points of their 
 tapering hats. Delighted with their own 
 good manners, they were passing out, 
 congratulating themselves on the effect 
 they had made, when the darkness of a 
 corridor caused them to rush ruinously 
 into the stomach of a black giant who 
 was guarding the harem. The watch- 
 chains and jewels with which this living 
 canopy was hung, the rings, necklaces 
 and pendants which gave him the jing- 
 ling effect of a Spanish mule, and the 
 sabre as long as himself which he drag- 
 ged at his side, all crashed in a dreadful 
 manner at the shock ; but he salaamed 
 politely, and the visitors receded with all 
 haste from the forbidden ground. 
 
 We are indebted entirely to lady travel- 
 ers for accounts of the interior of harems. 
 Yet the imprisonment in them of the native 
 women is a condition greatly exaggerated 
 in our impressions. If no man is allow- 
 ed to enter, the ladies at least can go out 
 at discretion, whether for a visit or for 
 the bath, and they avail themselves large- 
 ly of the liberty. 
 
 It is unhappily evident that the most 
 beautiful women in the East are those 
 whom you do not see : those whom you 
 do see are more singular than fair ; and 
 those whom you are sorry to have seen 
 are invariably the most free in proposing 
 themselves for admiration. The orange- 
 girls are as liberal of their charms as 
 they were in England under the Merry 
 Monarch, and certain quarters of Cairo 
 are a perfect population of Nell Gwynns. 
 The native names of these women are 
 not very various. 
 
 "Fatma! Fatma!" you may call at 
 hazard in a street, and twenty Fatmas 
 will start to life at the apertures of the 
 carved windows, like the automata of so 
 many cuckoo-clocks. In the whole col- 
 lection some few may be worth the trouble 
 of the rude trick. It was a Fatma whom 
 the Co-lo-nel and his pupils decided to 
 summon for an artistic sitting ; and it is 
 Fatma whom the reader sees reproduced 
 among these pages, with her strange and 
 stony sphinx head. It has been very 
 accurately copied on the wood, as well 
 as the other sketches and photographs, 
 by another disciple of the atelier Gerome, 
 the good-natured and chirpy little Saint- 
 Elme, the same whom his fellows of the 
 studio, never at a loss for a graphic nick- 
 name, called invariably the "Poulet." 
 
 Educated only as pieces of display, 
 like rare birds or parlor dogs, the Fat- 
 mas of the East exhibit the most inno- 
 cent gluttony and childishness. To 
 dance well, sing well, drink well, smoke 
 well and sleep well are the lessons of their 
 school. The particular Fatma of Gerome, 
 tall, young, majestic, dreamy, and of the 
 purest Egyptian type, had the surplus 
 qualities of drinking araki like a camel- 
 driver and smoking like a foot-soldier. 
 Two days in succession she brought her 
 fine profile and her military accomplish- 
 ments to the mansion of the ex-cook. 
 She found herself not badly off, it was 
 evident, for the artists had difficulty in 
 convincing her that affairs of the greatest 
 importance compelled them to renounce 
 the pleasure of her society. She depart- 
 ed finally with a stock of Paris baubles 
 and a collection of backshish sufficient to 
 eternalize in her heart the memory of 
 the infidel painting-travelers. 
 
 After a time, it must be confessed, 
 even Cairo began to pall. The eternal 
 rattle and fuss — the constant clattering 
 turn of the kaleidoscope; — the fine pic- 
 torial effect immediately covered or ef- 
 faced by a new combination or a prosaic 
 interference, — all this fatigued the artistic 
 sense. The painters longed for scenes 
 more penetrated with Egyptian repose. 
 A day came finally when Lenoir was 
 tired of sketching slippers at mosque 
 doors, and even of painting — supreme 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 20l 
 
IN A CARA VAN WITH G^ROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 luxury ! — in the reposing-room of the 
 Turkish bath : it was somewhat exhaust- 
 ing, too, to assist day by day in making 
 the fortune of those irresistible merchants 
 of the bazaars ; and he had his Persian 
 carpets and Janizary armor made up into 
 bales for transportation to Paris. 
 
 The grand preliminary for a journey 
 to the Desert and the Nile was the choice 
 of some good honest thief to keep off the 
 banditti of the plains. At the first sum- 
 mons the garden of the ex-cook's house 
 was filled with most abandoned-looking 
 reprobates, who severally invited the 
 travelers to confide to them, as drago- 
 mans, their lives, liberty and fortunes. 
 All shrieking at once, these estimable 
 brigands offered the certificates of cha- 
 racter they had torn from former vic- 
 tims, and prayed to be engaged. With 
 the assistance of friends and advisers the 
 party succeeded in making a choice not 
 too infelicitous : the gentlemanly tyrant 
 whom they secured for donkey-master 
 was named Hassahuee. They devoted 
 a day to testing their animals and ex- 
 amining their tents, set up for show un- 
 der the sycamores of the Esbekiah : 
 Lenoir, incorrigible sketcher, managed 
 to snatch a journey and an etude among 
 the Tombs of the Cahphs. The camel- 
 drivers who took charge of the baggage 
 in the expedition up the Nile, and after- 
 ward in Arabia Petrea, were under the 
 government of a very intelligent Syrian 
 named Yusef Mussali. To do these 
 dragomans justice, their conduct proved 
 that they had nothing very brigandish 
 about them but their looks. They were 
 simply types, vivacious and various, of 
 an artless and docile Arab people. 
 Only that horrible marplot, the incor- 
 rigible English tourist, could succeed, in 
 the opinion of the Frenchmen, in twist- 
 ing awry those gentle creatures by a sys- 
 tematic course of injustice, inconsider- 
 ateness and brutality. 
 
 Crossing the river by the lively ferry 
 at the island of Rudah, the caravan was 
 quickly got in order by the impartial 
 justice of Yusef Mussali, which express- 
 ed itself in energetic blows administered 
 impartially to the beasts and beast- 
 drivers. The party contemplated the 
 
 activity of that vigorous arm, cleared foi 
 action by sleeves turned up to the shoul- 
 der, and felt that they could repose in 
 the authority of a member so prompt, so 
 far-reaching and so decisive. Gizeh was 
 soon reached, a village offering nothing 
 remarkable but its ovens for chicken- 
 hatching and its strategic position as the 
 key of the Grand Pyramids. The valley 
 of the Nile here offered a scene of arti- 
 ficial culture quite creditable to the na- 
 tional industry, but not so satisfactory to 
 the fastidious artistic eye, which very 
 quickly tires of the raw, uniform, metal- 
 plated, unyielding green of agricultural 
 improvement. 
 
 One tableau, however, was afforded by 
 these regions of immemorial husbandry. 
 The irrigation of the country, in some 
 localities where the banks were steeper 
 and more cliff-like, was effected by that 
 most poetical of watering-machines, the 
 sakhyia. Remnant of the antique Egypt, 
 the sakhyia is a primitive revolving pump, 
 turned by a camel, an ass or an outland- 
 ish-looking buffalo, who wears his horns 
 in the fashion prescribed by the paintings 
 in the ancient tombs. Two huge wheels, 
 which form the water-works, keep low- 
 ering and lifting a succession of buckets, 
 an ever-turning rosary of russet-colored 
 urns. The location of a sakhyia usually 
 affords a combination of all that is Ori- 
 entally picturesque in shapes and colors : 
 there the artist may constantly find a 
 foreground with broken banks, water, 
 tufts of palm, animals and drivers, as 
 well as infants and women who come 
 with their jars in preference to dipping 
 in the Nile itself. 
 
 The great sycamore near the Pyramids, 
 habitual resting-place for traveling en- 
 campments, was leased by the caravan 
 for three days, with right and privilege 
 of tent-pitching. Here, under the super- 
 intendence of the cook, they lived on 
 potted meats dressed with desert sand, 
 sanded bread, poultry au sable, and wine 
 improved with a fine crusty flavor from 
 the same condiment. Several watches 
 among the party, visited by the pene- 
 trating element, stopped as if by an en- 
 chantment. The Pyramids of course 
 were made a conquest. 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH CA^dME THE PAINTER. 
 
 203 
 
 "Monsieur the count — Cawaga — forty 
 centuries — Bonaparte — look down upon 
 you — monsieur the baron — Bono Frati- 
 zaoui" then with a personal application, 
 "Good Arab — good backshish." It was 
 a chorus to deafen the Sphinx. They 
 visited the interior as well as the surface, 
 and were touched by the dismantled state 
 of the "Queen's Chamber," a boudoir 
 bare of furniture or even wall-paper, and 
 resembling nothing so much as a room 
 of the Quartier Breda when one of the 
 volatile inmates has lost her "things" 
 by the cruel swoop of a sheriff's attach- 
 ment. Poor queen ! said the Paris call- 
 ers : her bedroom is not chargeable with 
 much Benoiton extravagance. 
 
 There is but little forage for the artist 
 in the Pyramids when close at hand : 
 their pictorial value is when seen in a 
 silhouette, as from Gizeh. Then the 
 mathematical relation of their lines and 
 angles, suggestive as it is to science, is 
 found to be also particularly satisfactory 
 to the aesthetic eye. As for the Sphinx, 
 it is the exemplar and gnomon of a pass- 
 ed art, whose perfection and self-sufficing 
 attainment may not be ignored by the 
 most frivolous observer. It is not the 
 magnificent vastness which alone causes 
 this imperious effect : the face wears an 
 expression entirely definite and voluntary 
 — the look of beatitude, pointed with the 
 sense of superiority and irony. 
 
 The appetites which the tourists brought 
 back from their climb ought to have been 
 satisfactory to the forty centuries which 
 have the office of surveying Frenchmen 
 who encamp beneath the Pyramids. The 
 same evening was enlivened and made 
 almost archceological by the presence of 
 an asp, which one of the camel-drivers 
 had neatly intercepted. This astute- 
 looking little reptile, the true coluber or 
 asp of Cleopatra, and perhaps the law- 
 ful descendant of that which drank from 
 the queen's unsceptred arm, was not very 
 frightful in appearance. The fang of the 
 asp, however, is more venomous than 
 that of some more hideous serpents, and 
 its two horns, resembling the antennae 
 of a beetle, give it a look of alertness 
 and curiosity not at all calming to the 
 nerves. The first night in the desert was 
 
 further marked by the production of a 
 wolf-trap, with which one of the younger 
 pilgrims had encumbered his trunk, in 
 the hope of seducing a jackal, or pos- 
 sibly the jackal's master. The trap was 
 set with a savory luncheon, but the jack- 
 als were modest and did not call. 
 
 The village of Sakkara, attained the 
 day after leaving Gizeh, allowed the trav- 
 elers a hunt after a quieter sort of game. 
 They were there among the ruins of 
 Memphis, and soon found themselves 
 picking the bones of old burghers of 
 that vanished city. The ghoul - like 
 
 G took possession of two skulls, 
 
 horribly decayed, which form to-day in 
 his opinion the loveliest ornament in his 
 museum at Chatou ; and Lenoir, with 
 the instinct of a pearl-diver, detached 
 from a female skull a row of beautiful 
 teeth, almost as perfect and primitive as 
 those which Eve set in the apple of 
 Paradise. 
 
 The same enterprising youth at Dachur 
 had a success of gallantry by painting 
 the fingers of the water-bearing maids 
 with blue and yellow from his color-box. 
 The mysterious sketches which he drew 
 on their earthen jars were also viewed 
 with the greatest favor. Tamieh, whose 
 graceful oasis and buildings form the sub- 
 ject of one of our engravings, was dis- 
 tinguished by a stroke of sportsmanship 
 on the part of Gerome, as lucky in its 
 way as the finest stroke of his pencil. 
 The bowers around the village have been 
 selected for a residence by droves of 
 wild boars, who form there a noisy and 
 pestiferous republic. Gerome, whose 
 present visit was not his first, can attach 
 to Tamieh the most flattering recollec- 
 tions of the chase, for he drew upon 
 these outlaws the finest bead that the 
 villagers had ever seen, and contributed 
 partially to relieve them of the pests that 
 ravaged their kitchen-gardens. Attend- 
 ed by the son of the sheikh of Tamieh, 
 an uncouth fantoccini gamboling in a 
 brown night-shirt, he gave chase to a 
 huge beast that had approached the en- 
 campment. Three bullets in the shoulder 
 and leg sent him rolling into the river to 
 drown, whence he was fished up by the 
 Arabs, streaming blood and Nile water. 
 
204 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH G&RdME THE PAINTER. 
 
 The sheikh's son startled the village with 
 his cries of '' Alouf ! Aloiif ! Kalas ! 
 Cawaga Ger6me kebir F' as he danced 
 into the town at the head of the hunters, 
 preceding the prey, which formed a heavy 
 camel-load and weighed three hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 At Fidemine the young sheikh of the 
 place visited the artists' encampment. 
 He brought the ceremonial present, a 
 plate of steaming rice seasoned with 
 saffron and perforated with a few wither- 
 ed drumsticks of poultry. 
 
 " How long since," said Gerome to the 
 youthful governor, "have you been vis- 
 ited by Europeans ? Not many foreign- 
 ers pass by here, to judge from appear- 
 ances. Your town will not be improved 
 with gas and English railroads until they 
 have spread over all the world." 
 
 The sheikh took the question serious- 
 ly, as if Mohammed himself were cate- 
 chising him. Consulting his own thoughts 
 a minute, he answered studiously, "Five 
 years since they came : my father was 
 the shiekh of Fidemine then. I was 
 younger than at present, but I have faith- 
 fully kept the recollection." 
 
 On calculating the date by certain de- 
 tails, with the season of the year and the 
 day of the month illumined by the pas- 
 sage of the well-remembered travelers, 
 it was found that the sheikh was allud- 
 ing, without knowing it, to the second 
 Egyptian tour of Gerome himself. 
 
 After a pause of several minutes the 
 Arab added : " My father described to 
 me how, just five years before that again, 
 strangers had come to our village and 
 gone a-hunting. Some of those Euro- 
 peans installed themselves opposite our 
 houses, sitting down in front of small 
 boxes, and seemed to forget everything 
 in a kind of labor which was unknown 
 to us." 
 
 That uncomprehended craft was the 
 art of oil-painting. The pilgrim absorb- 
 ed before a box which he held on his 
 knees beneath a broad umbrella was 
 Gerome again, on his first journey, a pe- 
 riodical comet due every five years. 
 
 The province through which the artists 
 were now passing was Fa'ium, one of the 
 most patriarchal and primitive in the 
 
 Nile valley. Its most important focus is 
 the lake of Moeris and the town of Medi- 
 net. The simple arrangement of the 
 edifices, the fine sculptural forms of the 
 land, and the unworldly simplicity of the 
 manners make Medinet an artist's jewel. 
 Gerome owes to Medinet-el-Faium one 
 of his conceptions of greatest beauty, a 
 picture stamped with the very seal of the 
 East, and perfectly adapted to the mon- 
 umental nobility of his taste. Of this 
 picture, which has been in America, we 
 are able to present an elaborate and 
 sufficing wood-cut, one of Saint-Elme's 
 most careful reproductions. 
 
 Medinet was likewise the theatre of Le- 
 noir's remarkable adventure in spoiling 
 the Egyptians. Struck with the long, 
 bridle-like ear-ornaments of a young 
 village girl, the young amateur under- 
 took to track her as she walked along 
 balancing her water-jar. The damsel, 
 conscious of being followed, suspiciously 
 hastened her pace. Lenoir ambled on 
 more vigorously. Sure now that the 
 evil eye was bent on her, the maiden 
 fled into the thickest of the bazaar of 
 Medinet, the pitcher on her head rocking 
 like a tower in an earthquake. Lenoir 
 galloped, and Atalanta fled still faster. 
 Nothing would have arrested her but 
 what really did occur for that purpose — 
 the loss of one of her slippers. Lenoir, 
 picking up the sandal, offered it like a 
 bouquet, his hand on his heart. The 
 graces of Paris, always irresistible, made 
 a hasty conquest of this primitive gazelle, 
 and she ultimately gave him her ear, 
 then her ear-drops, and finally the slip- 
 pers whose treachery had led to her con- 
 quest. Pressing the enormous galoches 
 to his heart again, the artist suffered her 
 to vanish with his backshish, retaining 
 for his share the memory of a fleeting 
 Grace and the slipper of a fleeting Cin- 
 derella. 
 
 Faium charmed our painters by its cha- 
 racter, essentially gentle and patriarchal, 
 its inhabitants, almost biblical, and the ' 
 wild growths of its oasis, partially un- 
 cultivated. It was the realization of a 
 Paradise inhabited by the personce of a 
 pastoral. 
 
 (end of pakt first.) 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 205 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 CONCLUDING PART. 
 
 ALMEH. (FAC-SIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL ETCHING BY J. L. GEROME.) 
 
 THE camels of state provided by the 
 khedive expressly for Gerome were 
 awaiting him and his party at Suez to 
 continue the excursion through the burn- 
 ing deserts and wadys of Arabia Petrea. 
 One member of the artist-band, attacked 
 by painful symptoms of sunstroke at 
 Senures, was longing to get back to Cai- 
 ro and to the possibility of seeing a good 
 doctor in that capital. The allotted days 
 of the journey were passing. Yet Ge- 
 rome and his fellow-painters, infatuated 
 with the beautiful oasis of Fai'um, con- 
 tinued to explore its canals and exam- 
 
 ine its little towns as long as they could 
 find the least excuse for so doing. It 
 seemed to them like a page of pure Bible 
 life fastened down upon the desert ; and 
 they hesitated with luxurious reluctance 
 to cross the Nile and face the robber- 
 infested wilderness of the Red Sea. A 
 rencounter almost worth a sunstroke to 
 meet was the lucky chance of the travel- 
 ers at Senures. 
 
