EGYPT: AND A JOURNEY TO PALESTINE, VIA MOUNT SINAI AND PETRA.*

BY LIEUT.-COLONEL R. H. MILES.

IX.

Ir is quite time-judging by the impatience of some of my readers, who have not scrupled to make known to me their anxious wishes to hear all about the forty days' journeying in the "Wilderness," as well as to read my personal description, in print, of my visit to Mount Sinai and Petra, and all about Ezion-geber, where we learn from the Holy Scriptures King Solomon, in his day, constructed "a navy of ships" (1 Kings ix. 26)—it is quite time, I repeat, I should say farewell to Cairo, and commence my long, tedious, as well as most fatiguing journey to Jerusalem.

This I find to be no such easy task, for, after having resided from November until the latter end of February in the Egyptian capital, with the exception of the seventeen or eighteen days which were so very agreeably spent in the Isthmus of Suez, I feel somewhat loth to quit the neighbourhood of the Esbékiéh, upon which my windows have looked so long, and especially when one last word more will be sure to make itself heard, through these "world-circulated" pages, of some further description of " men and things" at Cairo, which have been hitherto, in the embarras de richesses of other, perhaps more interesting, subjects, temporarily "shelved."

One of the most curious sights to be witnessed at Cairo is the departure of a "caravan," as it is generally called, for Palestine, by either the short desert route, or by that of the long desert one; but especially the latter, for it is much larger, and forms a far more attractive object to the stranger fresh from Europe to behold than the former one does. There is an open space in front of both of the two large and most frequented hotels at Cairo, and as soon as the party is made up, and the dragoman engaged, and the necessary "kit" got together, the whole of the camels, which had been previously secured by the dragoman, are brought to this spot, where they bivouac until the hour for the departure of the caravan. The tents having been pitched and duly inspected by each member of the party who is to occupy them, as well as the small, low, and narrow camp iron bedsteads, and the articles of bedding thereon, together with the "stores" and casks of Nile water for drinking and culinary purposes, and, lastly, the arrangement for the kitchen having been looked to, each traveller generally mounts the dromedary, which the dragoman selects for him, and tries its paces on the light sandy ground of the Esbékiéh. This last proceeding affords great fun and merriment to the European visitors who are residing at these hotels, and to whom it forms an era in their Egyptian life, the recollection of which sight will long remain fresh and vivid in their minds after their return to their own country. These animals have not all the same equally easy and gentle pace;

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several of them, especially in the present day, are extremely rough, and most uncomfortable in their paces. The race or breed of riding camels, commonly called dromedaries, would seem to have become either extinct, or, at all events, to have greatly deteriorated; for I have a vivid recollection of a very different and far superior class of riding camels, on which I rode all the way from Cairo to Ramléh (the ancient Arimathea of Scripture) in April, 1845.

The stranger in the land who mounts a dromedary for the first time in his life, unprovided with a pair of stirrup-irons and leathers, and finding he has only a slight cord wherewith to hold or to guide his animal, certainly cuts a strange figure, and his appearance in such a novel character is enough to make the lookers-on die with laughter.

This first general assembling of the "caravan" must be witnessed to be thoroughly realised. So strong are first impressions with some persons, that I recal to mind the instance of a German baron who had just returned on board of the passenger steamer from a visit to Upper Egypt, and who was staying at Shepheard's Hotel, on witnessing from his bedroom window the assembling of 66 a caravan" on the eve of starting for Palestine, vid Mount Sinai, leaving his room, to which he had been for some days confined by an attack of diarrhoea, contracted on board of the steamer, as he informed me, and, actuated by the first impressions on his optic nerves, hastening to mount one of the dromedaries, in order to ascertain whether he could endure the fatigue of such a conveyance throughout the whole of the journey which he contemplated making, vid Mount Sinai and Petra, to Jerusalem. On descending from off the camel's back on to terra firma, the baron confessed to me it was rough riding!

The first great difficulty, previous to starting from Cairo, is to make up a party who will all agree to go the same route you yourself have made up your mind to travel by; for, although more than half of the European visitors who have proceeded to Upper Egypt go on to Palestine and to Syria, in order to complete their tour, yet, as no less than four different routes are available by which Jerusalem can be reached, it is no easy matter to find fellow-travellers with the same views as your own.

Many persons prefer the sea route from Alexandria to Jaffa, as being not only very much shorter in regard to the time occupied on the journey, but likewise as being much cheaper, and performed with considerably less bodily fatigue.

