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A WINTER CRUISE TO THE ORIENT
(Extracts from a Private Log Book.)

BY
CASEY A. WOOD, M. D.
CHICAGO

c

i rvh . c| 0 I

A WINTER CRUISE TQ THE ORIENT.*

BY CASEY A. WOOD, M. D., CHICAGO.
IIXTHAPTS TEOM A PKIVATK piQ BOOJf.
Although Fmichal is several hundred miles .south of a direct line
to Cftdiz from New York and the A-zores would be a more convenient
port of call, there is no doubt but that the wisdom of the director of
this cruise was shown in preferring the former to the' latter for a
mid-Atlgiitic visit. I had never been in Madeira and thought of it
chiefly as a resort for consumptives, and as the country of certain kinds
of wine, of a fruit cake, and of a garden creeper. I found it also a
winter paradise.
We arrived during the early morning and anchored in a harbor
fringed with houses built in an amphitheater of hills that were covered
with verdure. At their base was the blue ocean ; on their tops were
white c^ps of snow. From these snowfields (some 6,000 feet above
the level of the sea) ran' mountain streams that formed dozens of
wa'terfalls, generally utilized for irrigating the gardens and groves
below. Thus it happens that even in February one eats fresh pine
apples, bananas, and oranges from Funchal trees and may pick any
sort of tropical or semi-tropical flower. I saw small cottages and
garden walls almost covered with climbing roses, trumpet flowers, and
the beautiful purple and red bourgainvillia; while two miles up the
mountain there were plenty of nasturtiums, geraniums, and other
familiar plants.
There is only one decently level and broad street in the tovsm and,
so far as I could learn,' all Madeira possesses but ten horses and two
automobiles. The whole town — sidewalks as well as streets — is paved
with rounded seashore pebbles, mostly small and black, arranged in
fantastic patterns, smooth ends up. Over these polished, greasy pave
ments glide ox-carriages (or carros) mounted on runners almost ex
actly like a French-Canadian sleigh. The private conveyances of the
well-to-do are quite handsome affairs — well groomed beasts with
colored tassels attached to their long horns, their foreheads orna
mented with shining brass chains and the polished harness set with
bright metal mountings. This sleigh-like carriage is often finished
in broadcloth, has a hood, and holds four people. The driver gen
erally walks*beside the vehicle and prods the oxen with a long bamboo,
while a boy or man runs ahead to warn pedestrians and to place
*Reprintecl from the Montreal Iileaical Journal, August, 1908.

under the runners a sort of greased mop when a steep or dusty part
of the road is reached. With such a conveyance one may make,
according to local standards, a fairly expeditious and comfortable
journey up and down the hills, at a rate not to exceed three miles an
hour. But nobody seems to hurry in Madeira.
Another imitation of our winter transportation is the Madeira
toboggan. A couple of miles of greased pebble roadway has been built
up the mountain side and down it sleigh-like vehicles are guided — by
a man on either side holding a, rope attached to the forward end of
each runner — right into the center of the town. Before a start is
made the pleasure seeker is asked whether he wishes to ride slowly
or "to let her go." We voted for a mixture of sensations — and got
them. Although the fastest rate is, perhaps, not equal to that of the
Canadian prototype yet it was fast enough for enjoyment. With
the temperature, sunshine and surroundings of an American June,
it was an experience to be remembered. B.'s enjoyment of it was
rather beclouded by the fact that the men had to carry the basket
like sleigh (weighing about 300 pounds) on the return journey, two
miles up the hill.
We took luncheon at the Bella Vista (never was hotel better
named) and walked all over the quaint old town before x'eturning to
the Arabic with our fellow passengers, tired out but happy in the
possession of many "snap-shots," bottles of old Madeira, embroid
eries, cane chairs (they make wonderful wicker baskets here) and
loads of flowers.
Among the pictures I took were some of E. standing in front of
a rede, or hammock. I wished to take her in one but a kindly English
woman told her that these public conveyances are also patronized by
humbler forms of lower animal life, after whieh I could not induce
her to enter one !
There are many English residents here and the street signs, no
tices and advertisements are mostly in that language. Our Canadian
fellow-travelers, of whom there are about thirty on board, did not
fail to point out that the only warship in the harbor besides a Por
tuguese gunboat was a four-funnel British cruiser with several long
guns pointing ominously from their turrets — in- case the insurrectos
might become troublesome.
Among our flrst visitors were native divers — boys from five to
twenty years of age — ^the most , graceful and expert swimmers I have
even seen. There must have been 20 or 30 boats with them— generally
a rower and two boys^ — who waited from early morning till night (anil
incidentally yelled at the four decks of Arabicers) for silver coins to
be thrown into the water. They capered about, performing all sorts
of feats, such as diving under the boat, fi-om her upper decks, from
one another's shoulders, etc.,' taking as payment coins tossed' over
board, whieh they generally recovered, between their toes or in their

mouths. We all ha.d our favorites among the crowd and they, in
their turh, rechristened us with such English names as they were
masters of; One curly-headed rascal got some ot E.'s money and
then mine by always greeting her with a broad grin and a "good
-morning." Me, he kindly called "Buster," and Buster I have been
ever since. 'When the boat sailed they followed us, shouting and
yelling, far out to sea, waving their scanty garments as long as we
could make them out in the distance.
To the medical man the climate of Madeira is of interest. The
average summer heat is 74° F.; the average winter temperature 64°.
Except in the mountains, frost is unknown. Owing to these condi
tions, and to the fact that the near-by mountains furnish any altitude
required at all seasons of the year it ought to be an ideal resort for
tubercular patients.
Cadiz (better pronounce it as you would the plural of the small
boy who carries your golf clubs) is built on the tip of a peninsula
running miles out to sea, of marble, whitewashed stucco and stone.
There are only sixteen stoves and one factory chimney in the to-WTi,
so that from the Arabic it looked at sunrise and sunset like a veritable
white city rising out of the ocean — beautiful to behold. A nearer
view was not quite as. satisfactory owing to the narrow streets, but
the street scenes were very interesting. We have seen the Andalusian
dances (by some called the "delusion dances") with the accompani
ment of the tambourine and castanets, but they were not particularly
graceful or animated. I suppose the Vaudeville and the "Follies of
1907" have spoiled Americans for the Tarantella type of dance.
Even the old lady frora Worcester said she didn't think there was
much "in them tarantulas anyway."
The ever useful, overladen, patient little donkey shines like an
effulgent star in the labor firmament here. In Andalusia it seeras
as if "nobody works but burro;" certainly belabors more persistently
than' any Spaniard our eyes rested upon. Often we saw one of these
little animals, not much larger than a Great Dane, with two enormous
panniers, filled with vegetables, that almost touched the ground on
either side of his body, come ambling along with a big Spanish
brigand seated on his back, and smoking the eternal cigarette. And
such cigarettes! R. bought a package and smoked about an inch of
one. He said he could smoke the other half but would like my
opinion as to its probable effects upon his constitution before doing
so. Eventually he presented them to a bearded pirate with a frayed
cloak that passed his way.
Real cigars and genuine cigarettes cost about three times the
American price owing to tho enormous internal and import tax on
tobacco; indeed, everything is taxed to the limit here. Even salt,
mostly made by evaporating sea water in the marshes along the coast,
is a government monopoly. On our way to Seville we passed hun-

dreds of dirty-white pyramids of salt (15 to 20 feet high) awaiting
transportation, manufactured in the adjoining trenches by the rays of
the hot summer sun. r, t.-
The thing that interested us most in Cadiz was Los Capuchmos,
in the chapel of which Murilla painted his last picture. Palling
from a scaffold during his work he received injuries from which he
died soon after.
They don't like us in Cadiz, and I don't blame them, because un
doubtedly the so-called Spanish- American war added to the grinding
taxation frora which they now suffer. E. and I went for a di-ive
about the town and we were several times greeted with hi^es, surly
faces and cries of "Americanos." Although the climate of Cadiz
is usually balmy and pleasant in winter, it is, owing to its exposed
situation, liable to sudden changes. It cannot, therefore, be recom
mended to invalids. Interior towns, like Seville, are more attractive
for a winter -residence, although even they are quite cold at night
and are subject to occasional disagreeable falls of temperature.
We had perfect weather for our trip to Seville, and found the
first-class railway carriages clean, well furnished and very com
fortable in spite of the native equipment and the little 1865 Belgian
locomotives. It is about 100 miles from Cadiz and we "did" the
distance in 5% hours. But that was because,' as S. explained, "we"
stopped at so many ' ' cantinas. " S. is making grand progress in his
Spanish since he discovered, without extrinsic help, that catina is
that part of a railway station where "vino" can be had for 40 cen
times, a drink. After that discovery he invited me to partake. I
did so once — and such wine. I told him wine did not agree with me ;
I would smoke one of his cigarettes.
The conscription in Spain seems to take in some very young
men. In the train was a carriage containing a number of these boy
soldiers returning home — youths of apparently sixteen or seventeen.
They were dressed in parade uniform, smoked many cigarettes and
looked pleased all over. At a small village two of them got out as
the train drew up, when a mob of about 100 men, women and chil
dren j-ushed from the platform and welcomed them in true Spanish
fashion. With cries of "Pepe" the crowd literally fell upon one
boy's neck and alraost choked him. Four men, six women, and two
small girls tried to kiss I'epe at one and the same time. As this
proved unsatisfactory they divided into sections and Pepe was sys
tematically hugged and kissed, first on one cheek and then on the
other, by the whole village. When we last saw them, each boy, sur-.
rounded by a small company of fellow-citizens, was being escorted
home. I hope they all had a good time that night — and that my
camera has a faithful picture of their home-coming.
As we approached Seville (I much prefer the liquid, . Spanish
pronunciation, Sevillyah) the fields become raore green, and we no-

ticed acres of clover, peas, lentils, etc., gardens of flowers, groves of
oranges (flowers and fruit) as, weir as peach trees in bloom. The
fences were mostly made "of cacti (occasionally in flower) ; while
browsing in the fields were flocks of sheeiJ aud, herds of cattle. It
is in this region that the' famous Andalusian bulls are raised, of
which we saw many good samples. They were big, black, shiny
fellows with long horns, and certainly deserved a better fate than
being sacrificed to make a Spanish holiday. Incidentally, some of
us visited the bull rings at Cadiz ahd Seville, but I don't think even
Stars, who raade much money in cotton last year and is now taking in
everything on this trip, tried to see a bull fight. The smoking room
opinion is against it. At least, R. told hira we "wouldn't stand for
it," but would get him a permit to see the hog slaughtering in Chi
cago if he liked. In spite of all the glamour sought to be thrown
about it in Seville, where they have one of the largest rings in Spain,
I believe the "sport" is just as cheap and nasty, as nauseating,
cowardly and briital as it is in Mexico.
The stuccoed, whitewashed towns along the road to Seville are
very attractive — in the distance — and all have the towered churches
SO' common in Southern Spain. Fordyce pointed out that most of
these had at least one stork on the roof and then, he added in a pen
sive tone, they are overworked birds all over Spain.
Young girls with bright, fresh faces, beautiful eyes and a
wealth of black hair, are seen everywhere, but always accompanied by
a duenna, dressed in black with a mantilla thrown about her head.
"E. does not like that form of head dress, but I think it is becoming
— and so cheap.
The Hotel de Madrid in Seville is a comfortable house of enter
tainment in winter if you have plenty of blankets and a hot water
bottle; because, like most dwellings in semi-tropical countries, it be
comes quite cold as soon as the sun sets. We found in the pretty
courts palms and other plants, including roses in full bloom, but no
heating apparatus.
The guide book tells us that the sereno, or night watchman, cries
the hours to the accompaniraent of the Ave Maria at the street cor
ner. We kept awake until midnight but no serenade. I am going
to ask McClurg to return to me the .$2.50 I paid for such unreliable
literature. E. found the lock to our bedroom door ; it consists of an iron bar
six feet long with attachments strong enough to keep out even a
Spaniard, but we decided to trust to the other lock, the key of which
is seven inches long and turns in the huge lock with a noise loud
enough to call the chambermaid. No danger of carrjdng^ off that
key, or, if carried away, in a forgetfvil moment, of returning it for
two cents by way of the mail.