 Here for the first time they found the 
 primitive, unsophisticated dancing-girls 
 of the East. The circumstances and the 
 company amongst which they met them 
 
206 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 supplied the most piquant relief, and the 
 whole performance remains imprinted on 
 the minds of Gerome and his friends as 
 the perfection of impromptu farce. 
 
 The primitive almeh whom Gerome 
 represents in his etching is very different 
 from the spoiled, cosmopolitan dancing- 
 girls, contaminated with a hundred tricks 
 learned from European travelers, who 
 cheapen their exhibitions to the taste of 
 staring Cockneys in Cairo. This is a 
 Muse of the wilderness. Sullen and 
 passionate by turns, she traces her plas- 
 tic statuary for the eyes of rude men of 
 the desert, swart Nubians, simple con- 
 noisseurs from the cradle of the Nile. 
 The negroid features, the heavy festoons 
 into which she plaits her tresses, the 
 sculptural way in which she can throw 
 a drapery ov«r her head, the rude coins 
 she decks herself with — so different from 
 the half-crowns and shillings with which 
 the Cairo beauty is proud to bedizen her- 
 self — all seem strange, picturesque, re- 
 mote, peculiar. Her head, scrupulously 
 imitated in our engraving, is one of the 
 very it^ studies in aquafortis which Ge- 
 rome has ever given to the public. It 
 attracted the attention, before he died, 
 of Theophile Gautier, ever on the look- 
 out for something bizarre and savage as 
 a stimulus to his jaded appetite. Having 
 found the etching in an exhibition ar- 
 ranged for the profit of unfortunate art- 
 ists, Gautier, in his own strenuous lan- 
 guage, raved of the "eyes half shut, and 
 as if blinded by the sun," the "heavy 
 lips, liberal divan on which to lay a kiss," 
 and the " cheeks polished like those of 
 images in basalt." The simple strength 
 of the execution, too, was much to his 
 taste. "All these traits are indicated," 
 he remarked, "with a few strokes of a 
 swift, assured needle, which expresses 
 more facts than all the patient toiling of 
 the burin. It is a rough sketch on cop- 
 perplate, quite as valuable as an original 
 pencil-drawing : the biting of the aqua- 
 fortis has nowise changed its character." 
 Indeed, Gerome, granting to him his pro- 
 nounced love for forms in repose, is an 
 unequaled draughtsman, expressing with 
 a light scatter of strokes a texture, a 
 complexion or an arrested movement. 
 
 "Go to the crayon-drawings by Raphael 
 in the Louvre," he will sometimes say, 
 "and see what directness of expression ! 
 With the simplest and readiest curves he 
 defines a bony articulation, the round 
 hardness of an acting muscle or the 
 swinging line of a relaxed one. Having 
 the secrets of anatomy by heart, Raph- 
 ael knows instantly whether there is soft 
 flesh or hard bone under a piece of skin, 
 and in the most definite way tries to find 
 a stroke that will express at once the de- 
 sired texture. There is no rubbing the 
 drawing over to an even state of grit or 
 wool : everywhere is tendon, skin or 
 bone, defined in the plainest language." 
 His own strokes and hatchings are much 
 less inventive and varied than Raphael's, 
 but they search in a similar way for the 
 plain carriage of some truth, and, as his 
 industrial motto seems to be Nulla dies 
 sine lined, so is the lesson of his pencil 
 Nulla linea sine aniind. — Of all which 
 practice and theory the head we refer to 
 is a good example, not easily obtained 
 otherwhere than in our pages. 
 
 Hasne, with her fine braids intermin- 
 gled with threads of gold, with her eyes 
 cast down to hide their liquid brightness, 
 with her pendent coins and sweeping blue 
 draperies, was the heroine of a fete which 
 Gerome saw fit to give at Senures in hon- 
 or of the civic authorities. Our expedi- 
 tion, when approaching provincial towns, 
 found it necessary to put on a good deal 
 of state and to assume an almost pleni- 
 potentiary importance. Thus, when the 
 ditch-threaded fields and ruined tombs 
 of Senures were reached, the tents were 
 ostentatiously spread in an eligible spot, 
 and the flag of France was allowed to 
 unroll its colors to the respectful African 
 breeze. These preliminaries arranged, 
 the painters, their beasts hung about with 
 glittering ornaments in the taste of the 
 country, went solemnly to pay their re- 
 gards to the sheikh. Arrived at the 
 mayor's office of Senures, a young Arab 
 in gorgeous raiment came forth to ap- 
 prise the visitors that his sheikh, although' 
 aware of the illustrious strangers' ap- 
 proach, was obliged, together with his 
 municipal council, to forego the pleasure 
 of receiving them. Reasons of the last 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 207 
 
 importance compelled this civic action. 
 On the next day, however, the ediles 
 would hasten to present to the strangers, 
 on tlie thresholds of their own tents and 
 
 under the shadow of the French flag, 
 their profoundest homage. 
 
 Not undelighted with this response, tlie 
 Frenchmen withdrew ; but, while the 
 
 eluer and more serious members of the 
 troop prepared to regain their tents, the 
 younger artists, willing to ride somewhere 
 after the trouble of being mounted, de- 
 sired their dragoman to take them to the 
 dancers' quarter. There was Hasne, with 
 a dozen of her friends, drinking araki 
 
 among a crowd of well-dressed and 
 courteous Arabs. The evening was spent 
 over lessons in the softest LallaRookh 
 phrases at the feet of these princesses, 
 care being taken to sit out the well-dress- 
 ed Arabs, who retired salaaming. 
 
 Next day, for the reception of the 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 sheikh, a feast of splendor was arranged, 
 ably combining the revels of Cleopatra 
 with the discretions of Mabille. Paper 
 lanterns were strung up in the largest 
 tent, the chests and trunks were disposed 
 like tiers and orchestra-seats in a theatre, 
 a carpet folded in two made the imperial 
 box allotted to Gerome and his staff, and 
 the dragoman rolled a bran-new kiiffi 
 round his skull-cap. The city council 
 arrived in state : it was the very group 
 of civil Arab gentlemen who had been 
 surprised overnight in the courts of the 
 dancing-women, and whom reasons of 
 the highest municipal importance had 
 kept from being at home to receive their 
 visitors ! 
 
 The nil adtnirari of Eastern charac- 
 ter prevented these statesmen from being 
 any way embarrassed as they met the 
 amazed recognition of one after another 
 of the French youths. Shirking a cere- 
 monial observance in order to keep ap- 
 pointments made with dancing-girls, and 
 then being surprised in the act of drop- 
 ping the national pocket handkerchief 
 at the feet of these enchantresses, ap- 
 peared to them the simplest thing in the 
 world. So far from being abashed at 
 having been seen in the exercise of their 
 austere functions, the council met their 
 European acquaintance with the air of 
 congratulating them on the way in which 
 the friendship had been formed, and they 
 greeted with lofty Eastern languor the 
 entrance of that charming Hasne with 
 whom they had so frankly unbent the 
 night before. 
 
 Hasiie swept in, a surprising spectacle. 
 Having been summoned to add to the 
 pleasures of the entertainment by a 
 display of her art, she had dressed for 
 the part with a sense of its importance, 
 and presented an aspect worthy of inter- 
 national criticism. She was draped in a 
 long blue robe bestarred with patines of 
 bright gold : this was caught up at the 
 girdle by fringes of embroidered silk in 
 a style of the wildest innocence — or bra- 
 vado. Her head was artistically wrap- 
 ped in a yellow cloth, which formed the 
 strangest of coiffures, combined as it was 
 with innumerable slender tresses falling 
 from under it to the shoulder, some of 
 
 them caught together on the forehead 
 with imperceptible clasps of gold. 
 
 The metallic clamor of all her netted 
 coins and pendants, the harsh cries with 
 which she preluded her first steps, and 
 the awful bray of her barbaric accom- 
 panists, gave something ol a diabolic 
 cast to the comedy. The travelers had 
 never felt so far from home. At the first 
 accords of the two-stringed viol with the 
 darabitka, or earthen kettledrum, Hasne 
 planted herself all at once in the middle 
 of the tent. Nailed to her place by the 
 feet, the dancer seemed to suffer, in her 
 body, like a thrill of passion, the vibra- 
 tions proceeding from the instruments 
 Waves of motion rolled down the mus- 
 cles of all her supple form from the neck 
 to the ankles. As the music, from its 
 first slow cadences, became brisker, the 
 gestures of the dancer, her contortions 
 and the convulsive movements of her 
 limbs took on a more feverish and sav- 
 age character. Raising her heavy lids, 
 the velvet blackness of her eyes seemed 
 suddenly furnished with vivid lightnings, . 
 for the strangest sparks shot from them 
 during the unintermitted shocks of the 
 movement. Not only did the muscles 
 of the torso and the limbs seem now one 
 convulsive, complaining mass of love- 
 tormented motion, but the flexible hips 
 were made to move with incredible sup- 
 pleness, and the soft bare feet, though 
 never detached from the ground, were 
 seen to be treading a measure by sym- 
 pathetic movements of all the bones and 
 of the arch of the insteps. Arrived at 
 the climax of this rhythmic drama, the 
 dancer sank shudderingly to her knees, 
 and then executed kneeling a new series 
 of figures, more strange, suggestive and 
 picturesque than the first. Hasne had 
 certainly the most faultless natural grace 
 in seeming to undergo these nervous 
 possessions : with the instinct of the true 
 artist she controlled eveiy movement 
 even when seemingly most abandoned 
 to an irresistible convulsion, and never 
 once betrayed the angularity of weak- 
 ness and imperfection. For more than 
 an hour she varied her unearthly postures 
 with the limpid softness of a water-ser- 
 pent joined to the grace of a gazelle. 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 209 
 
 Apparently on this occasion inspired by 
 the Africo - European expansion of her 
 little world, by the promise of double 
 bakshish and by the official assistance 
 of the mayor and his suite, Hasne sur- 
 
 passed herself. The raptures of the na- 
 tive audience seemed to indicate some 
 performance beyond the common. Or- 
 anges, sweetmeats, money and araki 
 were poured at her feet. Behind the 
 
 MONASTERY ON MOUNT SINAI : THE AERIAL DOORWAY. 
 
 guests a compressed mass of humanity, 
 formed from the servants of the caravan 
 and the friends of the musicians, was 
 sweating and grilling, presenting a hun- 
 dred vignettes of wild Arab character 
 14 
 
 surprised in its sincerest expression. Two 
 camel-drivers in Gerome's service, en- 
 tirely given over to the enjoyment of 
 their senses, formed a group fit to illus- 
 trate the Arabian Nij^hts. Both were 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE FAINTER. 
 
 one-eyed, and both blind of the same 
 side. Whether or no sympathy had 
 brought them together, they were perch- 
 ed side by side, and were loudly express- 
 ing the effects of drink and beatitude ; 
 but when Hasne, falling on the carpet 
 like a wounded tigress, stretched and 
 contorted her limbs with expiring efforts, 
 they could contain themselves no longer. 
 One driver suddenly seized in both his 
 hands the head of the other, and shook 
 it violently to the music with actual 
 howls of delight : the other, while his 
 head was thus used to beat time like a 
 baton, yielded himself to the treatment 
 with the most expressive spasms of pleas- 
 ure. At length, just as the head, shaken 
 more violently every minute, seemed 
 about to be plucked quite off and hurled 
 to the dancer like a rose, the two tur- 
 bans, after tilting over the ear, unrolled 
 themselves and fell into ruin, showing 
 the mysterious tuft called "the Moham- 
 med " — the crown which the true Moslem 
 is forbidden to expose, and by which he 
 will be lifted into Paradise. Schehere- 
 zade herself would have been glad to 
 introduce into her repertory these two 
 irresistible figures, with their parallel 
 blindness, with the scarlet immodesty of 
 their hot shaved heads, with their em- 
 braces, their raptures and their tipsiness. 
 The others, expressing themselves in their 
 several ways, were hardly less pleased. 
 Hasne, contorted in a kind of spiral with 
 her oranges at her feet, presented the 
 superficial semblance of a cornucopia, 
 or horn of plenty. 
 
 Lenoir, in a spirit of mischievous curi- 
 osity, approached her with a little neck- 
 scarf, worth thirteen sous at home, such 
 ?.s the country-girls wear around their 
 nut-brown necks on Sundays. At this 
 temptation, Hasne very suddenly drop- 
 ped her role of possessed Pythoness. 
 Lenoir commencing to show the treasure 
 by inches, she snatched it like a monkey, 
 took possession of it, applied it to her 
 neck, then over her head, and seemed 
 about to flee lest it should be taken from 
 her. When made to understand that 
 the gaud was to be given her as bak- 
 shish, she approached her benefactor 
 with convulsions of contentment that 
 
 resembled epilepsy, and for a while Le- 
 noir seemed less likely to be thanked 
 than bitten : floods of words escaped her, 
 harsh, piercing and discordant. The 
 dragoman gave up the task of translating 
 her grateful Orientalisms, and Lenoir was 
 obliged to retire with half his meed of 
 thanks ungrasped by his understanding. 
 
 More successful in his lingual transac- 
 tions with the sheikh was Gerome, the 
 Co-lo-nel of the party and chief Amphit- 
 ryon of the feast. It is one of the bizarre 
 accidents of M. Gerome's education that 
 while ignorant, as all Frenchmen are, 
 of the most widely-spoken of European 
 tongues, and constrained to respond with 
 " Helas ! non," to the first question put by 
 every hopeful American visitor whether 
 he speaks English, this conversationalist, 
 so one-sided in his own studio, has but 
 to go to the ends of the earth to find 
 himself in easy communication with the 
 people. Gerome speaks Arabic like a 
 native. His adieus with the lord mayor 
 of Senures were performed, then, with 
 much grace, at becoming length, in suit- 
 ably extravagant metaphors and with 
 endless repetition. The esteem of the 
 municipality was gained securely. The 
 burgomasters retired. Hasne, for her 
 part, made a much more popular and 
 sensational exit than they, and rode roy- 
 ally off on Gerome's biggest donkey, 
 followed by the acclaims of all, from 
 masters to lowest servants. 
 
 Next morning at five a fire-cracker 
 cackling was heard outside the tents, and 
 there was Hasne, accompanied by a vo- 
 ciferous chorus of friends and compan- 
 ions. She explained that upon the rising 
 of the sun she had experienced a desire 
 to see her friends again. Hasne was 
 quieted with a little coffee : a rather bril- 
 liant matinee reception was achieved to 
 the constant tune of "Ya kulum habibi 
 kebir." The morning call would have 
 been an unshadowed success had it not 
 been for Hasne's unprincipled seduction 
 of Jules. 
 
 Jules was a wooden-headed jumping- 
 jack, which Lenoir, as the baby of the 
 troop, had claimed the privilege of bring- 
 ing from home, with the vow of showing 
 him every famous sight from France to 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 Persia. This hopeless little imbecile, 
 usually suspended by an elastic to the 
 neck of his patron's donkey, had regard- 
 ed the wonders of travel with unmoved 
 vacuity, had gazed from the summit of 
 
 the Pyramids upon the French camp as 
 stoically as the forty centuries themselves, 
 and had been a perpetual solace to his 
 protector by the consistency and obdu- 
 racy of his dullness. Hasne saw him, 
 
 t? 
 
 attached him to her ears and her fore- 
 head, and uttered sharp shrieks of joy. 
 In the afternoon Lenoir made a color- 
 study. Night came : Hasne and Jules 
 had eloped. 
 
 The efforts and emotions attendant on 
 
 giving and composing the feast were now 
 followed by sensations still more dra- 
 matic, as the painter and his friends, 
 threading the populace of actresses in 
 their dens, undertook to bring to light 
 the mystery. Their new but close rela- 
 
iN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 tions with the municipality were not un- 
 needed in obtaining a separation of body, 
 bed and board between this impression- 
 able lady and her last alliance. Hasne 
 lingered fondly around the camp for 
 many days, and the only way by which 
 the painters could obtain the privacy 
 necessary for their studies was in fright- 
 ening the damsel almost sick by photo- 
 graphing her. Lenoir, consoled at the 
 return of Jules, betook himself industri- 
 ously to painting water - carriers and 
 washing-women. One day, returning to 
 camp, he saw a hideous " spectacle ser- 
 pent," or naja, lying in the middle of 
 the road engaged with its digestion after 
 a hearty meal of chicken, and apparent- 
 ly waiting for its doctor. The creature, 
 having swollen around its prey' like a 
 leech, was almost unable to stir, and 
 presented the figure of a monstrous frog 
 with the rudiment of a tail. It was kill- 
 ed by the Arabs, its head literally whip- 
 ped off with a switch, and the striped 
 skin offered to the traveler. The golden 
 tercEtis, the emblem worn on the forehead 
 in so many Egyptian statues, is nothing 
 else than a representation of this serpent, 
 taken at its most dyspeptic or fully-gorged 
 moment. 
 
 Meantime, the visitation of sunstroke 
 upon a cherished member of the party 
 cast a gloom upon the whole band, and 
 preparations were made for accompany- 
 ing the invalid back to Cairo. Indeed, 
 the further tracing up of the Nile was 
 not a part of their plan : they proposed, 
 returning by Medinet and Cairo, to push 
 on to Suez, Akabah and the mysterious 
 wilderness beyond. The final luncheon 
 at Senures was embellished by the pres- 
 ence of Hasne, who manifested a touch- 
 ing sensibility at the thought of a sepa- 
 ration. To try her with a new test, the 
 Hercules of the expedition produced his 
 celebrated buckskin gloves, adapted to 
 the measure of a pair of hands that 
 could have strangled a great many najas 
 or urcEtises. The little paws of the dancer 
 were quite lost in the great reddish-color- 
 ed gauntlets, but the joy of Hasne was 
 indescribable. She walked from tent to 
 tent shrieking with happiness, and show- 
 ing her small fists and enormous shields 
 
 to every one. To reobtain the gloves it 
 was necessary to have recourse to the 
 Fabulist or longbow-puller of the caravan, 
 who assured her that the buckskins were 
 accursed and would bring ill-luck. Bak- 
 shish, the universal healer of wounded 
 hearts here below, consoled this suscep- 
 tible female, and she saw the caravan 
 start for Cairo with a good grace. 
 
