The True Life of Capt. Sir Richard E. Burton (2024)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The True Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton (1896) is a biograhy of Richard Francis Burton (1821 – 1890) by his niece Georgiana M. Stisted (1847–1903).

PREFACE

My object in compiling this Memoir is twofold. First, to tell the truth concerning one who can no longer defend himself; secondly, to supply a want often complained of the story of the great traveller's life in a popular form. Having disproved tales so flimsy that no unbiassed person failed to see through them , though knowing Richard Burton ever SO slightly, and having succeeded , thanks to the cordial assistance of my publisher, in issuing a " Life " for the masses as well as for the classes, whilst regretting no abler pen than mine was ready to perform the work, I feel that an imperative duty to the memory of a hero, to the public, and to ourselves, is now fulfilled .

GRAZELEY, UPPER NORWOOD, S.E.December 1st, 1896..

CHAPTER I

RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON was born on the 19th March, 1821, at Barham House, Herts, the home of his maternal grandfather and grandmother, Richard and Sarah Beckwith Baker. His mother, one of three coheiresses, had married the earliest; and he, her first child, became the darling of the household. Baptized in due course at Elstree Parish Church, he spent most part of his infancy with these relatives; and, as often happens even with very young children, who have passed two or three perfectly happy years, and never quite forget them, he could just remember being brought down after dinner to dessert, seated on the knee of a tall man with yellow hair and bright blue eyes.

His grandfather on the paternal side he never saw. TheRev. Edward Burton, Rector of Tuam, was educated inEngland for the Church; and, on being presented with hisIrish benefice, left the Lake Country with his brotherEdmond, afterwards Dean of Killala, and settled in Irelandfor the rest of his life. These brothers, originally of Barker'sHill, near Shap, Westmoreland, were related to the Burtonsof Longnor, like Lord Conyngham and Sir Charles Burtonof Pollacton; and were, in fact, collateral descendants ofFrancis Pierpoint Burton first Marquis of Conyngham.The notable man of the family, Sir Edward Burton, foughtso bravely during the Wars of the Roses, that he was madea Knight Banneret by Edward IV after the second battleof St. Albans.

The rector who, besides his living, possessed privatemeans, had not been long in Ireland before he purchasedthe property of Newgarden, near Tuam, where he seems tohave combined, according to the easy-going fashion of theday, the duties of squire and parson. Like most clergymenhe married young and had a large family; but his wife,Maria Margaretta, daughter by a Lejeune of Dr. JohnCampbell, Vicar General of Tuam, long survived him.Concerning the ancestry of the said Maria Margarettathere exists an interesting legend, one which also affectsseveral well- known Irish families, to wit, the Nettervilles,Droughts, Graves, Plunketts and Trimlestons. More thanone document exists to prove that Louis Lejeune, fatherof Sarah, Dr. Campbell's wife, was a son of LouisQuatorze by the Comtesse de Montmorenci. The mother,a Huguenot, having repented of her error and fearing herchild would be educated as a Papist, had him secretlycarried off to Ireland at an early age, where his name wastranslated to Young, and where he became eventually adoctor of divinity in the Anglican Church. This romanticstory, familiar to widely scattered members of the familiesalready referred to, is curiously corrobated by the strikingresemblance between the Bourbons and certain of theirsupposed descendants. A miniature of Maria Margarettapreserved amongst the family treasures, depicts the peculiarBourbon traits so vividly that no one fails to remark thepear-shaped face and head that culminated in LouisPhilippe.

Either the rector had proved an unusually good husband, or the widow found her position almost intolerableafter his death, for it is said, she never ceased to regret his loss, until she was laid beside him in the old cathedralat Tuam. As four sons and four daughters were the resultof their union, her house was not left desolate; but in thosedays the lot of a widow residing in County Galway musthave been far from pleasant. Not that she was wantingin courage. On one occasion Newgarden was brokeninto by thieves. Her sons seem to have been absent,so Madam Burton, as her tenantry called her, lighteda candle, went upstairs to fetch some gunpowder whichwas kept in a barrel, loaded her pistols, and hastened downto the hall, to find the robbers decamped. She thenremembered the dip which, in her hurry, she had leftstanding on the barrel in disagreeable proximity to theexplosive contents, and at the risk of being blown to atoms,she coolly re-entered the room and removed the gutteringwick from its perilous position.

Joseph Netterville, her third and handsomest son, wasthe father of the traveller. He had too many brothers andsisters to remain idle at home, and as obtaining a commission in the army was a far easier matter then than it isnow, he decided to become a soldier. On being gazetted tothe 36th Regiment, he insisted upon several of his tenantsenlisting at the same time, and so cleared his mother'sproperty for a while, from some of the wildest and mostdangerous characters . But his military career proveda short one. After he had seen a little service inSicily, his regiment was ordered to England, where itremained in inglorious idleness during the stirring timeson the Continent. Finally, in 1819, he obtained severalmonths' leave and married Martha Beckwith Baker, oneof the three co- heiresses already mentioned, a descendanton her mother's side of the Macgregors and Macleans.Of this marriage were born three children, -RichardFrancis, Maria Catherine Eliza, who married in 1845Lieutenant- General Sir Henry William Stisted, K.C.B. ,and Edward Joseph Netterville. After the birth of the last, Colonel Burton gave up soldiering for ever. Althougha stalwart, broad- chested man, he was seized in the primeof life by bronchial asthma, a complaint which, appearingin one of its severest forms, utterly incapacitated him foractive service. A faint hope of being able to rejoin hisregiment at some future time prevented him from sellingout, so he went on half pay, as it proved, for the remainderof his life. Thus young Richard's migratory instincts were early fostered during many years the family roamed incessantly over the Continent in search of health, or at least some alleviation of the father's sufferings. Hoping to breathe more freely in the comparatively dry air of Touraine, Colonel Burton pitched his tent at Tours. The Château de Beauséjour, his first house, stood on the right bank of the Loire, half way up the heights that bound the stream . It commanded a lovely view, was surrounded on three sides by a charming garden and vineyard, and proved quite an ideal home. The children revelled incountry pleasures, eating grapes in the vineyard and workingin their own little private gardens; the father, whose healthfor a time improved almost miraculously, indulged in boarhunting in le Forêt d'Ambroise; and the mother, a veritableMartha, looked after her house and her little ones. She hadother duties, for Beauséjour was no hermitage. Tours thencontained some two hundred English families, attracted bythe beauty of the place and the facilities of education; andas the Burtons enjoyed a comfortable income (Mr. Bakerhad died suddenly just before they left England), they keptan excellent chef and cellar, and were noted for their hospitality.They were popular, and not merely on account ofkeeping open house. To begin with, they were pleasantlooking people. Colonel Burton, once the handsomest manof his regiment, had a clear, olive complexion, delicatelymodelled, slightly arched nose, and bright piercing eyes.His wife, with her luxuriant brown hair, large grey eyes,tall, graceful figure, and tiny hands and feet , was, if not soregular in feature, quite as attractive as the husband. Thechildren followed suit. Richard, a dark, clever-faced boy,showed every indication of equalling his sire's good looks;his sister was a lovely pink-cheeked girl; and Edward hadthe profile of a Greek statue. But this was not all. Mostof us have been taught somewhat erroneously that looksmatter little the truth is, form and feature often conveya true idea of character. It was so in this instance; forthe Burtons were not merely sociable, courteous and generous, but thoroughly well principled. Steady, old- fashionedChurch folk, free from the rabid Evangelicalism then at itsheight, and the Tractarianism which later became sogeneral, they were as true to what they thought right asthe needle to the pole. Richard Burton said, in after days,that his father was the most moral man he had everknown; and would often add, in his curicus, abrupt way,"Nice to be able to feel proud of one's parents! " It mustbe allowed that the Colonel's line of conduct with respect tothe education of his boys, was not the most sagacious thatcould have been followed, but clairvoyance is given to few.The wife was gentle, intensely unselfish; the daughter possessed all the family virtues, marred by none of the faults;and Edward was noted for lavish generosity.

Richard, owing perhaps to weak health, for as a childhe showed no indication of his future herculean strength,was the least amiable, Rough in manner, mischievous asa monkey, and subject to outbursts of temper, he oftencalled down upon his head the vials of his father's wrath.But, on the other hand, he was brave and affectionate in thehighest degree. When he had the toothache it was knownonly next day-by the swelling of his face. But wherehis affections were concerned his stoicism vanished. Headored his mother, thinking nothing in heaven or earthtoo good for her; and one of the earliest stories recordedof him is that he was found rolling on the floor, howling6

with mingled rage and anguish because some women hadcarriages to drive in while for a time his parent had to goon foot. He was nearly as much attached to his sister.Some years later he was amusing himself, boy fashion, bythrowing stones, one hit the little girl by mischance andcut her forehead so severely that she could not help cryingout. Aghast at what he had done, he rushed up to her,flung his arms around her neck, burst into a paroxysm ofsobs and tears, and not for some time did he recover hiscomposure. Pets of all kinds he delighted in , often spending hours trying to revive some unlucky bird or beastwhich, like pets in general, had come to a sad and untimelyend; in fact, it is said he did once succeed in resuscitatinga favourite bullfinch which had nearly drowned itself in awater jug. To sum up, all his relatives agreed that thoughoften most troublesome and disagreeable, " Dick " was oneof the warmest- hearted boys that ever breathed.As all three children were more or less fond of reading,their father began their education early. One morningwhen " Dick " was only six years old, he and his brotherwere conveyed to Tours and introduced as pupils to alame Irish schoolmaster named Clough. These Liliputianlearners spent their time at first wondering at their novelsurroundings, and after a pretence at lessons, took advantageof their hours of freedom by playing with pop-guns, springpistols, and tin and wooden sabres, so realistically too, thatsmall " Dick " quite longed to kill the porter because hedared to gibe at the sabres de bois and pistolets de paille.Unfortunately it was soon found that the Château deBeauséjour was too far from the town for the boys totrudge to and fro every day, so the family moved to theRue de l'Archévêché, the then best street in Tours, butunsuitable for delicate parents and young children.Here the Burtons remained until 1829. Then the father,whose complaint had become fairly bearable, resolved toreturn for a while to England. An uncomfortable suspicion appears to have crossed his mind, that a foreigneducation might not be the best thing in the world for hisboys. Sons of sundry cronies at Tours were turning outdistinctly badly; their example might be dangerous, and itseemed more prudent to remove his lads from so disturbingan influence. On arriving in London with a half-formedintention of sending Richard and Edward to Eton, toprepare for Oxford and Cambridge, he unluckily met ablundering friend who recommended a preparatory schoolat Richmond; and as the latter place was pleasantly getat-able, and his wife was anxious to remain near her motherand sisters in Town, he ultimately decided on settling fora year in this romantic suburb.Opening upon the famous Green stood the school, ahandsome building with a paddock which enclosed somefine old elm trees. Rev. Charles Delafosse, the master, abluff and portly man with an aquiline nose, looked a modelpedagogue; he was assisted by a large staff of ushers, andat first matters seemed most promising. But there musthave been something radically wrong both with the management and the mode of teaching. The Burton boys learntnext to nothing except a certain facility of using their fists;quarrels were so incessant that the playground was turnedinto a miniature battlefield every day, when the boys wereallowed to beat each other black and blue; and the farewas limited in quantity and detestable in quality. Finally,scarlet fever of a very malignant type broke out and put anend to the Richmond scheme for ever. Some lads died, therest were sent to their respective homes. Richard andEdward went straight to their grandmother's house inCumberland Street, to avoid conveying the infection totheir sister; and it was well they did so, for the eldersickened a few days after his arrival. He was tenderlynursed by his aunt, Georgiana Baker, and a friend, a MissMorgan. Edward, though intensely anxious to fall ill too,and so come in for some of the nice things going-he was8

caught more than once inhaling the air through the keyhole of his brother's bedroom to ensure so desirable a pieceof luck-remained in excellent health; and the two littlechaps were soon taken by their kind relative to Ramsgate.Meanwhile their father had become thoroughly disenchanted with Richmond. The school from which he hadhoped so much had turned out an expensive failure; worsestill, his family had been attacked with fever and influenza,he felt ill and miserable, and fairly recoiled from the prospect of spending another winter on the green. So marchingorders were again issued, and for the Continent. It wouldhave been wiser to leave the sons at Rugby or Eton, buthe was a warm- hearted Irishman, and distances in thosecomparatively steamless days were much more formidablethan now. So he squared matters with his conscienceby engaging a tutor for his lads and a governess for hisdaughter, and thus reinforced, the family left Richmond,and went to Blois.There education began in real earnest, the young peopleworkinghard to make up for lost time. The boys, under theirtutor, M. Du Pré, of Exeter College, Oxford, made rapidprogress in dead and living languages: local masters taughtthem swimming, fencing, and, after some slight opposition,dancing. Fencing was their pet occupation. They spentmost of their leisure in exchanging thrusts, either with orwithout the old French soldier who taught them; and afterRichard had passed his foil down his brother's throat,nearly destroying the uvula, they learned not to neglectthe mask. " Dick " also spent many an anxious hour inattempting to train a falcon . The poor bird on whom the' prentice hand " was tried soon died, worn out like amediæval saint, by austerities, especially in the fasting line,and so bitterly mourned was it by its affectionate youngowner, that he never tried the experiment again until laterin life, when success attended his efforts.66At times the wild lads must have been very troublesomeSnails 9neighbours. It was about as easy to confine them to theirown premises, as to prevent cats from roaming. An elderlyFrench maiden who lived next door, tired of ceaseless irruptions into her prim, well- kept grounds, at last complainedto the parents. Punishment had followed, not meeklyborne, and Richard, the chief offender, after deep cogitation and frequent consultations with his brother and sister,determined on revenge-revenge which should prove difficult to detect. He searched his own garden and the surrounding neighbourhood , wherever he could gain access, forfine, fat snails-so delightful to think of them devouring theold wretch's flowers! -secured a goodly number over nightin a sack, and at early dawn before the enemy was abroad,climbed the wall with his burden and scattered the contentsover her most promising plants. A closer acquaintancewith the mysteries of French cooking would have sparedhim the disappointment that ensued. When the old lady,unaware of the three pairs of eyes anxiously awaiting herarrival, did come out for her daily walk, her countenancebrightened. Hastily fetching a basket, she picked up asmany snails as it would hold, and vanished into her kitchenwith her bonne to make soup.

That year the winter at Blois was very severe. Waterfroze in the drawing-room. Colonel Burton had a fearfulattack of asthma, which he insisted on leaving to run itsown course, one of his peculiarities being that he wouldnever send for medical advice, until death stared him in theface. Change of air and scene was his only remedy. Andas he had to spend night after night propped in a chair,utterly unable to lie down, his laboured breathing audiblehalf over the house, it seemed about time to try it . So nosooner had spring set in, and the milder weather renderedit possible for him to move, than he proposed going to Italy.His wife, poor thing, who only moderately enjoyed a migratory existence, was aghast; but the young people, all threerovers at heart, were wild with delight on hearing of thisexciting project. It seemed almost too good to be truewhen the yellow travelling chariot, a luxury indispensableto well- to-do folk of that period, was taken out of itscoach -house and furbished up for the journey. Thisequipage contained all the funny old-fashioned receptaclesthen in vogue, some of whose very names are unfamiliar-imperial, boot, sword-case, and plate-chest-a sort ofminiature home on wheels. And during such leisurelyprogress-it took a month to get to Italy-comforts wererequired, for the posting and country inns were at timesfar from agreeable. Of course, everybody could notsqueeze into the chariot, roomy though it was, so itwas occupied by the father, mother, and daughter, whilea chaise drawn by an ugly horse known as Dobbin, drivenby young Richard, accommodated the rest of the family.The boy delighted in acting Jehu, though at the close ofeach day his father very rightly insisted on his attending to the watering, feeding, and rubbing down of thesteed in question, before he got his own dinner. AtMarseilles, chariot, chaise, horse, and family were shippedto Leghorn, a spot which proved so utterly uninhabitablethat, after a few days' rest, the colonel and his belongingstransferred themselves to Pisa.

Although they often returned to it, the Burtons' firstsojourn under the shadow of the Leaning Tower was avery brief one. Next summer found them at Siena, and theirstay in that venerable town, one of the dullest placesunder heaven, was far from exciting. Hitherto Italyhad certainly not realised expectations; but, by the endof September, the father determined to visit Rome, sowith hopes once more raised to their highest pitch, the children watched the chariot-which, by the way, wasdrawn by post- horses-Dobbin, and the chaise being madeready for the march.

Travelling in vetturino was not without its charm. It is true one seldom progressed more than five miles an hour; if uphill still less; and in some parts of Italy the fear of brigands was a distinct bar to perfect enjoyment. Moreover, the harness was perpetually breaking; and often a horse fell lame; and the inns were too far apart to render such accidents easily remedied; but one saw the country thoroughly, and went along slowly enough to impress everything on the memory. Food consisted chiefly of omelettes, pigeons, and ill- fed chickens, the latter being killed unpleasantly soon before dinner; but bread, wine, and oil were excellent, and adulteration was then unknown. Taking it altogether, it is doubtful whether we have changed for the better, rushing along in hot, crowded railway carriages, hustled over our meals, and catching so fleeting a glimpse of the fairest scenes, that we often return home feeling decidedly hazy as to what we have seen and what we haven't.

At Rome, sight-seeing was pursued with peculiar ardour. The young Burtons were wild with delight at visiting all the celebrated sites of which they had so often heard; for, be it remembered, they were well-read youngsters, and would have turned up their noses at the mawky story-books, so popular nowadays amongst our boys and girls. They roamed with "Mrs. Starke" under the arm, for "Murray and "Baedeker were not then invented; from the Vatican to the Capitol, from church to palazzo, from ruin to ruin. Little did they care that the Ghetto was a disgrace to civilization, that the Trastevere was filthy as an African village, that the Tiber flooded the lower town. Sufficient that it was the Tiber. When they tired of the city, they made long excursions into the country; Richard even ascended Mount Soracte. And when the Holy Week came round, its ceremonies presided over by that very jovial old pontiff, Gregory XVI, we may be sure not one was shirked by the active young people. Being staunch Protestants, they were much amused to hear the Romans cracking small jokes upon the mien and demeanour of the Vecchierello, while the Pope stood in the balcony delivering his benediction―urbi et orbi-in strong contrast with the English and Irish Romanists, who straightway became almost hysterical with rapture.

From Rome our migratory family proceeded to Naples,fixing on Sorrento as summer quarters. Here Richard,excited perhaps by the immense variety of excursionstravels on a small scale-became more than usually trouble- some. First he crept over the Natural Arch, merelybecause an Italian lad had said: "Non è possibilé , Signorino. ”Next he insisted on taking the dog's place in the Grotto delCane, instigated rather by inquisitiveness than sympathyfor the ill-used animal, and was pulled out just in time toavoid suffocation. And on another occasion he was caughtin an attempt to descend the crater of Mount Vesuvius,apparently on a wild goose chase after Satan, who, so theneighbours declared, had been seen vanishing therein, clawing fast to the soul of a usurer. But in spite of theseoccasional shocks to the parental nerves, everybody enjoyedthe years passed at Naples and its lovely environs.Education went on briskly. The celebrated Cavalli wasengaged as fencing master. In those days the Neapolitanschool, which has now almost died out, was in its lastbloom. It was indeed such a thoroughly business-likeaffair, that whenever a Neapolitan and a Frenchman foughta duel, the former was sure to win. The Burton boysworked at their favourite art, heart and soul, and generallymanaged, by rising early, to devote several hours a day toit. Young Richard determined even at that age to producea combination between the Neapolitan and the Frenchschool, so as to supplement the defects of the one by themerits of the other; and, although a life of very hard workdid not allow leisure enough to carry out the whole plan,one large volume of " A Book on the Sword " was published in 1880.The sojourn at Naples was temporarily interrupted by theColonel Burton 13terrible cholera visitation in the winter of the early thirties.It caused a fearful mortality, sometimes twelve hundreddeaths a day. Colonel Burton had soon to decide betweenremaining in a comfortable palazzo on the Chiaja, whereinpeople lay dead above and beneath his apartments, or removing to Sorrento, where there was little sickness but nodoctor. Characteristically he chose the latter, and verydismal did he find a place then only suitable for summerquarters. To wile away the time he devoted himself tochemistry, and nearly drove his Italian servants mad withsuperstitious terror by performing before their horrifiedeyes, an excellent imitation of the miracle of St. Januarius,using as a main ingredient the blood of the bird beloved byEsculapius. They quite expected so sacrilegious an actwould at once bring down upon the family the pestilenceraging in the neighbourhood; but the Burtons, in commonwith many of their fellow country people, escaped unharmed.It was a curious circ*mstance, one which excited muchcomment at the time, that the British colony at Naples ledalmost charmed lives throughout the course of an epidemicof unparalleled severity, although so many persons hadfallen victims to it in England.

In the spring of 1836, Colonel Burton having had enough of Naples, removed with his family to Pau in the Pyrenees. Some crony who had preceded him thither, had written such glowing accounts of the climate and society, that he was only too glad of the excuse for a thorough change. M. du Pré was still one of the party, so there was little interruption to the studies. At Pau, Richard began mathematics, varied by boxing lessons from an Irish groom. His interest in every branch of the noble art of self- defence threatened to become almost a monomania, owing perhaps to a day-dream indulged in by both lads, but kept for the present profoundly secret-thrashing their tutor. To prepare the more thoroughly for this dashing exploit, they passed hours in the barracks fencing with the soldiers, a familiarity tolerated by the piou-pious on account of the largesse bestowed on these occasions; for the Burton boys were handsomely supplied with pocket- money, and Edward was especially generous in the manner of spending it. But although a good deal of time was spent in boxing and fencing, Richard never became a loafer; at Pau he mastered the Béarnais patois, a charming naïve dialect which considerably assisted him in learning Provençale. And he tells us how later in life he found these studies useful in his official capacity, even in the most out-of-the- way corners of the world: nothing goes home to the heart of a man so much as to speak to him in his own tongue.

At last, after sundry summer trips to Bagnières de Bigorre and Argélés, the poor asthmatic father again found a change imperative. Two winters at Pau with its windy, rainy, snowy climate, had by no means improved his health; and when the mountain fogs began once more to roll down upon the valley, and a third cold season was approaching, he ruefully confessed the little capital of the Basses Pyrénées, so far as he was concerned, had proved a failure. So he issued marching orders for Pisa, a place for which during many a year he cherished a somewhat unreasonable affection . No one except his wife objected to the long, weary journey, and she very mildly; and before autumn had waned the family were safely established in a house on the south side of the Lung' Arno. A number of old acquaintances were yet living in the queer old town, and a few new ones were added to the list. Richard now diligently applied himself to drawing; and it was lucky for him he did take so much pains with this art, as it enabled him to illustrate his own books. Traveller-authors who have the misfortune to be indifferent draughtsmen, and bring home only a few scrawls to put into the hands of professionals, have the pleasure of seeing strange anomalies depicted in their pages. Even though Burton could draw, once, when sending to London a sketch of a pilgrim in his correct costume, the portable Koran, worn under the left arm, narrowly escaped becoming a revolver. In music, his brother and sister left him far behind. Perhaps with him the sense of harmony was lacking, for he seems to have devoted some time to an accomplishment which might have increased his fascinations with the fair sex. For, like Byron, he soon fell a victim to the tender passion. One, Signorina Caterina, a tall, slim, dark girl, with the palest possible complexion, and regular features, was the first of a long procession of beloveds. Proposals of marriage were made and accepted; but, as parental consent had not been requested on either side, and would certainly have been withheld even had that dutiful preliminary occurred to the enamoured pair, it was impossible to get the ceremony performed. The days of Romeo and Juliet and their accommodating old friar were past; and even then had Romeo been a heretic there might have been a hitch. Vainly the lovers racked their brains; the difficulties proved insurmountable. Their adieux were heartrending; but history hath it that Caterina was soon forgotten and replaced, while it maintains a discreet silence as to whether Ricardo long retained undisputed possession of her heart.

The love affair reached the good old father's ears; hewas not best pleased, and it was easy to see that a familybreak- up was approaching. The young Burtons had grownvery unruly; they made close friendships with Italianmedical students, they smoked incessantly; they hadthrashed the tutor, so he could do nothing towards keepingthem in order. Recognising the unpleasant fact that hislads had become unmanageable, Colonel Burton bore withtheir wild pranks for only a very short time, and then ,accompanied by the luckless M. du Pré, marshalled hissons to England.Richard had passed his nineteenth birthday, and if hewas ever to go to College the time had arrived . That hedid not care to lead a semi- mediæval existence matteredlittle: neither his nor his brother's inclinations were consulted, for it was well known that both lads wished to enterthe army. His father, who like many Irishmen, ran fromone extreme into another-from allowing his sons too muchliberty abroad to almost cloistering them at home-had sethis heart upon their taking honours, one at Oxford, the otherat Cambridge, and later becoming parsons. While thisprogramme betrayed very little knowledge of character, itshowed a great deal of affectionate solicitude for their futurewelfare. His health had been ruined by his short campaignin Sicily, his private fortune diminished rather than increased by his profession, and it was but natural that,remembering the comfortable home at Tuam and his uncle'sluxurious house at Killala, he should desire for his cleversons a career which might secure them a competence. Inthose days the army was considered hardly suitable for menwith brains; moreover, commissions in crack regimentswere expensive, and the pay was, as it is now, beggarly.Certainly Richard and Edward Burton did not evince muchof a vocation for the priestly calling, but their parent fondlytrusted that university life might foster latent pious proclivities which might never have seen the light under lessfavourable conditions.

His hopes at first seemed doomed to disappointment.A certain professor, a well- known Grecian, put youngRichard through his paces in the classics, and found himlamentably deficient. While as to his religious studies, hebroke down ignominiously in the Nicene Creed, and knewnext to nothing about the Thirty-nine Articles. Evidentlypretty severe coaching was required before he could appearin the character of a sucking parson at Oxford.Fortunately it happened to be Long Vacation, and aDoctor Greenhill, who had then little to do, agreed to lodgeand coach this most unpromising youth until the opening term . Colonel Burton accompanied his son to the verydoor of his future abode, consigned him personally to thenew tutor, and then returned to his wife and daughter inItaly. Edward was already studying with a clergyman atCambridge.

Stern though the old man was, Richard confessed laterthat when the last familiar face had disappeared he felt toolonely and miserable even to get into mischief. Ashamedof the poor appearance he had presented to his first ex- aminer, he worked hard with Dr. Greenhill to make up hisdeficiencies; and, thanks to his excellent memory andgreat power of concentration, he began residence in TrinityCollege no worse equipped for his future studies than quite two- thirds of his brother collegians. But any trace ofenthusiasm regarding his romantic environment seems tohave been lacking. His quarters he described as a coupleof dog- holes; chapel was a bore; the lectures which succeeded it either incomprehensible or useless; and the dinnerat 5 p.m. was uneatable. At that time beer was the onlydrink allowed, and the food consisted of hunches of meatcooked after Homeric fashion, plain boiled vegetables, andstodgy pudding. In fact, this cannibal repast so disgustedhim, that he found a place in the town where, when hecould escape " Hall, " he was able to order some moreappetising viands .

There were real annoyances besides. Ignorance of the customs of the place gave rise to quarrels; and, as he had not the least idea how to manage his limited allowance, he speedily outran the constable. With regard to his studies, he soon found that University honours required harder work and stricter self- denial than he was disposed for; a truth made disagreeably plain by his trying for two scholarships, and failing to win either. Presently a bright idea struck him. As the desire of his heart was to become a soldier, why not leave the unattainable classics, and look round for means of furthering his own designs? It was the Indian army he wished to join, attracted by its opportunities of mastering Oriental languages, and of studying all sorts and conditions of men; so, after this lucky thought, he kept a sharp look out for any chance of grounding himself in Hindustani or Arabic. At last, tired of waiting for a regular class, he attacked the latter language, and was soon well on in Erpinius's grammar; and, by and by, Don Pascual de Gayangos, whom he met at Dr. Greenhill's, showed him how to copy the alphabet.

Strange that in those days, though England was then,as now, the greatest Mohammedan Empire in the world,learning Arabic at Oxford was next to impossible. ARegius Professor existed nominally, but he had no otheroccupations than to profess . When Burton required assistance in mastering the language, and applied to the learnedgentleman in question, he was told a Professor would teacha class and not an individual. Nous avons changé tout cela,but none too soon.

As time went on Richard's spirits improved. Heamused himself by taking long walks to Bagley Wood,where a pretty gipsy sat in state to receive the shillings andthe homage of the undergraduates, and when less romantically disposed, spent his leisure hours in the fencing- room.Riding was too expensive, as he objected to a cheap andnasty " monture, " but on Sunday afternoons he often drovea tandem to Abingdon, about ten miles off-an excursionnot without a spice of excitement, tandems being forbidden.As he was rather shy, and his brother collegians did notlike his half-foreign appearance, he made few friends—Alfred Bates Richards was, perhaps, the most intimate.But he did associate occasionally with some of the youngmen at Exeter and Brasenose, preferring, however, Oriel,both as regards fellows and undergraduates; and at timeshe dined with various families in the town, meeting at theirhouses some of the celebrities of the day. Once Dr. Arnoldand Dr. Newman were amongst the guests. Much was expected from the conversation of the two learned andreverend men; but as it was mostly confined to discussingthe size of the apostles in the Cathedral of St. Peter's inRome, and as both divines showed a very dim recollectionof the subject, the said feast of reason and flow of soul musthave been to say the least, disappointing.

Autumn term over, and very long it seemed to thelonely young fellow, he went to stay with his grandmotherand aunts in London. It proved a memorable visit, for hemet at their house the three sons of a Colonel White of theThird Dragoons, who were all preparing for military servicein India. There is little doubt that the society of this trioof embryo soldiers strengthened Richard's resolution tochoose the army as a profession; many an exciting talkmust they have had together on the subject; for ourdominion in India had entered upon a critical stage of itshistory, or as the four young fellows would have expressedit, conditions there were remarkably favourable for rapidpromotion. Presently he was able to discuss the allabsorbing subject with his brother. Edward came upfrom Cambridge, and the two chummed together in Maddox Street, Mrs. Baker's house not being large enough totake them both in. They could not come to any conclusionhow best to escape from their trammels; but from allaccounts they seemed to have followed the advice of acertain cheerful- minded sage-to enjoy the present, and letthe future take care of itself.

But their " high old time " appeared only too short .Spring term arrived, and all the delightful chats aboutIndia with the Whites, and larking about London witha congenial companion-the brothers ' tastes were verysimilar-had to be given up for a dismal existence intwo frowsy rooms. To console himself, Burton played afew pranks, but they were neither original nor numerous;and by-and-by he settled down to the various kinds ofwork that suited him best.

He was certainly not idle, for about this time heinvented a system of learning lauguages, peculiarly his own. As Burton became one of the greatest linguists ofthe day, this system evidently suited him. It may bevaluable to students, so I give it in his own words."I get a grammar and a vocabulary, mark out theforms and words which I know are absolutely necessary,and learn them by heart by carrying them in my pocketand looking over them at spare moments during the day.I never work more than a quarter of an hour at a time,for after that time the brain loses its freshness. Afterlearning some three hundred words, easily done in a week,I stumble through some easy book-work (one of the Gospelsis the most come- at- able) , and underline every word I wishto recollect, in order to read over my pencillings at leastonce a day. Having finished my volume, I then carefullywork up the grammar minutiæ, and I then choose someother book whose subject most interests me. The neck ofthe language is now broken, and progress is rapid . If Icome across a new sound like the Arabic Ghayn, I train mytongue to it by repeating it so many hundred times a day.When I read, I invariably read out loud, so that the earmay aid memory. I am delighted with the most difficultcharacters, Chinese and Cuneiform, because I feel thatthey impress themselves more strongly upon the eye thanthe eternal Roman letters. This, by the bye, made meresolutely stand aloof from the hundred schemes for transliterating Eastern languages, such as Arabic, Sanscrit,Hebrew, and Syriac into Latin letters . Whenever Iconverse with anyone in a language that I am learning, Itake the trouble to repeat their words inaudibly after them ,and so to learn the trick of pronunciation and emphasis. "Thanks either to his natural facility, or to the system inquestion, Burton made considerable progress in Arabic; alanguage which was to be of the greatest service to him inafter days. His Greek and Latin seem to have done himmore harm than good. The English pronunciation of Latinvowels, then universal, happens to be the worst in theworld, because we have an O and an A which belongpeculiarly to English. A boy educated abroad wouldnaturally speak real (Roman) Latin; Richard adheredwith tenacity to his original style, and when he insisted onspouting Greek by accent and not by quantity, as they didand still do at Athens, and refused to be corrected, he waslooked upon as a very conceited and unruly youngster.

Burton was right, only he was not in the position togive an opinion. An undergraduate just over twenty couldnot reasonably expect to introduce so great an innovationamongst bald-headed seniors; and his line of conduct,which they ascribed solely to vanity and stubbornness, wasnot calculated to make him a favourite with the authorities.It mattered little in this case, as the sooner he began hismilitary career and finished his University one, the betterfor all concerned; but the lack of tact or worldly wisdom ,the habit of telling the truth whether timely or not, thatveracity which Carlyle declares is the root of all greatnessor real worth in human creatures,-sadly hindered him attimes in his struggle with the world.

Meanwhile, his family had not forgotten him, and ahappy meeting made amends for past annoyances. ColonelBurton had brought his wife and daughter from Lucca toWiesbaden in order to be nearer England; and the " boys,"as they were still called, were sent for to spend the LongVacation in Germany. There was no larking in Town thistime; the brothers did not lose a day after receiving theirletters, but started at once for the Continent. Great wasthe delight of both mother and sister at seeing the bright,good-hearted young fellows again. It is a common sayingin the family that Burtons understand only each other;and while this peculiarity has drawbacks as regards theirfriendships and marriages, it makes them very happy andunited at home. Richard, who had just succeeded in exciting a fair amount of enmity at Oxford in an exceedingshort space of time, was so loving a son that his mother,then almost invalided with heart complaint, exclaimedwhen he left her, " Just as if the sun itself had disappeared! "Wiesbaden, which, in those days before railways, wasintensely German, he described as a kind of Teutonic Margate with a chic of its own. The gaming tables were stillin all their glory, and as they were forbidden, of course,Richard lost no time in trying his luck. But after a fewfurtive visits , and the winning or losing of a few sovereigns,he soon wearied of them. Gambling never seems to havepossessed any attraction for him. Games of hazard he considered mere waste of time; horse- racing only moderatelyamusing; and of the Stock Exchange he had a positivehorror.

Play was not the sole entertainment at Wiesbaden.There were often dances in the evening, and Burton, whowaltzed exceedingly well, enjoyed these mild festivities intensely. The girls liked him as a partner, not only becausehe could steer them skilfully round the room, but for hisgood looks. He had grown tall and broad- chested; hisshapely head was plentifully covered with curly brownhair; and his large, lustrous brown eyes, whose lashes owedtheir surprising length to having been cut by his mother ininfancy, were singularly beautiful. A thick moustache,which, much to his indignation, he had been compelled toshave at Oxford, had grown again, and completed a toutensemble of manly grace very rarely surpassed. His sister ,who, during a brief season at the Baths of Lucca, wasknown by friends and admirers as the Moss Rose, hadbecome a lovely girl; the father, in spite of his asthma,was nearly as upright and good- looking as ever; and thereis little doubt these handsome Burtons attracted no smallnotice whenever they appeared.From Wiesbaden they moved to Heidelberg. ThisGerman Students and Fencing 23charmingly picturesque place then harboured a littleEnglish colony, which, as usual, warmly welcomed thenew comers. Richard's attention, however, was almostentirely absorbed by the students' methods of fighting.He haunted the fencing rooms, and delighted in a newkind of play with the Schlager, a straight, pointless bladewith razor- like edges, the favourite weapon used to settleaffairs of honour. Both he and his brother, egged on by ayoung Irishman who was studying at the University, weremost anxious to enter one of the so-called brigades, carefully choosing the Nassau, the most quarrelsome of all .But this fancy did not last. The appearance of the combatants was so ridiculous with their thick felt caps, theirnecks swathed in enormous cravats, their arms and bodiespadded, and the students seemed so uneasy at the youngEnglishmen's superior knowledge of their art, that theproject fell to the ground.The delightful holiday was drawing to an end; andRichard made one more attempt to persuade his father tolet him enter the army. He pointed out almost with tearsthat the training he had received while fitting him for asoldier's life in India, rendered a successful career at Oxfordimpossible. Reminding the old man of his two failures inthe matter of the scholarships, he declared further that thecourse marked out for him was utterly unsuitable, and theprospect of taking orders most distasteful. Edward alsochimed in and begged for a commission, Cambridge beingnearly as obnoxious to him as the sister University was tohis brother. But the father was inexorable. Dazzled bythe prospect of a comparatively luxurious life for his sons,and convinced that a vocation for the Church must declareitself before long, he turned a deaf ear to all prayers andarguments, and insisted on his odious programme beingcarried out to the bitter end. And, lest the dear old man beblamed not only for a certain density of comprehension, butfor too ardently coveting a share of ecclesiastical loaves and24

/defishes for a pair of lads who would never do anything todeserve them, I must hasten to add that, at that time, theyoung Burtons were perfectly " orthodox " in their views.Their faith, though limited in quantity, was genuine inquality; and we hear of no doubts or changes until anotheryear or two.So, as their father was inflexible, the boys took a dolefulleave of their mother and sister, and with heavy heartsreturned to England. Edward went back to Cambridge,dutifully resolved to do his best. But Richard, a moredetermined character, was goaded to despair. Again insidehis wretched little rooms at Trinity, he felt like a rat in atrap, his one thought being how to escape. For all hesitation had vanished, get away he must and would. What hewas born to do was neither preaching nor teaching; and heknew that unless the whole of his future life was to beruined, the moment for action had arrived. Had he beena year or two younger, he might have worked for a goodplace amongst the crowd that do not go in for honours, andso left the University with a certain amount of credit; butto make matters yet more desperate, the age for enteringthe army was passing by. Finally, after many a sleeplessnight spent in forming first one plan then another, hedecided to get rusticated. A youth may be rusticatedin consequence of the smallest irregularity; but to beexpelled implies ungentlemanly conduct, and was not tobe thought of. Having come to this decision , Richard nowwaited for an opportunity.One soon presented itself. A celebrated steeple- chaser,Oliver the Irishman, came down to Oxford, and the moresporting of the undergraduates were desperately anxious tosee him ride. The collegiate authorities with questionablewisdom, forbad the youngsters to be present at the races;and to make obedience certain as they thought, theyordered all the students to attend a lecture at the identicalhour when the exciting event was to come off. ThisBurton leaves Oxford 25created a small mutiny. A number of high- spirited youngfellows, Burton at the head, swore they would not standbeing treated like little boys, and that go they would. Sosundry tandems, those proscribed vehicles, were directed towait in a secluded position behind Worcester College, andwhen the truants should have been listening to and profiting by a lecture in the tutor's room, they were flying acrossthe country at a rate of twelve miles an hour. The steeplechase was a delight, and Oliver a hero; but next morningfor many of the culprits came the eating of humble pie.Summoned to the green room, they were made consciousof the enormity of their offence. Some, no doubt, tooktheir moral drubbing quietly enough, only too anxious tohave their prank overlooked and forgiven. But this wasBurton's opportunity of freeing himself from his odiousUniversity trammels, and he did not fail to take the fullestadvantage of it. Instead of expressing the slightest contrition for what was after all an act of disobedience, heboldly asserted that there was no moral turpitude in beingpresent at a race-a truism which did not happen to bequite to the point, mais n'importe. With amusing audacityhe placed himself on an ethical pinnacle, announcing, as ifno one had heard the axiom before, that trust begets trust,and complaining in pathetic terms how collegiate men hadbeen treated like naughty children. Probably his learnedand reverend censors were nearly struck dumb with amazement, otherwise this flow of eloquence would have beenarrested sooner; but when they did speak, it was indeed tothe purpose. While all the culprits were rusticated forthwith, Burton was singled out by a special recommendationnot to return to Oxford. His end gained, with a courtlybow, perhaps a trifle exaggerated, he retired from thescene.His mode of leaving his Alma Mater was no less characteristic. One of his brother collegians on whom sentencehad just been passed, proposed they should "go up from26

the land with a soar," and as no balloon happened to beat hand, the nearest approach to this sky-rocket mode ofprogression could be attained, figuratively anyhow, byone of the identical vehicles which had so often proveda bone of contention with the authorities. Therebeing now no need for it to hide behind WorcesterCollege, the tandem was driven boldly up to the door,bag and baggage were stowed therein , and, with a cantering leader and a high-trotting shaft horse, which, unfortunately went over some of the finest flower-beds, RichardBurton started for the nearest railway station artisticallyperforming upon a yard of tin trumpet.¹By this bold step he freed not only himself from aprofession wherein he would have never excelled, but hisbrother also. Colonel Burton, whose prejudices werecruelly shocked by what he considered nothing less than hiselder son's disgrace, ceased to press the younger to persist in studies for which he had no inclination. Edwardwas plodding on steadily enough in spite of his disappointment about the army; but his filial duty and endurancewere to be tried no longer. As soon as his father hadrecovered from the dreadful news of Richard's rustication,he received a kind letter from home, giving him full permission to choose his own career. Overjoyed by thisunexpected deliverance from his distasteful environment,he left at the end of the next term, with his parents'full consent, and presently obtained a commission in the37th Regiment, a gift from Lord Fitzroy Somerset, afterwards Lord Raglan.He had got his own way, but I have often heard that beneath all this bravado lay a deep sense of regret that such a course had been necessary.IT

CHAPTER II

IT was fortunate that Richard Burton preferred theIndian Army to the Queen's, for after his Oxford escapade, no alternative remained. His father, much too irateto exert himself very actively in helping forward a youth,whom he looked upon as an undutiful scapegrace, consideredJohn Company's service quite good enough for the elderson, and reserved what little interest he possessed for thebenefit of the younger. There was no difficulty in obtaininga commission after the recent wholesale slaughter of officersand men by Akbar Khan; and before long Richard wasduly sworn in at the India House, a dull, smoky old placelong since numbered amongst the things that were. Bombaywas the Presidency of his predilection, not because, ashe jocularly remarked, he had two relatives, one a Judge,the other a General, living at Calcutta, but for the morecogent reason that it afforded the best conditions for studying languages and people.Notwithstanding his indignation, Colonel Burton provided a very liberal outfit. An unusual item was a wig fromWinter's in Oxford Street. Some old campaigner hadrecommended the use of this venerable coiffure, as enablingits wearer to shave the head and keep it cool when disposedto get heated by study in a tropical climate. Another oddaddition to the ordinary stereotyped list was a bull terrierof the Oxford breed, destined as companion to the outwardbound, by whom it was regarded with unmingled satisfaction. In fact, outfits in those days being notorious forincluding everything that was not wanted and nothing that was, the dog and the wig happened to be the solitary itemsmentioned by their owner with unqualified approval.On the 18th June, 1842, young Burton bid farewell tofriends and relatives, and embarked at Greenwich in thesailing ship John Knox, bound for India via the Cape. Hishopes ran high. The Afghan disaster in the beginning ofthat year, when out of sixteen thousand men only Dr.Brydon escaped to tell the dismal tale, was to be amplyavenged; and our cadet expected to be employed on activeservice as soon as he arrived. If the campaign lasted alittle longer, how glorious it would be to assist in thepunishment of the murderers of Burnes and MacNaughton;besides a secondary consideration-what unlimited prospects of promotion lay stretched before him! His militaryfellow-passengers, cadets likewise, were equally sanguine.Afghans were to be slaughtered wholesale; medals, stars ,crosses gleamed in the future like so many will- o ' - the- wisps .But Richard was far too sensible to spend all his time inday-dreams. Three native servants were on board, and, ashe had learnt a little Hindustani before leaving London, hetook every opportunity of talking to these men in their owntongue. Besides this, he read up stories from old Shakespeare's text- book and every other work in the language theship possessed. In preparation for the much desired brushwith the Afghans, he kept up his sword exercise by teaching his brother cadets; while shooting birds, catchingsharks and flying fish filled up the lighter hours of a fourmonths' voyage to India half a century ago.Hardly had he arrived before his airy castles vanishedinto space. When the John Knox was about to lumber intoport and the Government pilot sprang on board, a dozenexcited voices called out " What of the war? What wasdoing in Afghanistan? " At the answer the cadets' faceslengthened. Lord Ellenborough had succeeded Lord Auckland; the avenging army had done its work, and begun itsreturn march through the Khaybar Pass-the campaign was over. No chance of medals or stars for newcomers thatyear at any rate!

Other illusions melted away on the morning of October28th, 1842. Many times during the voyage had Burtonpictured his destination , misled by those truly deceptivelines:" Thy towers, Bombay, gleam bright, they say,Against the dark blue sea."The much praised bay he thought a great splay thingtoo long for its height, the bright towers were nowhere, unless the blotched cathedral buildings might stand for such;and although the rains had just ceased, the sky seemednever clear, while the water was always dirty.Fifty years ago Mombadevi Town presented a marvellous contrast to the present Queen of Western India. Inthose days passengers had to land in wretched shore-boatsat the Apollo Bunder, and the dirt and squalor that greetedtheir eyes was well nigh indescribable. As to the poorcadets, under the slovenly rule of the Court of Directors,the scantiest arrangements were made for their comfort.Usually they were lodged at a Parsee tavern dignifiedby the high-sounding name of the British Hotel, whichwas not merely filthy, but excessively expensive. Tocrown all the disappointments of that day, Burton caughtsight of a Sepoy, type of the creatures he was about tocommand; and this figure of fun, with its shako plantedon the top of its dingy face, its wasp- like form clad in atight-fitting scarlet coat, so damped his ardour for hisnew profession, that he felt sorely disposed to return toEngland by the John Knox.After a week, the cadets were drafted into so- calledsanitary bungalows- thatched hovels facing Back Bay.These buildings were semi-detached, and so small thatthe accommodation seems to have been limited to a buttand a ben, or an outer and an inner room. Both apartments swarmed with lizards and rats, a depressing smell3.0

of roast Hindoo wafted in from a neighbouring burningground when the wind blew that way, and all the boastedluxuries and comforts of Indian existence were conspicuousby their absence.As society at Bombay was apt to turn up its noseat cadets, Burton, seeing there was little chance of amusem*nt, devoted his attention to work. Western India thenoffered two specialities for the Britisher -first, sport;secondly, opportunities of becoming acquainted with thepeople and their languages. The latter were practicallyunlimited, and required no small amount of time to turnto full advantage. Diligent though our student was, sevenyears elapsed before he could distinguish the several castes,and feel thoroughly familiar with their manners and customs, religions and superstitions. That it is only prudentnot to remain in utter ignorance of the character, and habitsof the millions under our rule, was just beginning to dawnupon the Anglo- Indian mind. The truth glared at onceinto Burton's, and, grudging every hour wasted amongstpeople with whom he could not fluently converse, he engaged a venerable Parsee, Dosabhai Sohrabji, who hadcoached many a generation of griffs, and under his guidanceplunged at once into the Akhlak-i- Hindi and other suchtext books. Burton remained friends with this old man forlife; and the master always used to quote his pupil as onewho could learn a language running.At the end of six weeks orders arrived to join the 18thBombay Native Infantry, then stationed at Baroda inGujarat. At that time even a subaltern was expected tokeep six or eight servants, and one or two horses; so,before leaving Bombay, Burton engaged a domestic staffof Goanese, presided over by one Salvador Soares; andinstead of a so- called Arab, which would have cost anextravagant price, he purchased a Kattywar nag. Thehappy family, including the bull- terrier, none the worse forher voyage, started by "pattymar," a native craft withOn the Road to Baroda 31huge lateen sails, which sometimes took six weeks overwhat a steamer now does in four days.The voyage, slow though it was, delighted our youngtraveller. Every evening he made a point of landing toenjoy a very novel sort of sight- seeing, -Diu, once sofamous in Portuguese story, holy Dwarka, guarded outsideby an efficient police force of sharks, Bassein, the ruins ofSomanáth, Surat, then slowly recovering from her combineddisasters of fire and flood, and many other places equallyinteresting. In a fortnight the pattymar reached theTunkaria- Bunder, a small landing- place in the Bay ofCambay, famous only for its Ghorá or bore. Then followed.a four days' march even more enjoyable than the sail.Mounted on his Kattywar nag, a gallant little beast withblack stripes and stockings, Burton rode about fifteen milesa day over country green as a card-table, and flat as aprairie. Gujarat in winter presented many charms to the newcomer. The rich black earth was covered with thatleek-like verdigris green which one associates only withearly spring in the temperate zone, while the atmosphere,free from wind or storms, felt soft and pleasant. Everylittle village was surrounded by hedge milk bush of thecolour of emeralds, and shaded by glorious banyan and pipaltrees, or topes of giant figs; and during the quiet eveningswhen a sheeny mist hung over each settlement, and theflocks were slowly wending their way home, and all mannerof strange and beautiful birds were preparing to roost inthe giant branches high overhead, it must have been difficultto imagine a more quaint and charming scene.On arriving at Baroda, Burton found his corps in asomewhat skeleton condition. One wing containing thegreater number of officers, was stationed at Mhow, not tomention several who were on the Staff or in Civil employ.Major James, then in command of the 18th, formally presented the new comer at mess, which, though meagrelyattended, was so neatly served in the large, cool regimental32*

dining room , the table decked with clean napery and brightsilver, that the young subaltern seemed to have thoroughlyenjoyed his first well- appointed dinner since leaving England.Baroda, the second city of Gujarat and third in thePresidency of Bombay, now boasts of a railway and anenormously increased population. Fifty years ago, it wasa jumble of low huts and tall houses grotesquely painted ,its principal buildings being a shabby palace and a bazaar.The dingiest of London lodgings would have been luxurycompared with the wretched accommodation afforded withinthe precincts of the camp. Burton described his bungalowas a thatched article not unlike a cow- shed, which, whileit kept out the sun, too often let in the rain; an unfortunatefailing, as the tropical downpours in that part of the countrywere closely related to water- spouts. However, he madehimself as comfortable as possible with his servants, horse,and bull terrier, and then applied himself with frenzy to hisstudies. Military work was slack just then, his environment uninviting, society almost nil; so he had plenty ofleisure. While keeping up the Arabic acquired at Oxford,he devoted eight or ten hours a day to a desperate tusslewith Hindustani; and so fierce was his ardour, that twomunshis barely kept up with him.Asketch of a military day at Baroda, will account for theenormous amount of spare time this young subaltern wasable to give to languages.Men rose at the first glimmer of light, dressed, anddrank a cup of tea. Then the horse was brought round,saddled, and carried its rider to the drill-ground. Workthere usually began at dawn, and lasted until shortly aftersunrise. Parade over, the officers met at what was called acoffee shop, where they breakfasted on tea, café- au-lait ,biscuit, bread and butter and fruit; then duty being done,each was practically free to occupy himself as he best coulduntil dinner- time. As Burton abjured the heavy tiffins indulged in by most Anglo- Indians, contenting himself with aLife at Baroda 33biscuit and a glass of port, he retired to his studies for therest of the day, while the other officers played at billiards orwent shooting or pig- sticking.In the evening all dined together. Dinner consisted ofsoup, a joint of roast mutton at one end and boiled muttonor boiled fowls at the other, with vegetables in the sidedishes. Beef was never seen, because the cow was worshipped at Baroda; nor was roast or boiled pork knownat native messes, where the manners and customs of Indianbazaar pig were familiar to all, and where nauseous storiescirculated as to the insults his remains were exposed to onthe part of the Mohammedan scullions. The substantialpart of the meal concluded with curry, Bombay ducks, anda peculiar kind of cake. Coffee was unknown, beer was thefavourite drink, ice rare, and tinned vegetables had onlyjust been thought of. After cheese each man lighted hiscigar, invariably a Manilla, costing twenty rupees a thousand. Havanas were never seen, pipes but seldom used ,and the hookah was going out of fashion.Of course, Burton did not spend every day over hisbooks. Sport in the neighbourhood of Baroda was excellent. In the thick jungle to the east of the city, tigersabounded, and native friends would always lend their elephants for a consideration. Black bucks, large antelopes,birds in countless numbers, from the huge adjutant craneto snipe equal to any in England, afforded an endlessvariety of " something to kill, " and an exciting changeoccasionally from the Munshis, and the Hindustani studies;for, though kind- hearted to tame animals, Burton was anardent sportsman, sparing only monkeys when he was shooting, because their manner of dying is too horribly human.Besides these holidays there were the annual reviews,when the General came over from Ahmedabad to inspectthe corps, and the yearly races. At the latter, on oneoccasion, the Kattywar nag, ridden by its owner, succeededin carrying off all the honours.2334

Had matters been as quiet in all parts of India as theywere at Baroda, Burton might have found his professionsomewhat tame. But before long the whole cantonmentwas aroused by the news of the battle of Meeanee, foughton February 21st, 1843. Sir Charles Napier, a truly GrandOld Man, had shown that with a little force of mixedEnglishmen and Sepoys he could beat the best army thatany native power could bring into the field . On March22nd followed the battle of Dubba; Sind fell into the powerof the English, and the eagle-faced old conqueror rose tothe pinnacle of his fame.A sense of mortal injury at being kept in ingloriousidleness, seems to have spurred on our young soldier toprepare himself and his men for the field, in the event of aturn of luck. He now devoted only half his time to hisstudies. Having passed his drill and been given thecharge of a company, he proceeded to teach not merelywhat he had just learnt, but a great deal besides. His aimwas to encourage personal prowess, gymnastics, and thepractice of weapons in which our forefathers took such pride,knowing but too well how many a brave man has lost hislife during our wars with uncivilised races, in consequenceof having neglected the use of the sword, which alone caninsure success in single combat. So he encouraged hisSepoys in this exercise, and would get his most promisingpupils to his own quarters for a good long bout every day.Once a month he gave a prize, usually a smart turban, tothe ablest swordsman or wrestler. His brother subalterns,who did not take life quite so seriously, wondered at suchenthusiasm, which presently took the form of learning froma native jockey the Indian art of riding and training thehorse. This was also of importance: men rode mostlyhalf-broken Arabs, and at many reviews it was no uncommon spectacle for the commanding officer to be boltedwith in one direction , and the second in command in another.Surely, he reasoned, there are quite enough dangers in theTwo Month's Leave 35field, even when perfectly equipped, without the extraneousone of an unmanageable animal.In April, 1843 , Burton obtained two months' leave forthe purpose of passing an examination in Hindustani atthe Presidency. It was a most prosperous trip . Travellingin the same way as before, he was not delayed by contrarywinds, and the sail, despite the heat, was charming. Thenorth-east monsoon about drawing to a close, alternatedwith a salt sea breeze known as the Doctor, and deliciousspicy land zephyrs; while the deep blue sky unsullied by asingle cloud was reflected in the still , clear water. Duringhis stay at Bombay, he escaped the horrors of the hotel andSanitorium, by hiring a tent and pitching it in the Strangers'Lines, which then extended southwards from the Sanitoriumalong the shore of Back Bay. With the assistance of hisold Parsee coach he worked up the last minutiae of thelanguage, and on the 5th of May passed first of twelve.Although, as he modestly remarked, this was no great feat,as he had begun Hindustani in London, continued it onboard ship, and studied from eight to ten hours a day atBaroda; still the little triumph must have afforded an agreeable contrast to his disastrous exams. at Oxford. LeavingBombay, May 12th, he rejoined his regiment just beforethe burst of the south-west monsoon, and when this beganwe hear no more about the charms of Gujarát .The discomfort of this season in those days musthave been almost unbearable. Inside the bungalow itwas impossible to keep dry, while outside the aspect ofnature, as poor Buckle used to say, suggested a seconddeluge. The rains, exceptionally heavy at Baroda, sometimes last without intermission during seven days andseven nights; a meteorological feature common enoughin the lowlands of India and other places where theGháts approach the coast. To reach mess and dine incomfort, Burton had to send on clothes, put on a mackintosh, and gallop at full speed through water above and3-236

below. There was no duty: there could be none, forthe parade ground was turned into a pond only fit forducks. Moreover, the air became full of loathsome insects -beings apparently born for the occasion -flyinghorrors of all kinds, ants and bugs, which persisted inforcing their way into meat and drink, until at last itwas necessary to protect each tumbler with a silver lid ,and hardly safe even to open the mouth.Having mastered Hindustani, Burton, with the assistance of a Nagar Brahmin named Him Chand, next attackedthe Gujarati language. He took besides, elementary lessonsin Sanscrit from the regimental pandit, a sort of half priesthalf schoolmaster, who read prayers and superintended thenative festivals, with all their complicated observances.Under this pair of teachers, he became as well acquaintedas an outsider can be with the practice of Hinduism,and eventually Him Chand officially allowed him to wearthe Janeo, or Brahminical thread of the twice born. It issaid our versatile soldier occasionally varied his Sundaysby attending a Romish chapel served by a berry- brownGoanese padre; and it is possible he did profit by thisopportunity of studying the effect produced by the Churchof Rome on the semi- civilised people around him. But thefoolish tale that the said chocolate coloured divine receivedhim into the communion in question was utterly refuted bythe fact that at his marriage nearly twenty years later, thepresence of a registrar was required in the chapel; a functionary called in only when the contracting parties belongto a different religion .Another visit to Bombay, in August 1843 , for an examination in the Gujarati tongue was again crowned withsuccess. And his industry was further rewarded by anappointment as interpreter to his regiment, which added atrifle to his income. Returning to Baroda, this indefatigable man was just in time to join in the farewell revels of"the 18th," which had been ordered to Sind; and after theFirst Visit to Sind 37usual slow march and equally slow sail were safely over,he and his corps embarked for Karáchi on board theH.E.I. Company's steamship " Semiramis. """Green Gujarát in winter had excited something likeenthusiasm in our young traveller's breast: this sentimentwas wholly lacking when first he looked upon Sind. " Oh!the barren shore! a regular desert; a thread of low coast ,sandy as a Scotchman's whiskers; a bald and dismalglaring waste with visible and palpable heat playing overits dirty white, dirty yellow, and dirty brown surface,something between a dust- bin and an oven! ' In suchterms did he apostrophise the Unhappy Valley and Karáchiits port town. Nor did his opinion become more favourableon closer inspection. Karachi in 1844 was little more thana village; streets there were none, the wretched housesalmost meeting over the narrow lanes that formed the onlythoroughfares; and nothing could exceed the filth, forsewers were non- existent, and the harbour when the tidewas out was a system of mud- flats like the lagoons ofVenice.But in the cantonment just outside the town Britishenergy had already got things ship- shape. Here were large,roomy barracks, stables, two churches, mess-houses, everyconvenience for lodging a number of troops; and when " the18th " had settled down in camp they had a lively and farfrom unpleasant time. Sir Charles Napier was staying inthe place for a short time, accompanied by a large staff,and the garrison consisted of some five thousand men,European and native. Foremost among the regiments forpluck and spirit were the 78th Highlanders and the 86th,or "County Down Boys. " Such boisterous jollity, such incessant larking as Burton writes of in his " Sind, " seemsalmost incredible in such a climate. A favourite resort, a"" 1I Scinde; or, the Unhappy Valley, " two vols . , Bentley, 1851;and " Sind Revisited, " Bentley, two vols. , 1877.