~8
Our raain object in visiting the city of Seville was to see the
Murillo pictures, the Cathedral and the Alcazar.
For years a Braun photograph has hung in my office out of
whose frame the lovely face of the Perla de Sevilia shone upon me
and I looked forward with the greatest pleasure to seeing the original.
We found it in the Museo with some twenty other Murillos but, some
how, whether it was the poor liglit or what not, we were dissatisfied;
it did not seem to be as attractive or as well preserved as the Immacu
late Conception of the Louvre. The gorgeous blues and browns that
are (to me) Murillo 's chief charm, were present, it is true, in the
Perla but they did not irapress me as 1 expected they would, and I
went away sorrowing-r-into the balmy air and blue skies of the
streets. Outside the endle^ procession of pannier-laden donkeys,
strange men and women, barefoot friars, and dark-eyed senoras and
senoritas through the narrow, winding streets made me forget my
disappointment in the pictures. Altogether I subscribed to the Ger
man phrase: "Wen Gott lieb hat, dem gibt Er ein Haus in Seville."
The King and Queen are now visiting Seville and we were not
allow^ed to »nter any part of the Alcazar. In place of this we had to
content ourselves with driving through the public gardens and with
seeing gold-laced officers and other court attendants.
It was not that the Cathedral is, next to St. Peter's, the largest
in the world, or that we were luc]?:y in hearing High Mass with all
the grand organ accompaniments, but the magnificent interior with
its beautiful stained windows and elaborate carvings appealed to us
more than any of the other European temples — more even than St.
Peter's or St. Paul's. The General and his wife returned with us
next day for a three hours' visit and \ve found that the impression
remained. Between the four of us we tried to recall Milton's Unes
from "II Penseroso. " My own contribution was a very meagre one:
"Storied windows richly dight, " but it seemed appropriate to the
wonderful panes through which the colored sunlight streamed to the
floor below. I think I shall never forget that interior, or the Giralda
Tower — the Cathedral Comi^anile — of the exterior.
Whatever else our party buy or do not buy they always invest
in picture postal cards. E. has investigated the subject and believes
an average' of one dozen a day is not an excessive estimate for each
Arabicer. I happen to know of an exception. One tradesman from
whom we purchased a few castanets and things confided to me that
an "Americaine" had been in his shop since early morning, had
"borrowed" his boy to show her the way to the Cathedral and had
chase ! I tried to console liim by explaining as nearly as I eould the
American plan of "shopping, "but I must have failed' because he could
our plan of "shopping," but I must have failed because he could
not understand. The General, who overheard the conversation, said
I should have told him he was no worse off than the apostles "who

had toiled all day and caught nothing. " Later on I discovered the
reason "of the shopman's excessive indignation. El Pais, a Seville
paper, in describing our excursion to the city, had spoken of us as
" a party of four hundred American millionairos. ' '
E. and I had "done" Gibraltar pretty thoroughly on a previous
visit so we contented ourselves with staying on the ship to watch
our eorapatriots bargain with the visiting Jews, Spaniards, Moors
and Portuguese, who brought their wares on board as soon as the
tenders had taken the various parties ashore. The Arabic was soon
converted into a sort of bazaar that exhibited as many varieties of
goods as'Westport Street and Gunner's Lane together; the decks re
sembled an overcrowded Kermesse. Spanish and IMaltese laces, man
tillas, tablecloths, scarfs, every sort of jewelry, leather work, etc.,
were offered by dark-skinned men who talked and laughed and hag
gled and gesticulated and expostulated until the sound of bargain
ing must have attracted the attention of the sentinels about the Great
Rock. The rules of the game are those that govern purchases all
over the East. There is an upset price below which the seller will
not go; but no one except himself knows it. He at first asks from
three to four times the amount he is eventually willing to take, and
the purchaser, if he understands, bids frora one-fourth to one-third
this sum, which is modified alternately by purchaser and peddler
until after a time, an agreement is reached. It is a curious perform
ance and often worth seeing.
The Canadians on board have just returned 'from the Signal
Station and other exclusive parts of the fortified rock, each saying
beneath his breath, "Civis Britannicus Sum" to their envious Ameri
can fellow-travellers, for only British subjects may penetrate the
secrets of Gibraltar.
E. was watching the sun set across the harbor yesterday when
she happened to look into the water below and noticed a black cat —
one of our ship cats — struggling in the waves alongside. Pussy had
fallen overboard and was making desperate efforts to swim and was
encouraged in these attempts by a couple of sailors who had noticed
the tragedy and were mailing signs to a native boatman to pick up
the striaggling cat. Soon a hundred people were leaning over the
taffrail, adding their advice. Native boys finally threw a coil of
rope around the cat's body and succeeded in pulling her aboard amid
loud applause. She was then hauled, after much pawing of the air
and twitching of the tail, on to the Arabic by means of another small
rope applied behind her shoulders. On reaching the deck she emit
ted several loud "miaows" indicative of disgust, indignation and in
jured innocence,- and disappeared to her quai'ters. Meantime E.
donated one peseta to the fund for impoverished native sailors which
was deposited in the floating bank beneath her. R. believes the whole
affair was concocted by the imp. nat. sailors aforesaid who "will re-

10
peat the performance at their earliest convenience. But R. is a
sceptic at all tiraes. I heard him tell a lady who paid sixty -pesetas
for a genuine Spanish mantilla (marked down from 130 pesetas)
that it -was cotton, machine made and was worth in Paris (where it
was manufactured) about a dollar and a half.
Not even Lorenz's "Mediterranean Traveller" prepared us for
the surprises of Algiers. Surely a more picturesque city does not
exist. The water front shows a fine modern town — very like a sec
tion of Paris near the Madelaine — with imposing jetties, buildings,
boulevards and gardens extending for miles. Higher up on the hill
side, white, windowless, stucco houses of Eastern aspect begin, and
these constitute the chief part of the remarkable picture one sees from
the Bay below. We took a two-hours' drive through both the French
and the Arab quarters to the heiglit above on a road bordered with
gardens of flowers and groves of oranges, quite as good and far
raore imposing than the Corniche Road or the roadway along the
Italian Riviera. In the city itself we met Moors, Arabs, Turks, Egyp
tians and all other manner of Easterners. For fuller particulars .see
the guide book.
R. bought a pair of opera glasses on shore from a descendant of
the prophet, for $2.50. He said they must be cheap because the mans
first price was $14.00. At any rate he said the man and he con
sumed about 50 cents' worth of the former's time and he learned
$2.00 worth of French and some other language he "didn't quite
catch" — so that the account is square. R. said he also assisted in
an "antique," oriental rug sale, held in a dark arcade near the
boat's landing. Twenty-seven first-class cotton rugs' (raade in Lyons
or Marseilles and colored with anilines) were sold by orientals to
Ai-abicers at prices that defied competition. R. says the rugs were
not the only objects sold at that sale. He intends taking his future
deck walks at night for fear he may see the "antiques" by daylight.
Captain H. is always joking about the quality of the milk served
on board and drags in a nuraber of ancient remarks about the Arabic
"cows." To-day his daughter induced him to rush on deck to see
some animal that had fallen overboard. He found a crowd of his
party who pointed out a two-gallon tin of condensed milk that had
been condemned and ejected frora the cook's galley. Probably we
have heard the last of the cow joke.
There will be a concert by the ship 's Musical Club tJiis evening
to celebrate Washington's birthday, but we have decided not to go;
we heard them rehearsing in the aft saloon.
E. thinks she would like to go on to Biskrah and see the "Garden
of Allah," but as we cannot do this without missing Malta, Athens
and Constantinople^ we have to forego that pleasure. Anway, "A
Woman's Hardy Garden" ought to satisfy any suburban resident.
It has often been more than enough for me.

11
E. is reading up Malta in Lorenz, but I notice that her studies
are confined to such topics as "hand-made laces," "native jewelry,"
et hoc genus omne. 1 asked her the name of the Grandmaster who
surrendered the island to Napoleon, ahd she replied, "Ivauhoe." I
have had similar answers to questions about the language of the na
tives, the names of the other islands of the group, etc., from which I
conclude that my wife thinlis Malta belongs to Italy and that the chief;
exports are cats, and the art products just raentioned. Well, perhaps
they are ; we shall see to-raorrow.
If there were any indignities practiced on our fellow Arabicers
by the Algerines the former retaliated in kind — by talking French
to them. The General says he overheard one self-satisfied lady, who
had previously confided to him that she always speaks that language
• when abroad, ask the "cocher" the narae of a large hotel seen on a
distant hill that overlooked the Champs de Mars where a cavalry
regiment were parading. He replied that they were "chasseurs
d'Afrique" engaged in manceuvring and then proceeded to explain
the origin of that particular branch of the French arras. When
pressed by bystanders to interpret, she said, with a superior air,
"Oh, that's the Hotel of Africa: it holds 300 guests and cost a mil
lion francs. ' ' While buying some stamps at the Algiers postofficc I
assisted the very patient and polite clerk in convincing some com
patriots from Pennsylvania that although their country is undoubt
edly the largest in the world the Algerine postmaster is forbidden by
law to accept American nickels for French postage and that prob
ably even they could not buy many U. S. postal cards at Pittsburg
with a two-franc piece. On my way out an indignant fellow-citizen
said the French were so mean, they would not sell him any stamps at
all, although he had addressed the clerk in his own language and
had even held out a handful of hated French money. I returned to
the charge with him and found he had been trying to buy postage
labels from the weary official who presided over the money order
department! I imagine Algiers was gladdened by the noise of our
anchor-raising. E. and I are curious to see Malta, although William, our state
room steward, who is a great chum of my wife's, has just been tell
ing her terrible stories about the thieving propensities of the native
population. "You see, ma'am, they'd sell you a beautiful singin'
Canary bird lookin' right hinto j'our high and change it heven when
yer back wasn't turned." William also avers that they come on
board laden with screw-drivers, knives and skeleton keys prepared to
relieve the innocent passengers of their shekels instead of impoverish
ing them, as they might easily and more honestly do, by way of the
silver filagree and lace route. William avers that nothing but their ex
cessive weight keeps these people frora running off with the ship's
anchors. However, every day except that spent in New York har-

