The Land of Midian (Revisited) Volume I Part 3

Seven a.m. (December 11th) found us crossing the Birkat Fara'un--Pharaoh's Gulf--some sixty miles from the great port.

Its horrors to native craft I have already described in my "Pilgrimage." Between this point and Ras Za'faranah, higher up, the wind seems to split: a strong southerly gale will be blowing, whilst a norther of equal pressure prevails at the Gulf-head, and vice versa. Suez, indeed, appears to be, in more ways than one, a hydrographical puzzle. When it is low water in and near the harbour, the flow is high between the Straits of Jobal and the Daedalus Light; and the ebb tide runs out about two points across the narrows, whilst the flood runs in on a line parallel with it.

Finally, when we returned, hardly making headway against an angry norther, Suez, enjoying the "sweet south," was congratulating the voyagers upon their weather.

The loss of a good working day soon made itself felt. The north wind rose, causing the lively Mukhbir, whose ballast, by-the-by, was all on deck, to waddle dangerously for the poor mules; and it was agreed, nem. con., to put into Tor harbour. We found ourselves at ten a.m. (December 12th) within the natural pier of coralline, and we were not alone in our misfortune; an English steamer making Suez was our companion. This place has superseded El Wijh as the chief quarantine station for the return pilgrimage; and I cannot sufficiently condemn the change.[EN#17]

The day lagged slowly, as we

"Walked in grief by the merge of the many-voiced sounding sea."

But we looked in vain for our "tender," a Sambuk of fifty tons, El-Musahhil (Rais Ramazan), which Prince Husayn had thoughtfully sent with us as post-boat. She disappeared on the evening of the 11th, and she did not make act of presence until the 16th, when her master was at once imprisoned in the fort of El-Muwaylah.

Moreover, the owner, Mohammed Bukhayt, of Suez, who had received 90 as advance for three months--others said 60 for four--provided her with only a few days' provisions, leaving us to ration his crew.

A wintry norther in these lat.i.tudes is not easily got rid of.

According to the people, here, as in the 'Akabah Gulf, it lasts three days, and dies after a quiet noon; whereas on the 13th, when we expected an escape, it rose angrily at one p.m. I was much cheered by the pleasant news of M. Bianchi, the local Deputato di Sanita, who a.s.sured us that a pernicieuse was raging at El-Muwaylah, and that it was certain death to pa.s.s one night in the fort. The only fire that emitted all this smoke was the fact that during the date-harvest of North-Western Arabia, July and August, agues are common; and that at all seasons the well water is not "honest," and is supposed to breed trifling chills.

In the Prairies of the Far West I heard of a man who rode some hundreds of miles to deliver himself of a lie. Nothing like solitude and the Desert for freshening the fancy. Another individual who was much exercised by our journey was Khwajeh Konstantin, a Syrian-Greek trader, son of the old agent of the convent, whose blue goggles and comparatively tight pantaloons denoted a certain varnish and veneer. It is his practice to visit El-Muwaylah once every six months; when he takes, in exchange for cheap tobacco, second-hand clothes, and poor cloth, the coral, the pearls fished for in April, the gold dust, the finds of coin, and whatever else will bring money. Such is the course and custom of these small monopolists, who, at "Raitha" and elsewhere, much dislike to see quiet things moved.

At length, after a weary day of far niente, when even le sommeil se faisait prier, we "hardened our hearts," and at nine p.m., as the gale seemed to slumber, we stood southwards. The Mukhbir rolled painfully off Ras Mohammed, which obliged us with its own peculiar gusts; and the 'Akabah Gulf, as usual, acted wind-sail.

A long detour was necessary in order to spare the mules, which, however, are much less liable to injury, under such circ.u.mstances, than horses, having a knack of learning to use sea-legs.

The night was atrocious; so was the next morning; but about noon we were cheered by the sight of the glorious mountain-walls of well-remembered Midian, which stood out of the clear blue sky in pa.s.sing grandeur of outline, in exceeding splendid dour of colouring, and in marvellous sharpness of detail. Once more the "power of the hills" was on us.

Three p.m. had struck before we found ourselves in broken water off the fort of El-Muwaylah, where our captain cast a single anchor, and where we had our first escape from drifting upon the razor-like edges of the coralline reefs. In fact, everything looked so menacing, with surging sea around and sable storm-clouds to westward, that I resolved upon revisiting our old haunt, the safe and dock-like Sharm Yaharr. Here we entered without accident; and were presently greeted by the Sayyid 'Abd el-Rahim, our former Kafilah-bas.h.i.+, who had ridden from El-Muwaylah to receive us. The news was good: a truce of one month had been concluded between the Huwaytat and the Ma'azah, probably for the better plundering of the pilgrims. This year the latter were many: the "Wakfah," or standing upon Mount Ararat, fell upon a Friday; consequently it was a Hajj el-Akbar, or "Greater Pilgrimage," very crowded and very dangerous, in more ways than one.

I had given a free pa.s.sage to one Sulayman Aftahi, who declared himself to be of the Beni 'Ukbah, when he was a Huwayti of the Jerafin clan. After securing a free pa.s.sage and provision gratis, when the s.h.i.+p anch.o.r.ed, he at once took French leave. On return I committed him to the tender mercies of the Governor, Sa'id Bey.

The soldiers, the quarry-men, and the mules were landed, and the happy end of the first stage brought with it a feeling of intense relief, like that of returning to Alexandria. Hitherto everything had gone wrong: the delays and difficulties at Cairo; at Suez, the death of poor Marius Isnard and the furious storm; the break-down of the engine; the fire in the wasteroom; and, lastly, the rough and threatening gale between the harbour and El-Muwaylah. What did the Wise King mean by "better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof"? I only hope that it may be applicable to the present case. In the presence of our working ground all evils were incontinently forgotten; and, after the unusual dankness of the Egyptian capital, and the bl.u.s.tering winds of the Gulf and the sea, the soft and delicate air of the Midian sh.o.r.e acted like a cordial. For the first time after leaving Alexandria, I felt justified in taper de l'oeil with the clearest of consciences.