short distance from Karáchi, was a huge tank or pondtenanted by some hundreds of alligators, sacred animalsguarded by a holy Fakir. One day our subaltern and aparty of officers , accompanied by a scratch pack of rakishbull dogs, determined to have a bit of fun with the hugesaurians, some of which were splashing in the water, othersbasking on the bank. But first the keeper had to be propitiated with a bottle of Cognac, a gift that so delightedhim that he retired at once to partake of it, begging hiskind, generous young friends to remember the beasts werevery ferocious, especially one, Mor Sahib, the grislymonarch of the place.Hardly had he departed before Lieutenant Beresford, of"the 86th," proposed to demonstrate by actual experiment"what confounded nonsense the old cuss was talking."He looked to his shoe-ties, turned round to take arun at the bog, and charged the spot right gallantly, nowplanting his foot upon one of the tufts of rank grass whichprotuded from the muddy water, then sticking for a momentin the black mire, then hopping dexterously off a scalyback or a sesquipedalian snout . Many were his narrowescapes from lashing tails and snapping jaws; many a timedid he nearly topple into the water from the back of thewobbling startled brute he was so unceremoniously usingas a bridge; but he did reach the other side with a wholeskin, though with ragged pantaloons. The feat of crossingthe pond on the alligators' bodies does not seem to havebeen repeated; but often the youngsters, in the fakir'sabsence, would muzzle one of his sacred pets by means of afowl fastened to a hook and a rope, then jump on its neckand enjoy a wriggling, zigzag ride, which usually ended inthe morass.At other times the subs. on their Arabs, formed line upona bit of clean, hard beach, which separates the sea fromthe cliff some two miles from Karáchi. A prick of thespur, a lash with the whip, and on dashed the horses likeAn Attempt to Ride a Baggage Camelmad towards and into the Arabian Sea.39A long hollowbreaker, on one occasion, curled as it neared the land andburst into a shower of snowy foam. Of twelve cavaliersonly one weathered the storm , kept his seat and won thebet. Eleven were seen in various positions, some strugglingin the swell, others flat upon the sand, and others scuddingabout the hillocks vainly endeavouring to catch and to curb their runaway nags.Perhaps the most comical of Burton's experiences atthat time was an attempt to ride a baggage camel. Afterconsiderable difficulty in getting on the roaring, yellingbeast, he found it necessary to draw his sword and prickits nose each time that member crept round near his foot.Finding all attempts to bite unavailing, the beast changedtactics and made for every low thorn tree, as close to thetrunk as possible, in the vain hope of rubbing off the rider .This exercise was varied by occasionally standing still forhalf an hour, in spite of persuasive arguments in the shapeof heels, whip and point with which the stubborn flankswere plied. Then it would rush forward, as if momentarilymaking up its mind to be good. At last this desert craftsettled upon the plan of bolting, arched its long bowsprittill its head was almost in contact with its rider's , and inthis position indulged in a scudding canter, a pace whichfelt exactly like that of a horse taking a five- barred gateevery second stride.Fortunately the road was perfectly level. Soon snapwent the nose- string! The amiable monture shook its head,snorted a little blood, slackened speed, executed a demi- volte,and turned deliberately towards the nearest jungle.Seeing a swamp in front, and knowing that a certainspill was in prospect, for these beasts always tumble downon slippery mud, Burton deliberated for a moment whetherto try and chop open his property's skull, to jump off itsback, or to keep his seat until it became no longer tenable.And his mind was still in doubt when, after sliding two or40

three yards over the slimy mire, the brute fell plump uponits sounding side.Apparently the Arabs' superstition about the camel isnot without foundation; they assure you no man was everkilled by a fall from these tall louts, whereas a little nag ordonkey has lost many a life. The cause, of course, is thatthe beast breaks the fall by slipping down on its knees;still, I find no mention of any attempt on Burton's partto steer this utterly unmanageable " Ship of the Desert "again.Presently " the 18th " was moved to Ghára, a melancholyvillage some thirty odd miles by road north of headquarters,just within hearing of the evening gun. Here were neitherbarracks nor bungalows, only dirty heaps of mud- and- mathovels close to a salt- water creek, bone-dry in March, awaste of salt flat, barren rock, and sandy plain, whereeternal sea-gales blow up and blow down a succession ofhillocks, warts on the foul face of a hideous landscape. Atfirst the entire corps had to live under canvas; one long,weary, hot season Burton spent in a single- poled tent ,where to escape suffocation when the temperature approached 120° F., he had to cover his table with a largewet cloth and sit underneath it for the best part of theday. Difficulties notwithstanding, he wrote a portion of his" Sind," and worked up for an examination in Maráthi,which he passed successfully in October, 1844.On his return to Karáchi he found himself gazetted asAssistant in the Sind Survey, with special reference to theCanal Department. This piece of luck was partly theresult of his own talents, partly the good offices of a friend,Colonel Walter Scott. The old Commander-in- Chief, likemost clever men, admired genius in others, and had keptan eye on his promising young soldier, so when, throughColonel Scott, he heard how Burton could read and translate the valuable Italian works on Hydrodynamics, hepresented him with the vacant appointment. On the773A Break in Regimental Duty 4I10th December, 1844, highly gratified by this mark ofrecognition, our hero departed with a surveying party andsix camels to work at the Phuléli and its continuation, theGuni river.His own words best show what a pleasant break inthe monotonous regimental duty his friend's kindness hadafforded him."It is a known fact that a Staff appointment has thegeneral effect of doing away with one's bad opinion of anyplace whatever. So when the Governor of Sind was persuaded to give me the temporary appointment of Assistantin the Survey, I began to look with interest on the deso- lation around me. The country was a new one, so wasits population, so was their language. My new dutiescompelled me to spend the cold season in wandering overthe districts , levelling the beds of canals, and makingpreparatory sketches for a grand survey. I was thrownso entirely amongst the people as to depend upon themfor society; and the dignity, not to mention the increasedallowance, of a Staff officer, enabled me to collect a fairstock of books, and to gather around me those who could make them of any use. So, after the first year, whenI had Persian at my fingers ' ends, sufficient Arabic toread, write, and converse fluently, and a superficial knowledge of that dialect of Punjaubee which is spoken in thewilder parts of the province, I began the systematic studyof the Sindian people, their manners, and their tongue."Now began some of the most romantic adventures ofBurton's life . After the winter of 1845 , during whichhe had enjoyed some sport, notably hawking- the latterenabling him to collect material for a second book,,, Falconry in the Valley of the Indus " —he returnednorthwards, found his corps at Hyderabad, passed throughdeserted Ghára, and joined the headquarters of the Surveyat Karachi in April. Here he made acquaintance with1" Falconry in the Valley of the Indus, " Van Voorst, 1852.42

one Mirza Ali Akhbar, who owed the rank of KhanBohádur to gallant conduct at Meeanee and Dubba,where he did his best to save the lives of many Belochbraves. This man lived just outside the camp in a bungalow which he had built for himself, and where he lodgeda friend, Mirza Daud, a first-rate Persian scholar. Withthese two Persians, and a Munshi, Burton became veryfriendly; and their assistance proved invaluable in enablinghim to study the manners and customs of the country,much in the same practical way as some of our enthusiastswork the London slums, namely, by dressing like thepeople and living amongst them. Possessing in a raredegree the faculty of imitation, he soon began to modelhimself on his companions, and presently disguised himselfas a native and opened a shop at Karachi. When tired ofhis booth in the dirty town, and very close and ill- smellingit must have been, he assumed the character of a semiArab, semi- Iranian pedlar, and roamed about the countryfollowed by servants carrying his pack. His own description of these experiences is well worth quoting."With hair falling on his shoulders, a long beard, faceand hands, arms and neck stained with a thin coat of henna,Mirza Abdullah of Bushiri—your humble servant-set outupon many and many a trip. He was a bayzaz, a vendorof fine linen, calicoes and muslins, -such chapmen are sometimes admitted to display their wares even in the sacredharem, and he had a little parcel of bijouterie reserved foremergencies.The timid villagers collected in crowds to see themerchant in Oriental dress riding, spear in hand, andpistols in holsters, towards the little camp near theirsettlements. When the Mirza arrived at a strange town,his first step was to secure a house in or near the bazaarfor the purpose of evening conversazione. Now and thenhe rented a shop and stocked it with clammy dates, viscidmolasses, tobacco, ginger and strong- smelling sweetmeats;Burton as a Bayzaz 43but somehow or other the establishments in question throvenot in a pecuniary point of view. Crowded though theywere, the polite Mirza was in the habit of giving theheaviest possible weight for their money to all the ladies,particularly the pretty ones, who honoured him by patronising his concern.Sometimes the Mirza passed his evening in a mosquelistening to the ragged students who, stretched at fulllength with their stomachs on the dusty floor, and theirarms supporting their heads, mumbled out Arabic from thethumbed, soiled and tattered pages of theology upon whicha dim oil light shed its scanty ray; or he sat debating theniceties of faith with the long- bearded, shaven- pated andstolid-faced genus loci , the Mullah. At other times, when inmerrier mood, he entered uninvited the first door whenceissued sounds of music and the dance; or he played chesswith some native friend, or visited the Mrs. Gadabouts whomake matches among the Faithful, and gathered from thema precious budget of private history and domestic scandal. "Under these light-hearted adventures a tragedy lay hid.Even in Burton's own family, only his sister knew of hispassionate and ill - fated attachment in Sind, a love whichoccupied an unique place in his life. During one of themany romantic rambles just described, he met a beautifulPersian girl of high descent, with whom he had been ableto converse by means of his disguise. Her personal charms,her lovely language, the single- hearted devotion of one ofthose noble natures which may be found even amongstOrientals, inspired him with a feeling little short of idolatry.The affectionate young soldier- student, separated by thousands of miles from kith and kin, expended the full force ofhis warm heart and fervid imagination upon his lustrouseyed, ebon- haired darling; never had he so loved before,never did he so love again. She worshipped him inreturn; but such rapture was not to last . He wouldhave married her and brought her home to his family,44

for she was as good as she was beautiful, had not the fellfoe that ever lurks in ambush to strike or divide when forawhile we dare to be happy, snatched her from him in theflower of her youth, and the brightest hours of their joydream. Her untimely end proved a bitter and enduringsorrow; years after when he told the story, his sister perceived with ready intuition that he could hardly bear tospeak of that awful parting, even the gentlest sympathyhurt like a touch on an open wound. From the day of thedeath of his best beloved he became subject to fits ofmelancholy, and it seems as if the conception of his fine ,but pessimistic poem, the " Kasidah, " ¹ dated from the greatgrief of his life."Mine eyes, my brain, my heart are sad, —sad is the very core of me;All wearies, changes, passes, ends! alas the birthday's injury ."In November Burton started with Colonel Walter Scottfor a three months' tour to the north of Sind. Theytravelled by high road to Kotri, the station of the Sindflotilla, and then crossed to Hyderabad. After a weekspent in the ex- capital, they resumed their way up theright bank of the Indus towards the extreme westernfrontier, where the Beloch herdsmen existed in theirwildest state. Presently came exciting tidings. AtLarkhana a letter arrived from John Napier announcingthat as many of the assistant surveyors as could be sparedmight join their regiments if ordered on service. This,beyond bazaar reports, was the first notice of the great SikhWar which added the Punjaub to our Indian possessions.We know Richard Burton was a most unwilling carpetsoldier, so, although the good appointment in the Surveywould have to be given up, the news made him wild to takepart in the fighting: not even the advice of his practicalScotch friend could restrain him from a step which, while1 Published originally by Bernard Quaritch in 1880, reprinted byH. S. Nichols, 1894.Laid Low with Fever 45plucky and chivalrous, seemed somewhat imprudent. Heapplied himself at once to preparations for the campaign,persuaded Colonel Scott, after some difficulty , to send in hisresignation, and, on the 23rd of February, 1846, marchedwith his corps from Rohri.Unfortunately, his post was sacrificed to no purpose.The battle of Sobraon had already been fought, and apatched-up peace which divided the Sikh State, depletedthe Sikh treasury, but left intact the Sikh army, was mostunwisely concluded. Burton thus summarised the unpleasant episode."Ours was a model army of 13,000 men, Europeans andnatives and under old Charley it would have walked intoMultan as into a mutton pie. We had also heard thatNáo Mall, the Hindu Commandant under the Sikhs, waswasting his two millions of gold, and we were willing tosave him the trouble. Merrily we trudged through Sabzalcote and Khánpúr, and we entered Baháwalpúr, where wefound the heart- chilling order to retire and march home.Consequently we returned to Rohri on the 2nd of April,and after a few days' halt there, tired and miserable, wemade Khayrpur, and after seventeen marches reached theold regimental quarters in Mohammad Khanká Tanda onthe Phuleli river. "The hot season of 1846 was unusually sickly even forSind, and the white regiments stationed at Karáchi, notably the 78th Highlanders, suffered terribly from cholera.Burton escaped this scourge, but in early July he wasattacked by one of the fevers peculiar to the country, andlaid low for nearly two months. Like his father, he believed firmly in the sovereign virtue of change of air andscene, while by no means tabooing the doctor; so, when hehad recovered from what was undoubtedly a most criticalillness treated in the drastic fashion now happily obselete,he determined to allow himself a holiday. Assisted by afriend, Henry J. Carter, he obtained two years' leave of absence to the Neilgherries; and, turning his back forawhile on pestiferous Sind, right joyfully scrambled overthe sides of a pattimar.With such ample time before him, and with healthmending fast, there was no need to hurry to his destinationthose Blue Mountains about which he writes so entertain- 991 ingly in his " Goa." On the contrary, he planned to visitGoa and Calicut, then follow the route along the sea-shoreto Poonanee on horseback, and finally strike inland to thehills. The Goanese servants and the Kattywar nag accompanied him, but the dog was dead. The servants werein a frantic state of excitement at the prospect of seeingtheir native land once more, and Burton himself, hisimagination fired by the romantic story of the old Portuguese settlement, shared their enthusiasm when his sablebutler, ecstasied by propinquity to home, sweet home, andforgetting self- possession in an élan of patriotism, abruptlydirected his master's vision towards the whitewashedlighthouse which marked the north side of the entranceinto the Goa creek. Owing to sundry delays, the pattimardid not reach the landing-place before dark, and Burtonhad to curb his impatience to enjoy the celebrated viewof the Rio until next morning. A last night was spenton the quaint old craft, and on the following day hesecured a house with six rooms, kitchen , stable and courtyard for the ridiculous sum of fourteen shillings a month.Here he remained while exploring the city and its neighbourhood.Panjim, the present capital, situated on a narrow ridgebetween a hill to the north and an arm of the sea, containsmany respectable looking buildings, usually one storeyhigh, solidly constructed of stone and mortar, with redtile roofs, and surrounded by large courtyards overgrownwith cocoanut trees.1 " Goa and the Blue Mountains, " one vol. , Bentley, 1851 .The View Visible from the Rio at Goa 47But it is old Goa that possesses all the historic associations; and travellers at once strain their eyes towards thedim view visible from the Rio, of steeples, domes, hugemasses of masonry, some standing out from the deep bluesky, others lining the edge of the creek. Hardly was Burtonsettled in his new lodgings before he started by canoe toinspect the remains of the once wealthy and magnificentcity. A couple of hours' row landed him at his destination ,while the crimson rays of the setting sun were lighting upthe scene; and in order to see the ruins to perfection, hewent no further than the Ajube, or ecclesiastical prison,where he intended to pass the night. When the moon,then at its full, had risen, he sallied forth to view theromantic spectacle under her silvery beams. One solitarygateway towered above the large mass of débris flanking theentrance to the Strada Duetta , the arch under which thenewly appointed viceroys of Goa used to pass in triumphalprocession; but, churches and monasteries excepted, theonce populous town appeared a veritable city of the dead.About thirty buildings were still standing, and even ofthese some were being demolished for the sake of theirmaterial, for the poverty-stricken Portuguese preferred tocarry away cut stone than to quarry it. Everything thatmet the eye or ear seemed teeming with melancholy associations; the very rustling of the trees and the murmur ofthe waves sounded like a dirge for departed grandeur.Beyond the gateway a level road, once a crowdedthoroughfare, led to the Terra di Sabaio, or large square,fronting St. Catherine's Cathedral. In this huge pile sometwenty natives were performing their devotions; and inmonasteries built for hundreds of monks a single priest wasoften the only occupant. The site of the Viceregal Palace,long since razed to the ground, was covered with a luxuriant growth of poisonous plants and thorny trees; whileon the remains of the vile Casa Santa a curse seemed tohave fallen-not a shrub sprung between the fragments of stone which, broken and blackened with decay, were left toencumber the soil as unworthy of the trouble of removal.After vainly trying to save the life of an old Jogi discovered in an expiring condition by the roadside, and whovery sensibly begged to be left to die, Burton spent theremainder of the night inside his gloomy lodgings. By thelight of day he found Old Goa had few charms, and havingvisited several churches, including that of Bom Jesus, containing the tomb of St. Francis Xavier, about which heflippantly remarked that " his saintship was no longer displayed to reverential gazers in mummy or scalded pigform ," our traveller betook himself to the more cheerfulmodern capital.During a stay of three or four weeks at Panjim, Burtonmet with a curious adventure. While visiting a conventfor the sake of some books contained in its library, heremarked a very pretty nun, who, judging from her expression, seemed far from contented with her dreary lot. Sheevidently aroused his pity, and he soon conceived the pluckyproject of carrying her off to some place under Englishrule, where she could lead a less dismal and unnaturalexistence. By dint of sundry presents of Cognac, labelledmedicine, to the prioress and sub- prioress, two holy personages rudely described as more like Gujurát apes thanmortal women, and of pretending, naughty man, to bedeeply interested in the Life of St. Augustine, he managedto visit the nunnery pretty frequently. At first the blackeyed, rosy-lipped sister seemed hopelessly bashful, graduallyshe became less shy, and finally, after receiving a note fromhim enclosed in a bouquet and containing full instructionshowto escape, she consented to trust herself to her deliverer.A swift-sailing pattimar was in readiness. Burton andtwo servants disguised themselves as Moslems, and onenight opened the garden gate and that of the cloistersby means of false keys. Unfortunately, in the hurry ofthe moment, the three men took the wrong turning, andVisits Calicut 49found themselves unawares in the chamber of the subprioress, whose sleeping form was instantly raised andborne off in triumph by the domestics.Alas! shrill shrieks and tiger- like claws soon revealedthe fatal mistake. Two rolling yellow eyes glared intoSalvador's face, two big black lips began to shout andscream and abuse him with all their might. It was anutter failure . Not daring to remain another moment, thethree men deposited their ugly burthen in the garden tomake her way back at her leisure, and decamped with allpossible speed. The poor nun had to be left to her fate,but, owing to Burton's admirable disguise, her knighterrant was never found out.Still, he thought it prudent to bid adieu to Panjimwithout delay. Four days later he landed at Calicut, nolonger the " Cidade nobre e rica " described by Camoens'tuneful muses. Some travellers even think it is not theone alluded to in the " Lusiads "; and a tradition existsamongst the natives of the land that ancient Calicut wasmerged beneath the waves. Of monumental antiquitiesthere are none; still, as the surrounding country haschanged but little since the poet's time, and it must havebeen somewhere on that coast that old De Gama first castanchor and stepped forth from his weather- beaten ship atthe head of his mail- clad warriors, the visit proved of valuewhen, many years after, Burton translated the great Portuguese poem.Wishing to see as much as possible of the Malabarcoast, he preferred the longer route to the short mountaincut up the Koondah range. The roads were bad and theferries incessant on account of the lakes, rivers and breakwaters that intersect the country; but the brave little nagdid his work valiantly, and when it was too hard, his masterwalked. As they plodded along, our traveller admired thesubstantial pagodas, the pretty little villages that crownthe gentle eminences rising above the swampy rice-lands, and noted that the country seemed both prosperous andfertile, each tenement having its own croft planted withpepper, plantains, and the betel vine, with small tufts ofcocoas, bamboos, and the tall feathery areca. At Matypolliam, situated at the foot of the Neilgherries, a shortdelay occurred, the Bhawani river having battered downher bridge, no uncommon disaster; but afterwards he proceeded steadily along dark ravines, up parapetless roads,over torrents and apologies for bridges that made even hisstrong brain reel, until at last he came within sight of thecantonment of Ootacamund.Everybody who has read anything about India isfamiliar with Ootacamund. So the three chapters in “Goa”describing the place and its customs, may be condensedinto a few sentences. Burton's visit was far from apleasant one. He would have enjoyed the exhilaratingair, the varied, almost English food, had not the suddenchange of temperature from hot, dry Sind to the damp,chilly hills, brought on an attack of rheumatic opthalmiathat confined him to dark rooms for a fortnight at a time.True, these spells of inactivity alternated with excursionsto adjacent places of interest; but one of these rides costhim the life of his favourite horse, a painful shock to alonely man who loved his little beast and could ill affordits loss. Then the Goanese servants, disgusted with theclimate and thinking solely of their own skins, deserted ina body; and some Madrassees engaged in their stead, provedvery indifferent substitutes. So at last, in spite of painfulmemories of sickness and death connected with Karáchi,Burton determined to throw up his remaining leave andgo back to his regiment.The return journey did him good. His eyes mended sorapidly that on the 15th October, 1847, he passed in Persianat Bombay, coming out first of some thirty with a compliment from the examiners. It is probable his proficiencyin this language was a result of his intimacy with his poorBurton Conceives the Idea of Performing the Pilgrimage 51dead love, for, although he had worked at it on and off eversince his arrival in India, he had had no leisure to study .very hard before the examination. His linguistic achievements were beginning to attract notice; this particulartriumph was followed by an honorarium in the shape of athousand rupees from the Court of Directors.

Forthwith he concentrated his attention upon Arabic. Thrown more and more into Moslem society, he presently conceived the idea of performing a pilgrimage to Meccah and El- Medinah. His knowledge of these hitherto mysterious penetralia of Mohammedan superstition was of the flimsiest, for since the days of William Pitts of Exeter, in 1678, no European traveller with the exception of Burckhardt, in 1811 , had been able to enter the holy cities and send back an account of their travels. There was no chance of carrying out this project for some time to come, but it was not too early to prepare for what would certainly prove a difficult and dangerous expedition. Under the tuition of Shaykh Háslim, a half Bedawin, who had accompanied him from Bombay to Karáchi, he investigated practical Moslem divinity, learnt about a quarter of the Koran by heart, and became a proficient at prayer, or rather those " vain repetitions " which seem so strangely attractive to many of the religions of the world. To gain a more thorough insight into this faith in all its phases, he added a sympathetic study of Sufi-ism, the Gnosticism of El Islam, a Master Sufi ranking high above a mere Moslem.

"I conscientiously went through the Chillá, or quarantine of fasting and other exercises, which, by-the-bye, proved rather too exciting to the brain. At times, when overstrung, I relieved my nerves with a course of Sikh religion and literature; and, at last, the good old priest, my instructor, solemnly initiated me in presence of the swinging Granth, ' or Nának Shah's scriptures. As I had already been duly invested by a strict Hindú with the Janeo or Brahminical thread, ' my experience of Eastern faiths became phenomenal."

And now, as often happens with deeply- read and widely travelled men, Burton found the views of his youth nolonger tenable. During these studies of alien faiths,Christianity dwindled in his mind to what he consideredher true proportions- not the one religion, but one amongstmany religions. A God he believed in, Unknowable andImpersonal; for, too thoughtful a man to deny what hecouldn't prove, he never drifted into Atheism. While byno means an optimist, he held that absolute evil is impossible, because it is always rising up into good, and thetheory of a maleficient power is a purely superstitiousfancy, contradicted by human reason and the aspect of theworld. Man he considered a co-ordinate term of Nature'sgreat progression, a result of the inter-action of organismand environment working through cosmic sections of time.As regards the future life, while admitting that absolutecertainty on that point is unattainable, he was inclined tothink all ideas of another existence copies more or lessidealized of the present:-

"Then, if Nirwânâ round our life with nothingness, ' tis haply best;Thy toil and troubles, want and woe, at length have won their guerdon-Rest. "Of practical advice he had the best to give-to uprootignorance, avoid self-tormenting, do good because good isgood to do, and lastly toC4 Abjure the Why and seek the How. "From these convictions, arrived at in the prime ofmanhood, and after the profoundest study, Richard Burtonnever swerved. No mystery was affected; he spoke andpublished but too openly. His beautiful poem the" Kasidah," written about this time, his Terminal Essayin the original as also in the Library edition of the"Thousand Nights and a Night, " almost his last work,would satisfy any reader that his views differed notmerely from those of any Christian Church, but alsofrom the invertebrate eclecticism of the day. Towardsthe Church of Rome he had a positive aversion, declaring she has added a fourth person to the Trinity.While believing our own the purest form of Christianityextant, he had lived so long amongst the teeming populations of the East, that he was disposed to award thepalm to El Islam as the faith best fitted to civilizethe wretched creatures known under the comprehensivename of heathen. Moreover, to a rigid Monotheist,the religion promulgated by Mahomet, appealed byvirtue of its fairly pure Deism; to a Humanitarian,by the practical work effected amongst its converts byenforcing cleanliness, sobriety, and the nearest approachto morality which their physical and mental conditionadmit of. But while he admired Mohammedanism forsundry of its attributes, he states in clearest languagethat the rewards it offers for mere belief, reducing everyvirtue to the scale of a somewhat unrefined egotism , hasproduced demoralising effects that become more distinctin every progressive age. To sum up, there is not theshadow of a doubt amongst those who knew Burton bestand who had no reason for not speaking the truth concerning him, that he looked with somewhat cynical eyesupon the conflicting religions of the world.His first visit to India was now drawing to a close.The spring of 1848 brought the news of Anderson's murderby Nao Mall of Multan. A campaign seemed imminent,and a report circulated that Sir Charles Napier, then inEngland, would return to take command. Colonel WalterScott and many other brother officers were ordered to bein readiness for the field, and Burton, again inflamed by thewar fever, applied to accompany the force as interpreter.Examinations in six native languages had been passedsuccessfully; he was studying two more: but he hadneglected to curry favour with men in power; worse,indeed, he had expressed his opinion of some amongstthem a little too openly. So, in answer to his request,he was informed that another man had already been appointed, one who possessed exactly one-sixth of his linguisticknowledge.

This last misfortune disheartened him. Rheumaticophthalmia, which the exciting prospect of a campaign hadnearly cured, came on again with redoubled virulence, anda change to Europe was recommended almost as a finalresource. Sick and depressed, Burton began to long forhome, for the sight of dear familiar faces; and with strengthfast failing, he managed to get as far as his Presidency. AtBombay his health broke down completely, and in a wellnigh insensible condition he had to be carried on board thebrig Eliza, where, but for the assiduous care of a Moslemservant, one Allahdad, he would most probably have diedbefore reaching England.

CHAPTER III

THE voyage soon re-established Burton's health . Whenhe sailed, his fellow- passengers believed he wouldnever reach home alive, and it was with considerabledifficulty that he contrived to write a few words of farewell to his mother and sister. But within less than afortnight a marked improvement took place.For someconstitutions sea air is the best of remedies; in Burton'scase it almost always produced such a magical effect,that, when indisposed, he frequently arranged to travelby water, even though the sea route were twice as longas the overland. Nor was it an unpleasant mode of treatment. He was never sick, never even uncomfortable duringthe roughest weather; and he often dined tête-à-tête withthe captain in the height of a gale which had prostratedevery other landsman on board.As he grew stronger and the Eliza, favoured by fairwinds, scudded on her homeward way, his thoughts becameentirely centred on the fast approaching meeting with hisrelatives. Seven years had gone by since he sailed forBombay in the John Knox. A chapter of accidents hadprevented his seeing Edward Burton, stationed at Ceylonwith " the 37th, " although the two brothers had been mostanxious to spend some time together, and, with this endin view, had made plan after plan; while, as for othermembers of his family, those were days before cheap wintertrips to the Presidencies enable us to visit our friends inIndia, whenever affection or restlessness prompts us thusto expend our money and our energies. Happily, as yetdeath had made no gaps in the home circle. His mother,56

though ailing, lived some years longer, his father's healthwas no worse, while his sister, married in 1845, had twochildren.By the time he landed, his longing for the sight of afamiliar face had grown so utterly uncontrollable, that, onhis arrival in London, regardless of the unearthly hour, hewent straight to the house of the aunt who had nursedhim through the scarlet fever, and knocked her up at 2 A.M.After a short stay in town, he went on to see other relatives, notably two pretty Burton cousins and their mother;and finally, having attended to various business matterswhich had accumulated during his long absence fromEngland, he travelled night and day to Pisa, where hisparents, sister and nieces were to spend the winter.It was a very happy meeting. All the more so, perhaps, as it took place in his still beloved Italy. He wentover old scenes with interest, rubbed up his Italian, whichhad done him such good service in the matter of the SindSurvey, and revelled in the mild climate and comparativeluxury of Pisa. Its drawbacks, once grumbled over, musthave seemed trifles indeed after his stifling tent at Ghára,with the wet cloth dangling over its one table, or theleaking bungalow at Baroda, where not even a mackintoshand an umbrella could keep its solitary tenant dry.Allahdad, clad in picturesque costume-turban, baggytrousers, etc. , accompanied his master, and was mostkindly received by the family, who were exceedinglygrateful for the care and attention he had shown theinvalid on board the Eliza. At first the Mussulman adaptedhimself very graciously to his novel environment, devotinghimself so assiduously to the children that they would cryto be dandled in his arms. But soon, like most Asiaticsabsent from their own country, he grew home- sick, consequently quarrelsome. On one occasion, Sabbatino, theItalian cook, showed him, as a joke, a ham boiling in a bigkettle. Allahdad promptly avenged his insulted creed byBurton Undergoes Hydropathic Treatment 57seizing the man in his strong brown arms, and attemptingto seat him upon the charcoal fire, an auto-da -fé withdifficulty frustrated by the bystanders. Then, from hisslender stock of English, he selected the forcible phrase,"God damn Italy," and repeated it, parrot fashion, to everyItalian he met. The two last words were fairly intelligible,the tone in which they were uttered was yet more so, forthe Mussulman with ready vanity had taken a violentdislike to a people, who evidently considered him a soullessmonster; fights innumerable ensued, and once he tried tostab his opponent. At last even his master, whom he stillcared for in a way, failed to manage him, and he had to bedischarged. But not until he had accompanied the familyback to England, whence his passage was taken forBombay.

Next year's leave was spent between Leamington andDover, with occasional trips to Malvern for the hydropathic treatment, then in its infancy. Burton gave the latter afair trial, and considered the " " in a modified formminus the semi- starvation, plus the use of warm water incertain cases instead of cold—a very valuable one.¹ Wellfor him had the harmless water cure always been within hisreach, for, unlike his father, Medicine and her professorsattracted him strongly. He had acquired a smattering ofpathology and therapeutics, useful enough during his wanderings, but which, at other times, was apt to take the formof experimenting upon himself. While far from blind tothe mistakes made by the faculty, aud unpleasantly consciousof real injury inflicted by the drastic drugs then in vogue,he was never without some pet surgeon or physician.Possibly this fancy was a result of a sanguine disposition;when he found himself decidedly the worse for the wellintentioned but not very skilful efforts of one of these professors of the healing art, he would comfort himself with

1 Since 1850 both modifications have been adopted.

the reflection that " Medicine was still guess- work, but thatno one could tell what great discovery might be made beforelong; and then proceed to try some other doctor with nobetter success.

Wearying after a time of the formality of England, andyet more of her dismal climate, which never thoroughlysuited him, Burton crossed over to Boulogne in 1851. Onegreat attraction to that shabby little town was a celebratedsalle d'armes, kept by a M. Constantin, of which more anon.However, living alone at an hotel did not long suit a manwho still possessed the affectionate heart of a boy, sopresently various relatives received dismal letters complaining of dulness and low spirits . The first to come to therescue was Burton's sister, then in England expecting thereturn of her husband from India, a return delayed by theapproaching troubles; and shortly after she came with hertwo children, Colonel and Mrs. Burton arrived from Pisa.Burton did not recover his spirits immediately. He hadfallen in love with one of his handsome cousins . Therewas real liking on her part; she was lively, amiable, welldowered-in short, so far as he was concerned, an excellentchoice. Unfortunately his prospects were dismal in theextreme. Still merely a lieutenant of a John Company'sregiment which obliged him to spend most of his lifein India, he reluctantly bowed to the wise decision of hernearest relations who, sincerely as they cared for him, couldnot sanction an engagement. The affair fell through, to thegreat regret of his parents and sister, for he would havesecured an excellent wife. But, strange to say, his affectionfor his cousin lacked the intensity of his love for the deadgirl in Sind; and before long the fencing school, and amanual he was just bringing out, a new system of bayonetexercise, absorbed all his energies. About a year laterthere was another love affair, a very evanescent one, which,like the last, soon came to an untimely end.11 "A Complete System of Bayonet Exercise. " Clowes & Sons, 1853.Affaires de Caur 59That Burton had a great many affaires de cœur is nosecret. They were mostly of an ephemeral nature, andmay be attributed to a variety of causes. A very sociableman, with nothing of the hermit about him, he thoroughlyenjoyed women's society, though pretending at times tolook down upon it. Then, possessing in almost the highestdegree the love of the beautiful, he found a fair face anirresistible attraction. Besides, as he was not merely ahandsome but a powerfully magnetic man, women fell inlove with him by the score, often careless whether theiraffection was returned or not. It is certain that many ofhis amours were not originated by himself; and in thesecases, some of a delicate and troublesome nature, hewas at a distinct advantage. He was easily cajoled,easily deceived, and his kind heart quailed at tears andscenes which a sterner, colder man would have taken attheir real value. Sometimes he rode away; perhaps heshould have followed that prudent course more frequently.But he was no rake. Ever courteous and honourable, hewould emerge safely from embarrassing straits whereanother man similarly circ*mstanced would have plungedinto serious trouble. And it speaks greatly in his favourthat, with an amative and somewhat fickle temperament,he made several attempts to marry a virtuous woman andsettle down as a Benedict before he reached his thirtiethyear.His passion for beauty had one disadvantage, a graveone. Unlike some eminent men of our day, he lovedwomen rather for their good looks than for their moralqualities. So long as a girl was handsome it neverseemed to matter how narrow, how vain , how supremelysilly she might be. While keenly appreciating talent inhis own relatives, when he fell in love he actually preferreda doll. Not that he never cared for a sensible or cleverwoman, he did so more than once, as in the case of hiscousin, but on the whole he preferred the Eastern ideal of a60

99 1wife an ideal described in " Vikram and the Vampire,"a sort of dog-like being whom no Englishwoman, clever orstupid, could possibly imitate. Perhaps, as he somewhatcynically remarks in the pages just quoted, " because shehas no fear of losing her nose or parting with her ears. "It has been said Burton could look through a man, andgauge him in a moment. Now in my description of hischaracter I aim most anxiously at accuracy in every detail.Give a man qualities foreign to his nature, and his lifestraightway becomes unintelligible. Had powers somewhat similar to the Röntgen rays been his, would he havemade the blunders he did? He confesses in one of hisbooks to not understanding the fair sex, but there is littledoubt that in knowledge of character generally he wasdeficient. With Asiatics and Africans his judgment wasoftener correct, partly because his very life depended uponhis observing them accurately, and partly because educationand environment often obscure Nature's handwriting on theface of a European, whilst amongst the less artificial children of the East, physiognomy rarely errs. A studioushabit of mind, a good-natured inclination to think well ofpersons who appeared kindly disposed towards him, mayhave prevented him from centring his attention on characters purposely veiled. Often have I heard him speakof a woman as harmless and amiable, when in truth shewas neither, often seen him associate with men whom heconsidered right good fellows, and heard the same right goodfellows abuse him roundly as soon as his back was turned,and they thought no one was listening. Naturally, thislack of insight into the dispositions of those about himinvolved him in many troubles. Ill- chosen friends usuallyturn into ultra virulent enemies.At that time the influencesall thoroughly wholesome."surrounding Burton wereColonel Burton paid onlyI ' Vikram and the Vampire, " 1870. See the Vampire's eleventhstory.Traits of Burton's Character 61flying visits to Boulogne, as the keen air disagreed withhis complaint; besides, he had long since given up anyattempt to interfere with his son's views and plans, andcontented himself with setting a good example of whata man's life ought to be. His wife, who remained withher son and daughter during the whole of their stay atthe French port, had become quite an invalid, but continued, unlike most invalids, as affectionate and as unselfish as of old. It was Burton's sister who resolutelyset herself to study his character and views, and assisthim with the best of advice. A talented woman, highprincipled, gifted moreover, with excellent judgment,she not only took the keenest interest in all his plans,but she never failed to tell him when, as often happened, he went the wrong way to work to further them.With characteristic good sense she encouraged the mostpromising of his love affairs, and only the most promising. She saw that her brother's roving temperamentand Eastern ideas would not content the ordinary Britishmatron, and the ordinary British matron, after a yearor so, would certainly not have suited him. Still , sincehis life seemed destined to be spent in distant countries,it was well to marry, if he could find someone whocould really make him happy. With regard to minormatters, she vehemently discouraged eccentricities in dress,roughness of manner, the disposition to wage war againstharmless prejudices, and, above all, Burton's almost suicidalpractice of telling horrible tales against himself. This lastfoible, by the way, was almost maddening. He usuallyselected some unfriendly nonentity as audience, and thenproceeded to relate a ghastly story of having eaten a boy,or shot two or three men for no particular reason, or runaway with at least a dozen of other people's wives, all ofwhich nonsense was duly treasured up and brought againsthim years afterwards. It can only be accounted for by analmost monkey- like love of fun and mischief; but his sister,62

divining the danger of his thus heaping up slander againsthimself, very properly warned him of the folly of suchunsuitable jokes. In short, possessing as she did thatrarest of combinations, talent and common sense, it isprobable that had she been afforded more frequent opportunities of influencing him even in trifles, his would haveproved a less chequered career, for, be it said to hishonour, when kindly counselled by anyone whom he respected, he not merely listened to advice with perfecttemper, but what is more uncommon, he often followed it .Second only to the blunder of, for mere fun, actuallystarting calumny against himself, was his inveterate habitof fighting harmless prejudices. Burton's tolerance had notattained to the perfection defined by George Eliot astolerating the intolerant. That pride of ignorance, whichso far exceeds the pride of science, was not treated withthe patience or silent contempt with which colder or moreprudent men regard it. There is little doubt Burton madea needlessly large number of enemies, not by injuringpeople- he had nothing malicious or cruel in his characterbut by offending their vanity -worst grievance of any.Unlike most " sensible men " he did not keep his views tohimself. Familiar with the Arabic precept, " Conceal thytravels, thy tenets, and thy treasure, " he failed to profit byit. Ofcourse his opinions, so far as Boulogne could understand them, ranked as utter infidelity; no matter, hescorned to hide them; and, as flashing a light into anowl's eyes usually induces that reverend bird to fly at yourface, so did Boulogne resent any attempt to illuminate theobscurity in which she contentedly squatted. It was of greatdepth. People were still holding up their hands and exposingthe whites of their eyes over the impiety of the " Vestigesof Creation; " Sir Charles Lyell's " Antiquity of Man "was not yet written, and Darwin was still busy in his studythinking out his wonderful " Origin of Species. "Also in smaller matters, Burton was wanting in tact andTraits of Burton's Character 63patience; if people bored him, he would take up a book, oreven leave the room with scant ceremony. Probably hisgreat broad mind could not take in the infinite stupidity,and the infinite littleness of most dispositions, for he nevermade an enemy intentionally. Dowered, like most deepand sensitive natures, with the love of love, he felt theinsults of the most contemptible foe so keenly that we usedto say of him, the meanest insect drew blood. Very indignant was he when sundry members of the English clique atBoulogne crossed the road when they saw him approaching;and ruefully surprised did he look on hearing how oneelderly and somewhat rancorous dame had declared, withsingular vehemence, " she would not and could not sit inthe room with that fellow Burton. "On the other hand, he made many warm friends. Thesehe never lacked wherever he went, friends who stood byhim and took his part manfully throughout life . If a person,unrepelled bythe little failings just mentioned, was attractedtowards him, had time to know him well, and was nobleminded enough to appreciate him, I may fitly use Shakespeare's forcible phrase, he was grappled to his soul withhooks of steel. And since there was nothing mean, orspiteful, or envious about his nature, time and propinquityonly deepened mutual esteem and affection . Even now Ihave the pleasure of reading the enthusiastic letters ofthose who still remember him, and who declare that theyhave never met his like again. It is a touching trait thatnearly every dedication affixed to the numerous volumespublished during his lifetime was to a friend or relative;seldom to one of the many powerful patrons who more thanonce assisted him by their influence, and whose noble namesanother man, even at the expense of his affections, wouldhave been only too delighted to honour.In his family circle he was adored. The asperities ofhis early boyhood had all worn away. Marvellously sweettempered about trifling annoyances, he never grumbled64

or swore when the household, kept on moderate means,occasionally creaked on its hinges. Unlike many an unreasonable " he-thing," he did not expect every comfort ona limited income. Besides, he could always amuse andoccupy himself, he could bear pain and sickness withoutmaking everybody miserable, even when suffering fromhis fits of melancholy which no study of his namesake'sgreat work could ever cure, he generally succeeded by aheroic effort in concealing much of his depression. And nosooner had his naturally high spirits once more gained theday, than friends and relatives were kept continuallyamused by his delightful witty sayings, until at last ,excited by the general hilarity, he became fairly uproarious,and no one could imagine he had ever known sorrow in the world.In 1851-2 a good French painter was staying atBoulogne. François Jacquand had attained distinctionpartly by his monk pictures, but principally through alarge historical tableau representing the death chamber ofthe Duc d'Orléans, which he executed by order of LouisPhilippe shortly after the sad accident that destroyed thelife of the popular heir to the throne. The earliest portraitof Richard Burton is the work of this artist. It belongsto the writer of these memoirs, and helps to confirm theimpressions and recollections of childhood . A pale youngman, heavily moustached, with large brown eyes stillbright and piercing, is seated, clad in the not unbecominguniform of the Bombay Light Infantry, his head supportedby his left hand, with a large folio open before him ,Jacquand was no flatterer, rather the other way, and thefamily thought he had hardly done justice to his handsomesitter; but with the exception of Lord Leighton's magnificent portrait-Burton's living image-it is far superior to anypainted since. Some I have seen are simply hideous; theskin the colour of a brown monkey's, the features, coarsenedand exaggerated, wearing the expression of a Bill Sykes.His Health 65With Burton's marked look of race, he never could havebeen taken, unless purposely disguised, for other than anEnglish gentleman; these intensely unpleasant caricaturesmight stand for a pugilist, a brigand, or, as already suggested, for poor Nancy's swain. That a man who, likemost active natures, particularly objected to the restraintinevitable when sitting for a portrait, should have toleratedthese ugly and repulsive likenesses, some of which havere-appeared as prints or photographs in various bookswritten by himself or his wife, can be explained only on thescore of that eccentricity which his good sister tried so hardto discourage.Jacquand had rendered with his usual scrupulous fidelitya worn, wan look on the face of his model. A plentiful cropof ailments, engendered by the climate and hardships ofIndia, kept breaking out again and again, to the intensediscomfort of their victim. Though interested in medicallore, Burton ignored that branch now well nigh paramount-the prevention of disease; careless of his health , he wouldeither make some desperate attempt to harden himself, ashe called it, which generally brought on bronchitis, or bearwith unwise stoicism premonitory symptoms, which, neglected, ended in a sharp attack of illness. Liver trouble,chest affections, internal inflammation prostrated him formany a weary hour during the earlier part of his furlough.Imprudent folk are not always brave when confronted withthe results of their rashness; but his fortitude in sicknesswas extraordinary, often actually misleading the bystanderswith respect to the gravity of the case. On one occasion,when seized with inflammation of the bladder, a fact hetried to keep to himself, he. continued to joke and laughmuch as usual. Pain rather stimulated than depressed theaction of his powerful brain, so he went on with his readingand writing as if little were the matter. At last the agonybecame too atrocious, and he remarked in a fit of absence," If I don't get better before night, I shall be an angel."566

Questions followed, consternation reigned around, and thedoctor was instantly summoned.Life at Boulogne was not all play. The lessons of sucha capable instructor as M. Constantin afforded Burton anopportunity of perfecting himself in that noble art which hehad studied with such enthusiasm even as a boy. Fewmen delighted more in fencing than he; and his admirationfor the sword, which he called the " Queen of Weapons,"was almost romantic. In his monograph on its origin,genealogy and history, published many years later, he writesof it in these glowing terms:"The best of calisthenics, this energetic educator teachesthe man to carry himself like a soldier . A compendium ofgymnastics, it increases strength and activity, dexterity,and rapidity of movement. Professors calculate that onehour of hard fencing wastes forty ounces by perspirationand respiration. The foil is still the best training tool forthe consensus of eye and hand, for the judgment of distanceand opportunity, and, in fact, for the practice of combat.And thus swordsmanship engenders moral confidence andself-reliance, while it stimulates a habit of resource; andit is not without suggesting, even in the schools, thatcurious, fantastic, very noble generosity proper to itselfalone."And later he regrets that it has come down from itshigh estate as tutor to the noble and the great. As soon asthe sword ceased to be worn in France, the politest people.in Europe suddenly became the rudest. That gallant andcourteous bearing, which in England during the earlynineteenth century so charmed the fastidious Alfieri , lingersonly amongst a few. Courtesy and punctiliousness, thepoliteness of man to man, and respect and deference of manto woman, the very conception of the knightly character,have to a great extent been removed from the face of theearth.Of course, when Burton once devoted himself to anySwordsmanship 67art, he was never satisfied until he had thoroughly masteredit. So he soon earned his brevet de pointe for the excellenceof his swordsmanship: and the Salle d'Armes used to bethronged when it was known he was going to play. Afriend, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Shuldham, kindly sentme the following anecdote illustrating the prowess of thenew Maître d'Armes." In the year 1851-2 I met the late Sir Richard Burtonat Boulogne, and he asked me to accompany him to theSalle d'Armes where he was going to have a fencing boutwith a sergeant of French Hussars, a celebrated player.The sergeant donned his guard, to protect his head, and aleather fencing jacket, while Burton bared his neck andstood up in his shirt sleeves; on my remonstrating withhim, he said it was of no consequence. They performedthe customary salute and set to work. It was a sight tosee Burton with his eagle eye keenly fixed on his adversary,shortly followed by a very rapid swing of his arm and asharp stroke downwards when the Frenchman was disarmed.He did this seven times in succession, when the sergeantdeclined any further contest, saying that his wrist wasnearly dislocated by the force with which the Englishmanstruck his weapon. The spectators, mostly French, wereastonished at Burton, who, with the exception of a prod inthe neck, was otherwise untouched."To me it was a marvellous display of fencing skill andthe strange magnetic power that he seemed to possess overeverybody present was equally surprising."Before leaving the subject, I will quote from a letter toCaptain Low, for many years in the Indian Navy, anotherold and valued friend, to whom he wrote about the"energetic educator. ""You know the single- stick was never my favouriteweapon, and in handling it I always considered it a derogation. My system of ' point ' will be out before verylong; it is a mixture of the French and Italo- Spanish5-268

schools, which ought to make a sensation amongst swordsmen."1Besides fencing, Burton had fierce fits of literary industry, during which he brought out three books alreadymentioned. He also published a " Complete System ofBayonet Exercise, " printed in pamphlet form in 1853 , andwhich after a time created no little stir. One might haveimagined that anything tending to increase the efficiency ofthe Service would have been welcomed at once by theHorse Guards; but in pre- Crimean days red tape androutine had obtained a complete ascendency, and the present rage for novelty was as yet unknown. That theauthor received a severe reprimand because "bayonetexercise might make the men unsteady in the ranks, "seems an exaggeration, but there is no doubt he wasmildly snubbed.The sequel to the story is curious. The importance ofthe said system had already been recognised throughoutEurope, and even in the United States; England alonerefused to consider it. When the terrible lessons of theCrimean War had impressed upon our military authoritiesthe absolute importance of training our men according tothe latest methods, the pamphlet written by the despised"lieutenant of blacks " was taken down from its pigeonhole, and a " Manual of Bayonet Exercise for use in theBritish Army " was compiled from his system, with merelya few modifications. Which last, by the way, were considered by competent persons hardly in the light ofimprovements.What reward, then, was bestowed upon the man whohad detected the weak point in our military system, andshown how to remedy it? Burton was too proud to askfor any pecuniary recompense; but he did hope for a compliment, or a few words of thanks. Instead, he received a1 "New System of Sword Exercise, " Clowes & Sons, 1875.Treasury Generosity 69letter from the Treasury with a most imposing seal: withinwas the permission to draw upon this department for thesum of one shilling.In spite of the disappointment, there was an irresistibledrollery about the whole affair which so keen a humouristwas the first to appreciate. Perhaps it might have beenbetter, so far as his popularity with his seniors was concerned, had he failed to enjoy it quite so thoroughly.Clutching his warrant, he proceeded to the War Officeand requested with great politeness to be paid his shilling.Such a thing having never been heard of before, he wasreferred by the utterly bewildered clerks from one room toanother for nearly three- quarters of an hour, still demandinghis money. At last his perseverance was rewarded, andhaving succeeded in claiming his own, he bestowed the coinon the first beggar he met on leaving the building.Unluckily, it was not only the manual that brought innothing; his other works failed to pay for some time.Critics were hostile, or loftily patronising; the public wasshy; the publishers were stingy. Writing rather added tohis expenses than otherwise, as he required a fair stock ofbooks of reference, and volumes of this nature are not to behad for nothing. Cheap as Boulogne then was, he foundit almost beyond his means. His father and mother, ailingand ageing, required more comforts, and although theydid add a little to his wretched half- pay, they could notdo much, for their income had not increased since thedays at Tours, while their expenses had. Burton wasnot an extravagant man, but he was a very active one,and most victims of a limited income know full well howevery pursuit, every amusem*nt, creates a more or lessheavy demand upon the purse. Books, the fencing school,society, such as it was, ran away with money which hecould ill afford, and for a while he racked his brains in vainhow to make both ends meet. It has been said his wasnot a generous character, but it is not easy to be liberal70

when, first from one cause and then from another, one hashardly enough money to supply one's own requirements.As time went on he began to tire also of his positionand environment. With comical imprudence, consideringthe state of his finances, he had again fallen in love, thistime with a pretty but penniless girl of eighteen, whosemother was unpleasantly outspoken about his daring, withhis prospects, to propose to her daughter; and the snub,though a blessing in disguise, helped to make him discontented with his commonplace surroundings. By somebold achievement he yearned to raise himself above them,to leave behind for a time the petty cares of civilisation ,and to help in that great work, the increase of the knowledge of our earth and of our brother man. His familyhaving removed to England and settled at Bath, he wasfree to centre his energies on his future plans.The project conceived in Sind of a pilgrimage to Meccahand El- Medinah, and half-forgotten during the four yearsspent in Europe, now revived, and gradually occupied all histhoughts. If the fates were kind, it seemed capable too ofbeing extended and improved. By spending three years inArabia, landing at Maskat, a favourite starting place forthe interior, he could apply himself, slowly but surely, tothe task of spanning the Deserts. To cross the unknownArabian Peninsula in a direct line from either El- Medinahto Maskat, or diagonally from Meccah to Makallah on theIndian Ocean, would have been of course a far greater featand one more valuable to geography than a mere visit tothe two holy cities . So in the autumn of 1852, through themedium of an excellent friend, the late General Monteith,he offered his services to the Royal Geographical Society,for the purpose of removing what he called that opprobriumto modern adventure, the huge white blot which, in ourmaps, still notes the Eastern and the central regions ofArabia.Sir R. J. Murchison, Colonel P. Yorke, and Dr. Shaw,Preparations for the Pilgrimage 7Ιa deputation from the said Society, forthwith supported ina personal interview with the Chairman of the Court ofDirectors, Burton's application for three years' leave ofabsence on special duty from India to Maskat. But forsome cause never ascertained, Sir James Hogg refused hisconsent, merely remarking that the contemplated journeywas oftoo dangerous a nature. Thus the larger plan wasfrustrated, and our traveller had to content himself with hisoriginal one. Even this the authorities would not formallysanction, but an additional furlough of twelve months wasaccorded to him, in order, it was cautiously worded, " thathe might pursue his Arabic studies in lands where thelanguage is best learned. " And where could it be acquiredin such perfection as in the cities of Meccah and ElMedinah?This concession gained, Burton had to prepare himselffor going absolutely alone into a new country, minglingwith strange companions, conforming to unfamiliar manners, and living for many months in the hottest climate inthe world. After a four years' sojourn in Europe, duringwhich many things Oriental had faded from his memory,he was to suddenly appear as an Eastern upon the stage ofMoslem life. Had it not been for his experiences in Sindas Mirza Abdullah the Bushiri, recollections of which hediligently revived, he could never have made the attemptwith any hope of success. He had to attend besides toinnumerable little details, all important in their way, forin such strangely perilous circ*mstances, neglect of thesmallest trifle might lead to death. Amongst many otheruseful things, he learned the process of shoeing a horse,taking lessons from a blacksmith not merely how to nail onthe shoes but how to forge them.While making his preparations for this expedition,Burton stayed mostly in London, occasionally runningdown to Bath to see his parents and sister. The last visitwas the longest, for he spent the very latest hour he could72

with them, just leaving himself time to catch the steamer atSouthampton. Of course, they all knew of his deter.nination to undertake this most dangerous journey, and heartilywished him God- speed; but the subject having been almosttoo painful to talk about, he had managed to conceal thedate of his departure. Burton had a deep- rooted horror offarewells; the word " good-bye " produced some strangelydisturbing effect upon his nerves, his hands turning coldand his eyes filling with tears before even a short separation.On this occasion no hint was given that the hour for partinghad arrived . One evening all retired to rest as usual, andon the morrow he was gone, having left behind a farewellletter to his mother, and his small stock of valuables to bedivided as keepsakes between her and his sister. TheArabian Knight, as his friends were afterwards wont to callhim , had started on his wonderful travels.ON

CHAPTER IV

N the evening of April 3rd, 1853 , Burton started forSouthampton. By the advice of a brother officer hisPersian disguise was called into requisition, and all his impedimenta were made to look exceedingly Oriental. Earlynext day Mirza Abdullah, accompanied by Captain H.Grindley of the Bengal Cavalry, embarked on board theP. and O. Company's steamer Bengal.A fortnight was profitably spent in getting into the trainof Eastern manners. For example, to drink a cup of waterseems to us simple enough; with an Indian Moslem theoperation includes no less than five novelties. In the firstplace, he clutches his tumbler as though it were the throatof a foe; secondly, he ejacul*tes before wetting his lips," In the Name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! "thirdly, he imbibes the contents, swallowing them, notsipping them as he ought to do; fourthly, before settingdown the cup, he sighs forth, " Praise be to Allah! " and,fifthly, in answer to his friend's polite "Pleasure andhealth," he replies, " May Allah make it pleasant to thee "Recalling to mind a hundred other similar customs,which, in fact, were being practised on board the good shipBengal by her dark- skinned passenger, Burton passed histime to such advantage that, on landing at Alexandria, hewas recognised and blessed as a True Believer by theMoslem population.•The only person who shared his secret was a friend,John Wingfield Larking, at whose house, on the Mahmudijah Canal, our traveller stayed a month-lodged, how-74

ever, in an outbuilding, the better to blind inquisitive eyesof servants and visitors. He lost no time before securingthe assistance of a Shaykh, with whom he plunged oncemore into the intricacies of the Faith, revived recollectionsof religious ablutions, of the Koran, and of the art ofprostration. His leisure hours were no less profitablyemployed in lounging about the baths, coffee houses andbazaars, attending the mosque, visiting sundry venerablelocalities, in which Alexandria abounds; in short, studyingthe natives amongst all the haunts wherein they most didcongregate.Moreover, always a dabbler in medical lore, this versatile man practised as a doctor, with such success that onegrateful elder offered his daughter in marriage, and amiddle-aged personage of the feminine gender proposedto disburse the munificent fee of one napoleon providedDr. Abdullah would remain at Alexandria and superintendthe restoration to sight of her stone- blind left eye. Besidesthe character of physician, Burton assumed that of a wandering Dervish, but we shall see presently for good reasonshe did not retain it long.During this comparatively quiet interval he thoroughlymatured his plans. After a short stay at Cairo he intendedto push on to Suez, thence to embark with a horde ofpilgrims for Yambu, the port of El- Medinah. A moreluxurious way of travelling would have been to charter avessel for himself and servants, but when on the marchcomfort was the last thing Burton considered . Further,after much deliberation, he decided to pass through theMoslem's Holy Land as a born believer, not as a renegade.Had he declared himself a Burma, or ' vert, his co- religionists would have suspected and catechised him to sucha degree as to seriously obstruct the aim of his wanderings,i.e., to see everything and to go everywhere. The ' vert isalways watched with Argus eyes; men do not willinglygive information to a new Moslem, especially a Frank:The Journey to Meccah commences 75they suspect his change of faith to be feigned or forced,look upon him as a spy, and let him into as little of theirlife as possible.The month at Alexandria having elapsed (Burton mentions leaving with regret his little room in the flowerygarden) , he procured a pass- book from H.B.M. Consul,describing him as a British Indian, bade adieu to friendsand patients, and started for Cairo by a Nile steamer.His baggage waslight. A coarse bag containing a toothstick, a piece of soap, and a wooden comb, replaced thesilver-mounted dressing case of past days. Equally simplewas his wardrobe; two or three changes of clothes. Bedding consisted of a Persian rug, a cotton- stuffed, chintzcovered pillow, a blanket in case of cold , and a sheet whichdid duty for tent or mosquito curtain during hot nights.These luxuries were supplemented by a huge umbrella,brightly yellow, suggesting a gigantic sunflower, a dagger,a brass inkstand and penholder stuck in the belt , and amighty rosary, which on occasion could be converted intoa weapon of defence. With regard to money, small coinswere carried in a cotton purse secured in a breast pocket,gold and papers in a substantial leathern belt strappedround the waist under the shirt. A pea- green box, capableof standing falls from a camel twice a day, served as amedicine chest; saddle- bags contained the clothes; andthe bed-furniture was readily rolled up in a bundle.The wretched steamer, whose name, the Little Asthmatic,seems to have described her correctly, took three mortaldays and nights in puffing her way to Cairo. A fierysun pierced her canvas awning like hot water througha gauze veil, and our pilgrim, having taken a third classor deck passage, the evils of the journey were exaggerated.Squatting as far from the crowd as possible, he smokedincessantly, with occasional interruptions to say his prayersand tell his beads on the huge rosary. The dignity ofDervish- hood did not permit him to sit at meals with76

infidels, nor to eat the food they had polluted; so hedrank muddy water from the canal out of a leathernbucket, and munched his bread and garlic with desperatesanctity.

Two fellow passengers, who, in spite of the holy man's evident unsociability, insisted on making his acquaintance, were destined to play a part in the comedy at Cairo. One, Khudabakhsh, a native of Lahore, entertained Burton for a fortnight, and would have extended his hospitality even longer, had not his guest, wearied out of the wily Hindi's somewhat burdensome society, fled to the comparative liberty of a Wakalah, or inn . The other, Haji Wali, a burly Alexandrian merchant, happened to be staying at the identical hostelry wherein our traveller took refuge, and he soon became a fast friend. Constituting himself Burton's cicerone, he guarded him against cheating tradespeople; and, having in the course of his wanderings thrown off many of the prejudices of his people, he was able to give some valuable advice.

The most important step suggested by the Haji, was to make choice of a new nationality. "If you persist in being an Ajemi, " said he, " you will get yourself into trouble; in Egypt you will be cursed; in Arabia you will be beaten because you are a heretic; you will pay treble what other travellers do, and if you fall sick you may die by the roadside." Nor did the rôle of Dervish find greater favour in the shrewd merchant's eyes than the pretended connection with Persia and the Persians. "What business," he asked, " have those reverend men with statistics or any of the information which you are collecting? After some " deliberation he recommended his friend to assume the character of a Pathan or Afghan. Presumably born in India of Afghan parents, and educated at Rangoon, the pilgrim would be well guarded against danger of detection by fellow countrymen, as any trifling inaccuracy would be attributed to a long residence in Burmah. To support the part, a knowledge of Persian, Hindustani and Arabic, was necessary, in all of which languages Burton was proficient. No objection, however, was made to the rôle of an Indian physician. The practice of physic is comparatively casy amongst dwellers in warm latitudes, uncivilized people, where there is not that complication of maladies which troubles more polished nations; and the doctor, if fairly prudent and not too grasping, is sure of being popular. Burton appears to have treated his patients with singular care and tenderness, attending alike some miserable Abyssinian slave girls, who suffered from many complaints on first arriving in Egypt, and a pasha who had been a favourite with Mohammed Ali . Perhaps good luck had something to do with it; anyway, his success at Cairo rivalled that at Alexandria.

The following is a specimen of his prescriptions. Theingredients have the merit of being harmless, the regimenis strict, and the religious phrases, liberally interspersed,introduce an element of faith all potent amongst a nervousand excitable people.A.¹"In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful,and blessings and peace be upon our Lord the Apostle, andhis family, and his companions one and all . But afterwardslet him take bees' honey and cinnamon and album græcum,of each half a part, and of ginger a whole part, which lethim pound and mix with the honey and form boluses, eachbolus the weight of a Miskal, and of it let him use everyday a Miskal on the saliva. Verily, its effects are wonderful.And let him abstain from flesh, fish , vegetables, sweetmeats,flatulent food, acids of all descriptions, as well as the majorablution, and live in perfect quiet. So shall he be curedby the help of the King, the Healer. And the peace (w'assalam, i.e. adieu) . ”1 A monogram generally placed at the head of writings, the initia letter of Allah, and the first of the alphabet .

It was necessary to engage a servant to look after thebaggage, &c. , and the choice was not made without trouble.Indispensable on such a journey were good health, readinessto travel anywhere, a little skill in cooking, sewing, andwashing, a fair amount of pluck and a habit of regularprayer. Berberis, Saidis, Egyptians were tried in succession, and all found wanting; while the last , a long-leggedNubian, after a stay of two days with his new master, dismissed him for expressing a determination to go by sea fromSuez to Yambu. None suited even tolerably except a Suratlad, Nur by name, a docile but eminently commonplacecharacter, and one Mohammed el-Basyúni, a Meccan. Thelatter, who became a sort of companion, did not join Burtonuntil later. He is described as a beardless youth of abouteighteen years, chocolate-brown, with high features, a boldprofile, and a decided tendency to corpulence. Meccah hadtaught him to speak excellent Arabic, to understand theliterary dialect, to be eloquent in abuse, and profound atprayer and pilgrimage. From him, while at Cairo, ourtraveller purchased the pilgrim garb, el- Ihram, and theKafan or shroud, a festive article of attire wherewith theMoslem usually provides himself before starting on such aprolonged journey.The next thing to do was to lay in stores for an eightyfour mile ride across the Desert to Suez, and for the voyageto Yambu. These consisted of tea, coffee , loaf- sugar, rice,dates, biscuits , oil , vinegar, tobacco, lanterns, cooking pots,a small bell- shaped tent, and four water- skins. The provisions were packed in a hamper and enclosed in a hugewooden box about three feet each way, covered withleather, and provided with a small lid. The green medicinechest and the saddle- bags were to hang on one side of thebaggage camel, and the big wooden box on the other.Atop was a place for a Shibriyah, or cot, useful in case ofhard night travelling. A second animal, with saddle andall necessary accoutrements, was hired for riding, and athird for the Indian lad and surplus luggage. BeforeTakes Leave of Haji Wali 79starting Burton renewed his stock of ready money, providing himself with eighty pounds sterling in gold andsilver coin.Nur was sent on in advance, as his master wished tomake a forced march, accompanied only by the cameldrivers, in order to ascertain how much a four years' lifeof European effeminacy had impaired his powers of endurance. Haji Wali, helpful to the last, recommended hisfriend to start at about 3 p.m., so that he might arrive atSuez the evening of the following day. Accordingly, at thehour named, Burton, wearing the crimson cord attached tothe Hamail or pocket Koran over his shoulder in token ofpilgrimage, mounted his beast and rode along the streetwhich leads towards the desert.As he emerged from the caravanserai all the bystanders,except the porter, who believed him to be a Persian, exclaimed, " Allah bless thee, Y'al Hajj , ( O Pilgrim) , andrestore thee to thy country and friends! " And, passingthrough the Bab-el- Nasr, where he addressed the salutationof peace to the sentry and to the officer commanding theguard, both gave him God- speed with great cordiality—thepilgrim's blessing in the East, like the old woman's inEurope, being supposed to possess peculiar efficacy.Outside the gate his friend took leave of him, and heconfessed to a tightening of heart as Haji Wali's burlyform disappeared in the distance.Burton journeyed on till near sunset without ennui. Insuch a weird scene every slight modification of form andcolour rivets observation; the senses are sharpened, andthe perceptive faculties, prone to sleep over a confusedmass of natural objects, act vigorously when excited by thecapability of embracing every detail. In 1853 the Suezroad had become as safe to European travellers as thatbetween Highgate and Hampstead, so our pilgrim hadnothing to divert his attention from the fantastic desolationof the wilderness east of the Nile.As evening drew near he was surprised at hearing an80

"As Salamo Alaykum " of truly Arab sound. The salutation emanated from Mohammed, the Meccan. This youth,happening to be short of money, and recognising a goodopportunity of living at someone else's expense, had determined to constitute himself Burton's companion; and afterhe had cooked a tempting supper, lighted the pilgrim's pipe,and become generally useful, he was graciously permittedto form one of the party.Thus reinforced, the travellers reached the CentralStation about midnight, and straightway lay down underits walls to rest. The dews fell heavily, wetting the sheetsthat covered them, the breeze blew coolly, and a solitaryjackal sang a lullaby which in this instance lost no time ininducing soundest sleep. As the Wolf's Tail (the firstbrushes of grey light which appear as forerunners of dawn)showed in the heavens, Burton rose and watched for a fewmoments the grey mists, which, floating over the hillsnorthwards, gave the Dar el- Bayda, the Pasha's palace,the look of some old feudal castle. Presently his companions awoke, and, mounting their camels, all resumedtheir march in real earnest. Dawn passed away with itsdelicious freshness, sultry morning came on, then dayglared in its fierceness, and the noontide sun made theplain glow with terrible heat. Still, except for one shorthalt, they pressed on.It was late in the afternoon when their destinationappeared in sight. From afar were visible the castellatedpeaks of Jebel Rahah, and the wide sand- tracks over whichlies the land-route to El- Hejaz. In front lay a strip of sea ,gloriously azure, with a gallant steamer ploughing itswaters. On the right were the broad slopes of JebelMukattam, a range of hills which flank the road continuously from Cairo. It was at that hour a spectacle noteasily to be forgotten. The near range of chalk and sandstone wore a russet suit, gilt where the last rays of thesun seamed it with light; while the background of theFellow-Travellers 81higher hills, Jebel Taweri, was sky-blue streaked with thelightest plum colour.Night had closed in when Burton passed through thetumbledown old gateway of Suez, and the task still remained of finding his Indian servant. After wanderingin and out of every Wakalah in the place, he heard that aHindi had taken lodgings at a certain hostelry, whence,after locking his door, he had gone with friends to a shipanchored in the harbour. It looked unpleasantly as if Nurhad decamped—no slight disaster, as he had taken chargeof all the silver money. However, nothing more could bedone until next day; so Burton turned into an empty roomof a squalid inn, where, as he had merely a square ofcarpet for a bed, and his eighty-four mile ride had madeevery bone ache, he passed an unrefreshing night.Joy came in the morning in the form of Nur withmoney and goods intact. Moreover, Burton, up and aboutagain, fell in with a party of men who were returning toMedinah, and who were fated to do him no small service.They numbered four-Umar Effendi, a Circassian; Saad,his servant, nicknamed the Demon; Shaykh Hamid elSamman, with whom our traveller afterwards lodged atMedinah, and Salih Shakkar, a Madani dandy, who, afterbeing, for pecuniary reasons, extremely civil en route, cuthis friend at home as pitilessly as any "town man does acontinental acquaintance accidentally met in Hyde Park.All four asked almost simultaneously for a loan, which allduly received. The sums were not large, and it was wellworth while to keep fellow- travellers in good humour.Although Burton and his new friends lodged togetherin the same Wakalah, only once was the would- be Hajisuspected of being an infidel. The four Moslems hadlooked at his clothes, overhauled his medicine chest, andcriticised his pistols; they sneered at his copper- casedwatch, and remembered having seen a compass at Constantinople. Therefore, he imagined they would think little682

about a sextant. This was a mistake: the instrumentaroused grave suspicions, and at last a council was heldto discuss the case. Fortunately, Umar Effendi, an ultraserious person, had at various times received from hisobliging creditor categorical replies to certain questions inhigh theology, and so, as a judge on spiritual matters,felt himself in a position to certify to the good faith ofthe owner of the mysterious article. While Shaykh Hamid,who looked forward to being host, guide, and debtor ingeneral, and probably cared scantily for catechism or creed,swore that the light of El- Islam shone on Burton's countenance. However, the sextant had to be left behind, andits possessor was obliged to be more than usually circ*mspect for several days afterwards.Many a wearisome delay occurred before everythingwas ready for departure. Passports alone would have.wearied out the patience of most men. Burton's hadnot been visé at Cairo, and but for the kindness of theEnglish consul, Mr. West, who, at his own risk, issueda fresh document, describing the pilgrim as a Britishsubject travelling from Suez to Arabia, he could not haveproceeded any further for some time to come. At lastthe pilgrims embarked en masse on board the Golden Wire,bound for Yambu on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea.The Golden Wire ( I spare readers the Arabic nameswherever possible) was a Sambuk of about fifty tons, withnarrow, wedge- like bows, undecked except upon the poop,which was high enough to act sail in a gale of wind. Shecarried two masts, raking imminently forwards, the mainbeing considerably larger than the mizzen; the former wasprovided with a huge triangular latine, but the second sailwas unaccountably missing. Of compass, log, spare ropes,or even an elementary chart, she had not a trace. Stillmore dangerous was the over- crowding. Her greedy ownerhad originally bargained to carry sixty passengers, but hadstretched the number to nearly a hundred. On the poopThe Voyage from Suez 83alone, a space not exceeding ten feet by eight, were threeSyrians, a married Turk with his wife and family, the Rais,or captain, with a portion of his crew, Burton's own partyof seven, composing a total of eighteen human beings.Luckily, our traveller spied a spare bed-frame slung tothe ship's side, which, after giving a dollar to the owner,he appropriated, preferring any hardship outside to thecondition of a herring in a barrel.Never did a Holyhead packet in the olden time displaya finer scene of pugnacity than did this pilgrim craft in1853. The first thing thought of after gaining standingroom, was to fight for greater comfort; a general scrambleensued, which was quelled by the simple expedient ofdashing sundry jars of cold water upon the combatants.Quieted for awhile, they fell to praying and reciting theFatihah, or first chapter of the Koran. It being a veryshort one, they soon quarrelled again. At times nothingwas to be seen except a confused mass of humanity, eachitem indiscriminately punching and pulling, scratching andbiting, butting and trampling. The Rais was powerless,his crew worse than useless; in short, a more disorderlyscene than the Golden Wire and her pious cargo couldhardly be imagined .In such a craft and in such company Burton voyagedfromSuez to Yambu, a distance in a straight line of six hundredmiles, but protracted by detours to double that space.Cruising along the coast by day, the Sambuk generally layto in the nearest cove by night. The first evening whilestill within sight of Suez, she anchored in classic waters;for the eastern shore was dotted with the little grove ofpalm trees which cluster round Moses' Wells; and on thewest, between two towering ridges, was visible the mouthof the valley down which, according to some authorities,the Israelites fled to the Sea of Sedge.Next morning preluded a fearfully trying day, type ofmany another. The sun's rays reflected by the glaring 6-284

sea were a very fiery ordeal; even the native passengersseemed more dead than alive. Shade there was none, andthe crowded state of the vessel heaped horror on horror.Lying in his cot, plentifully besplashed by the wavesbeneath, Burton, with blinded eyes, blistered skin, andparched mouth, could only count the slow hours whichmust minute by until the blessed sunset. At night the temperature became bearable and the passengers, still sick anddizzy from their sufferings, began to prepare the eveningmeal, a very spare one, for in such circ*mstances a singlegood dinner would justify long odds against the eater seeinganother morning.Had our Haji been cooped up in this " Shippe of Helle "during the whole voyage, it is unlikely that even his ironconstitution could have survived the strain. Luckily, whenthe Sambuk anchored at sunset, he was usually able tospend the night on shore. During one halt, which, inconsequence of bad weather, lasted twenty-four hours, hevisited Moses' hot baths, and duly venerated the marks ofthat prophet's nails, deep indentations in the stone, probablyleft by some extinct Saurian. Great excitement prevailedat another landing place on account of the grounding of theSambuk, which was not floated off again without muchnoise and trouble. Her Rais on this occasion was forgiven, but a few days later, when he nearly let her strikeon the razor-like edges of a coral- reef, he got well thrashedfor his carelessness, a precedent worthy of the considerationof more civilised nations .A serious disaster, so far as our pilgrim was concerned,occurred at Marsa Mahár. While wading to shore he felta sharp object penetrate his foot. After examining the hurtand extracting what appeared to be a bit of thorn, hedismissed the matter from his mind, little guessing thetrouble this accident would cause him. The injury wasinflicted by an Echinus, common in those seas, generallysupposed to be poisonous. It seemed so in his case, for77HerArrival at Yambu 85by the time the Golden Wive arrived at Yambu, he hadbecome quite lame, and months elapsed before the woundhealed.Yambu afforded a pleasant surprise. It boasted of aHamman, priceless luxury to weary travellers, and of whatin those lands represents a good water supply, viz. , sweetrain- water, collected among the hills in tanks and cisterns,and brought on camel-back to the town. Nor was theaccommodation bad. Burton and his friends lodged ata Wakalah near the bazaar, where they secured an airyupper room opposite the sea, tolerably free from Yambu'splague, myriads of flies . But the nearer they approachedtheir goal, the more eager they became to press forward.No time, therefore, was lost before treating for camels withan agent, without whose assistance it would have beendifficult to hire the animals. The usual squabble over, abargain was struck. Three dollars were to be paid for eachbeast, half in ready money, half on reaching their destination; and it was arranged to start next day with a graincaravan guarded by an escort of irregular cavalry. Ourpilgrim hired two camels, one to carry his luggage andIndian servant, the other Mohammed and himself. Sundrypurchases, too, were indispensable; a Shugduf, or litter,and a plentiful supply of provisions for self and friends; for,although with his usual good taste he did not parade hishospitality, it was very evident that he fed, and fed liberally,the whole of his party.By the advice of one of his friends he temporarilychanged his nationality, this time to avoid a capitation taxextorted from strangers by the natives. So he dressed himself as an Arab, the costume in which he is most familiar.Every reader of the " Pilgrimage " will remember the largesquare kerchief of mixed silk and wool bound round the headwith a twist of cord, the cotton shirt of ample dimensionswith its handsome sash, the long- skirted cloak of camel'shair, perhaps the most picturesque raiment in the world.86

At about 7 p.m. next day the caravan left Yambu.Burton's own little band numbered twelve camels, eachpacing in Indian file, and headed by Umar Effendi in smartattire on a dromedary. Altogether there were six hundredanimals attended by their proprietors, truculent- lookingfellows, armed with heavy sticks, and an escort of sevensoldiers, tolerably mounted and well armed. One mightthink robbers would have respected so numerous a gathering. Such, however, was not the case. As evening approached and the procession emerged from a scrub ofacacia and tamarisk, and turned due east, traversing anopen country with a perceptible rise, the cry of " Harami ”(thieves) rose loud in the rear. Ensued no small confusion;all the camel-men brandished their huge staves and rushedvociferating in the direction of the Bedawin. They werefollowed by the horsem*n, and truly, had the thieves possessed the usual acuteness of their profession, they mighthave driven off the camels in the van, which was left utterlyunprotected, with perfect safety and convenience. However,the contemptible beings were only half a dozen in number,and when a bullet or two was fired in their direction, theyran away.At Said's Well all stopped to rest . No pastoral scenewas this, as the name suggests, merely a sort of punchbowl with granite walls, upon whose grim surface a fewthorn bushes of exceeding hardihood braved the sun for aseason. Further on lay a country fantastic in its desolation,a mass of huge bare hills, barren plains, and desert vales.Even the sturdy acacias here failed , and in some placesthe camel grass could not find earth enough for its roots.The road wound monotonously among mountains, rocksand hills of granite, over broken ground, flanked by hugeblocks and boulders, piled up as if man's art had aidedNature to disfigure herself. Vast clefts seamed, like scars ,the hideous face of earth; here widening into dark caves,there choked with glistening drift sand.The Ill-famed Gorge Shuab-el- Hajj 87El- Hamrá, so called from the redness of the sands nearwhich it is built, is the middle station between Yambu' andEl- Medinah. It is, therefore, considerably out of place inBurckhardt's map; and those who copy from him make itmuch nearer the sea- port than it really is. Burton describedit as a long, straggling village, a miserable collection ofstunted hovels, with walls of unbaked brick, roofed withpalm leaves and pierced with air- holes to represent windows.Here he spent a very uncomfortable day. The far-famedArab hospitality was conspicuous by its absence; for whilehuge flocks of sheep and goats were being driven in andout of the place, their surly shepherds refused to give acup of milk even in exchange for bread and meat. Moreover, a depressing rumour circulated that Saad, the greatrobber chief, and his brother were in the field; consequently, further progress would be delayed. These banditti,the pests of El- Hejaz, then had a following of some 5,000men, who seized every opportunity of shooting troopers ,plundering travellers, and closing the roads. Before proceeding further it was necessary to muster a stronger party,and, luckily, just as this was decided upon, a caravan fromMeccah came in with an escort of two hundred irregularhorse.Thus reinforced, our procession once more set forth.But they found to their cost the Bedawin did worse thanmerely threaten. The Old Man of the Mountains provedno bugbear, but a very unpleasant reality. One night thecaravans travelled up a Fiumara, or dry torrent- bed, and atearly dawn reached an ill- famed gorge called Shuab- el- Hajj ,the Pilgrimage Pass. The loudest talkers became silent asthey neared it, and their countenances showed apprehension written in legible characters. Every excuse existedfor faint-heartedness. Pent within the walls of the ravine,travellers were entirely at the mercy of the marauders,who, hidden behind the rocks, could fire away at theirconvenience ,