12
bor has been so extraordinarily fine and the sea has been so smooth
that we feel we shalPbe able to look even Malta in the face and —
"Quidquid erit, pati." II.
The -Maltese boatmen did not belie the character attribiited to
them by William, our stateroom steward. Even before we had an
chored, the water about the Arabic seemed to be covered with a con
fused mass of gondola-Hke boats crowded with shouting, gesticulating,
sailor-peddlers who acted as if they intended to take our ship
by boarding as in the old piratical days. Their cries reached E. in
her berth. She dressed hurriedly and reached the deck just as the
gangways were being lowered to permit the first detachment of
Arabicers to go ashore. The Maltese pirates closed around the ladder
like stairs like flies. "Do please, kind gentlemen, let me up."
"Kind sir, here is my license," said they, holding up a paper. The
boats provided to take us ashore were violently pushed aside and
a dozen pirates jumped upon the lower gangway and tried to force
their way up the narrow steps past the quartermaster. They grab
bed the ropes, threw their bundles ahead of them and tried to swarm
up the ship's sides. The quartermaster yelled to them to keep off
and asked the officer in charge to help. He hurriedly ordered three
sailors to the rescue and they did their best to repel the boarders. But
in vain, because from a confused mass of struggling legs, arms,
boxes, bundles and brass buttons there emerged, one by one, a "vic
torious Maltese who raced on deck, pre-empted- the most favorable
spot he could find for the purpose, spread out his goods and was
ready for business. It seems that only a certain number of these
peddlers are allowed on board, and it is a case of "first come first
served." T'he disappointed ones, after much noisy display, rowed
about the Arabic, holding up various objects of merchandise . and call
ing upon the passengers to buy» They were also quite ready to pass
up ("on suspicion," as B. H. might say), by raeans of a basket
and rope, any article that a passenger might have been unwary
enough to evince a^i interest in.
R. and I, while our wives were leading themselves into tempta
tion by inspecting the Maltese laces, embroidery, carvings, etc., spread
out along the promenade deck, had a preliminary look at the wonder
ful harbor and town of Valetta. We were anchored not more than
a hundred yards from shore and had a good opportunity of study
ing the strata of fortifications that rose with the city, tier upon tier,
almost mountain-like, to the sky line. It was a wonderful sight,
almost as remarkable as the storied view of Algiers. The stair-like
streets that led to the upper town began in a broad esplanade below
that formed the water front and that was finally lost in the extensive

13
stone fortifications and piers that stretched for miles around the en
closed harbor. We were told that these massive eut stone, granite
towers, bastions and walls, pierced for hundreds of guns, represented
successive additions to eai'ly Phoenician works and were built by
Moslem, Knightly, French and English conquerors. The real de
fences, however, are, we were informed, not visible to the ordinary
observer, but are concealed by pits, trees and other screens, behind
the town or on convenient artificial islands in the harbor. Williara
says, "thera (indicating the martial array of cannon mounted on the
casemented and embrasured walls) is only for show; there's the real
fort," and he pointed to some dozen or more dark, grim-looking
monsters lying at anchor half a mile away — the British cruisers and
battle ships. Our William is a proud patriot who has sailed these
seas for twenty-five years, and probably knows as much about the
subject as the numerous guides, who resemble the light that lies in the
depths of my lady's eyes, "and lies, and lies."
The sraall leaflet of instruction that is issued to each Arabicer on
the day before we reached port, warns us against buying Maltese dogs,
owing to their cost, their delicate health and the irapossibility of bring
ing them to America. This, of course, stimulated our curiosity to see
these abnormal pets and we applied to the General who has been over
this route several times. He maintains that there are, strictly speak
ing, no such animals as Maltese dogs, although there may have been
at one time a special race of canines on the Island. And cats — well,
they are like the dogs. R. and I, consequently, called for cats and
dogs every time (about once in two minutes) the street guides, ped
dlers and cabmen offered us cathedrals, postal cards or carriages. This
persistence finally produced an effect, because the news soon spread
that two (mad) Americans wanted animals. We were, after a time,
surrounded by a yelling mob with (American) cats and white French
poodle pups — not to forget a fringe of milch goats whose owners
came determined to furnish milk from the "source," in our immediate
neighborhood and presence. The net product of those offerings was
a doubtful snapshot which, I trust, will show what we flushed in
Malta of the feline, canine, caprine and huraan species. R. thinks
our lives were saved on that day only by a determined charge of two
native policemen. At any rate we proved to our own satisfaction
that there are now no Maltese cats or dogs in Malta.
Of course, we had to visit the ornate, as Capt. H. says, "built
in the higgledy-piggledy style of architecture," Cathedral of St.
John. The begilded, bemarbled church is a huge mausoleum, mostly
tenanted by the ghosts of Grandmasters of the Order of Hospitallers
of St. John of Jerusalem. According to the pompous Latin inscrip-

14
tions on the colored marbles that form the pavement of the chapels,
they were the incarnation of all the vigorous virtues. Fordyce stood
in front of one tomb of this kind and repeated:
' ' The Knights are dust
And their good swords are rust —
Their souls are with the Saints, we trust."
At any rate they stirred the European "pool" during the time
they sailed up and down the Mediterranean, and medical men must
not forget that they had their rise in tho first Christian Hospital in
the East and only melted away before the sun of Napoleon's glory.
The nice girl who sits at our table has been reading "The Talis
man" "to get the local color." She took the long journey (seven
miles there and back) to view St. Paul's Bay, which we passed in
the morning on our way to Valetta. William called rae early and
said, "if you will get hup and look hout of your porthole you will
see, just opposite, the place where St. Paul was shipwrecked." E.
reached our "window" first and said, "why, it looks just like any
other coast." I dressed at my ease, and going aft, encountered R.
We climbed to the hurricane deck and found one of the officers, who
said, "we shall be passing St. Paul's Bay in about fifteen minutes;
better look at it." We did so with R.'s lately purchased glass. We
saw an indented landscape with no trees and sorae low-lying rocks.
In about half an hour I wandered back to the promenade deck, where
the Reverend Mr. Jones, surrounded by a breathless flock, was read
ing from Acts the original description of the place "where two seas
met," and, suiting the action to the word, was indicating with his
hand each coast feature as we passed it. "Probabty. ladies and gen
tleraen, that spot," pointing to a pasture-like elevation on the near
est shore, "is where the apostle shook the deadly serpent off into the
fire — and stood scathless. " Later, we spoke to the second mate on
the subject; "Oh, St. Paul's Bay, that's on the other side of the
Island ; we can 't see it from the boat. ' '
On our way back to the Arabic that evening Mrs. R. and E. sug
gested that we walk down the stairs to the landing, and we felt amply
repaid for our trouble. The glimpses we obtained of the harbor,
shipping and fortifications, framed by the outlines of the houses in
the narrow streets, were entrancing. Incidentally, I got sorae snap
shots of the Maltese woraen, most of whom still wear the faldetta.
This is a combination of sunbonnet and silk cloak that takes the place
of a parasol and coat under which one may safely and privately
carry any burden, whether it be a loaf of bread, a basket or a bundle.
Only E.'s assurance that "we had too many things already" prevent
ed my getting one for M.'s private theatricals; it was so picturesque.
We steamed out of Valetta harbor "with flags flying, the band

15
rendering "God Save the King," and the officers standing at atten
tion. The nice girl at our table remarked to ray wife at dinner,
"Isn't it fine of those British officers to stand with their hands to
their caps while the band was playing 'America?' " And E. said
it was. During the twenty odd years E. and I have been crossing the
seas we have never ceased to wonder at the marvelous quality of the
bread and coffee served on Briti^ ships. With all other things of
the best these have continued to be the worst. It isn't that they are
of the worst, but the exasperating consideration is that in spite of
the example set by French and German boats, one should steadily
encounter chicory and "grounds" that masquerade as coffee, as well
as that sodden, potato-pancake denominated bread. Of course your
table-steward knows all about the Continental and American com,
plaints, but he thinks, if he thinks anything, that IT. S. passengers
are unaccountable particular in some things. The General believes
that the persistence of the British bread and coffee is merely one ex
pression of that fundamental virtue in their character — a sterling
conservatism. Having served that brand of coffee and that sort of
bread on the first ship and brought her safe to land, they stolidly keep
at it until the end.
We had a lecture on Athens by a reverend gentleman, who gave
us eloquent scraps of Greek history. After the usual reference' to
Phidias and Lycurgus, ' ' and other dagos, ' ' quoting the man who
sits at the head of the opposite table who made money in Cincinnati
real estate, he could not finish his essay without referring to the
" poluphosboio thalasses through which we are now ploughing to the
Athenian harbor." "What's that?" asked the nice girl at our
table of her companion — a youth who sat next her. "Oh, he's only
showing off his French," was the reply.
They have celebrated canary singers at Malta, and nearly every
body bought a bird. The General bought two, and now he says he
wishes he had also found that Maltese cat. His two birds sing both
day and night. Our William purchased one, guaranteed to break into
generous strains in a day or two, after it had got accustomed to its
new surroundings. I saw hira chirping to the bird, and asked him
why it didn't sing. "I don't know," he answered, and then, with a
kind of sigh, "the sraoke-room steward says hits a bloomin' 'en;"
all of which is a considerable consolation to E. after she had acquired
that hand-made lace in Algiers. I understand that a self-appointed
committee of ladies has decided that it also is a "bloomin' 'en."
- On the morning of the 26th of February we awoke to find our
selves approaching the Piraeus, the seaport of Athens. It was cooler
and more cloudy— the latter consideration preventing our seeing
the Acropolis and Lycabettus until we were fairly near. I suppose
if we had been homesick Greeks of the old days on a return voyage
from Alexandria or the Pillars of Hercules, we would have strained

