Sketches and Travels in London

by William Makepeace Thackeray

litter, the French femme-de-chambre manfully caracoling on a grey

  horse; the cavaliers, like your humble servant, on their high

  saddles; the domestics, flunkeys, guides, and grooms, on all sorts

  of animals,--some fourteen in all. Add to these, two most grave

  and stately Arabs in white beards, white turbans, white haicks and

  raiments; sabres curling round their military thighs, and immense

  long guns at their backs. More venerable warriors I never saw;

  they went by the side of the litter soberly prancing. When we

  emerged from the steep clattering streets of the city into the grey

  plains, lighted by the moon and starlight, these militaries rode

  onward, leading the way through the huge avenues of strange

  diabolical-looking prickly pears (plants that look as if they had

  grown in Tartarus), by which the first mile or two of route from

  the city is bounded; and as the dawn arose before us, exhibiting

  first a streak of grey, then of green, then of red in the sky, it

  was fine to see these martial figures defined against the rising

  light. The sight of that little cavalcade, and of the nature

  around it, will always remain with me, I think, as one of the

  freshest and most delightful sensations I have enjoyed since the

  day I first saw Calais pier. It was full day when they gave their

  horses a drink at a large pretty Oriental fountain, and then

  presently we entered the open plain--the famous plain of Sharon--so

  fruitful in roses once, now hardly cultivated, but always beautiful

  and noble.

  Here presently, in the distance, we saw another cavalcade pricking

  over the plain. Our two white warriors spread to the right and

  left, and galloped to reconnoitre. We, too, put our steeds to the

  canter, and handling our umbrellas as Richard did his lance against

  Saladin, went undaunted to challenge this caravan. The fact is, we

  could distinguish that it was formed of the party of our pious

  friends the Poles, and we hailed them with cheerful shouting, and

  presently the two caravans joined company, and scoured the plain at

  the rate of near four miles per hour. The horse-master, a courier

  of this company, rode three miles for our one. He was a broken-

  nosed Arab, with pistols, a sabre, a fusee, a yellow Damascus cloth

  flapping over his head, and his nose ornamented with diachylon. He

  rode a hog-necked grey Arab, bristling over with harness, and

  jumped, and whirled, and reared, and halted, to the admiration of

  all.

  Scarce had the diachylonian Arab finished his evolutions, when lo!

  yet another cloud of dust was seen, and another party of armed and

  glittering horsemen appeared. They, too, were led by an Arab, who

  was followed by two janissaries, with silver maces shining in the

  sun. 'Twas the party of the new American Consul-General of Syria

  and Jerusalem, hastening to that city, with the inferior consuls of

  Ramleh and Jaffa to escort him. He expects to see the Millennium

  in three years, and has accepted the office of consul at Jerusalem,

  so as to be on the spot in readiness.

  When the diachylon Arab saw the American Arab, he straightway

  galloped his steed towards him, took his pipe, which he delivered

  at his adversary in guise of a jereed, and galloped round and

  round, and in and out, and there and back again, as in a play of

  war. The American replied in a similar playful ferocity--the two

  warriors made a little tournament for us there on the plains before

  Jaffa, in the which diachylon, being a little worsted, challenged

  his adversary to a race, and fled away on his grey, the American

  following on his bay. Here poor sticking-plaster was again

  worsted, the Yankee contemptuously riding round him, and then

  declining further exercise.

  What more could mortal man want? A troop of knights and paladins

  could have done no more. In no page of Walter Scott have I read a

  scene more fair and sparkling. The sober warriors of our escort

  did not join in the gambols of the young men. There they rode

  soberly, in their white turbans, by their ladies' litter, their

  long guns rising up behind them.