Presently from a high cliff on the left thin blue cloudsof smoke rose in the air, and instantly afterwards rang outsharp cracks from the hillmen's matchlocks. A number ofBedawin were to be seen swarming like hornets over thecrests of the hills, boys as well as men carrying hugeweapons, and climbing with the agility of cats. Theytook up sheltered places on their cut-throat eminence, anddirected a sharp fire on the pilgrims. It was useless tochallenge the Bedawin to come down and fight like menupon the level; and it was equally unprofitable for theescort to fire upon a foe ensconced behind stones. Sothere was nothing to do except to blaze away as muchpowder as possible, in order to veil the caravans in smoke;and, meanwhile, to hurry along the gorge, each man atthe height of his speed. The cowardly assailants weredistanced at last; but the raid cost the lives of twelve men,besides camels and other beasts of burden.There remained but one more night before the pilgrimscame within sight of their goal. In the most auspiciouscirc*mstances this part of the way, up rocky hills, anddown stony vales, would have been most fatiguing; butthe result of a quarrel which had broken out betweenyoung Mohammed and his camel-drivers, rendered italmost intolerable. This youth lost his temper, no uncommon occurrence, and remarking that the men's beardswere now in his fist, meaning he was out of reach of theirwild kinsfolk, he proceeded to abuse them in language whichsent their hands flying in the direction of their swords.At last, goaded to madness, the fellows disappeared, takingwith them their best animals. A stumbling dromedary,substituted for the usual monture, tottered or tumbled atleast once every mile during the long dark hours; and theShugduf, already ricketty, became such an utter ruin, thatit* tenants had to perch bird fashion on the only bits offramework which remained. Add to this the pain of aninflamed foot, and one wonders how Burton retained suffi-Through the " Blessed Valley "89cient strength to take part in the exciting scenes of thefollowing day.For, at dawn, July 25th, every man was hurrying hisbeast, regardless of rough ground; not a soul spoke a wordto his neighbour."Are there robbers in sight? was Burton's naturalquestion." No, " replied Mohammed, "they are walking withtheir eyes; they will presently see their homes."Rapidly the pilgrims marched through the " BlessedValley," and soon came to a huge flight of steps, roughlycut in a long, broad line of black scoriaceous basalt. Thesummit reached, they hastened along a lane of dark lava,with steep banks on either side; and, after a few minutes,a full view of the city suddenly opened upon them. "" O Allah! this is the Sanctuary of Thy Apostle; makeit to us a Protection from Hell Fire, and a Refuge fromEternal Punishment! O open the Gates of Thy Mercy,and let us pass through them to the Land of Joy. Livefor ever, O Most Excellent of Prophets live in theShadow of Happiness during the Hours of Night and theTimes of Day, whilst the ' Bird of the Tamarisk moanethlike the childless Mother, whilst the west wind blowethgently over the Hills of Nejd, and the Lightning flashethbright in the Firmament of El-Hejaz! "Such were some of the poetical exclamations that rosearound, showing how deeply tinged with imaginationbecomes the language of the Arab under the influence ofstrong passion or religious excitement. Besides, it was allvery beautiful. Burton now understood the full value of aphrase in the Moslem ritual, " And when the pilgrim's eyesshall fall upon the trees of El- Medinah, let him raise hisvoice and bless the Apostle with the choicest of blessings."In all the fair view before him nothing was more striking,after the desolation through which he had passed, than the1 The dove.

gardens and orchards about the town. For some momentsthe enthusiasm of our English Haji rose as high as that ofhis companions; then the traveller's instincts returnedstrong upon him, and he made a rough sketch of the scenein order to fix the details on his memory.In front stretched a spacious plain bounded by theundulating ground of Nejd. On the left rose a grim pile ofrocks, the celebrated Mount Ohod, with a clump of verdureand a white dome or two nestling at its base. Rightwards,broad streaks of lilac- coloured mists floated over the dategroves and gardens of Kuba, which stood out emerald greenfrom the dull, tawny surface of the earth. Distant abouttwo miles lay El- Medinah, appearing at first sight a largeplace, but closer inspection proved the impression erroneous.¹A tortuous road starting from the ridge whereon Burtonstood, wound across the plain and led to a tall rectangulargateway, pierced in a ruinous mud wall which surroundedthe suburbs. This, the Ambari entrance, was flanked onthe left by the domes and minarets of a pretty Turkishbuilding erected for Dervish travellers, and on the right byan ugly imitation of civilised barracks. Outside the enceinte,among the palm-trees to the north, peeped the picturesqueruins of an old public fountain; nearer was the Governor'spalace. In the suburb, El- Manakhah, or kneeling- placeof camels, the new domes and minarets of the Five Mosquesstood brightly out from the dull grey mass of houses andgrounds. And behind, in the most easterly quarter, remarkable from afar, soared the gem of El- Medinah, the four tallsubstantial towers, and the flashing green dome underwhich the Prophet's remains are said to rest . Dimly visible,besides, were certain white specks upon a verdant surface,the tombs that occupy the venerable cemetery of El- Bakia.After a short rest Burton remounted and slowly rodeonwards with his companions. Even at that early hour theway was crowded with an eager multitude coming forth toIts population, exclusive of the garrison, numbers only 16,000 souls,Hamid el- Samman's House 91meet the caravans. Friends and comrades greeted oneanother, regardless of rank or fortune, with affectionateembraces, and an abundance of queries which neither partyseemed to think of answering. Passing through the BabAmbari, our travellers proceeded along a broad, dustystreet, and traversed the principal quarter in the Manakhahsuburb, a thoroughfare wider and more regular than thoseof most Eastern cities. They then crossed a bridge, asingle arch of brown stone, built over the bed of a torrent,turned to the right, and presently found themselves at theentrance of a small corner building, Hamid el- Samman'shouse.While Burton is introduced to innumerable relativeswho have crowded to meet their kinsman-the Sammanis a great family, in numbers anyway-let us take a peepinto Hamid's abode. The ground floor seems merely avestibule, in which old Shugdufs, mats, and bits of sackingare lying about. We cannot blame Mrs. Hamid, poorthing, as, unlike our irrepressible British matron, she isconfined mostly to her own apartments, in the congenialcompany of her mother-in-law, sundry children, and twoblack slave girls. Dark and winding stairs of rugged stonelead to the first floor, where the men live, a space dividedinto one large, windowless room used for bathing, and twoothers looking on the front, one the parlour. The latter,with its spacious window- sills garnished with cushions,whereon an occupant can lounge and contemplate thevaried views outside, its quaint ceiling of date- sticks laidacross palm rafters stained red, is the most cheerful spotwe have yet visited, though the only signs of furniture area divan round the sides and a carpet in the centre. Thekitchen and rooms on the second floor, given over to thewomen, we won't intrude upon, lest we wax prosy andpragmatical, as even the cleverest Englishwomen will doon the subject of the harem-a subject of which sometravellers have dared to tell us we know next to nothing.92

Perhaps these apartments are superior to the rest of thehouse; certainly, with the exception of the parlour, it seemsrather mean, and hardly spacious enough to contain Hamid,his wife, or wives, mother, sundry youngsters, two Africanslaveys, and the guest.Travellers, however, are not particular as to theirlodging. Burton appears to have thoroughly enjoyed hisstay in this Medinite household. At dawn he rose, washed,prayed, and broke his fast upon a crust of stale bread,afterwards smoking a pipe and drinking a cup of coffee.Then it was time to dress and visit one of the holy places.Returning before the sun became intolerable, he sat andchatted with his host, coffee and tobacco whiling away theinterval until dinner, which appeared at the unfashionablehour of II A.M. The meal, served on a large copper tray,consisted of unleavened bread, meat, and vegetable stews,with a second course of plain boiled rice, followed by freshdates, grapes and pomegranates. During the hottest hourshe indulged in a doze or a smoke, lying on a rug spread ina dark passage behind the parlour. Sunset was the timefor paying and receiving calls. Prayers, a supper similarto dinner, a stroll to a café, or an hour or two spent in theopen, concluded the day. The men all slept on mattressesspread just outside the front door, perhaps a necessaryarrangement, but certainly not conducive to sound slumbers,for incessant quarrels between the horses and pariah dogsmade night hideous.Tired though our traveller was on the afternoon ofarrival, he would not defer his visit to the Prophet's tomb.Having performed the usual ablutions, used the tooth- stickas directed, and attired himself in white clothes, he mountedan ass, and, accompanied by Shaykh Hamid and the youngMeccan, started on his way. His beast, one of the sorriestof its kind, lacked an ear, and during the ride he heard theBedawin, who, like the Indians, despise poor Neddy, askeach other " What curse of Allah had subjected them to1Entering Bab el- Rahmah 93ass-riders." But our Haji was too excited to pay muchheed to their rudeness. With every thought absorbed inthe famous but mysterious mosque he was about to visit , hejogged along several muddy streets which had been recentlywatered, and, when least expected, came suddenly upon thebuilding. Like that at Meccah, the approach is choked upby ignoble hovels, some actually touching the enceinte, othersseparated by a lane compared with which the road roundSt. Paul's is a Vatican Square. There is no outer front, nogeneral prospect; consequently as an edifice it has neitherbeauty nor dignity. And on entering the Bab el- Rahmah-the Gate of Pity-by a diminutive flight of steps, he wasyet more astonished at the mean and tawdry appearance ofa place so universally venerated in the Moslem world.Unlike the Meccan Temple, grand and simple, the expression of a single sublime idea, it suggested a museum ofsecond rate art, an old curiosity shop full of ornaments thatare not accessories, and decorated with pauper splendour.1But Shaykh Hamid hastily warned our disappointedpilgrim that this was not the time for lionizing, and enquired loudly if he was religiously prepared. Burton atonce assumed the posture of prayer, and, pacing slowlyforward, beginning with the dexter foot, the Shaykh on hisright side, recited:-"In the Name of Allah and in the Faith of Allah'sApostle! O Lord, cause me to enter the Entering of Truth,and cause me to issue forth the Issuing of Truth, andpermit me to draw near to Thee, and make me a SultanVictorious! O Allah! open to me the Doors of ThyMercy, and grant me Entrance into it, and protect me fromthe Stoned Devil!During this preliminary prayer they had traversed twothirds of the Muwajihat el- Sharifah, or the " Illustrious1 It measures 420 ft . in length , 340 in breadth , is hypaetural in struc- ture, with a spacious central area, El- Sahn, El- Hash, and El- Ramlah,surrounded by a peristyle with numerous rows of pillars.94

Fronting," which, divided off like an aisle, runs parallelwith the southern boundary of the mosque. On the left isa dwarf wall, about the height of a man, painted witharabesques, and pierced with four small doors. Within thisbarrier are sundry erections, including the Mambar, orpulpit, a graceful collection of slender columns, eleganttracery, and inscriptions admirably carved. Arrived at thewestern door in the dwarf wall, they entered the celebratedspot called El- Rauzah, or the Garden, after a saying of theApostles, " Between my tomb and my pulpit is a Gardenof the Gardens of Paradise." Here, after reciting theafternoon prayers, Burton performed two bows in honour ofthe Temple, and intoned the 109th and the 112th chapters.of the Koran, concluding with a single prostration of thanksin gratitude to Allah for permitting him to visit so halloweda spot.El- Rauzah, the most elaborate part of the mosque,decorated so as to resemble a garden, is about eighty feetin length. The pediments are cased with green tiles, thecarpets are flowered, and the columns adorned to a man'sheight with gaudy and unnatural vegetation in arabesque.It is further disfigured by branched candelabras of cutcrystal, the production of a London firm. The only admirable feature of the view is the light cast by the windowsof stained glass in the southern wall. Its peculiar background, the railing of Mohammed's tomb, a splendidfiligree-work of green and polished brass, gilt or made toresemble gold, looks more picturesque near than at adistance, when it suggests the idea of a gigantic bird- cage.But at night the eye, dazzled by countless oil-lamps suspended from the roof, by huge wax candles, and by smallerilluminations falling upon crowds of visitors in handsomeattire, with the richest and noblest of the city sitting incongregation when service is performed, becomes less critical.After pacing round the outer courts, our pilgrim wasThe Prophet's Tomb 95conducted to the Mausoleum, known as the Hujrah, orChamber, which is supposed to enshrine the remains ofMohammed and his first two successors. Space is left fora single grave where, according to popular superstition Isabin Maryam ' shall be buried after a second coming in theflesh. This Hujrah, so called from its having been Ayisha'sroom, is an irregular square of from fifty to fifty- five feet, inthe south- east corner of the building, and separated on allsides from the walls of the mosque by a passage abouttwenty-six feet broad on the south side, and twenty on theeast. The Green Dome rises directly above the Chamber,surmounted by a large gilt crescent springing from a seriesof globes.Standing about six feet or so from the railing alreadydescribed, our pilgrim prayed in " awe, fear, and love, "calling down blessings innumerable on the Prophet in atautological style affected by many creeds. After sundryrecitations on the same spot, including the " Fatihah , "which has the merit of brevity, our Haji was permitted tolook through the three windows of the Chamber, holesabout half a foot square, placed from four to five feet abovethe ground. The most westerly is said to front Mohammed'stomb. Straining his eyes, Burton saw a curtain, or ratherhangings, with three inscriptions in long, gold letters,informing readers that behind them lie Allah's Apostleand the two first Caliphs.The exact place of Mohammed's supposed tomb is,moreover, distinguished by a large pearl rosary, and apeculiar ornament, the celebrated Kaukab el- Durri, orconstellation of pearls suspended to the curtain, breast high.This is described by Moslem writers as a brilliant star setin diamonds and pearls, placed in the dark that man's eyemay be able to bear its splendours; the vulgar believe it tobe a jewel of the jewels of Paradise. The coup d'œil ofIJesus, son of Mary.96

this portion of the mosque has little to recommend it byday; but, like El- Rauzah, by night, when the lamps suspended in the passage between the outer and inner walls ofthe mausoleum, shed their dim light on the mosaic work ofthe marble floors , upon the glittering inscriptions and themassive hangings, the scene is more impressive.Rather disappointing, after all this misplaced devotion,is it to hear it is by no means certain that Mohammed'sremains repose under the great green dome at El- Medinah.For after visiting the spot and carefully investigating itshistory, Burton believed the true site of the prophet's graveto be as doubtful as that of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem.His reasons for so concluding are as follows:From the earliest days the shape of the Apostle's tombhas never been generally known in El- Islam . Moslemgraves are made convex in some countries, flat in others;had there been a Sunnat, such would not have been thecase.The accounts given by the learned of the tomb arediscrepant. El- Samanhudi, perhaps the highest authority,contradicts himself. In one place he describes the coffin,in another he declares he saw merely three deep holes.Either then the mortal remains of the Prophet hadcrumbled to dust, or they had been removed by theShiah schismatics who for centuries had charge of thesepulchre.And lastly, the tale of the blinding light which surrounds the tomb, current for ages past, and still universallybelieved upon the authority of its guardians, looks like apriestly gloss intended to conceal a defect.To resume. Our Haji now proceeded to the southeastern corner of the Hujrah and paused at the place ofGabriel's Descent. Prayers were said and progress madeto the sixth station, the sepulchre of Fatimah; (threelocalities claim the honour of containing her mortal spoils) ,and here, in spite of the uncertainty, a florid blessing was1Visit to the Mosque of Kuba 97invoked. Then, turning to the north, Burton recited orisonsin honour of Hamzah and other martyrs buried at the footof Mount Ohod; revolving to the east, he blessed theBlessed of El- Bakia; with another turn to the south, hebreathed a general prayer for himself; and this done, hereturned to the Apostle's Window and prayed again.Finally, he retraced his steps to El- Rauzah, where a twobow supplication terminated worship for that day.Sundry fees and alms cost about one pound sterling.Beggars are allowed to infest the mosques in Moslemcountries, just as they are permitted to haunt the churchesin Roman Catholic lands. But, when we remember theguardians of the tomb, the water- carrier of the well, and anassortment of mendicants, all had to be paid, it seems thatour pilgrim got off very cheaply.There were other places of pious visitation which itbehoved Burton not to neglect. The principal were themosques of Kuba, Hamzah's tomb, and the cemetery ofEl- Bakia. Moslems affirm that a prayer at Kuba is ofgreat religious efficacy; a number of traditions testify to thedignity of the principal mosque begun by the Prophet's ownhands; sundry miracles took place there, and a verset ofthe Koran descended from heaven. Burton, who journeyedthither on a dromedary, through palm plantations, wherethe splashing of tiny cascades from wells into woodentroughs, and the warbling of innumerable birds charmedthe ear, described his visit as most delightful. Jebel Ohodowes its reputation to a cave which sheltered Mohammedwhen pursued by his enemies, to certain springs of whichhe drank, and especially to its being the scene of a battlecelebrated in El- Islam. His relative Hamzah, and otherMoslem dead, were interred where they fell; and althoughthe scenes about this holy hill could not have been whollypleasant to remember, the Prophet declared, " Ohod is amountain which loves us and which we love; it is upon thegate of heaven! "

El- Bakia, redolent of the odour of sanctity, requires alonger notice. This venerable spot, frequented by the piousevery day after prayer at the Prophet's tomb, and especiallyon Fridays, owes its reputation as a cemetery to the extraordinary number of saintly personages to whom it hasafforded a resting place. There is a tradition that ahundred thousand saints, all with faces like full moons,shall cleave its yawning bosom on the last day.99 The first person interred in the " Place of many Rootswas Usman bin Mazun, a fugitive from Meccah, and afriend of the Prophet's. Mohammed wished the body tobe buried within sight of his own abode, and as in thosedays the present grave-yard was merely a field coveredwith trees, the latter had to be cut down before the placewas suitable for a burial-ground. Ibrahim, the Prophet'sinfant second son, was laid in time by Usman's side, afterwhich El- Bakia's renown was assured.The shape of this celebrated spot is an irregular oblongsurrounded by walls, which at their south-west angle areconnected with one of the suburbs. The space is smallconsidering that all who die at El- Medinah, strangers aswell as natives, heretics and schismatics only excepted,expect to be interred therein . It must be choked withcorpses, which it could never contain did not the Moslemstyle of burial favour rapid decomposition. The gate issmall and ignoble; inside there are no flower- plots, no talltrees, nothing to lighten the gloom of a place of sepulture;the buildings are simple even to meanness, and almost allare the common Arab mosque shape, cleanly white-washed,and looking quite new. For it must be remembered thatthe ancient monuments were levelled by Saad the Wahhabiand his Puritan followers, who waged pitiless war againstwhat must have appeared to them magnificent mausolea,deeming, as they did, a loose heap of stones sufficient for agrave. In Burckhardt's time the whole place was a confused accumulation of heaps of earth, wide pits, andPrayers 99rubbish, without a single regular tombstone. The presenterections owe their existence to the liberality of the SultansAbd el- Hamid and Mahmud.Our pilgrim, accompanied as usual by Shaykh Hamidand the young Meccan, entered the cemetery right footforemost, as though it were a mosque. He began with thegeneral benediction:-"Peace be upon Ye, O People of El- Bakia! Peacebe upon Ye, O Admitted to the Presence of the MostHigh! Receive You what You have been promised!Peace be upon Ye, Martyrs of El- Bakia, One and All!We, verily, if Allah please, are about to join Ye! OAllah, pardon us and Them, and the Mercy of God, andHis Blessings! After which he recited a chapter ofthe Koran, and the Testification, then raised his hands,mumbled the Fatihah, passed his palms down his face,and went on.Praying in this dismal place never ceased. Prayerand almsgiving were obligatory at the mausoleum of CaliphOsman; a benediction was invoked at a tomb erected tothe memory of the Bedawi nurse who suckled the Prophet.Fronting northwards, our pilgrim recited noisy supplicationsbefore a low enclosure containing ovals of loose stones,marking the site of sepulture of the Martyrs of El- Bakia,who received their crown of glory at the hands of El- Muslim,the general of the arch heretic Yezid. Then came theturn of the grave of Ibrahim, the Prophet's youthful son,and of the tombs of the Prophet's wives, all of whom,except Khadijah, ' are interred in this populous burialground. Nor might the tombs of his ten daughters, northose of many, many holy personages be passed by withoutthe most florid and wearisome orisons.What, however, rendered this Visitation so peculiarlyexhausting was the crowd of beggars. These pests mustered their strongest. Along the walls, at the entrance ofShe was buried at Meccah.7-2100

each building, squatted ancient dames engaged in anxious.contemplation of every approaching face. Loudly theydemanded largesse, some promised to recite Fatihahs, andthe most audacious seized visitors by the skirts of theirgarments. At the doors of sundry tombs which had to beentered bare-footed, old women and young ones also,struggled with our Haji for his slippers as he doffed them ,and it was with no slight amount of wrangling, expense,and delay that these useful articles were recovered.all, his purse was lightened of three dollars, money undeniably mis-spent, for he added with his usual dry humour,"although at least fifty female voices loudly promised forthe sum of ten paras each to supplicate Allah on behalf ofmy lame foot , no perceptible good came of their efforts."InAt last the general benediction concluded the function.There still remained a visit to the burial- place of theProphet's aunts, northwards of El- Medinah; but hereBurton, quite worn out, hurried over his devotions, andafter a brief stoppage for refreshment at a little coffee- housenear the town gate, rode home with his companions.

CHAPTER V

ITT will be remembered that Burton had wished not merelyto visit the holy cities of El- Hejaz-interesting enoughin their way, but of little value to geographical sciencebut to cross the almost unknown Arabian peninsula .Besides treading in the footsteps of the famous Swisstraveller, he desired to obtain information concerning thegreat Eastern Wilderness, marked in our atlases Ruba'el- Khali (the empty abode); to determine the hydrographyof the Hejaz, its watershed, the slope of the country, theexistence or non- existence of perennial streams; and, finally ,to make certain ethnographical enquiries concerning the Arab race.But even had Sir James Hogg given the required leave,this vast design must have been abandoned. Unexpectedobstacles had arisen. Part of the route had becomeimpassable in consequence of the furious quarrels betweenthe tribes of the interior. For some days the sound ofmusketry could be heard even in El- Medinah, and manyparties of Bedawin were seen hurrying to the fray, matchlock in hand, or with huge staves on their shoulders.Nobody could leave the town on one side, even to get asfar as Khaybor, much less Muskat. Besides these moreserious difficulties, the sextant had been left at Suez. Allthat remained in the way of instruments was a watch anda pocket compass; so the benefit rendered to geographywould have been scanty, even supposing our explorer hadescaped with his life.Seeing that his original scheme had become imprac-102

ticable, he centred his attention on his approachingjourney to Meccah. At El- Medinah every visitation hadbeen performed; notes innumerable concerning the city,its history, climate, population, had been duly taken andhidden away, and now it was time to seek fresh adven- tures. There was a fair chance of stirring ones too, fora lucky chance enabled our Haji to travel along the wildeastern frontier, instead of by the ordinary route.The Damascus caravan was to set out September 1st.Burton had intended to accompany one which usually lefttwo days later, and reached its destination about the samedate. Suddenly arose the rumour that there would be no"Tayyarah," and all pilgrims must proceed by the formeror await the Rakb, or dromedary caravan, a sort of express,in which each person carries only his saddle-bags.Early on the morning of August 31st, Shaykh Hamidreturned hurriedly from the bazaar, exclaiming, " You mustmake ready at once! All Hajis start to-morrow. Allahwill make it easy to you! Have your water- skins in order.You are to travel down the Darb el- Sharki, where you willnot see water for three days! "Hamid appeared horror- struck as he concluded thisfearful announcement, and probably wondered why no dismay was reflected on his guest's face. On the contrary,Burton looked delighted. Here was some consolation forthe failure of his original design. Burckhardt had visitedand described the Darb el- Sultani , the road along the lineof coast; but no European had as yet travelled by thecelebrated route which owes its existence to the piety ofZubaydah Khatun, wife of Harun el- Rashid.Evidently there was not a moment to lose. Mohammed,who had invited our pilgrim to lodge at his mother's houseat Meccah, and who already began to feel all the importanceof a host, went and bought a new Shugduf, or litter, anda cot for the Surat lad. Rats had made considerablerents in two of the water-skins, which Burton proceededPreparations for the Journey to Meccah 103to carefully patch up, while Nur was sent to lay in suppliesfor fourteen days. The journey to Meccah by the slowercaravans is calculated at eleven days, but provisions areapt to spoil and the camel-men expect to be plentifullyfed. The stores consisted as usual of wheat- flour, rice,turmeric, onions, dates, unleavened bread, cheese, tobacco,sugar, tea, and coffee.Hamid himself hurried away to attend to the mostimportant business. Faithful camel-drivers are requiredon a road where robbers are frequent, and stabbings occasional-where there is no law to prevent desertion or tolimit extortionate demands. He soon returned, accompanied by a boy of about fourteen, and a short, well-builtold man with regular features and a white beard, “ Masudof the Rahlah," who bound himself to provide, for the sumof twenty dollars, two camels, which were to be changedin case of accidents. He also agreed to supply his beastswith water, and to accompany his employer, after reachingMeccah, to Arafat and back. Aware of the nature ofthe journey before him, he absolutely refused to carryBurton's large chest, declaring that the tent under theshugduf was burden enough for one camel, and the greenbox of medicines, the saddle-bags, and sundry provisionsacks surmounted by Nur's cot were amply sufficient forthe other. On his part, Burton promised to advance tendollars at once, to feed the old man and his son; and on thereturn from Mount Arafat, to repay the remaining hire witha discretionary present.These arrangements concluded, Hamid turned to theold Bedawi and exclaimed, " Thou wilt treat these friendswell, O Masud! ” To which the prudent ancient replied,"Even as the Father of Mustachios behaveth to us, sowill we behave to him. " Most men of the Shafei schoolclip their mustachios exceedingly small. Burton hadneglected to do so, and as his were naturally bushy, they won for him the nickname above mentioned.104

Spiritual matters also had to be attended to . The correct thing was to repair to the mosque for a farewell visitation, to give alms, vow piety, repentance and obedience,and finally retire overwhelmed with grief. But this wasteof time our Haji objected to so vehemently, that he waspermitted to perform the ceremony at home; and even thenit was quite long and wearisome enough.Then began the necessary process of paying off littlebills. Hamid had treated Burton so hospitably, that thelatter presented his host with the money borrowed at Suez.Three " Samman " brothers received a dollar or two each;and one or two cousins hinted to good effect that such aprecedent would meet with their approbation.The luggage was then carried out and disposed in packs before thehouse-door, to be ready for loading at a moment's notice.Late in the evening arose a new report, that the body ofthe caravan would march about midnight; but after sittingup until 2 a.m. and hearing no gun, our traveller lay down.to sleep through the sultry remnant of the hours of darkness.Early next day Masud and his camels arrived in hothaste. No time was lost in final preparations, and at 9 a.m.Burton, surrounded by his friends, who took leave withmarked cordiality, mounted his beast and shaped his coursetowards the north. At first his attention was completelyabsorbed by the extraordinary appearance of the caravan ofwhich he was a unit. The morning sun shone brightly onsome seven thousand souls, upon the scarlet and gilt conveyances of the grandees, on men on horseback, in litters,or bestriding the splendid camels of Syria. Not the leastcharm of the spectacle was its wondrous variety of detail.The pauper pilgrims, almost naked, hobbled along with.heavy staves, then came the riders; women and children ofthe poorer classes sat on rugs spread over the two boxeswhich form a camel's load. Nothing was stranger than thecontrasts—a band of nearly nude negroes marching withThe Start for Meccah 105the Pasha's equipage, and long-capped, bearded Persians conversing with Tarbush'd and shaven Turks. TheSultan's Mahmal, or litter, surrounded by the glitteringarms of the soldiery, had for convenience sake been strippedof its embroidered cover, and did not appear in its fullmagnificence until it reached its destination.At the Well of Rashid the caravan halted and turned totake farewell of the Holy City. All the pilgrims dismounted and gazed once more on the venerable minarets,the Green Dome; and at least an hour elapsed before theyagain pursued their way over the rough and stony pathwhich leads out of the Medinah basin. The air was full ofsimoom, cold draughts occasionally poured down from thehills, causing alternations of temperature trying in theextreme. The road was strewn with stones and dotted withthorny acacias; and after a tedious march many a wretched,unseasoned beast of burden sank under the strain. Carcasesof asses, ponies, and camels lay by the wayside; those thathad been allowed to die peaceably were abandoned tocarrion birds, while all whose throats had been religiouslycut a pious attention which the poor creatures mustdoubtfully appreciate―were surrounded by groups ofTakruri pilgrims, negroes who make the pilgrimage onalms. These half- starved beings cut steaks from thechoicer portions of the dead animals, and slung the meatover their shoulders till an opportunity for cooking mightarrive.-The camp was pitched that evening in excellent order;the Pasha's pavilion surrounded by his soldiers and guardsdisposed in tents, with sentinels regularly posted, protectingthe outskirts. One of Burton's men, who had gone on alittle in advance, led him to an open place where the camelswere unloaded, after which the tent was erected , and everypreparation made for rest and refreshment. Before longour Haji had supped, smoked, and turned in for the night.Unluckily, a night halt was the exception, not the rule.106

Bitter were Burton's complaints of nocturnal marches, apoint on which the Arabians are inexorable. It was ofcourse impossible even by moonlight to observe the countryto any advantage; the day sleep became, from fatigue, akind of lethargy, and it was out of the question to preservean appetite during the hours of heat. On such roads asthe caravan had to traverse, the physical danger wasincreased tenfold; the camels had often to feel their wayfrom one basalt block to another, the poor beasts enlivening the scene by keeping up in their terror an incessantpiteous moaning. Sometimes an invisible acacia wouldcatch the shugduf, almost overthrowing the hapless bearerby the suddenness and tenacity of its clutch, and shakingthe inmates with unpleasant violence out of their uneasyslumber. But the Prophet had said " Choose early darkness for your wayfarings, as the calamities of the earth(serpents and wild animals) appear not at night, " and rightor wrong, whenever practicable, he has to be obeyed.In spite of this 'wearisome practice, which, however,could not invariably be adhered to, Burton saw many acurious phenomenon. One day appeared the pillars ofsand described by Abyssinian Bruce. They scudded onthe wings of the whirlwind over the plain, huge yellowshafts, with lofty heads, horizontally bent backwards, inthe form of clouds; on more than one occasion camels havebeen thrown down by them. It required little stretch offancy to enter into the Arab's superstition, that these sandcolumns are Genii of the Waste, which cannot be caught,a notion arising from the fitful movements of the electricalwindeddy which raises them. As they advance, thepious Moslem stretches out his finger, exclaiming, " Iron!O thou ill - omened one! " The mirage our traveller hadalready seen in Sind; but one evening a long thin line ofsalt efflorescence appearing at some distance on a plainbelow, when the shades of coming night invested the view,completely deceived him. Even the Arabs were divided inThe Desert Journey 107opinion, some thinking it was the effects of rain which hadrecently fallen; others were more acute. So far as ourtraveller was able to judge, animals are never taken in bythis refraction, probably because most of them recognisethe vicinity of moisture by smell rather than sight.Procuring fresh supplies of water was a great trouble.Under the fiery Arabian sky thirst is incessant, and thewater-skins are soon emptied. It was necessary, too, tosupply the camels with a sufficiency; and, as often thewells were situated two miles from the halting- place andstrictly guarded by soldiers, who exacted hard coin inexchange for the precious fluid , the task of refilling theawkward leathern receptacles was an unending source ofquarrels and anxiety. And after all the fatigue and worry,it usually proved either brackish or bitter.Never were the wells more nauseous than at ElSawayrkiyah, about ninety miles from El- Medinah. Burtonhad bought some fresh dates, and paid a dollar and a halffor a sheep destined to furnish a dish of liver and fry forhimself and a plentiful meal for his servants. Vainly didhe attempt to enjoy himself; what dinner could please ifwashed down with cups of a certain mineral- spring foundat Epsom? It was especially disappointing, as this townletboasted of a bazaar well supplied with meat, particularlymutton, while wheat, barley and dates were brought inevery day fresh from the neighbourhood.The caravan left El- Sawayrkiyah on the 5th Septemberand travelled over a flat country thinly dotted with desertvegetation. At I p.m. they passed a basaltic ridge, andthen, entering a kind of valley, paced down it five tedioushours. The simoom, as usual, was blowing hard, and itseemed to affect the pilgrims' tempers. Presently occurredan incident which revealed the innate ferocity of the Arabnature. A Turk, who could not speak a word of Arabic,began a violent dispute with an Arab, who could notunderstand a word of Turkish. It was all about nothing:108

the former insisted on adding to the camel's load a fewdry sticks, such as are picked up for cooking , and thecamel-owner as perseveringly threw off the extra burthen,one the animal could have hardly felt. They screamedwith rage, hustled each other, and at last the Turkimprudently dealt the Arab a heavy blow. That nightthe pilgrim was mortally wounded by the revengefulBedawi, and, wrapped in his shroud, was left to die ina half- dug grave.Burton commented with horror on this atrocity, one ofnot unfrequent occurrence. The poor friendless wretch'sfate appealed peculiarly to his sympathy, for an uneasydoubt must have flashed across his mind whether he toomight not be attacked by one of these wild children ofthe desert and abandoned while yet alive to the jackaland the vulture. Fortunately, his attention was soondiverted from the tragedy by one of the most curious ofthe Moslem ceremonies. At El-Zaribah, some forty- sevenmiles from their destination, the pilgrims prepared to assumethe Ihram , or peculiar garb in which they enter Meccah.Between noontide and afternoon prayers, a barber attendedto shave their heads, cut their nails , and trim theirmustachios; then, having bathed, they donned their newattire, merely two new white cotton cloths each six feet longby three and a half broad. One of these sheets, which, bythe way, is ornamented with red stripes and fringes, isthrown over the back, and exposing the arm and shoulder,is knotted at the right side; the second is wrapped roundthe loins from waist to knee, and, tucked in at the middle,supports itself. The head remains bare, a barbarous practice in such a climate, and nothing is allowed on the instep .After their toilet the pilgrims with their faces towardsMeccah were ordered to say aloud, " I vow this Ihram ofHajj (the pilgrimage) and the Umrah (the little pilgrimage)to Allah Almighty! " Then without rising from the sittingposition, they repeated, " O Allah! verily I purpose theThey must be good Pilgrims! 109Hajj and the Umrah, then enable me to accomplishthe two and accept them both of me, and make bothblessed to me! " Followed the Talbiyat,' or exclaiming:"Here I am! O Allah! here am INo Partner hast Thou, here am I:Verily the Praise and the Beneficence are Thine, and the Kingdom— No Partner hast Thou, here am I! "And they were warned to repeat these words as often aspossible until the conclusion of the ceremonies.Then a certain namesake of our traveller's, ShaykhAbdullah, a reverend elder who acted as director of consciences, preached a little sermon. They must be goodpilgrims, avoiding quarrels, immorality, bad language, andlight conversation. They must reverence life, avoid killinggame, and even pointing out an animal for destruction; normight they scratch themselves save with the open palmlest vermin be destroyed. They were to respect theSanctuary by sparing the trees, and not to pluck a singleblade of grass. They were to abstain from oils , perfumes,unguents, from washing the head with mallow- leaves, fromdyeing, shaving, or vellicating a single hair; and, thoughthey might take advantage of shade, and even form it withupraised hands, they must by no means cover their shavenpates. For each infraction of these ordinances they mustsacrifice a sheep; and this command, together with thewholesale slaughter at Muna, furnishes, when we recall thetender care enjoined for fleas and other vermin, an instanceof glaring inconsistency which, however, is not peculiar to the Mohammedan creed.In the middle of all this monotonous praying andpreaching, Burton enjoyed a hearty laugh. The wife anddaughter of a Turk assumed the Ihram at the same time ashimself. After a short absence they reappeared dressed inwhite garments sorely resembling roomy shrouds; and, byway of rendering themselves yet more hideous, they hadexchanged the coquettish fold of muslin which veils the1 From the word Labbayka-here am I.IIO

lower part of the face for an ugly mask made of split , dried,and plaited palm leaves, with two holes for light. Whileour pilgrim could not restrain his merriment when thesestrange objects met his sight, the objects themselves, tojudge by the shaking of their shoulders, were no less tickledby the passing ugliness of their pious garb.This important function over, the caravan again startedon its way. The ceremony had added fuel to the generalfervour; crowds hurried along in their scanty attire, whosewhiteness contrasted strangely with their dark skins, andthe rocks rang with shouts of " Labbayk! Labbayk! "Presently they fell in with a horde of Wahhabis, thosePuritans of El- Islam , wild- looking mountaineers who wereaccompanying the Baghdad caravan, and who, in the samestate of religious ecstasy, responded by yells of “ Here amI! " They were too strict, however, to be altogetherpleasant companions; whenever they saw their brotherMoslems smoking they cursed them aloud for infidels andidolaters, and what they might have done had any thirstysoul indulged in Raki, they alone could tell .Gradually amongst the huge multitude a rumour circulated that the Bedawin were ("6 out." This gave riseto no small anxiety, which increased when the caravansentered a veritable Valley Perilous, one which stronglyreminded our Haji of the Pilgrimage Pass on the way toEl- Medinah. On the right was a stony buttress, on theleft a precipitous cliff, grim and barren, while opposite,egress seemed barred by piles of hills, crest rising abovecrest into the far blue distance. Day still smiled upon theupper peaks, but the lower slopes and the dry bed of atorrent were already curtained with grey, sombre shade.The voices of women and children sank into silence, andthe loud " Labbayk " of the pilgrims was gradually hushed.Burton was still speculating upon the cause of this suddenlull, when it became brusquely apparent. The Bedawinwere in sight and preparing to fire. Simultaneously withA Night in a Pass ΙΙΙthe echoing crack of a matchlock, a high trotting dromedaryin front of our Haji rolled over upon the sand—a bullet hadsplit its heart-throwing the rider a goodly somersault offive or six yards.The Wahhabis were unpleasantly puritanical, but theyhad the redeeming virtue of bravery. During the terribleconfusion which ensued -vehicles, animals, and humanbeings jammed into a solid mass, whilst the missiles fromthe heights whistled into their midst—these mountaineersalone retained their wits. They rallied at once, kept theircamels well in hand, and, taking up a well- selected position ,one body began to fire upon the robbers, and two or threehundred, dismounting, swarmed up the hill to dislodge thefoe. Presently firing was heard far in the rear, and, asusual, the caravans hurried along their perilous path untilall danger was left behind. It was said the banditsnumbered only a hundred and fifty, and that their principalreason for attacking the harmless pilgrims was to boasthow, on such and such an occasion, they had delayed the Sultan's Mahmal one whole hour in the Pass.The scene that night was truly Stygian-one hardlycalculated to calm nerves shaken by the late assault. Oneither side grim precipices towered above till their summitsmingled with the darkness, and, between, formidable lookedthe chasm down which the host hurried with yells anddischarges of matchlocks. The torch-smoke and nightfires of flaming Asclepias formed a canopy, sable above,and lurid red below: here flames flashed fiercely from atall thorn-tree, that crackled and shot up showers of sparksinto the air; there they died away in uncertain gleams;while the moaning of affrighted camels, the shouts andcries of their riders, distracted the ear on every side.Delightful was the contrast next morning - WadyLaymun, or the Valley of Limes. From remote ages thischarming spot, celebrated for the purity of its air, has beena favourite resort of the Meccans. Nothing could be moreII2

soothing than the dark green foliage of its trees and thesweet sound of a bubbling stream which, issuing from thebase of a hill, flowed through its gardens, filling them withthe most delicious of melodies, the gladdest sound whichNature in these regions knows. Burton would fain havelingered in this pleasantest of pleasant places, but Masud,the camel owner, was inexorable. It was the next stationto the Holy City, and the wily old Arab knew that bypreceding the main body, already augmented by the arrivalof the Sherif and his attendants, who had come to greetthe Pasha, he would get his animals attended to sooner,and secure more easily lodgings for himself. So, exactlyat noon, he seized the halter of his foremost beast andmarched off.As evening approached, our party halted, and strainedtheir eyes to catch sight of Meccah. But the town, whichlies in a winding valley, was still invisible, and the pilgrims betook themselves to prayer. After repeating sundryformulæ, prescribed on nearing the Sanctuary, they againmounted their camels and journeyed through the darkness,until about I a.m., when loud cries of " Labbayk! Labbayk! "not unfrequently broken by sobs, warned our traveller hehad reached his goal. Peering from his shugduf, he beheldby the light of the southern stars a large city dimly outlined. A winding pass, flanked by watch-towers whichcommand the road from the north, leads into the northernsuburb where stands the Sherif's palace, a large, whitewashed building, with numerous balconied windows. Afterthis, on the left hand, appeared the deserted abode of Sherifbin Aun, now said to be haunted. Thence, turning to theright, our party entered the Afghan quarter, turned off themain road into a by-way, ascended the rough heights ofJebel Hindi, and finally, after threading sundry dark streetscrowded with rude cots and dusky figures, drew up insafety at the door of young Mohammed's house.For a few minutes the youth forgot his duties as host.A Meccan Welcome 113With scant ceremony he rushed upstairs to embrace hismother, and the shrill cry, or Lululú, which in these landswelcomes the wanderer home, broke the stillness. Thoughour pilgrim elsewhere compares this cry peculiar to womenin the East to the notes of a fife, he confessed that whilelingering outside, a stranger in the dark street , it sent achill to his heart.Presently Mohammed returned. He now rememberedwhat was required of him, his jaunty manner had changedto one of grave and attentive courtesy. He led his guestinto a sort of hall, seated him on a carpeted platform, andtold his servant to bring lights. Meanwhile, a shuffling ofslippered feet upstairs informed hungry ears that the mistress was on hospitable thoughts intent; and before longappeared a dish of fine vermicelli, browned, and powderedwith loaf sugar. After his meal Burton procured a cotfrom a neighbouring coffee- house, and lay down, anxious tosnatch an hour or two of repose during what remained ofthe night. At dawn he was expected to perform his " Circumambulation of Arrival " at the Meccan sanctuary.Scarcely had the first smile of morning beamed upon therugged head of Abu Kubays, a hill which bounds Meccahto the east, than our Haji rose, bathed, and proceeded inpilgrim garb to the Great Mosque. Entering by the principal northern door, he descended two flights of steps, traversed a cloister, and stood in sight of the Kiblah ofEl-Islam ,' the place to which the Moslem turns in prayerfrom all quarters of the globe.This far-famed Kaabah, the most interesting feature ofthe Meccan mosque, is an oblong structure, eighteen pacesin length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to fortyfeet in height. Constructed of grey granite, it stands upon1 The Great Mosque consists of a large quadrangle, surrounded by arcades or cloisters, and entered by nineteen gates, surmounted by seven minarets. In the centre stands the Kaabah, which was the temple ofMeccah ages before the days of Mohammed.8114

a base two feet high, and its roof being almost flat, it presents at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube. It ispartly covered with black drapery, a mixture of cloth andsilk with a golden zone running round its upper portion;the hangings in front of the door are also embroidered.This Kiswah, as it is called, is renewed every year, andthe origin of the custom must be sought in the ancientpractice of typifying the church visible by a virgin orbride. With memory thus refreshed, my readersmay be better able to follow the curious ceremonies inwhich our Haji took part, especially the rite of Circumambulation.• ..For some minutes Burton gazed on this venerable objectwith interest and delight. True, there were no giant fragments of hoar antiquity, as in Egypt; no remains of graceful and harmonious beauty, as in Greece or Italy. Yetthe view was strange, unique-and how few aliens hadlooked upon the celebrated shrine! The mirage mediumof fancy invested the huge catafalque and its gloomy pallwith peculiar charms; it was as if the poetical legendsof the Arabs spoke truth, and that the waving wings ofangels, not the sweet breeze of morning, were agitatingand swelling the black covering of the Bayt Allah.¹Moreover, the plans and hopes of many a year were herepartially realised, and our hero, as he stood a strangerin this Mohammedan sanctuary, felt for a moment all thetriumph of a victory over conditions which had dauntedevery Englishman before him..Moslems rarely contemplate the Kaabah for the firsttime without fear and awe, so the young Meccan had lefthis guest for awhile alone. Presently he returned, andthe two entered the " Gate of the Sons of the Shaybah, "raised their hands, repeated the Labbayk and other formulæ,recited certain supplications, and drew their hands downtheir faces. Then they proceeded to the Shafei's place.1 House of Allah.Inspecting the Kaabah 115of worship, the open pavement between the MakamIbrahim and the well Zem Zem, where they said aprayer, accompanied by two prostrations, in honour of themosque, and swallowed a cup of holy water.The word Zem Zem has a doubtful origin. Somederive it from the Zam Zam, or murmuring of its waters;others from Zam! (fill! i.e. the bottle) , Hagar's impatientexclamation when she saw the stream. The produce ofthis well is held in much greater esteem than it deserves.Meccans advise pilgrims to break their fast with it, ignoringthe fact that the holy fluid is apt to cause diarrhoea andboils, and has more than once been suspected of spreadingcholera. Its flavour is a salt bitter, and the most piousMoslem can hardly swallow it without a very wry face.At the Kaabah's eastern angle is inserted the famousBlack Stone, ' the touching or kissing of which is considered.essential. Standing about ten yards distant, Burton repeated with upraised hands, "There is no God but Allahalone, Whose Covenant is Truth, and Whose Servant isVictorious. There is no God but Allah without Sharer;His is the Kingdom, to Him be Praise, and He over allThings is potent. " Afterwards he approached as near aspossible; but a dense crowd intervening, he recited moreprayers and commenced the rite of circumambulation, orpacing round the Kaabah. This circuit has to be repeatedseven times; its conjectured significance is an imitation ofthe heavenly bodies, also symbolised by the circular whirlings of the Dervishes. After each course the pilgrim stoodbefore the Black Stone, exclaimed " In the Name of Allah ,and Allah is Omnipotent, " kissed his fingers, and resumedhis march.Burton duly performed his seven circuits, repeated aprayer of portentous length, and then, aided by Mohammed1. When Allah made covenant with the Sons of Adam on the day of Fealty, He placed the paper inside this stone; it will therefore appear at the Judgment, and bear witness to all who have touched it.8-116

and half a dozen stalwart Meccans, cleared a path throughthe crowd and reached the stone, which he narrowly scrutinised for about ten minutes. He came away convincedthat it is an aërolite .This ceremony of touching or kissing the Black Stone,which, judging from the dense crowd around the shrine,must often be deferred perforce for hours, is the culminatingact of devotion in the Meccan Sanctuary. On this occasionlittle further remained to be done. There were a few moreprayers, followed by a second visit to Zem Zem, whereanother nauseous draught had to be swallowed, and whereBurton was deluged with two or three skinfuls of waterdashed over his head en douche, an ablution which causessin to fall from the spirit like dust. Then our pilgrimturned towards the Kaabah, ejacul*ted sundry formulæ,and finally, quite worn out, with scorched feet and aburning head, left the mosque. Strictly speaking, he shouldhave performed the rite called El- Sai, or running seventimes between Mounts Safa and Marwah; but fatigue, notto mention his lame foot, now sorely inflamed by the fierypavements, put this further trial out of the question.Mohammed the Meccan had miscalculated the amountof lodging vacant in his mother's house. Being a widowand a lone woman, she had made over for the season theletting of her apartments to her brother, a lean old harpywith the face of a vulture. He had lost no time in crowdingthe place with pilgrims, almost as densely as the Rais ofthe Golden Wire had crowded his craft; and he regardedBurton with little favour when the latter insisted on havinga room to himself. After some wrangling, he promisedthat on the return from Arafat a little store- room shouldbe cleared out and appropriated to the guest's use; butmeanwhile the day had to be spent in the common hall incompany with several Turkish strangers-large, hairy men,with gruff voices and square figures - who seemed tomonopolise what little air and space there was. On theA Night- Visit to the Kaabah 117whole, our Haji was worse off at Meccah than at El- Medinah.The heat was stifling, for the city is so compacted togetherby hills, that even the simoom can scarcely sweep it, andthe inhabitants are utterly ignorant of any art of thermantidote. Moreover, the house, though larger, was far lesscheerful. The hot, gloomy hall could not be comparedwith Shaykh Hamid's bright little parlour, where his guestslolled on cushioned embrasures, and gazed upon some ofthe brightest scenes in the city.There being small temptation to linger in this oven- likeabode, our pilgrim, accompanied by Mohammed and followed by Nur, who carried a lantern and a prayer-rug,repaired that evening to the mosque. The moon, nownearly full, lighted up the strange spectacle. There stoodthe huge, bier- like erection , black as Erebus, except wherethe moonbeams streaked it like jets of silver falling upondark marble. It formed the point of rest for the eye; thelittle pagoda-like buildings and domes around, with all theirgilding and fretwork, vanished. One object, unique inappearance, stood in view-the temple of the one Allah,expressing by all the eloquence of fancy the grandeur of theidea which vitalised El- Islam .The pavement round the Kaabah was crowded withmen, women and children, mostly divided into parties;some walking staidly, others running, while many stood ingroups to pray. Here stalked a Bedawi woman in herlong black robe, like a nun's serge, and her poppy- colouredface-veil pierced to showtwo fiercely flashing eyes. Therean Indian woman, with semi-Tartar features nakedlyhideous, and thin legs encased in wrinkled tights, hurriedround the fane. Every now and then a corpse, borne onits wooden shell, circulated the shrine by means of fourbearers, whom other Moslems, as is the custom, occasionally relieved. A few fair- skinned Turks lounged about.In one place a fast Calcutta Khitmugar stood with turbanawry and arms akimbo, contemplating the view jauntily;118

in another, a poor demented wretch with arms thrown onhigh was clinging to the curtain and sobbing as though hisheart would break.The celebrated mosque pigeons flock mostly in the lineof pavement leading to the eastern cloisters. During theday women and children sit with small piles of grain upontrays of basket- work; for each a copper piece is demanded,and pious pilgrims consider it a duty to provide the reverendblue-rocks with a plentiful meal. These birds are heldsacred not only in consequence of Arab traditions concerning Noah's dove, but as having been connected on twooccasions with the Moslem faith; first, when a pigeonappeared to whisper in Mohammed's ear, and secondly,during the flight to El- Medinah. Moreover, in manycountries they are called " Allah's Proclaimers," becausetheir movements when cooing resemble prostration.That night Burton remained in the mosque until 2 a.m.,hoping to see it empty. But as the morrow was to witnessthe egress to Arafat, many persons passed the hours ofdarkness in the sacred building. Numerous parties ofpilgrims sat upon their rugs, with lanterns in front of them,conversing, praying, and contemplating the Bayt Allah.The cloisters were full of merchants, who resorted there tovend such holy goods as combs, tooth- sticks, and rosaries.Before leaving it was necessary to offer up a two- bow prayerover the grave of Ishmael, and this accomplished, not without difficulty on account of the crowd, our indefatigableHaji, profiting by the temporary somnolence of his twocompanions, succeeded in taking measurements of theKaabah. He was sorely tempted to annex a strip of herragged black curtain, but too many people were still awake.Later he obtained a piece through the agency of his host,who purchased it from the officials all the more easily asthe venerable building was on the eve of donning her newattire.Next day it behoved all pilgrims to hie to Muna andA Visit to Mount Arafat 119Arafat, in order to join in the ceremonies peculiar to thoselocalities . Mount Arafat is situated about twelve milesfrom Meccah, and is reached via Muna, a straggling villagebuilt in a low gravel basin surrounded by hills. The moststriking functions that take place on these sacred spots are,the Sermon, delivered by a preacher seated on a dromedaryin imitation of Mohammed, the Stoning of the Devil, andthe Sacrifice of Animals. Muna, besides possessing thetomb, or rather a tomb of Adam, boasts of three standingmiracles: the pebbles thrown by pilgrims at the Devil, whois represented by a trio of pillars, return by angelic agencywhence they came; during the three days of " DryingMeat " rapacious beasts and birds cannot prey there; and,lastly, flies do not settle on the articles of food exposed soabundantly in the bazaars. Needless to add, these wonderswere conspicuous by their absence on the occasion of ourHaji's visit.Burton and his party followed the road by which thecaravans enter Meccah. It was covered with white-robedpilgrims, some few wending their way on foot , others riding.The barbarous Ihram was de vigueur, every man bare- footedand bare-headed; and we read with little surprise that,during the six hours' journey under a burning sun, ourtraveller saw no fewer than five poor wretches lie down onthe high road and give up the ghost. Nor on arrival at theplain of Arafat was there much rest after the exhaustingday. Comforts were not lacking, for Nur and the youngMeccan pitched a tent, disposed a divan of silk cushionsinside, and placed at the entrance a large fire- pan withcoffee-pots, singing a welcome to visitors; but sleep wasbanished by Arab songs and shouts of laughter fromEgyptian hemp- drinkers, not to mention a prayerful oldMoslem who began his devotions at a late hour and concluded them at dawn.Next morning was spent in visiting various consecratedsites on the " Mount of Mercy. " Arafat, a mass of coarse120

granite split into large blocks, with a thin coat of witheredthorns, is about one mile in circumference, and hardly twohundred feet in height. About half way up is a nook whereMohammed used to address his followers, and which is nowoccupied by the Khatib, or preacher, on the occasion of theArafat sermon. Higher still is a large stuccoed platform ,with a kind of obelisk, whitewashed and conspicuous fromafar, commemorating the site on which Adam, instructedby the archangel Gabriel, erected a place of prayer. Closeto the plain is the spot where the Egyptian and DamascusMahmals stand side by side during the sermon; and yetlower a fountain, bubbling from a rock, supplies the pilgrimswith water.Even at an early hour Arafat was crowded with Hajis,who had hastened to secure favourable positions for hearingthe preacher. As the function drew nearer, the generalexcitement increased. And certainly the coup d'œil wasmagnificent. First marched a grand procession of macebearers, of horsem*n wielding long and tufted spears, followed by the beautiful Arab horses belonging to theSherif of Meccah, a procession wherein about midwayrode that personage himself, preceded by three greenand two red flags. Then the Damascus Caravan, withits ensign of imperial power, all green and gold, flashingin the sun, and its host of white-robed pilgrims sweptpast to the holy hill. On joining the EgyptianMahmal and its followers, the two camels, with theirglittering loads, took up their prescribed positions onthe slope. The Sherif, his retinue, and standard- bearersranged themselves a little above; and the most picturesqueof backgrounds was formed by the granite hill covered ,wherever standing room could be found, with white figureswaving their glistening garments. Burton, too restless toremain on Arafat, had lost all chance of a place whence hecould profit by the discourse, and could only just distinguishthe Khatib seated on his dromedary, and hear at uncertainStone-throwing 121intervals a chorus of cries, sobs, and shrieks from the vastand excited congregation.The ceremony of Lapidation, though curious, is far lesspicturesque. Three rude pillars represent Satan, and atthese pillars pilgrims are directed to throw a certain numberof stones, repeating, " In the Name of Allah, and Allah isAlmighty, I do this in hatred of the Devil and to hisshame.' As the fiend had maliciously chosen a verynarrow pass wherein to appear and be thus commemorated,the place is exceedingly dangerous when crowded with ashrieking, fanatical multitude. Burton and the animal herode narrowly escaped with life, while Mohammed, whoought to have known better, had to fight his way out of thecrowd with a bleeding nose. Both must have heaved asigh of relief when, the pebbles having been duly flung atthe senseless little buttress, they could retire to a barber'sshop to rest, and rearrange the Ihram. After about anhour the two men-Nur was usually missing when dangerwas in the air -raced on donkey- back to Meccah, anundignified return known as the El- Nafr, or the flight.Here a piece of luck awaited our pilgrim. Shortly afterhis arrival, Mohammed entered his room in a state ofexcitement, exclaiming, " Rise, Effendi! Dress, and followme! " The Kaabah, though open, would for a time remainempty, and thus afford an opportunity for a quiet visitwhich might not occur again. Hastily resuming the Ihram,Burton hastened with the young Meccan to the mosque.What he saw shall be described in his own words:" A crowd had gathered round the Kaabah, and I hadno wish to stand bare-headed in the midday September sun.At the cry of ' Open a path for the Haji who would enterthe house, ' the gazers made way. Two stout Meccans,who stood below the door, raised me in their arms, whilsta third drew me from above into the building. At the 1I The only door is about seven feet above the pavement,122

entrance I was accosted by several officials , dark- lookingMeccans, of whom the blackest and plainest was a youth ofthe Beni Shaybah family, the blue blood of El- Hejaz. Heheld in his hand the huge silver- gilt padlock of the Kaabah,and presently, taking his seat upon a kind of wooden pressin the left corner of the hall, he inquired my name, nation,and other particulars. The replies were satisfactory, andyoung Mohammed was authoritatively ordered to conductme round the building, and to recite the prayers. I willnot deny that, looking at the windowless walls, the officialsat the door, and the crowd of excited fanatics below, myfeelings were of the trapped- rat description .This did not,however, prevent my carefully observing the scene duringour long prayers, and making a rough plan with a pencil onmy white Ihram."Nothing is more simple than the interior of thiscelebrated building. The pavement, which is level withthe ground, is composed of slabs of fine and variouscoloured marbles, mostly, however, white disposed chequerwise. The walls, as far as they can be seen, are of thesame material, but the pieces are irregularly shaped, andmany of them are engraved with long inscriptions in theSuls and other modern characters. The upper part of thewalls, together with the ceiling, at which it is considereddisrespectful to look, are covered with handsome reddamask, flowered over with gold, and tucked up aboutsix feet high, so as to be removed from pilgrims' hands.The flat roof is upheld by three cross-beams, whose shapesappear under the arras; they rest upon the eastern andwestern walls, and are supported in the centre by threecolumns about twenty inches in diameter, covered withcarved and ornamental aloes wood. At the Iraki cornerthere is a dwarf door, called Bab el-Taubah (of Repentance).It leads into a narrow passage and to the staircase by whichthe servants ascend to the roof: it is never opened exceptfor working purposes. The Aswad' corner is occupiedAnimal Slaughter at Muna 123by a flat-topped and quadrant- shaped press or safe, inwhich at times is placed the key of the Kaabah. Bothdoor and safe are of aloes wood. Between the columns, andabout nine feet from the ground, ran bars of a metal whichI could not distinguish, and hanging to them were manylamps, said to be of gold.66 Although there were in the Kaabah but a few attendants engaged in preparing it for the entrance of thepilgrims, the windowless stone walls and the choked- updoor made it worse than the Piombi of Venice; perspirationtrickled in large drops, and I thought with horror what itmust be when filled with a mass of furiously jostling andcrushing fanatics. Our devotions consisted of a two- bowprayer, followed by long supplications at the Shami (west)corner, the Iraki (north) angle, the Yemani (south) , andlastly, opposite the southern third of the back wall. Theseconcluded, I returned to the door, where payment is made,and was let down by the two brawny Meccans. "After quitting the Kaabah, Burton returned to hislodgings, and endeavoured to mitigate the pain of the sunscalds on his arms, shoulders and breasts by washing themwith henna and warm water. Towards evening, he donneda gay, laical attire in honour of the festival, viz. , the"Three Days of Drying Meat," and rode back to Muna.Though he had heard sundry details of the sacrifices inthis place, he was unprepared for the ugly spectacle offanaticism, greed and cruelty that met his eyes. Duringhis absence had begun the wholesale slaughter of animals,a relic of Judaism preserved and caricatured by Mohammed,which renders Muna at times a veritable plague- spot. TheTakruri might be seen sitting, vulture-like, contemplatingthe doomed sheep and goats, and no sooner was the signalgiven, than they fell upon the still quivering bodies and cutthem up for eating. No doubt it is necessary that thepoorer pilgrims should be fed; and, were just sufficientanimals butchered to preserve the Takruri from starvation,124

a good excuse might be made by Moslems for the practice;but the supply so far exceeds the demand that the valley,running with blood, soon becomes one huge, stinking placeof slaughter. Burton estimated the number of beasts slain,September, 1853 , from five to six thou: an 1 - camels, sheep,oxen and goats. Camels, however, are killed only by theSherif and chief dignitaries. It seems as if even thisfanatical people have some inkling of the barbarity of suchwaste of life, for when the victim's face is directed towardsthe Kaabah, preparatory to the cutting of its throat, insteadof their usual ejacul*tion, " In the Name of the MostMerciful God! " any mention of mercy is carefully omitted.Still the practice continues; and as no sanitary precautionswhatever are taken, each pilgrim killing his " offeringwhere he likes, and as the basin of Muna somewhatresembles a volcanic crater, an Aden closed up seawards,cholera has originated amongst the heaps of decompositionmore than once, and has amply avenged the poor murderedanimals.¹""At night fireworks were let off and cannon dischargedin front of the Muna mosque. Next day Burton, who hadto spend two nights in this horrible spot, rose before dawnto visit the " dragging place of the ram, " a small enclosure,situated on the lower declivity of Jebel Sabir, commemorating the events recorded in Genesis, chap. xxii . The usualmarvel is not lacking; a block of granite in which a hugegash several inches broad, some feet deep, and completelysplitting the stone in knife-shape, notes the spot whereAbraham's blade fell when forbidden to slay his son. Havingexamined this wonder with due decorum our pilgrim afterstrolling awhile about the hill in hopes of seeing some of thepeculiarly hideous Hejazi apes, said still to haunt the1 This odious rite, though a Sunnat or practice of the Prophet, isnot obligatory, its non-observance entailing merely a ten days' fast; so Burton was spared having to act butcher.2 Moslems claim Ishmael as hero of the story.The Sermon in the Mosque 125heights, returned to his tent, where he passed an atrociousday. The heat was stifling, nought moved in the air exceptkites and vultures, speckling the bright blue sky; swarms offlies, regardless that their presence was prohibited, and fetidexhalations from the bloody, saturated earth, rendered existence almost intolerable. It was truly a merciful deliverance when Masud's camels appeared at early dawn onFriday, and Burton and his party, every rite performed,were free to return to Meccah and hear the sermon in theMosque.This function concludes the Hajj , and though it doesnot present so picturesque a scene as that on Arafat, itappears from our pilgrim's description to be a very strikingspectacle. The vast quadrangle, when he arrived, wascrowded with worshippers sitting in long rows and everywhere facing the central black tower: the showy colours oftheir dresses were not to be surpassed by a garden of brilliant flowers, and such diversity of detail would probablynot be seen massed together in any other building on earth.The women, a somewhat sombre group, sat apart in theirpeculiar place. The Pasha stood on the roof of Zem Zem,surrounded by guards in Nizam uniform. Where the principal Olema stationed themselves, the crowd was thicker;and in the more auspicious spots nought was to be seenbut a pavement of heads and shoulders. Nothing seemedto move but a few Dervishes, who, censer in hand, sidledthrough the rows and received the unsolicited alms ofthe Faithful.Apparently in the midst, and raised above the crowdby the tall, pointed pulpit, whose gilt spire flamed inthe sun, sat the preacher, a venerable elder with a snowybeard. The style of head- dress called Taylasan coveredhis turban, white as his robes, and a short staff supportedhis left hand. Presently he arose, pronounced a fewinaudible words, and sat down while a Muezzin, at thefoot of the pulpit, recited the call to sermon. Then the126

old man stood up to preach. As he began to speak therewas a deep silence. Later a general " Amin was intonedby the congregation at the conclusion of some long sentence.And at last, towards the end of the discourse, every thirdor fourth word was followed by the simultaneous rise andfall of thousands of voices.Burton added: " I have seen the religious ceremonies.of many lands, but nowhere aught so solemn, so impressiveas this."The few remaining days at Meccah sped pleasantlyenough. Young Mohammed presented his guest tonumerous friends and acquaintances, who always welcomed him hospitably with pipes and coffee. The firstquestion always was, " Who is this pilgrim? " and morethan once the reply, " An Afghan, " elicited the languageof Afghanistan, the Pushtu, which was one of the fewthat Burton could not speak. Of this phenomenon nothingwas thought; many Afghans settled in India and elsewhere, know not a word of their native tongue, and evenabove the Passes some of the townspeople are imperfectlyacquainted with it. With the Meccans our traveller couldof course converse easily. They speak Arabic remarkably well, and Persian, Turkish and Hindustani aregenerally known. As regards the character of the inhabitants of this holy city, Burton sums it up as follows:"The redeeming qualities of the Meccan are his courage,his bonhomie, his manly suavity of manners, his fiery senseof honour, his strong family affections, his near approachto what we call patriotism, and his general knowledge; thereproach of extreme ignorance which Burckhardt directsagainst Meccah has long ago sped to the limbo of thingsthat were. The dark half of the picture is pride, bigotry,scurrility, irreligion, greed of gain, immorality, and prodigalostentation. "Our indefatigable traveller made a few more enquiriesas to the possibility of proceeding eastwards, but he heardThe Little Pilgrimage 127on all sides the Bedawin were in such a ferment that theythreatened an attack even upon Jeddah. Shaykh Masud,the old camel-owner, from whom Burton parted on excellent terms, seriously advised him to remain at Meccah.some months longer, advice which so restless a man wasutterly incapable of following. Apparently there wasnothing to do but to return to Egypt and spend the remainder of his leave in hard study.There remained one more curious rite to perform beforequitting the Holy City-the Umrah, or Little Pilgrimage.Resuming the Ihram, Burton, with three companions,mounted asses which resembled mules in size and speed ,and rode to the Great Mosque, to offer up a short prayer.The party then directed their course towards the opencountry, and after cantering about three miles, arrived at asmall settlement, popularly called El- Umrah. Dismounting,the four men sat on rugs outside a coffee-tent to enjoy thebeauty of a moonlight night, and an hour's rest in the sweetdesert air, doubly delightful to olfactory organs halfpoisoned by the smells of the town. Not so pleasant wasa compulsory visit to the principal chapel, an unpretendingbuilding, badly lighted, crammed with pilgrims, and offensively close, wherein the night devotions had to be offeredup, and gratuities distributed to the guardians and sundryimportunate beggars.And now our Haji's gravity was to be sorely tried. OneAbdullah, Mohammed's eldest brother, a staid and highlyreligious man, who had accompanied Burton for this specialpurpose, insisted upon performing a vicarious pilgrimagefor his friend's parents. Vain was the assurance that theyhad been strict in the exercises of their faith . Abdullahexpected hard coin in exchange for his solicitude regardingthe eternal weal of the old folks at home, and would takeno denial. So at last he was permitted to act substitutefor the " pious pilgrims, Yusuf (Joseph) bin Ahmed and Fatimah bint Yunus." Gravely raising his hands and directing his face to the Kaabah, he intoned , " I do vowthis Ihram of Umrah in the Name of Yusuf, son of Ahmed,and Fatimah, daughter of Yunus. Then render it attainableto them, and accept it of them! Bismillah! Allahu Akbar! "Remounting, the party galloped towards Meccah, shouting Labbayk, and on reaching the city, repaired again tothe mosque to observe the Tawaf, or circumambulation ofUmrah. This was followed by running seven times between Safa and Marwah, two small eminences with aboutthe same right to be called hills as certain undulations inRome. Although, on account of Burton's lameness, therite, supposed to represent Hagar seeking water for herson, was, with the exception of sundry supplications, performed mostly by the donkey, it proved quite fatiguingenough for our pilgrim to feel most thankful when thefourth or last portion of this good deed, for which Allahis said to be grateful, concluded at a barber's shop with avery peculiar prayer: " O Allah, this my Forelock is inThy Hand, then grant me for every Hair a light on theResurrection day, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!There are various places of pious visitation at Meccah,whereof it is enough to say they are connected with thelife of the Prophet . The Jannat el- Maala, or cemeterywhere Khadijah is buried, differs so little from El- Bakia,and the prayers and prostrations prescribed on entering itare so similar, that any lengthened description would bewearisome. It is open to men on Fridays, to women onThursdays. Burton found the beggars even more importunate than those at El- Bakia; in fact, they were soutterly distracting, that after a very brief inspection of thetombs, he turned and fled from the sacred enclosure.And now all the ceremonies of the Moslem's HolyWeek concluded, it was time for pilgrims not otherwisedetained to prepare for departure. In the house where ourtraveller lodged, blue china-ware and basketed bottles ofZem Zem water appeared standing in solid columns; andThe Return from Meccah 129the Hajis occupied themselves in hunting for mementoes.of Meccah; ground- plans, combs, balm, henna, turquoises,coral and mother- of- pearl rosaries. The lower floor wascrowded with provision vendors; and the Turks, who weresuffering severely from nostalgia, could talk of nothingexcept the chance or no chance of a steamer from Jeddah to Suez.On parting, the hostess, who being a widow and elderly,had often emerged from her retirement for a chat with herson's friend, became quite motherly. She begged ourtraveller to take care of her boy, who was going as far asthe seaport, and then laid friendly but firm hands upon abrass pestle and mortar, which she had long coveted andnow insisted on annexing as a keepsake.Nur preceded his master to Jeddah with the heavybaggage. About twenty-four hours later Burton andyoung Mohammed, mounted on stalwart Meccan asses,followed in his wake, and after an uneventful journeyreached Jeddah safely. It was full time to consider suchprosaic matters as £ s . d. —our pilgrim had exactly tenpenceremaining in his pocket, a state of impecuniosity speedilyremedied by a visit to the British Consul, who cashed adraft for him, and gave him a most hospitable welcome.The exit of Mohammed the Meccan was truly ludicrous.This wily youth bought a large quantity of grain with someof Burton's recently acquired money, secured every articlenot his own on which he could lay his hands, and thendeparted with marked coolness. For his own sake itbehoved him not to go empty away; but his vanity hadbeen sorely, sorely wounded. For our Haji had taken himone day on board the steamer Dwarka, bound for Suez,and perhaps the new sense of security had rendered Burtonless careful of preserving his incognito; anyway, a darksuspicion shot through the Meccan's mind:"Now I understand," quoth he to Nur before his abruptdisappearance, " your master is a Sahib from India, hehath laughed at our beards! "

CHAPTER VI

BURTON remained in Egypt, writing up his notes,until his leave expired, when he returned to Bombay.But he did not stay long with his regiment, the dry routineof which must have been especially distasteful after theexciting scenes so lately witnessed . His active brain soonsketched out fresh adventures. Africa, not overrun thenas now with all sorts and conditions of men, presenteda likely field for one who cared little for beaten tracts;and in the extreme east of that Dark Continent lay aforbidden city which afforded peculiar attractions to ourHaji-Harar, the capital of Somaliland .It was not difficult to obtain the necessary furlough .The Court of Directors had for some years past lent awilling ear to the plan of a Somali expedition. Berberah,the true key of the Red Sea, and only safe harbour forshipping from Suez to Guardafui, had long been covetedby John Company; and though many an obstacle hadprevented the Indian Government from assuming controlover this coast, our establishment of a Protectorate, in1884, proves the wise foresight of such men as LordElphinstone, Sir Charles Malcolm, and others of theirday. So when Burton placed himself in communicationwith the Governor of Bombay and requested permissionto pave the way for a thorough exploration of the EasternHorn of Africa, leave was readily granted, October, 1854.With certain limitations. Our traveller's original planhad been to set forth with three companions, LieutenantsSpeke, Herne, and Stroyan, use Berberah as a base ofoperations, thence move westward to Harar, and, finally,East African Exploration decided upon 131in a south-westerly direction towards Zanzibar. This beingconsidered too risky, anyhow, for a beginning, Burton thenproposed to make the geography and commerce his soleobjects, including, of course, all relating to the capital city.And, since the authorities had judged it wiser for the fourmen to divide their forces, Lieutenants Herne and Stroyanwere ordered to make their way to Berberah, enquire intothe caravan lines, explore the maritime mountains, andmake a variety of meteorological and other observations asa prelude to more extensive research, while LieutenantSpeke was directed to land at a small harbour on the coast,trace the watershed of the Wady Nogal, and buy horsesand camels for the use of a future and larger expedition.For Burton was reserved the post of danger-the taskof penetrating the mysterious capital. In fact, he alone ofthe four men was able to attempt the feat , owing to hisknowledge of Arabic, and to his having performed the Hajj .The region he intended to traverse, the town he intendedto visit, were previously known by only the vaguest reports.No European had yet entered Harar. The more adventurous Abyssinian travellers, Salt and Stuart, Krapf andIsenberg, Barker and Rochet, not to mention divers RomanCatholic missionaries , had attempted it in vain. TheMoslem ruler and his bigoted people threatened death tothe infidel who ventured within their walls, some negroMerlin having, it is said, read decline and fall in the firstfootsteps of the Frank.So Burton utilised his title of Haji by breaking theguardian spell. Since the Egyptian and Abyssinian occupation of the city, many travellers have followed in hissteps; and they tell us that the ancient metropolis of aonce mighty race is now altered almost beyond recognitionBut until it passes into the hands of some European power,any changes are likely to be for the worse rather than thebetter.On the 29th October, 1854 , Haji Abdullah, disguised as9-2132

a Moslem merchant, left Aden in a small sailing ship forZeila, on the Somali coast. Three servants accompaniedhim-El- Hammal, or the porter, a sergeant in the Adenpolice, Guled, another policeman, and one Abdy Abokr, aWidad or Moslem hedge- priest, who, from his smatteringof learning and prodigious rascality, was nicknamed " End ofTime. " After an uneventful voyage of two days, theSahalat entered the creek which gives so much trouble tonative craft, being exposed to almost all the winds ofheaven. Zeila has no harbour, and even a vessel of 250tons cannot approach within a mile of the landing- place.At noon our party sighted their destination, the normalAfrican port, viz. a strip of sulphur yellow sand, with adeep blue dome above, and a foreground of darkish indigo.Its buildings, raised high by refraction, rose apparentlyfrom the bosom of the deep. Whitewashed houses andminarets Zeila boasted of six mosques, including theJami or cathedral-peered above a low line of brown wallflanked with round towers .Bad news awaited the travellers. The crew of a littlebark which came scudding up the creek roared out thatfriendly relations between the Amir of Harar and theGovernor of Zeila had been interrupted, the road throughthe Eesa Somal was closed, all strangers had been expelledfrom the capital by its chief, and, yet more serious, smallpox was raging with such violence in the town, that theGalla peasantry would allow neither ingress nor egress.Musing over these fresh difficulties, Burton stepped into aco*ck boat, landed at the northern gate, and after arraying himself in clean garments, presented his respects toGovernor El-Haji Sharmarkay.The two men had met before at Aden, where Sharmarkay had received from the authorities strong injunctionsconcerning the personal safety of their envoy. Alwaysfriendly to the British, he had been badly wounded in theleft arm while defending the lives of the crew of the brigA Stay at Zeila 133Mary Anne, wrecked on the Somali coast in 1825. Asmight be expected, his reception of Burton was mostgracious; and after half an hour's palaver in a sort ofcow-house, which, with peculiar taste, he preferred to hissolid two-storied abode, he conducted his guest throughthe streets of Zeila to a substantial building of coralline,plastered with mud and whitewash.