16
our eyes to catch frora the Parthenon foreground the glint- of the sun
light on Minerva's gilded spear-head. As it was, we had to be satisfied
with imagining just what the statue of her ladyship looked like.
The Arabic is the largest vessel that has yet entered the inner
harbor, and we approached the task very gingerly. The Greek boat
men constitute a strong guild and have prevented the government
from building piers that Avill permit the approach of deep-draught
steamers. Consequently, we landed by way of sraall sailboats and
tenders— quite romantic in smooth -weather, but not so pleasant when
there is a stiff' wind blowing. E. was not feeling well enough to brave
the fatigue of an all-day drive to and about Athens, so I allied my
self with the General and his wife aud we greatly enjoyed our trip.
The weather was cool and sunshiny, although we learned that there
are other towns besides Chicago that can "raise the wind." On the
Acropolis JMrs. General took a number of pictures (with the other
two members of her party for a foreground generally holding their
caps and coat-tails to keep them from being blown into the theater of
Dionysius below) which she feared would be found rather shaky
when they were developed in Jei-usalem. The General proposed that
we retire to the nearest zendodeclteion and pour out a libation to
Aeolus, but as he afterwards confessed that he had never indulged
in Greek wine, I forgave him.
The last time we were here the northwest angle of the Parthenon
was "shored up" with timber work to repair a portion of it. I was
now glad to see that it had been taken down, although not so pleased
to find that the timbers are being employed to "restore" the pretty
little temple of the Caryatides. The Athenian ruins, except the lovely
temple of Treseus, are truly ruins, but I don't think, as a choice of
evils, that extensive restoration is desirable, except when, as in the
case of the marble Stadion, it is necessarj- to make structures available
for a useful purpose.
After the drive our party, having done its duty to the antiqui
ties, proceeded to luncheon and to shopping. My corapanion and I
called on our Consul-General, known to both of us as an old Chicagoan,
and author of "Modern Athens," as well as a nuraber of other
books. It is a pity that so few people have read that pretty little
story dealing with raodern Greek life, entitled "In Argolis." How-
ells says of it: "In 'Argolis' is one of the most charming books
that -any American has written about the life of another
people, and in describing the little Greek town where Mr. Horton
spent a summer, he has done one of those instantaneous classics
. . . it is delightful, every word of it, with just that mixture of
the epic and idyllic and domestic and divine that is peculiarly Amer
ican." In my poor judgment, the chapter devoted to the account
of moving his household goods from Athens to the Pirajiis, by means
of two Greeks and a native wagon, is one of the funniest narratives

17
ever put in print. The sad history of the poor rooster that formed a
portion of these effects is particularly well told. I have been advis
ing those Arabicers who wish to obtain a good idea of the people
of modern Greece to read Horton 's books.
After luncheon R. and I went about on foot to see the street
life in the poorer quarters. These were clean, in spite of the narrow
streets, and of their marble-dust covering converted into paste by the
recent rains. We stopped to buy beads of two kinds. One variety the
Greeks all over the East use to occupy themselves as a relief to their
nervous system, ins-tead of twirling the mustache, chewing gum, etc.
It is certainly a curious .sight to see raen of all ages and occupations,
turning these beads about, generally pulling two or three of them
back and forth on the string when they have nothing else to do.
Perhaps, after all, this occupation is better than twiddling one's
thumbs or "whistling for want of thought." The other purchase
was a set of beautiful blue beads with a pendant blue heart set -with
white cowries, with which the natiA^es are wont to decorate the heads
of their goats, horses and oxen (particularly the last) for the pur
pose of averting the "evil eye." The evil eye is said to be attracted
by the beads and neglects to injure their wearer — all of Avhich R.
says, is about as reasonable as some other means he has heard about
of accomplishing the same end.
When we were waiting for our change in one of the shops we
watched the method of converting English shillings into drachmae
by means of the abacus. These calculating machines are apparently
not so rauch in evidence now as they were when E. and I visited
Athens ten years ago. Probably the shopkeepers have since been
taking lessons in mental arithmetic.
We went into what in America would be called a "low" saloon
to get some I'inos resinatos, the resinous wine of the poorer classes,
and sorae of the "refreshments" that go with it. The latter consist
of rancid goat's cheese, pickled nasturtium seeds, pickled horse beans,
carrots, and what R. declared to be "pickled eel's feet" — for I wasn't
equal to tasting them. We took as much as half a teaspoonful each
of .the pine-gum wine, and ' ' let it go at that. ' '
The General heard of our adventures Avith this Greek drink and
at my invitation partook of it. He fared no better, and was in addi
tion obliged to listen to my imperfect rendering of his favorite author
in this connection: "Vile potabis raodicis Sabinura
Cantharis, Grseca quod ego ipse testa."
Even Horace cannot remove the taste of shellac from one's mouth!
We rode back to the Port over the beautiful, broad, tree-fringed
boulevard stretching straight as a die to the Pirseus, the gift of a rich

18
Greek from Alexandria. The General sat on the box and "talked
Greek" with the driver; that is, he and I contested the honor of
deciphering the street signs and notices, and then asked that authority
how to pronounce them. How proud we were when A^^e recognized
a familiar word! And yet sorae people say there is no use studying
Greek at college for more than three years! The General says sev
eral Arabicers bought the Athens "chronos" for the purpose of se
curing the latest American news, .but he has failed to hear from
them since, although we are assured that anyone who can translate
Xenophon at sight may also read the Greek newspapers, barring such
words as "pickaninny" and "steamroller."
Louis, the barber, who does "developing" and a roaring postal-
card, photograph and flags-of-all-nations business, told me that my
films turn out better than those of any other Kodaeker on board,
better even than the best talker in the Arabic Camera Club. I was
puffed up exceedingly for nearly four days until I overheard him
confiding to another amateur photographer that "his films Avere the
fiu'est, etc." Louis understands exactly not only how to extend, but
how to bolster up trade.
Our run to the entrance of the Dardanelles past the "shining"
Cyclades, as Horace has it, was classically correct because, as we
sailed by night through the Aegean Sea, our course seemed to be
marked out by the lights on the shores of such islands of the Archi
pelago as hove in sight. And, of course, Ave were reminded that an
archipelago is a body of water that resembles this sea (the sea of
seas) in being filled with islands.
E. thought we had better try to engage the dragoman we had on
our previous visit to Constantinople and to " do " the town independ
ently. I accordingly wrote from Chicago asking him to meet us at
the boat. When the tender reached our side (after the passport
ceremonies had been compieted by the aid of certain Turkish custom
house and police officers dressed like Major Generals) we spied
Paruta, wearing the only cowboy hat I had seen for three weeks. It
was a damper on our enthusiasm, however, when we found that the
sarae Paruta had risen in the world and had charge of the whole
party in Constantinople. Nevertheless, he was very glad to see ns,
got us an excellent guide and was of considerable help to us in many
ways. In striking contrast to other towns we had visited, the Turkish
capital seemed more oriental, more weird, more hopelessly out-of-
date and more solemn than before. Perhaps it was because it was
winter (we saw it before in the summer tirae) that it did not seem
as beautiful as on our previous visit. It was not until the sun was
setting behind the lovely raosque of the six minarets (Achmed First)
that the extreme picturesqueness of this city of seven hills burst upon
us. A pink light was reflected upon the houses of Scutari opposite,

19
while a golden glow spread to the background of the Galata Tower,
Pera and the. European quarter to the north. If to this could have
been added its usual summer verdure (for the city is really a toAvn
of trees) we would have said, as we did before, that from the water
Constantinople is certainly the most beautiful city in -the world.
There are several stamp collectors on board who hunt up the
postoffices in every town we visit and spend their raoney in acquir
ing saraples of all the stamps they issue. No one has done this in
Constantinople, because not only Turkey, but Great Britain, France,
Germany, Russia, Austria, Roumania, and, for all I know, other
countries, have postoffices in the larger Turkish towns, that all issue
an imposing array of stamps. R. says if a man wishes to be safe, he
ought to mail an original letter in the Turkish office and send carbon
copies by way of the others. At the Pera Palace Hotel, Avhere we
took luncheon, the rotunda has six brazen letter-drops for correspond
ing postoffices. They were all polished like the rising sun and must
have consumed much annual sapolio to keep them in good condition.
If the distant view of the city did not irapress us as it did ten
years ago, the Galata bridge and the so-called Torab of Alexander
in the Imperial Museura affected us raore. Tlie forraer resembles
the Canyon of the Colorado in that no words can describe it, espe
cially when the full tide of eastem humanity is pouring across. E.
and I drove over several tiraes, and we both wished we could stay a
week and do nothing else but drive back and forth from Pera to
Stamboul, across the Golden Horn ! The General thinks th^ irregular
plank road that constitutes the bridge pavement Avould soon shake us
to pieces. The bazaars Avere aa bewildering as ever, and in them we would
have been hopelessly lost without our guide. E. has not entirely
recovered from her repugnance to bargaining, and generally leaves
the . matter to me. As long as she does not express a too evident
admiration for an article, and retires to a distance where our voices
cannot be readily heard, the process is rather simple: the oriental
dealer asks a certain price which (in Constantinople), if one goes
about it properly, falls to about one-half to one-third the original
sum. In the midst of our visit to the large bazaar of the son of Fara
way Moses (proper narae. Levy) E. found she had someAvhere lost
her muff. Everybody scurried about to find it, when the General
said, "let us telephone to the hotel; perhaps she left it there." I
had my misgivings, but sought Mr. Levy. He is, among other things,
an admirer of our Republic. "We cannot telephone, because we
have no telephone. There are none here, because the Sultan does
not like them; nor can you send a code telegram. But," said he,
sinking his voice to a whisper, "some day, we shall have tbem."
However, just then a clerk came to say that the lost had been found

20
behind a counter. E., with her thoughts wrapped up in Turkish
embroideries, had dropped it.
St. Sophia was the only mosque we visited, although we tried to
see the interior of the Pigeon mosque and of Achmed I., the ones we
liked best when we were last here. It seems that since the violent
death of the King of Portugal the Sultan has had another fright, and
the visits of strangers are not encouraged- — ^not even Americans, who
have more privileges in Turkey than any other people. We live
far away and haven't, so far, had any large hand in Turkish poli
tics. At first we were told that eA'cn St. Sophia would be closed to
us, but finally our ambassador "arranged" the matter. The Captain
says, he supposes the Minister of Religious Instruction got the en
trance money. We were admitted in small bodies, and a MoUah ac
companied each one to see that we didn't steal any prayer rugs, laugh
or talk out loud, write our names on the marble walls, make fun of
the slippers we bad to wear about the sacred edifice, or disturb the
groups of worshippers that were prostrating themselves before Allah
all over the place. Our Mollah, a young priest about 23 years of
age, bundled us out sans ceremonie, and I Avas not sorry, as I did not
much enthuse over St. Sophia the last time I saw it, and it seemed
cold and forbidding this tirae. When we got inside it was mid-
afternoon and we were just in time to hear the call to prayer from
the surrounding minarets. The roar of the big city, especially of the
carriage wheels on the cobble stone pavement alraost drowned the
priests' voices, although most of them "helped out" by holding their
hands to their mouths. "Why don't they use a holy megaphone?"
said the real estate man from Cincinnati, who was waiting to hear
l3iat "Allah is great."
When we reached the boat to prepare for sailing next day, E. in
sisted on having William shake our outer clothing over the ship's
side in raemory of our previous sojourn in the toAvn, and yet we had
not noticed as many dogs as before, and had certainly not stopped
more than twice to admire a family of puppies.
Every man, woman and child on board purchased a fez, and
most of them are wearing it. We have a goodly number of Armenian
and Greek guides on board, and AA'hen a brunette American assumes
this headdress and a cigarette, it is difficult to distinguish his place
of birth, unless he talks. Fordyce applied to one of these pseudo-
orientals for inforraation about the trip to Galilee, and was told that
on account of the desert, the party would go from Caifa by balloon,
and float down the Jordan to Jerusalem. He also learned that we
land at Joppa by means of rope-baskets and journey to Damascus
in automobiles, all of whieh Fordyce repeated, with his usual watery
^mile, to two biblical enthusiasts Avho were waiting for the informa
tion. To-morrow morning Ave land in Smyrna, and if E. can only see