 The attentions and repose obtainable 
 at the metropolis had a happy effect upon 
 the invalid, who was soon able to ac- 
 company his fellows in the further ex- 
 plorations they chose to make among 
 the streets and mosques of Cairo. Each 
 painter, as he watched the incessant 
 crowd and caught the varying silhouette 
 of the groups of domes, wished that he 
 had months to give for every day allot- 
 ted to Cairo. But the East is compassed 
 now-a-days at railroad speed, and it was 
 the railway that hurried them off one 
 brilliant morning to Suez in modern first- 
 class carriages intended to hold six per- 
 sons, but into .which eight were packed 
 lest they should feel cold. 
 
 The desert separating Suez from Cairo 
 was formerly a real bugbear and very 
 toilsome to cross, the camels sinking in 
 the slippery sand to their knees. This 
 sand is a white impalpable dust yielding 
 to every wind, so that the domed hills of 
 to-day give place to-morrow to an ab- 
 solute plain. The color of the powder is 
 the color of treachery : it varies with the 
 wind and with the time of day. At early 
 dawn the sands are rose-colored, with 
 violet shadows ; sometimes at noon they 
 are a plain of untinted snow ; in the 
 short period of twilight, reflecting like 
 metal plates the burning tones of the sun 
 at his setting, the mountains of snov/ 
 sometimes seem turned to mountains of 
 fire. 
 
 Our travelers found Suez full of pas- 
 sengers making the transit to or from In- 
 dia. The English hotel was overflow- 
 ed, and, after obtaining the use of the 
 saloon for bed-room, the painters dis- 
 covered a dozen Britons snoring in cho- 
 rus even in that retreat. The English- 
 men were not very polite on being dis- 
 turbed from their dreams ; and their ill 
 grace aroused the most reprehensible 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEKOME THE PAINTER. 
 
 213 
 
 
 
 
214 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 feelings of revenge in the Gallic bosom. 
 The sleepers were quickly awakened to 
 the fullest extent by finding the gas turn- 
 ed on and burning at full head, while a 
 group of fantastic beings in nightcaps 
 and airy robes, sitting under white um- 
 brellas with color-boxes in their laps, 
 were making sketches of the rows of 
 English boots, and all the while loudly 
 discussing the eternal and glorious prin- 
 ciples of art. Nor were the young men 
 content with this mild victimization. 
 Having given strict orders to the boot- 
 black, they set at the door a single boot 
 out of every English pair, the majority 
 of which were of crude yellow leather : 
 when these came back, all ebon and 
 varnish, they were silently placed among 
 their original mates, but not until the 
 authors of the jest were far on their way. 
 The superb blooded dromedaries which 
 henceforth bore the party on their way 
 were the special and graceful loan of the 
 khedive. This gentleman, whom pro- 
 longed residence at Paris has made a 
 perfect European at will, was as well 
 aware of Gerome's reputation and intel- 
 lectual rank as any Frenchman of the 
 boulevards. Nine immensely tall beasts, 
 with mountains on their backs and no 
 end of legs, did up their joints into com- 
 pressed kneeling postures as the artists 
 mounted, and shot up to a fearful alti- 
 tude the moment they felt their loads in 
 place. These quadrupedal giants were 
 an appropriate offering from the viceroy's 
 own stable to the painter who had done 
 so much to make Egypt famous and 
 bring its glories of landscape or history 
 visibly before the eye of the world. Ge- 
 rome and the Doctor and the Naturalist 
 mounted with such grace and dignity as 
 they could command. When it came 
 to the turn of young Lenoir, he found 
 that the most colossal of the nine had 
 been derisively allotted to him. Now, 
 Lenoir is not in his own person an 
 overgrown man : already at Medinet, 
 when the damsel of the large slippers 
 offered him drink from her urn, it oc- 
 curred to him that he could not play a 
 very good Eliezer, so far as profile went, 
 to her Rebekah. He is in fact construct- 
 ed rather on the pattern allotted to Mr. 
 
 Harry Foker by the author of Pendennis-, 
 having a dark skin, short legs and an 
 incorrigible grimace. He stood up by 
 his camel a moment, measuring his 
 length against its endless legs : then, as 
 the brute knelt, after a brief space of 
 serious meditation he recommended his 
 soul, and immediately staggered up with 
 the rising animal to a height superior to 
 that of anything in the caravan — a pre- 
 eminence which he guarded proudly for 
 the rest of the expedition. 
 
 The wilderness life "of the party, under 
 the active dragomanship of Yussef Mus- 
 sali the Syrian, soon became a triumph 
 of organization. The commissariat was 
 supplied with the usual preserved meats 
 and an unusual assortment of choice 
 wines. The personnel of the artist- 
 troop had by this time, on that prin- 
 ciple of natural selection which has ar- 
 ranged the solar system, gravitated into 
 a certain rank. Gerome and a given 
 contingent of his friends formed the se- 
 rious group. One of the pair of smaller 
 tents was allotted to himself and closest 
 comrades, and ran up the national tri- 
 color whenever it camped : the other was 
 for the rest of the " serious." Of the three 
 large tents, one was the club-room and 
 dormitory of the spirits unblessed with 
 quiet, the sons of Belial who loved to 
 dance all night round a table : this un- 
 hallowed precinct was, unhappily for the 
 interests of a quiet theory of existence, the 
 popular one. Every night the "serious" 
 philosophers came to the door and beg- 
 ged to be admitted, but Lenoir always ex- 
 acted a dear payment for this entrance. 
 The five tents with their furniture, borne 
 upon a total of twenty-seven camels and 
 dromedaries, formed a train of very re- 
 spectable magnitude. 
 
 The Red Sea, as seen on the map, 
 puts up two long arms at the top, much 
 hke the horns of a snail. At the ex- 
 tremity of one horn is the town of Suez : 
 the corresponding town garnishing the 
 other horn is Akabah. The land clip- 
 ped between the two horns is a moun- 
 tainous, irreclaimable wilderness, full of 
 caiions or wadys, forming a sort of pe- 
 ninsula as it extends deeply into the 
 embrace of the two arms of the Red Sea. 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GENOME THE PAINTER. 
 
 On this tongue of rocky land immemorial 
 tradition has fixed the location of Mount 
 Sinai. The accuracy of this attribution 
 is being just now strongly combated by 
 a learned and venerable British geog- 
 
 rapher and traveler. If Beke's drifting 
 of Sinai toward Arabia, quite to the east 
 of Akabah, be right, it may have this of 
 importance about it, that we may be com- 
 pelled to relinquish Egypt as the land 
 
 MONOLITHIC TEMPLE AT FETKA. 
 
 from which the Jews escaped, and im- 
 agine the Misraim which held them in 
 bondage as some temporary dynasty 
 which succeeded in reclaiming a part of 
 Arabia Petrea from the Ishmaelites. 
 
 The course through the wadys and 
 along the shore of the Red Sea is slow 
 and difficult. The caravan is thrown 
 completely on its own resources, and one 
 feels at last the close, savage, throttling 
 
it6 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 embrace of the Desert, like a snake, 
 bound to kill if it may. Nature here is 
 no friend to human life : she must be 
 fought at every step. One day — it was 
 in February, but hot as a furnace — the 
 tents were drying after a storm, near 
 Wady Sadr on the shore of the sea, and 
 the artists were admiring the sausage- 
 like red of the rain-washed mountains, 
 when two human forms were seen on 
 the horizon. Approaching, they were 
 seen to be naked, wasted to skeletons, 
 their eyes unnaturally large, and they 
 made signs that they were dying of hun- 
 ger. Fishermen of the Red Sea, they had 
 lost their boat in the storm. The Co-lo- 
 nel and the Doctor constituted themselves 
 friendly rivals in the task of preserving 
 these poor starved beings from death. 
 They were served with judicious rations 
 of food, which restored them little by 
 little, and at last, shedding tears of grati- 
 tude, they departed with a contribution 
 of food, wine and spirits to try and find 
 their way to Suez. 
 
 The Mardi-Gras, February 25th, found 
 the pilgrims bathing in the Fountain of 
 Marah, whose corrosive salts pricked 
 their skins and covered them with blis- 
 ters. At home what gayeties and mask- 
 ings, thought the lads, while we are 
 smarting with the bitter penalties and 
 laws of Sinai ! Determined not to be 
 entirely conquered, a kind of Mardi- 
 Gras procession was organized. The 
 grave Syrian servants looked on in won- 
 der as the young men, dressed in such 
 travesty as their wardrobes aftbrded, ex- 
 ecuted torchlight promenades, with pa- 
 triotic songs and atelier jokes of the 
 most respectable antiquity. 
 
 The next wady, called Wady Schilla, 
 surpassed all that they had heard of 
 in the way of fantastic coloration : the 
 rocks, all ochre or vermilion, with geo- 
 logic strata of blue and green, seemed 
 to be coarsely painted by a voluntary 
 hand. A distribution of the painters 
 was made to secure the memoranda of 
 all the principal colors. Gerome under- 
 took to copy the red and yellow cliffs, 
 and treated their strange effects with a 
 master hand : Lenoir accepted the blue, 
 and his bedfellow the green. Several 
 
 days were occupied in this singular scen- 
 ic art. Then came Wady Mokatteb, the 
 Written Valley ; Wady Faran, with its 
 forests of virgin palm, whose untrim- 
 med plumes swept the ground ; Wady 
 Solaf; and finally Sinai, as the whole 
 world calls it, with its rock-perched mon- 
 astery. 
 
 The convent is a great stronghold, a 
 castle fully able to sustain, itself against 
 the surrounding bandits. In the im- 
 mense tower is fixed the elevated door- 
 way, soaring over the ground at a pro- 
 digious height, wherein provisions, vis- 
 itors and materials are admitted, with 
 the assistance of a basket, a rope, a pul- 
 ley and a capstan worked by the fathers. 
 At present, however, a modern door at 
 the base of the tower is generally used. 
 By this prosaic entrance the artists in- 
 vaded the sanctuary. They were made 
 welcome guests, and passed frequently, 
 day after day, from their camp without 
 the wallsto the warm, candid and intel- 
 ligent hospitality within. The monks, 
 dressed in the dignified robes of the 
 Greek Church, were figures to strike the 
 eye of a painter. Their superior, an old 
 man with a splendid white beard tum- 
 bling like a cataract of snow to his very 
 girdle, took Gerome and his friends into 
 high favor. They were made free of 
 the library, where Lives of the Saints 
 and other manuscripts enriched with the 
 finest medieeval miniatures, the Evangels 
 written by the emperor Theodosius, and 
 many other books in grand old bindings, 
 made the artists' mouths water with ap- 
 preciation. In the enclosure is seen the 
 place of the apparition of the Burning 
 Bush, where visitors still approach with 
 uncovered feet ; and on the hills hard 
 by the place where the Law was deliver- 
 ed to Moses, and the five holes at the 
 base of Horeb where the miraculous 
 fountain was opened. 
 
 The holy men are held in the highest 
 respect by all the robbers around them, 
 who come up with their disputes for ar- 
 bitration. In the same way the camel- 
 drivers of the expedition, disputing about 
 some trifle, were appeased as soon as the 
 monks had spoken. 
 
 The Sinai encampment concluded with 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 217 
 
 a joyous ceremony, in which the monks 
 joined with the best possible grace. It 
 was the birthday of one of the caravan, 
 the beloved Doctor, whose boot-soles 
 had been worn to paper in the most ac 
 
 tive researches among these rocks con- 
 secrated as the milestones in the biog- 
 raphy of the grand Jewish legislator. 
 Six days beforehand the cook had been 
 put upon his mettle and the happy day 
 
 was graced bj a dmner fit foi Sardanap- 
 alus. Two soups, four side-dishes, three 
 roasts, salads, sweets and plenty of mus- 
 tard, — it was the Frankest outrage upon 
 the cuisine of quails and manna for which 
 the place is traditional. Wines and studio- 
 
 songs lubiicated the whole dmner, while 
 the good fathers were present to grant 
 absolution wherever necessary. The 
 monks, who carefully cultivate the man- 
 na-yielding plant, gave to each of their 
 visitors on departure a little bag of man- 
 
2l8 
 
 IN A CARAVAN WITH GENOME THE FAINTER. 
 
 na and a tin tube filled with honey from 
 Mount Sinai. They submitted with de- 
 light their handsome faces to the pho- 
 tographer of the party : the proofs were 
 distributed to the good men when the 
 artists made their call of farewell, and 
 copies of the group which the reader 
 sees among these pages are gazed at 
 with complacency to-day by the originals 
 in that rock-built nest so bare of inci- 
 dents. 
 
 More of the wearisome wadys, and 
 then Akabah. This station, much to the 
 artists' surprise, was full of interest and 
 character, far beyond Suez. It is the 
 depot where the troops of pilgrims to 
 Mecca are provisioned ; and, with its sav- 
 age sheikh and brigandish neighbors, 
 affords quite a surfeit of adventure. The 
 ceremonial feast offered to this robber- 
 mayor was a most singular comedy, af- 
 fording many a rueful laugh. 
 
 The sheikh, whose name was Moham- 
 med Gadd, was absent at the time of the 
 caravan's arrival, being engaged, as his 
 son very candidly expressed it, in rob- 
 bing camels among the neighboring 
 tribes. Meantime, the artists' kitchen- 
 tent, as soon as it was set up, was visited 
 by crowds of furiously-hungry people, in- 
 cluding many estimable country sheikhs 
 — characters who could only be treated 
 with politeness, and whose meddling 
 ways drove Achmet the cook almost mad 
 with rage as he served them repeatedly 
 with coffee and cognac. 
 
 The respectable robber-sheikh came 
 home late at night, when the rockets had 
 all been fired and the paper lanterns 
 hung up in his honor had burned out. 
 He approached the little camp, and the 
 dragoman, in a panic of apprehension, 
 announced the veritable Mohammed 
 Gadd, the most authentic, as he was the 
 fattest and ugliest, of all the sheikhs. 
 
 Gerome was extremely exasperated at 
 this untimely visit. Awakened all of a 
 sudden after a hard day's journey, he 
 came out gloomy and lowering in a hasty 
 toilet, and looked about for his guest ; 
 but the sheikh was not to be seen. In 
 fact, finding the principal tent deserted 
 on his arrival, he had rolled off his mare 
 and made with unfailinsr instinct for the 
 
 kitchen. Here he called for everything 
 that he took a fancy to, not disdaining 
 to fall in line so as to pass to his numer- 
 ous suite the coffee-cups and glasses 
 which he demanded from Achmet. Ap- 
 prised that the Co-lo-nel was ready to 
 receive him, he started like a child 
 caught in the jelly-closet, and was found 
 hastily ensconced in the saloon-tent, his 
 mouth full and a Rheims sponge-cake in 
 his hand. 
 
 "Tell him," said Gerome sharply to 
 the dragoman, "that now I have seen 
 him I shall be happy all the next four- 
 and-twenty hours, and that, to begin im- 
 mediately, I am going to go to bed." 
 
 And with this honest growl the weary 
 Co-lo-nel retired to his pavilion, leaving 
 to his courier and young friends the task 
 of serving out compliments and coffee : 
 the last, to simplify the manoeuvre, Mo- 
 hammed Gadd finished by swilling in 
 large quantities out of the sugar-bowl. 
 
 The sheikh departed with the consol- 
 atory remark that he would call again. 
 The artists expressed rapture, but pro- 
 posed to be off at an early hour to avoid 
 the proffered honor. In fifty minutes, 
 however, there was heard a new and in- 
 creased confusion. The faithful mayor 
 had come to fulfill his promise, with a 
 new band of provincial sheikhs, among 
 whom was his brother. Sheikh Mak-Bul, 
 who would accompany the artists to Petra. 
 Poor Achmet, as the new demands for 
 coffee began to fall upon his ear, raised 
 his arms to Heaven and uttered cries of 
 grief. 
 
 The poor caravan left a large part of 
 its provisions in the maws of these Aka- 
 bah cormorants. The rest it distributed, 
 on a precisely similar system, among the 
 savage sheikhs whom it was Mak-Bul' 5 
 business to introduce and to conciliate. 
 Thus complimenting, complimented and 
 robbed, they moved on amongst the ban- 
 ditti to Petra. 
 
 It was at three o'clock in the afternoon 
 when, after a gradual ascent from the 
 level of the sea that had lasted for days, 
 the guides called a halt and pointed to 
 the marvelous panorama. 
 
 Petra, the city carved out of a single 
 stone, like a cameo on a ring, was be- 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GEROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 219 
 
 fore them, encrusted upon the spurs of 
 Mount Hor and its sateUites. From this 
 point the monuments and constructions 
 of the city could not be distinguished. 
 A vague and general sense of artificial 
 design could alone be traced in the mod- 
 eling of the sweeping valleys and pre- 
 cipitous ravines. Naturally fortified by 
 its position on the mountain, the strategic 
 importance which made the Romans un- 
 dertake so elaborate a construction as 
 Petra could be understood. The natural 
 rock in which they worked out their pro- 
 digious design is a sandstone, of a deep 
 red color which cannot be represented 
 in our engraving, rather friable in qual- 
 ity, and sometimes displaying the swol- 
 len boulder - forms of volcanic lavas. 
 Petra, as a settlement of rock-dwellers 
 or troglodytes, goes back to the earliest 
 Bible times. It was the Romans, how- 
 ever, who appreciated its position as a 
 junction-point between Arabia, Egypt 
 and India, and who chose to develop it 
 into the fantastic, theatrical and alto- 
 gether extraordinary city we see. 
 