A room was speedily prepared under his directions, in astyle of rude luxury. The floor was spread with mats,cushions were propped here and there against the wall, anda cot, covered with Persian rugs and satin pillows, wasadded, in case the stranger might prefer sleeping indoors topassing the night on the flat terraced roof. Here, aftersupper Sharmarkay considerately left his guest to rest, andthe latter by no means loth, soon fell asleep while listeningto the familiar sounds of El - Islam , the chant of the Muezzin,the loudly intoned Amin and Allaho Akbar, from a neighbouring mosque.Burton had plenty to do at Zeila. A journey of 180miles to an unknown city, through a strange country,required an enormous amount of preparation and forethought. Twenty- six days were spent in buying camels,interviewing guides, sending for mules, arranging all theminutiae of travelling in a land where money was hardlyknown and yet where everything had to be heavily paid for.Of course these wearisome preliminaries were interspersedwith many delays which entailed hours of enforced leisure.These were spent much as follows. Devotions on theterrace at dawn (our Haji had to keep up his character forpiety); breakfast at 6 a.m. of roast mutton and grain cakes;then visitors , who swarmed in, careless whether their presencewas desired or not. At 11 a.m. dinner, consisting ofmutton stews, maize cakes, sometimes fish, and generallycurds and milk, was provided by good Sharmarkay. Coffeeand pipes followed, and presently more callers trooped in tostare at or jabber to the stranger. These intruders were134

either the élite of Zeila, such as the governor's son, the portcaptain, or some of the principal merchants, people whosesociety was bearable; or the Somal, who yelled, combedtheir hair, cleaned their teeth with sticks, in short madethemselves so unpleasantly at home that Burton must haveoften longed to kick them out. After the departure of thesefree and easy folk he often strolled to a little mosque nearthe shore, where games resembling backgammon wereplayed, or the Somal shot at a mark, threw the javelin,and engaged in gymnastic exercises; at other times hewalked to the southern gate of Zeila and amused himselfby watching a camp of Bedawin stationed just outside.While returning punctually before sunset, an hour whenthe keys were carried to Governor Sharmarkay, he heardthe call to prayer, and noticed with some surprise that theSomal, unlike the children of El- Hejaz, generally failed torespond. Then came supper, followed by an hour or twospent on his terraced roof to enjoy the view of the distantTajurrah hills and the white moonbeams sleeping on the nearer sea.It is curious to read in the book,' of which I am givinga sketch, how Burton used to treat the wild people amongstwhom he travelled to stories from the " Arabian Nights."These tales-translated by him thirty years later- werealways favourites, owing to the wonderful insight they affordinto the character of Orientals. Unfortunately for the bulkof English readers, the literal translations are suitable onlyfor students, and the extensively bowdlerised ones in manyinstances turn the stories into nonsense.But the Somal were not easily shocked. In fact , likemost Africans they seemed decidedly given to levity. Whenreproached with gambling and asked why they persisted ina practice forbidden by the Prophet, they frankly answered,"Because we like it." And one night, whilst encamped1"First Footsteps in East Africa, or an Exploration of Harar. "Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. I vol. 1856.A Somal Friday 135amongst the Eesa tribe, Burton overheard an old womansuffering from toothache groaning forth at intervalsthroughout the night the somewhat impious refrain:" O Allah, may Thy teeth ache like mine! may Thygums be sore as mine! " Still they observe their Friday,as may be seen from the following description of theirweekly assembling of themselves together:" At half- past eleven a kettle- drum sounds a summonsto the Jami or Cathedral. It is only an old barn, rudelyplastered and whitewashed, posts or columns of artlessmasonry support the low roof, and the smallness of thewindows, or rather air-holes, renders its dreary lengthunpleasantly hot. There is no pulpit; the only ornamentis a rude representation of the Meccan mosque, nailed,like a pot-house print, to the wall; and the sole articlesof furniture are ragged mats and old boxes, containingtattered chapters of the Koran in greasy bindings. I enterwith a servant carrying a prayer- carpet, encounter thestare of three hundred pair of eyes belonging to parallelrows of squatters, recite the customary prayer in honour ofthe mosque, placing sword and rosary before me, and then,taking up a Koran, read the Cave Chapter (No. 18) loud andtwangingly. At mid-day the Muezzin inside the mosquestanding before the Khatib repeats the call to prayer, whichthe congregation, sitting upon their shins and feet , intone afterhim. This ended, all present stand up, and recite, every manfor himself, a prayer of Sunnat or Example, concludingwith the blessing of the Prophet and the Salam over eachshoulder to all brother believers . The Khatib then ascendsa hole in the wall, which serves for a pulpit, and thenceaddresses us with The peace be upon you, and the mercyof Allah and his benediction, ' to which we respond throughthe Muezzin, ' And upon you be peace and Allah's mercy.'After sundry other religious formula and their replies, ourKhatib rises and preaches El-Waaz, or the advice sermon.Though also a Kazi, or Judge, he makes several blunders in136

his Arabic, and he reads his sermons, a thing never done inEl- Islam except by the modicè docti. The discourse over,our clerk, who is, if possible, worse than the curate, repeatsthe form of call termed El- Ikamah; then, entering theMihrab or niche, he recites the two- bow Friday litany with,and in front of the congregation. . . This public prayerconcluded, many people leave the mosque; a few remainfor more prolonged devotions. "•Towards the end of the month spent at Zeila Burtonfretted sadly at the continual delays. Like most Orientals,Sharmarkay, though willing enough to help, procrastinated,and when the anxious traveller showed signs of losingtemper, all the effect produced was a paroxysm of talk.However, at last, an Abban or protector was secured , oneRaghe, a petty Eesa chief, who, for the consideration of fourcloths of Cutch canvas and six of coarse American sheeting,was induced to accompany the caravan to the frontier ofhis clan, distant about fifty miles. He promised, besides,to introduce it to the Gudabirsi tribe, who in their turnwould pass it on to the Gerad or Prince of the Girhi, andhe, in due time, to his kinsman, the Amir of Harar. Thismatter settled, two women cooks and other servants wereengaged, five camels procured, and on the arrival of somefine mules, ordered from Tajurrah about three weeks before,all was ready for a start.Raghe did not enter on his new duties very cheerfully;on the contrary, he warned his employer to prepare fordisaster. The citizens of Zeila, persuaded that their guestwas tired of life, croaked in a similar strain. The nativesup country, they declared, were savage, treacherous, cruelexceedingly; there were constant blood feuds between thetribes, and massacres were incessant. For these people arenot so anxious to plunder as to ennoble themselves bytaking life. Every man hangs to his saddle- bow an ostrichfeather, and the moment his javelin has drawn blood, hesticks it into his tufty poll with as much satisfaction as anThe Departure from Zeila 137English officer feels when attaching a medal to his jacket.Nor is the appearance of the Somal engaging in theirnative haunts. Carefully selected, well scrubbed up, theylook picturesque enough in a fancy show in England, butin the wilder parts of Somaliland their uncombed mop- likeheads, their scowling faces, their solitary garment- neverclean would disconcert the most inveterate lover of thenoble savage. That the Eesa, the Gudabirsi, the Girhi, andthe Galla have their good points will be seen later; buttheir virtues were kept strictly in the back-ground by theravens with whom Burton was surrounded.Early November 27th, 1854 , the mules and all the paraphernalia of travel stood ready at his door. The camels,growling loudly, submitted perforce to their burdens;and at 3 p.m. our little caravan sallied forth with anescort of Arab matchlock-men, the Governor and his son.After half an hour's march, adieus were exchanged, andthe soldiers fired a parting volley .It was a curious company. Foremost strutted Raghe,in all the bravery of Abbanship. Bareheaded, clothed inTobe ' and slippers, a long horn-handled dagger strappedround his waist, he grasped in his right hand a ponderousspear, while his left forearm supported a round shield ofbattered hide. He also carried a prayer- carpet of tannedleather, and a wicker bottle for religious ablutions. Evenmore comical were the two cooks, Samaweda and Aybla,buxom dames of about thirty. Each looked like threewomen rolled into one; a bustle as an article of attirewould have been utterly superfluous. Fat notwithstanding, they proved invaluable. During the march theycarried pipes and tobacco-for other folks' delectation,not their own-they led and flogged the camels, adjustedthe burdens, which were continually falling awry; and,most wonderful of all, never asked for a ride. At every¹ A cotton sheet, an article which, like the Highland plaid, can be worn in many ways.138

halt it was they who unloaded the cattle, pitched thetent, cooked the food, and then bivouacked outside. Nomore about these culinary treasures; it makes an Englishhousewife green with envy to think of them!Strung together by their tails, five camels paced alongunder their burdens-bales of American sheeting, Cutchcanvas, with indigo- dyed stuff, slung along the animals'sides, and neatly sewn up in a case of matting to keep offdust and rain-a cow's hide, which served as a couch ,covering the whole. They carried besides a load of indifferent Mocha dates for the natives, and another of betterquality for the expedition, half a hundredweight of coarseSurat tobacco, and two boxes of beads and trinkets . Theprivate provisions were represented by about 300 lbs. ofrice, a large pot full of flesh sun-dried and fried in ghee,salt, clarified butter, tea, coffee, sugar, a box of biscuits,Arab sweetmeats, and a little turmeric. A simple batterie decuisine, sundry skins full of potable water, and a heavy boxof ammunition, completed the outfit. The cost of all this,including the passage money from Aden, seems singularlysmall-£149.Alongside the camels rode Burton's three attendants,attired in the pink of Somali fashion . Their fuzzy wigsshone with grease, their tobes had just been washed, theirshields newly recovered with canvas cloth, and the spearspoised over the right shoulder, freshly scraped and polished.Last of all came Burton, mounted on a snowy mule, which,with its bright- coloured Arab pad and wrapper cloth, lookedfairly dignified; a double- barrelled gun lay across his lap,and a rude pair of holsters of native make contained hisColt's six- shooters.The route to Harar chosen on this occasion was awinding road, which passes south along the coast to thenearest hills, and thence strikes south-westward among theGudabirsi and Girhi Somal, which extend within sight ofthe city. The direct line is about 186 miles in length, ofThe Route to Harar 139which about 150 are over the plains or desert, the remaining36 being a remarkable ascent until the town is reached, atan altitude of over 7,000 feet above sea- level. But goodSharmarkay had objected to the nearer route on account ofa recent blood feud with one of the tribes, and Burton hadto respect the old man's wishes. Marching as described,the caravan made its way over a level country, here dry,there muddy, across boggy creeks, broad watercourses, andwarty flats of black mould powdered with nitrous salt andbristling with salsolaceous vegetation . Such, between themountains and the sea, is the general formation of theplain, whose breadth in a direct line may measure fromforty-five to forty-eight miles. Near the first zone of hillsthe land becomes more fertile; thorns and acacias of variouskinds appear in clumps, and after the monsoon it is coveredwith rich grass, a favourite haunt for game, as our Britishsportsmen have now discovered.At eight p.m. our party reached a halting- place, wherethey lighted fires and passed the night. Early dawn foundthem en route through a Somali Arcadia, whose sole flawswere salt water and simoom. Whistling shepherds carriedin their arms the younglings of the herds, or, spear in hand,drove to pasture long, regular lines of camels, that wavedtheir vulture-like heads and arched their necks to playfullybite their neighbours' faces, humps, and hind legs . Thehuge brutes were led by a patriarch to whose throat hunga wooden bell , and most of them were followed by colts inevery stage of infancy. Sheep with snowy fleeces andjetty faces flocked in crowds over the yellow plain; andherds of goats resembling deer were driven by hide- cladchildren to the bush.In the centre of this pastoral scene stood a kraal calledGudingaras, about twenty miles from Zeila. Here the twowomen rigged up a very cosy wigwam and made everythingsnug for the night. Before turning in, Burton astonishedthe natives by shooting a vulture on the wing, which not140

very remarkable feat so impressed a Nestor of the tribe,that he begged for a charm to cure his sick camel, andhaving obtained it , blessed the magician in a speech ofportentous length, and then spat upon the party for luck.At Kuranyali, a little further on, the Abban, being amongsthis own people, waxed so lavishly generous with his employer's goods, that there was no small difficulty in persuading the wild men to let the caravan depart .Leaving the coast they now struck south- westward intothe interior, across a low plain, towards a blue strip of hillon the far horizon. One evening a scare arose; they hadcome upon the trail of a large cavalcade supposed to belongto a rival and hostile tribe. The celebrated footprint seenby Robinson Crusoe affected him not more powerfully thandid this dreadful discovery the poor timid Somal; and certainly they had reason for their fears, nine men and twowomen being a small party to contend against two hundred horsem*n. Raghe kept well to the front, ready fora run. Burton, whistling with anger, asked his attendantswhat had frightened them-he had to be stern, else theymight have all decamped and never been found again. Thehedge-priest, in a hollow voice, replied: " Verily, O pilgrim,whoso seeth the track seeth the foe! " and, by way of raisingyet higher the general spirits , proceeded to quote the drearylines:Man is but a handful of dust ,And life is a violent storm ."Fortunately, the riders had bigger game to stalk; andabout half an hour afterwards rough ravines, with sharpand thorny descents, a place of safety, where horsem*nrarely venture, was reached by the terrified little band.Soon came fresh troubles. On quitting the maritime plain ,and on entering the Ghauts, threshold of the Ethiopianhighlands, the Somal were again dismayed, this time bythe change of temperature. Stiff with cold, with chattering teeth, the wretched creatures stood and squatted1The Region ofthe Ghauts 141all but inside the huge fires which had to be kindled tokeep them alive.Strangest of all,Owing to theirStrange sights enlivened the march.perhaps, the hills of the white ants.extraordinary labours, the land in places resembled aTurkish cemetery on a grand scale; in others, it lookedlike a city in ruins. In some parts, the pillar- like erectionswere truncated, whilst many, veiled by trees and overrunwith gay creepers, suggested sylvan altars. Generally theywere conical, and varied in height from four to twelve feet.They were to be counted by hundreds. Burton remarkedthese curiosities for the first time in the Wady Darkaynlay;in the interior they are larger and longer than in the maritime regions.Far inferior in ingenuity were the wigwams of thenatives-huts like old beehives, about five feet high by sixin diameter. The material was a framework of sticks, bentand hardened; these were planted in the ground, tied together, and covered with mats. Hides were spread on thetop during the monsoon, and little heaps of earth raisedaround to keep out wind and rain. Many a British pigcould boast of a more comfortable and salubrious abode.On the 10th December Burton was obliged to halt for aday or two at a kraal belonging to the Gudabirsi tribe .Bad water, violent fluctuations of temperature-51º in themorning, 107 at midday—and incessant fatigue had soseriously affected his health that, very unwillingly, he hadto give himself a short rest. The sick stranger created aprodigious sensation; all the population flocked to see him,darkening his hut with nodding wigs and staring faces.Men, women and children appeared in crowds, bringingmilk and ghee, meat and diink, everything they imaginedmight tend to restore his health; and truly, if Burtonremembered the bugbear tales croaked by the citizens ofZeila, he must have been surprised at the humanity ofbeings represented as little better than fiends. His attack142

-one of colic- soon passed off, but only to return withgreater violence a week or two later.At this settlement Raghe, who on the whole had performed his duties satisfactorily, gave over the charge of thecaravan to six Gudabirsi, sons of a noted chief. Beuh, theeldest brother and spokesman of the party, proved morevaliant in speech than action; but he was a trustworthyguide, and, under his direction, a little further on ourtraveller first descried the dark hills of Harar loomingbeyond the Harawwah Valley.On the 23rd December the little band entered the Barror Prairie of Marar, one of those long strips of plain whichdiversify the Somali country. As this was neutral ground,where the Eesa and other tribes met to plunder when sodisposed, it was deemed advisable to join forces with asmall native caravan, which carried next to nothing worthstealing. However, no robbers appeared, and, barring abloodless adventure with a lion, and the distant sight ofa prairie fire, a broad sheet of flame which swept down ahill and for awhile threatened to ignite the entire Barr,nothing occurred to agitate even Somali nerves. All safelyreached Wilensi, a long, straggling village belonging to theGerad Adan, a powerful chief of the Girhi highlands, and,as already said, kinsman of the Amir of Harar.The Gerad was away, but one of his wives ordered twohuts to be prepared for the strangers' reception. Thisprincess, a tall woman, with a light complexion, handsomely dressed in a large Harar tobe, received Burton inperson, and supplied him liberally with boiled beef, pumpkins, and Jowari cakes. The inhabitants of Wilensi provedas friendly as their mistress, rather too friendly, in fact, forthe result of their hospitality was that the caravan beganto split up. Such dismal tales concerning Harar and itsneighbourhood were circulated by the natives that some ofthe travellers declined point blank to proceed any further.Samaweda and Aybla hearing of small pox in the city,•Serious Attack of Colic 143feared for their sable charms, while Beuh and a one-eyedman, nicknamed the Kalendar, utterly refused to stir froma place where they were so comfortable.Burton, as usual, paid small attention to these stories , andafter a short rest pushed on with his remaining attendantsto Sagharrah, a snug high-fenced village-in the mountainous regions the people live in more solidly constructedabodes than on the plains-built against a hill- side. Herehe met the Gerad, who for motives of his own receivedhim politely. This scheming and ambitious man had sethis heart on building a fort to control the country's trade,and rival or overawe the city, and he hoped the strangermight assist him with plans and advice. Nor did heneglect the main chance. Whatever he saw he asked for;and, after receiving a sword, a Koran, a turban, a satinwaistcoat, about seventy tobes and a similar proportion ofindigo-dyed stuff, he begged for a silver-hilted sword, onethousand dollars, two sets of silver bracelets, twenty guns,and a scarlet coat embroidered with gold. True, hepromised in return horses, mules and ivory, but hismemory conveniently failed just when the moment arrivedfor keeping his word.Again was Burton seized with internal pains, this timeso severe as to threaten his life. For forty-eight hours helay in his hut almost unable to move. And again the wild.people treated him with the greatest kindness. The Gerad'shandsome wife on hearing the news sacrificed a sheep as anexpiatory offering; the Gerad sent as far as Harar formillet beer; even the Galla Christians who flocked in tosee the sick Moslem, wept for the evil fate which hadbrought him so far from his fatherland. But to expire ofan ignoble colic was not to be thought of, and a firm resolution to live effected its object.On the 1st of January, 1855, our traveller feeling easier,rose, clothed himself in his Arab best, and requested apalaver with the chief. The two men retired to a quiet144

place behind the village, where Burton read aloud a letterof introduction from the Governor of Zeila. The Geradseemed much pleased by the route through his countryhaving been preferred to the more direct line, renewed thesubject of his fort , and declared he had now found thebuilder, for his eldest daughter had dreamed the night beforethat this Moslem merchant would settle in the land. Theproject was discussed and matters were proceeding mostsatisfactorily when a disagreeable interruption occurred.Suddenly five men, envoys of the Amir of Harar, whohad been sent to settle some weighty question of bloodmoney, rode up to the Gerad. After sitting with the latterabout half an hour, during which time they inspected ourtraveller's attendants and animals with solemn countenances,and asked sundry pertinent questions concerning his businessin these parts, they drew the chief aside and informed himthat his guest was not one who bought and sold , but anenemy whose only design was to spy out the wealth of theland. They ended by coolly proposing to convey the wholeparty as prisoners to Harar. Unwilling to lose his prospective engineer, and feeling safe on his own ground, theGerad curtly refused, and the five men having concludedthe business on which they came, mounted their gailycaparisoned mules and presently departed.But, as it was plain enough they might return with anarmed force behind them, some decided step had to betaken at once. From sundry insinuations Burton believedthe envoys suspected him to be a Turk, a nationality morehated at Harar than any other. After weighty consideration he determined to declare himself a British subject, tostart immediately before further mischief were done, and todeliver in person to the Amir a letter from the PoliticalResident at Aden. A few lines addressed to LieutenantHerne directing him how to act in case of a disaster wereleft with "End of Time," who, too much of a poltroon toproceed, remained at Sagharrah. Most of the luggageFirst View of Harar 145kept the Widad company, a single ass carrying only whatwas absolutely indispensable. And thus, amidst the lamentations of the villagers who declared that their departingguests would shortly be all dead men, Burton, the twopolicemen, and an escort of three Girhi started on theirperilous enterprise.Two o'clock in the afternoon next day found themwithin a couple of miles of the city. There on a crest of ahill it stood, a long, sombre line strikingly contrasting withthe whitewashed towns of the East. The spectacle,materially speaking, was a disappointment; nothing conspicuous appeared except two grey minarets of rude shape;but the near prospect of penetrating that grim pile ofstones, which had proved impregnable to all but himself,must have made our traveller's heart beat high withexultation.

Spurring their mules, our party advanced at a long trot .The soil on both sides of the path was rich and red; limes,plantains, and pomegranates grew plentifully in the gardens,for which the neighbourhood of Harar was then famous.In places appeared plantations of coffee, bastard saffron,and the graceful Kat, a drug largely used in these parts asa pleasant excitant, its effects resembling those of greentea without the consequent nervousness. About half amile eastward of the town they came to a brook, calledJalah, or the Coffee Water. Burton's four companions(one of the Girhi had turned tail) plunged into the water,and while they splashed about like lively seals, theiremployer retired to the wayside and sketched the city.A short ride then brought them before the dark defences of Harar. Groups of citizens loitered about thelarge gateway, or sat chatting near a ruined tomb. Oneof the Girhi, who acted as interpreter, advanced to theentrance, accosted a warder conspicuous by his wand ofoffice, and, in Burton's name, requested the honour of anaudience with the Amir. Whilst the man sped on hisΙΟ146

errand, Burton and his attendants sat at the foot of a roundbastion, where they were scrutinised, derided, and catechised by a little mob of both sexes, especially by thatconventionally termed the fair.In about half an hour the warder returned, and orderedthe strangers to cross the threshold. They guided theirmules with difficulty along a main street, a narrow, uphilllane, with rocks cropping out from a surface more irregularthan a Perote pavement, until they arrived within ahundred yards of a gate constructed of holcus sticks, whichopened into the courtyard of this African Saint James' ,when all dismounted, the Amir's abode having to beapproached with due ceremony. Leading their animals,our party entered, marched down the royal enclosure, andwere told to halt under a tree in the left corner, close to alow erection of rough stone. Clanking of fetters withinsuggested a state prison.A crowd of Gallas, a powerful tribe near Harar, werelounging about or squatting in the shade of the palacewalls. The chiefs were conspicuous by their zinc armlets ,composed of thin spiral circlets, closely joined, and extending almost from the wrist to the elbow. All appearedto enjoy peculiar privileges, such as carrying arms orwearing sandals. They took little notice of the strangers,so our traveller had leisure to inspect a spot about whichmany and vastly divergent accounts were current. Thepalace itself was a mere shed, a single- storied , windowlessbarn of rough stone and reddish clay, with a thin coat ofwhitewash over the entrance. The courtyard, measuringabout eighty yards long by thirty in breadth, was irregularlyshaped, and surrounded by low buildings; in the centrestood a circle of masonry, against which reclined sundrydoors, which had been removed and confiscated in consequence ofthe evil deeds of their proprietors.At last the guide returned from within, motioned Burtonto doff his slippers at a stone step, or rather line, aboutTInterview with the Amir 147twelve feet distant from the palace wall. Our Haji kickedoff his shoes, and in another moment strode into the chief'spresence .Sultan Ahmed bin Sultan Abibakr sat in a dark roomwith whitewashed walls, to which hung-significant decorations-rusty matchlocks and polished fetters. His appearance was that of a little Indian Rajah; an etiolatedyouth about twenty-four or twenty- five years of age, plainand thin-bearded, with a yellow complexion , wrinkledbrows, and protruding eyes. His dress was a flowingrobe of crimson cloth edged with snowy fur, and a narrowwhite turban tightly twisted round a tall conical cap of redvelvet, like the old Turkish headgear of our painters. Histhrone consisted of a raised cot about five feet long, withback and sides supported by a dwarf railing . Being aninvalid, he rested his elbow on a pillow, under whichappeared the hilt of a Cutch sabre. Ranged in doubleline stood the " court," his cousins and nearest relations,with their right arms bared, after the custom of Abyssinia.Burton entered exclaiming " Peace be upon ye! " towhich Ahmed replied graciously, and extended a handbony and yellow as a kite's claw. Two chamberlains,stepping forward, assisted the stranger to bend low overH. H.'s fingers, which, however, he could not persuadehimself to kiss. Burton's attendants then took their turn,and, these preliminaries concluded, the party were led to amat in front of the Amir, who directed towards them aninquisitive stare.In answer to enquiries concerning his health he shookhis head captiously, and after a pause asked what might bethe stranger's errand. Burton drew from his pocket thePolitical Resident's letter; but Ahmed, who of course couldnot read English, merely glanced at it , laid it on the couch,and demanded further explanations. Our Haji then represented in Arabic that he had come from Aden, bearing thecompliments of his Daulah or Governor, that he had entered10-2148

Harar to see the light of His Highness's countenance, andconcluded his little speech with allusions to the friendshipformerly existing between his nation and the deceasedchief, Abubakr.Much to Burton's relief the Amir smiled, and afterwhispering for awhile to his treasurer, made a polite signto the party to retire . Their baisemain repeated, theybacked out of the audience- chamber with far lighter heartsthan when they entered it. Marshalled by a squad of HisHighness's bodyguard, they were conducted to a secondpalace, situated about a hundred yards from the first, andwere told to consider it their home. And soon a furtherproof of royal favour appeared in the shape of a slightrepast, forwarded from the chief's kitchen-a dish of holcuscakes, soaked in sour milk, and thickly powdered with redpepper, the salt of this inland region.Hardly was the frugal meal concluded before thetreasurer entered charged with Ahmed's commands thatthe strangers should call without delay on his Vizier, theGerad Mohammed. Under his guidance Burton proceeded to an abode distinguished by its external streak ofwhitewash, at Harar a royal and vizierial distinction , wherehe found a venerable man, whose benevolent countenancebelied sundry evil reports current about him at Zeila. Hereceived our Haji courteously, and enquired his object inexcellent Arabic. The answer of course was couched muchin the same terms as that to the Amir, plus that it wasthe wish of the English to re-establish friendly communications and commercial intercourse with the city. Someinterchange of civilities ensued, and then Burton withdrewto his palatial quarters for the night. Before retiring torest, he sent a six-barrelled revolver as a present to hisaugust host, explaining its use to the bearer, and thenprepared to make himself as comfortable as conditionspermitted. Few men could have slept very soundly beneath the roof of a bigoted prince whose least word wasImpressions of Harar 149death, amongst a people who detested foreigners, and who,save for the title of Haji, would certainly never havepermitted a Frank to cross their inhospitable thresholdunpunished.During their ten days' stay our adventurous partywere called upon by a strange medley of nationalities—aMagrabi from Fez, who commanded the Amir's bodyguard,a thoroughbred Persian, a boy from Meccah, a Muscat man,a native of Suez, a citizen of Damascus, and many others.The Somal, of course mustered in force, and among themthe Hammal found relations and friends. When free fromvisitors Burton explored the town. It has changed muchsince 1855, after its occupation first by the Egyptians, thenthe Abyssinians; for, whereas he describes it as a long,sombre line of houses, topped by two grey minarets, latertravellers speak of it as a great yellow city, crowned bya whitewashed, circular church, erected on the site of theold Jami, one minaret of which alone remains. In 1855it measured one mile long, by half that breadth. Thematerial of both houses and walls consisted of rough stones,the granites and sandstones of the hills, cemented withclay; but the buildings were so mean as to be little betterthan flat-roofed cabins, with doors composed of a singleplank. The only spacious erection was the Jami, a longbarn - like structure, with broken - down gates and twominarets of truncated conoid shape. Narrow lanes, strewnwith rubbish heaps, upon which reposed packs of mangydogs, served as streets; while gardens, which give to mostEastern settlements so green and pleasant an appearance,seemed to flourish only outside the town. Harar thenabounded in mosques and in graveyards crammed withtombs; she was proud of her learning, her sanctity, andher dead; and these, except perhaps the climate, whichresembles that of Tuscany, completed the scanty list of herattractions.No long interval elapsed before another summons150

arrived to wait upon the Vizier, who on this occasionwas transacting business at the palace. Sword in hand,and followed by two servants, Burton walked to the royalprecincts, and entering a ground floor room on the right ofand close to the audience hall, found the minister recliningupon a large daïs covered with Persian carpets.He wassurrounded by six of his brother councillors, two wearingturbans, the rest with bare and shaven heads. The grandees were solacing themselves in the. intervals of theirlabours by eating kat, or, as it was there called, yát .One of the party prepared the tenderest leaves, anotherpounded the plant with a little water; of this paste a bitwas handed to each person, who, rolling it into a ball,dropped it into his mouth.The Gerad, after sundry polite inquiries , seated Burtonnext his right hand on the daïs , where, while the businessof the day was being despatched, the guest ate kat andfingered a rosary. Perhaps the sight of this article in astranger's hand stimulated the elders of Harar to keep uptheir reputation for sanctity; anyway, no sooner had theysettled the affairs upon which they had been engaged whenBurton entered, than the whole company waxed pious andcontroversial. One old man took up a large volume, andbegan to recite a long blessing on the Prophet; at the endof each period all intoned the response, " Allah, bless ourLord Mohammed with his Progeny and his Companions,one and all. " This exercise, which lasted half an hour,afforded our Haji the much-desired opportunity of makinga good impression. The reader, misled by a marginalreference, happened to say, " Angels, Men, and Genii ";the Gerad found written, " Men, Angels, and Genii. "Opinions were divided as to the order of things, when thestranger explained that human nature, which amongstMoslems is not held a little lower than the angelic, rankedhighest, because of it were created prophets, apostles, andsaints . His theology won general approbation and a fewkinder glances from the elders.contents.The Harari 151Prayers over, a chamberlain entered and whispered afew words to the Vizier, who rose, donned a white sleeveless cloak, and disappeared. Presently Burton was biddento the Amir's presence. Entering ceremoniously as before,he was motioned by the Prince to sit near the Vizier, whooccupied a Persian rug to the right of the throne. Aftersundry enquiries concerning various changes that had takenplace at Aden, Ahmed suddenly produced Burton's letter,eyed it suspiciously, and demanded an explanation of itsThe translation into Arabic rendered, the Vizierasked whether this British subject intended to buy and sellat Harar a natural question enough as the start from Zeilaas a Moslem merchant was probably well known. Thereply ran: "We are no buyers nor sellers; we have become your guests to pay our respects to the Amir, whommay Allah preserve! This appearing satisfactory,Burton, who had seen as much of Harar as he desired ,expressed a hope that the Prince would be pleased todismiss him soon, as the air of the town was too dry forhis constitution, and, worse still, his attendants were indanger of catching the small- pox. Ahmed, ever chary ofwords, bent towards his Vizier, who briefly ejacul*ted,"The reply will be vouchsafed. " And with this ambiguousanswer the audience ended.11 1The medley of nationalities in this city has been alreadynoticed, but the most curious people were the Harari themselves. The small population of 8,000 souls was then adistinct race, having its own tongue, unintelligible to anysave the citizens and nearest tribes. The men pockmarked and scarred with various skin diseases, were mostunprepossessing. Generally their complexions were ayellowish brown, their beards short and scanty, theirhands and feet enormous. However, their dress, amixture of Arab and Abyssinian, had the merit ofpicturesqueness, and helped to conceal their ugly figures." 1 In conversational Arabic we" is used without affectation.152

The women, on the contrary, were decidedly handsome.Burton mentions with admiration their small heads,regular profiles , straight noses, and even well- shapedmouths. But sadly free and easy were those dames ofHarar, with their gaudy clothes, their hair gathered up intwo large bunches behind the ears and covered with darkblue muslin. They chewed tobacco, they indulged in intoxicating drinks, and their lack of modesty was so glaringthat a public flogging was occasionally indispensable.Perhaps they have improved since those naughty days-thecircular Abyssinian Church may have reformed their morals.Amongst the crowd who flocked to see the stranger,Shaykh Jami, one of the Ulema, proved most friendly.Jami had acquired a reputation as a peace- policy man andan ardent Moslem. Though an imperfect Arabic scholar,he was remarkably well read in religious lore; even theMeccans had shown their respect for him by kissing hishand during his pilgrimage to their sanctuary . His peacepreserving character was assumed only after the first flush.of youth and enthusiasm had departed, for he commencedhis travels with the firm intention of murdering the BritishResident at Aden. Struck with the justice of our rule, hechanged his mind in time, offered El- Islam to the officer,and prayed fervently for his conversion . . . . Eminentlycharacteristic was it of Burton, reminding one comicallyenough of his brushes with the Oxford dons, that duringthe very first visit he paid this scholar he corrected himin a matter of history. A temporary huffiness ensued, but,fortunately, the good little theologian bore no malice.The days became somewhat monotonous, as withouther ruler's permission nobody might venture outside Harar,and Burton had already exhausted her limited list of lions.At dawn he and his men attended to the mules, and thendiscussed a meal of boiled beef and holcus scones, supplemented by plantains, stewed fowls, and other dainties.presented by visitors. After breakfast, the house filled withShaykh Jami proves a Friend 153people, noon was usually followed by a little privacy, thecallers departing to dinner and siesta. Later the roomsrefilled and the motley crew dispersed only at sunset.Before everyone retired for the night the mules had to befed again after a fashion-for the Amir's provisions forman and beast were remarkable neither for quantity norquality, and the hungry animals more than once attempteda stampede from the courtyard wherein they were tethered.Meanwhile the envoys, inimical from the beginning,were not idle . Alarming rumours began to circulate. Itwas reported that Burton and his men were transactingbusiness for Haji Sharmarkay, the bugbear of Harar. TheVizier became uneasy and showed his feelings. Truly itwas time to depart.Shaykh Jami now proved a valuable ally. If not precisely in the minister's confidence he thoroughly understoodhow to serve both sides . Perceiving matters were becomingstrained, and that for the sake of the public peace it wouldbe wise to speed these parting guests, he begged the Geradto allow our party to escort him on a short trip which hewished to take in the neigbourhood. The astute old Vizierseized upon this excellent pretext for ridding Harar of suspicious characters; and the result of Shaykh Jami's application was a hasty summons to the levée room . ThereBurton, with his usual presence of mind, clinched matters.He had perceived the minister was suffering from chronicbronchitis, and he now promised on reaching Aden to sendthe different remedies employed by Europeans. The chanceafforded of some alleviation of his sufferings so delightedthe poor old man that he wished our traveller to depart asspeedily as possible, while the courtiers looked on approvingly, and begged no time should be lost. Afinal interviewfollowed with the sickly little Amir, and a long conversationabout the state of Aden, of Zeila, of Berberah, and of Stamboul. Ahmed expressed himself desirous of obtaining thefriendship of the British nation, a people who built "large154

ships "; and, in return, Burton praised Harar in cautiousphrases, and regretted that its coffee was not better knownamongst the Franks. Finally, he requested the chief'scommands for Aden, upon which the Gerad, evidently theleading spirit, gave him a letter addressed to the PoliticalResident, and told him to take charge of a mule as apresent. Then rising, Burton recited a short prayer, thegist of which was that the Amir's days and reign might belong in the land, bent his head over the Prince's hand, andretired.Three days later the whole party departed unmolested.Pious Shaykh Jami had insisted upon waiting for a luckyday, and, as in such a country delays are especially dangerous, he was left to follow when the auspicious momentarrived. The adventurous little band had lovely weatherfor their journey. When they started at early dawn acloudless sky, then untarnished by sun, tinged with reflectedblue the mist-crowns of the distant peaks, and the smokewreaths hanging round the sleeping villages, and the airwas a cordial after the rank atmosphere of Harar. Thedew hung in large diamonds from the coffee- trees , the spurfowl crew blithely in the wayside bushes; never did the faceof Nature seem to Burton so truly lovely.At Sagharrah and Wilensi the travellers were receivedwith shouts of delight. Everybody was well, including thefat cooks, and all the property was intact. Nothingremained to do except to get back as quickly as possible.And as Burton felt disinclined for the delay and worrywhich would be inevitable were he to personally conducthis caravan to Zeila, he appointed Beuh his deputy, theman promising on arrival at the seaport to forward theprivate property to Aden. This settled, our travellerprepared to ride on mule- back to Berberah taking onlythree attendants and a stock of provisions sufficient forfour days, the supposed length of the journey, a mistakethat very nearly cost him dear. So at the end of a week,The Ride to Berberah 155enlivened by the promised visit from Shaykh Jami, whoinsisted on chanting religious exercises until the smallhours of the morning, Burton started with his men onJanuary 26th.Little guessed he what lay before him. Desperateindeed was this ride to Berberah. One night drenchedwith rain while lying in a deserted sheepfold, wet saddlecloths the only bedding; twenty-four hours passed withoutone drop of water, half of which were spent riding under aburning sun over horrid hills denuded of vegetation, acrossplains covered with stones, and rolling ground aboundingwith thorns apparently created to tear man's skin andclothes. When at last, blessed sight, sundry pools appeared, they were brimful of tadpoles and nameless insects;but, prudence cast to the winds, men and beasts drank anddrank until they could drink no more. The suffering hadbeen fearful; we can hardly wonder that a wretched guide,whose incapacity had partly caused these disasters, declared that the white man had been sent as a special curseupon the children of Ishak.The worst was over when the springs were reached, butBerberah yet lay three days distant. The descent from theGhauts into the low country was a sore trial to exhaustedmen and animals. No sandy water- course here facilitatedthe travellers' advance; the rapid slope presented a succession of blocks and boulders piled one upon the other inrugged steps, apparently impassable to any creatures butmules. Nor on the return march was our party assistedby the natives. There was nothing to give in exchangefor hospitality, so the churlish villagers refused even adraught of milk; indeed , on one occasion , they threatenedhostilities . No pauper in England could find shops morereligiously closed to him than did Burton and his men findthe huts of the natives in the wilds of Somaliland; andsoon not a biscuit, not a handful of rice or dates remained .Very slowly, on the last day of this race with death,156

did the wearied little band march along the coast. Almostimpossible was it to prevent the mules from remainingaltogether by the wayside, certain death to the poor beasts.At last a long dark line was seen upon the sandy horizon;it grew more and more distinct; the silhouettes of shippingappeared against sea and sky-Berberah, the goal! At2 a.m. our exhausted cavalcade crept cautiously roundthe southern quarter of the sleeping town, and, aftersundry inquiries, Burton dismounted in front of hiscomrades' hut. A glad welcome, servants and animals.duly provided for, and he fell asleep, conscious of havingperformed a feat which, like a certain ride to York, wouldlive in local annals for many a year.Thus far success had crowned his efforts, and wellfor him had he reposed on his laurels. But, deeming hisexploration of Somaliland sadly incomplete, he planneda fresh enterprise. Preparations were made at Aden fora second expedition on a larger and more imposing scale;and after no long interval he landed at Berberah at thehead of forty-two men-a motley crew of Egyptians, Arabs,negroes, and Somal, armed with sabres and flint muskets.Lieutenants Speke, Herne, and Stroyan acted as subordinates. The camp was pitched close to a creek, which laybetween it and Berberah, a site chosen in order that theexpedition might enjoy the protection of the gunboat Mahi;but, most unfortunately, she was suddenly ordered elsewhere--a cruel blunder, the cause of the following disaster.Had Burton and his men been able to start before theMahi's departure, all might have gone well. But they wereforced to wait for the mid-April mail with instruments andstores from England, and the delay proved fatal. On the18th of April, while the expedition was still waiting andwatching for the steamer, a native craft scudded into thecreek, and, having landed her passengers, would havesailed again the same evening. Luckily, our traveller, withhis usual kind-heartedness, insisted on feasting the com-Burton severely wounded 157mander and crew; little he knew he had entertained duskyangels unawares!Between two and three a.m. next morning, one Mahmudrushed into Burton's tent, crying out that the enemy wereupon them. Three hundred of the wild hill-men hadswooped down upon the camp. Burton sprang to his feet,and hastily aroused his English comrades, who were allclose by. Lieutenant Stroyan rose to defend himself, butwas instantly speared; Burton, Speke and Herne, withoverwhelming odds against them, endeavoured to defendtheir position-a ricketty tent. The Somal swarmed likehornets, and it was by no means easy to avoid in thedarkness, lightened every now and then by the flash of arevolver, the jobbing javelins and long, heavy daggersthrown under and through the openings of the canvas.About five minutes after the fray began, finding the frailstructure was almost beaten down, and knowing that toget entangled in the folds meant certain death , Burtongave the word to escape, and sallied forth, sabre in hand,followed by his companions.The outlook was not reassuring. About twenty menwere crouching at the entrance of the tent, while many dustyfigures stood further off shouting their war-cry and tryingto drive away the camels.Breaking through the crowd, our hero imagined he sawthe prostrate form of Lieutenant Stroyan lying on the sand,and straightway cut a passage towards it through a dozenhillmen, regardless of their war clubs, which batteredwithout mercy. Suddenly, an unseen hand thrust a javelinthrough his jaw. Escaping as by a miracle, dazed withagony, he fell in with some of his own servants, who, toocowardly to take any part in the conflict, had been lurkingin the darkness. In spite of the shock of his horriblewound, Burton happily remembered the sole chance ofescape-the craft anchored close by. One man showed alittle more courage than the rest, and him he ordered to158

signal the little vessel to approach the shore. As daybroke, exerting all his remaining strength, he reached thehead of the creek and was carried on board.The hillmen having decamped with their booty, hiscomrades soon joined him . Lieutenant Herne had escapedunhurt; Speke had received eleven flesh wounds, nonedangerous. The body of Lieutenant Stroyan, cruelly mutilated, had to be committed to the deep during the returnvoyage to Aden. It was with heavy hearts our three braveEnglishmen set sail for the near Arabian shore, and aftertwo days filled with saddest thoughts, told their friends thenews of their terrible disaster.B

CHAPTER VII.

URTON'S hurt was not one to be trifled with . TheSomali lance had transfixed his upper jaw, carryingaway four back teeth and part of his palate. He couldhardly speak or eat. Skilled treatment was required without loss of time, and as no doctor at Aden cared to beresponsible for so critical a case, our wounded lion returned,shortly after the disaster at Berberah, on sick leave toEngland.One loving welcome was missing. His mother hadpassed away on the 18th December, 1854 , while he lay sodangerously ill at Sagharrah. Doubtless it was her losswhich suggested in his preface to " Zanzibar " the patheticallusion to the gaps in the household circle which a wanderer finds on his return, to the graves that have closedover their dead during his absence:"And when the lesson strikes the head,The weary heart grows cold."But,He mourned her in reverent silence, for we find no distinct reference to her death in any of his works.unlike many men who lead an exciting and stormy existence, his numerous battles with fate in no way dulled hisfamily affections. At first he rarely mentioned her, but inafter days he would often speak with tender admiration ofher wonderfully unselfish and blameless life, adding thosepretty words already quoted, " Nice to be able to feelproud of one's parents." The brave old father still lived,and Edward, lately returned on furlough from Ceylon,was spending a few months with his sister and nieces atBoulogne.160

To obtain first-rate surgical advice and to be nearhis publisher, Burton temporarily established himself inLondon. There, under the care of a clever surgeon anda skilful dentist, the painful wound inflicted by the Somalilance soon healed . Thanks to his sober progenitors, heinherited healthy blood, for we never hear of his numeroushurts troubling him for long-of those after effects socommon from sword or gun-shot injuries. With regardto this spear-thrust, penetrating as it did such delicatestructures as the jaw and palate, he was particularly fortunate in experiencing no further inconvenience, for hisold Commander-in - Chief, Sir Charles Napier, who receiveda somewhat similar wound, wrote years later of the almostintolerable agony which it caused him.TheAs soon as Burton could speak with ease he read apaper on Harar at a meeting of the Royal GeographicalSociety. The reception of this paper, written with muchcare and pains, was one of his many disappointments. Hehad performed a great feat, unique so far as enteringHarar was concerned, and he was exceedingly anxiousto direct attention to the importance of the Somali ports,Berberah in particular. But the hour for interesting thepublic in such matters was most unpropitious.Crimean War was still at its height, all England absorbedin hearing of the horrible carnage, the heroic bravery, andalas! the sad bungling of that terrible period. The scenesat Scutari during the preceding winter had struck thewhole nation with horror and despair; people thought andtalked of nothing but the glorious soldiers sacrificed to thewant of foresight of well- meaning but incapable men. So,even had our traveller's story been twice as interesting as it was, it would not have arrested much at ntion . Fewpersons cared to know about an obscure town in EasternAfrica, or trouble themselves about annexing protectingSomaliland while such deeds were being done in Europe.Burton saw this himself in 1855; but, strange to say, theA Rest in England 161same fatality pursued him on other occasions; in fact, heused to remark, with grim humour, that whenever hewished to gain the public ear some startling event, ifmerely a great poisoning case, was sure to take place.A comical incident, illustrating the difficulty which theywho know have in teaching those who don't, happenedduring the solitary evening devoted by the Royal Geographical Society to his paper. An ancient " Fellow,"regardless of the trifling disqualification of never havingbeen to the spot in question, declared with authority thaton approaching Harar, Burton had crossed a broad andrapid river. Vainly did our explorer, well rememberingthe little bourn which had afforded so refreshing a bath tohis tired attendants, reject this astounding piece of information; the general opinion seemed to be that theancient " Fellow knew best.""Burton ran down to Bath to see his father, and thenas health mended, began to work at his " First Footstepsin East Africa. " The " Pilgrimage to Meccah andEl- Medinah, " in three large volumes, was just issuingfrom the press, and the season though a sad one, blackthe prevailing colour, was at its height. So what withliterary work and meeting many an old friend, he had histime fully occupied. But there was a new influence toreckon with. Although he had his " Pilgrimage " tocorrect, his other book to finish, his chums to look up, notto mention the various amusem*nts of town life in May,which must have seemed doubly entertaining after thewilds of Somaliland and the ungenial society of the childrenof El- Hejaz, soon, very soon the prevailing excitementmade him restless . Volunteering was all the rage, everyofficer neither invalided nor superannuated, endeavoured torepair to the Crimea. It would have been miraculoushad a man with Burton's military talents, talents whichunfortunately had few opportunities of being turned toaccount, proved an exception. We remember his perII162

Attinacious attempts to get under fire in India, and his bitterdisappointment when luckier comrades were sent to thefront and he was left fretting his heart out in some place ofinglorious safety. And now, while on all sides he heardabout the war and nothing but the war, a hope flashedacross his brain that at last there might be a chance forhim in this great struggle of the nations, wherein wholeregiments were not merely decimated but destroyed, soblundering, so brave, so butcherly were the battles.last, he could continue his literary labours no longer. Withmilitary ardour fanned to boiling by the fiery enthusiasmaround him, he applied to the War Office for a post, however insignificant; and in spite of refusals, not only of anappointment, but even of the promise of one (the Department in question was besieged as closely as Sebastopol) , hearranged to start at once for the Crimea, and trust his luckystar to get into the fight.""Here, however, I must not fail to mention that Burtondid not approve of this war, on the contrary, he looked uponit as an unmitigated evil to England. Considered withregard to her foreign affairs, it lost her the alliance ofRussia, her oldest and often her only ally amongst theContinentals of Europe. It barred the inevitable growthof the " Northern Colossus in a southern direction , andencouraged the mighty spread to the south- east, Indiawards; at the same time doubling her extent by theabsorption of Turcomania. Twenty thousand gallantEnglishmen and eighty millions of money were sacrificedin a vain attempt to humble Russia, to serve the selfishends of Louis Napoleon, and to set up the Sultan, who,like Humpty Dumpty, was incapable of undergoing thatprocess. In this year of grace, 1896, when Lord Salisbury,the greatest statesman of our age, is sorely exercised concerning what to do with the present sick man, who, likemany chronic invalids, has waxed most froward and intractable, Burton's opinion of the mistake of 1854 may wellbe quoted.In the Prime of Life 163On the way out he stayed a few days with his brotherand sister at Boulogne. Fearing at first he might be sorelydisfigured by his terrible wound, both scrutinised the herowith eager interest, and both were most pleasantly surprisedat his appearance. The two years which had elapsed sincehe left England for Arabia, years filled to overflowing withadventure, anxiety, and toil, had left but few traces on thathandsome face and herculean frame. His hurt had healedso thoroughly as to be only just discernable. He lookedwhat he was, in the prime of manhood. His thick brownhair, worn longer than our present monkey-fashion, wasparted in the middle and waved about his temples; and hisgrand mustachios so admired by the old El-Medinah camelowner, were supplemented by a bushy beard. Stalwart,erect, sound in wind and limb, in no particular had he thephysique of one who had knocked at death's door morethan once during the past twelve months.There was much to do and talk over during those fewhappy days. Old memories were revived, old friends invited,old scenes revisited . His brother, who had not seen himsince the stormy times at Oxford, had plenty to tell ofhair-breadth escapes and hunting adventures in Ceylon. Anardent sportsman, Edward Burton was the crack shot ofhis regiment, and many were the elephants, tigers, cheetahsand smaller game that fell before his redoubtable gun.Poor fellow! Even a finer character than Richard, andthat is saying much, he might have become one of thesoldiers of the day, for he had great talents , had not hismilitary career been cut short by an accident. During oneof his hunting trips, some Cingalese villagers, Buddhistsall, animated by bigoted feeling towards one who openlyviolated the precepts of their religion by taking beast lifewholesale, fell upon him and inflicted serious wounds on hishead with sticks and stones. For awhile no evil consequences ensued, but after a sunstroke received during theMutiny, when he distinguished himself so brilliantly as toII-2164

be rewarded by a valuable appointment at Lucknow, hismind slowly gave way and never recovered.These evil days were still in the future, and our twobrothers arranged that their short meeting at Boulogneshould herald another in the Crimea; a meeting which,though Edward in his turn hastened to the seat of war,never came off, for reasons to be explained as we proceed.With an effort, for as usual the painful hour of partingwas deferred to the last moment, Richard tore himselfaway. He left on this occasion an interesting souvenirof his pilgrimage-a red sausage- shaped cushion strungwith turquoise rings, which he had bought at Meccahas a present for his mother and sister. These stones,the solitary relic of his Arabian feat belonging to hisfamily, are now in possession of Edward Stisted MostynPryce, of Gunley Hall, Salop, only son of the youngerof the two beautiful cousins whom Burton so admired.Our traveller hurried through France, and embarkedat Marseilles on board one of the Messageries Impérialesbound for Constantinople. Very imperial was the demeanourof her officers, who took command, in most absolute style,of her passengers, going so far, indeed, as to severely wigan English colonel for opening a port and shipping a sea.The vanity of our usually urbane neighbours, excited tofrenzy by the creditable figure they were cutting in theeyes of Europe, rendered them doubtfully pleasant company to any son of Albion. The only exception on thisoccasion appears to have been General MacMahon, thenfresh from his Algerian campaign and newly transferredto the Crimea, where his fortunes began. In due timeBurton sighted the Golden Horn, and, glad to be rid ofthe bumptious Gauls, lodged for a day or so at Missiri'sHotel, kept by a former dragoman of Eothen's.At Stamboul he met Mr. F. Wingfield, who was boundfor Balaclava as assistant under that most unfortunateof Commissary - Generals, Mr. Filder. They steamed to-The Visit to the Crimea 165gether over the inhospitable Euxine, whose dingy watersveiled in dark vapour contrasted unpleasantly with the turquoise and amethyst hues ofthe lovely Mediterranean. Aftera three days' voyage the steamer reached Balaclava, andfound the little port, dug out of dove-coloured limestone,stuffed to repletion with every kind of craft. This place,ever memorable as the scene of our rudest awakening, hadgreatly improved since 1854. Under a stern ProvostMarshal, whose every look meant " cat," some cleanlinessand discipline had been introduced among the sutlers andscoundrels who populated the townlet. Store- ships nolonger crept in with cargoes worth their weight of gold toour starved and ragged soldiers, and crept out again withoutbreaking bulk. A fair road had been run through Kadikeuito camp and to the front, and men sank no more ankle- deepin dust or calf- deep in mud. In fact, England was, in theparlance of the ring, getting her second wind and settlingdown to her work.Lord Raglan the gallant, the chivalrous, had been deadabout a month, the great historical battles were over, andthe only important event that remained to befall was thestorming of Sebastopol. Burton had arrived too late, afact which, in the excitement of the military blaze and blarearound him, he failed at first to recognise. A week wasspent with friends, frequent visits being paid to the campand front. Of course he tried at once for a post. To beginwith, he called upon the Commander-in- Chief, GeneralSimpson, whom years before he had met in Upper Sind—the Jimmy who Napier declared was always in the dismals.But poor Jimmy, more than ever in the dismals, was fastsinking into his grave, and could do nothing for anybody.Undaunted by one failure, Burton then wrote to GeneralBeatson, an old Boulogne acquaintance, and volunteeredfor the irregular cavalry known as Beatson's Horse. Thistime success crowned his efforts, and much elated was heto see his name appear in orders.166

He did not know it, but his evil genius had presidedover this appointment. General Beatson, a bluff Indianofficer, about five-and- fifty years of age, was no indifferentsoldier. In his subaltern days he had served in the SpanishLegion under General Sir de Lacy Evans, and after sundryhard knocks had returned to India and seen plenty offighting. In October, 1854, he had been directed by theDuke of Newcastle to organise a corps of Bashi - Buzouks,who were to be independent of the Turkish contingent,which we know consisted of twenty-five thousand Regulars,under General Vivian. And this commission he executedto the best of his ability. But, owing to an incurable habitof telling unpalatable truths in the most emphatic language,he had become exceedingly unpopular with the authorities.Even Burton, who was certainly outspoken enough, attempted more than once, when placed on the Staff, tomodify the tone of his chief's despatches. Tolittle purpose.Maddened in an intolerable environment of ignorance androguery, Beatson raved on , received wigging after wigging,ended one quarrel only to begin another, and made a deadlyenemy of every official who crossed his path. This wouldhave mattered little had he injured himself alone, butunfortunately his unpopularity extended to his corps, theluckless Bashi- Buzouks.Finding the General unmanageable, Burton turned hisattention to his soldiers. With his keen military flair, hewas by no means satisfied with the condition of these men.Stationed on the slopes of a hill to the north of the Dardanelles country town at the mouth of the Hellespont, theyhad been kept carefully in the background , and it was veryclear that just then they were only fit for some place ofinglorious safety. The meaning of the name Básh Buzukis equivalent to Tête Pourrie; it succeeded the Dillis, ormadmen, who in the good old days represented the Osmanliirregular cavalry; and certainly it seems to have describedits owners pretty accurately. Recruited in Syria , Bulgaria,Beatson's Horse 167and Albania, the motley crew required plenty of first-rateEnglish officers to drill and discipline them; and the WarOffice, which had overmuch to do, and probably consideredthe raising of the corps a mere whim, would not take thetrouble of appointing a sufficient number. Those alreadyin command were, for the most part, able enough. Burtormentions as most companionable comrades Charles Wemyss,an ex-guardsman, Major Lennox Berkeley, Lieut. -ColonelMorgan, Major Synge, and several distinguished men inthe Indian army. But they seemed to have been halfparalysed by the apparent impossibility of reducing toorder four thousand recruits, some little better than semibarbarians. The soldiers were left dawdling on the hillsidewasting their time in drinking and gambling . There wereno morning roll- calls, no evening parades, nor was thereeven drill until Burton arrived and infected all around himwith his inexpressible hopefulness and energy. He sconpersuaded the General to attend to all these matters, andto establish a riding school for the benefit of sundryinfantry officers who were not over-firm in the saddle. Aschool of arms was not forgotten-our soldier had in nodegree lost his enthusiasm for the sword and the bayonetand before long, in spite of the scanty sprinkling of officers,the improvement in the men was almost miraculous. LesTêtes Pourries were turned perforce into a body of welltrained sabreurs, ready to do anything or to go anywhere.But the war was too far advanced, General Beatsonhad made too many enemies, for his Bashi- Buzouks to wineither pelf or glory. Perhaps had the interest in thecampaign not begun to wane, the value of this now verycreditable corps might have more than balanced the enmityexcited by Beatson's Horse and their commander. As itwas, his foes had it all their own way. Lord Stratfordnursed a private grievance against the General, and wasbesides angrily opposed to the existence of " Irregulars "—Irregulars being unknown at Waterloo. Even the two168

Turkish Pashas, civil and military, stationed at the Dardanelles, were displeased to see an imperium in imperio, anddid their best to breed disturbance between the two corps.The French, too, jealous of so fine a body of men, directedtheir Consul to pack the local press at Constantinople withthe falsest stories. And so, while our English regimentsbravely endeavoured to capture the Redan, while the Malakoff was stormed and carried, and the allies at last foundthemselves masters of the smoking ruins of Sebastopol, theIrregulars remained pertinaciously stationed on a bare hillside, far away from the scene of action. It must have beena bitter pill to Burton, after all the pains he had taken withhis troublesome recruits, to stand idle and watch the warnow drawing to a close without being permitted to fire asingle shot.Perhaps the most interesting episode during his stay inthe Crimea relates to the fall of Kars, December 12th, 1855.It illustrates the curious dash of Quixotism, and a certainlack of comprehension of political exigencies, which at timesdid much to mar his fortunes. He thought he saw hisway to a grand success, no less than the relief of a townwhose wretched inhabitants were suffering from choleraand famine, combined with the horrors of a siege. Pelissierand his Frenchmen were long- sighted enough to know theculminating importance of this stronghold as a stumblingblock in the way of Russia; but, as the Emperor wasbeginning to wish for peace, they managed to keep OmarPasha and his Turkish troops in the Crimea, where thelarge force was compelled to be idle, instead of being sentto attack the Trans- Caucasian provinces, in which theymight have done rare good service. And when for oncethe Turkish commander was permitted to fight the Russiansbefore the walls of the wretched town, he was in no waybacked up by the allies, and consequently forced to retire.Burton thought years afterwards that, had the affair beenmanaged differently, England might have struck a vitalAn Interview with Lord Stratford 169blow at Russia, by driving her once more behind theCaucasus, and by putting off for many a year thethreatened advance upon India, which is now one of ournightmares.In early September, the state of Kars, whose gallantgarrison was allowed to succumb to hunger, disease, andthe enemy, was becoming a scandal. Rumour whisperedthat General Williams, who with General Kmety, aHungarian, was taking a prominent part in the defence,addressed upwards of eighty officials to Lord Stratfordwithout receiving a reply. But at last His Excellencyappeared to be considering measures for the relief of theunhappy town.In utter ignorance of the then state of politics and itsrhyming synonym, Burton became violently excited onhearing that the Turkish contingent was to be sent to theaid of the garrison, if only sufficient carriage could beprocured for the troops. After some delay, LieutenantGeneral Vivian wrote to Stamboul that no carriage wasthen available. Breathlessly elated at the prospect oftaking part in a great military feat, Burton hurried toConstantinople, obtained an interview with Lord Stratford,and submitted a project for the old man's approval. Hiscorps was in perfect readiness to start at any moment,and his general could guarantee any amount of means oftransport.How vividly one can picture that scene. Our handsomesoldier in his smart cavalry uniform, with his great darkeyes flashing with excitement at the thought of the doughtydeed to be done by his men; and on the other side theastounded face of the white-haired Ambassador, whose icyimpassibility could change at times into furious fits of rage.And of the latter our hero was treated to a specimen."You are the most impudent man in the Bombay army,sir! " shouted the irascible politician.Not until some months afterwards did Burton learn the170

full extent of his transgression . Kars was doomed to fallas a peace-offering to Russia, and a captain of BashiBuzouks had madly attempted to arrest the course of lahaute politique.After this fruitless visit to Stamboul, Burton returnedsadly crestfallen to the Dardanelles, where fresh disastersawaited him. His Bashi- Buzouks, like the unfortunateTurks at Kars, were in a state of siege. A trifling squabblebetween the French infirmiers and the Irregulars had beenmagnified into a desperate act of mutiny, and all the covertill-will which had smouldered so long exploded in a downright act of violence. On the morning of September26th, the Turkish Regulars were drawn out in arrayas though against the foe; infantry supported by gunspointed at Beatson's camp and patrols of cavalry occupiedthe rear. Three war steamers commanded the main entrance of the little town, outposts were established withinthree hundred yards of the Irregulars; and to make mattersstill more ridiculous, the inhabitants had closed their shopsand the British Consulate was deserted. No greater preparations could have been made against the Russiansthemselves.General Beatson's phraseology was at times too forcible,but he was a good soldier and could restrain his fierytemper when duty bade him. Seeing that terrible consequences might ensue if his men struck the first blow, heshowed no signs of anger, and did his utmost to soothe theintense irritation of his insulted men, who, furious with theaggressors, requested permission to take possession of theirguns. By means of a politic order, and with the assistanceof his officers, he achieved a perfect triumph of discipline .Not a shot was fired, not a man unhorsed or hurt. About4 p.m. the military Pasha, ashamed of his absurd attitude,marched his Regulars back to their barracks, and theaffair apparently terminated.The venomous Turk, however, forwarded to Constanti-4Beatson is superseded 171nople a bitter complaint of the very order which hadprevented bloodshed, viz.: " That the Irregulars shouldremain in their camp until the Turkish authorities shouldhave recovered from their panic and housed their guns. "The steamer Redpole was despatched in hot haste with anexaggerated account of the affair, furnished by the Frenchand English Consuls, the latter of whom had evidently losthis head, for he actually requested reinforcements againstthese new and formidable foes. The result may beanticipated:"One against a multitudeIs more than mortal can make good. "General Beatson was removed from his command, anddirected to make it over to Major- General Smith, whoappeared at the Dardanelles, September 28th, supportedby a fresh body of Nizans.The unlucky chief was suffering from the effects of anaccident when the order arrived, and felt quite unfit forbusiness. His subordinates, while knowing only too wellthat nothing could reinstate him in his former position, didtheir best. Burton, who was then Chief of Staff, andMajor Berkeley, Military Secretary, collected as manyofficers as possible, went in a body to Major- GeneralSmith, and in the most conciliatory terms laid the casebefore him. They declared unanimously all the reportscirculated by the Turks and the French were false , andoffered to show him the condition and discipline of theircorps. That Beatson and his officers were in the right wasconfirmed by the favourable view expressed in the publicpress by that prince of war correspondents William HenryRussell and by General Smith himself. But now, whatever the latter might think, he could only obey orders untilfresh instructions were received from Constantinople. Whilemanyofthe Buzoukers acquiesced perforce in the new régime,Burton and Major Berkeley, after ascertaining matters were172

quite hopeless, that their chief was certainly superseded,felt they could no longer serve with self- respect, and sentin their resignations.On the last day of September the luckless Generaland his two faithful friends left the Dardanelles for ever.Arrived at Buyukdere, a report was sent to LieutenantGeneral Vivian, who presently came on board to enquireinto the affair. Rumours of a Russian attack had induced a more conciliatory tone. The Commander of theTurkish Contingent seemed satisfied with the "Buzouker's "explanations, and even listened favourably to the latter'surgent request for permission to return to his corps. Butnothing could be done without the Ambassador's orders,and the peppery old Indian had got into the Eltchi'svery worst graces. So, after a conversation on the subject with Lord Stratford, General Vivian altered his tone,and directed a stiff official letter to the hapless Beatson,giving him not the slightest hope of revoking the orderwhich had removed him from his command.The remainder of General Beatson's history is soontold. He went to England and instituted civil proceedingsagainst his enemies. Chief amongst them was a Mr. Skene,whofrom the inception of the General's scheme had shownhimself most bitterly opposed to it, and had used all hisinfluence to make the position untenable. The case brokedown on technical grounds, but it was generally felt theBuzouker had vindicated his character, and had very successfully exposed the conspiracy against the Irregulars,which had ended so disastrously for him and his officers.Having resigned his post, nothing remained for Burtonto do in the Crimea. He was not likely to get employedagain, the war being all but over; so on the 18th Octoberhe left Therapia en route for England, just missing hisbrother, who had started from home a few days before.This waste of time and energy with the Bashi- Buzoukshad been a very disagreeable experience. Burton saw, forThe Dark Continent 173the present, no chance of promotion in his military career,and, in a fit of despondency, determined again to follow fora while the exciting life of an explorer or pathfinder. Oncemore he turned longingly towards Africa, Central and Intertropical, and resolved to devote himself to opening out asfully as possible the resources of the Dark Continent, theheart of which no Englishman had as yet penetrated. Andsave that the unveiling of Isis was not for him, we shallnow see how after two failures-one at Berberah, the otherin the Crimea, neither from any fault of his-his good staronce more gained the ascendant, and he achieved the greatsuccess of his life.