21
the bazaars and another camel train she will be happy for
the rest of the day. As for the Captain and myself we have sworn t(J
have a cup of real coffee and a piece of real bread — such as his cook at
home makes — if we have to hreak into the Club des Etrangers to get
them. I understand the Captain has a letter to one of the merabers.
Yet the ship 's coffee has im.proved lately, because if you leave out the
creara, it can be differentiated from the tea, whereas earlier in the
trip it couldn't. III.
We sailed in the afternoon as far as the Black Sea so that the
Arabicers might see the sights along either bank of the Bosphorus^ —
past the narrows across Avhich Leander, Lord Byron, Xerxes and
many another bold adventurer has swum, sailed and rowed. To re
mind us that the environs of Constantinople is a sumraer resort we
passed the country villas of merchants, foreign embassies, and the
palaces of the Sultan and his nobility. The residence of the Otto
man Eraperor (Yildiz Kiosk) is plainly seen frora the stearaer deck.
It is a huge enclosure — a small toAvn in itself — -with buildings of all
kinds brilliantly lighted by electricity. And thereby hangs a tale,
for the truth of which the Senator vouches. The Sultan had for
sorae time been flirting with a proposition to adopt the new form
of illumination which, at flrst, he had not regarded with favor. Pin-
ally, he gave an oi-der to an English firm to submit plans and to
exhibit its apparatus. A part of the grounds was at first wired and
the power plant shoAvn to his Majesty. "What are these?" he de
manded. "Oh, those are the dynamos," said the proud agent.
"Then," said the Sultan, "stop the machinery and get out; I shaU
allow no dynamite or anything related to it here. ' ' In vain did the
representative of the company assure his Majesty that this part of
the machinery was not even remotely related to exposives, but in vain;
the Sultan went back ,to the Standard oil product. Hearing this, an
American agent, after much diplomatic manoeuvring, brought to the
attention of the palace a new form of electric lighting in which there
were no dyamos, but generators, and these innocent machines AA'ere in
stalled to the perfect satisfaction of the astute monarch.
The students of Robert College have been visiting us in consid
erable numbers, the boys acting as guides, flirting with the girls on
board and making themselves generally agreeable. As the College is
a co-educational institution (400 pupils, mostly residential) I was not
surprised to hear the Colonel had been doing the honors for the fair
students that came aboard to visit us. He showed me his note-book
inscribed Avith some dozen names in girlish hands— all of whom prom
ised to send him a card at Xmas and all received a hearty invitation
to visit hira in Chicago. The Colonel does nothing by halves.

22
We raade a wide sweep at the entrance of the Black Sea, and on
our return passed the College grounds that skirt the water's- edge
of the Bosphorus. On the tops of buildings, in the grounds, on the
neighboring walls the boys and girls were grouped, waving handker
chiefs, sheets and towels and singing American songs of all kinds,
while from the highest tower floated the .stars and stripes. It was a
pleasant sight to most of us.
The sun was setting behind the hills of Stamboul as we headed
towards the Sea of Marmora and realized the Avonderful outline of
the city. Perhaps the most prominent object was the six-minaret
mosque of Achmed First, standing out in its. delicate beauty against
the orange sky. Towards Pera the white houses of the embassies
ahd the palaces of the rich Avere lighted up in all shades of yellow,
orange and red until, as the Arabic passed Seraglio Point and entered
Marmora, a faint, pink light tinged every mosque, minaret and tower
and raade one forget the rags, the filth and the raisery of the poor
quarters below.
Farther down the coast, after we passed the Dardanelles, we had
good views of Lemnos, Mytilene, Rhodes and many anq-ther island
that stirred strange memories in most of us. The real estate man
from Cincinnati allows nothing to escape, nor does he permit his
wife and daughter to go uninformed. He brings them tit-bits of
inforraation rauch as the mother-bird dispenses dainty worms and
flies to her growing family. I OA'erheard him tell them to-day about
a group of young raen who borrowed his overworked field glass for
the purpose of examining a distant part of the coast where was,
once upon a tirae, he said, a ' ' place called Troy. " 0 ! towers of
Ilion, 0! pater Aeneas, 0! mount Ida — "a place called Troy."
The General says he found hira early the next morning straining
his eyes to discover on a large island near by some traces of the
"Colosseum" of Rhodes. He was much comforted to learn that this
wonder of the world had been removed several years before.
Smyrna looks exactly as we expected it would, and that is saying
rauch, because the raental photo Ave had preserved of the Eastern
cities we visited sorae ten years ago had not always been an exact
duplicate of the reahty. We kodacked the carael trains in the streets,
wandered about the bazaars and wondered how ranch duty we would
have to pay on the wonderful rugs we saAV. For the sake of old time.s
Ave took a meal in the hotel Ave stopped at when we were here before
and R. mailed sorae forty postal cards and letters his wife had writ
ten the day and evening before. That there might be no ill-feeling
among the nations we posted, as directed, a letter and eight cards
in each of the five European postoffices that are to be found in the
city. Mrs. H. 's method of buying Turkish stamps is well worth men
tioning. Having engaged the full attention of the official in ehai-ge
(and that may occupy several minutes if he hasn't finished his

23
cigarette) she exhibits a letter with a stamp (generally an American
stamp) on it, meantime expressing in the purest English her wish
to purchase Turkish stamps not only for the postal cards but for the
letter — also shown. The clerk, having just listened to several voluble
American women (who have told him all about it) counts out the
stamps and Avaits for the money. "How much do you say these
are?" The official, not having said anything for obvious reasons,
shrugs his shoulders and puts the staraps back into the drawer. Mrs.
H. knowing the Governraent to be " hopelessly corrupt, ' ' tries to buy
thera with such local money as she thinks they ought to be satisfied
with, to the weary confusion of the fez-wearing official. Finally she
decides that the "mean thing would only road and not send the cards
and letter anyAvay," so she patronizes the British office where they
.are raore attentive.
The proceedings of our TraA'eler's Club form almost entirely an
"experience" meeting except when the Chairman or sorae fervent
speaker plays a confidence game on the defenceless passengers and
delivers a lecture on some historical, ethnological or sociological aspect
of the country, generally cribbed from Murray, Baedecker, Lorenz
or some other guide book he has meantirae "read up." These meet
ings are amusing and often very instructive. We find that the toAvns
and the objects they contain vary much in their attractive powers
as regards individuals, but the most trivial incidents may prove the
most interesting. During a preliminary discussion of Smyrna (in-
forraally convened in the aft smoking-room) one of the smokere, to
a unanimous request that he tell us Avhat interested him most in
Smyrna, after sorae deliberation decided that although the Caravan
road with its tinkling carael-train and the picturesquely garbed driv
ers were strangely queer they still had, in his judgment, to yield the
palm to a copper stove-pipe he had found doing business in a back
stred; of the city of figs. .Camels he had ridden — ^he would never do
it willingly again — at the World's Fair and even as a boy he had
been acquainted Avith them in Barnum 's Circus, but a good-sized
American stove pipe, made of copper, Avas unique in the experience of
a long life. There were no remarks.
Smyrna is the point of departure for Ephesus — ^two or three
hours' distant by train — and our party returned Avith larger or smaller
fragments of Diana's temple, which they will, Avithout doubt, stoAV
away for distribution among 'their friends and Sunday-school pupils.
With the appearance of mighty Mount Herraon, over 10,000 feet
high, and at this season of the year deeply covered with snow. Bib
lical talk began and the members of the Damascus, Damascus-Samaria
and the overland Galilee-Jerusalem parties have had protracted meet
ings in the various saloons. The nice girl at our table hopes there
will be moonlight on the Sea of Galilee, because the Rev. Mr. X.
.(the Episcopal curate with the mild blue eyes and soft voice who

24
is of her party) has proraised to take sorae of them (probably one of
them) out in 9. boat and deliver an evening lecture on the biblical
references to that celebrated lake.
We passed down the shallow bay that has Acre at one end
and, twelve railes farther south, Caifa (or Haifa) at the other. At the
latter apology for a port we anchored and disembarked the Palestine
"side trip" parties just referred to. E. did not feel well enough
to brave the discomforts (and wetting) incident to landing, but the
General, who wanted to buy a cane, and I took a boat and were rowed
iashore by a lot of yelling, gesticulating, backshish-demanding Syrians.
Near the site of the Carraellite Convent, on the hills overlooking the
bay, the prophet Elijah is said to have lived and worked. We walked
along the single, narrow street and attended market with, apparently,
every raan, woman and child in Caifa. Donkeys, camels, goats, kids,
Ara'bs, Arraenians, Arabicers, Jcavs and other forms of life pushed
and struggled and raised a perfect babel of sound. Suddenly above
the din came a hoarse cry; from around a corner rode two Turkish
cavalrymen who charged through the crowd, alraost running over
the General, and two heavily laden donkeys. Everybody rushed to
what, in happier cliraes, Avould have been the sidewalk. Frora the
vantage of a friendly shop door Ave saw a carriage drive past Avith
an arraed soldier on the box and four heavily armed and mounted
men surrounding it. It was the Governor of Southern Palestine on
an official visit to the town. He need not have been so afraid of
us, since two days afterwards, Avhile waiting at Ramleh on our road
from Jaffa to Jerusalem, Ave saw him arrive with only three soldiers,
go into the waiting-room and afterwards shake hands (at an impro
vised reception) with a train load of Arabicers, every one of A\'hom
might have asked him how he liked his job, how many Avives he had
and what his annual salary is.
The Cincinnati man, noAV that he can bring his biblical lore to
bear on us, is full of strange Hebrew saA^'S. He invited E. to make
free use of his opera glass and see Mount Carrael "where the ravens
fed Lazarus." The General bought tAvo unbarked canes (one for himself, one Eor
rae) made of the wood that grows on the sides of Carrael and
probably an offshoot of the original tree on which the raven sat while
ministering to the hungry prophet. At least that's what the native
merchant told us. However, the General spoiled the story for me
by pointing out marks on the wood made by the toes of the bird
where he alighted on the branch.
We took a sailboat across the mile of Avater that lay between us
and the "Arabic." The Syrian sailors are fine boatraent albeit their
sails and rigging are raore than priraitive. Barefooted, turbaned
and wearing the baggy Turkish trowsers, they run about the slippery
decks and crawl up the raasts like cats. It Avas quite vrindy when we