 Unhappily, the Romans, powerful as 
 their hand was, did not always apply it 
 to works of the best taste. The designs 
 of the Petra monuments awakened but 
 mediocre admiration from car company 
 of artists. It is Roman architecture of 
 the decline, surcharged with ornament, 
 with a quantity of overweighted pedi- 
 ments, flowering columns and needless 
 niches ; one architectural motive shoul- 
 dering away another, and the whole 
 heaped together without system or con- 
 trol. The backgrounds of Pompeii paint- 
 ings, with their mad perspective and gid- 
 dy porticoes and colonnades, are here re- 
 peated in the solidity of stone. To show 
 the melodramatic character of the whole 
 construction, it may be mentioned that 
 Petra is entered through a gloomy fissure, 
 over which is thrown an arch like a 
 bridge ; but it is a bridge which carries 
 no road, which is inaccessible, which 
 connects nothing, and which therefore 
 can be nothing but a big and useless 
 ornament. 
 
 Even more puzzling is the temple, 
 .which bursts upon you after a long 
 scramble through dark and difficult pas- 
 
 sages, cunningly illuminated with a nar- 
 row beam of sparse sunshine. The ig- 
 norant Arabs, who connect everything 
 hereabouts with the past glories of Egypt, 
 call this fa9ade by the name "Treasure 
 of Pharaoh" — Kasneh Firun. It is in- 
 tended, apparently, as the entrance to a 
 roomy temple, but it gives access to noth- 
 ing but a small, undefinable room with 
 niches, too petty for a chapel and too 
 large for a tomb. It is like a monu- 
 ment in a church, and perhaps perpet- 
 uates the fame of some Roman tax-col- 
 lector or magistrate. It is two stories 
 high, and the urn on the summit is much 
 marked with bullets, the Arabs being 
 firmly convinced that it holds enormous 
 treasure, yet not having enterprise to at- 
 tempt any more systematic exploration 
 than an occasional shot at it. The real 
 interest of this relic, as indeed of Petra 
 in its entirety, is not in its design, but in 
 the audacity of its construction : the tem- 
 ple, like the whole city, is carved in the 
 solid mountain — a monolith. 
 
 Near the great theatre, which still 
 curves its hemicycle of benches in a cup- 
 like nook of the mountain, is an inscrip- 
 tion in Greek, pointing to an antiquity 
 much higher than the Roman conquest 
 of Arabia by ^lius Gallus. Around the 
 circumference of the theatre, too, just 
 over the heads of the imaginary sitters, 
 are chambers cut out in the rock, which, 
 though taken by some savants to be a 
 sort of theatrical boxes, are much more 
 probably the rooms of the primitive 
 cave-dwellers. 
 
 The young impertinents of the band 
 could not leave Petra without mending 
 out the Greek and Roman inscriptioiis 
 with additions entirely original. Al?o, 
 they kindly wrote on the walls the names 
 of passages and avenues, such as Wady 
 Moiiffetard and Guignol Square ; ac- 
 companying this nomenclature with en- 
 ergetic profiles of sheikhs of the country 
 who had obtained their esteem or notice, 
 and in whose likenesses they took care 
 to abstain from flattery. Four months 
 later, at Damascus, Lenoir encountered 
 a party of antiquarians who had been 
 exceedingly baffled and irritated by these 
 amended inscriptions, and he had the 
 
IN A CARAVAN WITH GAROME THE PAINTER. 
 
 pleasure of inveighing strongly with 
 them against the sacrilege of unscrupu- 
 lous wits who would complicate the study 
 of the past with gross or inappropriate 
 restorations. 
 
 The sortie from Petra might have been 
 difficult but for the firmness and coolness 
 of Gerome. The sheikh who accompa- 
 nied them as a guard against the Bed- 
 ouins chose to be dissatisfied with the 
 amount of his recompense, and required 
 a pay proportional to the grandeur of 
 the viceregal dromedaries which carried 
 and /f^ijc/ the party. When called upon 
 to escort them out of the defile, he de- 
 murred, objecting that his horse was not 
 there. The Co-lo-nel, with a steady 
 glance from his black eyes, ordered him 
 imperatively to mount and escort the 
 band : he grumblingly obeyed. The 
 other Arabs accompanied the procession, 
 muttering claims for payment. At last, 
 Nossar, the sheikh of Petra, dismount- 
 ed, and came up to Gerome lance in 
 hand, asking for an increase of his pres- 
 ent. The Co-lo-nel simply drew out his 
 pocket-book, and smilingly showed it 
 quite empty : to complete the allegory, 
 Gerome took off his cloak and proffered 
 it to the sheikh. Utterly confused as he 
 was by this offer, the fellow was still dis- 
 satisfied, and presently a young Arab, 
 nephew to Sheikh Nossar, placed him- 
 self in the way of the travelers, with a 
 pistol pointed at the dragoman. Three 
 of the Frenchmen thereupon showed 
 their revolvers, and the cowardly ras- 
 cal rode away, while the procession 
 wound through the rocks in silence. 
 The pile of stones limiting the boundary 
 of Petra was reached, and the caravan 
 was in another jurisdiction. By good 
 judgment and abstinence from either 
 threats or timidity the day was saved 
 without bloodshed. The artists were free 
 to continue their journey toward Jerusa- 
 lem and Damascus. 
 
 Such is the coolness which it often 
 takes a brave man a whole lifetime to 
 learn ! Gerome has not always been so 
 forbearing. In this astute, ready, sober- 
 headed man of the world, which of his 
 old comrades of '48 would recognize the 
 radical young demagogue who headed a 
 deputation with a petition for abohshing 
 marriage ? The self-command exhibited 
 in his pointing at the brigands without 
 firing does perhaps show a little more of 
 the old spirit of self-forgetful courage, as 
 when, in his early duel, he discharged 
 his own pistol in the air, allowing the 
 jealous husband to plant a bullet in his 
 arm, where it still remains and causes a 
 slight lameness of the member. Per- 
 haps that little transaction came into his 
 mind when, in the ravines of Petra, he 
 showed the muzzle of his weapon to the 
 nephew of Nossar without pulling the 
 trigger. It is well to guard what was 
 calm and courageous in our youth — the 
 offspring of healthy nerves — and let what 
 was unsound and visionary go. So Ge- 
 rome has acquired, as the auxiliary of 
 his remarkable artistic talent, a decent 
 modicum of business tact. He married, 
 and his choice was the daughter of a 
 great picture -merchant, who since the 
 union has taken care of his son-in-law's 
 fortunes and found splendid markets for 
 his ingenious pictures. And when trav- 
 eling in Dreamland, as it were, in the 
 land of sunrise and enchantment, Ge- 
 rome does not scorn the assistance of the 
 powers that be, but rides to his ideal 
 right out of the viceroy's stable, on a 
 dromedary twice as high as that which 
 supports the ordinary tourist. A little 
 sense, mixed in with the composition of 
 genius, is a "mon'sus good thing," as our 
 uncle the Major would say ; for it gets, 
 instead of the cloud that is almost in 
 shape of a camel, the royal beast himself 
 in all his housings, and may calmly sur- 
 vey the world from that eminence. 
 
COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 22 1 
 
 WITH THE COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ON landing at Yokohama, M. de I struck by the animation of the place, 
 Beauvoir and his companions were 1 and having secured quarters at a hotel, 
 m 
 
 rushed to the window to admire the cos- 
 tumes, and the want of thein, in the ac- 
 tive crowd that passed through the street. 
 
 The Japanese appeared to be smaller 
 than the Chinese, but their countenances 
 were much more expressive of vivacity 
 
222 COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and amiability. The women especially 
 were charming, their ebony - black hair 
 elegantly arranged in three stories with 
 ornamental pins ; their faces smiling and 
 rosy — painted a little, it is true — and their 
 teeth, in some instances, stained or gilt. 
 They trotted along upon small wooden 
 shoes, and were wrapped in overcoats, 
 with a thick band of scarlet or green 
 cloth about their waists, tied in a large 
 knot behind, sometimes a foot square 
 and shaped like a cartridge-box. 
 
 As for the men, according to their so- 
 cial position they had costumes varying 
 from zero up to half a dozen jackets 
 or tight-fitting trousers, worn one over 
 the other. Here comes an officer with 
 a round hat of a lacquered stuff, upon 
 which are painted in gilt the arms of the 
 daimio in whose service he is. His car- 
 riage is majestic : two very long sabres 
 hang from his belt. He wears a coat 
 with sleeves two feet and a half wide, 
 and having an opening in the back 
 which runs almost up to the shoulders, 
 through which the sabres pass. On the 
 back of this garment are embroidered 
 the arms of his lord, hieroglyphics or 
 flowers in red, yellow, blue or green, 
 contained in a circle about a foot in di- 
 ameter. From his belt hangs suspended 
 the complicated apparatus of a smoker 
 — a pipe with a metallic bowl about the 
 size of a child's thimble, a tobacco-bag 
 of leather-paper, with matches and other 
 appliances. Every two or three minutes 
 he fills his little pipe with a pinch of his 
 tobacco, lights it, takes one or two whiffs, 
 and the pipeful is smoked. On his feet 
 he wears blue stockings, with a separate 
 compartment for the great toe, and over 
 these sandals of plaited straw, held on 
 by two bands which are adroitly held by 
 the great toe as though it were a thumb. 
 
 Here comes the escort of some prince 
 — mounted guards, covered with armor- 
 ial embroideries, and each with two sa- 
 bres. They ride on decorated saddles, 
 shaking their reins, which are large 
 scarfs of some blue stuff. The crowd 
 divides before them, all the spectators 
 prostrating themselves on the ground. 
 
 The costumes are various. Many 
 people wear only a pair of sandals, and 
 
 a strip of white cloth about the loins. 
 Many are tattooed from head to foot 
 with all sorts of figures, dragons, war- 
 riors, women, in the most brilliant colors, 
 which stand out in striking relief on 
 their yellow skins. Some carry "ka- 
 gos" or " norimons," a sort of basket, 
 which serves for the Japanese cab, and 
 in which the traveler buries himself. 
 Others push heavy chariots with solid 
 
 A BETTO OR RUNNING GROOM. 
 
 wheels, keeping time with the most in- 
 credible cries. Then there are fruit- 
 sellers, carpenters and mechanics of all 
 kinds, clothed generally with only a 
 short jacket of calico, on the back of 
 which is painted in large Japanese cha- 
 racters an inscription indicating either 
 the trade of the wearer or the lord whose 
 serf he is. 
 
 The streets of Yokohama are wide and 
 straight. Each house is built of wood, 
 without an atom of paint, and is a real 
 toy-house, a genuine Liliputian Swiss 
 chalet, built with a taste, a nicety and a 
 neatness which are admirable. The 
 Japanese are wonderful workers in wood, 
 
COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and it is a pleasure to see the roofs, so 
 light and yet so strong, supported by 
 walls which are made, like the side- 
 scenes in a theatre, of thin strips of 
 wood, over which are pasted sheets of 
 a cottony, transparent paper. In the 
 evenings, when the lanterns dispense 
 their soft light round the inside of these 
 
 INARAiA, A JAPANESE YOUNG WOMAN. 
 
 white buildings, the spectator seems to be 
 looking at a magic-lantern. During the 
 daytime the sides of the houses are 
 slipped out, as side-scenes are, and the 
 house becomes only a roof resting on 
 the four light corner posts, the whole in- 
 terior being thus opened to the air. Ev- 
 ery part of the house is exposed to view, 
 and everything done in it can be seen, 
 while behind it appear the charming 
 verdure, the cascades and the diminutive 
 plantations of the little gardens situated 
 in the rear. 
 
 The great luxury of the Japanese con- 
 sists in their mats made of plaited straw. 
 They are perfectly rectangular in shape, 
 about three inches thick, and soft to the 
 
 touch. They are never stepped on with 
 shoes, since the Japanese go about their 
 houses always barefooted. Of furniture 
 they have next to nothmg : a small fur- 
 nace in one corner, a closet made of 
 side-scenes like the sides of the house, 
 and intended to contain the mattresses, a 
 small set of shelves on which are ar- 
 ranged the lacquered plates for rice and 
 fish, — this is all the furnishing for these 
 houses, in which they live, as it were, in 
 the open air. In the middle of each 
 house are two articles of general use 
 among all classes — the "chitat" and the 
 "tobacco-bon ;" that is, a brazier and the 
 box for tobacco. Being great tea-drink- 
 ers, great smokers and great talkers, the 
 Japanese pass their days around the 
 brazier : there they can be seen in groups 
 of seven or eight, seated on their heels 
 around the tea-kettle. 
 
 In every shop our travelers visited they 
 were received with a distinction and po- 
 liteness which surpassed even the pro- 
 verbial manners of their native country. 
 In walking through the city they passed 
 through the street of baths. In Japan, 
 where every one lives, as it were, in 
 public, the costume of our first parents 
 in no way shocks the sentiments of the 
 people,"who in this matter may be con- 
 sidered as still in the Golden Age. This 
 street is filled with bath-houses, to which 
 the population resort, many of them 
 twice or thrice a day. Here all sexes, 
 ages and conditions mingle, fifty to sixty 
 at a time in each bath-house. The pass- 
 er-by sees them crouched down or dan- 
 cing on an inclined plane, surrounded by 
 pyramids of small tubs made of copper 
 and filled with hot water. Here they 
 sprinkle and soap each other. Attracted 
 by the sight of the travelers, they come 
 to ask "the noble strangers" politely for 
 a cigarette. 
 
 A woman seller of dry goods invited 
 the party to enter her shop and seai 
 themselves upon the mats. This was 
 for her a great honor, and as the party 
 entered she saluted them by bowing until 
 her forehead touched the floor, then offer- 
 ing them tea in small cups, she brought 
 out tobacco for their pipes, and present- 
 ed lighted coals held between two chop- 
 
224 COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sticks. " I cannot hope," writes the count, 
 " to express to you all the elegance of this 
 woman of the people in her slightest 
 movements : her features expressed the 
 most simple womanly affabihty as her 
 
 habitual condition. Well, in whatever 
 house you may enter you will be treated 
 with the same distinction : we were almost 
 stupefied to find it, and confessed that this 
 people can rightly call us barbarians. I 
 
 BRONZE STATUE OF DAIBOUTS AT KAMAKOUrA. 
 
 have not seen a single fight or dispute in 
 the streets : all the men, in saluting each 
 other with profound bows, wear a smile 
 upon their lips ; and when we desire to 
 appear amiable we are awkward and ill- 
 
 bred in comparison with these Japanese, 
 who are gracious without thinking of 
 being so. Among them a man who gives 
 way to his anger, or shows it in his tone 
 or words, is avoided by his kind as dnfit 
 
COUNT DE BEAU VOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 225 
 
 for society. Thus, when at first our ple- 
 nipotentiaries in the diplomatic confer- 
 ences became animated, the Japanese 
 said, ' Let us put off this matter for an- 
 other day : we cannot treat with those 
 who are not masters of themselves.' " 
 
 For a trip into the country ponies 
 were hired, each of which was accom- 
 
 A YAKONINE (JAPANESE OFFICER). 
 
 panied by a "betto" or groom, who ran 
 by the side of the horse the whole way. 
 The road ran between rice -fields, the 
 frequent ditches between which were 
 covered with small bridges of bamboo. 
 The "betto" of the count was named 
 "Aramado." During the whole of the 
 journey he kept up on foot with the 
 horse, warning him by a sharp cry of 
 any difficult place in the road. At set- 
 ting out, Aramado's costume was su- 
 perb: a bright blue coat with immense 
 sleeves, and a tight pair of pantaloons. 
 As he ran through the rice-fields, his 
 sleeves flying in, the wind, he looked like 
 IS 
 
 an enormous blue butterfly. Piece by 
 piece, however, as he warmed up with 
 his course, he took off his garments, 
 until he was clothed in only a pair of 
 stockings and his scarlet tattooing, rep- 
 resenting a combat between a woman, 
 some large birds and a serpent. The 
 "betto" of the count's companion was 
 even more singularly decorated. 
 Though absolutely naked, he was 
 clothed. His tattooing repre- 
 sented a blue jacket with white 
 buttons and red seams, with a 
 coat -of- arms in scarlet in the 
 middle of his back, and a pair 
 of trousers in black and white 
 squares. 
 
