Asiatic Breezes; Or, Students on The Wing

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXIX

  VIEW OF MOUNT SINAI IN THE DISTANCE

  When the professor concluded his lecture for the forenoon, the audiencescattered, some of them feeling the need of more exercise; but CaptainRinggold went to the pilot-house. Like the cabin passengers, heimmediately gave his attention to the mountains of the peninsula; forthe African shore was little better than a blank, with nothing thereworthy of notice. The pilot was an intelligent man, and he proceeded toquestion him in regard to the peaks in sight.

  Just then there was nothing difficult in the navigation; and Twist, thequartermaster, was at the wheel, steering the course which had beengiven out, south south-west half west. The pilot knew the mountains asthough they had been old friends of his for a lifetime. It did not takethe commander long to learn his lesson; and he returned to the deck,where the passengers were gazing at the lofty points, thirty to fortymiles distant, but still very distinctly seen in the clear air of theday. As soon as the captain appeared they gathered around him. He hadordered all the spy-glasses on board to be brought out, and those whohad opera or field glasses had been to their staterooms for them.

  "Isn't it time to see something, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave,to whom he had directed his steps.

  "There is always something to be seen in a narrow gulf like this, thoughwe shall be out of sight of land to-morrow morning when you come ondeck. We are now abreast of a plateau 1,600 feet high, which extends forabout thirty miles along the coast. It is a part of the desert of Kaa,which extends to the southern point of the peninsula, over which youwould have had to travel first by camel for nearly twenty miles, if wehad gone to Mount Sinai by the only route open to us.

  "We have seen about deserts enough," added the lady.

  "Then you are the better prepared for the immense contrast betweenplains of sand and the rich lands of India, covered with the mostluxuriant foliage. Now we have it at its best!" exclaimed the commander.

  "What do we have? I don't see anything."

  "We have Mount Serbal, which some believe is the genuine Mount Sinai,"continued the commander, as he pointed out the loftiest peak in sight,and which was readily distinguished from all others.

  All the passengers had by this time gathered near him; for all of themwere anticipating a sight at the lofty height which had given a name tothe peninsula, though its real name is Arabia Petraea, as we used to readabout it in "Stephens's Travels" sixty years ago.

  "That mountain is the highest on the peninsula; and if it is not thereal Mount Sinai, where the law was delivered to Moses, some insist thatit ought to be, for they say it is loftier, grander, nobler, and moreworthy the great event than the one which is generally assigned as itslocation," said the captain. "As you have been informed before, Serbalis 8,712 feet high."

  Mrs. Blossom did not appear to be satisfied. Evidently she desired to"gush" over the Holy Mountain; but the doubt as to "which was which," asshe stated it, bothered her very seriously, and she was not at allfriendly to the "pesky Bible critics," who had raised the doubt as toits identity.

  "Jebel Musa!" shouted the commander a couple of hours later; and theparty gathered around him again.

  "What on earth is that?" demanded the good lady.

  "Keep cool, Sarah," said Mrs. Belgrave to her. "The captain will tellyou all about it in due time."

  "Jebel, or gebel, means a mountain in Arabic; Musa is sometimes spelledMoosa; and the whole name, I suppose, is 'Mountain of Moses,'" thecommander explained as soon as he had enabled every one to see the peakthat went by this name. "In other words, that is what nearly everybodywho knows anything about the matter believes to be the true MountSinai."

  "Mount Sinai!" almost screamed Mrs. Blossom, who had apparentlydetermined not to be harassed by any more doubts, for what everybodybelieved to be true must be so. "I should like to die on thatmountain," she declared, wringing her hands in a sort of rapture.

  "Don't make yourself ridiculous, Sarah," interposed Mrs. Belgrave in awhisper.

  "How can a body look on Mount Sinai without being stirred up?" demandedthe good woman.

  But whether it was Jebel Serbal or Jebel Musa, Mount Sinai was there;and doubtless most of the company were as much impressed by the fact asthe excellent lady from Von Blonk Park, though they were lessdemonstrative about it. Mrs. Belgrave was silent for a time; and thenshe struck up one of Watts's familiar hymns, in which the others joinedher:--

  "Not to the terrors of the Lord, The tempest, fire, and smoke, Not to the thunder of that word Which God on Sinai spoke; But we are come to Zion's hill, The city of our God, Where milder words declare his will, And spread his love abroad."

  As the gong sounded for lunch the ship was off Tur, but too far off tosee the place, if there was anything there to see; and the commandermentioned it only as the port to which they would have sailed if theyhad gone to Mount Sinai. The "Big Four" were more interested in theArabian craft they saw near the shore, for they always keep close to theland. Their captains are familiar with all the intricate reefs wherelarge vessels never go. They are very cautious sailors, and on the leastsign of foul weather they run into one of the creeks which indent thecoast. They never sail at night; and if they have to cross the sea, theywait for settled weather.

  At the hour appointed for the afternoon conference the passengers wereall in their places; and however the report of his lectures may read,the listeners were deeply interested, partly because they were inspiredby a desire for knowledge, and partly on account of their proximity tothe countries described. A map of the peninsula of Arabia had beenunrolled on the frame, with enough of its surroundings to enable theaudience to fix its location definitely in their minds. The professorcame up smiling and pleasant as he always was, and the boys saluted himwith a round of applause.