25
reached the ship. Without slacking speed or furling a sail Ave ran
straight at the steel side of the steamer. When it seemed too late to
prevent a collision four of them sprang to their twenty-foot oars and
tried to "back water." This greatly decreased our speed but did not
prevent the sail-boat frora running into the Arabic with a crash that
was heard above the yells of the crew and the roar of the waves.
The bowsprit yielded to the strain, was torn frora its bed and fell
into the water. The impact, however, decreased the shock, and, after
a scene of wild confusion, during which some 20 or 30 boatmen in
waiting, with a clamor that reminded one of a board-of-trade panic,
assisted (?) in the rescue of the floating bowsprit, we found ourselves
not one penny the worse.
Prom the upper deck of the steamer we saw the long, hot, white,
sandy seashore stretching towards Acre. In the background were
the date palms, the gardens and the hills of Palestine. The shore
road is built upon the sand shelf that runs north and south of us.
At any minute, almost, trains of from two to si.x camels pass by, each
animal tied to his corapanions, while in front trot the horses or
donkeys of the armed escort. In the distance it looked so oriental, so
picturesque; near at hand it was so quaint, so "wobbly" and so
dirty. The General has come in to tell us that none of the sail-boats
have a permanent bowsprit; they are simply lied in place by tag-
ends of rope and their owners expect them to be knocked out of place
—when convenient. And he led me to the gangway and showed me
our crew ' ' repairing ' ' damabes. So most of our excitement was not
justified. When Ave finally left Caifa the OavI Club (in the aft smoke-room)
went into executive session over the forthcoming landing at Jaffa or
Joppa ("you pays your money and you takes your choice") and the
wildest plans were propo.sed. If the wind were too high and we were
unable to anchor in that harborless port, or the sea were too rough
to permit passing safely to land through the narrow opening in the
rocks could we swim? Several passengers told weird stories of boats
obliged to steam up and down the coast for hours, days and even
weeks, waiting for calmer weather to land their passengers and cargo.
Altogether E. and I went to our stateroom rather disturbed by the
news. In the morning Ave found ourselves quietly anchored off
Jaffa, having arrived in the night. The wind was "fresh" and off
shore, and when the dreaded disembarkation began it was amusing
to watch the boatmen bodily remove each waiting passenger, male
or female, and literally hand him or her over to another until from
the gangway he finally reached the bottom of the boat. Fat women
fend obese men were handled Avith wonderful facility. Mostly, the
Arab put his arm around the waist of the passenger and SAvung hira
forward. It was great fun— -watching the others.

26
Since there are no streets (for carriages) in Jaffa we were
obliged to take a good long Avalk towards the Jerusalem railway sta
tion, our baggage having been sent ahead. And it was a walk.
, Jostled by every sort of oriental and rubbing against everj- form of
beast of burden from a Turkish carrier to a camel, the way led
through the most curious Avater-side town we had yet encountered.
E. discovered that there are no delivery wagons in Jaffa, and cer
tainly we saw porters laden with every burden imaginable. The Gen
eral counted 18 eight-foot, two inch planks on the back of one Avretch
while a number of mason's assistants were employed in transportiug,
in the sarae fashion, large blocks of stone! Packing cases, huge
trunks, bags of hydraulic ceraent, even a large sideboard and other
household furniture, were transported by men and women quite as
often as by the lower animals.
We were glad to reach the pure country air and to see the e.'i.-
tensive olive and orange groves of the Vale of Sharon. We bought
the most delicious, ripe, fresh oranges, for Avhich Jaffa is celebrated,
for a shilling a basket — including the very pretty basket.
It is the early Palestine Spring and ploughing (Avith the ancient
plow used here for thousands of years) is going on. For this purpose
oxen are mostly used but in a few instances we saAv a camel and an
ox hitched together. The leafless almond trees- -the earliest of the
year — were in full bloom and the ground Avas eoA'cred AA'ith all sorts
of wild flowers. The pretty (and dirty) little Arab children sold
scarlet and orange-colored roses of Sharon (a sort of anemone) and,
incidentally, collected the eternal backshish. The General had a
pocket full of copper coins with Avhich he made an intimate study
of these sturdy infants and their (occasionally clean) mothers. At
the station where the Turkish Pasha held the reception he, in the
excitement of the moment, put his hand into the wrong pocket and
presented one dirty little tot with a tAvo-shilling piece instead of an
English penny. At which Mrs. General iuAated hira to retire to his
seat in the railway carriage. Thus are our most benevolent efforts
rewarded !
We had to review our preconceived notions of the road to Jeru
salem. To understand the situation one must remember that the Holy
City is built on a mountain peak nearly 3,000 feet above the level of
the Mediterranean and that as soon as aac leave Jaffa Ave begin to
ascend through defiles in a mountain chain of Alpine character until.
after many windings, Ave reach a toAvn with a winter cliraate, where
snow is frequently seen and freezing weather is not unknovvn. No
wonder the Crusaders had a hard time of it! It is by rail about 54
miles to Jerusalem, but the bankrupt raihvay Avith its little Turkish
engine and its small, shaky carriages, takes over fiA^e hours to make
the journey.. I always thought Jerusalem Avas built more or less on a
plain and that it was many miles around the citv Avails. As a matter

27
of fact, it is only a mile across the town and one can easily walk
about it in an hour. Even at this season of the year (March) it is
uncomfortably hot in the sun but cold enough for a light overcoat in
the shade. Our faces were burned a fine Indian red from the Syrian
sun, and raany an Arabicer is suffering frora a severe cold because
he neglected ordinary precautions during these sudden transitions
from the middle of July to the middle of November.
At Jerusalem we took carriages from the station, which is about
three-quarters of a mile outride the walls, and drove to our various
hotels, most of them clustered about the Jaft'a gate.
I shall not attempt to describe Jerusalem except to say that when
one has formed a certain notion of it from the guidebooks he can
be sure that they will turn out to be radically incorrect. It is nec
essary to visit the Holy City and study it for a time to realize what
a fearful jumble of ' ' good, bad and indifferent ' ' it is. Regarding one
aspect of the city I suppose that in no other area of sirailar size has
ever been gathered such an aggregation of fakes, frauds, filth and
misery as may be daily encountered in this town. It appears as if
the scum of the 'nations had been segregated within its four Avails, and
appropriately presiding over all is a cunning despot whose care it
is to stifle all eft'orts at iraproveraent and even to froAvn upon every
(attempt to alleviate the sufferings of the wretched people who craAvl
and squirm about the sanctuary. There may be a holy place or relic
in Jerusalem, that is what the Greek or the Armenian or the Coptic
or the Roraan Catholic or the Latin Church asserts it to be, but I
was not fortunate enough to find it. The Church of the Holy Se
pulchre, probably the most venerated of all the ecclesiastical
structures in the whole world (frora which eA'cry Easter rairacu-
lous, holy fire bursts), contains Avithin a few square yards, the site
of Calvary, the grave of Adam, the tomb of Christ, the ' ' center of the
earth" (whatever that may mean), and a dozen other revered objects.
Over all preside the priests of the sects I have just mentioned, Avho
wrangle and fight above the alleged grave of the gentle Prince cf
Peace. These fanatics are prcA^ented from flying at one another's
throats only by a Turkish guard Avho generally have their hands full
to prevent a breach of the peace that may embroil (indeed, has often
embroiled) half a dozen European governments in their unseemly
quarrels. It is no better in the soi distant Church of the Nativity in Beth
lehem, where the bejeweled manger and other mementoes of the Birth
are displayed for the benefit of Mother Church and the satisfac
tion of the credulous. There the fights have been serious. During one
of these priestly riots severfd soldiers of the church militant were
killed and a Turkish officer, in trying to restore peace, was so badly
injured that he lost au eye. If there were any beauty in these fake
objects or localities one might forgive the superstitions that gave

28
them birth, as mere incidents in our rise frora barbarisms, but, mixed
with costly marbles, rare jewels and precious metals one sees paper
roses, cheap lamps, and other alleged decorations, all thrown together
as on the bargain counter of a department store. As I looked at the
Moslem soldiers in these sacred places I wondered Avhat they thought
about the ethics of that religion Avhich successive generations of Chris-
tion invaders have, with fire and sword, atterapted in vain to irapose
upon thera? What did the educated officers in charge think about
it and about us who, for value receiA'ed, were shoAvn the holy relics
pretty much as country bumpkins explore the interior of a dime mu
seum? Probably five times that day these Turkish soldiers, having,
as the Koran directs, "put aside all worldly things," thanked Allah,
the Merciful, the Compassionate, that they were Mohararaedans, and
not Christians. The information that folloA\'s regarding the status of Mohamme
dan woraen is from our giude-book and to be passed over if desired,
although these things excited our interest after Ave had been invited
to a native wedding.
The family life of the Mohammedan women is' restricted to
female society. At the age of about teu, the girl begins to veil her
face, which indicates that she is of a marriageable age; in fact it
often happens that a girl docs get married so early. When once a
girl has begun covering her face Avith a veil, she is not permitted to
unveil before any raan, excepting a blood relation. Owing to these
restrictions being enforced so early in life, Moslem Avomen do not feel
the want of liberty, and are generally content with their lot.
It is usually the female relatives who suggest to the boy or man
that it is tirae to take to himself a Avife, that he raay have children
and thus perpetuate his name. The Avoraen visit the horae of
any girl they may have heard about from the neighbors as likely to
make a good wife. They observe her and her surroundings closely,
and after the usual topics of conversation, leave Avithout broaching.
the principal object of the visit. Should the relatives of the girl
have any suspicion of it, however, they will cause her to appear
to the best advantage as regards dress and capabilities. The girl
appearing satisfactory, they tell the nearest male relative of the
bridegroom-to-be, the result of their visit. If the scheme is approved
by him, he consults the nearest male relative of the girl in question,
and formally demands her hand. Consent being giA^en, he replies
that he considers it a great honor to be related to the family by mar
riage. The girl is the a asked her Avish, as the laAv permits her to
accept or refuse ; but as a rule she leaves it to her relatives to decide ;
also the amount the bridegroom shall give as dowry to enable the
girl to purchase her trousseau and household furniture. For a faraily
in easy circumstances the sum is from $600 to $800, the greater part
of which must be paid to her nearest male relative before the Aved-