In my own case, I found several travellers who were bound to Jerusalem, some of whom had made up their minds to proceed by the sea route, whilst others had determined to travel by the way of the short desert; one or two Englishmen had no objection to forming a party to proceed as far as Mount Sinai and back to Cairo; whilst others, again, wished to visit the shores of the Red Sea, ascend Mount Sinai, and thence make for Jerusalem, via Nakl, Beersheba, and Hebron, thereby foregoing Ezion-geber and Mount Seir; the fourth route was vid Akaba and Wady Mōōsa.* Having at length found a party of three other travellers, who had but just arrived from England, both willing and ready to join me in visiting Mount Sinai and Petra, on the

* The modern names of Ezion-geber and Mount Seir.

journey to Jerusalem, immediate arrangements were made for our early departure; but, before these were accomplished, the steamer returned from Upper Egypt, and no less than four of her passengers -two of whom were English and the remainder Americans on hearing of the party already made up to "do" Mount Sinai and Petra, on their way to Jerusalem, were most anxious to join it, and, as our "quartette" was agreeable to the same, the party now consisted of eight persons.

In proceeding by either the long or the short desert route, it is not only preferable, but advisable, to travel in company; for it is too monotonous work to travel over such a dreary extent of country for so many days, all alone, without the chance of seeing or meeting with a white face until you reach your journey's end; while, again, it is extremely expensive for one person to have to defray the whole costs of this journey, to say nothing of its offering a very great temptation to one's being attacked and plundered by some of the wandering Bedouin tribes, when they perceive you are the only European in the caravan. In case of sickness or sudden illness, the case would be deplorable indeed.

Sometimes two caravans, consisting of ladies as well as gentlemen tourists, agree to travel, for company's sake, together; but each distinct and separate from the other-each having its own dragoman and establishment, and, in this respect, perfectly independent the one of the other. For the sake of society, and in the hour of sickness, this plan has its advantages.

The month of January is far too early to proceed to Palestine, inasmuch as if the traveller should proceed via Mount Sinai, he will be unable to ascend that mountain from the depth of snow on its summit, and which extends even for some distance down its sides; and should he proceed via the short desert route, he will arrive at Jerusalem in the winter season, when the weather is very cold, and the air chilly, and damp, and raw, from the frequent heavy rain which falls.

On my return to Cairo, after the Dahabiéh voyage to Upper Egypt, the latter end of March, 1845, I had intended to have proceeded to visit Mount Sinai, but the hot season had already set in, and the weather had become too sultry and too oppressive to do so with any comfort. I may here observe that at Philæ, above the first cataracts of the Nile, and as far down that river as Osiōōt, on my return trip, the thermometer in the shady side of the main cabin, or sitting-room, registered between the hours of two and four P.M. from 90 deg. to 94 deg. Fahrenheit.

On the journey to Mount Sinai through the "wilderness" in which it still stands, as of old (Exodus xix. 1, 2), I was informed at Cairo I should find the heat unbearable in a tent, and I was strongly recommended to forego a visit to it at such an advanced period of the season, which, as the advice proceeded from old residents in that city, I considered it only prudent to follow.

We (for there were two of us) therefore proceeded to Jerusalem, viâ "El Arish," or by the short desert route, where we arrived in time to accompany the pilgrims of the Greek Church down to the river Jordan.

The French have a saying that, "tout arrive à bon tems à celui qui

sait attendre," and I most certainly had a long time to await my bon tems' arrival; for it was only after the expiration of one-and-twenty years that I had an opportunity of carrying out my long and anxiously wished-for desires!

The second great difficulty, for those who intended to proceed by way of either" desert" route to Palestine, was the choice of a thoroughly efficient, safe, as well as honest dragoman, whose services are indispensable on the journey. Now, there are four different races of dragomen to choose from-Arabs, Maltese, Syrians, and Greeks, and a few very excellent dragomen are to be found among the three firstnamed of these classes. The Greek, however, I would avoid engaging, if it is intended to proceed by the long desert route, in case of any misunderstanding arising between the dragoman and the different Bedouin tribes, which might jeopardise the lives and property of all the caravan. But early application is necessary to secure their services, as the best of these men are almost always bespoke by parties, by letter, as early as the end of September, and by the end of October the few really good men have been already engaged.*

Great and frequent have been the complaints on the part of several European travellers against the conduct of the different dragomen they have had the misfortune to engage, shortly after their arrival in Egypt, without having taken sufficient precautions, and made particular inquiries from several distinct sources into the characters of the men they were about to engage for a period of several weeks' duration, on such high terms, too, as had been ruling during the last four or five winters in Egypt. So many parties having been wronged, ill fed, ill served, and even flagrantly cheated and "fleeced" by the dragomen whom they had hired, I have thought it necessary to bring this very important subject into prominent notice, whilst I am alluding to dra

gomen.