The preliminary stage ended with disembarking at the Fort, El-Muwaylah, all our stores and properties, including sundry cases of cartridges and five hundred pounds of pebble-powder, which had been stored immediately under the main cabin and its eternal cigarettes and allumettes. The implements, as well as the provisions, were made over to the charge of an old Albanian, one Rajab Agha, who at first acted as our magazine-man for a consideration of two napoleons per month, in advance if possible.

This done, the Mukhbir returned into the dock Yaharr, in order to patch up her kettle, which seemed to grow worse under every improvement. We accompanied her, after ordering a hundred camels to be collected; well knowing that as this was the Bairam, 'Id, or "Greater Festival," nothing whatever would be done during its three days' duration.

The respite was not unwelcome to me; it seemed to offer an opportunity for recovering strength. At Cairo I had taken the advice of a learned friend (if not an "Apostle of Temperance," at any rate sorely afflicted with the temperance idea), who, by threats of confirmed gout and lumbago, fatty degeneration of the heart and liver, ending in the possible rupture of some valve, had persuaded me that man should live upon a pint of claret per diem. How dangerous is the clever brain with a monomania in it!

According to him, a gla.s.s of sherry before dinner was a poison, whereas half the world, especially the Eastern half, prefers its potations preprandially; a quarter of the liquor suffices, and both appet.i.te and digestion are held to be improved by it. The result of "turning over a new leaf," in the shape of a phial of thin "Gladstone," was a lumbago which lasted me a long month, and which disappeared only after a liberal adhibition of "diffusible stimulants."

It required no small faith in one's good star to set out for a six weeks' work in the Desert under such conditions. My consolation, however, was contained in the lines attributed to half a dozen who wrote good English:--

"He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who dares not put it to the touch, To gain or lose it all."

This time, however, Mind was tranquil, whatever Matter might suffer. As the novelist says, "Lighting upon a grain of gold or silver betokens that a mine of the precious metal must be in the neighbourhood." It had been otherwise with my first Expedition: a forlorn hope, a miracle of moral audacity; the heaviest of responsibilities incurred upon the slightest of justifications, upon the pinch of sand which a tricky and greedy old man might readily have salted. It reminds me of a certain "Philip sober,"

who in the morning fainted at the sight of the precipice which he had scaled when "Philip drunk." I look back with amazement upon No. I.

NOTE.

The second Khedivial Expedition to Midian was composed of the following officers and men. The European staff numbered four, not including the commander, viz.:--

M. George Marie, of the etat-Major, Egyptian army, an engineer converted into a geologist and mineralogist; he was under the orders of his Highness Prince Husayn Pasha.

Mr. J. Charles J. Clarke, telegraphic engineer, ranking as major in Egypt, commissariat officer.

M. emile Lacaze, of Cairo, artist and photographer.

M. Jean Philipin, blacksmith.

Besides these, Mr. David Duguid,--not related to "Hafed, Prince of Persia,"--chief engineer of the gunboat Mukhbir (Captain Mohammed Siraj), accompanied us part of the way on temporary leave, and kindly a.s.sisted me in observing meteorology and in making collections.

The Egyptian commissioned officers numbered six, viz.:--

Ahmed Kaptan Musallam, commander in the navy, and ranking as Sakulaghasi (major). He had been first officer in the Sinnar, and he was sent to make astronomical observations; but he proved to be a confirmed invalid.

Of the Arkan-Harb (Staff) were:--

Lieutenant Amir Rushdi, who had accompanied me before.

Lieutenant Yusuf Taufik.

Lieutenant Darwaysh Ukkab, of the Piyedah or infantry. He was also a great sufferer on a small scale.

Sub-Lieutenant Mohammed Farahat, of the Muhandism (Engineers), in charge of the Laggamgiyyah or Haggarah (blasters and quarrymen).

He ended by deserting his duty on arrival at Cairo.

The non-commissioned officers, all Egyptians, amounted to seven:--

Buluk-amin (writer) Mohammed Sharkawi (infantry).

Chawush (serjeant) 'Atwah El-As.h.i.+ri (infantry).

Chawush (serjeant) Mabruk Awadh (quarryman); deserted at Cairo.

Onbas.h.i.+ (corporal) Higazi Ammar (Staff).

Onbas.h.i.+ (corporal) Mohammed Sulayman (infantry) : also our barber, and a good man.

Onbas.h.i.+ (corporal) Mahmu'd Abd el-Rahman (infantry): I had to put him in irons.

Onbas.h.i.+ (corporal) Ibrahim Hedib.

There were three Nafar (privates) of the Staff:--

'Ali 'Brahim Ma'danji, generally known as Ali Marie, from the officer whom he served; a hard-working man, over-devoted to his master. I recommended him for promotion.

Ramazan Ramazan.

Hasan Mohammed. He proved useful, as he brought with him all the necessary tools for mending saddles.

The twenty-five privates of infantry were emanc.i.p.ated negroes, a few being from the Sudan; composed of every tribe, it was a curious mixture, good, bad, and indifferent. Some were slaves who had been given, in free gift, by their owners to the Miri (Government), and men never part with a good "chattel," except for a sufficient cause. As will be seen, many of the names are "fancy":--

Sayyid Ahmed El-Tawil.

Yusuf Faragallah (Faraj-Allah).

Farag 'Ali.