29
ding. He, together with the bridegroom's relatives, buy the neces
sary outfit, each keeping a strict account of every item. The portion
of the dowry not paid down (generally about one-fifth) is, a debt
due the -bride, payable at any time after the wedding. This sum is
seldom demanded, except in ease of divorce, a proviso that makes the
husband careful not to resort to divorce whilst in a temper, or for
a frivolous cause. After' the engagement the girl is considered to
be legally married, although she has not yet been seen by the bride
groom, and is still living at her father 's house.
Polygamy is not as frequent araong the better class of Mphara-
raedan as formerly, since the poor have not the raeans to indulge
in such luxries. The law stipulates that every Avife is to have a
separate horae and equal attention. A wife or her relatives can en
force this legality. Moreover the bride's relatives can reraove her
frora the husband's house should she desire it, if he treat her badly
or if he show preference for any of his other wives. A woman thus
leaving her husband, not being divorced, cannot many again, neither
can she divorce him. He, however, can at any time divorce her by
saying three tiraes, in the presence of reliable witnesses, "I divorce
thee." Should he repeat this formula only tAvice, he can after sorae
difficulty with her male friends and a few presents to her female
relatives take her back again. Should he, however, say this three
times and later ask her return (her relatives being willing) she must
first be married to another man, and be divorced -by hira before she
returns to her first husband. This procedure is generally only a
forra. The second marriage is made Avith a man advanced in years
who on seeing her for the first time divorcas her forthwith in the man-
nei- just described. After all this the husband can take her back with
out the same ceremony and expenditure displayed in the first instance
although it c^oes- cost him something to pacify her faraily.
All the furniture, household effects, dress and jewelry, are the
personal property of the wife, having been purchased with her
dowry-money. In addition to this her faraily frequently give her
much of their OAvn furniture, and when divorced finally, she can take
all away Avith her; no one else can claim anything. If necessary she
can appeal to her male relatives and the law to uphold her claim.
She then returns to her father 's house, till she is either married again
or dies. It must not be supposed that there are no bright spots in the
sombre picture usually seen by the Jerusalem tourist. 1 know at
least three. One of these is the so-called American Colony, at whose
house we, with some twenty other Arabicers, were hospitably received
and well entertained. Not only did E. and I have "home" cook
ing, clean, eorafortable beds, a large airy room, well lighted and
heated, but we were able to see something of the admirable benevo
lence of which they form the center. A band of devoted workers

30
thafi a quarter of a century ago left Chicago under the leadership
of a Mr. aud Mrs. Spafford, to do "settlement" work where it was
most needed, have so increased in numbers and influence that their
fame has spread all over Palestine. Their friends are coun'ted as
well frora wild tribes of Bedouins (one of their Shieks was visiting
at the house while we were there) as from the other Orientals that
make up the mixed population. They own tAVO or three large houses
and have a fair income from a number of industries they have in
augurated. These give employment to several hundred people. Some
thing of what they have accomplished may be iraagined from
the fact that about ten yeai's ago the Turkish authorities invited-Mrs.
Vester (nee Miss Spa.fford) to take charge of the public school for
Mohammedan girls and to teach thera pretty rauch what she consid
ered raost useful. In a short time this struggling school of 30 girls
increased to 350 and for several years Avas a great success. Mrs.
Vesta noAV has the proud distinction of being the only woman per
mitted to enter alone and unattended any of the Moslem holj' places
about Jerusalem. The Arabicers who Avere fortunate enough to live
at the American Colony were the envy of all their compatriots, for
while they lived on pumpkin pie, good bread, excellent butter, real
coffee, doughnuts and other American luxuries and had a special
entertainment every night in the large parlor of the principal house,
raost of the others had to put up with the roa.st goat, greasy vege
tables, insufiieient service and (in) "conveniences" of the second-
class Palestine caravanseries for which the Holy City is famous. We
left that oasis Avith deep regret and a hearty iuAdtation to come again.
Then there are several missions and hospitals that, under various
European and American auspices, are doing much to alleviate the
sufferings of the poor people of Palestine. A most worthy example
of these is the British Ophthalmic Hospital (with 30,000 patients
annually) that, Avith insufficient equipment, does what it can to com
bat especially that alraost universal eye disease — trachoraa — the cause
of most of the blindness one encounters everyAvhere here. I gave up
an afternoon to a visit to this center of benefaction and wished I Avere
in a position to endow the institution.
If I have spoken rather sharply about the superstitious displays
that force theraselves upon one in Jerusalera, I cannot help feeling
that the places held sacred by so many millions of people for so many
centuries do afford solace and comfort to the countless thousands of
pilgrims that have taken the Aveary journey to Jerusalem. For ex
ample, we watched one of a large band of Russians — an ill-fed, hollow-
eyed peasant — who had bought a poor little candle from the
greasy Greek priest who sold them at a profit of about ten thousand
per cent. Instead of pushing his Avay to the front of the sepulchre,
like most of the others, he placed the tallow dip in an obscure cor
ner and, all unmindful of the crowd, humbly offered up his earnest

31
petition. Surely, somewhere in the Beyond notice will be taken of
that pathetic soul, thus bared before the infinities and the eternities,
and he will find the peace he had come so far to seek. -
The valley of Hinnora (or Gehenna) contains most of the water
supply of the City — Solomon's Pools — and thereabouts, on Friday is
held the cattle market, which Ave saw. On its deep sides, also, we
witnessed the Greek church carnival, and Avondered Avhat fun the
people that covered its north bank and the dusty .Jaffa road beside
it could find in such hilarious excitement as sitting in the hot sun,
eating nuts,- playing dominoes, drinking resin wine, and, incidentallj',
getting covered with the limestone dust that abtiuuds in the dry
season. E. says I have quoted the Gehenna proverb so often since our
arrival in Jerusalem that she is certain I Avill carry horae a sense of
loss if I do not repeat it here for the twentieth tirae. So, please do
not read the following sentence because in "Her Majesty the King"
you have read it before: "Blessed is the, man in AA'hose tent dwell
both his own mother and his wife's raothei-, for even if he gain not
Paradise he Avill not fear Gehenna!"
After listening to many councillors and obtaining thereby the
most varied forms of advice Ave decided to A'isit the Dead Sea and
Jericho, especially as E., under the influences of Mrs. Spafford and
the other merabers of the Colony, was feeling ' ' in the seventh
heaven." We did some mental arithmetic and decided that as Jeru
salem is, say 2,600 feet above the IcA-el of the Mediterranean and the
Jordan Valley about 1,400 feet beloAV it, Ave would have to descend in
the 35 raile ride, some 4,000 feet. "No, it is not warm there," said
our dragoman, "it is hot there." And it was. He failed, howcA'cr,
to add, "it is dirty and dusty there." Still, Ave enjoj'ed every hour
of the pilgrimage — even when, on our Avay back, we had, to relicA'c
the horses, to take an hour's Avalk before reaching the IVlount of Olives,
straight up the mountain side.
In a gorge of .Alpine dimensions we were shown the Convent of '
St. George, built half way up a perpendicular cliff. It is accessible
only by a narroAV winding path mostly cut in the face of the rock.
Along this dizzy path are rude dwellings, cut out of the solid rock
— mere burrows — in which "holy" hermits exist from year to year,
fed upon pilgrim and tourist charity eked out by occasional dona
tions from the Convent. However, I do not blame these ascetics for
Avithdrawing frora the life-in-death of Jerusalem and Jericho. Un
able to accomplish any good in the world they immure themselves in
these dungeon-like resorts and, perhaps, have the satisfaction of be
lieving that, in some way or other, they perform a meritorious work.
Chacun a son goiit.
Sometime in the past single travelers and even caraA'a.ns were
attacked by Bedouins on the war path, so we were accorapanied hj a

32
good-looking, arraed find raounted guard-— a sort of municipal sol
dier of the raost picturesque type. He proved an agreeable addition
to our party. -Halting in a striking attitude (for easy photography)
he expressed a Avillingness to sell his horse, dagger, sword, rifle,
bridle, etc., smiling the while on everybody who spoke to him. His
English vocabulary consisted of the numerals, "good-day" and "good-,
bye." Of course, when the journey ended he receiA'ed an adequate
amount of backshish for his eminent services.
As we approached the tropical valley of the Jordan and had our,
first glimpse of Jericho and the Dead Sea, Ave realized as never be
fore, what is meant by the expression, "the shadow of a great reck
in a weary land;" in the blinding sunlight if Ave exposed our faces,
unused to such treatment, for even a few minutes, it felt as if we
were looking into a blast furnace, Avhile in the shade of the moun
tain it was cool and pleasant. When Ave started on our journey from
Jerusalem a steamer rug and heaA-y clothing were not disagreeable;
at the Dead Sea we longed for a straw hat and tennis flannels.
The flve-raile approach of the Mer Morte Avas carried through a
scene of desolation resembling the Dakota Bad Lands — no vegetation
and no sign of flocks or herds. We stayed long enough to "sample"
the waters, a fcAV of us took a bath (and tried in A'ain to sink beneath
the waves) in the bitter-salt-asphalt waters, inspected the boat
that plies between two '.'ports" on its shores, annexed a fcAV pieces of
bitumen, a few salt covered stones and a fcA^' snap-shot.s and then
turned our horses' heads towards the Jordan.
After a couple of hours' driving we reached a A'ery beautiful
part of the river bank lined A^ith trees and carpeted with flowers.
Jordan overflows its banks when the snows of Mount Herraon raelt
in July, not to raention the streams that flow from the "Nebo's lofty
height" and the other peaks of the mountains of Moab that form the
eastern boundary of the valley. At that season it is quite a wide
river and justifles the line, "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,"
but now it is little more than a creek — ^^albeit a charming creek, Avind-
ing, like the Meander, through a most fertile country some 50 odd
miles from the sea (?) of Galilee. This, the garden spot of Palestine, is
the personal property of the Sultan, Avho has so far declined all
offers — and they have been many — ^to dcA'elop its resources. Some
intrepid soul planted cotton near Jericho and found it grows as easily
as on the Nile, but the incubus of I\Ioslem rule will likely prevent any
good of the venture.
The old lady, Avhora we call No. 8, is happy. She has reviewed
her early studies of the Old Testament and is much pleased Avith the
guide, Avho has been pointing out the mountain frora which
Moses saw the promised land, Elijah's fountain, the recent excava
tions of the ancient walls that fell down at the sound of the priests'

33
'trumpets, etc. She confided to E. that she can now easily understand
how the children of Israel crossed the Dead S^a — of course, in a shal-
loAV part — "because you see, it is narrow — not wide like a real sea."
The General succeeded in finding for her the pillar of salt that once was
Lot's wife, whereupon she prevailed upon the Captain's wife to kodak
it and promise to send her a print.
If there is a worse "hotel" in the Avorld than the one in which
we spent that night at Jericho I would give several piastres to hear
about it. -It was not that this hostelry was dirty, but it exhibited
conditions that I am sure are peculiar to Jericho. Our table attend
ant, for example, corabined beneath one filthy turban and the other
reronants of an Arabic dress, the functions of waiter and hostler. E.
says I am "down on him" because he rested the platter of fLsh on
ray head while he helped her at the alleged table h'hote; the fact is,
I objected to his corabining his double duties within the same ten
minutes. I saw Abdullah, between the soup and the fish, rush into
the stable yard and hastily harness a donkey, carefully cleansing the
back of the faithful beast Avith the towel which later on was utilized
for wiping our plates. Abdullah's method of serving our ApoUinaris,
for we dare not drink local watei-, is almost unique and afforded
hira infinite amusement. As the bottles are indifferently cooled the
effervescence is quite marked. Opening a bottle in our presence with
his small corkscrew is a performance that occupies some time and is
watched by the whole party. The cork, in several fragraents, is
finally extracted, when ' ' swish, ' ' goes the carbonated fluid. Abdullah
first endeavors to prevent the outpoor by placing his palra on the
opening, and when that fails by inserting a forefinger or a thurab
as a sort of human cork. We do not remonstrate ;svith Abdullah be
cause he would not understand our Arabic, and, anyway, if he did
he might vidpe the bottle with his hostler's towel. Our dietary while
we rested in Jericho consisted of such articles of food as do not corae
in contact with the native population, e. g., boiled eggs, oranges,
and bananas. The rest of the pilgriras "turned in" similar reports.
Although Ave slept in our clothes E. enjoyed the pleasure bf imagina
tion in that she assured me next morning she had, in her troubled
dreams, been bitten by every insect that craAvls, creeps, fiies or jumps.
We were up, had our morning meal by lamplight and resumed
our homeward journey long before sunrise. In this way we were
able to get a good start and reach the cool mountain passes before
the heat qf the day. It was a glorious sight to view, across the Jor
dan Valley, the tropical sun slowly rise from behind the mountains
of Moab. The pleasure of our visit to the pretty Garden of Gethsemane
was not enhanced by a near View of the lepers that are allowed to
beg in its neighborhood. A German society provides a home for
about one-half of these unfortunates and the municipality makes some