  There was no lack of company along the road: donkeys numberless,

  camels by twos and threes; now a mule-driver, trudging along the

  road, chanting a most queer melody; now a lady, in white veil,

  black mask, and yellow papooshes, bestriding her ass, and followed

  by her husband,--met us on the way; and most people gave a

  salutation. Presently we saw Ramleh, in a smoking mist, on the

  plain before us, flanked to the right by a tall lonely tower, that

  might have held the bells of some moutier of Caen or Evreux. As we

  entered, about three hours and a half after starting, among the

  white domes and stone houses of the little town, we passed the

  place of tombs. Two women were sitting on one of them,--the one

  bending her head towards the stone, and rocking to and fro, and

  moaning out a very sweet pitiful lamentation. The American consul

  invited us to breakfast at the house of his subaltern, the

  hospitable one-eyed Armenian, who represents the United States at

  Jaffa. The stars and stripes were flaunting over his terraces, to

  which we ascended, leaving our horses to the care of a multitude of

  roaring ragged Arabs beneath, who took charge of and fed the

  animals, though I can't say in the least why; but, in the same way

  as getting off my horse on entering Jerusalem, I gave the rein into

  the hand of the first person near me, and have never heard of the

  worthy brute since. At the American consul's we were served first

  with rice soup in pishpash, flavoured with cinnamon and spice; then

  with boiled mutton, then with stewed ditto and tomatoes; then with

  fowls swimming in grease; then with brown ragouts belaboured with

  onions; then with a smoking pilaff of rice: several of which

  dishes I can pronounce to be of excellent material and flavour.

  When the gentry had concluded this repast, it was handed to a side

  table, where the commonalty speedily discussed it. We left them

  licking their fingers as we hastened away upon the second part of

  the ride.

  And as we quitted Ramleh, the scenery lost that sweet and peaceful

  look which characterises the pretty plain we had traversed; and the

  sun, too, rising in the heaven, dissipated all those fresh

  beautiful tints in which God's world is clothed of early morning,

  and which city people have so seldom the chance of beholding. The

  plain over which we rode looked yellow and gloomy; the cultivation

  little or none; the land across the roadside fringed, for the most

  part, with straggling wild-carrot plants; a patch of green only

  here and there. We passed several herds of lean, small, well-

  conditioned cattle: many flocks of black goats, tended now and

  then by a ragged negro shepherd, his long gun slung over his back,

  his hand over his eyes to shade them as he stared at our little

  cavalcade. Most of the half-naked countryfolks we met had this

  dismal appendage to Eastern rustic life; and the weapon could

 
; hardly be one of mere defence, for, beyond the faded skull-cap, or

  tattered coat of blue or dirty white, the brawny, brown-chested,

  solemn-looking fellows had nothing seemingly to guard. As before,

  there was no lack of travellers on the road: more donkeys trotted

  by, looking sleek and strong; camels singly and by pairs, laden

  with a little humble ragged merchandise, on their way between the

  two towns. About noon we halted eagerly at a short distance from

  an Arab village and well, where all were glad of a drink of fresh

  water. A village of beavers, or a colony of ants, make habitations

  not unlike these dismal huts piled together on the plain here.

  There were no single huts along the whole line of road; poor and

  wretched as they are, the Fellahs huddle all together for

  protection from the other thieves their neighbours. The government

  (which we restored to them) has no power to protect them, and is

  only strong enough to rob them. The women, with their long blue

  gowns and ragged veils, came to and fro with pitchers on their

  heads. Rebecca had such an one when she brought drink to the

  lieutenant of Abraham. The boys came staring round, bawling after

  us with their fathers for the inevitable backsheesh. The village

  dogs barked round the flocks, as they were driven to water or

  pasture.

  We saw a gloomy, not very lofty-looking ridge of hills in front of

  us; the highest of which the guide pointing out to us, told us that

  from it we should see Jerusalem. It looked very near, and we all

  set up a trot of enthusiasm to get into this hill country.

  But that burst of enthusiasm (it may have carried us nearly a

  quarter of a mile in three minutes) was soon destined to be checked

  by the disagreeable nature of the country we had to traverse.

  Before we got to the real mountain district, we were in a manner

  prepared for it, by the mounting and descent of several lonely

  outlying hills, up and down which our rough stony track wound.