 Ascending to high ground, the 
 view became very fine. On the 
 left, at a distance from the sea, 
 rose the volcano "Vries," with 
 clouds of smoke rolling from it ; 
 on the right, Foosiyama (the 
 sacred mountain — the "moun- 
 tain without an equal"), its top 
 covered with snow. This moun- 
 tain dominates all Japan, and is 
 revered as a divinity. The per- 
 fect regularity of its cone shape 
 is familiar to those of our readers 
 who have examined any speci- 
 mens of Japanese ware, since it 
 is very frequently represented on 
 all sorts of tttensils. Perhaps no 
 people in the world are more 
 sensitive to the beauties of Na- 
 ture than the Japanese : every- 
 where throughout the country 
 where there is a fine view, or 
 where a fine tree offers an opportunity 
 for a retreat in the shade, even in the 
 paths most unfrequented, will be found 
 a tea-house, a light cabin with a thatched 
 roof and paper sides, with soft mats 
 spread round the brazier used for boiling 
 tea or rice. Here there was one, where 
 the daughters offered our travelers tea 
 and rice in small cups, while their mother 
 brought tobacco, and coals in the bra- 
 zier. Other travelers stopped for refresh- 
 ment, and here, as all along the road, 
 the party was surprised at the politeness 
 and amiability of the people they met. 
 The route continued picturesque and 
 
2 26 COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 beautiful along the course of a brook 
 with cascades, and through groups of 
 trees and hedges of camellias, azaleas, 
 and other plants in full flower. Finally, 
 coming to the coast, after a ride along a 
 fine beach the sacred isl- 
 and of Inosima was reach- 
 ed. This is an immense 
 volcanic rock shaped like 
 a gigantic mushroom. 
 There are steps, but no 
 roads, to ascend it, and it 
 is filled with temples, to 
 which crowds of native 
 pilgrims resort carrying 
 wallets and wearing 
 cockle-shells. The priests ^-^ 
 
 of the sanctuary dislike 
 foreigners, so that the par- 
 ty was struck with meet- 
 ing, instead of the smiles 
 of an hour before, the hos- 
 tile faces of the shaved 
 priests muttering prayers, 
 with the expression of 
 stupidity, insolence and 
 laziness which comes from 
 the conscious possession 
 of an undisputed and un- 
 deserved power. To the 
 centre of the island runs 
 a grotto over five hun- 
 dred feet long, at the foot 
 of which is an altar bril- 
 liantly lighted and sur- 
 rounded with the pious offerings of thou- 
 sands of visitors. 
 
 Returning to Yokohama, they visited 
 on the way the temple of Pleasure near 
 the city of Kamakoura. This is one of 
 the largest temples in Japan, and is visit- 
 ed yearly by thousands of pious pilgrims. 
 Continuing their way through trimmed 
 hedges of camellias and azaleas thirty 
 feet high, they came to the bronze statue 
 known as the Daibouts or Daibutz. This 
 statue is fifty feet high, and represents 
 Booddha sitting, in the Oriental manner, 
 on a lotus. It is ninety-six feet in cir- 
 cumference at the base, and is raised on 
 a pedestal five or six feet high. The in- 
 tention of the artist was to represent 
 Booddha in Nirvana, or the state of utter 
 annihilation of external consciousness 
 
 which is to be gained only through ages 
 of purification by transmigration. The 
 attainment of this condition is the great 
 promise held out to the faithful, and has 
 for more than twenty centuries been the 
 
 THE COLONEL OF THE ESCORT. 
 
 guiding hope of countless millions of 
 human beings. The face of the statue 
 is of the Hindoo type, and, with the at- 
 titude, is in perfect harmony with the 
 artist's conception. All visitors agree 
 that it is an exceptionally fine realization 
 in art of a profoundly abstract religious 
 conception. The small knobs upon the 
 head are intended to represent the snails 
 which, according to tradition, came to 
 protect Booddha from the heat of the sun. 
 The statue was made about six hundred 
 years ago, being cast in sections, and 
 joined so artistically that the seams are 
 hardly to be seen. It is said that a tem- 
 ple formerly enclosed it, but was destroy- 
 ed by an earthquake. Being hollow, it 
 has a temple inside of it which the party 
 entered, and were offered by a priest for 
 
COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 227 
 
 two cents a copy of the statue, which he 
 guaranteed as a cure for all possible 
 maladies, past, present or future. 
 
 In the construction of their houses, 
 the Japanese, unlike most buildeis, begin 
 with the roof. This is built on the ground, 
 and when framed is covered with small 
 shingles about the size of two fingers, as 
 thin as a sheet of paper. When it is 
 finished they raise it on four corner- 
 posts. The sides are then slipped in 
 grooves, and the house is finished with- 
 out the use of a single nail. The danger 
 of earthquakes is a reason for not using 
 more solid material. The mats furnish 
 the scale on which the houses are con- 
 structed. These mats are always made 
 rectangular, measuring six feet by three : 
 the houses, therefore, are constructed for 
 six, twelve, eighteen or twenty-four mats, 
 and when finished are masterpieces of 
 neatness and elegance. 
 
 The Tokaido is a long road which runs 
 along the whole length of Niphon, the 
 chief island of the empire, from Nan- 
 gasaki, the south-western, to Hakodadi, 
 the north-eastern extremity. On this 
 road specimens of every class of Japan- 
 ese society are met — princes and prin- 
 cesses traveling in norimons ; pilgrims 
 on their way to shrines ; tattooed porters 
 bearing burdens hung from each end of 
 a bamboo stick supported on the shoul- 
 ders ; men and women of all ranks and 
 conditions. The post-office is a most 
 flourishing institution : the distribution 
 of the letters is performed by men who 
 go upon a trot, wear nothing to impede 
 their course, and carry their letters tied 
 in a bundle on a stick swung over the 
 shoulder. Relays are stationed at every 
 third village, and the distribution is car- 
 ried on day and night. The Japanese 
 are great letter-writers, sending polite 
 congratulations to each other from one 
 end of the empire to the other, simply 
 from amiability, and without any pre- 
 tence of business. It is considered a 
 great accomplishment to write a good 
 hand, as well as to express one's self 
 elegantly. A well-written sentence is 
 frequently admired almost like a work 
 of art. 
 
 Having secured a safe-passport and 
 
 been furnished with a guard, the party 
 set out for Yeddo. The escort consisted 
 of ten "yakonines," wearing fiat, round 
 hats of gilt lacquered ware on the top 
 of the head, looking like dessert plates, 
 two sabres passed through their girdles, 
 and the backs of their coats embroidered 
 with the arms of the Taikoon. Their 
 pantaloons were large and made of col- 
 ored silk, while on their feet they wore 
 straw sandals and long spurs made of 
 bronze. Wide scarfs served as reins for 
 their horses, whose manes were cut 
 short. At the gate of each town was a 
 house decorated with flags, in which 
 were seated four men writing the names 
 of all passers, with the object and extent 
 of their trip, and collecting the duties, 
 which are laid upon everything. 
 
 At Meiaski the party rested at a tea- 
 house, where they were served by thirty- 
 six young girls. The decorations of this 
 house were wonders of art, it having 
 just before served as a stopping-place 
 for the Taikoon in one of his visits to 
 the town. The garden in the rear was 
 an admirable specimen of Japanese skill 
 and taste in these matters. It seemed 
 like a fairy park looked down upon from 
 an eminence through a reversed opera- 
 glass. Forests of small purple or dark- 
 green trees stretched out their petty 
 branches round ponds of red goldfish ; 
 Liliputian paths wCund through pigmy 
 lawns, crossing rills and bridges of turf 
 large enough for the comfortable pas- 
 sage of a rat ; while towers and summer- 
 houses of proportionate size enlivened 
 the landscape. 
 
 In Yeddo the party stayed at the 
 French legation, an immense square 
 building, divided into corridors and 
 chambers by some fifty double lines of 
 such side-scenes as the Japanese use for 
 the partitions and walls of their houses. 
 Yeddo being filled with the nobility, 
 who are hostile to the introduction of 
 foreigners, it was injudicious to leave the 
 legation without the escort. One of the 
 first things done after their arrival at the 
 capital was to visit the temple of Atango- 
 Yahma, which stands on a mountain 
 outside of the city. Having arrived at 
 the top of the hill, a flight of a hundred 
 
228 
 
 COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 granite steps led to a terrace presenting 
 a view of the whole city, which looked 
 like a park so large that the eye could 
 
 one side of the city, and a river run& 
 through it, while the undulations of the 
 thirty hills upon which it is built give it 
 
 not discern its limits. The sea washes I a unique appearance 
 
 
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 ONE OF THE GIANT IREES OF THE VALLEY OF CALAVERAS. 
 
 Yeddo consists of three cities: "Siro," 
 the palace of the Taikoon; "Soto-Siro," 
 the palaces of the daimios; and"Midzi," 
 the city for trade. Siro, which is about 
 five miles in circumference, appears like 
 
 an immense citadel surrounded with 
 terraced lawns, that descend to lakes 
 and circular canals. More than thirty 
 bridges of granite unite this residence of 
 the Taikoon with the city of the daimios. 
 
COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 229 
 
 which contains more than three thousand 
 palaces. Soto-Siro differs also from other 
 Japanese cities in being built entirely of 
 stone. There is not a single wooden 
 'house in it. The general style of the 
 architecture is simple and severe, each 
 house being a large rectangle, built of 
 white and black stones, and surrounded 
 like a fortress with a ditch fed from a 
 running stream. The mansions are the 
 official residences of the daimios, who 
 during the continuance of the feudal 
 system were obliged to reside in them 
 ■one year out of every three when they 
 came to Yeddo to pay their homage to 
 the Taikoon. There were eighteen dai- 
 mios of divine descent, three hundred 
 and forty-four created by the Taikoons 
 during the last two centuries, and nearly 
 ■eighty thousand "hattamothos," or great 
 captains and knights. On their visits to 
 Yeddo these daimios were accompanied 
 by their harems, their official suites and 
 their troops. Each of them tried to sur- 
 round himself with as brilliant a cortege 
 as possible, and brought with him from 
 ■eight to nine hundred persons in his 
 train. It may be imagined what a dis- 
 play of luxurious ostentation Yeddo 
 afforded on these occasions, especially 
 since it was the purpose of the Taikoon 
 to stimulate each display, in order that 
 "he should, by eclipsing all his vassals, 
 maintain his ascendency over them. 
 
 Perhaps no feudal system in Europe 
 was ever more effective than that of 
 Japan in its flourishing days. The land 
 was partitioned out among the daimios, 
 who organized its culture by their serfs. 
 The crops that were raised the daimio 
 bought at a price fixed by himself, and 
 when the serfs required food they bought 
 back from him such quantities as they 
 needed at another price, fixed also by 
 himself. The difference constituted the 
 revenue of the daimios. At present 
 many of the palaces in Soto-Siro are 
 nearly deserted, and the number of res- 
 ident daimios is by no means what it 
 formerly was. Still, the streets are ani- 
 Tiiated, and our party was greatly inter- 
 ested in passing through them. The 
 view in one of the streets passing from 
 Soto-Siro to the trading portion of Yeddo 
 
 was very striking. Rows of granite 
 walls divided the parks of the palaces 
 from the street, and immediately above 
 them rose hedges from six to thirty or 
 forty feet high, admirably trimmed, and 
 formed of camellias, azaleas and laurels 
 in full bloom, while the sacred birds, 
 with their white plumage, made a scene 
 as brilliant as anything in Fairyland. 
 Passing along this road, the party met 
 the escort of a prince. He was preced- 
 ed by heralds dressed in blue and arm- 
 ed with wooden swords to keep off the 
 crowd. Then came a whole procession 
 of soldiers, with falconers, damsels and 
 pages, escorting the lacquered "nori- 
 mon " carried by eight men, in which 
 His Highness sat with his legs crossed 
 and a sword sticking about two feet out 
 of the window on each side. 
 
 The trading city was full of life and 
 bustle, while the streets were so neat that 
 they looked more like the paths in a park 
 than the thoroughfares of a busy city. 
 Great precautions are taken against fire. 
 At the chief points wooden towers are 
 built, provided with bronze bells to sound 
 the alarm. Almost every house has a 
 pump arranged to work, and about fifty 
 steps apart are hogsheads hooped with 
 copper and filled with water. 
 
 The Japanese government having 
 granted to our party the privilege of 
 visiting the garden of the imperial resi- 
 dence, the opportunity was seized with 
 avidity. This was only the third time 
 that such a favor had been granted to 
 Europeans. The garden was a splen- 
 did specimen of Japanese skill and taste. 
 There were walks, ponds filled with bril- 
 liantly plumaged aquatic birds, trees 
 with variously colored foliage, kiosques, 
 tea-houses, appliances for hunting, for 
 music and dancing — in short, everything 
 to charm or amuse. 
 
 Among the temples of Yeddo, the 
 most striking was one called " The abode 
 of thirty-three thousand three hundred 
 and thirty -three divinities." Another, 
 dedicated to the god of toothache, was 
 remarkable for the rites practiced in it. 
 The sufferer who seeks the agency of the 
 god in his distress pays his contribution 
 and receives a slip of paper. This he 
 
2^0 COUNT DE BEAUVOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA 
 
 chews assiduously until it becomes in his 
 mouth perfectly plastic, and then, rolling 
 it into a ball between his fingers, he 
 throws it at one of the pictures which 
 hang suspended high on the wall. The 
 
 skill of the Japanese enables them more 
 generally to hit their target than our 
 boys do when in country school-houses- 
 they engage in a somewhat similar diver- 
 sion, and the de\'out worshiper goes away- 
 
 cured of the pam which brought him 
 there. 
 
 At the arsenal our party were astonish- 
 ed to see the rifled cannon and guns 
 made by the natives with machinery 
 of their own construction. M. de Beau- 
 
 voir mentions Da-Keda (or Takeda) as 
 the designer. This ingenious officer 
 had studied Dutch, and with the help- 
 of a Dutch-Japanese and an English- 
 Dutch dictionary had so mastered Bow- 
 ditch's Navinitor as to be able to calcu- 
 
COUjVT DE beau voir in japan and CALIFORNIA. 
 
 late longitude from an eclipse. Mr. 
 Pumpelly, who was employed by the 
 Japanese government to improve the 
 working of their mines, had this Japan- 
 ese gentleman attached to his suite, and 
 tells this fact concerning him ; adding, 
 " But this knowledge was purely mechan- 
 ical, and mathematics from a philosoph- 
 ical point of view was a new field to him, 
 though when he took them up in this 
 spirit he exhibited for the study a mental 
 power which 1 almost envied him." 
 
 Returning to Yokohama, the party by 
 special permission was allowed to visit 
 the sacred mountain Foosiyama, and 
 the sacred city Hakoni, situated at its 
 foot. With guides and an escort of ya- 
 konines, and provided with passports, 
 they set out on horseback along the 
 Tokaido. Everywhere the country peo- 
 ple received them with most amiable 
 politeness, while the views of the coun- 
 try were superb. The hills rose to 
 mountains in the distance, while on the 
 other hand the green valleys lay spread 
 before the eye, with precipices and 
 cascades, rivers and virgin forests, an- 
 cient temples, rocks covered with ver- 
 dure, and the line of the blue sea in the 
 distance. The houses in the country 
 have a slight covering of earth on the 
 higher parts of the roofs, where lilies 
 are planted, from which the oil is made 
 that is used by the Japanese women in 
 dressing their hair. This custom origi- 
 nated in an edict by the Mikado for- 
 bidding the use of the "sacred soil" for 
 any plants except such as are useful, but 
 giving permission to plant the lilies on 
 the housetops, " since they give beauty 
 to the hair of women, and will serve as 
 tlie living hair of the paternal roof" 
 
 From Hakoni the party passed on to 
 the baths of Mionoska, the Baden-Bad- 
 en of the Japanese aristocracy, a village 
 built in a deep valley on the flank of a 
 steep mountain, where the streets are 
 flights of granite steps, and the houses, 
 in the midst of cascades, seem piled on 
 each other. The baths are sulphur ones, 
 and here the peculiar want of conven- 
 tionality common in Japan was again 
 forced upon the attention of our trav- 
 elers. The towels offered them after 
 
 bathing were small sheets of a cottony 
 paper. 
 
 Having spent somewhat more than a 
 month in Japan, our travelers embarked 
 on the Colorado for San Francisco. The 
 Colorado was the first ship placed upon 
 the line between San Francisco and Ja- 
 pan. Her beauty of model, the admi- 
 rable appointments for the comfort of 
 her passengers, and the fact that though 
 she was a ship of four thousand tons her 
 speed, averaging eleven miles an hour, 
 was obtained with the consumption of 
 only thirty-five tons of coal in twenty- 
 four hours, were matters of surprise. In 
 fact, says the count, "this result it is not 
 possible to attain with our engines." 
 
 In crossing the one hundred and 
 eightieth degree of longitude, the dupli- 
 cation of the day — it being for two days 
 the third of June — called attention to the 
 fact that the party had circumnavigated 
 the world, and had seen one less sun- 
 rise than those who had remained sta- 
 tionary at home. The first sight of San 
 Francisco, for our party so fresh from 
 Japan, was one of disappointment. "The 
 earth, the houses, the sky, all seemed 
 the same color, while the city looked 
 yel-low and mean. The hills surround- 
 ing it seemed to be engaged in burying 
 it under clouds of dust driven by the 
 wind through the streets." The contrast 
 with the fresh, beautiful green and fairy 
 coasts of Japan, which had been so re- 
 cently left, produced this impression. A 
 visit to the theatre, however, changed 
 this feeling. " In this hall there was an 
 elegance, a brilliancy, the indescribable 
 perfume of civilization, such as we had 
 no idea of'.' 
 
 Though in haste to return to France, 
 our party lingered long enough to visit 
 the Giant Trees, and before them stood 
 " confounded." " Our most majestic oaks 
 in France, the tallest firs of the Alps or 
 the Pyrenees, the gum trees of Australia, 
 all seem like dwarfs in their shade. 
 Here they are, six hundred and twelve 
 of them, in a single clump, rising like 
 gigantic columns a hundred yards high." 
 A few days were spent in a run through 
 the mining country and to the valley of 
 
232 COUNT DE BEAU VOIR IN JAPAN AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Calaveras, where is another group of 
 giant trees, ninety in number, one of 
 which furnished its bark for the Crystal 
 I'alace. It is dead, but stands erect, and 
 
 without the bark measures eighty-one 
 feet round. 
 