34 ,
sort of. provision for the remainder, but, as might have been expected,
does not prevent thera from annoying the coraraunity during the
tourist and pilgrimage season. Even the comfortable quarters of the
Gerraan hospice are during this time deserted by most of its inmates
for the outdoor life and liberty of the beggar 's bowl.
The tents of the Sheik that we met at the American Colony are
pitched on the east bank of the Jordan, and shelter over 500 armed
and raounted Bedouins. He rencAved his invitation to" visit hira
and I wish I bad time for the excursion, especially as they say he
has, on several occasions, exhibited toAvards Americans the best ex
ample of a proverbial hospitality.
Our usual luck brought us safely to the boat from the landing
stage at Joppa, and early next morning we Avere in the harbor of
Alexandria. As our Nile excursion is tq precede our, visit to Cairo
we had to be content Avith driving through that city on our way to
the Kaser-el-Nil bridge Avhere we took the boat. The Pyraraids of
Ghizeh appeared to follow us for miles up the river, and at length
faded away. »
The Nile is rather low at this season and I understand the
"Puritan" is making her last trip until next Fall. For this reason
we shall "do" the upper Nile first, and, later, make a special trip
to the pyramids and temples about Cairo. We have a stateroom on
the upper deck facing the East. We prefer it, as it is cool in the morn
ing and does not interfere Avith our Nile surise. And Avhat sunrises !
From the early cool of daAvn until an hour after the sun comes up
the east is one glorious study in blue, orange, red and all combinations
of these colors. We also made a delilDerate study of the various A^'ater-
raising devices — as all other Nile tourists have for untold thousands
of years — of the endless procession of picturesque sail boats laden with
the spoils of field aud factory — grain, sugar-cane, water bottles, cut
stone, not to raention human freight in the guise of Egyptians, Arabs
and Soudanese.One of the most attractive sights Ave saw are the fields of opium
poppies with their many colored flowers, raost of them for smoking
purposes, I fea'r.
It was not difficult to find evidence on every side of a prosper
ous land. We missed the down-trodden, hopeless appeai-ance of the
populace so marked in Palestine. It seemed as if the fallahin had a
chance here (probably for the first time in thousands of years), and
we thanked the British government for at least gi\ing us. that eora
fortable assurance. Even backshish was not demanded Avith that fre
quency and persistence which we always expected in Turkey; again
thanks to the British, who are doing all in their power (by placards
posted wherever tourists are found) to discourage this degrading
practice. And so Ave slowly steamed up the river lotus eating, Avhich is

35
mostly equivalent to lounging on some comfortable part of the boat
and watching the ever interesting shore. No one can fail to be im
pressed by these scenegi — the strange objects we were always encoun
tering, a fellah at prayer, a native village, a shaduf ' at irrigating
work, with its laborers drawing Avater from_one level tb another, sing
ing the while; the antics of a buff'alo calf, a baby camel or a frisky
donkey-— no wonder E. hoped we could go on for a month or two ia
just this way.
Last night our boat ran on a sand bar, and in spite of backing
up, putting on all steam and the "poling" of the Arab crew, there
we stuck for half an hour.
The blindness and eye diseases of the natives pursued us from
the Holy Land. The reason for the' prevalence of trachoma is not
far to seek. AtlAssiout (Avhere the shaAA'ls come from) we drove
about- the bazaars and town. Every hundred yards or so we noticed
children whose faces were covered with flies, no attempt being made
to remove thera. We are told that the fatalism of their race prevents
the Egyptians from disturbing these vile insects, thus allowing them
to carry infection frora one person to another. If anyone makes a
study of the Egyptian fly on his native heath he will flnd one of Hie
most persistent, raost aggressiA^e animals in existence. He simply will
not move on but, in spite of "horse-tails," fans and other weapons
of offense, sticks to the face and hands with a tenacity worthy of
a better cause. When E. first experienced hira, she said, "Oh, now
its going to rain, the flies stick so. ' ' But it hasn 't yet.
The main difference between the possibilities of uprooting tra
choma in Egypt and the same enterprise in-Palestine is that in the
former country public sanitation and education uoav go hand in
hand; under Turkish rule the country must still suffer because no
"dirt" disease can be eradicated Avhere there are no opportunities or
inclination towards general hygiene.
They say that after a Aveek in upper Egypt nobody ever mentions
the weather because it never rains, snows or hails, and the sun always
shines. There is no excuse for comment when there is no variation.
Our dijagoman, Hosein Mahommed, is a glorious creature who
arrays himself in a new gown every day, sometimes silk, sometimes
cloth of gold. He daily explains the "ruins," answers a thousand
questions, beams on everybody and sells rings, scarabs and muniray
.beads. At dinner he announces the program for the next day, and
then tells a story which always begins: "Once upon a time there
was, etc.," and generally drags in the "God of Love." I wish I had
time and space to jot down Hosein 's stories, because, outside of the
Arabian Nights Entertainments, there never was anything like thera.
Why dragomans are not imported (with all their resplendent cloth
ing) into America for laAvn fetes and dinners, I cannot imagine. But

36
then, I presume one would need an Arabian environment tp make such
an undertaJiing effective.
The ladies of our party have rauch trouble with their reckonings
in Egyptian piastres and inilliemes. From the lounge-steAvard; who
speaks little English and less French, I overheard "No. 8" trying to
buy a bottle of mineral water. ' ' I want Hunyaddy, Hunyaddy Jan-
ness, a French drink — flzz, fizz, like this," and she suited action to
the word. She finally got a bottle of apoUinaris, although she said
she "took no stock in them Eye-tallian waters."
The son of the Kansas city banker brought a couple of trunks
filled with an appropriate outfi-t for a Nile traveler. When we went
out this morning, per donkey, to visit the Avonderful temple of Den-
derali, he appeared with an English riding suit, helmet and whip — _
the admired of all admirers. He also possesses a shooting outfit and
fires unremittingly and, so far, I ara happy to say, unsuccessfully,
at the vultures, cranes, ibises, hoopoes, pelicans, and fish-hawks that
we pass on our way south. I wish somebody would gently lift that
youth into the turbid waters of Father Nile.
As our better halves declined the trip to Denderah, the General
and I took donkey and set forth with some twenty other pilgrims.
His animal, Bulbul, so named from his voice, and my beast, Kala
mazoo (all donkeys that carry rae are so christened), impelled from
behind by two boys, won over the other contestants by forty yards.
The General swears if he ever catches his donkey boy when the other
passengers cannot see them he will daraage the ebony cane he bought
at Assiout beyond recognition. He says he didn't mind having
Bulbul belabored as long as they are both on the level desert, but he
will not permit any tail-twisting when he and Bulbul are descending
canal banks. However, the General had a good tirae in the temple,
and I saw him later in the day "baekshishing" his boy, the boy's
reputed father (who .said he owned the donkey), his little sister, and
a neighbor that kindly held the bridle for hira while he dismounted.
The temple of Denderah must have been an imposing building
before the early Christians tried —let us be thankful that those efforts
partially failed — ^to chisel and hamraer off the faces of "images"
with which the walls are covered. In many places one sees the
colored pictures and hieroglyphics that decorate the ceilings and sides
of the chambers. The roof is composed of iraraense blocks of stone,
dovetailed so as to resist earthquake and huraan vermin. Signs of
the latter are everywhere to be seen, and Ave noted araong them the
names of "R. R. Lindsay" and others deeply cut in the stone. The
Senator said that although the early Christians had failed to utterly
deface the monuments, the Lindsay tribes were continuing the
enterprise, and if given time and a free hand Avould eventually suc
ceed. Some of our party smiled and made jokes about the myth of
the illness, death and resurrection of Osiris, the Egyptian savior, as

37
we find it so marvelously portrayed (over twenty centuries ago) on
the walls of this wonderful temple dedicated to Horus, Set and
Osiris. I well remember, however, that they treated what was prob
ably a second edition of the same legend in quite a different fashion
because it was told in the Holy City.
Three chums of the man from Cincinnati got on at Minia. They
are now assisting him in "lining up" the monuments. The fat one
seems to be chairman of the club, that generally holds sessions in the
smoking room after each meal. This afternoon I heard hira say,
"Well, if I were doing a god business in Egypt, I would take the
job of that feller Horrors. The Irishman, 0 'Cyrus, was hot dog,
all right, but Horrors had the call." His description of the pic
tured wall on the Denderah temple representing the sacrifice of Cleo
patra to Aramon-Ra would have delighted the soul of Mark. Twain.
It is too funny to spoil by attempting to repeat it.
The servants on the boats and in the hotels are mostly Sou
danese, they say, and certainly they seem much cleaner, more alert
and more intelligent than the Egyptian feUahin. Probably that is
the reason the Anglo-Egyptian soldiers are so largely recruited from
the Soudan. We landed early at Luxor, and took up our -quarters in the fine
Winter Palace Hotel — ^to which E. says she is coming for a rest every
February and March.
It so happens that we have the full moon just now and are
taking complete advantage 'of it. We never expected to see the
gigantic columns of Kamak or Luxor by the pale light of the moon
and feel as if we have been particularly fortunate in being here to
witness the glories of that view. This morning we rose early, and
from our balcony saw the moon set across the hiUs and the desert,
and almost at the sarae moment the sun rise across the Arabian moun
tain tops. We Avere so rauch impressed with it all that I was within
an ace of missing the trip to the Tombs of the Kings, for which long
journey it is well to start before the sun is an hour high, unless one
Avishes to be burned a deep Egyptian brown that persists for weeks.
In a week or two we shall be on the Mediterranean again, and,
although we have before us the South Italian spring and the delights
of Amalfi and Sorrento, yet "everybody" has been there, and it seems
hardly worth while to "write about it — anyway it would not be appro
priate to a Levantine Log.