  Then we entered the hill district, and our path lay through the

  clattering bed of an ancient stream, whose brawling waters have

  rolled away into the past, along with the fierce and turbulent race

  who once inhabited these savage hills. There may have been

  cultivation here two thousand years ago. The mountains, or huge

  stony mounds environing this rough path, have level ridges all the

  way up to their summits; on these parallel ledges there is still

  some verdure and soil: when water flowed here, and the country was

  thronged with that extraordinary population, which, according to

  the Sacred Histories, was crowded into the region, these mountain

  steps may have been gardens and vineyards, such as we see now

  thriving along the hills of the Rhine. Now the district is quite

  deserted, and you ride among what seem to be so many petrified

  waterfalls. We saw no animals moving among the stony brakes;

  scarcely even a dozen little birds in the whole course of the ride.

  The sparrows are all at Jerusalem, among the housetops, where their

  ceaseless chirping and twittering forms the most cheerful sound of

  the place.

  The company of Poles, the company of Oxford men, and the little

  American army, travelled too quick for our caravan, which was made

  to follow the slow progress of the ladies' litter, and we had to

  make the journey through the mountains in a very small number. Not

  one of our party had a single weapon more dreadful than an

  umbrella: and a couple of Arabs, wickedly inclined, might have

  brought us all to the halt, and rifled every carpet-bag and pocket

  belonging to us. Nor can I say that we journeyed without certain

  qualms of fear. When swarthy fellows, with girdles full of pistols

  and yataghans, passed us without unslinging their long guns--when

  scowling camel-riders, with awful long bending lances, decorated

  with tufts of rags, or savage plumes of scarlet feathers, went by

  without molestation--I think we were rather glad that they did not

  stop and parley: for, after all, a British lion with an umbrella

  is no match for an Arab with his infernal long gun. What, too,

  would have become of our women? So we tried to think that it was

  entirely out of anxiety for them that we were inclined to push on.

  There is a shady resting-place and village in the midst of the

  mountain district where the travellers are accustomed to halt for

  an hour's repose and refreshment; and the other caravans were just

  quitting this spot, having enjoyed its cool shades and waters, when

  we came up. Should we stop? Regard for the ladies (of course no

  other earthly consideration) made us say, "No!" What admirable

  self-denial and chivalrous devotion! So our poor devils of mules

  and horses got no rest and no water, our panting litter-men no

  breathing time, and we staggered desperately after the procession

  ahead of us. It wound up the mountain in front of us: the Poles

  with their guns and attendants, the American with his janissaries;

  fifty or sixty all riding slowly like the procession in

  "Bluebeard."

  But alas, they headed us very soon; when we got up the weary hill

  they were all out of sight. Perhaps thoughts of Fleet Street did

  cross the minds of some of us then, and a vague desire to see a few

  policemen. The district now seemed peopled, and with an ugly race.

  Savage personages peered at us out of huts, and grim holes in the

  rocks. The mules began to loiter most abominably--water the

  muleteers must have--and, behold, we came to a pleasant-looking

  village of trees standing on a hill; children were shaking figs

  from the trees--women were going about--before us was the mosque of

  a holy man--the village, looking like a collection of little forts,

  rose up on the hill to our right, with a long view of the fields

  and gardens stretching from it, and camels arriving with their

  burdens. Here we must stop; Paolo, the chief servant, knew the

  Sheikh of the village--he very good man--give him water and supper-

  -water very good here--in fact we began to think of the propriety

  of halting here for the night, and making our entry into Jerusalem

  on the next day.

  A man on a handsome horse dressed in red came prancing up to us,

  looking hard at the ladies in the litter, and passed away. Then

  two others sauntered up, one handsome, and dressed in red too, and

  he stared into the litter without ceremony, began to play with a

  little dog that lay there, asked if we were Inglees, and was

  answered by me in the affirmative. Paolo had brought the water,

  the most delicious draught in the world. The gentlefolks had had

  some, the poor muleteers were longing for it. The French maid, the

  courageous Victoire (never since the days of Joan of Arc has there

  surely been a more gallant and virtuous female of France) refused

  the drink; when suddenly a servant of the party scampers up to his

  master and says: "Abou Gosh says the ladies must get out and show

  themselves to the women of the village!"