 The structures on the Pacific railroad 
 also excited our travelers' admiration foi 
 
 their lightness, solidity and strength. 
 In the mining region of Nevada the pro- 
 cess at the Blue Tent Mine was so new 
 as to greatly surprise the party. This is 
 a hydraulic mine, where a mountain- 
 stream, brought down in pipes, is driv- 
 en with a pressure of two hundred and 
 
 seventy- five feet elevation against the 
 mountain-side. So great is the force of 
 the stream that a man struck by it would 
 be killed instantly. The idea of using 
 this force for mining purposes seemed to 
 our party purely American in its bold- 
 ness. Two or three men suffice for 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 ^11 
 
 managing the operation, and in a day 
 will wash down twenty-five hundred tons 
 of gravel. Other methods of this kind, 
 on a larger scale, have been able to wash 
 twenty thousand tons in the same time. 
 Of course the amount of work done 
 varies with the conditions. Sometimes 
 groups of petrified trees are uncovered, 
 and at times the soil is so dense that it 
 comes down in blocks too hard to be 
 broken except by the use of powder. 
 The gravel thus loosened is then carried 
 to a canal, with mercury in troughs placed 
 
 in the bottom, and the gold is absorbed 
 by the mercury. Every month the work 
 is stopped, and the amalgam gathered 
 and the gold recovered by a chemical 
 process. A brief visit to New Alma- 
 den, where the second richest mercury- 
 mines known are worked, then occupied 
 the party. Returning to San Francisco, 
 they crossed the Isthmus of Panama and 
 proceeded to New York, and thence to 
 France, thus happily completing a jour- 
 ney round the world from east to west. 
 Edward Howland. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 rHE regular approach to Constanti- 
 nople is as rich in historic memories 
 as in exquisite scenery. The Danube 
 is such a "slow coach," owing to its im- 
 peded navigation and its inferior steam- 
 ers, that all the world takes passage by 
 the Dardanelles ; though this can hardly 
 have been the case with the Cockney 
 traveler, who, when asked if he had seen 
 the Dardanelles, replied, " Oh, to be sure 
 — I breakfasted with them in Paris !" 
 Before you enter this renowned strait 
 
 the Trieste steamer carries y ftu over the 
 route of the greatest of the apostles, right 
 under Cyprus, close to Crete, perhaps in 
 the teeth of that Levant hurricane, the 
 Euroclydon. After sailing by the harbor 
 of Agamemnon's fleet, you coast the low 
 shore of Troy and see the mound com- 
 memorating Achilles, delaying a mo- 
 ment near these Dardanelles forts, 
 whose immense guns have been so fa- 
 mous. Twelve hours more of steaming 
 and the most coveted city of Europe 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 looms in sight ; as with all Oriental cit- 
 ies distance lending enchantment to the 
 view, and the outward splendor ill prepar- 
 
 ing us for the squalor and wretchedness 
 within. The glory of the scene is partly 
 the blending of colors, partly the sur- 
 
 A STREET SCENE. 
 
 passing elegance of the tall minarets 
 and majestic domes, partly the Arabic 
 and Saracenic architecture of many a 
 palace lining the blue waters ; but Na- 
 
 ture herself is not wanting, and there are 
 noble mountains for a background on 
 the Asiatic shore. 
 
 The Golden Horn, the inner harbor 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
236 
 
 CONS TANTINOPLE. 
 
 richly deserves its name. The com- 
 merce of the world could be sheltered 
 there, and the largest frigate land its 
 crew on the solid street. Washed clean 
 by the flowing "Sweet Waters," its banks 
 are lined on one side with arsenals, bar- 
 racks and hospitals, and dotted on the 
 other with pavilions and palaces. On 
 fine days a fleet of gayly-painted canoes 
 will carry you in sight of the Greeks' 
 quarters, the West End of Constantino- 
 ple, past the palace of the sultan's moth- 
 er, the famous burial-place of Eyoub and 
 its mosque, until, the arm of the sea 
 contracting, you gradually approach the 
 former sultan's summer-house, the graves 
 of his more renowned horses, and the 
 marble kiosk where he was wont to smoke 
 away many an hour, lulled by the sound 
 of falling water. 
 
 Along these sloping banks picnics are 
 held the summer long, musical enter- 
 tainments are given, the young Greeks 
 dance, the fragrant coffee is sipped from 
 eggshell cups, the time-kiUing " hubble- 
 bubble " is smoked by rose-lipped niaid- 
 ens, while gentlemen lose themselves 
 over the stronger chibouque. 
 
 Constantine showed genius in select- 
 ing this spot for the imperial city. It is 
 the bridge of two continents, the conflu- 
 ence of two seas, the union-point of 
 Grecian and Asiatic arts and manners. 
 It towers over the Bosphorus on seven 
 hills, each hill crowned by superb build- 
 ings, which bear aloft the waning Cres- 
 cent amidst masses of cypress and 
 orange trees, numerous domes rising 
 over baths and mosques, the flags of all 
 nations floating around, the whitest of 
 minarets piercing the heavens, the mix- 
 ture of traffic and pleasure forming a far 
 richer scene than Rome can ever have 
 offered. 
 
 But the enchantment vanishes as you 
 draw near. Mouldering city walls, over- 
 grown with the rank weeds of many cen- 
 turies, tell the story of twenty-seven sieges 
 and three captures : vast squares are pass- 
 ed with naked chimneys marking where 
 extensive conflagrations have been, and 
 the immense cemeteries are filled with 
 half-ruined monuments. The Turk nev- 
 er repairs : a bending minaret, a cracked 
 
 dome, a broken window, a leaning wall, 
 a yawning grave, provokes no notice. 
 Everywhere decay stares one in the face. 
 Many a Mussulman feels it to be the 
 national doom. Often the streets are 
 cumbered with ruins. Often the sacred 
 cemeteries or the " Sweet Waters " betray 
 the fallen turbans of some gilded tomb. 
 What a type of the Ottoman empire ! 
 How visibly is life ebbing away from its 
 unburied corpse ! How that fatalism 
 which is the backbone of its faith pledges 
 the dissolution of an empire which no 
 foreign powers will again combine to 
 uphold ! 
 
 So I believe ; and yet I admire many 
 traits in this city's life : its honesty, for 
 instance. Warrington Smith bought 
 some goods of a Turkish merchant for 
 seventy-five piasters. Such was the 
 price, but the Mussulman had expected 
 to be beaten down half; so when he de- 
 livered the bundle he returned the pieces 
 he had intended to deduct from the price. 
 No mosque has more minarets than that 
 of Achmet ; but more imposing than its 
 architectural grandeur is that famous 
 gallery where a fabulous amount of plate 
 and jewels has been deposited for safe- 
 keeping by families leaving the city, 
 some of whom have fallen victims to 
 the cholera or plague. No iron vault 
 encloses this uncounted heap of treasure, 
 no combination-lock secures its door, no 
 sleepless sentinel forbids access. Noth- 
 ing but general honesty guards it from 
 needy sultans or famished revolutionists. 
 At the mosque Suleiman I found a small- 
 er illustration of the same hardy virtue. 
 The door was open, the shrine deserted : 
 there was no one to betray the sexton if 
 he took my bribe. I offered four times 
 what would have been "open sesame" 
 to any Christian church, and was refused. 
 I honored that poor sexton, and thought 
 better of human nature. 
 
 Constantinople is the most temperate 
 capital of its size in the world. Spend- 
 ing day after day in the open air, wan- 
 dering among the common folk, having 
 at one time several people in my employ, 
 even in the biting air before daylight 1 
 never found any Turk drinking stronger 
 beverage than coffee. But that is noth- 
 
COA'S TANTINOPLE. 
 
 237 
 
 ing to their great annual fast. During 
 the Ramadan, which lasts a whole 
 month, from sunrise to sunset the pant- 
 ing boatman, the heavy-laden porter 
 will touch nothing like food, not even 
 tobacco, and no drink whatever ; and 
 at sundown will make up for this absti- 
 nrnce not by a drunken carouse, but by 
 
 a larger dish of pilau and a longer smoke 
 of Latakia. To be sure, temperance is 
 a part of the Turk's religion, but is it 
 not of ours ? And that religion — an im- 
 posture as we call it — has something very 
 real in its worship at four in the morning 
 the year round, its indifference to "In- 
 fidel" gaze, the heartiness of all its ob- 
 
 DANCING DERVISHES. 
 
 scrvances, the severity of its daily self^ 
 denials. Often have 1 found the shop 
 entirely open while the shopman was at 
 his prayers, and I have taken up the 
 goods to see if anybody would remon- 
 strate, and laid them down again without 
 anybody's interference. And how often 
 have I watched the thin-clad boatman 
 kneeling in prayer on the wet sand or in 
 drizzling rain, "the world forgetting, by 
 
 the world forgot" ! To be sure, there is 
 less of this outward piety at Constan- 
 tinople than where Christians are less 
 common, but it is a character of the re- 
 ligion not to mind being sneered at, to 
 feel sustained by a divine sanction, and 
 lifted far above the criticism of men by 
 the favor of Heaven. 
 
 Hospitality is another striking feature 
 of the Moslem faith, and belongs to these 
 
CONS TANTIXOPLE. 
 
 238 
 
 patriiirchal lands. Even the meanest I every stranger in its khan; fugitives 
 village provides a few days' shelter for | from every nation are protected by en- 
 
 ,1 II' liiiiiiiiii iR4^|pi|ii'iiiPiVi'fiiriiii!i \\4\\\\ 
 
 THE GRAND BAZAAR. 
 
 tering its territory ; every pasha invites 
 the traveler to taste his coffee and smoke 
 his tobacco, wishing him a prosperous 
 journey and offering him government 
 protection. And if this does not mean 
 
 much, it is exceedingly soothing to a 
 spirit chafed by disappointment, fatigue, 
 excessive heat, the ever- besetting ver- 
 min. It gilds the chain if no more. 
 The dervishes I take to be an emblem 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 of Mohammedanism. Once the inspi- 
 ration of the Faithful, their decay of 
 fervor is apparent enough. Their col- 
 leges are sometimes deserted, and deser- 
 tion in Turkey means ruin. Still, their 
 exercises are worth looking in upon any 
 Friday noon after the mosque service. 
 The Whirling and the Howling saints 
 are not altogether unlike. After some 
 readings or recitations from the Koran, 
 performed by a circle of wild-looking 
 men, some of them exceedingly old and 
 some evidently insane, comes amongthe 
 Whirlers a waltz, each performer turning 
 on his own axis, some of them hundreds 
 of times, without getting dizzy or falling 
 from fatigue. The Howlers, on the other 
 hand, shout the name of Allah ever fast- 
 er and louder as the music gets more up- 
 roarious, until it becomes nothing better 
 than the bellowing of a hound : then 
 two or three make a dive at the bare 
 walls, striking them again and again 
 with the naked head, until somebody 
 seizes the frenzied fanatics and lays 
 them, just breathing, on their backs. 
 Running daggers through the cheek is 
 still done, but rarely, because the heart 
 of a ferocious superstition is becoming 
 death-c!iilled, its weekly service is fossil- 
 izing into a ceremony. The only mys- 
 tery is why an iron skewer thrust through 
 and through the mouth should do no 
 harm — the butting of one's head against 
 a marble block leave any brains. It 
 must be that the excitement sustains the 
 system — that fervor of feeling makes up 
 for the injury done to the frame. 
 
 I have spoken of the shops. They 
 are funny little boxes, with one half of 
 the cover turned up, the other half laid 
 down as a counter. The purchaser 
 stands outside, the merchant squats with- 
 in. No goods are made a show of; there 
 seems to be no anxiety to sell ; no anger 
 at having everything turned topsy-turvy ; 
 no offence at an offer of just half the 
 asking price. The bazaars are collec- 
 tions of shopkeepers in some particular 
 ■ branch — gloomy sheds, often odorous, 
 j^^enerally dingy, crowded and stupid. 
 The number of tobacco-pipe merchants 
 -and manufacturers amazes one at Con- 
 stantinople as at Damascus. An amber 
 
 mouthpiece often costs hundreds of dol- 
 lars : the long cherry t ibe is beautifully 
 wrought in gay silks, and jewels often 
 glitter along the sides, because the pasha 
 expects to pass his pipe round among 
 his visitors, and has no better means of 
 displaying his wealth. His wife cannot 
 receive strangers and make her parlor a 
 museum, because the harem is forbidden 
 ground : her slippers outside the door 
 prevent even her husband's entrance ; 
 and most of his leisure he is glad to 
 spend- anywhere else than in such mo- 
 notonous stupor. A genuine Turk sees 
 hardly any Turkish ladies : he never 
 beholds his wife till after marriage, and 
 does not commonly marry more than 
 one, unless he is some grand official who 
 is expected to live in style. He never 
 alludes to his family in public, or ex- 
 pects it to be alluded to : to ask after 
 madame's health would be the worst 
 insult. The French ambassador's wife 
 succeeded admirably when she present- 
 ed some silks to Mrs. Redschid Pasha 
 through the prime minister, by saying, 
 " Please accept these, sir : you will know 
 how to use them." 
 
 Among the antiquities are some cis- 
 terns which are perfectly gigantic. That 
 of the "thousand-and-one columns," ex- 
 aggerated from a quarter of that number, 
 would alone supply the city with water 
 through a year's -siege, but it is now a 
 silk-factory, exceedingly cool in summer, 
 and as decidedly unhealthy. It has play- 
 ed some part in politics by shelteiing 
 those whom a change of dynasty put in 
 danger of the bowstring. In another of 
 these cisterns (perhaps an abandoned 
 quarry) there is water enough to float a 
 boat ; and lives have sometimes been 
 lost in its dark recesses, about whose ex- 
 tent there seemed to be some mystery. 
 
 No other city has anything like such 
 burial-grounds for immensity. The dea d 
 actually octupy more ground than the 
 living, and are never encroached upon 
 by streets .or buildings. Huge forests of 
 grand old cypresses cover miUions of 
 marble monuments extending back foui 
 hundred years. Fortunately, the ground 
 is not lost to the public, as the citizens 
 have no dread of the cemetery, and the 
 
24c 
 
 CONS TA NTINOPL E. 
 
 MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA. 
 
 gayety of its decorations, as well as the 
 beauty of its position, makes it a precious 
 breathing-place for the city. And there 
 is something noble in the idea of per- 
 fect repose — that even the beggar rests 
 immovably until the judgment trump, 
 sung to by innumerable birds, cheered 
 by the play of children, greeted, so long 
 as any friend survives, with occasional 
 flowers. 
 
 The solitary story of Turkish super- 
 stition which reached my ears was of 
 a dervish who had hid himself in a sul- 
 tan's tomb in the Eyoub cemetery, and 
 who cried out "Water! water!" as a 
 procession marched by. He meant to 
 practice on pious credulity, and secure a 
 grant of money for prayers over the 
 dead. But Mahmoud's successor . was 
 
 in the procession, and snuffed up the 
 nonsense at once : " He wants water, 
 does he ? Well, give him the Bosphorus, 
 then." So the tomb was opened, and 
 soon the concealed dervish was swim- 
 ming for life in the cold bath he had so 
 unexpectedly earned. 
 
 There is a legend of the capture of 
 the city by the Mussulmans still current 
 and still credited. A priest was engaged 
 in his morning devotions before the high 
 altar of Saint Sophia when the fierce 
 shouts of the bloodthirsty conquerors 
 drove him to a side-altar, where he car- 
 ried the sacred vessels and continued 
 the service. As they drew near the walls 
 opened and he disappeared, leaving a 
 promise to return the twenty-fourth day 
 of May, 1864, and complete the un- 
 
IVANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 241 
 
 tinished sacrifice on the grand altar of 
 Justinian. 
 