  "My subject this time is Arabia, which the natives call Jezirat-al-Arab,and the Turks and Persians Arabistan. It is a peninsula, the isthmus ofwhich reaches across from the south-eastern corner of the Mediterraneanto the head of the Persian Gulf," the professor began, indicating on themap the localities mentioned with the pointer. "Asia abounds inpeninsulas, and Arabia is the great south-western one. From north-westto south-east it extends 1800 miles, and is about 600 wide. It has anarea of 1,230,000 square miles, which is a very indefinite statement tothe mind, though given in figures, and I will adopt the commander'smethod of giving a better idea by comparison with some of the States ofyour own country.

  "It is nearly five times as large as the State of Texas, the mostextensive of the Union, and almost twenty-six times as large as theState of New York. They do not take a census here; and estimates fromthe best information that could be obtained make the population fivemillions, which is less than that of the State of New York. Mr. Gaskettehas colored a strip of it along the Red Sea, about a hundred miles wide,in green, as he has Palestine and the other parts of Turkey in Asiashown before you. A large portion of Arabia consists of deserts, theprincipal of which is the Syrian in the north.

  "Ptolemy, not the king but the geographer, divided Arabia into threesections,--Arabia Petraea, after the city of Petra; Arabia Deserta, theinterior; and Arabia Felix (Arabie Heureuse in French), which does notmean 'the happy land,' as generally translated. Milton says, 'Sabeanodors from the spicy shores of Araby the blest.' The words meant theland lying to the right, or south of Mecca, the Oriental principal pointof the compass being the east and not the north.

  "The proper divisions at the present time are the Sinai peninsula,Hedjaz, which is the northern part of the green strip; Yemen, the southpart (formerly Arabia Felix); Hadramaut, which borders the Arabian Gulf,the ante-sea of the Red; and Oman, a mountainous region at the entranceof the Persian Gulf, an independent country, under the government of thesultan or imam of Muscat, as the territory is also called.

  "We do not know much about the interior of Arabia, one-third of which isa desert, part of a zone reaching over all of Africa and Asia. El-Hasa,along the Persian Gulf in the east, for such a c
ountry, is level andfertile, and is really a Turkish province, like those on the west coast.A short rainy season occurs on the west coast, which only fills up thelow places; and there is hardly a river, if there is anything entitledto the name, which is strong enough to go alone to the sea from anydistance inland. Fine fruits are raised, especially in Yemen, as well ascoffee, grain, tobacco, cotton, spices, aloes, frankincense, and myrrh.

  "Sheep, goats, oxen, camels, and horses are raised for domestic use.Gazelles and ostriches live in some of the oases, where also the lion,panther, hyena, and jackal seek their prey. The magnificent Arabianhorse has been raised here for a thousand years. The camel is one of themost useful animals of this country; and some suppose he is an originalnative, for his likeness is not found among Egyptian drawings andsculptures. There are plenty of fish and turtle along the coast.

  "The original Arab is found here, and there is something about him tochallenge our admiration. He is muscular, though of medium height, andis sharp and quick-witted by nature. He has some leading virtues, suchas hospitality and good faith; he is courageous and temperate, perhapsbecause wine and spirits are forbidden in the Koran. But he is a sort ofa natural robber, and seeks a terrible revenge for serious injuries. Hiswife, and there are often several of her, does the work, keeps house,and educates the children. Some Arabs are settled in towns or oases, andothers lead a wandering life.

  "'Blessed is the country that has no history,' for it is usually therecord of wars. Arabia has nothing that can properly be called history;but it has been concerned in the wars of Turkey and Egypt. What there isrelates to the birth and life of Mohammed, and his wars to promote theincrease of his followers; and I shall tell you the story of the Prophetat another time."

  The professor retired after the usual applause. Some walked the deck,watching whatever was to be seen, especially the Arabian dhows, andoccasionally a large steamer passed; and some went to sleep in theirstaterooms. The course of the Guardian-Mother had been varied as much asthe soundings would permit as she approached the Jubal Strait, which isthe entrance to the Gulf of Suez, in order to give the passengers a viewof some interesting scenery.

  "There is the Jebel Zeyt," said the commander, as he pointed out a groupof hills, called mountains by courtesy, of a reddish hue. "Those hillsare 1,530 feet high, and this locality is famous in story. The materialof the elevations is haematite, which Dr. Hawkes can explain better thanI can."

  "It is a native sesquioxide of a reddish color, with a blood-likestreak," added the surgeon, laughing.

  "Do you understand it, Mrs. Blossom?" asked the captain, turning to thatworthy lady.

  "I am sure I don't," protested she, blushing.

  "The sesquipedality of that word is trying to all of us, I fancy, and Iam in the same box as the lady; for I am as sure as she is that I don'tknow the meaning of the word," added the professor.

  "Of course you don't, for it is a technical term," replied the doctor."It means an oxide in which two atoms of a metal combine with threeatoms of oxygen. Please to remember it, Mrs. Blossom."

  "I don't even know what an ox-hide is," returned the lady promptly; forthe professor had vindicated her by not understanding a definitionhimself.

  "We will settle that another time, if you please," interposed thecommander. "These rocks are said to be so powerfully magnetic as toaffect the compasses of ships passing them. The water is sometimesmarked about here with patches of oil. Large sums were expended in thisvicinity in boring for petroleum; but none of any account was found.Probably the red mountain has given its name to the sea, though that isnot known."

  "Possibly Sinbad the Sailor was in this strait when the loadstone drewout the bolts in his ship, though he does not give the latitude andlongitude of the place in the story of his adventure," suggested Louis.In the evening the passengers looked at the lights, and retired at aseasonable hour.