Our party of eight was finally increased to nine gentlemen, in all; for, at the eleventh hour, a young English clergyman, who had a few days previously expressed his anxious wish to be allowed to join our already large party, put in a personal appearance" (as the lawyers say) at the chancellerie of the British consulate, just as we were all assembled to ratify-as is customary at each of the different European consulates at Cairo-mutual "agreements," to be held binding on both parties thereto-viz. the travellers on one part, and the dragoman on the other-for the period therein named.

Since the month of December previous I had had in view a good and

*I had hoped shortly after my arrival in Egypt to have obtained the services of a most excellent dragoman, an Egyptian named Ali, who, whilst we were all proceeding down to the Jordan (in April, 1845), placed his own life in the greatest jeopardy to save that of one of the three American gentlemen (the same party who had renounced visiting Mount Sinai) who had been pulled from off his horse, between Jerusalem and Bethany, by some Mahomedan fanatics, with green flags in their hands. The dragoman, on this occasion, was not only severely handled, but was badly wounded, and had to be conveyed back, on a litter, to Jerusalem, where his wounds were attended to, one of the three American gentlemen accompanying him. Should either Mr. Maxwell (of Kentucky) or Mr. Thompson see this article, they will at once recognise the valuable services their dragoman rendered them on this occasion. But I learnt, to my great regret, poor Ali had become too infirm to travel any more as a dragoman, and had accepted a quiet post in the household of the Italian consul at Alexandria.

trustworthy dragoman of the name of Hussǎnēen Bedawee, whom I recollected during my last previous visit to Cairo, and who had a book full of very excellent certificates given to him by the different parties whom he had accompanied to Upper Egypt, and likewise to Palestine and to Syria. This man had had, also, the advantage of having travelled several times by the long desert route, where he was well known to the different Shaicks on the road; he had, moreover, visited Petra several times, while he had also made the overland journey with an English traveller from Aleppo to Bagdad, and likewise a voyage from Suez to Bombay. He was well known as a good, honest dragoman at Cairo, and the only thing I could hear to his prejudice, and that from one of the oldest lady residents at Cairo, was, he was considered to be given to parsimony, and was not sufficiently liberal in the table he provided for his party-in short, a grippe-sou.

As soon as our first party of four persons was made up, Hussaneen's services were secured, and an agreement was made with him that he was to give us safe escort to Jerusalem, viâ Mount Sinai, Akabah, Petra, and Hebron; that he should find us in carriage, in tents, and in food (three substantial meals a day), with a good dromedary for each of us to ride on, and a sufficient retinue of servants.

That if our party should be limited to four persons, each one of us should pay him the sum of two pounds five shillings, English value, per diem-the same whether halting or marching-for the forty days' journey, viâ the long desert route.

2ndly. That if our party should consist of five or six persons, the dragoman was to receive the sum of one pound fifteen shillings per diem from each of us; and,

3rdly. That if more than six persons formed the party, the dragoman was to receive only one pound ten shillings per diem from each person; and that in this last case this sum should include the "fees" and "taxes" invariably levied by the Shaick of Wady Mōōsa (Petra) on all travellers, European, Egyptian, or Asiatic, who visited and encamped in this dangerous valley. We were, however, to pay the "fees," as well as the customary buksheesh, or "present," at the convent of Mount Sinai, as well as at all the monasteries, and convents, and churches we might visit, after entering Palestine, besides all sums expended on "sight-seeing."

In this agreement the dragoman had in his favour not only the great advantage of having the full period of forty days conceded to him for accomplishing the journey from Cairo to Jerusalem in, and which at thirty shillings a day would cost each of us the sum of sixty pounds sterling, besides other little incidental expenses by the way, as well as a buono mano to the dragoman and to his servants at the conclusion of the journey (for such is the rule that obtains in all Eastern countries, and both dragoman and servants would think they had not given satisfaction to their masters and employers were the expected bukshēësh withheld), but he was, moreover, to receive the same sum for each day's halt on the journey.

The usual time allowed to accomplish this journey in (as I have previously observed in part second of this narrative) is thirty-six days; but as a halt on every Sabbath-day is almost invariably stipulated for, this