CHAPTER VIII

ALTHOUGH during the excitement of the Crimean War little attention was paid to our traveller's pilgrimages to the holy cities of El- Hejaz, and his journey toHarar, when the interest in the campaign had begun toflag, his works created a decided sensation in scientificand literary circles . So as soon as he made known hisdesire to penetrate the heart of the Dark Continent, severalinfluential friends, amongst whom may be mentioned SirRoderick Murchison, Mr. Monckton Milnes, and ViceAdmiral Sir George Back, the veteran explorer of theArctic seas, succeeded in obtaining for him the command ofan expedition to the interior of that country. Assisted bythe Royal Geographical Society to the amount of one thousand pounds, this expedition was organised for a threefoldobject: to66 Behold the lakes wherein the Nile is born,"to correct certain geographical errors, and to survey asfully as possible the resources of Central and IntertropicalAfrica.TheNothing was then known about the Lake Regions,which were supposed to consist of a huge inland sea.error probably arose from the fact that the three chief caravan routes from Zanzibar coast abutted upon three severallakes, which, in the confusion of African vocabulary, werethrown into one. The Mombas Mission map had latelyappeared, whereon figured a slug- shaped monster, an impossible Caspian; the existence of this water our travellervehemently doubted, and, as we now know, he proved itto be a myth. But he did more. Amidst all the blareThe Pioneer of Central Africa 175and glory of the great exploits since his day, it shouldbe kept in mind that he and he alone was the pioneerto those vast tracts. This expedition of 1856-9, thelongest and greatest of his journeys, unequalled for itsmingled audacity and foresight, one which resulted in thediscovery of Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza, wasthe first successful attempt to enter Central Africa, and itsmoothed the way for all the brave men who followed.Preceded only by a French officer, barbarously murderedshortly after he landed, Burton under immense disadvantages led his inadequately equipped caravan into unknown.regions, discovered Tanganyika and the southern portion ofVictoria Nyanza, and thus opened out the road to all whocared to tread in his steps. Subsequent travellers hadmerely to read his writings to learn all they required concerning seasons and sickness, industry and commerce, whatoutfit and material were necessary, what guides and escortwere wanted, and what obstacles might be expected. Andnow, where two tired, fever- stricken wanderers trampedalong, resting only in filthy huts amongst the most degradedsavages, missions are busy, commerce flourishes, and civilisation is established for many an age to come.As with the survey of Somaliland, the expedition owedmuch to the warm support of Lord Elphinstone. Burtonwas granted two years' furlough, Captain John Speke waspermitted to accompany him, and a Dr. Steinhauser, thenstaff surgeon at Aden, one of our traveller's firmest friends,received orders to repair at once to Zanzibar. Unluckily,the doctor, detained by weather, did not arrive in time-asad contretemps, a medical man on such a journey beingalmost indispensable. Nor did Lord Elphinstone's kindness end here. Knowing how much importance Orientalsattach to appearances, especially to first appearances, hearranged that a sloop- of- war should convey the explorersfrom Bombay to the African coast, so that they mightarrive with all the honours.176

The voyage was pleasant but monotonous, the onlyexcitement the first view of Zanzibar island. Truly lovelywas the swelling coast- line set off by a dome of distant hillslike solidified air. The sea of purest sapphire just creamedwith foam the yellow sand- strip that separated it fromflower-spangled grass and underwood of metallic green.The palms, springing like living columns, graceful andluxuriant above their subject growths, were hardly ruffled bythe breeze; and, to add a new pleasure, as the sloop drewnear, a heavy spicy perfume, grateful indeed after the brinynorth-east trade wind, was wafted from the celebrated clovegrounds. Presently appeared the straight line of Arabtown, extending about a mile and a half in length, facingnorth and standing in bold relief from the varied tints andforest grandeur that lay behind. Right and left the Imam'spalace, the various consulates, and the huge parallelogrammic buildings of the great, a tabular line of flat roofs,glaring and dazzling like freshly-whitewashed sepulchres,detached themselves from the mass, and did their best toconceal the dingy matted hovels of the inner town. Zanzibar city, like Stamboul, must be viewed from afar.The harbour is a fine specimen of the true Atoll, orfringing reef, built upon a subsiding foundation . It wasthronged, when the sloop sailed in, with an outlandish fleetof dhows, batelas, ganjas from Cutch, and many other queershaped native craft. The strange scene looked its brightestunder the most brilliant sunshine, a good omen for theexpedition, as at times the sun veils his face during sixweeks in succession.Zanzibar Island, so named from the Persian Zangi, andBar, a compound term signifying Nigritia, or Blackland,contained in 1856 about three hundred thousand souls.The town population varied from twenty- five thousand toforty-five thousand during the north- east monsoon, whenan influx of strangers was usually expected. It was composed of a motley crowd of Arabs, Hindoos, IndianPreliminary Preparations 177Moslems, a few Europeans and Americans, but principallyof free blacks, of whom the Wasawahili, a hideouschocolate-coloured race, were the most numerous. Burtonfound the town fearfully dirty and unhealthy. The foreground was a line of sand disgustingly impure, corpsesfloated on the surface of the waters, and the shore couldbe described only as a huge cesspool. The spicy odourswere soon overpowered by stenches unutterable, and evenour traveller shrank from a thorough survey of the nativetown, a filthy labyrinth of disorderly lanes and alleys, herebroad, there narrow, now heaped with offal, there chokedwith ruins, all reeking in a temperature of 80° to 89° F.with effluvia of carrion and negro.In spite of these and other drawbacks he decided tomake Zanzibar his headquarters. First, because it seemedthe most favourable place wherein to undergo the seasoningfever which every new-comer must expect in this part ofAfrica, the houses being fairly comfortable, and a certainamount of necessaries procurable. Secondly, in this littlemetropolis-residence of the ruler and chief officials, not tomention the French and English Consuls-he could bestbegin and carry out the preparations for his great journey.The dry season was judged by old hands unfit for prolonged travel, and Burton was strongly advised to spendthe intervening time in learning something of the coast.So he determined upon what he called " a preliminarycanter," a trial trip to the Zanzibar seaports, varied byan excursion to the mountain range which lies some eightymiles inland. But there was plenty to do first; clashinginterests and silly prejudices had to be reckoned with .No sooner did his project become public than intriguesabounded. Houses that had amassed in a few years largefortunes by the Zanzibar trade, were anxious to let sleepingdogs lie. The Arabs got frightened at the possible openingout of the interior; they knew Europeans had long coveteda settlement on the sea - board, and they had no wish to lose 12178

the monopoly of copal and ivory. At last, sundry European merchants settled in the place, fearing competitionmight result from any development of the resources of theDark Continent, went so far as to spread evil reports of ourtravellers among the natives, Banyans, Arabs, and Wasawahili, which might have secured for Burton and Speke the disastrous fate of their predecessor. But ColonelHamerton, the English Consul, backed up his compatriotsby every means in his power, and fortunately the Sayyid,or Sultan of Zanzibar, proved more enlightened than thepeople he governed. This ruler, a young prince of milddisposition and amiable manners, received Burton graciouslyin spite of " whispering tongues, " took considerable interestin the coming journey, and finally entrusted him withseveral circular letters, recommending the two Englishofficers to the chiefs of the part of the country about to bevisited, and to the Jemadars commanding the garrisons.However, two conditions were insisted upon by hisadvisers. Colonel Hamerton had to swear that the expedition was to be conducted only by men whose goodwill hecould rely on, and that it was not a proselytizing movementof the " Sons of the Book." Had the consul hesitated toaccepted these terms, the project would have been wrecked;but we shall see how, owing to the later stipulation, Burtonlost a very valuable companion.Two Portuguese boys, Gaetano and Valentino, had beenengaged at Bombay as body- servants; and now a guide,one Said bin Salim, was added to the party. A court spy,he was a pledge of respectability, able to announce, in virtueof his office, that his masters were not malignants. Hespoke a little bad Arabic, but principally Kisiwahili, thelanguage of the negro races in and around Zanzibar, andeven occasionally used so far as Ugogo. Burton , who,unlike some travellers, strongly objected to explore anyland where he did not understand the tongue, turned hisattention to the said dialect, which contains some 20,000Outfit and Supplies 179words. Like the Somal and the Gallas there is no alphabet,and our indefatigable linguist, who never seemed to findany jargon, however barbarous, devoid of interest, commenced a grammar intended to illustrate the intricatecombinations and the peculiar euphony which appear tobe the first object of Wasawahili speech.The outfit on this occasion, besides private property,consisted of twenty muslin turbans, a score of embroideredcaps, a broadcloth coat, two cotton shawls, and 25 lbs.of beads, as presents. The provisions were rice, maize,dates, sugar, coffee, salt, pepper, onions, curry- stuffs , ghi,tobacco, and soap and candles. Of course, quantities werevastly increased before starting on the great expedition,but even then our travellers practised a somewhat severeeconomy.Never more so than in the matter of the Riami, anold Arab beden, which was to convey them on their coastingtrip. It was a miracle that this worn- out old craft withsails in rags, its timbers worm-eaten, its crew a set ofincapables, managed nevertheless to keep afloat . Perhapsour travellers would have hardly cared to sail in so crazy atub had they not possessed a galvanised iron life- boat, theLouisa, named in memory of one of Burton's early loves.This boat, twenty feet long, was of American manufacture,and a triumph of good building. The Arabs could notsufficiently admire her graceful form, the facility withwhich she was handled, and above all things her speed.Buoyant as graceful, fire-proof, worm- proof, water- proof,she would have been a veritable godsend on Lake Tanganyika; unluckily, want of carriage on the coast compelledher owners to leave her at Zanzibar. But on this occasion,the Louisa was towed in their wake; and although shebroke her halter more than once, as if disdaining thecompany of the old beden, when she did consent to follow,she must have imparted an agreeable sense of security toher proprietors. They were certainly uncomfortable enough12-2180

without the addition of the fear of being drowned: antslodged in their instrument cases, co*ckroaches dropped ontheir heads, and rats made night hideous.On the 5th January our party bade a temporary adieuto Zanzibar. That is to say, they embarked on boardtheir uninviting craft; but, in those days, travellers had tobe prepared for three distinct departures-the little start,the big start, and the start . After dawdling about for twonights and a day, the crew fished up their ground tackleand began their journey, making Kokoto-ni the usual departure point from the island, January 8th. On the 10th,Pemba, the Emerald Isle of these Eastern seas, appearedin sight. Here Captain Kidd, in 1698, buried his hoards ofgold and jewels, the plunder of India and the furtherOrient. It looked peaceful enough when Burton landed,with its silent, monotonous, melancholy beauty, the loveliness of death which belongs to the creeks and rivers ofthose regions, a great green grave. Striking was itswondrous fertility-cocoas, limes, jacks, and the pyramidalmangoes growing in clumps on the rises, the castor shrub,rich in berries, spreading over the uncultivated slopes.Here the Riami anchored for about forty-eight hours,during which time the Louisa was manned and rowed toChak- Chak, the Governor's residence. In the Wali'sabsence, our party were most hospitably received by the collector of customs. He treated them to a feast of mangoes, pineapples, rice , ghee, and green tea, and next morning ordered that their casks should be filled with excellentwater, besides sending in his own boat a quantity of freshand dainty provisions.The three days that followed were less prosperous.Heavy mists hid the shore so effectually that sometimesthe old beden sailed south instead of north; then a drizzleincreased to heavy rain, and, lastly, the north- east windblew great guns, which gale, on a coast of shoals and corallines, made navigation exceedingly dangerous. Said, theExploring the Zanzibar Interior 181guide, wept incessantly, and during the worst night addedto the general panic by literally screeching with terror.The captain announced, at intervals, his vessel was doomed,and, worst of all, the Louisa , like a treacherous friend , brokeloose, and did not reappear until found stranded at Mombasah.All landed at this miserable settlement, once the capitalof the King of the Zing, concerning whom Arab travellersand geographers have written a variety of marvels. Thehalt lasted until January 28th. Not that there was muchto see save the spacious land-locked harbour, and a fewrelics of the Portuguese occupation; but our traveller hadbusiness with the Mombas Mission, or rather with its onlyremaining representative, Herr Rebmann, to whom he wasentrusted with a letter from the Evangelical Society inLondon. The founders of this mission, more successfulfrom a geographical point of view than any other, were thefirst to attempt systematically to explore and open out theZanzibar interior. In 1842, Dr. Krapf undertook a coastingvoyage to East Africa, visited Zanzibar island, and, journeying northwards, established his headquarters amongst theWanyika tribe, near Mombasah. He was presently joinedby Herr Rebmann who made three important journeys tothe highlands, where he re- discovered Kilima-njaro, themountain bearing eternal snow alluded to by Fernandez de Enciso in 1530.The Mission house, situated about fifteen miles fromMombasah, was neatly and solidly built. Though wellconstructed and pitched in the comparatively pure air ofthe heights, it seems to have been terribly unwholesome,as the missionaries died off so rapidly of typhus and remittent fevers, that in 1857 Herr Rebmann and his wifewere the sole survivors. Burton found the undaunted pairsurrounded by their servants and converts; the latter, mostgrotesque in garb and form, gathered to stare at the newwhite men, while sundry hill savages stalked about, and182

stopped occasionally to relieve their minds by begging snuffor cloth. No time was lost before discussing the matterwhich had prompted our traveller's visit, viz. —WhetherHerr Rebmann would consent to accompany the expeditioninto the interior. At first the missionary seemed temptedto indulge his wandering instincts, but on second thoughtshe refused. He was not strong; he naturally bargained todo a little proselytizing on the way, and this Burton, boundby his promise to the Sayyid, could not agree to. It wasvery unfortunate, for the good German understood thelanguage of the tribes through whose country the expedition had to march, a language of which Burton's knowledgewas recent and Speke's nil. However, they parted excellentfriends, and our traveller, most chivalrous of men, had thesatisfaction a day or two afterwards of saving Frau Rebmann from an ugly fright by giving her timely warning ofa raid of savages in her neighbourhood. And here it maybe said that, owing either to their calm good sense, or theirinextinguishable thirst for knowledge, Burton always goton with Germans, preferring them indeed to any othernationality. In one of his works I find the followingeulogistic expressions concerning the change which thisgreat united nation has worked in Europe: -"by an Englishman who loves his country, nothing canbe more enthusiastically welcomed than this accession topower of a kindred people, connected with us by language,by religion, and by all the ties which bind nation to nation.It proves that the North is still the fecund mother ofheroes; and it justifies us in hoping that our Anglo- Teutonicblood, with its Scandinavian " baptism," will gain newstrength by the example, and will apply itself to rival ourContinental cousins in the course of progress, and in themighty struggle for national life and prosperity."The journey along the coast continued, halts beingmade at every convenient point to acquire informationregarding routes to the interior, and the benevolent orA Hospitable Reception 183malevolent disposition of the various tribes. Six dayswere thus occupied at Tanga, one of the most importantof the coast settlements. On the 5th of February sail washoisted at 5 a.m. , and early in the day the Riami arrived atPangani port. This being the place which Burton haddecided upon as his starting-point to the highlands, it wasnecessary to land with some ceremony. Said, in his bestattire, was sent to deliver the Sayyid's letter to the Wali,and to the military commander of the garrison; while theEnglish officers, thinking it undignified to follow too closelyin the wake of a " letter of introduction, " remained onboard until evening, when they leisurely disembarked withtheir luggage and Portuguese servants.Quite a grand reception greeted them, too grand, for itincluded a most hideous concert. Three monstrous drums,bassoons at least five feet long, a pair of ear- piercingflageolets, a horn and a very primitive cymbal, composedthe infernal orchestra. Dancing too was performed intheir honour, the soldiers capering about with all the pompand circ*mstance of drawn swords, while some pretty slavegirls, bare-headed, with hair à la Brutus, pranced delicatelyover the ground as if treading on too hot a floor. Perhapsour travellers were overtired, perhaps too hard to please;anyway, privately describing the scene as purgatory, afterenduring it for half an hour, they insisted on being conducted to the upper rooms of the Wali's house, theirtemporary headquarters.Next morning they rose early, and repairing to the rooffound the views therefrom not to be despised. The rivervista, with cocoa avenues to the north, yellow cliffs , someforty feet high, on the southern side, the mobile swellingwater, bounded by strips of emerald verdure or golden sand,and the azure sea, dotted with little black rocks, appropriately dubbed devilings, wanted nothing but the finish ofart to bring out the infinite variety of Nature.dozen white kiosks and serais, minarets andWith half alatticed sum-184

mer villas, Pangani port might almost rival that gem ofcreation, the Bosphorus.The town, which then boasted of some nineteen ortwenty stone houses of the usual box style, the rest beinga mass of huts, each with its large yard, whose outer lineformed the street, was surrounded by a thick, thornyjungle.This jungle harboured not a few leopards, and the riverswarmed with crocodiles. Naturally, the felines whenhungry pounced upon and devoured any unhappy negrowho happened to cross their path, while the amphibiousbrutes helped themselves unceremoniously to exposed legsand arms. But when the stupid Pangani people were askedwhythey did not fire the bush which sheltered the leopards,and endeavour to kill some of the crocodiles that infested thestream, they declared the latter brought good luck, and thejungle as a refuge in case of need was too valuable to destroy.Of course there was plenty of trouble in organising thistrip to the interior. The citizens, hearing that Burton wasbearer of a letter from the Sayyid of Zanzibar to SultanKimwere, their own ruler, who lived up in the hills at Fuga,wrangled desperately over the route to be taken, clamouringfor one which traversed exclusively their own territory.Then the son and heir of the said Sultan, who happened tobe visiting Pangani, sent an impudent message to Burton,requesting him to place in his hands the gifts intended forhis father. And high and low, rich and poor, all began toangle for bakhshish, while the harassed travellers, compelled to husband their resources for the great task ofexploring the Lake Regions, had discovered even beforeleaving Zanzibar that a thousand pounds would go a veryshort way towards the cost of such a journey. Double theamount would have hardly covered it .So they had to content themselves with a walking- cumboating trip to Chogwe, the nearest Baloch out- post uponthe Upper Pangani River, pushing on thence for Fuga, thehighland home of Sultan Kimwere. Preparations went onCanoeing on the Rufu 185silently but swiftly. The Riami was paid off, Said andValentino, one of the Goanese lads, were directed to remainin the Wali's house; and at last, taking advantage of aquiet interval, Burton and Speke, under pretext of ashooting- excursion, hired a long canoe with four rowers,loaded it with sufficient luggage for a fortnight, and startedJanuary 6, 1858.Not at first with éclat. The turbulent Rufu, or UpperPangani River, was lashed by a little gale blowing up-streaminto a mass of short chopping waves. Partly owing to thewind, partly to the abrupt windings of the channel, thecanoe grounded, then flew on at railway speed before afresh puff, then scraped again. Finally, it succeeded inturning the first dangerous angle, and the travellers wereat liberty to admire a novel and characteristic scene.Behemoth reared his head from the foaming waters, crocodiles waddling like dowagers, measured the strangers withmalignant green eyes, deep set under warty brows; monkeysrustled among the tall trees, here peeping with curiosityalmost human, there darting away amidst the wondrousfrondage and foliage. Not a few of the trees were socovered with creepers that they seemed to bear leaves andblossoms not their own. Upon the watery margin largesnowy lilies, some sealed by day, others wide expandedand basking in light, gleamed beautifully against the blackgreen growth, and the clear bitumen brown of the bankwater. Occasionally the jungle folk planted their shouldercloths, their rude crates, and their coarse weirs upon themuddy inlets where fish abounded; but they were few andfar between, and nothing broke the peculiar tropical stillnesssave the curlew's cry or the breeze rustling in fitful gustsamongst the dense and matted foliage. Often since thatday did Burton think with yearning of the bright andbeautiful Zangian stream, and wish himself once morecanoeing with Speke, still his loved and trusted friend,upon the lovely bosom of the Upper Pangani River.186

At sunset the crew poled up a little inlet near Kipombui,a village on the left bank well stockaded with split arecatrunks. Out flocked its people, inquisitive as monkeys tosee the strangers, and proving their friendly intentions byoffering a dish of small green mangoes, there esteemed agreat luxury. About midnight, when the tide flowed strong,the voyage was resumed. Soon the river dwindled to asable streak between avenues of lofty trees, darkness visiblereigning save where a bend suddenly opened its mirrory surface to the moon. A snorting and blowing close to thecanoe's stern frightened its timid rowers, who dreaded acertain rogue hippopotamus which haunted that part of thestream, and whose villanies had gained for him the royaltitle of " Sultan Mamba "; but a few shots sufficed to scarehim up the miry, slippery banks leading to fields and plantations. Presently, all became quiet as the grave, and bytwo a.m. our party reached a cleared tract on the river-side,the ghaut or landing- place of Chogwe, where they madefast their boat, looked to their weapons, and covering theirfaces against clammy dew and paralysing moonbeams, laydown to snatch a couple of hours' sleep. The total distancerowed that day was thirteen and a half miles.Chogwe being an outpost, guarded by a Jemadar and adetachment of Baloch , the strangers, thanks to their circularletters, were received with honour. Next morning theyinspected the bazaar, apparently all there was to inspect,escorted by the chief of the mercenaries, a consumptive,miserable-looking wretch, and his twenty ragged soldiers.The position of this outpost, seven direct miles fromPangani, was badly chosen, being short of water, infertile ,and malarious. The Washenzi savages, too, sometimescrept up at night in spite of the armed men, shot a fewarrows into their huts, set fire to the matting, and, afterother similar amenities, departed as silently as they came.However, commanding the main road to Usumbara,Chogwe afforded opportunities for an occasional somethingDeparture for Tongwe 187in the looting line, which may have comforted the Balochfor its many drawbacks.Our travellers confided their project of pushing on toFuga to the Jemadar, who promised his goodwill, of coursefor a consideration. He even undertook to start them nextday and kept his word. He detached four of his garrisonas guards, hired out the same number of slave- boys asporters, for the journey had to be performed on foot , and astalwart guide, a huge, broad- shouldered negro, with coalblack skin and straight features, which looked as if cut injet, was engaged to join the party at Tongwe, the nextstation. The kit was reduced to the strictest necessaries—surveying instruments, weapons, waterproof blankets, tea,sugar, and tobacco for ten days, a bag of dates and threebags of rice. The departure took place at 5 p.m., notwithout commotion. Each slave, grumbling loudly at hisload, snatched up the lightest of packs, fought to avoid theheavier burdens, and rushed forward, regardless of whatwas left behind. This nuisance endured until abated by aform of correction easily divined. At length, escorted bythe consumptive Jemadar and most of his company, Burtonand Speke set forth for Tongwe.The route was redeemed from monotony by the attacksof the bull-dog ant. Suddenly, while stopping to drink atsome pools in a partially-cleared portion of thorny jungle,the whole party began to dance and shout like madmen,pulling off their clothes and frantically snatching at theirlower limbs. The bite of this wretch, properly called atrox,burns like the point of a red-hot needle; and while engagedin its cannibal meal, literally beginning to devour man alive,even when its doubled -up body has been torn from the head,the pincers will remain buried in flesh . The only point infavour of this formican fiend is that, unlike its confrère, thestinking ant, which to young travellers suggests carrionhidden behind every bush, it has no smell.The night spent with the Jemadar and his men was188

truly characteristic, a savage opera scene. One recited hisKoran, another prayed in stentorian tones, a third toldfunny stories, whilst a fourth trolled out in minor key laysof love and war. This was varied by slapping away themosquitoes which flocked to the gleaming camp fires, byclawing at the ants, and by challenging small parties ofnatives who passed by with loads of grain for Pangani .By-and-by the Baloch, who kept careful watch duringearly night when there was no danger, slept like the deadduring the small hours, the time always chosen by Africanfreebooters, and indeed by almost all savages, to make theirunheroic onslaughts.At daybreak, bidding a temporary adieu to the Jemadarand most of his band, our party pushed on for Tongwe, orthe Great Hill. They ascended the flank of its northeastern spur, and found themselves on the chine of a littleridge, with summer breezes on one side and a wintry blaston the other. Thence, pursuing a rugged incline, afterabout half an hour they entered the " fort," a crenellated,flat-roofed, and whitewashed room , fourteen feet square,supported inside by smoke- blackened rafters . It wastenanted by two Baloch, who complained dismally ofdulness, and even more of ghosts. Though several goatshad been sacrificed to propitiate an ungrateful demon, hestill haunted the hill, while at times a weeping and wailingof a whole chorus of distressed spirits made night hideous.Tongwe is interesting as being the first offset of thatmassive mountain terrace which forms the region of Usumbara; here, in fact, begins the Highland block of Zangianand Equatorial Africa, culminating in Kilima- njaro andMount Kenia. It rises abruptly from the plain and projects long spurs into the river valley, where the Rufu flowsnoisily through a rocky trough, and whence can be distinctly heard the roar of the Pangani waterfall. Its summit,about 2,000 feet above sea level, is clothed with jungle,stunted cocoas, oranges grown wild and bitter, the castor 47734On the Road to Fuga 189shrub, &c. , through which our travellers had to cut theirway with their swords when seeking compass bearings ofthe Nguru Hills. Below, a deep hole in its northern facesupplies sweet " rock-water "; and the climate, temperateeven in the height of an African summer, must have appeared doubly delicious after the humid, sickening heat ofZanzibar island and coast.Before leaving Tongwe there was business to do whichrequired a vast amount of palaver. The Jemadar hadfurnished an escort; but his soldiers, enervated by longhabits of indolence, could hardly be induced to quit even fora week their hovel-homes, their black Venuses, and theirwhitey-brown offspring. Hard talking, however, enabledBurton not only to persuade them out of a half- expressedintention of returning forthwith to Chogwe, but to securethree men as additions to his small party. One, SidiMubarak, usually known by his nick-name, Bombay,proved the veritable black diamond of the lot. This negrospoke a little Hindostani, was bright and willing, andthough of a chétif frame seemed as fresh after a thirty miletramp as when he started . He had enlisted as a mercenary,but a little persuasion and the payment of his debts inducedhim to renounce soldiering and follow the fortunes of theexpedition. Bombay gave a comical reason for workingwell-his duty to his stomach, and certainly his idol kepthim straight. Such a gem amongst guides could scarcelyfail to rise rapidly: he began by escorting our party toFuga as head gun-carrier, became later Speke's confidential servant, and finally in 1871 , when Stanley went insearch of Livingstone, Bombay was appointed chief of thecaravan .With this treasure in their train, Burton and Spekestarted for Fuga, February 10th . Their path was curiousenough, the land brick- red, a common colour in Africa asin the Brazil: and its stain extended half way up the treeboles streaked by ants with ascending and descending galleries. Overhead floated a canopy of sea-green verdure,pierced by myriads of little sun- pencils; whilst the effulgentdome, purified as with fire from mist and vapour, set thepicture in a frame of gold and ultramarine. Painfulsplendours! The heat began to tell upon the men, and theresult was a general clamour for water. Only one of theBaloch had brought a gourd; but the four slave boys whoseinstincts of self- preservation approached the miraculous ,found a puddle, a discovery they carefully kept to themselves, leaving the rest to endure their thirst until a similarfind some hours later.A halt of thirty- six hours was made at Kahode, the village of a friendly but extremely greedy chief-SultanMamba. Recognising the Baloch, this worthy donneda scarlet cloak, apparently his only one, superintended thelaunching of his royal canoe, and, as our party landed,received them with rollicking greetings and those immoderate explosive cachinnations which render the Africanfamily to all appearance so " jolly " a race. Sad to tell, anindifferent character, even in these regions, was SultanMamba. Converted to Islamism during a sojourn at Zanzibar, dubbed Abdullah by his proselytizer, no sooner didhe sniff once more his native air, than he fell away fromprayer, ablution and grace generally, and reverted to themore congenial practices of highwaying and hard drinking.Nor was this all. An inveterate beggar, he asked foreverything he saw, from a barrel of gunpowder to a bottleof brandy. He announced that his people had only threewants-powder, ball and spirits; and he could supply inreturn men, women and children-in plain language, slaves.On receiving two embroidered caps, a pair of muslins, anda cotton shawl, he hoped no doubt to see the brandy andgunpowder forthcoming by and by; for on parting hewaxed quite pathetic, swearing he loved his new friends,and offering the use of his canoe on the return journey.But when they reappeared with empty hands, SultanImpressions of the Country 191Mamba, like many a white brother, scarcely deigned tonotice them.From Kahode two roads lead to Fuga. Though morethan double in length, our travellers chose that along theRufu, as they doubted whether their porters could climbthe passes, the heat having become intense. Marching bythe riverside, they had an opportunity of examining the rudebridges of the country-floors of narrow planks laid horizontally upon rough piers of cocoa trunks, forked to receivecross-pieces, and planted a few feet apart. The structurewas parapeted with coarse basket- work, and sometimessupplied with jungle ropes knotted, by way of hand- rail .These the number and daring of the crocodiles renderednecessary.At Msiki Mguru, a village built upon an island formedby divers rapid and roaring branches of the Rufu, Burton'ssense of humour was much tickled . After a night passedin incessant struggles with ants and other sleep destroyerswhich shall be nameless-he was as yet uninitiated in theAfrican secret of strewing ashes round the feet of the cartelor bedstead-he sallied forth at an early hour to inspect hishosts. They had welcomed him very hospitably, some ofthe women, black but comely, being far from shy; but thelatter when chaffed by the Baloch and asked how theywould like the men in trousers as husbands, simply replied ," Not at all."Later the same day our travellers resumed their march,following the left bank of the Rufu, a broad line of flatboulders, thicket, grass and sedge, with divers tricklingstreams between. The way had become comparativelypopulous, the paths crowded with a grass kilted and skinclad race, chiefly women and small girls leading children,each with a button of hair left upon its scraped crown. Theadults toiling under loads of manioc holcus and maize,poultry, sugar- cane, and water- pots in which tufts of leaveshad been stuck to prevent splashing, were bound for a192

Golio or market held in an open place not far off. Herenone started or fled from the white faces.Ascending a hill and making an abrupt turn from northwest nearly due east, the party found themselves opposite,and about ten miles distant from a tall azure mountaincurtain, the highlands of Fuga. Below, the plains wereeverywhere dotted with hayco*ck villages . Lofty tamerinds,the large leaved plantain, and the parasol-shaped papawgrew wild amongst the thorny trees. After walking a totalof sixteen miles, at about 4 p.m. Burton and his followerswere driven by a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and araw wind, which at once lowered the mercury and madeslave boys shudder and whimper into the palaver- house ofone of the little settlements. The shelter consisted of athatched roof propped by uprights, and guiltless of walls;the floor was half mud, half mould, and the only tenantswere flies and mosquitoes. Fires were lighted at once, andall made themselves as comfortable as conditions wouldadmit.Next morning dawned with one of those steady littlecataclysms seen to best advantage near the Line . But,thoroughly tired of the steaming barn , the men loaded andset out in a lucid interval towards the highlands. As theydrew near the rain shrank to a mere drizzle, graduallyceased, and was replaced by that reeking, fetid heat whichtravellers in the tropics have learned to fear. Everybodyhad a good rest before attempting the steep incline that layin front; the slippery way had wearied the slaves, thoughaided by three porters hired that morning, and the sun,struggling with vapours, was still hot enough to overpowerthe whole party.At p.m. they proceeded to breast the pass leadingfrom the lowland alluvial plain to the threshold of theEthiopic Olympus. The path, gently rising at first, woundamongst groves of coarse bananas, whose arms of satinysheen here smoothed and streaked, there shredded by theView of Fuga 193hill-winds, hid purple flowers and huge bunches of greenfruit. Issuing from this dripping canopy, the travellersascended a steep goat- track, forded a crystal bourn, andhaving reached midway, sat down to enjoy the rarefied air ,which felt as if a weight had been suddenly taken off theirshoulders. The view before them was extensive and suggestive, if not beautiful. The mountain fell under theirfeet in rugged folds, clothed with patches of plantains, wildmulberries, and stately trees whose lustrous green glitteredagainst the red ochreous earth. Opposite and below, halfveiled with rank steam, lay the yellow Nyika and theWazegura lowlands; and beyond the well - wooded line ofthe Rufu, a uniform purple plain stretched to the rim of thesouthern and western horizon, as far as the telescope couldtrace it.Resuming their march, our party climbed rather thanwalked up the steep bed of a torrent. Standing at last onthe Pass summit,' they perceived a curious contrast ofaspects; the northern and eastern slopes bluff and barren,the southern and western teeming with luxuriant vegetation.After another three- mile walk along the flanks of domedhills, and crossing a shallow bourn which nearly froze theirparched feet, they turned a corner, and suddenly sighted,upon the summit of a grassy cone opposite, an unfencedheap of hayco*ck huts, a cluster of beehives with concentricrings-Fuga.The Baloch formed up and fired a volley, and ourtravellers, thus duly announced, were conducted throughfrightened crowds to four tattered huts, standing about300 feet below the settlement, and assigned by superstitionas strangers' quarters. Even the Sultan's son and heirwas expected to abide in this shelter until the "luckyhour " admitted him to the " presence." Cold rain and1 About 4,000 feet above sea level .13194

sharp mountain breezes rendered any accommodation acceptable. The hovels were cleared of sheep and goats ,the valuables housed, fires lighted, while, mindful of themingled inquisitiveness and vanity of these African chiefs,Bombay started on a mission to Sultan Kimwere to requestan interview.Before dark appeared three bare- headed ministers, whodeclared in a long palaver that council must squat on twoknotty points. First, why had these strangers enteredtheir Sultan's country through the lands of a hostile tribe?-an objection already suggested at Pangani; secondly,when would His Highness's Mganga, or magician, findan hour propitious for the audience? One of the Baloch,with rare presence of mind, declared the English travellersto le likewise Waganga, a piece of news which so impressedthe " Cabinet," that they bolted in hot haste to spread itabroad.They soon returned breathless with a summons to the" Palace." The three black wisacres led the way, throughwind, rain, and gathering gloom, to a clump of huts halfhidden by trees, and spreading over a little eminenceopposite to and below Fuga. Only three Baloch wereallowed as escort . They were deprived of their matchlocks; but Burton and his companion, when requested togive up their swords, refused point blank.Sultan Kimwere, who described himself as the " Lionof the Lord, " was an old, old man, emaciated and wrinkled .None could have recognised him as the "leonine, royalpersonage, the tall and corpulent form, with engagingfeatures and large eyes, red and penetrating," that soimpressed Dr. Krapf in 1848. The poor old fellow, whosehands and feet were stained with leprosy, was dying of oldage and disease, and lacked even strength to dress properly,his clothes being as dingy and worn out as his miserablebody. He was covered, as he lay upon his cot of bambooand cowskin, with the doubled cotton cloth called in IndiaThe Rainy Season at Fuga 195a “ do- pattá, " and he rested on a Persian rug apparentlycoeval with his person.His palace was only slightly superior to an ordinary hut ,and very unsavoury must it have been at that moment,crammed with dignitaries no cleaner than their prince.The traveller's errand was enquired, and the duskyassembly being sadly unlettered, Burton, contrary to etiquette on such occasions, had to read out the Sultan ofZanzibar's letter. He was then cordially welcomed toFuga; but Kimwere had strong personal reasons for hisunusual civility. Caring forlittle else save to recoverhealth and strength, and hearing the strangers were ableto scrutinize trees and stones as well as stars, he believed atonce they were European medicine men, and before entering even on the question of presents, he directed them tocompound forthwith a draught which would restore himthat same evening to his pristine vigour. Vainly did Burtonparry this preposterous request by the objection that all hisdrugs had been left at Pangani; the Sultan signified thatthe two physicians might wander over his hills and seek theplants required.

Half an hour passed in palaver, and then the travellersreturned to their quarters. Kimwere's presents, which hisamiable son had tried to intercept, were forwarded withdue ceremony; while Burton found awaiting him a primebullock, a basketful of Indian corn boiled to a thick paste,and balls of unripe bananas peeled and mashed up withsour milk. A truly English meal of indifferently cooked,tough, freshly- killed beef was followed by the heavy sleepof the gorged, which angry blasts, sharp showers, andgroaning trees had no power to disturb.The rainy season had set in at Fuga; during Burton'sstay the weather was a dismal succession of drip, drizzleand drench. So clouded was the sky that not a star couldbe seen; it was simply impossible to take a single observation. The two Englishmen employed their leisure in roaming13-2196

over the hills to gather as much information concerning thecountry as they could extract from the timid inhabitants.Fuga, a heap of some five hundred huts, contained at thattime about 3,000 souls. It was forbidden to foreignersbecause the ruler's wives, to the unconscionable numberof three hundred, inhabited a portion, and it also had thehonour of sheltering the chief magicians, in whose lodgescriminals sought sanctuary. The people of both sexesappeared industrious for Africans, the result of a coldclimate, but they were wretchedly governed; the Sultanselling his subjects, men, women and children, old andyoung, singly or by families, and whole villages. Heavytaxes in kind also enriched the " Lion '" and his family.It may be added, as some excuse, that the said familymust have required a large revenue; each wife was surrounded by slaves, and portioned with a separate hutand plantation, while the sons alone numbered betweeneighty and ninety. Some of the latter had Islamized, buttheir sire remained a pagan.It being out of the question to do much in such weather,and as Burton and Speke were daily expecting their seasoning fever, they remained at Fuga only two days and twonights. On Monday, February 16th, they took leave ofand were formally dismissed by the Sultan. The old manwas cruelly disappointed. Long had he hoped for a whiteMganga, and now two had visited him and were about todepart without an effort to cure him. Doubtless Burtonwould have done his best had he brought his medicinechest, for he mentions, in his usual kind- hearted way, howsad it was to see the wistful, lingering look which accompanied the Lion's farewell-a farewell à tout jamais. But notall the College of Physicians could have restored to thecentenarian his vanished strength, nor patched up for longhis feeble and suffering frame.Our travellers made Kahode the third night, where theyfound Sultan Mamba as disappointed in his fashion as theThe Return to the Sea- Coast 197Old Lion had been in his. No presents , no canoe; so hisonce loved friends mourning the absent Louisa¹ had to bepunted over the deep and rapid Pangani on a bundle ofcocoa fronds, to the imminent peril of their chronometers.From this point the party followed the river course downwards, in order to ascertain by inspection if the account ofits falls and rapids had been exaggerated. The environment was far from genial. Burton wrote his notes amidsta general grumble. The slaves whimpered every time itrained or blew; one of the Baloch declared the rate ofwalking excessive; another asserted that he had twicevisited the Lake Regions of the far interior, but had neverknown such hardships even in his dreams. More valiantmen might have quailed before this wretched march. Wet,wind, thunder and lightning, a track slippery with ooze andmire, crossed at every few yards by thorn trees with spikestwo inches long, overgrown with sedgy spear-grass, andconstantly obstructed by huge half- exposed roots , whichmany a time caused a troublesome fall, must at times havebewildered even Burton's strong brain. No trip in a" bath- chair was that return to the sea- coast.""Nor did matters improve much at Kizungu, an islandsettlement of Wazegura. There was plenty of palaver butnothing to eat. The escort went to bed supperless and ina vile temper; their chiefs would have fared as badly hadnot a villager brought in after dark an elderly hen and ahandful of rice. But here ensued a funny scene. One ofthe Baloch had purchased a slave; by some grave error ofjudgment he had failed to tether this chattel securely, andso, on the very evening after making the investment, hehad the exquisite misery of seeing his dollars bolting at apace which defied pursuit.At sunrise, our party, again on the tramp, stood by nineo'clock on an eminence to view the falls of Pangani. The1 She had to be left at Pangani owing to scarcity of porterage.198

stream swiftly emerging from a dense, dark growth oftropical jungle, hurls itself in three separate sheets, fringedwith flashing foam, down a rugged wall of brown rock.The fall is broken by a midway ledge, whence a secondleap precipitates the waters into a lower basin of mist- veiledstone, arched over by a fog- rainbow, the segment of a circlepainted with faint prismatic hues. The spectacle is granderduring the wet season, when the river, forming a singlehorse-shoe, acquires volume and momentum enough to clearthe step that splits the shrunken supplies in the " dries "; .for of all natural objects the cataract most requires thatfirst element of sublimity, size. Still, even at the date ofBurton's visit, the Pangani Falls with their white sprayand silvery mists, set off by a background of black jungleand by a framework of slaty rain-cloud, offered a picturesufficiently effective to save him from disappointment.Resuming their march, our travellers, after a wearystage of fourteen miles, found themselves once more withinthe hospitable shelter of Chogwe. The Jemadar and hisgarrison received the wanderers in most friendly fashion,marvelling much at their speedy return from Fuga, where,as at Harar, a visitor could never reckon upon promptdismissal. Sultan Kimwere had frequently detained Araband other guests a whole fortnight before his Mgangawould fix upon a fit time for audience.Afew days were devoted to rest and kitchen physic. TheEnglishmen's feet, chafed by heavy boots which many atime had been soaked, roughly dried, and soaked again,were treated with simple remedies, flour and white of egg.Their discomforts alleviated , our travellers refreshed by ashort interval of dolce far niente, paid the Jemadar and hismen for their services, and moved down to Pangani.There Said, who had watched over their chattels with thefidelity of a shepherd's dog, greeted them with joyfuldemonstrations, while Gactano, who had accompanied theparty to Fuga in the capacity of cook- boy, was no doubtHippopotami Hunting 199delighted to jabber to his confrère about the wonders hehad witnessed, and the dangers he had heroically encountered.So far the trial trip had answered all expectations . Onehundred and fifty miles had been covered in eleven days, afair budget of details amassed, fancy maps corrected, and,most important of any, the correct measuring of distancesin that part of Africa had been acquired. Prudence shouldhave suggested another interval of dolce far niente, until thearrival of the expected vessel from Zanzibar. Unluckily,our travellers' sporting instincts, fired en route by thefrequent appearance of hippopotami, drove them to indulge.in a day's hunting, a day which, judging from the numberof unhappy brutes that received their quietus, must havebeen long and fatiguing. I spare my readers the gorydetails. Even Burton grew tired at last of the easy workof reducing poor, foolish Behemoth to a heap of bloodybones; and it would have been well for both slayer andslain had the ugly monsters been left to snort and diveundisturbed in the warm and pleasant waters of the PanganiRiver; for the sporting trip , added to an imprudentgeographical excursion, taken under a burning sun almostimmediately afterwards, brought on the long- expected feverin one of its sharpest forms.Both men were down with it , and a wretched fortnightensued in the Wali's house. The symptoms of this " biliousremittent read like those of virulent influenza sans thecatarrh. It is preceded by general languor and listlessness,with lassitude of limbs and heaviness of head, with chillsand dull pains in the body and extremities, and with afrigid sensation creeping up the spine. Then comes a mildcold fit, succeeded by flushed face, an extensive thirst,burning heat of skin, a splitting headache and nausea.During Burton's first attack he ate nothing for seven days;and, despite the perpetual craving thirst, no liquid wouldremain on the stomach. Speke also was very ill , but less200

so than his friend . Dismal indeed must have been thoselast days at Pangani. The Jemadar seeing he could donothing for the sick men, took leave, committing them toAllah. Sundry citizens intending to be kind and agreeable,but failing as regards the latter point, strolled in asking thesilliest of questions. Repose was out of the question .During the day gnats and flies added another sting to thehorrors of fever; by night, rats nibbled the patients ' feet,impatient for their death. Unspeakably did the invalidslong for the arrival of the vessel promised by ColonelHamerton. Their windows fronted the sea and they spentevery hour of daylight in gazing at the passing sails andexchanging regrets as one by one hove in sight, drew near,and scudded by.There had been a delay. The craft had sailed fromZanzibar as arranged, before the end of February, but thefellows who manned her could not pass unvisited theirhouses on the coast; they wasted a whole week, and didnot make Pangani until the evening of March 5th . Thesick Englishmen and their servants embarked at once;Speke walking to the shore, his companion, who could onlyjust bear the exertion of leaving his room, having to becarried like a paralysed centenarian . On their arrival inport the good consul sent both men to bed, where they remained nearly a week, not recovering normal health untilanother month.

CHAPTER IX

ATnoon, June 14th , 1857, the Artemise, an old frigate be- longing to the Indian Navy, sailed from Zanzibarharbour with the Expedition on board.Nearly four months had elapsed since Burton and Spekereturned from Pangani. Their time had been occupied inbuying outfit, which could be more economically providedduring the trading season, and in arranging for escort andporterage. The Sayyid himself ordered Said bin Salim tothe coast to engage men for the up- country journey; andhad this " respectable person " executed the errand properly, he would have spared his employers much troubleand fatigue. Unluckily, the mongrel Arab was such anarrant rascal--a fact soon discovered-that he never performed any duty attended with the slightest risk to hisprecious self with zeal or thoroughness . So when Burtonand his companion arrived at Kaole they found that out ofthe 170 men required only 36 were available. The Balochtold off by the Sayyid as guard, and the personal following,including the Portuguese lads and Bombay, amounted, alltold, to 12 persons; and although the escort was presentlyincreased by 36 soldiers, Burton knew his caravan wassadly undermanned. Porters were indispensable. Cotton,cloth, brass, wire, and various sorts of beads are a bulkyform of currency, and the savage tribes amongst whom ourexplorers were to travel recognised no other, cowries notbeing then circulated in Ugogo and Unyamwezi. Besidesthese loads an abundance of ammunition was required, notto mention stores of all kinds. So, at the very outset, as Isaid before, the invaluable Louisa had to be left behind,202

to her owners inexpressible annoyance, and many a lessimportant possession kept her company.66 ""Hopeless chaos seemed reigning at Kaole, but thestrong man was not dismayed. Soon after Burtonappeared on the scene something like order was evolved.Asses were purchased, drivers persuaded to accompanythem (African donkeys require strong measures to coaxthem forward on their daily stage of duty) , and, better still ,thirty-five additional porters who sensibly preferred travelling through the more dangerous tracts without the compromising presence of white men, were engaged to meet thecaravan with the greater part of the luggage at Zungomero,in K'hutu, a safe rendezvous of foreign merchants. Asregards credentials, our explorer was well provided . TheSayyid had given introductory letters to Musa Mzuri theprincipal trader in Unyamwezi, to the Arabs there resident,and to any subject who might be travelling in the interior.Bidding what proved a last farewell to good ColonelHamerton, Burton, who had been superintending operations from the Artemise, going to and fro from thefrigate, justly deeming the disorderly natives would bemore manageable within reach of her guns, landed definitively at Kaole, on the Zanzibar coast, June 27th. Duringa short delay there he was much amused while settlingaccounts with the collector of customs, one Ladha Damha,at overhearing a conversation between this worthy and hisclerk. Our explorer had insisted upon their inserting inthe estimate of necessaries the sum required to purchase aboat on the shores of Tanganyika."Will he ever reach it? " asked good old Ladha, conveying his question through the medium of Cutchee, adialect of which, with the inconsequence of a Hindu, heassumed the traveller to be profoundly ignorant."Of course not," replied the clerk. "What is he,that he should pass through Ugogo? " a province about half way.A Mganga Prophesies 203Thus cheered and fortified , Burton, accompanied bySaid, Valentine, three Baloch, and three asses bought thatmorning at the custom house, started for Kiringani , whitherSpeke had preceded him with the bulk of the guard. Anotherday or two's delay ensued in that stifling village; and ourexplorer, who perceived by the hang- dog look of the Jemadarin command of the escort that the man's spirits requiredsome form of artificial stimulation, engaged a Mganga.This sage, after having been carefully bribed to foretellprosperity for the expedition, and prosperity only, graciouslyconsented to display his prophetic gift . Taking a seatopposite Burton, the ancient demanded a second fee, thenindulged in a solemn and dignified pinch of snuff. Presentlyhe drew forth a large gourd containing the great medicine,upon which no profane eye might gaze; the vessel repeatedlyshaken gave out a vulgar sound as if filled with pebbles andbits of metal. Placing the implement upon the ground,Thaumaturges extracted from his mat- bag two thick goat'shorns connected by a snake- skin, decorated with bunchesof curiously shaped iron bells. He held one in the lefthand, and with the right caused the point of the other toperform sundry gyrations, now directing it towards Burton,then towards himself, then at the awe- struck bystanders;waving his head, muttering, whispering, swaying his bodyto and fro, and at times violently rattling the bells . Whenfully primed with the spirit of prophecy, he spoke out prettymuch in the style of his brotherhood all the world over.The journey would be prosperous . There would be muchtalking but little killing. Before navigating the Sea ofUjiji, a sheep or a parti- coloured hen should be killed andthrown into the lake. Successful voyage; plenty of ivoryand slaves; happy returns to wife and family.At 4 p.m. June 29th, with all the usual noise and confusion attendant on a start, the expedition moved slowlyonwards to Bomani. The route finally decided upon wasthe Arab line of traffic first laid open to Lake Tanganyika204

by Sayf bin Said in 1825. Burton's caravan, organisedafter the normal coast model, contained, as we shall see,certain elements of success, but it was badly equipped andundermanned. This was partly owing to want of funds(Speke and Grant's cost £2,500, and Stanley's last,£27,000), also to the then scarcity of porters on the coast.Burton, too, had been unfortunate in his men.Said wasa dishonest old coward, the Baloch were unusually ferociouseven for Baloch, and the guide, Kidogo, who did not jointhe expedition until its arrival at Zungomero, was unequalto his duties. To sum all in Burton's own words, “ Therewas not a soul in the caravan, from Said bin Salim to theveriest pauper, that did not desert or attempt to do so; butwith ten thousand pounds we might have gone anywhereor done anything; as it was, we had to do what we could."During the first week they crept along at a snail's pace,so slowly, indeed, that they could hear the booming of theArtemise's evening gun. It was judged safer to advancewith some deliberation, as the maritime tribes throughwhose lands they were passing were treacherous to a degree.Not long before M. Maizan had been cruelly murdered, anddismal stories passed from mouth to mouth as the villagewhere the deed was done came in sight. They were unmolested, however; and as the country itself was uninteresting, plain, swamp and jungle, instead of any detaileddescription, a sketch of a single day's march of this " porterjourney " may give my reader some idea of Burton'stortoise- like progress towards the Sea of Ujiji.At 5 a.m. all still silent as the tomb, even the watchman nodding over his fire. About an hour later red-facedchanticleer-there were sometimes half a dozen of thesefeathered camp followers, prime favourites with the porters,who carried them on their poles by turns-flapped his wingsand crew a salutation to the dawn. At the first glimmer oflight the torpid Goanese, trembling with cold ( about 60° F.) ,built up the fire, and prepared breakfast for their masters.Life on the March 205This meal consisted of tea or coffee, when procurable, orrice-milk and cakes raised with whey, or a porridge- likewater-gruel. The Baloch required more substantial food;chanting their spiritual songs that followed prayer, theysquatted round a cauldron placed upon a roaring fire , andfortified the inner man with boiled meat and toasted pulse.About 5 a.m. the camp was fairly roused, and low chatting arose from all sides. This was a critical moment. Theporters might have promised over night to start early andmake a long march, but, " uncertain, coy, and hard toplease, " they changed their minds like the fair sex, the chillymorning rendering them quite unlike the comparativelyactive men of the preceding evening. Were the weathertoo uninviting, or had they symptoms of fever, it were vainto expect a move. If, however, a difference of opinionexisted, a little active stimulating would force on a march.Then a louder conversation led to cries of " Kwecha!Pakia! Hopa! Collect! Pack! Set out! "—and tosome peculiarly African boasts, " I am an ass; I am acamel! " reminding one of the yet more spirited announcement of Dickens' raven; all accompanied by a roar of bawling voices, drumming, whistling, and the braying of horns.The personal servants struck the tents and received smallburdens which, when possible, they shirked. Sometimesthe guide, Kidogo, did his master the honour to enquire theprogramme of the day; if ill - tempered he omitted that ceremony. The porters stuck to the fires until driven awayand compelled to unstack the loads piled before the tents,when they gradually shouldered their packs and poured outof the camp. Burton and Speke, if well enough to ride,mounted their asses, which were led by the gun- bearers; ifunfit for exercise, they were borne in hammocks slung tolong poles and carried by two men at a time. Most part ofthe journey, however, Burton was able to perform on foot.All being ready, the Kirangozi, or guide, selected hisload, ever one of the lightest, raised his flag , a plain blood-206

red, emblem of caravans from Zanzibar, and, followed by aporter tom-tomming upon a kettle- drum much resembling aEuropean hour- glass, proudly strutted in front of the shouting, yelling mob. He was a striking personage; how thecaravan could have dispensed with him so far as Zungomeroseems hard to imagine. Robed in the splendour of scarletbroadcloth, a narrow piece about six feet long with a centralaperture for the neck, and with streamers dangling beforeand behind, his head decorated with the spoils of a blackand white tippet- monkey and capped with a tall cup- shapedbunch of owl's feathers, he must have looked like someworthy judge in full paraphernalia who had run mad in thewilds. His followers gradually forming into Indian file,wound behind him like a monstrous land serpent over daleand plain. The bearers of cloth and beads, poised uponeither shoulder, or sometimes raised upon the head for rest,packs that resembled huge bolsters, followed the ivorycarriers , whose place was immediately after the guide . Themaximum weight of burden was about seventy poundsavoirdupois; but in Eastern Africa, as elsewhere, theweakest go to the wall, the sturdiest fellows were usuallythe least loaded. Behind the cloth and bead bearersstraggled porters laden with lighter stuff, hides, salt,tobacco, iron hoes, boxes and bags, beds and tents, potsand water-gourds . In separate parties marched the armedmen, women and children, and the asses neatly laden withsaddle- bags of giraffe and buffalo hide. A Mganga accompanied the caravan as chaplain and doctor; he neverdisdained to act porter, but invariably claimed in virtue ofhis calling little to carry and plenty to eat. The rear wasbrought up by the owners, hardest worked of all , who oftenremained a little behind to superintend matters and to prevent desertion.The costume of the guide has already been described;as regards that of his fellow Africans it was scanty save inthe item of ornament. Some of the men wore a strip ofLife on the March 207zebra's mane bound round the head with the bristly hairstanding out like a saint's gloria: others preferred a longbit of stiffened ox- tail rising like a unicorn's horn at least afoot above the forehead. Other adornments were fillets ofwhite, blue or scarlet cloth , and huge bunches of ostrich,crane and jay's feathers crowning the head like tufts ofcertain fowls. Massive ivory bracelets or heavy brassbangles encircled the arms, strings of beads the necks,while small iron bells strapped below the knee orankle by the coxcombs of the party, tinkled like theheroine's of our nursery rhyme. All carried some weapon,the heaviest armed a bow, a quiver full of arrows, two orthree spears, and a little battle- axe borne on the shoulder.The normal recreations of a march were whistling,singing, drumming, and abundant squabbling - in fact,perpetual noise. On the road it was considered prudent aswell as pleasurable to be as loud as possible, in order toimpress upon plunderers an exaggerated idea of thecaravan's strength. When friendly caravans met, thetwo Kirangozis sidled up in stage fashion with a strideand a stop, and with sidelong looks pranced until arrivedwithin a short distance, then suddenly and simultaneouslyducking, they came to loggerheads and exchanged a buttviolently as fighting rams. This might be mistaken forthe beginning of a faction , but if there were no bad bloodit usually ended in shouts of laughter.At about 8 A.M. , when the fiery sun topped the trees anda pool of water or a shady place appeared, the planting ofKidogo's red flag and a musket shot or two announced ashort halt. The porters stacked their loads and loitered inparties, drinking , smoking tobacco or bhang, and disputingeagerly with regard to the resting- place for the night. Onlong marches Burton and his companion then seized theopportunity of discussing the contents of two baskets,which were carried by a slave under the eye of theGoanese.208

Plenty of nourishment was required . On sunny daysthe heated earth , against which the hornie*st sole neverbecame proof, tried the feet like polished leather boots ona quarter- deck near the Line. Throughout Eastern Africamade roads were then unknown. Even the most frequentedroutes were mere foot- tracks like goat- walks, one or twospans broad; while during the rains the path, such as itwas, got overgrown with vegetation. In jungly parts thetracks were mere tunnels through thorns and under branchytrees, which cruelly hindered the men by catching their loads. In others they spanned miry swamps intersectedwith rivulets, breast deep , with muddy bottoms and steep,slippery banks. As to the mountainous regions, the unlucky porters had to swarm like apes up almost perpendicular precipices, leaving the unburdened blacks to dragalong the asses and assist their white employers.The final halt was therefore well earned. But it alwaysgave rise to many quarrels. Each selfish body hurriedforward to secure the best bothy in the Kraal, or mostcomfortable hut in the village. For these halts weremanaged in various ways. Some tribes admitted strangersinto their villages, others refused at any cost. In a thirdcase, if unsociable natives were timid or fairly harmless,caravans would seize the best lodgings by force; while, ina fourth, strangers judged it safer to pitch their tents inclear, open spaces. However lodged, the more energeticmembers at once applied themselves to making all snug forthe night; some hewing down young trees, others collecting heaps of leafy branches, one acting architect, and manybringing in huge loads of firewood. To the East African abivouac in the open appears an intolerable hardship; andwhen the sudden changes of temperature are considered, itis not astonishing that any shelter, even that of a thickbush, is preferred to none. A heap of thorns round thecamp completed the arrangements, and then all appliedthemselves to the pleasant work of refection.Life on the March 209Burton's day, when he was not on the march, was spentchiefly under a spreading tree, seldom in his flimsy tent.His occupations were writing his diary, sketching, and attending to the business of his caravan. Cloth had to bedoled out, porters persuaded to scour the country for provisions, "housekeeping " supervised, for provisions were anever fruitful source of dissension. Food of some sort wasgenerally procurable; it varied from holcus, bean-broth, orleathery goat- steak, to " fixings " of delicate venison , fattedcapon, and young guinea- fowl or partridge with sauce compounded of bruised rice and milk. Dinner was at 4 p.m.At first the Goanese declined to cook " pretty dishes, " suchas pasties and rissoles , on the plea that such efforts wereimpracticable on the march, but they changed their mindswhen warned that persistence in their theory might lead topainful results .At eventide the travellers were treated to a little music,vocal and instrumental. Knowing something of Kisiwahili,Burton was highly flattered by the following composition ,which his impudent blacks bawled out in his hearing:"The wicked white man goes from the shore,Grub, grub!We will follow as long as he gives us good food,Grub, grub!We will traverse the hill and the stream with this wicked white man,Grub, grub! ""It is possible, " said George Eliot, "that Brazilianmonkeys see hardly anything in us. " Evidently the blackmembers ofthe procession wending towards Ujiji entertainedbut a poor opinion of their leader.A travelling party of pedestrians and asses, mostlyloaded, could hardly be expected to advance very rapidly.Nevertheless, from June 27th to July 14th the caravan hadcovered 118 miles, and succeeded in safely entering theprovince of K'hutu. This seems for Africa fairly rapidmarching, as Stanley, whose caravans were invariably14210

better equipped than Burton's, mentions seven miles perdiem his maximum rate of progress. At first K'hutupromised well, the dense thicket opened out into a finepark country, peculiarly rich in game, where the calabashand giant trees of the seaboard gave way to mimosas andgums. Large gnus pranced about, pawing the ground andshaking their formidable manes; antelopes clustered together on the plain, or travelled in herds to slake theirthirst at the river. The homely cry of the partridgesounded from every brake, and numberless guinea-fowlslooked like large bluebells upon the trees. Beasts andbirds afforded good meals; but presently it became necessary to wade through bogs from a hundred yards to a milein length; the land appeared rotten, and the jungle smeltof death . The weather was a succession of raw mist,torrents of rain, and fiery sunbursts. In spite of thelatter, the humid vegetation dripped with dew until midday, and rendered the black earth, even when free frombogs, greasy and slippery. K'hutu was a home of miasma.Small wonder that by the time our Englishmen reachedDut'humi, Burton had an attack of marsh fever, whichprostrated him more or less for twenty days. Speke sufferedeven more acutely, having a sunstroke superadded thatseriously affected his brain. The two Goanese, who mighthave assisted their sick masters, seized the opportunity toyield themselves wholly to maladies brought on by overeating, threatening, indeed, then and there to give up theghost. Burton's marvellous courage under physical suffering, rare even in a brave man, never shone more brightlythan on this occasion. The odious slave traffic was in fullswing. A raid took place during his illness at Dut'humi,and as soon as he was able to move, with his head stillswimming and hands yet trembling from weakness, heheaded a small expedition against the robber, rescued sevenunhappy wights, including two decrepit old women, whothanked him with tears of joy, and restored them to theirThrough K'hutu 211homes. This feat was all the more admirable as thecaravan was causing him great uneasiness. Said, astreasurer, had proved a very Judas; thirteen months' supplies had disappeared in as many weeks, and the asses weredying so rapidly that at one time it seemed as though theexpedition must come to a standstill.Struggling on again through horrid K'hutu, they crosseda steep and muddy bed, knee- deep even in the dry season,and entered fields under the outlying hillocks of the highlands. These low cones, like similar formations in India,are not inhabited; they are even more malarious than theplains. The surface is rocky, and the woodage, not ceasingas in higher elevations, extends from base to summit.Beyond the cultivation the route plunges into a junglewhere the European traveller realises every preconceivedidea of Africa's aspect, at once hideous and grotesque.The black greasy earth, veiled with thick shrubbery,supports in the more open spaces screens of tiger andspeargrass, twelve or thirteen feet high, every blade afinger's breadth; and the towering trees are often clothedfrom root to twig with huge epiphytes, forming heavycolumns of densest verdure, and clustering upon the topsin semblance of enormous birds' nests. The ground everrain-drenched, emits the odour of sulphuretted hydrogen;and that no feature of miasma should be lacking to complete the picture, filthy heaps of the rudest hovels, builtin holes in the jungle, sheltered their few miserable inhabitants whose frames were lean with constant intoxication,and whose limbs distorted by ulcerous sores, attested thehostility of Nature to mankind.Two days' tramp through the fetid flat brought ourparty to the nearest outposts of Zungomero, or third of theK'hutu lowlands. Here were several caravans with pitchedtents, piles of ivory and crowds of porters; and here waitedthe gang of thirty-six prudent souls who had preceded ourtraveller through the more dangerous regions . Unfortu14---2212

nately, owing to numerous desertions, even more porterswere required, so a halt of a fortnight was necessary in aspot described as a very hot-bed of pestilence. It waschosen by the Arabs and others as a rendezvous on accountof provisions being cheap and plentiful. Grain was soabundant when Burton passed through in 1857, that theinhabitants existed almost entirely upon pombe, or holcusbeer, a practice readily imitated by their visitors. Bhangand the datura plant, dear to asthmatics, growing wild,added to the attractions of the place. Itslist of fascinations, however, ended here, for our traveller declared thatZungomero very nearly accommodated him with a wetgrave. His only lodging was under the closed eaves ofa hut built African fashion , one abode within the other.The roof was a sieve, the walls were systems of chinks,and the floor was a sheet of mud. Outside the rain pouredpertinaciously, as if K'hutu had been Ulster, and thetangled bank of the Mgeta River, lying within pistol shot.of his hovel, added its quota of fell miasma. To crownthe general discomfort, the Baloch, expecting everything tobe done for them by the porters, became almost mutinousbecause left to make shelters for themselves, and nearlycaused a riot amongst the villagers by robbery and generalmisconduct.Fortunately, the next station presented a sort of transformation scene. From central Zungomero to the nearestascent ofthe Usagara Mountains is a march of only five hours.But at a station called the " Little Tamarind, " not morethan three hundred feet above the ghastly plains, therewas a wondrous change. Pure, sweet mountain air, clearblue skies lending their tints to highland ridges, in lieuof pelting rain and clammy mists veiling a gross growth.of fetor. Dull mangrove and dismal jungle were supplanted by tall solitary trees, amongst which the loftytamarind rose conspicuously graceful; and swamps cut bya network of streams and stagnant pools, gave way to dry,A Death March 213healthy slopes with short steep pitches and gently shelvinghills. During the first night, the soothing murmur of astream mingled with the faint sighing of the zephyrs, whilethe moonbeams lay like sheets of snow upon the ruddyuplands. Burton never wearied of contemplating thescene, for contrasting with the beauty around him, stillstretched in sight the Slough of Despond, unhappy Zungomero, lead-coloured above, mud-coloured below, windswept, fog-veiled, and deluged by clouds that dared notapproach these delectable mountains.Sad sights, however, presented themselves even here.The path which ran over a succession of short steep hillswith a rufous brown soil, dotted with blocks and stones,and thinly covered with grass, had been traversed onlytwenty- four hours before by a caravan smitten with smallpox. The track was marked by many swollen corpses ofporters who had fallen behind and perished unaided amidstthese solitary wilds. The poor creatures, almost blindedby disease, had staggered along until strength departed,and then lain down to die. Near most villages, detachedtents were set apart for victims of this horrible malady;but, on the march, if one fell , his heavily- burdened brethren could not have assisted him even had they the will .Burton's Moslems passed these melancholy remains withaverted faces and exclamations of disgust; while one decrepit old porter gazed at them and wept with terror lesthe should share their fate.At Zonhwe, near a little river of that name still in theseEast African Ghauts, the expedition again threatened tocollapse. The instruments, except two valuable thermometers, had been broken or rendered almost useless; anotherass had died, reducing the number to twenty-three, and theBaloch and porters contemplated a strike. The Jemadaraccused Burton of starving his party. He was told not to"eat abominations, " upon which, clapping hand to hilt,he theatrically forbade our traveller to repeat the words.214