 The gentleman failed for some reason 
 to keep his appointment. Moslem wor- 
 ship goes on still under that Christian 
 dome ; the Koran is read there instead 
 of the Gospels ; prayer goes up daily in 
 the name of the Arabian prophet, in- 
 stead of the Nazarene. But I have faith 
 he will yet come. The Russian ava- 
 lanche every year draws nearer to Con- 
 stantinople. The czar's hand is out- 
 stretched to seize this key of the Medi- 
 terranean. Through tlie weakness of 
 France and the apathy of England he 
 
 is certain to supply his most urgent want 
 — is bound to re-establish his Church at 
 its ancient fountain-head — is summoned 
 to redeem the True Faith from the stain 
 of four centuries of servitude. It is only 
 a question of time. Recent reforms in 
 Turkey have chilled the people's faith ; 
 debts have accumulated upon the pal- 
 sied government's hands ; the fanaticism 
 which was its life has grown cold as a 
 tombstone ; the mouldering graves which 
 crowd upon the Hving in the imperial 
 city seem to cry aloud, " Dust unto dust !" 
 F. W. Holland. 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 THE sun was sinking, and -the sur- 
 rounding hills were steeped in the 
 richest purple, when I joined the throng 
 pouring into the city of Jerusalem- by 
 the Damascus gate. Evidently I was 
 an object of curious speculation to the 
 groups o{ fellahin as I passed within the 
 gate, a natural result of my being un- 
 attended and yet a decided Anglo-Saxon. 
 My only traveling companion was the 
 mule which bore me, and whose persist- 
 16 ■ 
 
 ent crawl was not accelerated even by 
 the immediate prospect of fodder and 
 rest. My naturally fair complexion had 
 become tanned by exposure, and my dark 
 cloth suit had arrived at the shade tech- 
 nically called pepper-and-salt, through 
 the prolific dust encountered upon the 
 road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Tourists 
 are always in a party and accompanied 
 by attendants. I bore all the appear- 
 ance of a tourist, and yet was unattend- 
 
242 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 ed : it therefore became every one's busi- 
 ness to find out wlio I was, whither I 
 was going and whence I had come ; but 
 I passed through the gossiping crowd 
 with the calm composure of my country- 
 men, and left the fellahin to establish 
 my nationality and rank to their own 
 satisfaction. To be without attendants 
 in the East is to lose prestige, but then 
 prestige is a perpetual and an intoler- 
 able burden It was better to be master 
 without prestige than to be the servant 
 of a dragoman with prestige. If you 
 wish to travel e7t gratid seigneur, you 
 have but to sign a contract and deliver 
 your purse and your person into the 
 hands of a dragoman. He will smooth 
 away all difficulties and asperities ; he 
 will be the mediator between "Your Ex- 
 cellency" and all obstacles; you need 
 have no care as to what you shall eat, 
 where you will sleep or what you shall 
 pay. The dragoman protects you from 
 the rapacity of others, but his regard for 
 his own interest is generous in the ex- 
 treme. He will answer every possible 
 question that may be innocently put 
 to him, and his invention is boundless. 
 But once in his hands you will enjoy the 
 luxurious slavery of a prince, for you 
 belong to him and he nurses you with 
 maternal solicitude. I had no officious 
 kawass to announce my coming in, and 
 I had no thieving meki to delay my 
 going out. The trip from Jaffa to Jeru- 
 salem had been almost without incident, 
 and the journeys by both routes — Beth- 
 horon and Gibeon, and by Ramleh — 
 have been often described. In the East 
 the roads are, as a rule, optional and im- 
 aginary, being simply magnified sheep- 
 walks, although to Nazeef Pasha, the 
 recently-recalled governor of Jerusalem, 
 must be awarded the credit of having 
 established a turnpike-road between Jaf- 
 fa and Jerusalem on the ancient route 
 repaired by Solomon. I allowed my 
 beast to take his own course and creep 
 along, hoping to avoid the bands of en- 
 thusiastic tourists which flock along the 
 road to Jerusalem. I wandered through a 
 series of groups of fellahin, strange fellow- 
 travelers, but full of interest ; of Arme- 
 nian traders, Jews, devotees, pious and 
 
 unclean, and Arabs, unclean without the 
 recommendation of piety ; stragglers of 
 all kinds bent on trade, and many with 
 no bent at all. At Ramleh the trains 
 of fruit-sellers on their road to the Holy 
 City overtook me, the same picturesque 
 troupes of men and boys, with the same 
 trappings and packs, as the caravans 
 that two thousand years ago went up 
 from Ramleh to Jerusalem laden with 
 fruit. Although the modern Ramleh is 
 but a collection of dilapidated dwellings, 
 yet the green fields and orchards which 
 surround it perpetuate its ancient proto- 
 type. But the charming reverie that this 
 scene aroused was doomed to be abrupt- 
 ly interrupted by a sudden turn of the 
 road, bringing me in full view of an 
 extensively-equipped tourists' encamp- 
 ment. Attendants were madly rushing 
 to and fro carrying dainty dishes into a 
 grand marquee, each provided with a 
 napkin slung over the arm, in emulation 
 of the true Parisian style. I would have 
 fled from this disenchantment of my 
 dreams, but for the misfortune of being 
 recognized by one of the party of tour- 
 ists, an English gentleman who remem- 
 bered having met me in Alexandria, 
 and insisted upon my joining his friends. 
 I was forthwith introduced to a very 
 agreeable company of Englishmen, army 
 officers on leave of absence from the 
 British garrison at Malta. These luxu- 
 rious picnickers had established quite 
 an encampment, with their grand tent 
 and tributary cooking and servants' 
 tents, whilst a lynx-eyed but obsequious 
 dragoman administered the whole with 
 a delicious air of satisfaction. With the 
 announcement "Z.? souper est servi, 
 messieiirs,'' he ushered us into the mar- 
 quee, where we found an ample table 
 covered with a swan-white cloth, upon 
 which an elaborate service was spread. 
 Around the table the party disposed 
 themselves, some on iron bedsteads, 
 others on camp-stools. Imagine dining 
 a la Russe in the land of Canaan ! 
 The anomaly was almost too much for 
 my nerves, and this recurred to me with 
 increasing force at each successive pop 
 of the champagne corks. I glanced fur- 
 tively through the tent door and looked 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 243 
 
 out into the distance in vain for my pic- 
 turesque fruit-sellers. I listened for the 
 tinkling of their mule-bells in the hope 
 of catching some of the harmony that 
 my present situation had broken. But 
 all in vain : the evening shades had 
 closed rapidly upon the scene, and noi- 
 some petroleum lamps were brought 
 forth. Through the vigilant providence 
 of that pink of all courtesy, the drago- 
 man, "cafe noir a la Turc" was served 
 in Parisian po7'celain ctips, and a gen- 
 eral parade of cigars, meerschaums, 
 hookahs and nargilehs followed. The 
 attempts to matriculate in Eastern styles 
 of smoking were laudatory but ridic- 
 ulous, and the water-pipes (nargilehs) 
 gave forth bubble-bubble, toil and trou- 
 ble. Conversation grew, and the coffee 
 suffused the most delightful temper 
 through the company. So let this pic- 
 ture of happy sociality be wrapped up 
 and dissolved in the curling smoke and 
 evening shade. 
 
 At early dawn I parted from my epi- 
 curean hosts, and once again resumed 
 my journey toward the Holy City. I 
 had not proceeded far ere I overtook a 
 motley caravan straggling along, some 
 members of it walking and others riding 
 on donkeys. They proved to be Rus- 
 sian pilgrims on their way to the shrines 
 in the Holy City. I recollected their 
 recent arrival in a Russian steamer at 
 Jaffa. Each devotee carried at his 
 back a brass kettle for tea-making, 
 which appeared to be indispensable, 
 from the large supplies of really fine 
 Souchong with which each pilgrim was 
 provided. They steeped tea like true 
 connoisseurs and after the manner of 
 tea-merchants. Spreading some leaves 
 in a small bowl, they poured boiling 
 water from their brass kettle upon them. 
 Their manner of drinking this decoc- 
 tion struck me as rather original : hold- 
 ing the bowl of tea in the left hand, they 
 scooped up a handful of dirty-looking 
 sugar with the right ; so that every sip 
 from the left was followed by a munch 
 from the right. I mingled for a while 
 among these Greek devotees, whom I 
 found degraded by superstition and as- 
 tonishingly ignorant. One of their num- 
 
 ber, who spoke tolerable French, court- 
 eously offered me a bowl of tea, but I 
 was careful to decline some crunched 
 sugar proffered by a hand unwashed 
 since the departure of its owner from 
 Russia. 
 
 In pursuing my journey I was after- 
 ward met by other travelers, native and 
 foreign, whose salaams I returned with 
 all the dignity I could affect, somewhat 
 impaired by a sense of the absurdity of 
 going through all the flourishes of an 
 Eastern salutation in a checked cloth 
 American riding-suit. The dignified 
 sweep in keeping with the graceful folds 
 and curves of the Oriental garb is im- 
 possible in the tight-fitting sleeves and 
 other irregularities of European dress. 
 This consideration of the subject of 
 dress led me to reflect upon the com- 
 fortless and inconvenient character of 
 European dress in the East. He who 
 would carry a free lance there must give 
 up all thraldom to national dress if he 
 would avoid persecution, annoyance and 
 perpetual payment of backsheesh. I 
 made, therefore, a resolve that I would 
 at once cast off my American citizen's 
 dress, and with it all my national prej- 
 udices. I decided to become "one of 
 them," to see with their eyes, eat from 
 their dish and sleep under their tents. 
 The adoption of this method would, I 
 was convinced, introduce me to much 
 novel experience, and would disclose to 
 me original material for observation 
 which would be shut against the general 
 traveler who did not thus sink his indi- 
 viduality. I determined, therefore, to 
 request my friend, Haroun-er-Rhamond 
 of Jerusalem, to purchase for me an Ori- 
 ental outfit, habited in which I would 
 proceed on my wanderings in the Jordan 
 Valley. 
 
 Once within the gates of Jerusalem, I 
 am met by that scene so often described, 
 that strange experience to the eyes and 
 ears of a foreigner — an Oriental city. 
 The fast-declining light rendered the 
 dark, narrow streets almost obscure. 
 After struggling through the throng of 
 camel-drivers, mule-teamsters and fel- 
 lahin unloading, and as a matter of 
 course all screaming together, I ad- 
 
244 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 vanced'into the city through some deep 
 arched streets, saluted at intervals by 
 the shriek of a camel-driver as he 
 swerved his huge animal down some 
 narrow causeway, while the sharp bark 
 of the ubiquitous dogs pierced the air 
 
 above the indescribable din or murmur 
 of sounds that rises from an Eastern 
 city at dawn and at sundown. The 
 people were streaming into the city in 
 anticipation of the closing of the gates. 
 It was just that moment when an East- 
 
 CLOSING THE GATES. 
 
 ern city arouses from its normal lethargy 
 and indulges in a temporary bustle. But 
 my way was not that of the throng, and 
 1 turned down a narrow, gloomy arched 
 street, on doing which I almost fancied 
 ihat my mule quickened his pace, but 
 
 this must have been a delusion. Any- 
 how, ere I had checked the animal, it 
 pulled up suddenly before a shabby, 
 tumble-down, low-arched door, built in 
 a lofty beethng wall. Whilst alighting 
 I noted that the din of the city had now 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 ■mJll 
 l|P|p/ 
 
 J ^ . - 
 
 
 *JLV. . 
 
 tl\ 
 
 4^v 
 
 
 '■^C r^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '^;.i:. 
 
 ll''l' 
 
246 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 subsided, and, except the howling of 
 the dogs, all appeared to be wrapped 
 in sudden silence. It was the hour 
 of prayer. Soon my ears caught the 
 strains of the muezzins singing the 
 "call to prayer" from the balconies of 
 the mudnehs (minarets). First the plain- 
 tive voice of an aged singer chanted in 
 murmuring cadence the opening exulta- 
 tion : "Al-la-hoo ak-bar ! Al-la-hoo ak- 
 bar !" ("God is great! God is great!") 
 This strain was echoed from another 
 minaret by a rich tenor voice, and then 
 from the tower near the governor's 
 house, calling the faithful to prayer. 
 
 Haroun-er-Rhamond, I knew, was a 
 faithful Moslem, so I waited until the 
 last muezzin had finished his solo, which 
 he did with a grand ralentando. I found 
 the door of my friend's dwelling closed, 
 the hole of the lock being covered, and 
 the cumbersome cross-shaped piece of 
 wood that has done service for a lock 
 from time immemorial secured for the 
 night. I banged lustily, shouting, "Yah ! 
 yah!" and making all the hullabaloo 
 customary in the East. My banging 
 without soon called forth shoutings with- 
 in, and after sundry explanations and 
 expletives the lock was drawn and the 
 opening disclosed. The cumbersome 
 
 HAROUN AT PRAYER. 
 
 wooden door turned upon its creaking 
 hinges, and a lazy-looking slave ap- 
 peared, to whom I said, "Go tell thy 
 master that his friend the Scribe waits 
 to be blessed by his, presence." He 
 
 salaamed profoundly, and, leading away 
 my mule, motioned toward his master, 
 whom I observed finishing off his prayers 
 with the concluding rekah or prostration 
 as he stood in a recess facing the east 
 in a recumbent position, each hand rest- 
 ing above the knee. Then falling gently 
 upon his knees, he turned his head sol- 
 emnly over his right shoulder, and quick- 
 ly gave a half nod " over the left." The 
 Mohammedan religion teaches that there 
 is a guardian angel at each shoulder, 
 the one on the right recording the good 
 deeds, whilst the one on the left takes 
 down the evil deeds. 
 
 Whilst Haroun was concluding his 
 reverent genuflections I looked around 
 me, and indulged in the contemplation 
 of the strange contrast between the out- 
 side and inside of a rich man's house 
 in the East. Without, were the narrow 
 gloomy alley, the high dreary wall, the 
 clumsy broken-down door that would be 
 but an indifferent entrance to a pig-stye ; 
 within, were an exquisitely spacious court 
 paved in checkered marble, and in the 
 centre a refreshing fountain-basin, whose 
 jet of limpid water rose and fell with a 
 soothing, indolent murmur. In the rear 
 was the Moresque-arched corridor or 
 soofah, overhanging lattice windows^ 
 carved in elegant arabesque tracery, 
 rich pendent draperies from them add- 
 ing their color to the pleasing picture. 
 There is always, to me, a touch of en- 
 chantment, a ghmpse of the Arabian 
 Nights, in this entrance from a shabby 
 causeway to Oriental luxury. Haroun,. 
 having at length concluded his devo- 
 tions, entered a long chamber with a 
 divan at one end : he had been inform- 
 ed of my arrival, and awaited my en- 
 trance. Eastern life may be compared 
 to still water that is occasionally agitated 
 by a stone being thrown into it : there 
 is a grand splash, perturbation, bubbles, 
 and then the stagnant water, weighted 
 by its weeds, returns to its normal still- 
 ness. The Mohammedans are slaves to- 
 form and punctilio, and the dramatic 
 fervor of the Oriental, which is exhibit- 
 ed in the ordinary actions of life, has 
 degenerated into tedious theatrical dis- 
 play. The natural and spontaneous ac- 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 247 
 
 tipns of life are directed by a religious 
 regime, and habits of antiquity that 
 would now be obsolete anywhere else 
 are jealously retained and dignified into 
 religious ritual. My friend Haroun, 
 although quite an exception among 
 Moslems in education and liberality of 
 thought, was no exception in this matter, 
 and pursued etiquette with punctilious 
 exactitude. He rose from his divan . at 
 my approach to do me especial honor, 
 and although a fortnight had barely 
 elapsed since our last meeting, yet we 
 rushed into each other's arms, leaning 
 first to the right and then to the left : 
 then he seized me by the hand, bringing 
 the palms together and grasping my 
 thumb, which he wrenched backward 
 and forward, exclaiming, or rather shout- 
 ing, "Sel 'a 'mat — Tei 'yebeen " ("I 
 hope you are well or safe ") over and 
 over again. To all such ejaculations 
 you have to be ready with your reply. 
 Indeed, so great is the excitement "got 
 up " for these occasions that you become 
 absolutely warmed up to your work. 
 My friend continued to shout with gusto, 
 sometimes gasping forth the exclamation, 
 " Ow-hash-'tene !" (" Thou hast made us 
 desolate by thine absence"). Then, as 
 customary, he proceeded with compli- 
 mentary interrogations as to my rela- 
 tives, none of whom he had ever heard 
 of. What appears perhaps most comical 
 to the foreigner is the sudden manner 
 in which the Orientals decline into their 
 normal dignified apathy after these ex- 
 uberant exhibitions of feeling. After all, 
 anything is a Godsend for whiling away 
 the long weary hours in that hot climate, 
 where thinking is a labor and a bore. 
 
 Upon entering a house the ancient 
 custom should be observed of removing 
 the shoes or the outer shoes ; but as 
 that would have reduced me to my 
 socks,, and as, moreover, the unlacing 
 of heavy gaiter-boots of European man- 
 ufacture would have been ridiculous, I 
 entered my friend's presence shod. I 
 was at his house a privileged guest : 
 nevertheless, I avoided stepping on the 
 small carpets that were spread here and 
 there. My friend conducted me to the 
 divan to the right, and he squatted upon 
 
 the crimson silk cushions a la Turc, 
 while I seated myself after the manner 
 of Europeans. Servants came in with 
 chibooks, and coffee was served, Arab 
 fashion, in sinall porcelain egg-shaped 
 cups enclosed in metallic holders of fil- 
 agree-work. Washing of hands and all 
 other processes necessary to be observed 
 were gone through, whilst a nimble-fin- 
 gered boy undid my shoestrings, which 
 were only replaced years after. 
 
 Haroun willingly offered to go with 
 me to the bazaar, and to undertake the 
 commission of purchasing a full Oriental 
 suit, as otherwise I should expose my- 
 self to be cheated ; but with the Eastern 
 spirit of procrastination he suggested 
 that a few days' time would make no 
 difference : moreover, he desired to be 
 gladdened by the light of my counte- 
 nance. After more mutual admiration 
 and complimenting, finding me firm in 
 my purpose to depait on the morrow, 
 he concluded to accompany me to the 
 bazaar early the next morning. Having 
 settled the business, we chatted and puff- 
 ed the pipes of peace. A recherche supper 
 was served in Eastern style upon a small 
 octagonal stand that looked more like a 
 footstool than a table. The innovation of 
 imported French wines graced the repast, 
 but my host, being a true follower of Mo- 
 hammed, only sipped his sherbet and left 
 the unbeliever to enjoy his generosity. 
 
 The fatigues of the past two days in- 
 troduced me to a most delightful sleep, 
 from which 1 was 
 awakened by the bus- 
 tling of the pigeons 
 against my latticed 
 window. The sun 
 had long risen, and 
 the city was in com- 
 motion. I found my 
 friend awaiting me to 
 do the honors of the 
 house by offering the 
 first repast, which in 
 the East is a light one. 
 The principal dish 
 was, as is customary, 
 honey and butter, but 
 the cunning hand of 
 the Armenian cook 
 
 " ORANGEES ! 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 had provided a well-milled cup of choco- 
 late, a luxury imported for Frankish 
 
 WASHING FEET. 
 
 guests. Such a breakfast would have 
 been despatched at home in fifteen min- 
 utes : I considered myself fortunate in 
 having meandered through its courses 
 in an hour, when, at the expiration of 
 this time, servants trotted in with the in- 
 dispensable pipes and coffee ; after which 
 Haroun arose, a servant brought in his 
 abba or cloak, and we went forth on our 
 errand, followed by the lazy-looking at- 
 tendant to carry home our purchases. 
 