  It was Abou Gosh himself, the redoubted robber Shei
kh about whom we

  had been laughing and crying "Wolf!" all day. Never was seen such

  a skurry! "March!" was the instant order given. When Victoire

  heard who it was and the message, you should have seen how she

  changed countenance; trembling for her virtue in the ferocious

  clutches of a Gosh. "Un verre d'eau pour l'amour de Dieu!" gasped

  she, and was ready to faint on her saddle. "Ne buvez plus,

  Victoire!" screamed a little fellow of our party. "Push on, push

  on!" cried one and all. "What's the matter?" exclaimed the ladies

  in the litter, as they saw themselves suddenly jogging on again.

  But we took care not to tell them what had been the designs of the

  redoubtable Abou Gosh. Away then we went--Victoire was saved--and

  her mistresses rescued from dangers they knew not of, until they

  were a long way out of the village.

  Did he intend insult or good will? Did Victoire escape the odious

  chance of becoming Madame Abou Gosh? Or did the mountain chief

  simply propose to be hospitable after his fashion? I think the

  latter was his desire; if the former had been his wish, a half-

  dozen of his long guns could have been up with us in a minute, and

  had all our party at their mercy. But now, for the sake of the

  mere excitement, the incident was, I am sorry to say, rather a

  pleasant one than otherwise: especially for a traveller who is in

  the happy condition of being able to sing before robbers, as is the

  case with the writer of the present.

  A little way out of the land of Goshen we came upon a long stretch

  of gardens and vineyards, slanting towards the setting sun, which

  illuminated numberless golden clusters of the most delicious

  grapes, of which we stopped and partook. Such grapes were never

  before tasted; water so fresh as that which a countryman fetched

  for us from a well never sluiced parched throats before. It was

  the ride, the sun, and above all Abou Gosh, who made that

  refreshment so sweet, and hereby I offer him my best thanks.

  Presently, in the midst of a most diabolical ravine, down which our

  horses went sliding, we heard the evening gun: it was fired from

  Jerusalem. The twilight is brief in this country, and in a few

  minutes the landscape was grey round about us, and the sky lighted

  up by a hundred thousand stars, which made the night beautiful.

  Under this superb canopy we rode for a couple of hours to our

  journey's end. The mountains round about us dark, lonely, and sad;

  the landscape as we saw it at night (it is not more cheerful in the

  daytime), the most solemn and forlorn I have ever seen. The

  feelings of almost terror with which, riding through the night, we

  approached this awful place, the centre of the world's past and

  future history, have no need to be noted down here. The

  recollection of those sensations must remain with a man as long as

  his memory lasts; and he should think of them as often, perhaps, as

  he should talk of them little.

  CHAPTER XIII: JERUSALEM

  The ladies of our party found excellent quarters in readiness for

  them at the Greek convent in the city; where airy rooms, and

  plentiful meals, and wines and sweet-meats delicate and abundant,

  were provided to cheer them after the fatigues of their journey. I

  don't know whether the worthy fathers of the convent share in the

  good things which they lavish on their guests; but they look as if

  they do. Those whom we saw bore every sign of easy conscience and

  good living; there were a pair of strong, rosy, greasy, lazy lay-

  brothers, dawdling in the sun on the convent terrace, or peering

  over the parapet into the street below, whose looks gave one a

  notion of anything but asceticism.

  In the principal room of the strangers' house (the lay traveller is

  not admitted to dwell in the sacred interior of the convent), and

  over the building, the Russian double-headed eagle is displayed.

  The place is under the patronage of the Emperor Nicholas; an

  Imperial Prince has stayed in these rooms; the Russian consul