3

Burton at once used the same phrase half a dozen times,upon which the old scoundrel departed to hold a colloquywith his men.The debate was purposely conducted in so loud a tonethat every word reached the master's ears. One of theBaloch threatened to take " that man's life , " at the risk ofchains for the remainder of his days. Another opined that" in all Nazarenes there is no good "; and each complainedhe had no respect, no food, and, above everything, no meat.Presently they formally demanded one sheep per diemmen who, when at Zanzibar, saw flesh once a year. Thisbeing inadmissible, they asked for four cloths as daily pay,instead of one. Receiving a contemptuous answer, theymarched away in a body, noisily declaring that they weregoing to make instant preparations for departure.And depart they did-for one day. Next morning, asthe asses were being loaded for the march, the Jemadar,looking more crestfallen and foolish than he had ever lookedbefore, suddenly re- appeared, took Burton's hand, and declared that, so far from deserting him, he was desertingthem. The company, too, professed themselves profoundlypenitent. They had taken opium; they had been temptedby the Evil One; they promised to reform . Burton gavethem a lecture, and then, with incredible efforts , started hiscaravan once more on its disorderly way.Fresh horrors presented themselves. Huts torn andhalf consumed, the ground strewn with nets and drums,cots and fragments of rude furniture, testified to a recentslave raid. Two wretched villagers were seen lurking in thejungle, not daring to revisit the wreck of their homes.must be remembered, however, by those who blame theMoslem kidnappers so severely, that their depredations arerendered not only possible but easy by the constant internecine wars of the Africans themselves. Were the nativesof the intertropical provinces united, they could soon driveevery Arab maurauder in the land into the deep waters ofInhospitality of the Natives 215their own magnificent lakes. Instead of this, each separatetribe is ever on the war- path, and, when victorious, as eagerin bartering their black prisoners as any slave dealer in theland. Truthful travellers, one and all, gave a dismal account of the " perverse race of Kush. " Nowhere is the"noble savage " less worthy of the epithet. The nameof hospitality, except for interested motives, is unknown.These people will refuse a mouthful of water to a mandying of thirst; they will not stretch out a hand to saveanother's goods, though worth thousands of dollars. Theirsquabbling and clamour defy description; and after a cuff aman will cover his face with his hands and cry as if hisheart would break. Marriage is a mere matter of buyingand selling; their greediness and voracity know no bounds,and their propensity for intoxication was gratified withpombe long before a drop of trade rum was ever broughtinto the country. As for their faith , if indeed it can becalled such, it seems a loathsome form of demonology orfetishism. A common spectacle in many parts of thecountry through which our traveller passed was a heap ortwo of ashes with a few blackened human bones; oftenclose to the larger circles, where the father and mother hadbeen burnt, a smaller heap showed some wretched childhad shared their fate. And the sorcerer and sorceress willnot only confess, but boast of and believe in their owncriminality, the offspring of mental imbecility stimulatedby traditional hallucination.By-and-by, ants red and black reminded the expeditionof their existence. Men and beasts were rendered half madby the cruel stings. The red variety crossed the road indense masses like the close columns of an army. Bothkinds know neither fear nor fatigue; they rush to annihilation without hesitation, and are expelled from a hut by no milder means than fire and boiling water. The black menalso suffered severely from the tzetze. This horrid fly, thetorment of Cape travellers, was known in the vicinity of216

Kilwa as the " little sword." On the line followed by theexpedition it was found extending from Usagara westwardas far as the Central Lakes; its usual habitat the jungle stripwhich encloses each patch of cultivated ground. Possiblyat some future day when the country becomes more populated, this pest may be exterminated by the introduction ofsome insectivorous bird, an importation which would proveone of the greatest benefactors that Central Africa hadever known.Before describing the crossing of the Rubeho Pass, thethird or westernmost range of the Usagara Mountains, a fewwords are necessary concerning this region . Extendingfrom the western frontiers of K'hutu to the province of Ugogo-its diagonal breadth is eighty- five geographical miles:native caravans, if lightly laden, usually traverse it in threeweeks. The Usagara chain is the only important elevationin a direct line from the coast to western Unyamwezi, andalthough holding but a low grade in the general system ofthe earth's mountains, it possesses peaks that rise from6,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level .From its mingling of lively colours, Usagara delightsthe eye after the monotonous tracts of verdure at Zanzibarand in the river valleys. The subsoil displayed in itsdeeper ravines is granite, greenstone, schist, or a coarsebrown sandstone; the soil is either an ochreish brick- red,or a dull grey, the débris of comminuted felspar whichappears dazzlingly white under the sun's rays. Its vegetation is of a pleasantly varied character: it is a land ofjungle- flowers and agreeably acid fruits, and in the plainsthe air is heavy with the jasmine's delicious perfume, withthe odour of a kind of sage, and the fragrant exhalations ofthe mimosa flowers hanging like golden balls from theirgreen-clad boughs. The tamarind, everywhere growingwild, attains a gigantic height. On the steep hillsides ,which here and there display signs of cultivation, flourishqueer parachute- shaped mimosas, with tall and slenderA Difficult Pass 217trunks, crowned by domes of verdure rising in tiers oneabove the other like umbrellas in a crowd.The climate for Africa is chilly. In the higher levels itrecalls the Neilgherry Hills in Western India. Comparedwith Unyamwezi, these mountains are a sanitorium, andEuropean travellers might do well, when they have theleisure, to remain there awhile until acclimatised. CertainlyBurton mentions a formidable list of maladies then prevalent; but these may have been partly due to the uncleanly,careless habits of the natives, the Wasagara and theirsub-tribes, who, like most of the races encountered byour traveller, were cruel, treacherous, cowardly anddirty.The journey across Usagara might almost be describedas pleasant but for the terrific pass which barred the wayto Ugogo. Burton himself contemplated with doggeddespair an apparently perpendicular path that ignoreda zigzag, and the roots and boulders hemmed in withtangled vegetation up which he, Speke, and the starving asses were about to toil. Speke was so weak that herequired the aid of two or three supporters. Burtonmanaged with one. After rounding in two places walllike sheets of rock, they faced a long steep of loose whitesoil and rolling stones, up which they could see the portersswarming more like baboons than human beings. Anotherdanger of a different description threatened. As theEnglishmen moved slowly and painfully onward, the war cry suddenly rang from hill to hill, and Indian filesof archers and spearmen streamed like lines of black antsin all directions down the paths. A predatory tribe hadawaited the caravan's departure, and seized the opportunityof plundering a neighbouring village. One of the portersproposed a sauve qui peut, leaving his employers to theirfate, employers ever held to be the head and front of alldanger and evil fortune. His advice was not followed,though for no disinterested reasons, and the " braves'218

passed by, too intent on their work of destruction to molestthe strangers.Resting every few yards, then clinging to their guides.and advancing step by step, Burton and Speke, after aboutsix hours' labour, reached the summit of Rubeho. Therethey sat down amidst aromatic flowers and shrubs to recover strength and breath . The view disclosed a retrospectof difficulties happily overcome. Below the foreground ofgiant fractures, huge rocks and detached boulders emergingfrom a shaggy growth of mountain vegetation , with forestglens and hanging woods black with shade gathering in thesteeper folds, appeared, distant already, large square villagesof the Wasagara, streaked with lines of tender green thatdenoted the watercourses, and patched with black wheregrass had been freshly fired . A glowing sun gilded acanopy of dense smoke which curtained the nearer plain,and in the background the hazy atmosphere painted withazure the broken wall of hill traversed the previous day.Revived by a veritable tramontana which blew icilydown the Pass, our Englishmen advanced over rollingground decked with cactus and mimosa, to a small anddirty kraal in a hollow flanked by heights. Here a haltwas called. Speke had been taken so ill , that a cool, quietnight was an absolute necessity. Happily, the rest andfine air combined gave him strength to move next morning;and the scramble downhill to the plains of Ugogo wassafely accomplished with no worse disaster than the loss ofsome baggage.Ugogo, the reader may remember, was the ultimatelimit applied to the prospects of our expedition by theworthy clerk of Ladha Damha at Kaole. Despite hismelancholy predictions, the caravan succeeded in traversingthis province almost unhindered . The natives, the Wagogo,are a mongrel race, many of whom converse fluently inthe Kisiwahili, or coast tongue. Milk, honey and eggswere freely offered for sale , but all proved of the indifferentThe Route through Ugogo 219quality we are accustomed to in a second- rate Englishlodging. Speke, luckily, had so far recovered from his lastattack as to be able to supplement the larder by many afine brace of partridge and fat guinea-fowl; but as theparty proceeded they found game had suffered from thefrequent halts of caravans, and from the carnivorous propensities of the people, who, huntsmen all , leave their preyno chance against nets and arrows, pitfalls and packs ofyelping curs.Ugogo, though in parts rich in grain, is mostly an ugly,arid province. Its plains, yellow with stubble, and brownblack with patches of jungle based upon a brickdust soil,give it a general aspect of a glaring flat, darkened by longgrowths of acrid and saline plants. There are no rivers,the periodical rains being carried off by large nullahs,whose clay banks are split during the hot season intopolygonal figures, like piles of columnar basalt . On thesparkling nitrous salinas and dun- coloured plains, themirage faintly resembles the effects of refraction in desertArabia. Towards the end of December begins the rainyseason, with the wind shifting from east to north and northeast, and blowing steadily from the high grounds eastwardand westward of the Victoria Nyanza, which have beensaturated by heavy falls commencing in September.By the advice of his guide, Burton chose the middleroute through the hundred miles of Ugogo, principallybecause it was infested by only four sultans, or chiefs; theother roads were guarded by more. Each chief leviedheavy blackmail for the privilege of passing through hisdominions; there was no regular tariff, but the sum wasfixed by the traveller's dignity and outfit. The most powerful of the quartet, one Magomba, was impelled by combined cupidity and inquisitiveness to enter Burton's tent;pride and a propensity for strong drink restrained the threeothers. His highness did not present a very imposing spectacle. Picture a black and wrinkled elder, drivelling and220

decrepit, with a half bald pate furnished with a few straggling iron-grey corkscrews, his only covering a greasy loincloth, his neck decorated with strings of beads, his skinnyshanks with large anklets of brass wire, and his big blackears nearly split asunder with huge brass rings. Nor washis deportment superior to his appearance. He chewed hisquid, expectorated incessantly, asked idiotic questions, andbegged for every article he saw. He demanded as tribute,cottons, domestics, cloths, beads, brass wire; and onreceiving the goods in question , clamoured for more. Thiswas extra trying, as before his august appearance on thescene, his favourite spouse, hideous as himself, had put inherclaim; and who could refuse a royal lady? Truly thankfulmust the highly honoured but sadly plundered strangershave felt when these greedy highnesses departed and leftthem free to resume their difficult march. Certainlyanother sultan proved just as rapacious, but as he lay inhis hut half stupefied with pombe, he spared the Englishmen a personal visitation.Day after day passed with the usual incidents repeatedwith exasperating monotony. The Baloch gave way to fitsof rage, the porters lost their loads and often failed to findthem; Said, cheating ever, quaked over dangers real andimaginary; grumbling and quarrelling never ceased. Theplains of Ugogo were safely traversed and the caravanentered Unyamwezi, then the African explorer's Land ofPromise; but the pleasures of hope were sadly damped bythe folly, recklessness and ingratitude of the sable environ.ment. Bombay alone showed his masters any humanfeeling. On one occasion he saved Burton's life . Ourtraveller, feeling unusually faint and exhausted, had allowedhis party to precede him and then became too weak tofollow. Good Bombay however soon missed him andreturned to his assistance, not only with refreshments, butleading an ass on which the almost prostrate man wasbrought into camp. But there was no other friend among1"Hearts of Flesh "221the unruly crew, and Burton must have felt his heartlightened of half its load when on the 7th November, 1857,the 134th day after leaving the coast, he entered Kazeh,the principal station of Eastern Unyamwezi and the capitalvillage of the Omani merchants.The site of Kazeh was the pleasantest our travellers hadyet visited. A plateau in the depths of the tropics madetemperate by altitude of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sealevel, studded with hills rising abruptly from fertile, grassyplains, and broken by patches of cultivation, by valleys,and by forests of rich growth. The houses too, Moslemmodifications of the African Tembe, appeared far superiorin comfort to any shelter Burton had hitherto enjoyed.But it was not merely the pleasant position and comparative luxury of Kazeh that delighted him; how rapturouslyhe hailed the change from the society of his surly Africansto that of the courtly Arabs he alone could fully tell. TheMoslems received him like a brother, led him and hiscompanion to a vacant house, supplied them with provisions, and, after leaving the strangers in accordance witha gracious Arab custom, a day to recover from fatigue,proceeded to show them such hospitality as only thesepeople are capable of. Burton described his receptionas meeting with hearts of flesh after hearts of stone. "Musa Mzuri (handsome Moses) , the principal merchantsettled at Unyanyembe, to whose protection Burton andSpeke had been commended by the Sayyid of Zanzibar,happened to be away on a trading trip. His agent, Snaybin Amir, a Harisi Arab, came forward to perform theguest rites. No record of the Tanganyika and the VictoriaNyanza Lakes would be complete without a notice of thisremarkable man. Burton, who always recorded any assistance rendered by the talents of others, frankly acknowledgedhis obligations to his gifted host. From his instructiveand varied conversation was derived not a little of theinformation contained in the " Lake Regions of Central222

Africa " -conversation which we must bear in mind onlyBurton could understand, as Speke's solitary linguisticacquirement was Hindustani. Snay had travelled threetimes between Unyamwezi and the coast, besides navigating Lake Tanganyika and visiting the northern kingdoms of Karagwah and Uganda; and he was as familiarwith the languages, the religion, manners and ethnologyof the African as with those of his natal Oman. Bythe aid of his distances and directions, Burton was enabled to lay down the southern limits of the Victorianlake, and so prepared the way for Speke's flying trip.But Snay bin Amir was not merely clever. Some ofthe loftiest characters, nothwithstanding the comparatively low moral standard of their environment, have beenmet with in China, in Japan, in Arabia, in far Thibet.This Arab ivory merchant and slave dealer certainly appearsas an example. Sixteen years before Burton's visit toKazeh he had begun life as a confectioner at Maskat. In1856 he had risen to be one of the wealthiest traders inEast Africa. Success only developed his excellent qualities.His kindness and generosity never failed, though not onemember of the expedition could make the smallest return ,and several must have caused him a vast amount of trouble.Burton in particular he treated like a brother- doctoredhim, feasted him, lodged him, warehoused his goods,engaged porters in place of deserters, and settled quarrelsinnumerable. During two halts at Kazeh, one on the wayto Tanganyika, the other on the return march, he passedevery evening with his favourite guest, and during thisprolonged intercourse no evil feeling of any kind appearsto have betrayed itself. In appearance he was a middleaged man with a somewhat Quixotic look, high-featured,sunken-eyed, tall and large- limbed.1 " TheLake Regions of Central Africa, " two vols. Longman, Green,Longman & Roberts, 1850.5A Lady-Doctor attends Burton. 223Good Snay bin Amir, with your talents, your high senseof honour, your warm and generous heart, you deserved akinder fate! For the second expedition commanded by Spekeand Grant found the neighbouring villages ruined, andKazeh itself on the verge of destruction . The merchantshad refused to pay a tax imposed by a headman of Unyamyembe, hence a war which ended in the slaughter of Burton'sfaithful friend, who, too proud to run from his´horde ofenemies, lay down when abandoned by his negroes, andgave up his brave soul to Allah.During five weeks our traveller and his caravan remained at Kazeh enjoying the hospitality of the Arabresidents. With work yet to do, it must not be supposedBurton delayed so long without compulsion . Twentymarches only would conduct him to Ujiji upon theTanganyika, for, thanks to his clever host, no uncertaintyremained concerning the route and the goal. But fatiguehad told severely upon him and his followers, and the"bilious remittent once more declared itself. Again thefamiliar symptoms, distressing weakness, hepatic derangement, perspirations, aching eyes, and alternate thrills ofheat and cold made night and day wretched. The maladylasted a whole month. Snay was the principal doctor, butas his usual treatment-counter-irritants-failed in Burton'scase, a witch, celebrated for her cures throughout thecountry-side, was summoned in consultation.99The cures in question evidently appertained to thenature of those in civilised Europe known with the prefix,an all-important one, of faith, and Burton, though asanguine man, was by no means credulous. Besides, hislady-doctor seems to have been most decidedly ugly. Awrinkled beldam, black as soot, set off by a mass oftin- coloured pigtails, arrived, bearing the implements ofher craft, a girdle of small gourds dyed reddish- black withoil and use. The invalid's nerves, in spite of his fever,must have been fairly strong to endure such an object in224

the room; probably he was borne up by inquisitiveness. 1have said elsewhere that he had a warm corner for doctors,but that alone hardly explains his permitting himself to beexperimented upon by a Mganga in East Africa.After demanding and receiving her fee, a precedentwhich might be useful to our general practitioners, sheproceeded to search her patient's mouth and to enquireanxiously concerning poison . The question betrayed theprevalence of crime in the country, and the people seemedever to dread it . She then drew from a gourd a greenishpowder, apparently bhang, and having mixed it with a little.water, administered it like snuff, which caused a paroxysmof sneezing. This not very uncommon symptom after anasal inhalation she hailed with shouts of joy. Here faithshould have performed its part; the medicine had succeeded, the doctor was contented. To make the curecertain, she presently rubbed her patient's head with powderof another kind; then announcing that sleep would usher inrecovery, she departed, with a promise to return next day.Alas! our College of Physicians could never hold forth thehand of fellowship to this sable sister. Her conduct wasdisgraceful. Having become comparatively wealthy, sheabsconded to indulge in unlimited pombe for a whole week;and although her patient had not benefited in the slightestdegree by her treatment, she never even enquired afterhim during those seven rapturous but sadly unprofessionaldays!We will leave our traveller housed within a stone'sthrow of his new friend Shaykh Snay bin Amir, and recordthe discovery of fair Tanganyika in the next chapter.

CHAPTER X

THE* HE five weeks spent at Kazeh to rest and recruit havingelapsed, Burton bade his good host a temporary adieu,and resumed his way to Ujiji. Fever had left him so weakthat he had to be carried in a hammock, and six men wereengaged by Snay bin Amir for this duty. Although atfirst even the comparatively easy motion of the manchilacaused at times acute suffering, our traveller, after his prolonged confinement indoors, was charmed with the prospect,a fine open country and well wooded hills rolling into bluedistance on either hand. A forced halt of two days atYombo, partly to wait for Speke, who had been obliged toretrace his steps in order to superintend the arrival of supplies of cloth and beads from Zanzibar, partly to collect agang of porters for their journey westward, was enlivenedby evening chats with the feminine members of the population. The sunset hour in Unyamwezi, as in other partsof Africa, is replete with enjoyment to the natives. Everynight there mustered a smoking party; all the womankind,from wrinkled granddam to maid scarcely in her teens,assembled to apply themselves to their long, black- bowledpipes. Seated in a circle, upon dwarf stools or logs ofwood, they smoked with such intense relish, slowly anddeeply inhaling the weed, and exhaling clouds from theirnostrils, that it was quite a pleasure to watch them,especially as Yombo boasted of no fewer than three beauties, Venuses cast in bronze. Nor were theymerely handsome. Natural good- nature, or the soothinginfluence of the narcotic, rendered these Wanyamweziladies unusually affable. When our traveller in his15226

best Kinyamwezi, which he had acquired a smattering offrom Snay bin Amir, paid his compliments and added apresent of a little tobacco, they smiled sweetly, and accordedhim the privilege of a seat in the well! undress circle.Certainly the Land of the Moon offers its children everyelement of comfort and enjoyment. Burton described it asthe " garden of Central Intertropical Africa. " Its generalcharacter is rolling ground intersected with low hills, andits aspect of peaceful beauty soothes the eye like a medicineafter glaring Ugogo and the dark monotonous verdure ofthe western provinces. During the rains -there are buttwo seasons, wet and dry, which represent summer andwinter-a coat of many-tinted greens conceals MotherEarth. In the hot season the land becomes grey, lightedup with golden stubble and dotted with trees. Villagesrise at short intervals above their impervious walls oflustrous green milkbush, with its coral- shaped arms variegating the well- hoed plains; whilst in the pasture- landsfrequent herds of many- coloured cattle, plump and highhumped, and mingled flocks of sheep and goats dispersedover the landscape suggest ideas of barbarous peace andplenty. The yield of the soil at the time of Burton's visitto this favoured land averaged sixtyfold even in comparatively unproductive years.Pleasant though the face of the country might be,travelling along it was subject to all the perils consequenton lack of civilisation . From want of proper shelter andsuitable food both Englishmen suffered from various strangeand painful symptoms. Sudden fits of numbness of the extremities resembling paralysis, temporary but almost totalblindness, severe attacks of inflammation of the eyes, tormented them successively. Speke nearly lost his sight fromophthalmia. The unruly caravan, too, never ceased fromtroubling. Partly because the Zanzibar goods had turnedout of the poorest and most flimsy description, it becamemore disorderly and unmanageable than ever. EvenA Hospitable Host 227the two most important functionaries, Said and the Jemadar,instead of helping to keep order, actually impressed upon theporters that Burton's days were numbered, consequently itwas useless to take any thought about him. To prove thecontrary, our traveller, ill though he was, left his hammock,and, mounting his ass, rode manfully on through some ofthe worst parts of the way. The exertion was terrible, forMaître Aliboron in Africa is guilty of the four mortal sins ofthe equine race; he shies and stumbles, rears and runsaway. The roundness of his flanks, the shortness of hisback and his want of shoulder combine to make the nativesaddle unfit for anything but a baboon or a boy; while thestraightness and rigidity of his goat- like pasterns render thepace a wearisome, tripping hobble. Fortunately, after onelong day's trudge, Burton was hospitably received by awealthy Arab proprietor in the Wilyankuru district . Thekind- hearted man escorted his weary guest to a comfortableroom, supplied him with milk, meat, and honey, and placeda new cartel, or substitute for a bedstead, in the coolestapartment of his handsome Tembe.Four short and eventless marches through thick junglewith scattered clearings led Burton to the district of Msene,where the dense wild growth lately traversed suddenlyopened out and disclosed a broad view of admirable fertility.He was conducted to an uncomfortable building with itsclay roof weed-grown like a deserted grave, and surroundedby dirty puddles and black mud. His stay was not apleasant one. Msene, a mass of detached settlements,proved a terribly naughty place even for Africa. All itsinhabitants from Sultan to slave made a point of gettingintoxicated whenever the material was forthcoming; andintoxication was by no means their worst or only vice.The said Sultan, during his few sober moments, paid thetravellers several visits . His first greeting betrayed hismotive "White men, what pretty things have you broughtfrom the shore for me? " On more than one occasion a15-2228

bevy of wives accompanied him. Of their conduct, the lesssaid the better. Had it not been for the eternal difficultywith regard to porterage which detained the caravan in thisden of debauchery for twelve days, Burton would have leftat once. His men became so demoralised that even goodBombay on the morning of departure was lured away bysome sable siren, while as for the guide and his followers,despite orders, they refused point blank to leave until fortyeight hours later.This act of disobedience put the finishing stroke toBurton's patience. Kidogo, the splendid Kidogo, hadbecome insufferable, and no milder sentence than promptdismissal was absolutely necessary. Disregarding the interested entreaties of Said and the Jemadar, our travellersummoned the Kirangozi and his staff of slaves, informedthem that their time was expired , and ordered them toreturn forthwith to Kazeh. This step was taken none toosoon. The black rascals had openly boasted of their intention to prevent the expedition from embarking on theSea of Ujiji.At Wanyika there was a forced halt of a day to settlethe ever- recurring question of blackmail. The principalchief of Uvinza considered himself Lord of the MalagaraziRiver, and enforced his claims by forbidding the ferrymento assist strangers unless his demands were complied with.Forty cloths, white and blue, and other goods to the value.of fifty pounds, were paid to this rapacious roitelet , whothen accorded the expedition the privilege of embarking inwretched canoes that, when high and dry upon the bank,somewhat resembled castaway shoes of unusual size .Burton and Speke entered these craft gingerly, but weresurprised to find the ferrymen so skilful , that not only wasthe human freight landed without accident, but all theluggage besides. The riding asses had to be flung intothe river, which they easily crossed by swimming.The route then lay through a howling wilderness, onceA Settlement of Salt- Diggers 229populous and fertile, but lately laid waste by one of thesavage tribes, who rendered the face of the land as changeable as the patterns of a kaleidoscope. On the 5th Februaryour party set out betimes, traversing for some distanceboggy land along the river side. The hardships of thismarch induced two of the porters who carried the hammockto levant, and the remaining four to strike work. Consequently, the Englishmen who had been indulging in theluxury of a rest had to remount their asses. The 7thFebruary found them toiling along broken ground, encumbered by trees and cut by swamps. Presently, divergingfrom the Malagarazi River, they passed over the brow of alow hill above the junction with the Rusigi, and followedthe left bank of the tributary as far as its nearest ford .Later, they skirted a settlement containing from forty tofifty beehive huts, tenanted by salt -diggers. One is surprised to read of such an industry amongst the childishraces of Uvinga, and yet more so to learn that they turnedout quite a superior article. The principal pan was sunkin the vicinity of the stream; the saline produce, after beingboiled down indoors, was, when dry, piled up and handmade into little cones, far surpassing in quality the manufacture of the coast towns. After watching these peoplefor a while, Burton and his party resumed their way, andfound themselves obliged to cross the next ford on thebacks of negroes who were waiting for the purpose-aless costly mode than by canoe, but subject to the drawbacks often attendant upon cheapness, for all the goods andchattels got thoroughly soaked.More fords, more swamps, more jungle, then the sinkingof the land towards the lake become palpable. The caravanhalted from fatigue upon a slope beyond a weary bog; aviolent storm was brewing, and whilst half the sky waspurple-black with nimbus, the sun shone stingingly throughthe clear portion of the empyrean. But these small troubleswere lightly borne; already in the far distance appeared230

walls of sky- blue cliff with gilded summits, gleaming as abeacon to distressed mariners.On the 13th February they started betimes, forcing apath through screens of lofty grass, which thinned out intoa straggling forest. After about an hour's march theybreasted a steep and stony hill. Arrived with difficulty,for one ass fell dead on the way and the others refused toproceed, the two Englishmen rested for a few minutes onthe crest."What is that streak of light which lies below? " inquired Burton." I am of opinion , " quoth Bombay, "that is the water."A few steps further and the whole scene suddenly burstupon our traveller's sight, filling him with wonder, admiration and delight. Nothing could be more picturesque thanthis first view of the Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lapof the mountains, basking in gorgeous, tropical sunshine.Below, and beyond a short foreground of rugged, precipitoushill, down which the footpath zigzags painfully, a narrowstrip of emerald green, never sere and marvellously fertile,shelves towards a ribbon of glistening, yellow sand, herebordered by sedgy rushes, there clearly and cleanly cut bythe breaking wavelets. Further in front stretch the waters,an expanse of the softest blue, varying in breadth fromthirty to thirty- five miles, and sprinkled by the crisp eastwind with tiny crescents of snowy foam. The background,a high and broken wall of steel- coloured mountains, wasthat day flecked and capped in parts with pearly mists, inothers, standing sharply pencilled against the azure air, itsyawning chasms marked by a deep plum-colour fallingtowards dwarf hills of mound-like proportions. To thesouth and opposite the long low point behind which theMalagarazi river discharges the red loam suspended in itsviolent stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguhha,while a cluster of outlying islets speckle a sea- horizon. Onthis vision of beauty Burton gazed and gazed again; for-A Glorious Guerdon 231getting toils, dangers and the uncertainty of a safe returnto those he loved, he felt willing to endure double what hehad gone through for so glorious a guerdon. All his partyseemed affected by some pleasant emotion. Even his surly Baloch made civil salaams.The night following this eventful day was passed atUkaranga, a collection of miserable grass huts. Earlynext morning, an open, solid- built Arab craft having beenhired, our travellers coasted along Tanganyika's easternshore towards the Kawele district in the land of Ujiji.Their view was exceedingly beautiful, the picturesque andvaried forms of the mountains rising above and dippinginto the water, were clad in purplish blue, tinted in placesby Aurora's rosy fingers. Burton, who had heard of atown, a ghaut, a bazaar, rather marvelled at an utterabsence of all those features which prelude a popularsettlement. Only sundry scattered hovels surrounded byfields of sorghum and sugar cane, and shaded by densegroves of the dwarf plantain and the Guinea palm, appeared at intervals along the shore. Presently some rudecanoes, evidently belonging to fishermen, woodcutters, andmarket people, cut the water singly, or stood in crowdsdrawn up on the patches of yellow sand.About II a.m. the dhow was poled through a hole in athick welting of coarse reedy grass and flaggy aquaticplants, to a level landing- place of flat shingle , where thewater shoaled off rapidly. Such in 1858 was the ghaut ordisembarkation quay of Ujiji.Around the ghaut a few huts of humblest beehivepattern represented the port town. Advancing some hundred yards through a din of shouts and screams, tom-tomsand trumpets, and mobbed by a swarm of black beingswhose eyes seemed about to start from their heads withsurprise, Burton passed a relic of Arab civilisation , thebazaar. It consisted merely of a plot of ground cleared ofgrass and flanked by a crooked tree, where, for some hours232

every day, weather permitting, a mass of standing andsquatting negroes bought and sold with a hubbub heardfor miles. He and Speke were then conducted to a ruinousTembe, built by an Arab merchant, situated about half amile from the village of Kawele, which at that time was theprincipal settlement of Ujiji. This habitation enjoyed thedouble attraction of proximity to provisions and a beautifulview of the lake. Well that our travellers had this lovelyvision before their eyes, for, as usual, the natives weremost depressing objects, morally and physically. Hideouslytattooed, further disfigured by loathsome skin diseases,their villainously - shaped heads partially shaved , theseodious beings were besides insolent, thievish, immoral,and continually drunk. Men and women alike staggeredabout with thick speech and violent gestures, after indulgence in their favourite inebriant, palm toddy; while, afterbhang-smoking, their whoops and yells resembled the noiseof some highly excited wild beast rather than aught human.Curious how many good temperance folk in England insistupon depicting the African as a model of sobriety when freefrom the temptation of trade rum. True, the latter has amore deadly effect on his physique; still , long before thepoisonous mixture concocted by benevolent Hamburghersand others had reached Ujiji, the natives presented asdistressing a spectacle as our denizens of Ratcliff Highwayon Saturday night.Burton's first care on settling in his new abode was topurify the floor by pastiles of assafoetida and fumigationsof gunpowder, and to patch up the roof against the rainyseason. Aided by a Msawahili artisan, he provided himselfwith a pair of cartels, and substitutes for chairs and tables.As further luxuries, benches of clay were built round therooms like divans, but these turned out useless, beingoccupied in force every morning by fine white ants. Theroof, too, did not repay the pains bestowed upon it; hopelessly rotten, it never ceased leaking during wet weather,A Ceremonious Visit 233and at last partly collapsed. The result of such excessive humidity was unfortunate; a large botanical collection ,accumulated during the journey from Zanzibar, was irretrievably ruined; and as the return to the coast took placeduring the dry season, when the woods were bare of leaf,flower and fruit, it could not be replaced .On the second day after arrival, Burton received aceremonious visit from one Kannena, the headman ofKawele. This personage, a type of the people he governed,was introduced habited in silk turban and broadcloth coat,borrowed from the Baloch, and accompanied by two nativesa quarter clad in greasy and scanty bark aprons. He wasa short, squat negro, with a low, frowning brow and anapology for a nose. Believing Burton to be a merchant,and hoping to make a good profit by exchanges of wares,he behaved at first with remarkable civility, but as soon ashe discovered the stranger " lived by doing nothing," hedoffed his garments and good behaviour together, andbecame a veritable thorn in the flesh during the wholeof our traveller's stay at Ujiji.Important work yet remained undone. Burton desiredto explore the northern extremity of his curiously elongatedlake, and, seeing scanty prospect of success and everychance of an accident if compelled to voyage in thewretched native canoes, he attempted to persuade cowardlyold Said to undertake a little coasting trip for the purposeof securing the dhow which had conveyed the party toKawele. The little sneak, as usual, when scenting danger,shirked; so his master being at that moment too ill totravel, Speke, supplied with an ample outfit and accompanied by two Baloch, besides Gaetano and Bombay,started on this important quest in his stead.He was away nearly a month. Burton spent the timein almost complete idleness, eating, drinking, smoking anddozing. But every evening the lonely man sat under thebroad eaves of his Tembe to enjoy the delicious sight of his234

lovely lake. Unlike the dismal Albert Edward, or drearyVictoria Nyanza, Tanganyika resembles the fairest glimpsesof the Mediterranean. There are the same laughing tides,pellucid sheets of dark blue water, borrowing their tintsfrom the vinous shores beyond; the same purple light ofyouth upon the face of early evening, the same bright sunsets, with their radiant vistas of crimson and gold, openinglike the portals of a world beyond; the same short- livedgrace and beauty of the twilight; and as night closes overthe earth, the same cool flood of transparent moonbeamspouring upon the tufty heights, and bathing their sides.with the whiteness of virgin snow.Speke returned March 29th. He had not found a boat,but declared he had discovered the Mountains of the Moon.This intelligence, being unsupported by proofs, hardly madeup for his failure to obtain a substitute for the much- regretted Louisa. However, Burton, fortified by three weeks'rest and quiet, bestirred himself in right earnest to overcome the difficulties which beset the cruise to Uvira, atthat time the ultima thule of lake navigation. Kannena,who had evidenced his ill -will in various ways, instigatinghis people à l'Irlandais to injure the only remaining asses,to break into the travellers' outhouses and steal theirproperty, and, finally, to cut off the supplies of milk,seemed at first utterly unmanageable. When the plan wasbroached to him he discharged a volley of oaths, and sprangfrom the house like an enraged baboon. There was noalternative than to bribe heavily. This was done, and atlength Burton's patience and sagacity triumphed; the headman yielded every point. After receiving an exorbitantsum, capped by a six-foot length of scarlet broadcloth,which nearly made the surly brute grin with delight, heconsented to act as guide and furnish the explorers withtwo canoes fully manned.Preliminaries thus settled, two " motumbi "—craft littlebetter than hollowed tree trunks , one sixty feet by four, theThe 12th April, 1858 235second about two-thirds that size-were duly engaged andprovisioned. Supplies of beads, cloth and brass braceletswere also placed on board. The party consisted of ourEnglishmen, the Goanese lads, two gun- carriers, and twoBaloch, besides Kannena and the crew.Their departure was heralded by a hideous uproar.Several Ujiji dames, excited by the bustle on the shore,performed on the noisiest musical instruments. To thesesounds, which not the wildest flight of imagination couldwrest into the slightest resemblance to our National Anthem, even when rendered by Board scholars , Burton'scanoe, on the 12th April, 1858, bearing for the first time onthose fair waters"The flag that braved a thousand years The battle and the breeze ,"stood out of Bangwe Bay, and, followed by Speke's, turnedthe landspit separating the bight from the main, and madedirectly for the cloudy storm-vexed north. Beyond thisheadland the coast dips, showing lines of shingle or goldencoloured sand, and on the shelving plain appear little fishinghamlets consisting of half- a- dozen beehive huts. It musthave required all Burton's concentrativeness to take observations, for his progress, which varied from five to two anda half miles an hour, was accompanied by a long monotonoushowl emitted by a soloist paddler, answered by yells andshouts from the chorus. There were frequent halts to eat,drink and smoke, but for these purposes only, as the blacksailors refused to allow either traveller to put into a likelyplace for collecting shells and stones, or even to stop for afew moments to take soundings.Each night was spent in one of the villages dotted alongthe coast. The canoes were drawn up on dry land and ourEnglishmen slept under apologies for tents. Arrived atWafanya, the solitary point in Urundi then open to strangers,they prepared to cross the lake, which is there divided into236

two stages by the Island of Ubwari. The breadth of thewestern channel between this long narrow lump of rocktwenty to twenty-five miles long, averages from six to sevenmiles. Just before starting the two Baloch, who had beenstealthily watching their opportunity ever since quittingKawele, deserted, and thus left the Englishmen entirely inthe power ofthe natives. However, the crossing to Ubwariwas accomplished with no worse incident than several severedrenchings, the frail craft requiring to be constantly baledto keep afloat.They halted for a day at Mzimu, an Ubwari landingplace, and towards evening tumbled again into the canoes,rounded the island's northern point, and put into a littlebay on the western shore, where they passed the night.Rest was sorely needed. This primitive boating wouldhave tried a Hercules. There was no means of restingthe back, the holds of the canoes, besides being knee- deepin water, were disgracefully crowded. Originally appropriated to Burton and Speke, four servants and the crew,Kannena introduced, in addition to sticks, spears, cookingpots and gourds, a goat, two or three small boys, severalsick sailors, a slave girl, and a large sheep. Curiouslyenough, despite these discomforts, our travellers' healthgradually improved. Burton suffered from ulceration ofthe tongue, but he dated his slow yet sensible progresstowards comparative vigour from the nights and daysspent in the canoes and on the muddy shores of Tanganyika.On the 23rd April a start was made for the oppositeor western coast, a cruise occupying nine hours. Thelanding-stage, Murivumba, was infested by mosquitoes,crocodiles, and anthropophagi. The latter, stunted, degradedwretches, seemed less dangerous to the living than thedead. Nevertheless, one of Burton's men preferred squatting uncomfortably on the canoe's bow throughout thenight to trusting his precious person amongst these hungry-The Sources of the Nile 237looking cannibals. The rest of the party slept on a reedmargined spit of sand, where, having neglected to reara tent, they were rained upon to their hearts' content.Leaving at early dawn the man- eaters' abode, theystood northwards along the western shore; and before longthe converging trend of the two coasts showed they wereapproaching their destination, Uvira. Twenty- eight hourslater found the voyagers safely landed on a sandy baywhere the trade of this place was carried on. Tanganyikahere measures between seven and eight miles in breadth.Crowds gathered on the shore to gaze at the new merchants and to welcome them with screams, shouts, hornsand tom -toms. The captain of each crew performed withsolemn gravity a bear-like dance, while the crews with agrin which displayed all their ivories, rattled their paddlesagainst the sides of their boats in token of greeting.Meanwhile, Kannena visited the chief of the district, whoat once invited Burton and Speke to his settlement; butthe outfit was running low and the crew and party generallyfeared to leave their craft. Our Englishmen thereforepitched their tents —the best had been stolen by Kannena-on a strip of sand, whence they were speedily ejected byTanganyika's foaming waters, which a blast or small hurricane lashed completely over the green margin of the land.Burton, who was not the man to calmly accept Uviraas an ultima thule, now prepared for a final effort, namely, toexplore the head of the lake. Opposite rose in a highbroken line the mountains of inhospitable Urundi, apparently prolonged beyond the northern extremity of thewaters. Especially anxious was he to reach the spotwhere the Rusizi, then an almost unknown river, joinsthe Tanganyika. At that date it was impossible to tellwhether this stream was an influent or an effluent, and, astravellers were still darkly groping for the Nile sources, hecould not turn his face homewards without either visitingthe mysterious river or obtaining some reliable information238

concerning it. But a long palaver with three intelligentsons of a local chief dispelled at once both hope and uncertainty. They all declared they had seen it, and unanimously asserted, a host of bystanders confirming theirwords, that the Rusizi enters into and does not flow outof the Tanganyika. Still desirous of laying down theextreme limits of the water northwards, Burton was againdisappointed. Kannena flatly refused to advance anothermile; and the ulceration of the tongue from which ourexplorer was suffering grew so severe, that articulationbecame nearly impossible.May 6th was fixed for the return journey. All wentwell until the night of the 10th of that month. The partyleft Mzimu at sunset, and for two hours coasted along theshore. It was one of those portentous evenings of thetropics-a calm before a tempest. They struck out, however, boldly towards the eastern shore, and the westernmountains rapidly lessened to view. Before they reachedmid-channel, a cold gust, invariable presage in thoseregions of a storm, swept through the deepening shadescast by heavy rolling clouds, and the lightning flashed,at first by intervals, then incessantly, with a ghastly,blinding glow, followed by a pitchy darkness that weighedupon the sight. As terrible was the accompaniment ofrushing, reverberating thunder, now a loud roar, peal uponpeal, like the booming of heavy batteries; then breakinginto a sudden crash, which was presently followed by arattling discharge, like the pattering of musketry. Thewaves began to rise, the rain descended, at first in warningdrops, then in torrents; and had the wind steadily risen ,the co*ckle-shell craft never could have lived through theshort chopping sea which characterises the Tanganyika inheavy weather. The crew behaved gallantly enough; attimes, however, the moaning cry, " O, my wife! " showedthey almost despaired of reaching the shore. Bombay, asad Voltairean in fine weather, spent that wild night inA Drunken Brawl 239reminiscences of Moslem prayers; while Burton shelteredhimself under his good friend the mackintosh. Fortunately, the rain beat down wind and sea, otherwiseTanganyika would have proved a veritable Charybdis toher discoverer.Fresh trouble awaited him at Wafanya, where at lengththe canoes were landed. Hitherto Burton had been mostfortunate in avoiding bloodshed. But at this village, whilehe was sleeping heavily after his terrible fatigue, a drunkenbrawl arose. An intoxicated native had commenced dealing blows in all directions; a general mêlée ensued, duringwhich Valentino , crazed with fear, seized his master'srevolver and fired it into the crowd. The bullet struck oneof the canoe men below the right breast, coming out twoinches to the right of the backbone; and, in spite ofBurton's kindly care, the poor wretch succumbed to hisinjuries. This affair, which might have ended in a generalmassacre, had the victim been not a slave, but a free man,cost one hundred pounds for blood money, and originatedone of the many false reports that " Haji Abdullah killedthe man with his own hand. "Early on May 13th our travellers returned to theirTembe at Kawele, and received a hypocritical welcomefrom Said and the Jemadar. The rainy monsoon havingbroken up, the climate became truly delightful with fine,cool mornings, a clear, warm sun, and deliciously freshnights. Burton, who believed his work mostly accomplished, would have found this rest a period of real enjoyment but for the anxiety which had haunted him ever sincestarting from Zanzibar, anxiety about ways and means.The outfit was reduced to a minimum. Not a line fromSnay bin Amir had arrived in reply to many missives, andwant began to stare our Englishmen in the face. Nowheremight a caravan more easily starve than in fertile Ujiji in1858. Its heartless and inhospitable inhabitants would notgive a handful of grain without return, and, to use a Moslem240

phrase, " Allah pity him who must beg of a beggar. " Travellers are agreed that in these countries " baggage is life. "Burton's was reduced to a few-a very few-loads of beadsand cloth, some of the former black porcelains, and perfectlyuseless, and with this pittance porters had to be hired forthe hammock, seventy- five mouths to be fed; in short, theinnumerable expenses to be defrayed of a return march of260 miles to Unyanyembe.TheHelp was nearer than either Burton or Speke dared tohope. Their good genius, Shaykh Snay, had not forgottenthem. On the 22nd May, musket shots announced anarrival, and by noon the Tembe was surrounded withbales, boxes, porters, one of the Baloch who had remainedat Kazeh, all despatched by this excellent friend.goods, furnished by thievish Hindoos, at Zanzibar, thoughrubbishy, were sufficient to pay the way to Unyanyembe.But our traveller perceived with regret that his new outfitwas totally inadequate for the purpose of exploring the twosouthern thirds of Tanganyika, much less for returning toZanzibar viâ Lake Nyassa and Kilwa, as he had onceintended.Immediately after the arrival of the second caravan,Burton made preparations for quitting Ujiji . The 26thMay was the day appointed for departure. He longremembered the sunrise that morning over Tanganyika;he felt some prophetic instinct that it was the last hewould ever behold, and it proved but too correct, for,owing to the blackest treachery and ingratitude, he neversaw his lake again. Masses of brown-purple clouds coveredthe quarter of the heavens where the sun was about to rise.Presently the mist, ruffled like ocean billows and luminouslyfringed with Tyrian dye, were cut by filmy rays, whilst frombehind their core the internal living fire shot forth its broadbeams like the spokes of a huge aërial wheel, rolling a floodof gold over the light blue waters . At last Dan Sol, who atfirst contented himself with glimmering through the cloudFarewell to Tanganyika 241mass, disclosed himself in his glory, and dispersed with aglance the obstacles of the vaporous earth . Breaking intolong strata and little pearly flakes, they soared high in theempyrean, whilst the all- powerful luminary assumed undisputed possession, and a soft breeze awoke the watersinto life.Burton had soon to turn his eyes from this gloriouspicture. A jarring din became audible. His caravanwas on the point of starting . A crowd of newly- engagedporters stood before the Tembe in an ecstasy of impatience,some poised like cranes on the right foot with the left soleplaced against the knee, others with their arms thrownin a brotherly fashion round neighbours' necks, whilstothers again squatted on their calves and heels, theirelbows on their thighs and their chins propped upontheir hands. The usual fights, difficulties, and delaysover, the caravan was gradually got under way. Thisreturn march presented little novelty save that they followed a northerly route, crossing and skirting the lowerspurs of the mountains which form the region of Uhha.Only trifling incidents enlivened the weary trudge. Theslavey " of the establishment ran away, carrying off hisown property and his master's hatchet; the Jemadar wasrendered almost daft by the disappearance of half the "blackivory" he had invested in at Kawele; and a porter placed hisbundle, a case of cognac and vinegar, deeply regretted, uponthe ground and levanted. The hammock was rendered almostuseless by the behaviour of its new bearers, who dashed itwithout pity or remorse against stock and stone. Thesem*n's ill- conduct capped even that of the " sons of water " onTanganyika. Loud-voiced, insolent, all but unmanageable,they proved the most odious " beasts of burden Burtonhad yet had to deal with . He adds, however, after hiscomplaints (and here lay his secret of success) , "in theselands the traveller who cannot utilise the raw materialthat comes to hand will make but little progress. "66,,16242

Avoiding the détour to naughty Msene, the expeditionsighted at Irora the blue hills of Unyanyembe. ThereBurton received a packet of letters , and heard for the firsttime of his father's death, which had occurred at Bath onthe 6th of September, 1857. He thus alludes to the sadintelligence: " Such tidings are severely felt by the wandererwho, living long behind the world and unable to mark itsgradual changes , lulls by dwelling on the past apprehensioninto a belief that his home has known no loss , and whoexpects again to meet each old familiar face ready to smileupon his return as it was to weep at his departure. "On the 20th of June, after a journey of twenty- six days,the expedition re- entered Kazeh, and received a warmwelcome from good Snay bin Amir. He led his friends totheir old abode, which had been carefully repaired, swept,and plastered, and where a plentiful repast of rice andcurried fowl, giblets and manioc boiled in the cream ofthe ground nut, and sugared omelets flavoured with gheeand onion, presented peculiar attractions to half- starved travellers. Here Burton decided to remain for threemonths at least . He wished to gain as much informationas possible regarding the numerous tribes in the neighbourhood of Tanganyika and the Victoria Nyanza, and tocommit it at once to writing; also to prepare with deliberation for his return journey, which he hoped to accomplishby a different route. This would have been right enough—with one little trip superadded. I have often wonderedwhat was the cause of the mistake Richard Burton committed at Kazeh. That it was a blunder, he himselfconfessed. True he had wearied somewhat of Speke'scompany-"Jack" was nourishing some mysterious grudgewhich rendered him at times exceedingly unpleasant, butthat did not prevent a coasting voyage to Kilwa togethersome months later. Anyhow, while Burton was writingand studying with good Shaykh Snay, John Hannen Spekewent alone to explore the Victoria Nyanza, one of the Nile sources, and we all know what followed.The Lost Opportunity 243It came about in this wise. The Arabs had mentionedduring the first halt at Kazeh their discovery of a largelake lying fifteen or sixteen marches to the north; and fromtheir description, translated by Burton , his companion hadlaid down the water in a hand map forwarded to theRoyal Geographical Society. All agreed in claiming for itsuperiority of size over the Tanganyika. There remainedto ascertain whether the Arabs had not with Orientalhyperbole exaggerated the dimensions, and Speke, whofound the merchants' society deadly dull, not understandingone word in a hundred of their language, and who wasmoreover, restless as a caged squirrel, seemed only toodelighted to undertake this duty. Again one marvels whyBurton unwittingly placed such a temptation in another man's path. As I have remarked elsewhere, he wassingularly deficient in character-knowledge, and probablyimagined that the honour of the discovery would be sharedbetween him and his brother officer. Still, there was noneed for hurry in finishing his notes; the preparations forthe return journey could afford to wait. The cause of suchblindness must ever remain a mystery, but we can nowsee plainly enough that his great opportunity then presented itself, was neglected , and vanished for ever. Hadhe accompanied his lieutenant, the Geographical Societycould not have passed him over as commander of thesecond Expedition; the second might have given birth toanother, and Lake Albert, Lake Albert Edward, gloriousRuwenzori itself, might have been discovered and mappedout by Richard Burton long before the " Cloud King "soared into view of Stanley's delighted eyes.As usual, it proved no easy matter to start even asmall party on this trial trip . Said bin Salim utterlyrefused to have any part or parcel in it. The Kirangoziand fifteen porters, especially hired for the occasion,showed an amount of fear and shirking hardly justifiedby the risks of treading so well known a tract. EvenBombay turned restive and had to be heavily bribed .16-2244

However, at last Burton, assisted by good Shaykh Snay,succeeded in equipping his companion with every essentialfor success, and as soon as the little band had departed,turned his whole attention to the geography and ethnologyof the land.Six weeks passed away and Speke returned in triumph.The dimensions of the Victoria Nyanza surpassed themost sanguine expectations . True, he had enjoyed merelya glimpse of this inland sea over the rushy shores whencethe waters are year by year slowly and surely receding; butit had quite turned his head. He announced at once, asone with authority, that there and there alone were thesources of the Nile.Burton demurred. One glimpse over an unknownwater seemed insufficient proof to a scientific mind. Headmitted with his usual sagacity that the altitude, the conformation of the Nyanza Lake, its argillaceous colour, andthe sweetness of its waters, combined to suggest it mightbe one of the feeders of the White Nile . But its periodicalswelling which floods considerable tracts of land, forbadebelief in the possibility of its proving the head stream , orthe reservoir of the great inundation. The true sources ofthe Holy River he believed to consist of a network ofstreams filled by monsoon torrents and swollen by meltedsnow flowing from the Lunæ Montes. This he wrotethirty years before Stanley counted sixty-two streamsdescending from the Rain King's rocky sides. But Spekewould listen to no arguments whatever any doubt castupon what he considered nothing less than inspiration madehim look upon his whilom friend as a worse enemy thanbefore.Here, then, in the heart of Africa, the trouble began.Two enormous lakes had been discovered -surely this wasfame enough. To proclaim to the geographical élite thatthe expedition had sighted the Mountains of the Moon,and succeeded in the unveiling of Isis, was to a conscien-A Breach of Faith 245tious man impossible. How many times had not the fountains of the White Nile been discovered and re- discoveredafter this careless fashion? Burton's great brain foreshadowed all the facts we have so lately learnt; he believedin the several lakes, in the Lunæ Montes, and this beliefrendered him very chary of attributing to the VictoriaNyanza the unique honour which his companion wasdetermined to award it.Before resuming the thread of my narrative, I must tellhow the difference between the travellers ended, and thendismiss a painful subject. Gradually his imaginary exploitsbecame fixed ideas in poor Speke's feverish brain. At Aden,where the two men remained some days, waiting for a homebound steamer, Burton was seized with fever. Speke couldnot brook the slightest delay, betraying a nervous hastewhich, as his leave had just been prolonged by the Bombay Government, seemed somewhat suspicious. ProbablyBurton began at last to fear treachery, for on parting heasked his brother officer to wait a mail or two, until theycould appear together before the Geographical Society.Speke gave his word. Unhappily, Laurence Oliphant, Mr.Harris's famous neophyte, was a passenger on the sameship; and it is suspected that this wrong-minded man'swrong-minded counsel determined for evil Speke's wavering will. For the very day after his return , he called atBurlington House and initiated the scheme of a new exploration. He was induced, moreover, " much against hisinclination, " so he said, to give a public lecture; and when,one fortnight later, Burton reached London, the groundwas completely cut from under his feet. There was to bea new expedition adequately dowered, but Speke was tobe the leader.It is impossible not to blame John Hannen Speke forthis breach of faith, although he believed implicitly in hisown theories, and considered Burton both unreasonable andmalicious for criticising them. But what can we think of a246

society of intelligent men, formed for the express purpose ofpromoting the knowledge of our earth's surface, deliberatelyperpetrating such a barbarous act of injustice! It seemedso stupid, so utterly inexcusable, that one cannot help suspecting private enmity on the part of a very influentialmember. Like many another piece of jobbery, it broughtlittle luck to its object. Speke's life was henceforth unenviable. He never succeeded in thoroughly exploring theVictoria Nyanza; that was left for Stanley, who circumnavigated it in 1874. After the first flash his popularitysteadily declined; and at last, nearly blind, with healthwrecked by fever upon fever, he lost nerve during a meeting at Bath of the British Association, when a geographicaldiscussion was about to take place with his sorely injuredfriend, and accidentally shot himself with his own gun.To return. The three months and a half at Kazehpassed pleasantly enough. On the 5th September " Handsome Moses " came home from a long visit to Karagwah,and emulated good Shaykh Snay in kindness and hospitality. Better still, he was able to supply our travellerwith many interesting details of the almost unknown landhe had just left; also of Unyoro and the now celebratedUganda. The great Suna, lord of the latter kingdom, haddied quite recently after shocking his pious Arab visitorsby boasting that he was the god of earth as their Allahwas the Lord of Heaven. He did not seem, however,to have been much, if at all, worse than his descendantKing Mwanga, the truly promising proselyte of the Frenchfathers; on the contrary, there was a wild magnificence andgenerosity about the pagan which inclines an unprejudicedreader to prefer him to the papist. Besides impartinginteresting and original information, Musa Mzuri assistedBurton in his preparations for the return journey. A fineshe-ass and foal were purchased as a sure means of providingmilk on the way. Supplies of pink porcelain beads werelaid in-pink porcelain happened to be fashionable in AfricaSnay bin Amir's Farewell 247at this date and all the damaged surveying instruments,various MSS. , maps and sketch- books, together with reportsfor the Geographical Society, were forwarded to the coastby an Arab caravan.There is no doubt Burton turned his face homewardwith regret, especially as he found himself obliged by lackof funds to traverse the same route. The accounts givenby Musa Mzuri fired both Englishmen with desire to visitthe northern kingdoms (Karagwah and Uganda); but forthis détour not only money, but time would have beenrequired. Their two years' leave of absence was nearingits close, and even had they possessed a sufficient outfit,they were not disposed to risk being cashiered. Burtonhad already spent fourteen hundred pounds of his ownprivate fortune, besides the thousand pounds granted bythe Geographical Society; and had he forfeited his commission by unnecessary delay, he would have found himselfin a sore strait. So at last he faced the inevitable, andfixed September 26th for departure.Good Snay bin Amir, recently recovered from an attackof influenza which had confined him to his sleeping mat forsome days, superintended the start in person. He treatedboth travellers to a copious breakfast well cooked andneatly served; and as the caravan covered only two milesthe first day, he followed with Musa Mzuri next morning,to see the last of his Moslem brother. The latter thankedhis kind hosts most warmly for their very good deeds andpromised to report in person to the Sayyid the hospitablereception accorded by his Arab subjects. Richard Burton,we remember, liked not saying good- bye; I suspect by nomeans the least trying farewell of his life was that spokento the noble- minded friend who had done him such raregood service in the land of Unyamwezi.The return journey was uninteresting. In consequenceof a famine along the Usagara road previously traversed,our travellers crossed the mountains by the Kiringawana248

line. I will spare my reader a list of uncouth names oftribes and villages along this southern route; and theremainder of the way is already familiar. Arrived atKaole, Burton sent his followers to their homes, andstarted with Speke on a coasting trip to Kilwa, returningto Zanzibar on the 4th March, 1859. Both Englishmenleft for Aden on the 22nd, and, as before said, soon afterwards followed each other to England.In conclusion, no better word-picture of Burton's followers during this eventful journey can be presented thanby transcribing verbatim first an East African's everyday conversation , then a sort of seventh day one ontheology.Twanigana, a commonplace African youth, then actingas Kirangozi, attired in a red waistcoat, had safely passedthrough Ugogo, and was feeling fairly happy and secureamongst the Usagara mountains."The state, Mdula? " (i.e. , Abdullah, a word unprónounceable to Negroid organs. )"The state (of health) is very! and thy state? "" The state is very! " (well) " and the state of Spikka? "" The state of Spikka is very! ""We have escaped the Wagogo, " resumes Twanigana,"white man O! ""We have escaped, O my brother! ""The Wagogo are bad. "66 They are bad. ""The Wagogo are very bad. "66 They are very bad.""The Wagogo are not good. "66 They are not good. ""The Wagogo are not at all good. "66 They are not at all good. ”" I greatly feared the Wagogo who kill the Wanyam wezi. "19"Exactly so."Character of Burton's Followers 249" But now I don't fear them. I called them . . . andand I would fight the whole tribe, white man (! ”Truly so, O my brother!"And thus for two mortal hours, until Burton's ennuiturned into marvel.Older and more experienced was Muzungu Mbaya; andthe theological conversation which follows arose from anattempt made by one Gul Mohammed, a Baloch, to impressupon a Hamitic mind respect for the Moslem revelation.Picture Muzungu Mbaya seated before a fire, warminghis lean black legs, and ever and anon casting pleasantglances at a small black pipkin, whence arose the savourysteam of meat and vegetables. A concatenation of ideasperhaps induced Gul Mohammed to break rather unseasonably into his favourite theme." And thou, Muzungu Mbaya, thou also must die!""Ugh! ugh! " replies Muzungu, personally offended," don't speak in that way! Thou must die, too . "" It is a sore thing to die, " resumes Gul Mohammed." Hoo! Hoo! exclaims the other; "it is bad, verybad, never to wear a nice cloth, no longer to dwell withone's wife and children, not to eat and drink, snuff, andsmoke tobacco . Hoo! Hoo! it is bad, very bad! """ The flesh But we shall eat, " rejoins the Moslem.of birds, mountains of meat, and delicate roasts, and drinksugared water, and whatever we hunger for. "The African's mind is disturbed by this tissue of contradictions. He considers birds somewhat low feeding; roastshe adores; he contrasts mountains of meat with his poorhalf-pound in pot; he would sell himself for sugar; butagain he hears nothing of tobacco. Still he takes thetrouble to ask:Where, O my brother? ""There," exclaims Gul Mohammed, pointing to theskies.This is a choke- pear to Muzungu Mbaya. The distance250

is great, and he can scarcely believe that his interlocutorhas visited the firmament to see the provisions; he therefore ventures on the query:"And hast thou been there, O my brother? '"Astaghfar ullah! " (I beg pardon of Allah) ejacul*tesGul Mohammed, half angry, half amused. " What a paganthis is! No, my brother, I have not exactly been there,but my Mulungu (Allah) told my Apostle, who told hisdescendants, who told my father and mother, who told me,that when we die we shall go to a Shamba (plantation)whereSo"Oof! " grunts Muzungu Mbaya; " it is good of you totell us all this nonsense which your mother told you.there are plantations in the skies? "Assuredly, " replies Gul Mohammed, who expounds atlength the Moslem idea of paradise to the African's runningcommentary of " Be off! " " Mama-e! " (O, my mother!)and sundry untranslatable words.Muzungu Mbaya, who for the last minute has been immersed in thought, now suddenly raises his head, and withsomewhat of a goguenard air, inquiries:""Well, then, my brother, thou knowest all things!answer me, is thy Mulungu black like myself, white likethis Muzungu, or whitey-brown as thou art?Gul Mohammed is fairly floored; he ejacul*tes sundryla haut! to collect his wits for the reply."Verily the Mulungu hath no colour. ""To-o-oh! Tuh! " exclaims the pagan, contorting hiswrinkled countenance, and spitting with disgust upon theground. He was now justified in believing that he hadbeen made a laughing- stock. The mountain of meat hadto a certain extent won over his better judgment; the fairvision now fled , and left him to the hard realities of thehalf- pound. He turns a deaf ear to every other word, anddevotes all his attention to the article before him.