 On emerging from the mean causeway 
 on to the main street a most varied and 
 picturesque scene was presented. Here 
 was a person of importance in rich cos- 
 tume walking along with dignity ; there 
 was a party of staring tourists ; then the 
 eye caught successively Greek monks, 
 devotees, fellahin, richly-costumed slaves 
 — some riding on camels, others on asses 
 — with a mingling of strange cries and a 
 background of a Saracenic fountain rich 
 with carved stone ornaments. 
 
 At the corner of a street was a solemn- 
 looking fellow with what appeared to be 
 a sack slung under 
 his arm, crying in a 
 mournful voice " Mo- 
 yah! moyah !" This 
 was the sakis carry- 
 ing his goat-skin of 
 water, which was 
 served in a brass cup 
 he held in his hand. 
 Notwithstanding the 
 recent improvement 
 in the water-supply of 
 Jerusalem through the 
 magnificent liberality 
 of that queen of phil- 
 anthropists, Miss Bur- 
 dett-Coutts, so deep- 
 rooted are customs in 
 the East that the wa- 
 ter-carrier can still ply 
 a good business. Then 
 arose another cry, "Or- 
 angees! orangees!" 
 coming from a poorly 
 but picturesquely clad 
 girl, selling large, lus- 
 c i o u s Jaffa oranges. 
 She held them in a 
 graceful and statu- 
 esque manner, but the cry she made was 
 a kind of nasal squeal of most inhar- 
 monious sound. Before a khati or coffee- 
 house was a group that suggested many 
 biblical pictures. A traveler was crouch- 
 ed upon the ground whilst a boy washed 
 his feet. A fine bearded old Moslem 
 was engaged in going through the chap- 
 ter of Oriental complimentary inquiries 
 as to his friend the traveler's relatives 
 and his journey. Again I observed the 
 force of custom, for although water in 
 Jerusalem is now comparatively abun- 
 dant, yet the attendant followed the 
 habit founded on its scarcity by drib- 
 bling out a few drops at a time from a 
 small antique earthenware cruse. As 
 we entered the bazaar the throng of peo- 
 ple compressed into such confined cause- 
 ways became quite dense, and the noise 
 fearful, whilst a general chattering arose 
 from either side. Here my friend Ha- 
 roun met his business-agent, an Arme- 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 249 
 
 nian, a shrewd, obsequious, but fox-eyed- 
 looking fellow, attired in what appeared 
 to be a very long dressing-gown with a 
 narrow standing collar, and a very tall, 
 queer-looking cap. Haroun asked the 
 fox - eyed - looking lawyer whether his 
 Frankish friend's firman had yet been 
 made out. I had many days previously 
 requested friend Haroun to procure me 
 a firman or passport, which the Arme- 
 nian coolly informed us had been in 
 preparation since that time, and was still 
 in the hands of the scribe. To be in a 
 hurry in the East is to make yourself 
 ridiculous — to exhibit the slightest vexa- 
 tion or impatience is worse still. That 
 delays are dangerous never enters the 
 Oriental mind ; and whereas it is with 
 us a matter of difficulty to find time 
 enough, in the East all the difficulty is 
 to kill time. I greatly feared that this 
 was but the precursor of a series of de- 
 lays which, although disconcerting to 
 me, seemed to be perfectly en 7-egle to 
 my friend. Giving a parting injunction 
 to the fox -eyed Armenian to induce 
 some despatch in the scribe, we pro- 
 ceeded to purchase the garments that 
 were to convert me into an Arab. 
 
 An Oriental bazaar is a wonderful 
 place to a stranger — a masquerade in 
 which all is real, a constantly -moving 
 panorama of strange life, a stream of 
 ever-varying color. Around me were 
 Arabs and Turks, northern Syrians, 
 with their fur-lined jackets, Jews in 
 black, Armenians in blue, Latin and 
 Greek monks, priests and parsons, whose 
 white chokers and black cloth were crop- 
 ping up everywhere, tourists of all na- 
 tionalities gaping and staring, and a 
 legion of humanity too numerous and 
 varied for description. Each shop was 
 like a little stand or box, divided from 
 its neighbor by a rail. The largest por- 
 tion of available space in these queer 
 little open shops appeared to be appro- 
 priated by the proprietors, who smoked 
 and sipped coffee in the imperturbable 
 manner of the East, apparently utterly 
 indifferent to their interest until you 
 came to the bargaining, when they 
 proved to be wide awake and sharp 
 enough. These merchants never stir 
 
 from the divan upon which they squat. 
 Their stock in trade is so carefully pack- 
 ed and parceled as to appear very scanty. 
 With one of these my friend Haroun 
 now disputed over the price of a turban- 
 cloth for me, whilst the merchant, to 
 gain temporary advantage by delay, 
 
 THE ARMENIAN. 
 
 was offering his customer coflee and a 
 pipe. 
 
 We at last left the bazaar and arrived 
 at the stall or office of the scribe. After 
 much circumlocution and a liberal gurg- 
 ling of the hookah, the venerable-look- 
 ing sage fumbled in an antique clasped 
 trunk in front of him, out of which he 
 brought two or three heavy reed pens 
 looking like sticks, a knife, a pair of 
 scissors to trim the edges of the paper, 
 and a vessel of ink of a gummy, viscid 
 character. The paper is very thick, 
 
25° 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 mostly of Venetian or Parisian manufac- 
 ture, heavily glazed. A strip or spatula 
 of ivory is used to trim the nibs of the reed, 
 as we trim quill pens on our thumb 
 nails. Finally, he brought forth my 
 firman, a very imposing -looking 
 affair, commencing with the usual 
 form, "In the name of God the 
 merciful," etc., and terminating 
 with a grand flourish, which I 
 supposed was a signature, but 
 which was really the date, reck- 
 oned from the flight of Moham- 
 med. The signature and seal are 
 always at the top of the page or 
 instrument, and suggest the tracks 
 of some lively insect : in this case 
 it was a tremendous seal that 
 would have crowded out the bar- 
 ons of Magna Charta. The im- 
 portance attached to the seal, the 
 sign-manual, is greater than that 
 of the actual signature, and p, 
 signet-ring wrapped in a dirtv 
 piece of rag is guarded with jeal- 
 ous care by every Arab sheik. 
 After paying sundry fees and 
 
 charges, and making a present 
 of backsheesh, we obtained pos- 
 session of the firman and bent 
 our steps homeward. With much 
 readiness I cast away my Eu- 
 ropean clothes, and by the assist- 
 ance of two servants, who both 
 jabbered away at the same time, 
 I learned my first lesson of how to 
 dress in Eastern style. The dif- 
 ficulty of fitting on the garm.ents 
 is not very great, as they are all 
 roomy, and but for the length of 
 the libas a man might dress in 
 woman's clothes or a woman in 
 man's. Upon presenting myself 
 to my friend he seemed much 
 delighted and amused, especial- 
 ly at my aAvkward manner of 
 squatting, which had the effect 
 of twisting my legs so that I was 
 seized with cramp. He was kind 
 enough to teach me how to squat, 
 smoke, eat and salute like a gen- 
 uine Mohammedan. My mule 
 was ordered to be in readiness 
 on the morrow to conduct me 
 out of the city, to start on my journey 
 to Succoth by Bethel and Shechem. 
 After a good night's rest and a de- 
 
 THE SCRIBE. 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 251 
 
 lightful repast, over which we lingered 
 for nearly two hours, I parted from Ha- 
 roun, first thanking him cordially for 
 his hospitality and kind attentions. Be- 
 sides a pack on the mule, I cloaked my- 
 self in my abba and girded up my loins, 
 placing all my extra luggage in the 
 folds. An Arab will often carry all his 
 personal effects within the folds of his 
 abba, held in this receptacle by the . 
 girdle or cord which gathers the cloak 
 around the waist. My mule-pack con- 
 tained a blanket, a cooking-apparatus, 
 a heavy camel's-hair tent-cloth, with its 
 
 cords, nails and short sticks lashed to 
 the animal's back. I was already some- 
 thing of a campaigner — could pitch my 
 own tent, cook my dinner and turn in 
 snugly, independent of Arabs and all 
 other torments. I carried no arms for 
 personal defence. The absurd manner 
 in which every tourist, lay and clerical, 
 arms himself with a revolver, invites 
 and courts the dangers that would be 
 avoided by a more peaceful demeanor. 
 I now left Jerusalem by the Damas- 
 cus gate, having passed through the 
 thronged streets unnoticed, although an 
 
 ;X- 
 
 object of the most absorbing attention 
 to myself. My road extended straight 
 before me, in the direction of Nablous. 
 The vernal tints of the not too abun- 
 dant foliage lent an agreeable aspect to 
 what would otherwise have been an 
 uninteresting country, but the heat was 
 oppressive, and the dusty thorn-bushes 
 that bestrewed the pathway rendered 
 traveling still more tedious. Bethel 
 was only a ten-mile ride, but it was late 
 in the afternoon ere I ascended the 
 low-browed hill and entered the village, 
 which lies somewhat off the direct road. 
 These ancient villages are places to be 
 
 avoided by travelers, owing to the ex- 
 ceeding uncleanliness of the inhabitants 
 and their abodes. I therefore selected a 
 station on rising ground, near the ruins 
 of an old tower in the outskirts. Some 
 Arab tents were clustered hard by, but 
 my seclusion was sufficiently secured, 
 and I proceeded to pitch my tent, com- 
 mitting so many blunders in the course 
 of the operation that had my neighbors 
 caught sight of me, I should at once 
 have been recognized as a stranger in 
 the land, and singled out for back- 
 sheesh. 
 
 At daybreak I resumed my journey, 
 
252 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 still east of the road to Nablous. On 
 approaching Shiloh the country became 
 more varied and picturesque, and the 
 people somewhat more curious and im- 
 pertinent. Shiloh is now called Seilun. 
 Nothing remains of this interesting site 
 but some scattered ruins amidst the 
 
 broken ground. There must have been 
 a time when the surrounding hills were 
 leveled into terraces and richly cul- 
 tivated, but now they are barren, 
 ohve trees alone peeping up here and 
 there. 
 
 Another encampment was followed by 
 
 further wanderings, which brought me 
 to a region more fertile and picturesque, 
 where many caravans and travelers, as 
 well as shepherds with their flocks, were 
 pushing on toward Nablous. Same 
 groups of travelers had halted at a spot 
 for which I had been on the lookout. 
 It was Jacob's Well, and thither I now 
 
 directed my mule. A few scattered 
 stones are all that indicate the former 
 existence of a constructed well, but it is 
 generally admitted that this is the spot 
 spoken of as Jacob's Well in the fourth 
 chapter of the Gospel of St. John. The 
 question will occur to any visitor why 
 the patriarch should have sunk this 
 
WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE 
 
 253 
 
 ii' 
 
 4 
 
 fir 
 
254 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 deep well when there was abundant 
 water at hand a little to the west; and 
 the most plausible explanation seems to 
 be that the water, however abundant, 
 was regarded as private property, and 
 its use jealously restricted. 
 
 As the sun was fast dedining, I pur- 
 sued my journey, watching the long 
 shadows of a caravan of camels in ad- 
 vance. Isolated huts now appeared, 
 giving evidences of the approach to a 
 city. Outside one of these an Arab 
 woman appeared in the distance to be 
 
 violently shaking some animal sus- 
 pended by the neck from a vine fence. 
 Knowing the barbarity sometimes prac- 
 ticed by the natives, I approached the 
 hut, and found to my satisfacdon that 
 what I had mistaken for an animal was 
 merely a skin filled with milk, and that 
 the woman was churning in the mode 
 practiced by her ancestors thousands of 
 years ago. The butter thus procured is 
 a horrible substitute for the real article. 
 In winter it is of the consistency of 
 honev, and in the summer of oil : the 
 
 V 
 
 olive oil, fresh and s\*e^,-'rs always more 
 acceptable. 
 
 A sharp turn of the hill, and I was 
 looking down upon the lovely valley of 
 Mukhna, with Shechem at the farther 
 end, steeped in the rich tints of the set- 
 ting sun, and flanked by purple fringes 
 of hills and the green and brown sides 
 of Gerizim. This valley is unsurpassed 
 for loveliness, its beauty being enhanced 
 by the surrounding barrenness. It lies 
 eighteen hundred feet above the sea- 
 level, and cooling breezes are wafted 
 over it in the most sultrv weather. It 
 
 is filled with fair gardens and orchards, 
 and watered by streamlets from no less 
 than eighty fountains. The olive, pome- 
 granate and fig tree crop up everywhere, 
 and the verdure of the fields throws into 
 relief the numerous clusters of dwell- 
 ings that stud the vale : " a watered gar- 
 den, a spring of water that faileth not." 
 (Isaiah Iviii. ii.) 
 
 Nablous boasts of a considerable cot- 
 ton crop, which brought a large price 
 during the immense demand for cotton 
 occasioned by our war. This gave an 
 impetus to the community which has 
 
WANDERINGS IN PAIESTINE. 
 
 255 
 
 been creditably sustained. The city is 
 a very ancient one, alleged, on what 
 seems sufficient evidence, to be identical 
 with the Shechem of the Bible. It lies 
 on the slope of the valley formed by 
 Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. Shechem 
 was one of the cities of refuge, and 
 it was here that the people assembled 
 to hear the law of Moses read, 
 "half of them over against 
 Gerizim, and half of them 
 over against Mount Ebal." 
 At the point where this mass- 
 meeting was held the valley 
 is not fifteen hundred feet 
 wide. The city is a straggling 
 one, built along the base of 
 Gerizim : its streets are ex- 
 ceedingly narrow and rugged, 
 and in the rainy season tor- 
 rents run through its narrow 
 causeways. The inhabitants 
 are unusually active for Ori- 
 entals. Weavers are busily at 
 work, and fragrant odors are 
 borne upon the air, emanating 
 fi-om orange and other fruit 
 trees cultivated amongst the 
 houses. 
 
 After leaving Nablous the 
 country soon became wilder 
 and traveling more difficult. 
 At length tl^e Joi'dan was sight- 
 ed, like a silver thread in the 
 distance, far down in its quiet 
 valley. 
 
 The most remarkable fea- , 
 ture of Palestine is the valley 
 of the Jordan, which extends like a deep 
 ditch from the foot of Hermon south to 
 the Dead Sea, continuing in the valley 
 of the Arabah to the Red Sea at Aka- 
 bah. It has a uniform width of about 
 ten miles, and is everywhere below the 
 ocean-level, reaching its lowest depth at 
 the Dead Sea, which, rising or falling 
 with the rainy or dry season, has an 
 average level of 1312 feet below that of 
 the ocean. The appearance of the whole 
 is that of a plain worn into rounded knolls 
 by water from the upper regions of Sa- 
 maria and Gilead. The strata exposed 
 in the water-worn torrent-beds are lime- 
 stone, rolled boulders, pebbles of flinty 
 
 sandstone, tufas, marl, chalky deposits or 
 pure chalk, conglomerates, sand, grav- 
 el, clay and detritus. The lower terrace 
 is luxuriant in vegetation, producing a 
 great variety of trees, plants, flowers and 
 grasses. South of Masada these knolls 
 are left by the elements in tall conical 
 pinnacles, suggesting works of art. 
 
 WOMAN CHURNING. 
 
 Bitumen is drawn up from wells one 
 hundred and eighty feet deep, near Has- 
 beiya, on the Upper Jordan, and masses 
 are found along the shore in which peb- 
 bles of all kinds are thickly embedded. 
 It is also found floating on the bay south 
 of Lisan, where it is supposed to rise 
 from the bottom after earthquakes, which 
 are frequent in that region. Bituminous 
 shales and springs impregnated with 
 bitumen occur in the wadys all around 
 the sea. Sulphur is found in the plain 
 of Jericho and nearly all around the 
 Dead Sea, and it appears also in the 
 hot springs of Callirhoe (Herod's resort) 
 and at Tiberias, as well as in many 
 
2^6 
 
 WANDERINGS IN PALESTINE. 
 
 >rf^ i>^ 
 
 small springs on the west shore of the 
 sea. 
 
 Succoth is a type of the scenery o'f the 
 Upper Jordan. It was here that the sa- 
 cred vessels of the Temple were cast, 
 moulds being made in the deep clay 
 banks between Succoth and Zarthan, 
 
 whence now a very fine and hard clay 
 is carried to Damascus and other cities 
 for use in casting metals. 
 
 The scenery along the banks of the 
 Jordan is now and then striking, and 
 sometimes, where a wide bend of the 
 rive/ affords a bit of open water fringed 
 
 SHECHEM. 
 
 with foliage, is quite beautiful, and would 
 be enjoyable if it were not for the intense 
 heat of the sun. It is no wonder that the 
 five Cities of the Plain were destroyed 
 by fire, for everything is so hot and dry 
 that one spark of fire would set the 
 whole in a blaze. 
 
 My pilgrimage ended at the head of 
 the Red Sea, near the tongue of land 
 which reaches out into the water to a 
 pile of loose stones, sometimes described 
 as a ruined city. It might have been a 
 rude fort, like those in the lakes near 
 Damascus, but there are no wrought 
 stones visible. At high water the tongue 
 is covered and the heap of stones forms 
 an island. 
 
 There was one strange experience on 
 that visit to this dry and burnt district : 
 not a human being was visible for the 
 whole day, and no fires, indicating camps, 
 were seen at night. In the whole range 
 of my journey I found no more desolate 
 and utterly deserted place. In no other 
 locality under heaven is there so pecu- 
 liar and affecting a spot from which to 
 view the rising or setting sun as on the 
 north bay of the Dead Sea. The tall 
 ranges of mountains close to the wate? 
 on either side, the deep hot valley, the 
 quiet glassy lake, the strange history of 
 the place, combine to flood the soul with 
 profound and unspeakable emotions.