CHAPTER XI

DURING the summer of 1859, Speke, by claiming most of the honours of the Expedition , became theannual Lion necessary to the London season; still , Burtonwas regarded very highly by the principal men of thatday. In him they recognised true genius, and predictedhis speedy rise. The Duke of Somerset invited him toBulstrode, Lord Palmerston to Broadlands, Lord Derbyto Knowsley; Mr. Monckton Milnes, afterwards LordHoughton, and the present Lord Stanley of Alderley,were numbered amongst his intimate friends; while inliterary and Bohemian circles he was much sought afterand fêted. I have mentioned only a few of the men ofmark who esteemed and admired him; there were manyothers, and it was generally believed that certain of theseinfluential well-wishers intended to right the wrong doneby the Royal Geographical Society, either by equippinganother expedition and giving him the command, or betterstill, by procuring for him some suitable appointment inthe Indian Service. Much good work remained to be doneon the frontier, as we know from the life of the late SirRobert Sandeman; but we shall see later, an unexpectedstep on Burton's part complicated matters and delayed forawhile all the benevolent designs for his welfare.Society claimed only part of his time. His " LakeRegions of Central Africa, " that pioneer work which hashelped many another traveller along the same road, had tobe written and re-written with numerous additions . Aportion of the MS. was begun at Dover, where his sisterand brother-in-law were spending the summer; for, as252

usual, after a long absence, some months were devotedto his relatives. Colonel Stisted had just returned fromIndia, where he had taken a conspicuous part in the firstRelief of Lucknow, leading his regiment, the gallant 78th,under " Watty Hamilton, " through blood and fire to theResidency. Thus the military brothers had plenty to talkover; and what with long walks with his sister, to whomthe " Lake Regions " is dedicated, some pleasant dinnersat the Castle, and hard literary labour, Burton passed thetime agreeably enough. Still, everybody remarked helooked ill and depressed. The sweets of success weremingled with many bitters. Speke's strange breach offaith affected him more than he would confess to; soaffectionate a nature could not fail to keenly feel thecomplete severance of a long friendship. Blue- eyed, tawnymaned " Jack " was not easily forgotten by the companionof his many wanderings. Years later, when the fatal accident happened at Bath, Burton's emotion was uncontrollable. Doubtless his low spirits were aggravated byill-health; it could hardly be otherwise after the fevers,privations, and hideous strain of mind undergone duringthe expedition to Tanganyika.Thus passed the summer of 1859. In late autumn hejoined his brother and sister in Paris, and paid flying visitsfrom their pied à terre to various parts of the Continent.As usual, in the matter of leave he was treated mostgenerously; and after spending some weeks at Vichy, afavourite haunt, the waters correcting the tendency to gout,which later became so serious, ransacking the libraries oftwo or three capitals, and finishing his book, he resolved totake advantage of a fresh extension, no sooner applied forthan granted, and direct his steps to the New World.The transition state of the Far West, those broad landswhich lie beyond the Missouri River and the Sierra Nevada,offered much to interest a traveller; besides, by stayinga month or so at the Mormon settlements, Great Salt LakeA Journey to the New World 253City in particular, he could gratify a psychological whimfor observing the origin and the working of a regular goahead Western and Columbian revelation . The tour wasrough enough to please even him, for the railway betweenthe two oceans was only being prospected, and he couldstill enjoy the excitement of journeying in break- neckwaggons and of receiving his mails by " pony expresses. "The man was ready, the hour hardly appeared propitious for other than belligerent purposes. Throughoutthe summer of 1860 an Indian war was raging in Nebraska;the Comanches, Kiowas and Cheyennes were " out, " andthe Federal Government had despatched three columns tothe centres of confusion. Horrible accounts of murderedpost-boys and cannibal emigrants filled the papers; besides ,the Mormons themselves were regarded as little better thana host of desperadoes.66 Going among the Mormons? " said an American toour traveller at New Orleans; "'they are shooting and cutting one another in all directions. How can you expect toescape? 'But, struck with the discovery by some Western wiseacre of an enlarged truth, viz. , that the bugbear approachedhas more affinity to the bug than to the bear, Burton decided to risk the chance of the red nightcap from the bloodthirsty Indian, and the poisoned bowie- dagger, without anyinamorata to console him from the Latter Day Saints.he applied himself to the audacious task with all the recklessness of a " party " from Town precipitating himself forthe first time into " foreign parts about Calais.""SoAs the voyage across the Atlantic was considered unworthy of remark, the journey proper dated from St. Joseph,Missouri, a town more generally familiar as St. Jo. Theroute mapped out was to comprise Great Salt Lake City,Carson in California , where gold had lately been discovered,and San Francisco. It is all easy travelling now, but nothing could have been more comfortless, more exhausting,L254

than the then mode of transport. True, the line Burtonselected was not quite so bad as what was known as theButterfield Express, which kept its passengers twenty-fourdays and nights in a kind of van, until , half- crazed bywhisky and want of sleep, they had to be strapped to theirseats. Still, a so- called spring waggon, constructed withan eye rather to strength than easiness, drawn by partiallybroken-in mules, and crammed to suffocation with passengers, mails and luggage, must have become terriblywearisome before the regulation nineteen days were over.Very unpicturesque did our traveller look when he tookhis place in the ungainly vehicle. An adept in the art ofclothing himself appropriately, on this occasion he sacrificedsmartness to comfort. Picture the whilom Arab Shaykhin dark flannel shirt, with broad leather belt for revolverand bowie-knife, his nether garments strengthened withbuckskin, the lower ends tucked into his boots, a goodEnglish tweed shooting-jacket made with pockets like apoacher's, and his head snugly but ungracefully ensconcedin a large brown felt hat, which, by means of a ribbon, wasconverted every evening into a nightcap. However, evenin the Far West appearances have to be considered attimes; so his chimney- pot, frock- coat, &c. , even his silkumbrella, were carefully stowed away in his portmanteauready for sporting on state visits to Mormon dignitaries.The prairie waggon started from St. Jo. early onAugust 7th, 1860. The other passengers were Lieut.Dana, an officer in the United States army, his wife andchild, a judge, a state secretary, and a state marshal. Allwere equally friendly, and, unlike the famous coachful thatdrove to Land's End, remained so during the whole of theweary way. After traversing some dusty streets the vanwas transported bodily by steam ferry over the Big Muddy,or Missouri River, and on landing in Kansas, bowledmerrily along Emigration Road, a broad and well- wornthoroughfare, celebrated as being the largest natural high-In a Prairie Waggon 255way in the world. This easy travelling was too good tolast. By-and-by the waggon emerged upon the GrandPrairie, where its occupants speedily made acquaintance with" chuck-holes," gullies or gutters which rendered thevehicle's progress not unlike that of a ship in a gale of wind.The first stage ended at about i a.m. at Locknan's Station , afew log and timber huts near a creek well feathered withwhite oak and American elm, hickory and black walnut,where the sadly shaken travellers found beds and snatcheda few hours' sleep .In the morning they had to drive some distance beforethey could get any breakfast, which was obtained at last ata village dignified with the high- sounding name of Seneca ,a "city "consisting of a few shanties. Ensued a chequeredday, the driver drunk and dashing like Phaeton over thechuck- holes, but, on the other hand, a good dinner of hamand eggs, hot rolls and coffee , peaches and cream suppliedby a young Alsatian , who, under the excitement of Californian fever, had recently emigrated. At the station whichpossessed this treasure Burton saw the Pony Expressarrive. Before the railways, the Express-man was a functionary of some importance, generally a youth mounted onan active Indian nag and able to ride one hundred miles ata time, about eight per hour, with four changes of horses.Next morning's experience was unmitigatedly unpleasant. The passengers, already sick and feverish from thejolting of their vehicle, found themselves landed in a horribleshanty where a colony of Patlanders rose from bed withouta dream of ablution , and prepared a neat déjeûner à la fourchette by hacking lumps off a sheep suspended from theceiling and frying them in melted tallow. As Burtonremarked, had the action occurred in Central Africa , amongthe Esquimaux, or the Araucanians, it would not haveexcited his attention: mere barbarism rarely disgusts; itwas the unnatural union of civilisation with savagery thatmade his gorge rise. As a general rule the food was vile,256

unless the halt was at a station provisioned by a Frenchmanor a German; unluckily, the sons and daughters of Erinabounded, and although, as in their native land, pigs andpotatoes were common enough, not once did our travellertell of a good square meal provided by a native of theEmerald Isle.At Alkali Lake the curious spectacle was presented ofan Indian remove. Shifting their quarters for grass, ananimated crowd of bucks and braves, squaws and pappooses,ponies dwarfed by hard living, were straggling over theplains westward. In front, singly or in pairs, rode the men,some bare- backed , others used a stirrupless saddle, andfor the most part managed their nags with a thonglashed round the lower jaw and attached to the neck.Their lank, long hair, rusty from the effects of weather,was worn parted in the middle, and hung from the templesin two pigtails, a style which aids in giving to the coronalregion that appearance of depression which characterisesthe natives of North America as a race of " Flat Heads, "and, being considered a beauty, led to the artificial deformities of the Peruvian and the Aztec. They were anill- looking lot. Afew had eagles ' or crows' feathers stuckin their lank locks, others wore dilapidated Kossuth hatsor old military casquettes, and their ragged, untidy garments of every hue and shape strongly suggested a packof guys ready for the bonfire. However, there was a belleof the party, a veritable Poucahontas, who had largelanguishing eyes and sleek black hair like the ears of aKing Charles spaniel, justifying a natural instinct tostroke or pat it, drawn straight over a low, broad,Quadroon-like brow. The grandmothers were fearful tolook upon, and the boys, usually even ragless, with beadyblack eyes, and mouths like youthful caymans, were notmuch pleasanter. These wanderers followed the coach formany a mile, peering into the hinder part of the vehicle,ejacul*ting " How! How! " the normal salutation. ButIndian Disgust at Portrait Sketches 257this politeness did not throw the passengers off their guard.The Dakota of those regions were expert and daringkleptomaniacs, and after the leathern curtain had beenlowered as a matter of precaution , the noble savages, sodear to romancist and poet, drew off begging pertinaciouslyto the last.Burton tells a curious anecdote à propos of one of thesepeople. At Platte Bridge, as he was sitting after dinneroutside the station-house with his fellow- travellers, twoArapahas Indians squatted on some stones close by. Hehappened to mention the dislike amongst African savagesto anything like a sketch of their physiognomies; and hishearers expressing a doubt whether the " Reds " wereequally sensitive, he immediately proceeded to proof.Soon the man became uneasy under the operation, averting his face at times, and shifting his position to defeat theartist's purpose. When the sketch was passed roun1 itexcited some merriment, whereupon the original rose fromhis seat and made a sign that he also wished to see it .At the sight he screwed up his features with a grimace ofintense disgust, and, managing to smudge the paper withhis dirty hands, he stalked away, with an ejacul*tion whichexpressed his outraged feelings.To the Indians succeeded the more commonplace spectacle of the Mormon emigrants. On the 16th August atrain of waggons was observed slowly wending its waytowards the " Promised Land. " The guide was a nephewof Brigham Young's, or the " Old Boss, " as his people calledhim, and the caravan seemed well organised, few of thepilgrims showing any symptoms of sickness or starvation.Burton recognised the nationality at once, even through theveil of freckles and sunburn with which a two months'summer journey had invested every face. British-English,he said, was written in capital letters upon the white eyelashes and tow- coloured curls of the children , and upon thesandy brown hair, staring eyes, heavy bodies and ampleextremities of the adults. 17258

For it was an unpleasant fact that, after America,England principally replenished the Mormon settlements.In 1837 a company of Mormons began preaching at Prestonwith such remarkable success that within eight monthsthey had baptised about 2,000 people. A few years later,Brigham Young and his apostles conducted another missionin our islands, and despatched hundreds and hundreds ofconverts across the Atlantic. Other missionaries, too,worked in England, and founded meeting- houses in severaltowns. But at present the rapid spread of education hasclosed to a great extent their favourite recruiting-grounds.A late popular authoress related, amusingly enough, how inher day a Mormon elder promised a silly old Worcestershire gammer a white donkey to convey her to New Jerusalem, and while she was waiting and watching in all goodfaith for her heavenly messenger, her deceiver departed witha choice assortment of younger and fairer proselytes. Nowgammer's grandchildren would enlighten her as to the existence of the Atlantic.The formation of the land, changing from tertiary andcretaceous to granites and porphyries, showed that ourpassengers were approaching the Rocky Mountains. Thecoach was about to enter a very uncomfortable region fornervous travellers, the region of kanyons, or cañons, thosedeep, narrow, wall- sided trenches which countless ages ofwater have cut through the solid rock. On the 19th a realbit of the far-famed " Rockies," hardly to be distinguishedfrom some fleecy, sunlit clouds resting upon the horizon,came in view-Fremont's Peak, a sharp snow- clad apex ofthe Wind River Range. This was just visible from theSweetwater Valley, a charming vale tapestried with flowerygrass and copses, where grouse ran in and out, and affording delicious shade with its long lines of aspen, beech, andcottonwood, its pines and cedars, cyprus and scattered evergreens.But the sublimest scene of all was viewed from theThe " Rockies 99 259South Pass, a majestic level - topped bluff, the higheststeppe of the continent, situated nearly midway between the Mississippi and the Pacific. This wonderfulspot, 7,490 feet above sea level, and twenty miles inbreadth, the great Wasserschiede betwixt the Atlantic andthe Pacific, the frontier points between Nebraska andOregon, is not, strictly speaking, a pass. With some ofthe features of Thermopyla and of the Simplon , it isno giant gateway opening through cyclopean walls ofbeetling rocks; rather a grand tableland whose ironsurface affords space enough for the armies of our globeto march over. Amongst the world's watersheds it has norival, for here lie separated by a trivial space the fountainheads that give birth to the noblest rivers of America, theColumbia, the Colorado, and the Yellowstone, which is tothe Missouri what the Missouri is to the Mississippi .From the mouth of the Sweetwater, about 120 miles,the rise had been so gradual that it was quite unexpectedlythe travellers found themselves on the summit. At firsta heavy mist veiled the noble range of mountains; buttowards sunset, when the departing luminary poured aflood of gold on the magnificent chain of Les MontagnesRocheuses, imagination could depict no sight more beautiful.Pacific Springs, the station where, in the midst of thisglorious scene, the passengers found accommodation, consisted of a log shanty built close to a pond of ice- cold water.It afforded the unusual luxuries of bouilli and potatoes;but its crazy walls and ill- fitting door utterly failed to keepout the cold, no trifling matter, as the mercury at dawnstood at 35° F. Uncomfortable though it was, Mrs. Danaand her child, dazed with fatigue, were only too thankfulthat their despotic driver chose to linger a little later thanhis customary time; and the other travellers took advantageof the delay to enjoy once more the lovely aspect of themountains upon whose walls of snow next morning the raysof the rising sun broke with splendid effect. . . . All were17-2260

en route again at 8 a.m., and, beginning the descent of theWestern watershed, debouched next day on the banks ofthe Green River. Here they entered Utah territory, socalled from its Indian owners, the Yuta, or those that dwellin mountains. For its lowest valley rises 4,000 feet abovesea level, the mountains behind Great Salt Lake City are6,000 feet high, and the Twin Peaks that look upon theso-called Happy Valley soar to an altitude of 11,660 feet.Perhaps the most exciting day of any was the 24thAugust, when the coach rolled along Echo Kanyon. Thisstrange, red ravine, with its broken and jagged peaksdivided by dark abysses, its clear swift stream now huggingthe right, then the left side of the chasm, one giganticrufous wall, fretted and honeycombed, frowning at itsbrother buttress across the gorge, measured from twentysix to thirty miles in length. A sublime scene, but not oneto be viewed from a mail waggon with the pleasure andadmiration it deserved. Even Burton confessed to enteringit in rather an uncomfortable frame of mind, especially asthe team was headed on this occasion by a pair of all butunmanageable animals. Down they rushed along the short,steep pitches, swinging the wheels of the vehicle withinhalf a foot of the high bank's crumbling edge. Had the mulesshied or fallen, nothing could have saved the passengersfrom as grim a form of death as fancy can conceive-- down,down an almost perpendicular precipice into an icy riverroaring and raging over its rocks and boulders. But thewild drive came to an end at last, and its emotions terminated in bathos. Burton might have passed a goodnight, only his doorless apartment happened to be thefavourite haunt of a skunk.The journey was now drawing to a conclusion. Nextday, after breasting Big Mountain, an eyrie 8,000 feethigh, our party sighted the Happy Valley of the Great SaltLake. Its western horizon is bounded by a brokenwall of bright blue peaks, the northernmost bluff buttress-Great Salt Lake City 261ing the southern side of the water, while the eastern flanksinks by steps and terraces into a river- basin yellow withgolden corn. After a few minutes' delay to stand and gaze,Burton resumed his way on foot, while the mail- waggon,with wheels rough- locked, descended a steep slope . Thedistance from the city was only seventeen miles, and beforelong the rough road was exchanged for a broad smooththoroughfare, and the town, by slow degrees, came intoview.It showed to special advantage after a succession ofIndian lodges, Canadian ranches, and log-hut mail stations.The site, admirably selected for space and irrigation,admitted at that time of each householder being the happypossessor, not merely of three acres and a cow, that delusive promise of a dead and gone Ministry, but of from fiveto ten acres in the suburbs and one and a half inside thecity. Gardens and orchards filled with fruit -trees andflowers looked their loveliest , and it was with a decidedsense of prepossession in favour of their industrious ownersthat our traveller concluded his journey of 1,136 miles infront of Salt Lake House, at that date the only hotel in thetown. The proprietor, a Mormon, welcomed the passengersvery civilly, and his wife took charge of poor exhausted Mrs.Dana and her little daughter.Thanks to his fellow-passenger, Lieutenant Dana, whoknew several of the principal people in the place, Burtonfound no difficulty in seeing something of Mormon society.Amongst others, Elder Stenhouse and his wife, a livelylittle woman from Jersey, seemed only too pleased to givehim as much information as possible; in fact, the Saintsone and all showed themselves in their fairest colours to aclever guest unbiassed against their pet institution. Andas a natural consequence, while Burton admitted therewere many things in the inner life of Mormonism which no"Gentile " was allowed to penetrate, it is generally agreedthat he represented these strange people in too favourable262

a light. Hepworth Dixon was equally fascinated by them.Perhaps their marvellous industry captivated the two dis- tinguished visitors; moreover, if the city were a " whitedsepulchre," it was scrupulously whitewashed; the streets,perfectly free from the horrible scenes of drunkenness andimmorality which disgrace the capitals of Europe, were apattern of what a Christian town ought to be. In commercial matters, even foreigners who traded with Mormonsextolled their unvarying honesty. On the other hand, theSaints, though sober and industrious, lied unblushinglywhen anxious to screen any misdeed committed by one oftheir members; and this habit would naturally misleadany stranger, however intelligent. In the matter of theMountain Meadow Massacre, which had taken place onlythree years before, the butchery of a whole train of"Gentile " emigrants from Arkansas, the Mormons cast theentire blame upon the Indians; and it was only in 1877 thatone of their dignitaries, Bishop John Lee, was shot forcomplicity in the horrible affair.Like most infant communities, this of Utah was directedby one master mind, Brigham Young, its priest and lawgiver. A brief account of an interview which took placebetween him and our traveller at the Prophet's privateoffice will give readers who know little about this polygamous personage some idea of a remarkable man.Brigham Young, then about fifty-nine years of age,looked forty-five. Scarcely a grey thread appeared inhis thick fair hair, and his large, broad- shouldered figureonly stooped a little when standing. Accused of leadinga most dissolute life, he reached nevertheless the ripe ageof seventy-seven, and then died of cholera caused by tooplentiful a meal of green corn and peaches. His appearance was that of a New England farmer; and althoughhe had worked as a painter and glazier, and is said tohave boasted of having spent only eleven and a halfdays at school, his manners were courteous and simple.Interview with Brigham Young 263He conversed with ease and correctness, had neither snufflenor pompousness, and spoke not one word on the subjectof religion. However, he soon showed some curiosity asto the stranger's object in visiting the City of the Saints,and seemed quite satisfied with the reply, viz. , that havingheard much about Utah, Burton wished to see it as itreally was. Conversation then ran on two very safe topics,agriculture and the Indians. The latter, be it stated, weregreat pets of the Saints, owing to a startling ethnologicalprophecy in the " Book of Mormon," that many generations shall not pass away before the Red Men become awhite and delightsome people. Still, as reports were afloatof these embryo angels being killed off in unnecessarilylarge numbers, Brigham Young was at some pains to provethe contrary. It is certain he was an unscrupulous manwhat fanatic is not?—but he may be credited with considerable talent to have ruled the heterogeneous mass ofconflicting elements in his new territory even as well ashe did. Any question as to the number of his wives wouldhave been awkward; but on another occasion, while Burtonwas standing with him on the verandah of his block, ourtraveller's eye fell upon a new erection which could becompared externally to nothing but an Englishman'shunting stables, and he asked what it was. "A privateschool for my children ," the Prophet replied .large enough to accommodate a huge village.It wasHis creation, Great Salt Lake City, situated in avalley surrounded by mountains and watered by abrackish river, called New Jordan, is built like most ofthe nineteenth century New World towns, in the rectangular style. Already a fair size, it possessed in 1860a large population.¹ Every object bore the impress of hardwork; a miracle of industry in the short space of thirteenyears had converted a wild waste, where only a few miser1 The Saints were accused of cooking the numbers.264

able savages had gathered grass- seed and locusts to keeplife and soul together, into a fertile and prosperous settlement. Of course, the buildings were as yet neither statelynor substantial. The Prophet's block glaring with whitewash, and the Bee House, where his plurality wives.resided, were, in common with other houses belonging tolesser personages, constructed of sun- dried brick; and manywould have looked dull and mean but for their cheerfulsurroundings of garden and orchard, filled with fruit treesand bright English flowers-roses, geraniums, pinks andpansies. The shape of these homesteads was mostly of onepattern, the barn with wings and lean-to; and these primitive erections, despising uniformity, sometimes faced and inother instances turned sideways to the street . However,the lapse of thirty- five years has brought about a changeas vast as that effected by the Prophet. Now real brickand timber are the common building materials, the town islighted by electricity, and, judging by some interestingviews which appeared this year in Black and White, thepublic edifices, with the exception of the ugly Tabernacle,are exceedingly handsome and imposing.The Temple Block, then the sole place of worship inthe city, was in a very sketchy condition. The Latter DaySaints had been unceremoniously turned out of Nauvoo,Missouri, in 1845 , and their church destroyed. Still, considering they had housed themselves pretty snugly, Burtonremarked they were preparing rather leisurely for their newZion, as little more than the foundations were visible; infact, it took altogether forty years in constructing. TheBlock, ten acres square, standing clear of all other buildings,was surrounded with a wall of handsomely dressed red sandstone, raised to the height of ten feet by sun- dried brick,stuccoed over to resemble a richer material; and a centralexcavation, yawning like a large oblong grave, representeda future font, these people observing the uncomfortablepractice of baptism by immersion. An adobe erection, withA Sunday in Utah 265a shingle roof, served as Tabernacle; and ordinary serviceswere held in a kind of huge shed, with a covering of bushesand boughs, supported by rough posts, and open on thesides for ventilation . The Bowery, as it was called , seemeda cool and airy place of worship, but was destitute of anyelement of the sublime.""Burton prepared for a Sunday in Utah by a painful butappropriate exercise, reading the " Book of Mormon." Hedescribes this volume as utterly dull and heavy, monotonous as a sage prairie; and though not liable to be dauntedby dreary works, he confessed he could turn over only a fewchapters at a sitting. On the stroke of ten the " bookwritten on golden plates by the hand of Mormon " wastossed aside, and its prodigiously bored student hied tothe Bowery, where he took a seat on one of the long rowsof benches. It was curious to see the congregation flockingin, some from long distances, in their smartest attire, manya pretty face peeping under the usual sun-bonnet with itslong curtain, others surmounted by the " mushroom or' pork- pie "; poorer women clad in neat stuff dresses, richerones in silk, even sporting gauze and feathers. By ourtraveller's side sat an extremely ugly English servant girl;en revanche, in front was a charming American mother whohad, as he remarked in Mormon meetings at Saville Houseand other places in Europe, an unusual development of theorgan of veneration. Between the congregation and theplatform whence the discourses were delivered was anenclosure not unlike a pen; this was allotted to the choirand orchestra-a bass, a violin, two women singers, andfour men performers, who rendered the songs of Zion moreagreeably than might have been expected.66Worship began with a hymn. Then a civilised-lookingman, just returned from foreign travel, was called upon bythe presiding elder to engage in prayer, which he did, whiletwo shorthand writers stationed in a tribune took notes.He ended by imploring a blessing upon the Mormon Presi-266

dent and all those in authority. The conclusion was an"Amen " in which all joined, reminding our listener of thehistorical practice of " humming " in the seventeenth century, which caused the Universities to be called Hum etHissimi auditores.Next arose a Bishop, who began with " Brethring, " andproceeded in a low and methody tone of voice, " hardlyaudible in the gallery," to praise the Saints and pitch intothe apostates. His delivery was by no means fluent evenwhen he warmed, still he might have been listened to withprofounder interest, but for the entrance of the " Boss. "Every one was then on the qui vive, even to the elderlydame who, from Hanover Square to far San Francisco,placidly reposes through the sermon.The Latter Day Prophet did not present an imposingappearance. A man with a Newgate fringe, clad in greyhomespun garments, and a steeple- crowned straw hatdecorated with a broad black ribbon, ill accords with mostpeople's ideal of a " Seer." He expectorated too, whichwas disagreeable. After a man in a fit had been carriedout pumpwards, and the Bishop had concluded his discourse, another hymn was sung, and then came a deepsilence. Mr. Brigham Young removed his hat, swalloweda glass of water, and addressed his followers. His mannerwas pleasing and animated, the matter fluent, impromptú,and well turned, spoken rather than preached; and, apartfrom his " gift of tongues, " a sort of gibberish which nobody understood, and which he spoke at times for motivesbest known to himself, he is said to have often indulged inreal flights of eloquence. But the occasion in questionwas not propitious; at times he descended to twaddle.." Mormonism was a great fact, religion had made him thehappiest of men, the Saints had a glorious destiny beforethem, and their virtues were as remarkable as the beauty ofthe Promised Land. " Certainly he made his congregationlaugh when speaking of the joy caused by his spiritualA Day amongst the Mormons 267convictions, for, declaring he felt ready to dance like aShaker, he raised his right arm and gave a droll imitation of Anne Lee's followers; but this seems to have beenthe best part of the sermon. When he had concluded,more addresses followed from minor personages, severalhymns were sung, and then came the blessing and dismissal. Burton returned to his hotel directly the ceremonywas over, and applied himself, not to the dreary Mormon" Bible, " but to writing the notes which were to form thegroundwork of a future book.¹a.m.A sketch of a day in Great Salt Lake City, when ourtraveller was neither exploring the environs nor attendingreligious exercises, will give some idea how his time passed.He rose early and breakfasted at any hour between 6 and 9Then followed a stroll about the town, enlivened byan occasional liquoring up with a new acquaintance, apractice which, much to the Saints' credit, was confined tothe "Gentiles," the stricter Mormons disapproving of spiritdrinking, anyhow, in public. This nipping by the waydisagreed frightfully with Burton; he could take his bottleafter dinner with any man, but nip he could not, and Inever heard of his indulging in the vile habit except duringthis stay in America. Dinner, at I p.m. , was rather a disorderly meal. Jostling into a long dining- room, all tooktheir seats, and seizing knife and fork, proceeded to actionwith a voracity worthy of beasts at the Zoo. Nothing butwater was drunk, except when some peculiar person preferred to wash down his roast pork with milk, a trulyhorrible mixture; but the meal ended with a glass ofwhisky served in the bedroom, there being no bar.Supper, or dinner number two, took place at 6 p.m.When neither eating nor strolling about, Burton spent histime mostly at the Historian and Recorder's Office, opposite Brigham Young's block. It contained a small collec144 The City of the Saints, " I vol. Longmans, 1862.268

tion of volumes, and appears to have served as a sort ofclub almost entirely frequented by Mormons, and itafforded many an opportunity of hearing these strangepeople discuss their social politics and soundly abuse theirenemies.One afternoon quite a stir arose in the city. Enquiringwhat the excitement might be about, our traveller wasinformed that a large party of emigrants were just arriving.He set off " down town " at once to view the curious sight.In marched the silly souls through clouds of dust over thesandy road leading to the eastern portion of the settlement,accompanied by crowds of citizens , some on foot, otherson horseback or in traps. The new- comers had donnedclean clothes, the men shaved, and the girls , who weresinging hymns, were habited in smartest Sunday dresses.The company, though sunburnt, looked well and thoroughlyhappy, and few except the very young and the very old,who suffer most on such journeys, troubled the wains.Around were all manner of familiar faces-heavy Englishmechanics, discharged soldiers , clerks and agriculturallabourers, a few German students, farmers, husbandmen,and peasants from Scandinavia and Switzerland, and correspondents, editors, apostles, and other dignitaries from theEastern states . Very bovine looked some of our compatriots, many had passed over the plains unaware theywere in the States, and had actually been known to throwaway en route their blankets and warm clothing, under theidiotic impression that perpetual summer reigned in theirpinchbeck Zion.When the train reached the public square of WardNo. 8, the waggons were ranged in line for the final ceremony. At one time Brigham Young used to welcome inperson his new recruits; but in 1860 , fearing assassination,he appeared in public as seldom as possible. However, onthis occasion, his place was taken by Bishop Hunter, who,preceded by a brass band and accompanied by the CityThe " Mare Mortuum 99 269Marshal, stood up in his conveyance, and, calling theCaptains of Companies, set at once to business . In a shorttime arrangements were made to house and employ all whor*quired work, whether men or women. Everything wasconducted with the most perfect decorum. If any matrimonial proposal took place, it was in strict privacy, theMormon dignitaries, accused on such occasions of undueflippancy, looking as grave and proper as judges on thebench.Amongst the welcoming crowd figured a large numberof the city dames. Less smart than on Sunday, theyaffected much the same style of dress as the SalvationArmy lasses, minus the blood- red ribbons. A poke- bonnetwas universally worn-why is the Poke a symbol of piety,Quakers, Salvationists , Mormons, Sisters of Mercy retiringalike inside its ungraceful shape? A loose jacket and askirt, generally of some inexpensive fabric, completed thiscomfortable but exceedingly plain costume.The most interesting excursion was to the Great SaltLake. One fine morning our traveller and two Americansset out down the west road, crossed a ricketty bridge whichspanned the New Jordan, and debouched upon a miragehaunted and singularly ugly plain. After fifteen miles ofgood road they came to the head of the Oquirrh, wherepyramidal buttes bound the southern extremity of thewater, Driving on, they presently emerged upon theshores of this " still and solitary sea, " the sea of whichthe early Canadian voyageurs used to tell such wonderfultales.Under a clear blue sky , the " Mare Mortuum " appearedby no means unprepossessing. As Burton stood upon theledge at whose foot lies the selvage of sand and salt thatbounds the lake, he fancied he looked upon the sea of theCyclades. The water was of a deep lapis lazuli blue, fleckedhere and there with the smallest of white horses-tinybillows urged by the soft, warm wind; and the feeble270

tumble of the surf upon the miniature sands remindedhim of scenes far away, where mightier billows pay theirtribute to the strand. In front, bounding the extremenorth- east, lies Antelope Island, rising in a bold centralridge. This rock forms the western horizon to thoselooking from the city, and its delicate pink-the effect ofa ruddy carpet woven with myriads of small flowers--blushing in the light of the setting sun, is ever an interesting and beautiful object. The foreground is a stripof sand, yellow where it can be seen , encrusted with flakesof salt, like the icing of a plum- cake, and bearing marks ofsubmergence in the season of the spring freshlets.This singular reproduction of the Judæan Dead Sea isabout the size of the African Chad. Its water containsnearly one quarter of solid matter, or about six times and ahalf more than the average solid constituents of sea- water,which may be laid down roughly at three and a half percent. of its weight, or about half an ounce to the pound.Of course, it is fatal to organic life, the fish brought downthe rivers perish at once in the concentrated brine; andnear the bathing- place a dreadful shock awaits the olfactorynerves. Banks of black mud on examination prove to bean Aceldama of insects, &c. , a horrible heap of mortal coilsof myriads of worms, mosquitoes, flies, cast up by thewaves, fermenting and festering in the burning sun.Escaping with undignified haste from this mass of fetor,Burton reached the further end of a promontory where atall rock stood decorously between the bathing- place andthe picnic ground, and, in a pleasant frame of curiosity,descended into the New World Dead Sea. He had heardstrange accounts of its buoyancy. It was said to support abather as if he were sitting in an armchair, and to float himlike an unfresh egg. His experience differed widely; therewas no difficulty in swimming, nor indeed in sinking. Butafter sundry immersions of the head to feel if it really stungand removed the skin like a mustard plaster as described,Camp Floyd 271emboldened by the detection of so much hyperbole, heproceeded to duck under with open eyes, and smarted forhis pains. There was a grain of truth in these travellers'tales. The sensation did not come on suddenly; at firsthe felt a sneaking twinge, then a bold succession of twinges,and lastly, a steady honest burning like what follows apinch of snuff in the eyes. There was no fresh water athand; he was, moreover, half- blinded, so scrambling uponthe rock, our ardent investigator had to sit in misery for atleast half an hour presenting to Nature the ludicrous spectacle of a man weeping flowing tears.On another occasion, Burton visited Camp Floyd, wherea detachment of the United States army were then stationed. He was conveyed thither, a distance of forty miles,in an American merchant's trotting waggon, drawn by afine tall pair of iron-grey mules christened Julia and Sally,after the fair daughters of the officer who had lately commanded the district. With a fine clear day and a breezewhich covered him with dust, he set out along the countryroad leading from the south- eastern angle of the city. Theroute lay over the strip of alluvium that separates theWasach Mountains from the waters of New Jordan; it iscut by a multitude of streamlets rising from the kanyons,the principal being Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood, LittleCottonwood, and Willow Creek-these names are translated from the Indians-and from the road were seen tracesof the aborigines, who were sweeping crickets and grassseed into their large conical baskets-amongst these raggedgleaners Burton looked in vain for a Ruth!The military not being permitted to approach the cityof the suspicious and cantankerous Saints nearer thanforty miles, were located in a circular basin surrounded byirregular hills; and their huts clustered closely on thebanks of Cedar Creek, a rivulet consisting chiefly of blackmud. A more detestable spot could be found only atGhara, or some similar purgatorial place in Lower Sind.272

The winter was long and rigorous, the summer hot anduncomfortable, the alkaline water curdled soap, and thedust storms equalled the Punjaub. Here, as Utah wasin a very unsettled condition, the Saints and the Indiansvying with each other in breaking the eighth commandment as frequently as possible, the unlucky Regulars hadto remain, until at last hostilities broke out between theNorth and South and they were hurriedly recalled. Burtonmakes grateful mention of their kindness and hospitality.At that period the American army was composed chieflyof Southerners, and one of the most genial of his entertainers was a Captain Heth, a Virginian, whose familydated from the Dominion of Queen Elizabeth. Naturally,all the officers detested the dreary fanatics whom they wereexpatriated to guard. " They hate us, and we hate them,"was the universal cry; and from the " chief imposter tothe last acolyte ' every Mormon was declared to be amiscreant.Besides the trips to the Salt Lake and Camp Floyd,Burton spent some days exploring the most curious ofthe kanyons. One of the finest was already dotted overwith saw-mills, Uncle Sam's pet decoration for his fairestscenery. Blemishes notwithstanding, the ravines presenteda strange and impressive spectacle; and as autumn wasjust tinting the trees and the first snow whitening themountain peaks, the country looked its loveliest .Three weeks exhausted the attractions of the saintlycity. About the middle of September our traveller beganto think of departing. He wished to see something ofthe gold diggings about Carson on the eastern foot of theSierra Nevada, and as two State officials, one a judge, wereshortly proceeding in the same direction, he hurried onpreparations for his journey in order to accompany them.The mode of transit was by mail- waggon, much like thatfrom St. Jo, only ruder and even more dangerous. Thedistance was 580 miles, and the time occupied nearly aThe Wane of Mormon Doctrines 273month. The extremes of heat and cold surpassed anyendured while crossing the Rockies, the food was invariablybad, ditto the accommodation, while the Indians in thatpart of the country had acquired such an evil reputationthat Burton, before starting, cut his hair as short as aFrench soldier's. However, no disaster occurred of anyimportance, and the travellers jogged into Carson Cityunscalped, and little the worse for their fatigues. A fewdays were spent lionizing, the most interesting visit beingto the gold diggings of Placerville, where Burton wasinitiated into the mysteries of gold washing; then onNovember 1st he journeyed by coach to Folsom, thence byrail to Sacramento, and after about a fortnight spent atSan Francisco, he made his way home viâ Panama.His book, the " City of the Saints, " describing this visitto Utah, which was published the following year, created acertain stir. For it reads almost like a panegyric. TheMountain Meadow Massacre is pooh- poohed, the existenceof the Danites doubted, and the poultry-yard arrangement ,co*ck-a-doodle-doo and six hens, mentioned in terms approaching admiration . This burly volume, written in thesame careful, accurate style which characterises all Burton'sworks, would lose nothing by the omission of lengthy extracts from Mormon letters and sermons advocating thepractice of " Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, " arguments basedon very unsound theology. The experience of thirty-fiveyears, too, has proved our traveller mistaken in predictinga great future for the Mormons and their peculiar institution . Their numbers do not appear to have increased,their capital is now overrun with " Gentiles," and evendotted with Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, andthe Pacific Railway has given them the go- by. While asto polygamy, the present Mormon President issued in 1890a proclamation declaring that the church no longer taughtthat doctrine; and when, in 1896, Utah was at last thoughtworthy of admittance into the United States, President18274

Cleveland, while not abrogating existing plurality marriages, declared all future ones illegal .It is startling to turn from Burton's encomiums on thepolygamous Saints to his-marriage! This step, uponwhich much misplaced sentiment has been lavished, surprised both friends and relatives; those who knew himbest were perfectly aware that it surprised him most ofall. He was past forty, for some years he had had noserious affaire de cœur, and he invariably declared in hisprivate circle, in answer to occasional enquiries, that heintended to remain a bachelor-principally from inclination, and partly because his limited means and rovinghabits were unsuited for matrimony. Fate, however,decreed otherwise. For some time past he had been acquainted with a Miss Isabel Arundell, a handsome andfascinating woman, then entering her thirtieth year. Herfather, Henry Raymond, who with his brother Renfriccarried on business as wine merchants in Mount Street,was not very prosperous, and, as often happens in such acase, had a numerous family. Isabel, restless amidst herdull surroundings, admired Burton's career, admired Burtonhimself, and naturally wished to marry one of the foremostof the men of mark of the day. Even the fact of belongingto an old Roman Catholic family did not deter her fromchoosing a husband of totally different views from her own.A quotation anent the Sweetwater River in the " City of the Saints " will show what ensued. " Wilful and womanlike, she has set her heart upon an apparent impossibility;and, as usual with her sex under the circ*mstances, shehas had her way." Burton made one stipulation-that sheshould give him her solemn promise that if he pre- deceasedher no Romish priest should be surreptitiously introducedto his death- chamber.The marriage had to take place privately, possiblybecause the bride's mother vehemently objected to anydaughter of hers espousing a Protestant; and as she ruledMarriage 275her household with a rod of iron, it may have been judgedadvisable not to let her know until the deed was done. Soone cold morning, 22nd January, 1861 , Burton, clad in arough shooting coat, other garments to match, and witha cigar in his mouth, bravado to hide his deadly nervousness on taking such a step, awaited his bride on the steps ofthe Bavarian Chapel in Warwick Street, where the ceremonywas duly performed by priest and registrar, according to thelaw for mixed marriages.¹Shortly afterwards our Benedict fell ill with severebronchitis, and leaving his wife to break the news to herpeople,2 and see how they were disposed to receive him, hewent to Dovercourt, the home of a wealthy and generousaunt, for rest and careful nursing. Isabel meanwhile announced her marriage. Mr. Arundell was much delighted;but his wife, an irascible but excellent woman, never forgave her son- in- law. Almost the last time I saw her sheexclaimed, in answer to some remark from her daughter," Dick is no relation of mine."Looking dispassionately at this match, it is clear thatBurton committed as serious an imprudence as when hesent Speke alone to search for the Victoria Nyanza. Thereader will see later how, in spite of much that was agreeable and attractive , Isabel, owing to a fatal want of tactand judgment, was unfitted for the path in life which shehad insisted on choosing for herself-a far more importantmatter than mere pecuniary difficulties. These, however,were bad enough. When his wife's debts and his ownwere paid, Burton had only four thousand pounds remainingfrom his little patrimony, a sum which, prudently investedin a joint annuity, brought in about £200 per annum.Besides this majestic income there was his half-pay.I The presence of the registrar disproved the silly story, circulated after his death, that he had joined the Church of Rome as a young man at Baroda.2 His sister was informed a few days before the ceremony.18-2276

What was he to do? Perhaps his best plan would havebeen to return to India, but as a lieutenant the prospect seemed a poor one. His influential friends werestartled, not to say dismayed by this imprudent step,and wondered, no doubt, what piece of eccentricity hewould treat them to next. No one came forward, andyet something had to be decided upon at once, for thepair, neither economical, could not live on £350 a year.On such occasions the "something " is rarely agreeable.A Job's comforter suggested the Consular service, andthe post at Fernando Po being then vacant, no unusualoccurrence, it was applied for and obtained with littletrouble. But a fresh disaster happened as soon as the appointment appeared in the Gazette. Instead of having ascertained whether he could retain his commission or makesome special stipulation concerning it , with true Irish hopefulness Burton had taken no precaution whatever, andfound to his dismay his name erased from the Indian ArmyList.However, the deed was done. The Arundells kindlyoffered their home as their daughter's headquarters duringher husband's absence-Fernando Po was then quite unfitfor Englishwomen—and our Benedict, after providing mostliberally for her comfort, started for his new post withspirits revived at certain holiday prospects of explorationson the West Coast of Africa during the intervals of hisconsular duties.

CHAPTER XII

RICHARD BURTON, Consul at Fernando Po, a spot nick na nedthe Foreign Office grave! Richard Burton,whose knowledge of Eastern languages and Eastern customswould have proved of incalculable value in India and Egypt,or upon the Red Sea littoral, banished to a distant andpestiferous island to perform duties which any man ofaverage brains could have done equally well! And on andon in this dismal strain throughout at least a couple ofpages, my reader may expect me to bewail our traveller'sevil fortune, and to complain in usual stock phrases of theGovernment of the day which permitted such an anomaly.But as I am writing a true and simple story of his life,dispassionate as any memoir compiled by a near relativecan be, after much thought, much reading, and many consultations with his best friends, I am unable in the matter ofthis appointment to represent him as a martyr to an ungrateful country. At forty years of age, having contractedan imprudent marriage, he was compelled by pecuniaryconsiderations to enter a new service; could his mostdevoted admirers expect he should immediately receive oneof the plums? Later a big one did fall to his share, andhad it not been for a disaster, alas! to some extent of hisown causing, he might have attained one of the highestpositions which the Foreign Office had to offer.He started for his new post on the 24th August, 1861 .His ship, the Blackland, being a cargo and passenger steamer,left him ample time to visit every port town, and see all theobjects of interest, while she discharged her merchandise.278

Each scene possessed for him the charm of novelty.Madeira, then crowded with consumptives, who have sincedeserted it for dreary Davos; Teneriffe, most picturesqueof the Fortunate Islands; Bathurst, a miserable feverstricken settlement whose sanitary officer was needlesslystrict in questioning the health of the new arrivals fromEngland; Sierra Leone, overrun by litigious nigg*rs, oneof whom summoned the captain; Cape Coast Castle,which so quickly drove poor L. E. L. to despair, and nowonder, from our traveller's description of the horridhole; Accra and Lagos, one as pestilential as the other.At the latter Burton had a pleasant surprise. All theMohammedan population, under the leadership of a Haji,turned out in force to welcome a brother pilgrim . HajiAbdullah was petted and honoured in a fashion mostunusual, and he left his unexpected friends with regret forthe Bonny River, otherwise known as the African Styx.Finally, after a day or two's delay in a settlement equal inpoint of nastiness to the old Fleet Ditch, he found himselfat Fernando Po, his destined headquarters for the nextfour years.The first night he felt uncommonly suicidal. The Consulate was situated in the lower part of Santa Isabel, closeto the harbour, and in unpleasant proximity to a militaryhospital, whence dismal sights were often visible. It wasbuilt of wood with a corrugated iron roof, and every sort ofevil odour floated unhindered through its glassless windows.But, after some months, matters improved. An epidemicof yellow fever which decimated the garrison and threatened to become chronic, determined the Spanish governorto imitate other colonists and try the effects of altitude.Barracks were built on the heights, and as the soldiers'health mended as if by magic, our consul, indisposed forvoluntary martyrdom through remaining in his unsavouryquarters, felt himself also at liberty to migrate from theneighbourhood of the port to a frame- house constructed byFernando Po 279a Spanish official, situated eight hundred feet above sealevel.Then life became worth living. His nigg*r servants,Krumen all, the only people who will do anything in thispart of Africa, set to work to lay out a large garden, whichsoon supplied the household with excellent vegetables; adelicious rivulet ran along a neighbouring ravine; and theviews of the distant Camaroons were so lovely that Burtonquite fell in love with " Buena Vista, " as the little placewas appropriately christened. Possibly this happy state.of mind may have been caused partly by seeing so little ofit. His trips along the coast were almost countless , hisjurisdiction as consul for the entire Bight of Biafra extendingover a wide range, and there being many objects of interestwithin practicable distance. I use the last two words withintention. He complained, justly enough, that some peopleexpected him to perform impossibilities to explore at leastone thousand miles of the Congo, to clear up the uncertainties concerning the Niger, &c. , &c. , quite forgetting thatwhile he could obtain short intervals of leave, he had hisofficial duties to perform, and was no longer his ownmaster.The first stay in the town consulate, which he comparedto a big coffin divided by the thinnest of walls from AntiParadise, lasted only one week. A " nautico- diplomaticomissionary expedition was just starting for ' ChristianAbbeokuta, ' " and Burton was fortunate enough to beincluded. The amiable natives, in spite of sundry treaties,had been offering up human sacrifices; and as our goodlittle country by means of its hapless West African squadron was keeping watch over the morals of that and othernative states on the coast, Commander Bedingfield andH.B.M.'s Consul at Fernando Po were instructed to readthe Alake, or chief, a sermon upon his evil behaviour.This trip suited Burton exactly. He had read muchand heard more about the " Town under the Stone," and280

the glowing hues in which the subject was depicted hadconjured up in his mind a host of doubts that could be solvedonly by means of that accurate organ, the eye. Sundrysmall good books on Abbeokuta, written with the bestintentions, had been published by the Mrs. Jellabys of theday, all couleur de rose, representing the African washed,combed, clothed, scented, sober; and our traveller, as usual,wished to discover and propagate the truth concerningWest Africa as about every country he visited. Of course,the reality proved vastly different from the pretty fancypictures painted by persons who had never been near thespot. To begin with, Abbeokuta did not merit its prefix;only one in every five hundred of the population made evena pretence of Christianity; the natives proved a decidedlylow type of negro; the town was a grisly mass of rustythatching and dull red- clay walls, scavengered solely bypigs and vultures, and the climate was appalling.The route to this agreeable capital was as bad as thegoal. The travellers rowed from Lagos in two gigs belonging to H.M.S. Prometheus, manned by Krumen, across theIkoradu lagoon, tame and uninteresting, with its lowshores and clay-tinted water; through the Agboi Creek,little better than a ditch; and thence, up the Ogun River,to within sight of Abbeokuta, a distance of about eightymiles. Burton repaired at once to the Mission Compound,where he lodged. He found a church, schoolrooms, housesand gardens, all belonging to the Church Missionary Society-a veritable oasis in a dismal scene of dirt and squalor.But, as with the Mombas Mission, the mortality amongstthe clergy and their wives had been awful. Burton's kindheart bled for his poor pretty countrywomen; even thosewho had recently arrived, owing to disgusting sights andsmells, bad food and water, and the hot, steamy climate,looked like galvanised corpses .Abbeokuta was governed in 1861 by an old, drunken,and exceedingly hideous chief; and this was not the firstAfrican Cruelty 281time that he had received a well- merited wigging from ourGovernment. But hard words break no bones, and thewily old ruffian, who apparently expected an excellent joke,lost no time in summoning his visitors to the "palace. "This building consisted of a narrow clay house, long andrambling, provided with two courtyards, each with its ownverandah, and divided into rooms strongly resembling horseboxes. In one of these, hidden for a while by an old brocade curtain, sat the one- eyed , toothless chief, surroundedby women and children. Presently, with much pomp, thehanging was drawn aside, as in some foreign churches froma lovely picture, and revealed the Alake, encaged like an inmate of one of the larger dens in the Zoo.NorThe palaver then commenced. The African believes,with Dickens' policeman, that " words is bosh, " unlessbacked up by an execution or a heavy fine, and this fact weand other civilised nations have only lately begun to realise.Abbeokuta did catch it at last . The Alake looked fairlybright until the object of the visit was discussed; then,obstinate as a pig, he either hung down his head and pretended to sleep, drank spirits until he could hardly speak,or varied the programme by telling an unblushing lie.were his " ministers " any better than himself; nowherecould be seen more villainous crania and countenances thanamong the seniors of Abbeokuta. Their calvaria, depressedin front and projecting cocoa- nut-like behind, the hideouslines and wrinkles that seamed their skin, and the cold,unrelenting cruelty of their physiognomies in repose, suggested the idea of some foul kind of torturers. It has beensaid—and a horrible saying it is--that cruelty is the keynote of creation; it is certainly the key- note of the Africancharacter. The sight of suffering causes these people realenjoyment. In almost all the towns on the Oil RiversBurton saw dead and dying animals fastened to trees inevery sort of agonizing posture. Young women werestill lashed to poles and left to be devoured alive by282

buzzards a charm to bring rain- and the scenes atDahomey are familiar to everybody. This horrid characteristic is partly the result of their religion-the lowestform of fetishism -and partly the huge destructivenessin the Hamite skull.It was, therefore, no easy matter to persuade the bloodthirsty old chief of Abbeokuta even to promise obediencefor the future. Although Captain Bedingfield and ourConsul spent a whole week in this delightful capital,and had more than one talkee-talkee, it cannot be saidthe results of their efforts were either permanent orsatisfactory. True, a letter of apology was dictated tothe acting governor of Lagos, and a new treaty, whereinthe prince and his ministers declared they would do theirbest to stop the slave trade , also that no human beingshould be sacrificed by them, their people, or others insideor outside the town, or anywhere else in their territory,was legalized by the great men touching the pen withthe finger tip. But the broad grins with which thisaction was accompanied augured badly. Hardly had thetwo commissioners returned to Lagos before a man wasoffered up to propitiate the tutelary deities, or demons,of Abbeokuta, and a woman was kidnapped from thehouse of an English trader.Burton's next excursion was far more pleasant andprofitable. There are few spots on the earth's surfacewhere more of grace and grandeur, of beauty and sublimity,are found blended in one noble panorama, than at theequatorial approach on the West Coast of Africa . Thevoyager's eye, fatigued bythe low flat shores of Beninand Upper Biafra, rests with delight upon a " Gatecompared with which Bab El- Mandeb and the Pillars ofHercules are indeed tame. To his right towers MountClarence, the Peak of Fernando Po, 9,300 feet above sealevel; on his left is a geographical feature more stupendousstill, where the Camaroons Mountain, whose height is laid""A Holiday in the Camaroons 283down as 13,746 feet, seems to spring from the wave, and tocast its shadow half- way across the narrow channel, whoseminimum breadth does not exceed nineteen miles.In 1861 the topmost peak of this magnificent mountainhad never been scaled, a fact which rendered our travellerall the more anxious to set foot on its summit. After abrief official visit in H.M.S. Bloodhound to the dull anddeadly Brass and Bonny rivers, he was prostrated withfever, and the Camaroons furnished the best and nearestsanatorium . So, hastily collecting an outfit suitable for amonth spent in a wilderness, he landed at a mission stationon the coast, and soon made up a party. Mr. Saker, aNonconformist minister, proved a valuable guide, M. Mann,a botanist, afforded great assistance in classifying and arranging the curious flora of the district, and a Spanishjudge from Fernando Po, who was compared to a wild,young pig- sticking magistrate in India, kept everybodyalive.Ensued a right pleasant holiday. With the exceptionof one night spent in a native village, when the chief gotdrunk, rushed out of his hut at 2 p.m. with drawn daggerand began the war dance, all went smoothly. Our travellermentions with almost boyish exultation how he was thefirst to reach the top, Mr. Saker not caring to risk lifeand limb, and M. Mann being poorly, and absorbed,moreover, in botanical studies. To record his claim , heheaped up a small cairn of stones, and in it placed afragment from the facetious pages of Mr. Punch; in fact ,the sharp, bracing air, the magnificent view, and the consciousness of success, raised his spirits to the highest pitch.He half lamed himself, however, having purchased in anevil hour a pair of loose waterproof boots, which beganby softening and ended by half flaying his feet; and whatwith the state of these unlucky extremities and the effectsof over-exertion, he had to remain in camp for a week.But no sooner was the skin healed than he returned284

to the charge, and made the interesting discovery thatCamaroons is not an extinct volcano, as was generallybelieved. While descending one of the numerous cones,he emerged upon a Solfatara in full action, regular lines ofsmoke jets and puffs rising in rings and curls from theground. Burton thought that, although the mountain lacks.its pristine vigour of destructiveness, it knows as yet noneof those varieties of form and character which denotepermanently burnt out or even of temporarily quiescentvolcanoes.Anxious to turn this expedition to some useful account,our traveller subsequently published several articles inleading London papers, advocating the establishment in theCamaroons district of a sanatorium for the fever-strickencoast towns under British protection, also a convict stationto supply the necessary labour. Why England insists onkeeping all her burglars, poisoners, dynamiters, &c. , clutchedto her breast, rejecting with horror any proposal to dispensewith their precious presence in the land even for their andher good, was ever an insoluble problem to a man unbittenby a spurious philanthropy which benefits nobody. Butlittle attention was paid to his advice; Africa had notassumed the importance in the eyes of Europe which shehas now, and meanwhile the healthiest district on theWest Coast has fallen into the hands of the Germans.Official trips to the Camaroons River and other places,varied by literary work, whiled away the remainder of thewinter. It was well he had plenty to occupy his mind, foryellow fever was raging in the town, and the sights at themilitary hospital waxed more and more dolorous. In Marchit became necessary, for health's sake, to take a longerholiday. An opportunity presented itself of a trip to theGaboon, then the principal centre of trade in WesternEquatorial Africa; and as our traveller had visited numerousEnglish colonies, he was curious to examine a specimen ofour rivals' .A French Colony 285On landing at Le Plateau, ¹ the capital of this colony,he was amused at a scene so characteristically French.The officers appeared eternally in full uniform; sisters ofcharity flitted about in their serge gowns and white gulls'-wing caps; the tricolour waved everywhere, even sometimeson English craft, which might carry their own colours nofurther than Coniquet Island. The table d'hôte, too, withits savoury dishes and abundance of claret and cognac,reminded him, anyway, of les provinces, and the hotel was farmore comfortable than any he had lodged at since leavingEngland.But at that time, even more interesting than theFrenchman abroad, was the Gorilla. Du Chaillu's bookhad lately appeared, and wonderful tales were currentconcerning an ape apparently all but human. It was saidthis industrious anthropoid constructed a bower for hisspouse in the centre of the tallest trees by intertwining anumber of the weaker boughs, under which the pair can sitprotected from the rains by the mass of foliage thus entangled together, some of the boughs being so bent thatthey form convenient seats. Now was the occasion forverifying such stories, as the Gaboon was one of theanimal's favourite haunts. So, bidding adieu to the luxuriesof Le Plateau, Burton started up country March 19th , 1862 ,on a gorilla hunt.It proved, however, one of his unlucky expeditions, andthe perils of an unavailing search were greater than theobject quite warranted. Our traveller was nearly drownedwhile ascending the Gaboon River, knocked down anotherday by lightning, and during his final march had a narrowescape from the fall of a giant branch, which grazed his31 Now Libreville.22 See " Gorilla Land; or the Cataracts of the Congo. " Two vols.Sampson, Low & Co. , 1875.The sensation was compared to the shock of an electric machine combined with the discharge of a Woolwich infant, both greatly exaggerated.286

hammock. And while he had ample opportunities ofstudying the Fàn, a race of chocolate- coloured cannibals,mere wild beasts in human shape, the far more interestinggorilla invariably eluded his search. He came upon remnants of the creature's meals, traces of his fights, severalofthe " bowers," which proved only untidy heaps of stocks.and stones, but sight, much less shoot the anthropoid, hecould not. As usually happens, details concerning theanimal's habits and appearance collected on the spot contradicted many a popular tale . The gorilla does not standupright when attacked, and strike his opponent like a prizefighter; he does not run on his hind legs alone, but on allfours, and he is essentially a tree ape. Nor has he themarvellous courage at first attributed to him; on thecontrary, he bolts with remarkable alacrity when escape ispossible, and as for Mrs. Gorilla, while even a hen willdefend her chicks, this huge brute will fly, leaving son ordaughter in the enemy's clutches. Curiously enough, assoon as Burton had returned to the coast, the native hunterwho had accompanied him on the search shot a fine largemale and forwarded it at once to his employer. It is, orwas, in the British Museum, but owing to having beencarelessly prepared, it gives a very imperfect idea of thebroad- chested, square-framed, portly old " bully- boy of thewoods."A trip to the Lower Congo, which took place the following year, proved hardly more fortunate. Very littlewas known in 1863 about this mighty river, second involume only to the Amazon, whose sources worthy Dr.Livingstone mistook for those of the Nile. Discoveredin 1485 by Diogo Cam, hardly any particulars were circulated in England until Captain Tuckey's expeditionin 1816-a wide interval indeed. This expedition succeeded in exploring the Congo some 162 miles from itsmouth; but the scanty knowledge thus acquired wasdearly paid for, as nearly every officer died, besides severalOn the Congo 287of the mariners that accompanied the party. The riverthus became a bugbear; but our traveller, believing thatmuch of the mortality was owing to unsuitable food andtreatment, determined to follow in poor Tuckey's steps,and, if luck permitted, to push on further.As usual, he was comfortably conveyed to his startingpoint by one of the squadron. What he would have donewithout those friendly ships, that did not " pass in thenight, " but anchored for awhile and took him on board,I know not, as he could ill afford to travel on his ownaccount, half his pay being sent home to his wife. Itwas on board H.M.S. Torch that he had his first viewof the tawny African monster. About eight miles southof the embouchure the green sea changes to a clear brown,which turns to red during flood time; and the huge mouthyawning seven miles wide, is a worthy outlet for a rivermeasuring in length over three thousand . Exciting wasthe moment when the mighty stream celebrated in song byhis favourite poet and hero, Camoens, appeared in sight." Allí o mui grande reino está de CongoPor nós ja convertido à fé de Christo,Por onde o zaire passa claro e longo,Rio pelas antiguas nunca visto. "At French Point, Burton started up the river in alaunch manned by a few Jack Tars from the ship andsundry natives. The first stoppage was at Porto da Lenha,twenty-one miles, the second Boma, fifty- two miles fromthe sea, and so far, the way was easy enough. But atBoma, a Portuguese outpost, our traveller heard that theriver a little further on was supposed to be part of thedominion of a chief named Nessalla, without whose permission neither interpreter nor canoes were to be had.Nothing daunted, Burton, taking with him a box containinga fine spangled coat, a piece of chintz, and a case of ship'srum, hunted up the potentate in question, and obtainedan audience. Nessalla, a grizzled senior, wearing a crown288

not unlike a nightcap, and a beadle's coat of scarlet cloth,received his guest civilly; and after abundant palaver itwas arranged that the chief should lend a couple of his owncanoes in return for the above-mentioned gifts , valued atabout nine pounds, and wonderful to tell , although he hadreceived the goods, he actually kept his word.roar.So, under royal patronage our traveller continued hisstruggle up stream. When nearing the second northeastern reach the interpreter exclaimed, “ Yellala folla ,”"the cataract is speaking, " and all could distinctly hear theThe river now assumed the aspect of Niagara belowthe Falls, and the circular eddies boiling up from belowand showing distinct convexity, suggested the dangerous whirls of northern seas. At Banza Nokki, a settlementninety- seven miles from the coast, the party again disembarked and spent some days in this pleasantly situatedvillage. On September 12th all started for the cataracts.Four days' march brought them to the goal. From arounded hill, one hundred feet above the river, Burtonviewed the Yellala, a wild waste of waves dashing overtheir stony obstacles. As far as eye can reach, the bed,which suddenly narrows, is broken by rocks and reefs;and the current, after breaking into foam for a mile and ahalf above, rushes down an inclined plane of some thirtyfeet, spuming and roaring like billows dashing against acliff. The height of the trough walls, at least a thousandfeet, add grandeur to the scene.It was annoying, having arrived thus far, to be forcedto turn back. Our traveller had hoped to reach at leastthe Isangila cataract, or the second Sangalla of CaptainTuckey and Professor Smith, the point where HenryStanley, after his wonderful voyage, abandoned the riverand struck overland for Boma. But the party was small,inadequately equipped, and the guide, who had agreed topush on as far as Nsundi, suddenly declared he would notgo beyond the Yellala. Banza Ninga, the next stage, wasMore Literary Work 289distant two or three marches, and neither shelter nor provisions were to be found on the way. Without the guideof course further progress was impossible; so, very reluctantly, Burton retraced his steps, and after a quick andpleasant run down stream found another good friend,H.M.S. Griffon, just returned from landing mails along thecoast, and embarked without further adventures.Compared with the feats of later travellers , this voyagesinks into insignificance. But it deserves to rank amongstthat pioneer work which does so much to stimulate and aiddiscovery. A paper describing the trip was read before theBritish Association in 1864, and it proved that martyrdomwas not an inevitable result of canoeing up the Congo.Later, a scholarly volume, " The Cataracts of the Congo,"drew attention to the deplorable ignorance then existing inregard to the length and source of this magnificent riverignorance which sundry travellers, by hastily rushing toconclusions, increased rather than dispelled. After writingvery modestly of the little he had done to assist futureexplorers, Burton concluded the account of his voyage withthese remarkable words: " I hope the Congo, one of thenoblest and least known of the four principal Africanarteries, will no longer be permitted to flow through thewhite blot on our maps, a region unexplored and blank togeography as at the time of its creation; and that mylabours may contribute something, however small, to clearthe way for the more fortunate traveller. " The schoolchildren of our day hardly know what that white blotmeans. No one worked harder to do away with it thanRichard Burton.Two months were spent quietly at Fernando Po. Consular duties, writing his notes, and attending to his garden.at Buena Vista, for by this time he had left the unhealthytown, filled up the time and kept at bay nostalgia, a complaint in those latitudes by no means imaginary, and whichoccasionally attacked even our cosmopolitan hero. Then19290

came a change. He had volunteered, so far back as 1861 ,to visit Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, but the measurenot being deemed advisable at that moment, he was obligedto wait for another opportunity. Now arrived the welcomeintelligence that Her Majesty's Government had appointedhim Commissioner, the bearer of a message to King Gelele,couched in much the same terms as that to the Alake ofAbbeokuta, protesting against the slave trade, and evenmore strongly against the abominable waste of human lifeat the annual customs. The pill to be administered to thisdoughty chief, a compound of threats and soft sawder, wasto be sweetened by the addition of sundry gifts, of whichmore anon.Burton told, amusingly enough, in his " Wanderings inWest Africa, " how his wife, on hearing of the appointment,begged to accompany him; for, like d'Artagnan, she hadune idée. It was nothing less than by means of a magiclantern representing New Testament scenes, and by pronouncing a few words in the vernacular, to terrify the kinginto abolishing human sacrifices, and becoming a RomanCatholic. Unfortunately, it was necessary to representrather forcibly that her lantern would be considered thework of magic, the African's pet horror, and that thehuman sacrifices, so far from diminishing, might possiblyinclude an English witch and wizard.So, on the 29th November, 1863 , sans wife or lantern ,Burton embarked on board H.M.S. Antelope. Instead ofthe white sheet, slides, &c. , some big deal boxes filled withpresents, destined by the Foreign Office for the sable potentate, constituted the baggage, which, together with itstemporary owner, arrived at Whydah, the port town ofDahomey, in first- rate condition. An attempt was made toland with all the ceremony befitting a Commissioner, but itmust have been difficult to maintain a pompous demeanourin a surf boat, paddled in violently upon the back of a curling breaker until the boat's nose, thrown high and dry uponAwaiting Gelele's Permit 291the beach, was snatched out by some sturdy negroes.However, when our traveller stepped at last on terra firma,an escort of twenty men saluted with muskets and precededhim to the town, shouting and firing, singing and dancing.The party was headed by a Kruman from the Antelopecarrying the Union Jack attached to a boarding pike, andfollowed by five hammocks, and a special guard of sixKrumen, armed, and brilliantly, though not superabundantly, clad in red caps and variegated pocket- handkerchiefs.AWesleyan native teacher, who kept a small shop, Rev.Peter Bernasko, represented the clerical or Mganga elementin the procession.A delay ensued of some days at Whydah. Permissionfrom the king was necessary to start up country, and theseblack chiefs seemed to find a morbid pleasure in keepingwhite men waiting on their will. Burton employed thetime visiting the dirty congeries of villages that called itself a town, crammed with fetishes, the most sensible, orI should say the least silly, being a " Devil's Dish, " or claypot daily filled for the turkey buzzards which scavengeredthe place; as in all Yaruba settlements the houses werescattered, and except round the principal market- placethere was far more bush than building. The environswere then either marshes or fields , palm orchards orbosquets of savage beauty. The fine and highly cultivated farms found near Whydah in 1845 no longerexisted.By December 13th Gelele's royal permit had arrived.The Mission now assumed large proportions. The heavybaggage was carried by fifty-nine porters; thirty hammockmen were added to the equipage, making a total of eightynine mouths, not including interpreters and body- servants.The only European besides the Commissioner was Dr.Cruickshank of the Antelope, the reverend who still remained with the party being a " coloured person. "Sixty-five miles lay between port town and capital.19-2292

The journey may be described as one long dance. AtSavi the natives turned out capering and taboring awelcome; and at Toli the scene could be compared onlyto the revelry of devils and witches as witnessed by poorTam O'Shanter in Halloway Kirk. Indeed, when doubleflasks of gin were handed round to stimulate the performersto yet more violent exertions, Burton, who confessed tohaving been amused by the demoniac scene, retired fairlydeafened by the noise. A little further on, the first detachment of Amazons appeared, four women armed withmuskets and habited in tunics and white skull- caps, underthe command of a hag wearing a man's straw hat, a greenwaistcoat, and a white shirt put on à l'envers. They, too,danced with a will. At Whegho, the war- chief prancedat the head of his half- dozen soldiers , while an enormouslyfat old woman howled an accompaniment; and at Kana, theking's country palace, more capers were cut, the performersbawling meanwhile:" Batunu (Burton) he hath seen all the world with its kings and caboceers ,He now cometh to Dahomey, and he shall see everything here, "Gelele was detained in his summer quarters by a graveand urgent matter, nothing less than a judicial enquiryinto some shocking scandals amongst his Amazons. Theseladies, unless required as wives for the king, on entering thearmy take vows of celibacy; but, like certain virgins inEuropean countries, do not always keep them. At firstit was feared he was too perturbed to receive the Mission;however, after a short delay, he signified his intention ofgranting an audience during the intervals of his inquisitorialduties.Early one morning arrived the monarch's chief physician,whom for brevity's sake we will call " Buko ".-a closeshaven, white-woolled personage, neatly clad in lightcoloured shorts and a large silk shawl with silver orna-The Refreshment Table 293ments. Politely enquiring at first about everybody's health,he soon disclosed his principal errand, viz. , to obtain a listof the presents destined for his master; and he was particularly anxious to ascertain whether a carriage and pairof horses which Gelele had modestly begged from theEnglish Government were yet en route. On being told thisgift might be forwarded by- and-by, provided the king wereamenable to reason, he then announced that the Commissioner's reception would take place that very day, andon the morrow permission would be given to proceed toAbomey. " Dress at once " he added, "the king is preparing for the audience. "Burton had no intention of sitting for hours in fulluniform opposite a mud palace, the invariable result ofpunctuality on these occasions, so took his own time. Atlast the Mission wended its way to an open space, partiallyshaded by ragged trees, which for many generations hasbeen the scene of these ceremonies. Shortly after theCommissioner and his companions had taken their places,each on his own particular stool, an invaluable article offurniture in Africa, appeared a table, fated, as Burtonfacetiously remarked, to be one of his best friends. Itwas a venerable European object, once intended for cards,but the rough hands of its new possessors had stripped offits veneer and seriously damaged its legs. Two or threenatives puzzled their brains awhile how to open it , and bythe time they had succeeded, another man produced froma calabash sundry bottles of wine, gin, and pure water.These refreshments were supplied to the two Englishmenand the Reverend with praiseworthy regularity. Hardlyhad they taken their seats on any occasion when, lo! thetable.Thus fortified, our traveller watched a procession ofcaboceers, or chiefs, and their followers. First walkedunder two umbrellas the king's half- brother, then hismajesty's numerous cousins, and the Viceroy of Whydah.294

The local bards, who are not less powerful in Dahomeythan in other wild lands, were appropriately distinguishedby wearing a human jawbone. Eight skulls, dished up onsmall wooden bowls like bread- plates, at the top of verytall poles, were carried along, followed by capering soldiersand drummers; in fact, the élite of the country filed pastpalacewards . After they had disappeared, Burton marshalled his own little cortège, which, preceded by the UnionJack, was conducted by a chief to the royal residence .Gelele was then in the full vigour of manhood, fromforty to forty- five years of age. His figure was athletic,upwards of six feet high. He had not his father's recedingforehead, nor the vanishing chin so common in Africa , hisstrongly marked jaw, too, rendering the face jowly ratherthan oval; his sub-tumid lips disclosed white, strong teeth,the inner surfaces only slightly blackened by tobacco, ofwhich he was immoderately fond. The most disagreeablefeature were his eyes, red, bleared and inflamed; thoughhis nose, while not wholly wanting in bridge, was distinctlyco*cked. His dress, fairly simple for a savage potentate,consisted of a straw cap with a human tooth, fetish againstsickness, strung below the crown; a body cloth of finewhite stuff, and drawers of purple flowered silk. Thesandals were gorgeous-gold- embroidered upon a crimsonground, two large crosses of yellow metal being especiallyconspicuous. On one arm he wore an iron bracelet, and noless than five similar circlets on the other. On the whole,in spite of his scarlet eyes and nez retroussé, Gelele appearsto have been a manly, stalwart personage.A throng of unarmed women, the royal spouses, sat in asemi- circle behind the king, the Amazons forming a doublefile extending from the barn- like palace as far as the courtyard. Very homely were these wives, but their devotion totheir lord was quite touching. If moisture appeared on theroyal brow it was instantly removed with the softest cloth;if the royal lips unclosed over the pipe a plated spittoonGelele and His Retinue 295was moved within convenient distance; if the royal handcarried a tumbler to the royal mouth every black queenuttered a blessing. Never was a king more coddled andadored than in Dahomey.Our Commissioner walked towards the throne along asort of lane hedged by squatting Amazons, and was greetedby the occupant with sundry vigorous wrings of the hand, àla John Bull. Still grasping his visitor's dexter, the kinginquired after our Queen, ministers, and the people of England in general. He then greeted Dr. Cruickshank, whosedull naval uniform did not impress him, and finally recognised the Rev. Bernasko, who impressed him still less .Stools were placed for the strangers near the throne, andthen began a grand drinking of healths. This ceremonywas conducted in a fashion peculiarly African. After bowing and touching glasses, the king suddenly wheeled roundwhile two wives stretched a white calico cloth to act asscreen, and another pair opened small and gaudy parasols ,which completely concealed his figure from the vulgar gaze.This custom originated partly from the idea that a monarchis too god- like to require refreshment, and partly from thefear of witchcraft, black magic having special power over aperson while eating or drinking. The toasts concluded,salutes were fired , Amazons rang bells and sprang rattles,ministers bent to the ground clapping their palms; prodigious was the noise. In spite of the uproar, Burton'squick ear detected that the number of salutes in his honourwere insufficient, and, as he would never tolerate any slightwhilst on duty, he complained to Gelele, who immediately.apologised and ordered more.Quaint indeed were the figures assembled in the long,swish- walled, thatched barn and courtyard which did dutyas Gelele's summer palace. Quaintest of all were theAmazons. Enthroned on a lofty stool sat the captain- essof the late King Gezo's life-guards, an old porpoise wearinga cap like a man cook's, adorned with two blue cloth296

crocodiles on the top. Tothe left of royalty, under atent umbrella, squatted a corresponding veteran- ess, alsovast in bulk, for these she- soldiers invariably fatten whentheir dancing days are done, and some become prodigiesof obesity. The flower of the host was the mixed company of young Amazons lately raised by the king, a corpscomposed of the finest women in the service, and mostpicturesquely attired. A narrow fillet of blue or whitecotton bound the hair; the bosom was concealed by asleeveless waistcoat, giving freedom to the arms andbuttoning in front; and the body wrapper of dyed stuff,blue, pink, or yellow, extended to the ankles, and waskept tight round the waist by a sash with long ends, depending on the left. An outer girthing of cartridge boxand belt, European- shaped but home made, of black leatheradorned with cowries, rendered the garb most compact .All had knives, and the firelock, a Tower- marked article ,was guarded by sundry charms, and protected from dampby a case of black monkey- skin. Like the Amazons of thepoor extinct Guanches, these women at times showedundeniable pluck; but our traveller thought an equalnumber of British charwomen armed with the Britishbroom might on an emergency prove equally formidable.Needless to add, the reception ended with a generalcaper, the younger Amazons being prominent performersand executing agreeable imitations of decapitating theirenemies.Next day, pioneered by Buko, who rode under theshade of a white umbrella, the Commissioner and his companions began their march to Abomey.. Having plenty ofbearers, they were carried in hammocks along a broad roadbordered in places by shady trees; and as from Kana tothe capital the land is emphatically the garden of Dahomey,the journey might have been fairly enjoyable. But thetrain was brought up by a band, chiefly boys, with threedrums, a couple of tom-toms, two cymbals, and a pair ofgourd - rattles, and the horrid din never ceased for aArrival at Abomey 297moment; while the uncanny spectacle of skulls and bones,which, as with us in bygone days, were considered suitabledecorations for trees and buildings, was not precisely exhilarating. After passing several villages, a thin forest ofpalms rising from a tapestry of herbage and presenting atruly charming picture, and numerous fetish huts containing the most hideous assortment of idols imagination canportray, the party safely arrived at the Kana Gate, wherethey descended from their hammocks, whilst all the attendants bared their shoulders, removed their hats, and furledtheir umbrellas as if it were part of the king's palace.The enceinte of Abomey is perhaps larger than that ofany town in this part of Africa . Eight miles in circumference, it is surrounded by a deep ditch and clay wallspierced by six gates. The site is a rolling plain ending inshort bluffs to the north- west, where it is bounded by along depression, grassy and streaked with lines of trees;the soil, a rich red clay, is extremely fertile, and groves ofoil palms, maize, beans, cassava, yams, oranges, and othertropical produce grow in great luxuriance. There are threelarge palaces belonging to the king, several large squares,and a number of farms; for, as usual in Yoruba towns,they build sparsely, so as to avoid the fires which annuallydevastated Lagos. In 1863 the population numbered only20,000 souls; it has since increased to 30,000.Two guard- houses protected the Kana Gate, and beyondit were the remains of a broken- down battery. Burtonpassed along the southern wall of the Abomey Palace,remarking on its summit a few rusty iron skull- holders;but there was only one human relic , a great alteration sincethe days of King Adahoonzon II . , who excited the admiration of his subjects by taking off 147 heads to completethe "thatching of his house. " He then reached the GrandePlace, the scene of Gezo's displays and receptions, butneglected by Gelele, and soon afterwards arrived at thedomicile of Dr. Buko.These quarters left, as the French say, much to be298

desired. Buko's home resembled a cow- house, or ratherseveral cow-houses, one of which was devoted to theMission . The latter is described as a barn 45 feet longby 27 deep. A thick thatch descended within a short distance of the ground, and rested on a double line of strongposts buried in the earth. The low ceiling was made ofrough sticks plastered with native whitewash. The accommodation consisted of a small dark room, which Burtonimmediately provided with a window by the simple ex--pedient of knocking a hole through the clay wall; a seconddark, airless hole, which having luckily a lock and key toits door, served as a store- room; two more apartments onthe same scale, and verandahs. Every corner was crammedwith fetishes begrimed with dirt, and so maddeningly ugly,that the new- comer, regardless of their owner's feelings,unceremoniously ejected them into the courtyard. Bukomay have had his faults, but he was a good- tempered host.Imagine the rage of the British landlady if holes were madein her walls, and her china dogs, shell- flowers, and hideouswoodcuts were bundled into the area! Buko only laughed.The trial of the Amazons came to an end at last-it isa relief to hear they were not condemned to be walled upalive -and on Monday, December 21st, everybody turnedout to witness the arrival of the king. After a wearisomedelay, a long line of men carrying flags and umbrellas debouched from the open road , marched to an open spacebefore the Komasi Palace, Gelele's favourite residence,and, like the courtiers in " La Mascotte," walked roundthree times. Party after party filed along, until precededby his ministers, and, surrounded by about 500 soldiers,his majesty appeared, seated in a horseless carriage ofbygone pattern, harnessed by natives. He went roundtwice at first, but performed the circuit again, carried in aBath-chair on the heads of the porters. Apparently he was¹ On this occasion some were banished , others pardoned.Burton Presents Gifts to the King 299still upset by the behaviour of his graceless " women ofwar," for amidst all this homage he looked exceedinglycross, thinking only of keeping, by means of a thick kerchief, the clouds of dust out of his nose and mouth. Burton,dazed with heat and noise-he had been kept waiting threemortal hours in the burning sun -probably looked thesame, as he finally retired to his barn afflicted with a badheadache, the usual finale to a Dahoman parade.Next day, Sunday, ought to have been one of rest . ButGelele could not curb his impatience to see the presentssent by the Foreign Office. An attempt to force Burton toopen these boxes in one of the cow-houses was vainly madeby Buko, who then, under protest, forwarded them to thepalace. It was clear from his expression that the absenceof certain highly coveted articles, notably the carriage andhorses, had already been reported, and our Commissionerfollowed his gifts feeling rather doubtful as to his reception.After waiting half an hour in front of the Komasi House,he received a summons to enter, and, removing his cap,passed through the Gate of Tears into a deep, gloomy barn,so dark that he could hardly distinguish sundry womenselling provisions on the right, and Gezo's immense wardrum chapleted with skulls on the left. The inner courtresembled that of Kana, only the westerly side was a royalstore- house for cloth, cowries and rum-the notes, silverand copper of the country. In the yard stood four fetishhuts, each containing a whitewashed idol. The most remarkable figure, a sort of Janus made of dark clay, withglaring white eyes, and two pair of horns bending inwards,would have surpassed the most terrific picture of " AuldHornie " that the magic lantern could have possibly produced.The king soon arrived, and his presents were duly unpacked and displayed . They consisted of a circular, crimson silk damask tent, one richly embossed silver pipe withamber mouthpiece, two heavy silver belts, two silver-gilt300

waiters, and one coat of mail and gauntlets. The Commissioner and Mr. Bernasko also offered some simple yetsuitable gifts; but it was clear enough that the non- arrivalof the carriage and horses was unforgivable . Gelele accepted everything, omitting to say thanks.The monarch having returned to his capital, and thepeccadilloes of his Amazons having provided several extravictims in the persons of their lovers, who, poor wretches,did not get off so easily, the Customs commenced. Theseyearly Customs must not be confounded with the greaterfunctions which, taking place only after a king's decease,far eclipsed the annual rites in splendour and bloodshed;they were simply continuations of the Grand Customs, established in order to periodically supply the departed monarchwith fresh attendants in the shadowy world. These odiousinstitutions were first heard of in Europe about 1708,although no doubt they existed many years before. It issaid they are now abolished, but probably something of thekind is still practised in a very modified form and in strictprivacy. The ceremonies, which are extended over a week,a combination of carnival, general muster, and fetishism,seemed so thoroughly part and parcel of the creed andeducation of the people, that to suppress them entirelywould be much like abolishing our courts of justice ,military reviews, and religious services all at one blow.Early on December 28th, a discharge of musketry nearthe palace and a royal message informed the Commissionerthat the Customs had begun, and his presence at thepalace was expected. Delaying as long as possible, sometime after noon he and his companions mounted theirhammocks and proceeded by the usual way to the KomasiHouse.On the road they remarked in the centre of the marketplace a victim- shed, completed and furnished. From afarthe shape was not unlike that of an English village church.The total length was about 100 feet, the breadth 40, andBurton Attends the Yearly Customs 301Thethe greatest height 60. It was made of roughly- squaredposts, nine feet high, and planted deep in the earth .ground floor of the southern front had sixteen poles, uponwhich rested the joists and planks supporting the pentshaped roof. There was a western double- storied turret,each front with four posts, and the roof was covered witha tattered cloth, blood- red, bisected by a single broad stripeof blue check.In the turret and the barn were twenty victims. Allwere seated on cane stools, and were bound to the posts,which passed between their legs, the ankles, the shins,under the knees, and the wrists being lashed outside withconnected ties . The confinement was not rigorous; eachvictim had an attendant squatting behind him to keep off theflies; all were fed four times a day, and were loosed at nightfor sleep. They wore long white nightcaps and calico shirtssomehow suggesting the sufferers of old in an auto-da-fé;and the resemblance was rendered yet more striking bythe presence of the principal Fetishmen, who sat under a tallpole hung with white rugs, the Bo- fetish guarding thepresent Custom. The reverend men did not regard theCommissioner with an over-friendly eye; but he casuallyremarked in his description of the scene, such is the wayof reverend men generally with respect to those not of theirown persuasion.Arrived at the open space in front of the KomasiPalace, Burton found more preparations for the approaching function. Close to a shed intended as a royal receptionroom, wherein sat Gelele, stood a larger shed, somewhatlike a two- poled tent. At first he wondered why it wasjealously closed, even the entrance veiled by a pair of whiteumbrellas; and discovered at last, after sundry enquiries,that it was supposed to contain not only some earthly relicsof old King Gezo, but his ghost. Everybody bowed low onpassing this singular tabernacle, even before paying respectto the living monarch. Presently the latter arose, and, with302

his head bent slightly forward, and hands clasped behindhis back, delivered an oration in his father's honour. Hethen performed on the drum a sort of " Dead March inSaul, " and, after retiring behind the white curtain torefresh himself with a drink, returned like a giant refreshed,and danced vigorously. Certainly the changes in hisdemeanour were sudden and startling; for, these capersconcluded, he bowed low, surrounded by his wives, andaccompanied only by a single cymbal, making melancholymusic, sang a dirge for the dead. Then, rising with upliftedstaff, and turning towards the larger shed, he adored insilence King Gezo's ghost . Gelele was not quite a brute!Burton very properly refused to be present at the humansacrifices, and threatened, moreover, if any death took placebefore him to return at once to Whydah. But, as he wasanxious to save at least half the wretches tied up in themarket- place, he attended every bloodless ceremony withpraiseworthy assiduity; even when Gelele played ball withand then drank from three skulls of chiefs slain by hisown hand, and Buko, like the old sycophant he was,enquired whether so grand a sight had ever been seenbefore, our traveller remained studiously attentive andpolite. It is pleasant to add he gained his object . Halfthe victims in their san benitos were unfastened, placed onall-fours before the throne to receive the royal pardon, andfinally released .-The remainder perished during the third night of theCustoms. The number does not seem great not somany, in fact, as we used to hang weekly at Newgate;but our traveller discovered before leaving Abomey thesepublic executions were little better than a blind. Fromseventy to eighty persons, male and female, were put todeath inside the palace; although Gelele so far regardedthe explicit instructions which he had received that nolife was publicly taken during the daytime. Dismal indeedto so kind-hearted a man as Richard Burton must have"The Procession of the King's Wealth '""303been those hours of darkness, with the death-drum boomingforth an announcement of each execution; and he powerlessto prevent the bloodshed! True, some of the victims werethe riff-raff of Dahomey, and, like our poisoners and dynamiters, deserved no pity; others, like the Amazons' lovers,had been foolish enough to get convicted of lèse-majesté; butit was sad to think of the wretched captives taken in pettyskirmishes with neighbouring tribes, whose only fault hadbeen defending themselves and their lands. Next morningour traveller felt so sickened and disgusted that he debatedwhether to attend at the palace as usual or give himself aday's rest.However, as the message from the English Governmentwas still undelivered, it seemed safer to give the king noexcuse for shirking an official interview, which indeed heseemed strongly disposed to do. So at II a.m. Burtonwended his way as usual to the Komasi House, where wasto take place the ceremony known as the Procession ofthe King's Wealth.The walk was not a pleasant one. The shed in themarket- place was empty; out of its tenants nine hadperished. Four corpses, attired in their criminals' shirtsand caps, were seated upon stools supported by a doublestoried scaffold. At a little distance upon a similar erectionwere two victims, one above the other; and between these,from a gallows, a single body hung by its heels. Lastly,planted quite close to the path, was another gibbet withtwo corpses dangling side by side. Very little blood appeared on the ground, the men having been clubbed todeath. Traces of the more private executions soon appeared. Close to the south- eastern gate of the palace laya dozen heads, within the entrance were two more, andwhile helping to set up the crimson and gold tent in thepalace yard, Burton perceived poles being planted for ascaffold.Nobody seemed to care. Processions, dances, and a304

grand feast marked the festive occasion. One processionin this savage land was very like another, but this of theKing's Wealth was distinguished by a curious number ofold vehicles, some of which had been presented to formerchiefs by the English Government when slavery formed animportant branch of our commerce. A blue-green shandridan, a cab-brougham with a lion on the panels, twoAmerican trotting waggons, a peculiar old sedan- chair,dating from the days of Beau Nash, a large green chariot ofvenerable appearance, belonging to the late Gezo, severalold barouches, and last, but not least, a rocking horse withhousings and bridle, on wheels, filed past, drawn, of course,by natives, the only live horse present being Gelele's littleroan pony. Dancing, singing, drinking, smoking —theAmazons all had pipes in their ample mouths went onuninterruptedly for seven mortal hours; and when Burtonleft the vile atmosphere to walk home he got into somethingworse. A most awful smell almost poisoned him; thewretched dead bodies had been exposed in the sun thewhole livelong day!-Dancing, we have seen, was an all-important part ofevery Dahoman ceremony; consequently, strangers wereexpected to take part in it. The king had repeatedly fixeda day for the Commissioner to perform before him, and haddeferred the operation probably with the delicate motive ofallowing him time to prepare himself for so great an event.But the day and hour arrived at last. Burton collected hisparty in front of the semicircle of chiefs, gave time to theband, and performed a Hindustani pas seul, which elicitedviolent applause, especially from the king . So charmedwas Gelele with this novel step, that on another occasionhe seized hold of the Commissioner's arm and prancedopposite him amidst the loudly expressed delight of hispeople. Dr. Cruickshank executed an imitation ofDahoman capers, which no doubt, poor man, he had learntby heart, and greatly pleased the spectators.. It was then•Burton Expostulates 305the Reverend's turn .very different performance. Posting himself opposite thethrone, placing upon another stool his instrument, a largeconcertina, he preliminarily explained the meaning of thehymn, and then bravely intoned the " Old Hundredth."So far so good; his next choice was unfortunate:But he treated the company to a" O, let us be joyful, joyful, joyful,When we meet to part no more. '"The prospect of the company of King Gelele and hispeople for all eternity was too much for our traveller'snerves, with the vultures perched before him on a largetree by the palace gate expecting a feast, that night beingthe second nox ira, when Gelele and his Amazons intended to privately slay the remainder of the criminals andvictims.99After spending six weeks at Abomey without beingpermitted to deliver the message of H.M. Government,Burton formally complained to Buko and insisted on beinggiven an opportunity of fulfilling his official duties. Soonafter this " wig came a hasty summons to the KomasiHouse, and our traveller naturally expected it was on thebusiness in question . On arriving he found Gelele halfmad with vanity, showing off a number of prisoners recentlycaptured from a neighbouring tribe. Four skulls, fourteenmale captives, nine women and four children were paradedbefore the disgusted Englishman; finally the men were sold,and the women and children despatched to the royal harem.This was too much. Throwing etiquette to the winds,Burton declared that until he could deliver his messagehe would come no more to the palace.Returning to Buko's domicile, he had his bags and boxesostentatiously packed in the compound, while Mr. Bernaskorepaired to the Komasi House to formally announce thatunless an audience were granted at once, the Commissionermust leave Abomey next day. Ensued a general hubbuḥ.

The ministers were summoned, they did not arrive quicklyenough, Gelele lost his temper, and when they did appearhe ordered his Amazons to drive them with blows andcurses from his presence. The Customs concluded thatnight with a smash up of glass crockery, even furniture;and the King sent word to Burton apologising for notattending to business, as rage would prevent his sleeping.Delays, however, were coming to an end.At 3 p.m., February 13th, when, almost in despair,Burton had resolved to walk to the coast, using his hammock-men as porters, Buko hurried him in full dress to thepalace . For four hours he had the pleasure of sitting in akind of simoom, with glare enough to dazzle an eagle,opposite the ragged palm- leaf fence of the Jegbie House,another of Gelele's favourite residences. At last he receiveda summons. Inside, besides our traveller and his companions, were two chiefs and Buko, who acted ward.Gelele rose, shook hands, and perceiving there wassomething wrong, told Burton that he had heard of sundrycomplaints, strangely enough after they had been the bestof friends, dancing and drinking together. The longed- foropportunity had come at last, and the Commissioner readhis message. Condensed, it ran as follows: That HerMajesty's Government was resolved to arrest the slavetraffic; that the horrors of the human sacrifices were to bemitigated; that an agent would probably be soon appointedto reside at Whydah, both as an organ of communicationwith the king, and as an aid in carrying out all views oflicit trade. Finally, Burton, doubtless to the consternationof the bystanders, Buko in particular, told the savagemonarch more plain truths than he had ever heard before,especially with regard to the barbarous and revoltingCustoms.Gelele showed some temper, but was profuse in professions. Still it was evident he intended to ignore even inthe smallest matters the wishes of our Government. TheGelele's Presents to Her Majesty 307unexpected civilities of sundry official visitors to his courthad filled him with an exaggerated idea of his own importance; and not a dozen messages from the principal rulersin Europe would have deterred him from following in everyrespect his own sweet will. However, on parting, heshook hands with Burton, telling him " he was a good man ,but too angry," finally bade him adieu, exhorting a speedy return .-Two more days elapsed. Then Buko appeared withthe permit necessary for leaving Abomey, and sundrypresents. Those intended for Her Majesty, of whichBurton was enjoined to be especially careful, were:Two miserable half- starved boys to act as pages.A green and white counterpane of native manufacture.A huge leather pouch to hold tobacco.A large leather bag.History is silent as to the reception of these gorgeousofferings from King Gelele of Dahomey.20- -2

CHAPTER XIII

PROMOTION in the Consular Service was certainly more rapid than in John Company's. Burton hadperformed his difficult and dangerous duties as Commissioner to Dahomey to the entire satisfaction of the Ministrythen in office, and, in acknowledgment of his services, LordRussell transferred him to a more important post. Havingnearly exhausted every object of interest within practicabledistance on the West African coast, our traveller packed uphis books, manuscripts and lesser valuables, and bade adieuto picturesque Buena Vista with but moderate regret .His new Consulate was at Santos , in the Brazil. HadLord Russell consulted Burton regarding this choice, hecould hardly have provided him with a more suitable pied àterve whence to explore fresh scenes and, to him as yet, untrodden ways. It was fairly paid, and, better still, therewas a Vice- Consul who good- naturedly left his clever chiefunfettered whenever the latter required a change. Here,anyhow for a time, Burton was the right man in the rightplace. His consummate knowledge of the Portuguese language and literature delighted even the Emperor, DomPedro; while his known determination to have nothingto do with that log- rolling in the way of railway andother concessions, on which so many public officers havebeen made shipwreck, was especially valuable in upholdingBritish prestige during the construction of the San Pauloline.At Santos he was joined by his wife. Heartily tired ofher position as grass widow, and charmed with the prospectof travel and excitement, she hastened from England asBurton's Domestic Life 309soon as her husband had settled in his new quarters. Atfirst the aspect of her outlandish home dismayed her;and no wonder. Santos, a low-lying, enclosed place,nine miles up an arm of the sea, was so unhealthy thatit seemed at one time doubtful whether she could remainwith any degree of safety. Fortunately for herself, shewas able to take refuge from the steaming heat andmalaria on the coast in the chief town of the province,San Paulo, situated two thousand feet above sea- level .Owing to the number of British navvies employed onthe new railway, Burton's presence was frequently required at the little capital; and during one of his visits hefound an old convent to let in the Rua do Carmo, wherein, after having it cleaned, painted, and whitewashed,he installed his wife and household gods. Of course, allthe shipping business had to be transacted at Santos, sohe alternated between the two stations, while Isabel, surrounding herself with priests and nuns, did not lack forcompany.As this was the first time Burton and his wife hada home together, this grim old monastery in the Ruado Carmo, a few words concerning their domestic lifemay prove interesting. He began characteristically.Hating idleness himself, it worried him in others, so heset his wife to lessons. A flimsy conventual educationhad been early interrupted by her father's pecuniary embarrassments; and it was advisable, besides, in such noveland often depressing surroundings, to keep a very excitablebrain occupied. The results of these studies were ratherdisappointing. A certain amount of grammar, geography,and a smattering of languages he succeeded in imparting;but with this he had to be satisfied . For though she wasfar from dull, there was something which prevented IsabelBurton from becoming the cultured woman one might haveexpected after long companionship with such a man. Theobstacle may have been too large a development of self-310

confidence, or possibly a deficiency in the reasoning faculties; anyway, she never succeeded in mastering any subject.That she helped her husband to write his books is a storyoften repeated as with authority. While of course incorrect, it arose from his habit of commissioning her tosee his MSS. through the press while he was awaytravelling, and permitting her to add a preface or inserta chapter; a permission of which she sometimes availedherself too liberally, as in the case of his " Lusiads, ” when,though knowing little or nothing of Portuguese, she described herself as the " editor. " Still, it must be added,in the matter of these books she was useful. Burtondepended much upon his writings for bringing in welcomepecuniary additions to his moderate income, and Isabelspent many an hour copying the MS. , even acquiring theknack of imitating his handwriting so accurately that onlyhis sister or myself could tell the difference.•On the whole, considering their unlikeness, this strangelymatched pair got on fairly well. Burton was too sensibleto kick against the pricks; he was married, so he madethe best of it. And he depended for happiness upon occupation, not matrimony. As time went on, he centred histhoughts more and more on his studies, until he becamealmost unconscious of what was passing around him. Everan indulgent husband, it cannot be said the rôle quite suitedhim. Owing to Mohammedan leanings, he never thoroughlysaw the raison d'être of monogamy; home he soon tired of;his rooms, while exquisitely neat, always suggested abivouac; women rarely understood him, his wife perhapsleast of all.For to understand such a man it was essential to dropself, and try to rise to his level; and this Isabel never did.Though a Romanist, she need not have ranged herself withthe extreme or Jesuitical party, nor allowed her mind tosink into depths of superstition almost incredible in Burton'swife. He often looked, oh! so sad and weary when hearingLife in Brazil 311for the twentieth time how a leaden image had tumbled outof her pocket during a long ride, and then miraculouslyreturned to its despairing owner; or, worse still, on beingtold it was mere pride and perverseness on his part thatprevented his believing in apparitions of the nature of oldwhite cows looming through a fog. Nor were his friendsspared this style of talk; and some clever men, on hearingthemselves mourned over as infidels , &c. , were not so forbearing. Many a well-wisher was alienated for want of alittle tact, and Burton had already enemies enough. However, he was very patient; so long as he was permitted tolead a fairly quiet life, he remarked little and grumbled less ,even when his wife involved him in social and politicaldifficulties which, immersed as he was in his studies, hecould neither foresee nor avoid.It seems hard to believe that our traveller remainedeighteen months at Santos without any great adventure.True, he journeyed half over his own province, São Paulo,and paid sundry visits to Rio , where he and his wife spenta very gay Christmas. But this to him was little morethan our trips to town or summer rambles over an adjoiningcounty. At Petropolis he was most kindly received by poorDom Pedro. This excellent and enlightened sovereigndelighted in the society of clever men, especially when,like Burton, they were masters of Portuguese literature.He granted the traveller audience after audience, andrendered every assistance in his power when the latterproposed to explore part of the country in order to helpthe Government in opening out fresh means of communication, means which, at that date, were beginning to attractthe interest of English engineers and capitalists.So the strong man girded his loins and prepared foranother feat. Having obtained leave of absence fromEngland, and a Portaria or special licence from hisImperial friend and patron , he started for Minas Geraes.He intended first to study the resources still unexploited312

of this wealthy province, next to visit some gold minesworked by English companies, and finally to paddle downthe São Francisco as far as the rapids of the little - knownfalls of Paulo Affonso.The start was made June 12th, 1867. Isabel was toaccompany him during the first or safe part of the journey,but her husband very properly considered the canoe voyagefar too risky. On this occasion Burton covered more thantwo thousand miles, of which eleven hundred and fiftywere by the slow progress of an ajôjo, a craft half canoe,half raft. The time occupied was only five months, but ofcourse, as many years might be profitably devoted to theSão Francisco alone, and even then it would be difficult towrite an exhaustive description. In his " Highlands of theBrazil," published in 1869, wherein he gives an interestingaccount of his travels through part of the Empire, he wascareful to collect for those who might follow in his stepsample details concerning the natural features, the geologicalremains, and the rock inscriptions hitherto unworked of along-vanished race.What he termed his " holiday trip," as distinguishedfrom the exploration of the river, began from Rio. Thefirst halt was made at Petropolis, Dom Pedro's owncreation once a tiny village, in 1869 it was a flourishingtown. No small boon must it be to citizens of hot, unhealthy Rio to possess within five hours of their capital aresort where appetite is European, where exercise may betaken freely, and where they may enjoy the luxury of sittingin a dry skin. Beautifully situated amidst the Brazilianhighlands, 2,405 feet above sea level, Petropolis is rendered yet more cool and delightful by the bubbling, clear,brown streams that pour down its principal streets. Theway thither, a parapeted macadamised road over a passsome 2,900 feet high, commands in places one of the noblestpanoramas in the world, jagged hills, huge rocks, plumcoloured peaks on a sky- blue ground, and in the distanceJuiz de Forá 313the lovely bay of Rio Janeiro. Were it not for the changeof government, continual political troubles, and the chanceof fever on landing at the capital, perhaps by now Petropoliswould be included in our holiday tours. But an instablerepublic and yellow Jack combined are too much even forthe globe-trotter; and as yet a trip to Rio is rarely undertaken save by people who cannot help it .Only twenty-four hours were spent in this tropical Ems,and next morning the Burtons left by coach for . Juiz deForá, in the province of Minas Geraes. A twelve hours'drive brought them safely to a large untidy town, which,however, at that moment was looking its smartest inhonour of its patron saint, Antony and his pig. Theprincipal church suggested the Black Hole, so crammedwas it with worshippers, and its peal of bells, judging fromthe discord, must have been badly cracked by hard hammering. Burton passed most part of Sunday in theextensive grounds of a château lately built at enormousexpense by a wealthy Brazilian, who had further succeededin planting an arboretum and orchard upon what wastwelve years before a bog on the right bank of the Parahybuna. It was certainly curious to find, surrounded byvirgin forest, an Italian villa garden with its lake spannedin places by dwarf Chinese bridges, and to see the emusin their dull, half- mourning plumage, caged up with silverpheasants. The European and tropical plants were magnificent, one arum leaf measured five feet four inches long,a contrast indeed to our insignificant cuckoo plant. Theowner of the place, Commendador Lage, had recentlygiven a grand reception to Professor Agassiz in theseidentical grounds, on the occasion of the great naturalist'sscientific expedition to the Brazil.While Burton was wandering about the orangery andhelping himself to the delicious Tangerines, an Englishengineer, Mr. Swan, employed in the construction of thegreat line of railway between the valleys of Parayba and314

.the São Francisco, invited him to take part in a functionabout to take place of laying the first chain. Accordingly,a few days later the travellers wended their way to a smallsettlement close to the future railway, and ranched at akind of cottage kept by a Brazilian. The dog- holes servingfor bedrooms were foully dirty, the ground floor was footstamped earth, and the beds were covered only with bits ofthin chintz, not pleasant with the mercury at 35° F. Stillboth husband and wife enjoyed their stay in the outlandishlittle place, and especially the ceremony at the AlagoaDourada. It took place at the site where the Dark becamethe Golden Lake.¹ At noon the Burtons, heading a littlecrowd of spectators, proceeded to the scene of action , thepeg was duly planted, Isabel giving the first blowand breaking the bottle. The inauguration passed off well; flagsflew, the band played its loudest, everybody drank withmany vivas! and hip! hurrahs! to the healths of the Brazil,of England, and especially to the prolongation of the DomPedro Segundo Railway; many complimentary speecheswere exchanged, and music escorted the strangers back totheir " ranch. "In the two thick volumes already mentioned Burtongives a detailed description of the various towns of MinasGeraes through which he passed; but as one dead- alive,over-churched place was very like another, we will pass onto a most interesting study of English life in the heart ofthe Brazil-Morro Velho, a gold mine worked by a Britishcompany.This industry had created, as if by magic, a little. English village, a veritable oasis amidst the dirt and squalor of Minas Geraes. Handsome stores, a parsonage, an episcopal church, a hospital, neat cottages with gardens for theEuropean miners, well-built Anglo- Indian bungalows forthe superintendent and other officials , must indeed have1 So called because, after much of its waters had been drained off,enormous quantities of the precious metal were discovered.Morro Velho 315gladdened the exiles' eyes. Nor was the national virtueof hospitality lacking . A specially-appointed guest- houselodged our travellers, and so right comfortably that a stayoriginally planned for a week lengthened into a month.The site of this settlement, not far distant from Congonhas, was an irregularly-shaped basin about threequarters of a mile long by half a mile in breadth. Thenarrow valley ended westward in an impasse formed by highground; and although the surrounding country had been disforested, the romantic beauty of shape was still there, andon bright days the sun and atmosphere made the colouringa pleasure to look upon. No iron furnace blowing offsooty smoke by day and belching lurid flame by nightmarred the pretty scene; the power for the machinery thatworked the mine was supplied by water- wheels, whosesoothing song reminded the strangers of autumnal wavessporting on the Scheveringen shore.Doctors, matrons, clergymen (there was a padre forthe black folk) were not lacking. A library of 920 volumesoccupied a neat erection, tiled and whitewashed. Anotherbuilding, with two lines of benches and a boarded platformopposite a raised orchestra, served as a theatre, and thehospital was clean and spacious. The miners, for whomall these comforts were provided, numbered about 150Englishmen, a few Germans, and 1,452 blacks, male andfemale. Concerning the latter, our traveller remarked thatthe sable mothers, when in an interesting condition, weretreated with an amount of care and consideration for whichmany a Lancashire navvy's wife might look in vain.Very few days elapsed before the Burtons explored theEldorado which had created this oasis of industry amidstthe lotus-eating Brazilians. Every arrangement was madefor the safety of a trip into the bowels of the earth bythe superintendent, Mr. Gordon. Not, however, that itwas a dangerous one, no accident having occurred duringthe last two years. Clad in the oldest of garments, plus316

a stiff leather hat to guard the head from rolling stones,and with feet cased in the heaviest of boots, Burton anda travelling companion descended in the bucket, or kibble,and were followed in due time by Isabel and Mrs. Gordon.Every reader of that terribly realistic mining story,"Germinal, " can picture the plunge into darkness, thealmost perpendicular ladders, up and down which theminers run like cats, the mighty timbers for strengtheningthe walls, the swaying, uncomfortable vehicle; but as soonas the bottom was reached all resemblance to the Frenchcoal- pits ceased. Indeed, even for a gold- mine the MorroVelho was unique. Unlike the dirty labyrinths of lowdrifts and stifling galleries, down which men must crawllike one of the reptilia or quadrumana, the vertical height1,134 feet, and the 108 feet of breadth, unparalleled thenin the annals of mining, suggested a mammoth cave raisedfrom the horizontal to the perpendicular. The huge Palaceof Darkness, dim in long perspective, scantily besprinkledwith lights like glow-worms upon an embankment, waswell ventilated, the air fairly pure, with no trace of sulphuretted hydrogen except when just after blasting.Distinctly Dantesque, wrote Burton, was the gulf between the huge sides. Even the accents of a familiarvoice seemed changed; the ear was struck by the sharpclick and dull thud of the hammer upon the boring-iron,and this upon the stone, each blow delivered so as to keeptime with the wild chant of the workman. The otherdefinite sounds, curiously complicated by an echo, werethe slush of water on the subterranean path, the rattlingof the gold stone thrown into the kibbles, and the crashof chain and bucket. Through the gloom gnomes andkobolds glided about, half- naked figures muffled by themist. Here dark bodies, gleaming with beaded heat- drops,hung by chains in what seemed frightful positions; therethey swing monkey-fashion from place to place; elsewherethey swarmed over scaffolds which even to look up atBrazilian Vegetation 317would make a nervous temperament dizzy. Certainly onceseen, the Morro Velho was never likely to be forgotten.Burton, always extremely interested in such matters,having already studied mining in California on his returnjourney from Great Salt Lake City, followed the wholeprocess of reduction, from the raising of the ore to thefinal despatch of the results in small ingots to England.The Morro Velho was then more than paying its way, butit has probably long since been worked out, the life of agold mine being seldom a long one. It was certainly aninteresting example of what British capital and Britishenergy can do; for it must be remembered those were daysbefore the railways made transport comparatively easy;and the expense of bringing over men and machinery fromEngland was simply double.Leaving the little English colony with sincere regret,the Burtons resumed their way. They did not fail tonotice, like other travellers in the Brazil, the gorgeousbeauty of the forests. The dense curtain of many-tintedvegetation on each side of the Upper Pangani River hadexcited our traveller's admiration during the preliminarycanter into the interior of Africa; but the variety andbrightness of the Brazilian flora, which, shooting up thetrees, form glowing clusters, charged with almost blindingpoints of colour, impart a brilliance rarely seen in any otherpart of our world. Gold and purple blossoms first attractthe eye; then white and blue, pink and violet , crimson andscarlet, glittering like vegetable jewels. Most astonishingof all are the epiphytes, air- plants and parasites. Theweak enwrap the strong from head to foot in rampant,bristling masses, and hide them in cypress-like pillars ofgreen. Even the dead trees are embraced by thesevigorous shoots that swarm up, clasp, entwine them, andstand upon their crests, the nearer to worship Sol andÆther; every naked branch is at once seized upon andringed and feathered with alien growths. The moist318.

heavy air is loaded with perfume, every variety of odour,from the fragrant vanilla to the Páo de Alho, whichspreads a smell of garlic over a hundred yards around.The cry of the jay, the tapping of the woodpecker, combined with the chatter of the many-hued parrots andparroquets, give life to the strange and beautiful scene,which really might seem an ideal of Paradise were it notfor a continual buzzing of overgrown wasps, and a nastyrustle caused by a magnificent assortment, from a naturalist's point of view, of the deadliest of deadly snakes.A visit to Ouro Preto, the capital of Minas Geraes, acity so irregularly built and so utterly uninteresting thatany detailed description of it would be a difficult task,followed by flying trips to sundry other obscure towns,terminated the holiday portion of Burton's journey. Theremainder was real hard work. Under hot suns, drenchingrains, buffeted by furious gales, he had to cover elevenhundred and fifty miles in that craziest of crafts, aBrazilian ajôjo. Accompanied by his wife and a partyof friends as far as Sabará, a town situated on the banksof the Rio das Velhas, he there concluded his preparations,and bought a boat for the voyage. The moment arrivedfor parting, one by one familiar faces faded in the distance,and on Wednesday, August 7th, 1867, our traveller wasleft to the contemplation of his very peculiar vessel." I never saw such an old Noah's Ark, with its standingawning, a floating gipsy ' pál,' some seven feet high andtwenty-two long, and pitched like a tent upon two hollowedlogs. The river must indeed be safe if this article can getdown without accident!"The ajôjo represents the flat boat of the Mississippi andthe Arkansas, in days when men spent a month between themouth of the Ohio and New Orleans. It is composed oftwo or three canoes, in the latter case the longest occupyingthe centre. The canoes are either lashed together by sideropes or connected by iron bars. Poles fastened to theA Curious Craft 319gunwales support the platform, a boarding of planks laidhorizontally. The awning of rough Minas cotton is madefast byfive wooden stanchions, of which the two pairs fore andthe one aft are supported, besides being nailed, by strong ironstays. The ajôjo occupied by our traveller did not lack acertain rude comfort, for under the awning was a boardedbunk for sofa and bed, a table, and a tall writing desk;while in the stern stood the galley, lined with bricks andprovided with a small batterie de cuisine. Nor had he neglected to provide himself with a locked box, containingeatables, spirits, and tobacco. His crew on starting numbered three, an old man and his two sons; but others,pilots especially, were engaged during the course of thevoyage. Mr. Gordon had sent one of the Morro Velho ladsas personal attendant, and a mastiff, the gift of the samegood friend, mounted guard. On more than one occasion ,sundry poverty- stricken emigrants who wished to descendthe river cheaply were granted a free passage, and at timesthe owners of fazendas along the banks availed themselvesof a chance of a pleasant diversion by claiming Burton'shospitality.Obstacles on such a stream and with such a craft ofcourse abounded. Whirlpools, detached rocks, sandbars,shallow sharp curves, snags and timbers encumbering theriver- bed, required a constant look-out, and though thecrew seemed familiar enough with the dangers they hadto avoid, the ajôjo often grounded twice or thrice in oneday, and great was the difficulty of getting the clumsy oldobject off again. However, the " Brig Eliza, " as Burtonhad christened his property, braved all these perils with animpunity which a well- appointed steam-launch might havefailed to share.Our traveller, who was exploring the Rio das Velhas,which, as everybody knows, flows into the Sao Francisco,partly with a view to assist emigration, opined that theland best fitted for settlers lies between Bom Successo and320

the Coroa do Gallo. Beyond the reach of the greatplanters who desire to sell square leagues of ground, somegood, much bad, hereabouts proprietors were ready to partwith four square miles, including a fine corrego, for less thanhad been paid for the ajôjo. The views are beautiful, theclimate is fine and dry, there is no need for the quininebottle on the breakfast table as in parts of the Mississippivalley. Except snakes, there are no noxious animals, andsave at certain seasons few nuisances in the way of mosquitoes, flies, &c. The river bottom is some four milesbroad, and when the roots of the felled trees on eitherside are grubbed up it will be easy to use the plough;while the yield of corn and cereals is at least from fifty to ahundred per cent. There is every facility for breeding stockand poultry, besides washing for gold and diamonds; limestone and saltpetre abound; iron is everywhere to be dug.Still, emigrants will do well to remember that parts of thecountry on the banks of the Sao Francisco, unlike those onthe Rio das Velhas, rival Dickens' immortal Eden, whereMark Tapley failed at last to be jolly. Besides, althoughconditions change slowly amongst an indolent populationlike the Brazilians, thirty years may have altered for theworse the refuge from the want and misery in the OldWorld which Burton thought so suitable in 1867.The voyage was pleasantly varied by short visits to thetowns and fazendas along the river. A lengthy détour wasto the city of Diamantina, which took more than three daysof cross-country travelling. Mr. Gordon, with admirablethoughtfulness, had sent four mules and one of his troopersto the point on the Rio das Velhas, Bom Successo, whereBurton disembarked; so, except for the vile roads, therewere no great hardships to endure. It was a lonely journey,but I came upon a passage in his book which sounds as ifhe had been bored with too much company-not too little:My old longing for the pleasures of life in the backwoods-for solitude-was strong upon me. I sighed un-A Visit to the Diamond Diggings 321amiably to be again out of the reach of my kind, so tospeak-once more to meet Nature face to face. This foodof the soul, as the Arabs call it , is the true antidote to one'sentourage, to the damaging effects of one's epoch and one'srace, and it largely gives to him who wishes to think forhimself."No one disturbed his musings, and he reached Diamentina without adventures, and apparently more sociable.The site of this town is peculiar, almost precipitous tothe east and south - west, whilst the northern part is acontinuation of broken prairie-land. Viewed from theAlto da Cruz, the city has a well-to- do and importantlook. It is described in some of our encyclopedias asa mean place, and, in fact , it was known at one time asthe " village of the mudhole. " But, in 1867, we read ofnumerous houses painted in many colours-pink, white,and yellow-with large, green gardens facing broad streetsand wide squares, whilst public buildings of superior size,and a confusion of single and double church steeplestestified to the wealth of the population. Its citizenswere not only wealthy, but lavish in their hospitality;and the men were the frankest, and the women some ofthe prettiest in the Brazil. Burton had an opportunityof admiring the singular beauty of the latter, as he receivedan invitation to a ball given by a rich widow, where everyneck sparkled with diamonds, and the toilettes were almostParisian.He visited at once the principal diamond diggings,known as the Jequitinhonha, after a river similarly named.Planks, rough ladders, and inclined planes led to the bottomof the long pit , whose southern extremity measured eightyfeet deep by twenty broad. The mine belonged to a luckyBrazilian, who had purchased it for six thousand poundsand was making over fifteen thousand a year. Burtonrecognised in the Lavadeiro the drawing familiar to childhood copied from John Mawe into every popular book of21322

travels-the thatched roof of the Mandanga mine, with astream of water passing through a succession of boxes;the four inspectors in straw hats, perched on the tallest ofstools, and armed with the longest of whips; whilst thewhite- kilted sable washers, in a vanishing line, bent painfully to their tasks, and one of them, in an unpleasantlylight toilette, was throwing up his arms to signify " Eureka. "But the reality presented many points of difference, and itis a pleasure to learn the whips were conspicuous by theirabsence. Indeed, the discipline seemed somewhat lax, asthe miners, negroes, and half- breeds were said to helpthemselves liberally to the sparkling booty. A receiverof stolen goods always settled close to every new digging,and some mine-owners complained that almost all theirfinest stones disappeared.Less important diggings at Sao Joao were also visitedby our indefatigable traveller. He left the Diamantinaregion with regret. Socially speaking, it was the most"sympathetic " spot in the Brazil, at least according tohis experience, and he had to urge the absolute necessityof punctuality before he could escape from its hospitalities.On bidding adieu to the flourishing little city, he struckthe direct road to Bom Successo, aud reached the riverafter a ride of forty miles. Before resuming the baggage,he engaged another pilot, grim and angry-looking as aKurd, oftener drunk than sober, but who thoroughly understood the difficult and dangerous stream . The trooperand his four mules were dismissed, and they carried backour wanderer's letters to Morro Velho, where his wife wasstaying with Mrs. Gordon on her way back to Rio.At Guaicuhy, a miserable port town, the Rio das Velhasis absorbed into the Sao Francisco. The " River of theold Squaws " sweeps gracefully round from north- east tonearly due west, and flowing down a straight reach, about550 feet broad, merges into the Francisco, which rolls fromthe east to receive it. Already a triumph was it to haveDelayed by the Elements 323reached the bosom of this glorious stream; our travellercontemplated with enthusiasm the meeting of the twomighty waters, declaring afterwards that he had seennothing to compare with it since his visit to the Congo.Like the latter and the Nile, it floods during the dry season,and vice versa. Its water is a transparent green, and as itwinds through its verdant avenue, spreading out into bays,1,800 feet broad, grand indeed are the curves described onthe lacustrine lowlands. After Guaicuhy, the region ismost fertile and beautiful; all along the banks appearcharming patches of cultivation-melon, sloped cuttings ofsugar-cane ready for planting, coffee, tobacco, and enormousquantities of maize and rice.Hitherto, save for a burning sun, the weather had beenfairly pleasant; but shortly after passing Sao Romao, amiserable townlet where our traveller spent a few hours,he wrote of drenching rains, from which the brig Elizaafforded very poor protection . And worse was to come.Off Januaria, another port town, a storm assuming almostthe force of a cyclone nearly beat down the awning, and,although the ajôjo was snugly moored under the shelterof a high bank, threatened to reduce her to a perfectwreck. Later still Burton described the elements asdevilry broken loose. A cold wind from the north rushedthrough the hot air and precipitated a deluge in embryo.Then the gale chopped round to the south and producedanother and yet fiercer downpour. A treacherous lullensued, aud all began again, the wind howling andscreaming from the east. Thunder roared, lightningflashed from all directions, the river rose in wavelets,washing over the clumsy Eliza and menacing her with aspeedy descent to the depths below. It was in fact thebeginning of the wet season-of all the inexpressible discomfort of tropical bad weather. No refuge in the townletsalong the banks was practicable, for all were situated onunhealthy marshy sites, were more or less ruinous and21-2324

decayed, some even undermined by the huge relentlessriver. In such circ*mstances our traveller was confinedfor many hours at a time to his bunk, where he solacedhimself with sundry pocket classics, the woe of his youth,the delight of his maturer age; with Hafiz and Camoens,Horace and Martial, he declared occupation was neverwanting. I think it was poor Speke who reproached himwith dragging his books into the interior of Africa; thetruth was Richard Burton could dispense with society,but he could not live without his little library.On the 22nd October the Sao Francisco, which formany miles had been as smooth and unobstructed as theThames, began to display warning signals of the greatrapids that lay beyond. A little below Boa Vista, the river,after a short and tolerably clear northern sweep, returns tothe eastern direction, and enters upon that Cordilheira ofbroken, surging water which lasts for some thirty leagues.A special pilot had to be engaged, and thanks to this man'sdexterity and courage, the first rapids, whose dangers werefurther exaggerated by the supposed existence of a Sirenwho lies in wait for even the ugliest boatmen, were safely.passed. The excitement of racing along these wild currentsdelighted our traveller; and instead of landing at BoaVista, the usual terminus of barque navigation, he determined to paddle the Eliza as far as Varzea Redonda.During the next six days his journal was full of hair- breadth escapes. One part of the river thus traversed hasnine rapids, two whirlpools, and two shallows, all withinthe space of six to seven miles. Burton humorously confessed to "cold hands " at the sight of the infamous turnings,the whirlpools, and the pot-holes some fifteen feet deep inthe water. Head on they dashed by the rocks, here bare,there shrub- clad, and more than once they prepared for theshock; often the pilot giving the canoe a broad sheer with asweep of his heavy and powerful paddle, carried her safelythrough places where death might be touched on either side.1Approaching the Brazilian Cataract 325The Eliza swayed and surged as she coursed down theroaring waters that washed her platform; the spray dazzledthe eyes as it caught the sun, and in many places thesurface was literally fanged with murderous black stones.Once a strong blast struck the ajôjo—in an instant she washurled against a rock. The pilot exerted himself in desperation, fighting indeed for dear life; his men kept theirpresence of mind, and, to everybody's surprise, the craftfloated again down stream with only a scrape and a graze.That afternoon, however, the crew would work no more,but paddled to shore and anchored for the night.This strange voyage terminated at Varzea Redonda.Here, after studying awhile the glyphs on the rocks,whose interpretation may lighten a dark place in the prehistoric age of the Brazil, Burton broke up his boat, paidoff the watermen, and engaged horses and followers for hisshort journey to the Falls, a journey now performed bytram . The mastiff, who had often got his master intotrouble by persistently biting the wrong people, was presented to one of the crew, and probably spent the rest ofhis life paddled up and down the river. On the whole, ourtraveller had got on very well with his boatmen owing tothe quantities of spirits manufactured in the Brazil, theywere somewhat drunken, but their employer remarked thatoften when well primed they worked all the better.The approach to the great Brazilian cataract lacks thebroad majestic beauty of Niagara before the Falls. In fact,the river becomes somewhat repulsive; narrowing suddenly,its waters, now dull yellow, swirl against jagged rocks ,whose black and tawny sides contrast unpleasantly withpatches of chalky, white sand. Burton prepared himselffor a disappointment. Was Paulo Affonso worth journeyingso many miles to see?Yes, and many more! A deep hollow sound like therumbling of a distant storm which seemed to rise fromthe bowels of the earth, grew so loud that the ground326

appeared to tremble at the eterna! thunder. Making hisway to the Mother of the Rapids, where all the watersthat come scouring down with tremendous rush are finallygathered together for their mighty leap, a point whichdisplays most forcibly the formation distinguishing PauloAffonso from his great brethren, Burton crossed the easternchannel and reached an island whence a path led to ajutting rock, where he clung to a dry tree trunk andpeered fascinated into the liquid vastness below.The gorge here measures 260 feet in depth. It is filledwith what seems like froth of milk, a dashing, dazzling,whirling mass which gives a wondrous study of fluid inmotion. It is the triumph of momentum over the immovable. Here the luminous whiteness of the chaotic foamcrests, hurled in billows and breakers against the blacknessof the rock, is burst into flakes and spray that leap halfway up the immuring trough. There the surface reflectionsdull the dazzling crystal to a thick opaque yellow, and therethe shelter of some spur causes a momentary start andrecoil to the column, which at once gathering strengthbounds and springs onwards with a new crush and anotherroar. Now a fierce blast hunts away the thin spray-drift ,and puffs it to leeward in rounded clouds, thus enhancingthe brilliancy of the gorge; then the stream boils overand canopies the tremendous scene; or, in the stilly air,the mists surge up, deepening yet more by their veil of everascending vapour the dizzy fall that yawns under the spec- tator's feet.Burton declared that at last the feeling of awe becametoo intense to be enjoyable, and he returned to camp tolet the emotion excited by this life-in - death, this creationand construction by destruction subside amidst the minorcares of existence. He revisited the scene, however, nextday, and was fortunate enough on the last evening of hisstay in the neighbourhood to see the magnificent King ofRapids by moonlight. The effect of the soft silvery rays onA Severe Illness 327the flashing line of cascade, while semi-opaque shadows,here purple, there brown, clothed the middle height, appearsto have been almost indescribable.Everything now seemed flat and stale. Two days ofmonotonous riding led to the Porto das Piranhas. Thesteamer had just left, but a hospitable reception awaitedour traveller at the house of the agent to the Bahian SteamNavigation Company. After about a week's rest he descended the lower Rio de Sao Francisco, made his way toBahia, and finally returned via Rio de Janeiro to Santos,which he nicknamed the Wapping of the Far West.During four months rough voyaging with alternations ofstorm and rain, cold and hot winds, mists and burningsuns, Burton had not suffered from an hour's illness . Butsoon after he got home he was seized by the most agonizingpains, pains resembling the peri- hepatitis or "little irons,"which once nearly destroyed Speke's life on his returnjourney from Tanganyika. Of course, the Brazilianmedico had to confess his ignorance, and could do nothingto allay the awful agony which defied all the usual remedies.Bleeding, blistering, every sort of powerful drug was triedwith the sole result of making the patient worse, and butfor a happy inspiration , to leave Santos for a village onthe sea-beach-of course he had to be carried-Burtonmust have died . I have already mentioned his strangemeekness under the hands of the most ignorant Sangrado;the nearest show to anything like fight was to fly.Aided by pure sweet air, his glorious constitutiontriumphed yet again. But the mystery as to the cause ofthe malady, the suddenness with which he had been prostrated, the hideous pain, had given his nerves a shake .He began to take a dislike to both Santos and San Paulo,and longed to get away.Events favoured him. In 1868 Brazil and the Republic -of Paraguay were at war. For the last three years asuccession of details had been published by one newspaper328

and directly contradicted by another; so Lord Stanley,then Foreign Secretary, deemed it advisable to obtaintrustworthy information respecting the nature and causesof the conflict . No one was better fitted for the post ofmilitary correspondent than the erudite soldier then actingconsul at Santos. Accordingly, Burton was directed tomake use of his sick leave by paying two visits to thebattle-fields of Paraguay, a mission which suited himexactly, for the travelling fever was again upon him, andhe intended to visit not merely the seat of war, but thechief towns of Uruguay and Argentina, to roam over theAndes to Chili and Peru, return viâ the Straits of Magellanto Buenos Ayres, and finally work his way to England.Determined, come what might, never to return to Santos,he broke up his little establishment, and sent his wife homewith sundry MSS. under her charge for publication . Andthen, free as air, he started on what he called his secondand grander holiday tour through South America.At Rio, early in August, 1868, he embarked for MonteVidéo. The voyage was wearisome, the steamer crammedwith disappointed emigrants, all more or less noisy andquarrelsome; and it was a relief, after five days of theircompany, to descry a forest of masts lying under the"Town of the Mount, " backed by a splay and highshouldered hill , which, while only 465 feet above sea-level ,towers like a giant over the ridgy and peakless coast- line.There are two points of view of the little capital whereshe best shows her peculiarities . The first is seen whenskirting the southern end of the new town. The thoroughfares facing west- south-west abut upon the water; after thegorgeous vegetable growth of Rio de Janeiro they look baldand stony, treeless and barren. The sky-line is fretted bymiradors, gazebos, steeples, and here and there towers agaunt factory chimney. Successively rise high in air a hugeconvent, a Dutch-tiled cupola, over whose ochred wallspeep cypresses and black rows of empty niches, declaring itThe Dangers of Monte Video 329to be a cemetery; the English church resembling a shedto stable bathing machines, the hospital, three- storied,yellow-tinted, the theatre, and the substantial stone churchof S. Philip and S. James. The other and prettier coupd'œil is to be obtained by ascending the Cerro; from thesummit, looking east, is a bird's- eye view of the city,which, set after a fashion upon a hill, can hide neitherher charms nor her blemishes. Most remarkable is theenormous amount of water; on one side the bay, on theother the La Plata, that sea- like stream which can hardly becalled a river, rather a yellow flood, a muddy Mediterranean.Here Burton spent about a week. Monte Vidéo wasnot at that time the safest of halting- places. Politicalassassinations had been rife, and blood -thirstiness was therule. Soldiers in Uruguay are almost always negroes, anda stranger approaching their barracks even by day mustask leave to advance, otherwise an infuriated blue- tunickedanthropoid will charge bayonet blindly as a mad bull.Nor were the police much better. In short, our travellerdid not think highly of this republic as an emigrationground for Englishmen. Matters may have improvedsince; but then nobody expected justice, nobody had theslightest confidence in the Government; executions, frightfully common in revenge for party misdemeanours , wereunknown when the offence was murder, and yet therewas an unpleasant prejudice against self-defence. AMr. Flowers, who, to save his life from a ruffian in theact of stabbing him, shot the wretch, was punished by ninemonths' imprisonment. The climate, too, seems to exercisea pernicious effect on the British constitution. Exilesarrive full of life and energy, ready to work hard, fond ofriding and field sports, then by degrees lose all energy, anddo nothing but eat, drink and smoke.En route for Humaita, the scene of the principal battlesbetween the wretched over- matched Republic of Paraguayand the allied forces of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay,330

Burton allotted a few days, sometimes hours only, to themost interesting towns on his way. Buenos Ayres was thefirst visited. Stout Captain Sancho Garcia, if resurrected,could no longer exclaim, as in 1535, " Que buenos ayres serespiran en esta tierra! " Our traveller found the atmosphere heavy with meat, tainted as well as fresh, besides adreadful stench of tallow and calcined bones. BetweenOctober, '68, and April, '69, three hundred and ninetythousand head of cattle were slaughtered in this horribletown-enough to sicken a stranger of Liebig's Essence forever after. Insulted Hygiene had just been avenged by asharp epidemic of cholera, and it is very evident, from thedescription of the then state of the city, that the water anddrainage works were begun none too soon.With regardto the inhabitants, Burton wrote in laudatory terms of thehigher and educated classes; but for the lower he advocated a permanent gallows in the outskirts.After a short stay at Paysandu, famous for its oxtongues, he embarked on the Rio Parano, halting a dayor so at Rozario. The cathedral, whose two round whitesteeples of the pepper- caster order can be seen from theriver, stands without a rival, rare indeed in South America.It was crammed on Sundays and fêtes, chiefly with women,who, however, evidently considering variety charming, spenttheir Sunday evenings in a circus-tent devoted to bull andbear- baiting. Even dogs were loosed at ponies and donkeys,and the more viciously the animals fought the better werethe dames and damsels of Rozario pleased . More interesting is it to learn that here Burton first saw the hairlessdogs whose parent stock came from the Sandwich Islands.These curious creatures, which are now occasionally imported into England, resemble clumsy Italian greyhounds.Their leaden- coloured skin is entirely bald save for a fewbristles. The people dub them remedios, because theycure rheumatics by sleeping upon the afflicted limb; and,having no shelter for vermin, they are applied to the feet.Indians 331in bed as warming- pans or hot bottles, with the distinctadvantage of not getting cold. Doubtless the dogs, beingso lightly clothed, do not object to an arrangement equallycomfortable for both parties.At Corrientes, built on the margin of her noble river,there bending eastward and showing to the north a lakelike expanse of water, were a number of Indians loungingabout in their native costume. Clad in ponchas, chiripákilts, and short, stiffly starched calzonzillas of white orscarlet stuff, these curious people looked just ready fora wax- work exhibition, or the Crystal Palace . The feltor straw headgear distinguishes them from the wild Indiansof the Gran Chaco, who were paddled over every morningby their squaws in canoes, which they easily managed inspite of the current. But all wore rugs and blankets, earrings and necklaces of beads; many were ornamented withthe real tattoo, said to be ineffaceable, and a few affectedblack patches round the eyes, signs of mourning. Themost comical, not to say startling, novelty, was that theRomish priests had taught them to publicly display theirChristianity by the exceedingly uncomfortable operationof pricking crosses along and across their noses. Notwithstanding this show of piety they seemed to have beenrather spiteful: "That man's throat should be cut," exclaimed an ancient squaw, mistaking Burton for a Paraguayan officer.Again on board-Burton was now travelling in civilisedfashion on a brand new floating hotel with its plated silver,its napkins stiffly starched, and its gilt mouldings uponwhite panels clean as a new sovereign-he gazed withrapture upon the magnificent spectacle afforded by theconfluence of the Paraná and the Paraguay, which at theastounding distance of two hundred and fifty leagues fromthe mouth, equal a hundred of the biggest rivers of Europe.Compared with these majestic proportions , this mightysweep of waters, the meeting of the Rios de Sao Francisco332

and Das Velhas seemed to the memory insignificant .Presently the steamer dashed amongst floating trees andrippling isles of grass and reed up the Paraguay, whichsuddenly narrows from a mile and a half to four hundredyards, and seems quite a small influent, the cause being theIsla del Atajo, a long thin island to the left, disposed withits length down stream . Soon after passing the latter , signsof war began to appear. At Cerrito the Brazilians hadbuilt workshops and storehouses for their army. Not faraway lay stranded the wreck of an American hospital ship,which had been burnt with her eighty sick; then thesteamer approached the spot where the ironclad Rio deJaneiro was blown up, including her captain and crew.Further on was the site of the great actions fought in May,1866, a site which smelt of death , for there lay buried someten thousand men, victims of cholera , small- pox and fever;in short, the vessel shot past ground whose every mile costa month of battles, -Curuzu, Curupaity, Humaita.The latter, an entrenched camp sans citadel, looked verywarlike. Ironclads lay at anchor, little gunboats buzzedabout like wasps; and on landing the military correspondent found the ground everywhere sprinkled with Whitworth's forty, one hundred and twenty, and one hundredand fifty pounders, costing each from £20 to £50. Veryfew had exploded, and a pointed stick soon told the reasonwhy; they had been charged, not with gunpowder, butwith one of its constituents-charcoal. Burton was socourteously assisted in his survey of Humaita by one oftheBrazilian generals, who even lent the English correspondenthis own chargers, that he succeeded in correcting a greatdeal ofnonsense spoken and written about this " stronghold,"once looked on as the key- stone of Paraguay. Readersinterested in this almost forgotten campaign are referred to"Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay, " published in1870.On leaving Humaita, Burton pushed on to the front inVisit to the Paraguayan Capital 333the Linnet, a British gunboat. In places the Paraguay andTebicuary rivers were obstructed by floating torpedoes andfixed infernal machines, which, had they exploded , wouldhave blown the little Linnet into fragments; luckily, theywere so carelessly constructed as to cause but small mischief. At Guardia Tacuára he had an opportunity ofinspecting the Brazilian forces and of conversing with theprincipal officers. Here the thunder of the ironclads wasdistinctly audible; and in places the river banks weredotted with the Paraguayan dead whom the allies had nottaken the trouble to bury. But the unlucky Paraguayans,who were losing rapidly, refused to admit him to their lines;and as the Brazilian authorities were opposed to any visitto their enemies, Burton judged it prudent not to urge thematter. Enough that his object was obtained; his keeninsight into military affairs and knowledge of the languageof the people around him enabled him to expose many anewspaper blunder, and forward to Lord Stanley a full andtrue report.Later, when the allied armies gained so decisive avictory that the Marshal President and Madame Lynchfled to the interior, and the war was practically ended, ourtraveller paid a short visit to the Paraguayan capital .Seated upon its amphitheatre of red bank which slopesgracefully down to its lake- like stream , it presents a picturesque appearance. The Paraguay river here measuring from800 to 1,000 yards broad, sags to the eastward, forming abay or port of still, dead surface; and the bight is landlocked by a natural breakwater, a long green islet uponwhich cattle graze. Ships anchor in safety along theshore, and their presence adds not a little to the beauty ofthe scenery, which has all the softness and grace withoutthe monotony of the fair, insipid shores about Humaita.The huge, unfinished residence of the Marshal President, a kind of Buckingham Palace, built upon the abruptriverine slope, offended our traveller's eye, being far too334

large for the town . Some of the public buildings, however,are massive and handsome. The old cathedral is colouredpink and blue upon a white ground, its material brick uponashlar of boulders. When Burton entered, there were sofew voices and so many echoes that he confessed to feelingquite startled when stumbling suddenly upon a FrenchFrère Ignorantin who was making fierce love to a Paraguayan belle. The terrible palace of Dr. Francia, withverandahs eight feet broad, and its eighteen columnsfronting the river, is another solid building; but the newcathedral, erected in 1845, is described as the "normalbarn." Summed up, his opinion of Asuncion and herpeople was as follows:"A large and expensively- built arsenal, riverside docks,a tramway and a railroad have thrown over Asuncion athin varnish of civilisation, but the veneering is of thenewest and most palpable; the pretensions to progressare merely skin- deep, and the slightest scratch showsunder the Paraguayan Republic the Jesuiticized Guarani. "Besides his careful and thorough survey of the Paraguayan battle-fields, Burton crossed the Pampas and theAndes to Chili and Peru. Perhaps he might have lingeredlonger amidst the many interesting and beautiful scenes inSouth America, but whilst sitting in a café at Lima, heheard by chance of his appointment to the Consulate ofDamascus. No further delay was possible. At once heturned his face homewards, and though twice nearly shipwrecked, he was fortunate enough to catch the steamer atRio, and three weeks later landed at Southampton.

CHAPTER XIV

AFTER a short stay in England, rendered yet shorter by the necessity for taking the Vichy waters in consequence of his severe attack of hepatitis at Santos, Burtonspent six pleasant weeks at his favourite spa. Time passedquickly in the society of such men as Algernon Swinburneand Sir Frederick Leighton; and, his course over, ourtraveller, with mended health and in splendid spirits, startedfor Syria, arriving without accident on the 1st October,1869. Three months later he was joined by his wife.In 1869 the Consulate of Damascus was a fairly important post. The Consul, paid at the rate of twelve hundreda year, was expected to maintain a suitable establishment,which included dragomans, kavasses, and a good stable.He had jurisdiction , or rather exercised a protectorate overBritish subjects in the whole district bounded by the threeprovinces Baghdad, Nablus, and Aleppo; upon him devolved the responsibility of the mail for Baghdad throughthe Desert, as well as the safety of commerce, of travellers,the English residents, missions, schools-in short, of anyperson who had the slightest pretension to be considered asubject of the Queen. Only nine years had elapsed sincethe great massacre in 1860; the elements of discord stillexisted amongst the strangely heterogeneous population ,and it behoved all in authority to exercise the utmost tactand vigilance. In the event of any dispute during the performance of Burton's multifarious duties, appeal could bemade to his superior, the Consul- General of Beirut.When Isabel arrived, she found her husband living, aswas his habit when alone, at an inn . The said inn, as336

might be expected, was far from comfortable, so theBurtons allowed little time to elapse before they started ona house hunt. Nothing could be more romantic than wasDamascus in those days, untouched by the vulgarisingfinger of Change (think of it nowwith gas and trams!); but,like most romantic places, it was neither hygienic norsecure. Isabel, after her two years' sojourn in the oldconvent at San Paulo, was not very fastidious; still, shecould find nothing to suit her in the town itself. We knowthat, behind mean entrances, Damascus boasts of splendidhouses-houses with white marble pavements, their wallsfrescoed and decorated with mosaics, not to mention arabesque ceilings gorgeous with purple and gold. But theirattractions are sadly counterbalanced; all are more or lessdamp, cold in winter, suffocating in summer; while in caseof an émeute or a fire, the inmates painfully resemble micein a trap, the town gates being closed at sunset. So,turning away from these " marble palaces, " the new- comersprudently decided on taking a straggling whitewashed cottage, once a fair- sized building, before it had been cut intwo and sold separately. Situated on high ground, in aKurdish village named Salihiyyah, about a quarter of anhour's ride from Damascus through fields and orchards, it hadplenty of light and air; and, although the village or suburbwas large enough to contain a population of 15,000 souls,its new residents could get out of it in five minutes for agallop over the open country without the troublesomesuite necessary in Oriental cities . I must mention anotherattraction which this quaint abode possessed for ourtraveller his bedroom window and the minaret of aneighbouring mosque were nearly on a level, so he couldjoin the Muezzin in the call to prayer. As during hisstay at Zeila, he delighted in hearing the familiar soundagain, which he often compared with the Christians ' brazensummons, grievously to the disadvantage of the latter.Front and back, the cottage, which has been faithfullyThe Cottage at Salihiyyah 337depicted by Lord Leighton, looked upon gardens. Overthe narrow road, amongst some apricot orchards, theBurtons erected a stable for twelve horses, with a roomfor their grooms. The building itself seems to have beenthoroughly Oriental, though not palatial. A visitor wasushered into a square courtyard painted in stripes of red,white and blue, planted with orange, lemon and jessaminetrees, with a fountain in the middle. On this courtyardopened a room with three sides, spread with rugs anddivans, the niches in the walls filled with plants; and hereIsabel received on hot days, entertaining her guests appropriately with coffee, sherbet, narghilehs and cigarettes.The dining-room was also on the ground floor, while upstairs six rooms occupied two sides of the courtyard, and asort of terrace the remainder. The terrace afforded a delightful lounge on warm evenings, a kind of be- flowered,be-carpeted housetop, whence an unobstructed view wasto be had of Jebel Kaysun, the tall, yellow mountainwhich forms the background of Salihiyyah; and, whenthe wind blew from the right quarter, a delicious whiffcould be inhaled of the pure air of the Desert which liesbeyond Damascus. When at last Isabel had thoroughlysettled herself in this romantic abode, and collected astrangely assorted menagerie of pets that never ceasedworrying and trying to devour each other (a favouriteleopard did perform the not unnatural feat of slaying awoolly black lamb) , she declared she was madly enamouredof Eastern life. But her description of the dismal soundsproceeding from every side-howls of wild dogs, cries ofjackals prowling near the burial ground of Jebel Kaysun,varied by a free fight in the road below, or the loudwrangling of the Kurdish women, make one suspect shewould have grown very weary of " the solemn mystery,the romantic halo of Oriental existence " had it beenmuch prolonged.Here, then, at Salihiyyah, the Burtons spent their winter22338

-and spring. At times they seem to have been far fromlonely-rather the other way. All English people, andmost foreigners that visited Damascus, called upon themand were shown in return every sort of hospitality possible in the circ*mstances. On Wednesdays Isabel helda reception, a function which began soon after sunriseand continued until sunset. The native dames arrivedfirst; one very early riser complained bitterly of havingbeen refused admission, as her sorely taxed hostess hadfailed to dress at the first glimmer of dawn. Churchdignitaries appeared decorously at about one o'clocklunch time; and were followed by the consular corps,Turkish authorities, mission and school people. Thesereceptions, I may remark, were an innovation. As arule, the European society split into cliques, the Protestant missionary and school folk forming one, the consularcorps and the French another, and the three religioushouses a third. But Isabel, with dangerous originality,endeavoured to keep a salon where all creeds, races andtongues could meet without ill-feeling-a neutral groundupon which everyone was expected to be friendly; aboutas hopeless an experiment as the menagerie outside .Had these reunions been less intolerably prolonged,they might have proved safer; but, as it was, I am inclined to suspect that some of the enmities which doggedour traveller may have originated in petty squabbles,jealousies, and especially tittle-tattle, during those long,long days in the room looking on the striped courtyard .Could even the wise woman of the Proverbs have keptdue guard over her tongue for twelve consecutive hoursevery week?Nor were her more intimate friends wisely chosen .The chief of these, Jane Digby, who had capped herwild career by marrying her Arab camel- driver, seemedhardly a desirable confidante. Her unsuitability forthis post, which appears to have been conferred uponHis Wife's Friends 339her somewhat against her will, was speedily proved byIsabel's own confession. More Bedawin than theBedawi, this eccentric woman aided her tribe by everymeans in her power (and be it remembered she was avery clever woman) in their endeavour to conceal the wellsand extort blackmail from all Europeans who visitedPalmyra. Hearing that the Burtons intended to journeythither, and that the Consul had no intention of payingthe usual tribute, Jane, fearing the attempt if successfulmight deprive her people of a considerable source ofrevenue, resorted to stratagem. Professing herself anxiousabout the safety of her English friends, she offered oneof her trusty clansmen as an escort to assist them inkeeping clear of the Bedawi raids. The man, of course,was secretly instructed to lead the Burtons into ambush,whence they could be pounced upon by his tribe and keptprisoners until ransomed. Here, however, our travellerwas not to be hoodwinked. He accepted the offer mostpolitely, but as soon as the party was well en route, hedeprived the spy of his mare and accoutrements, retainingboth as hostages until the return journey to Damascus.We must not be hard upon Jane. In the power of anArab spouse and living amongst a savage tribe, she mighthave lost her life had she acted differently; but the closeintimacy with a person so placed shows a painful lack ofdiscretion on the other side. Inexplicable too, for whilesome women can hardly live without a friend to cry over,or be cried over by, as the case may be, Isabel's feeling towards her own sex was far from enthusiastic. I canmerely suggest that, what with the strange existence, thecontinual excitement, the perpetual element of dangerfor when there were no rumours of another rising therecame a sharp epidemic of cholera, and at times the graveyards and the jackals must have seemed unpleasantly near-Richard Burton's wife almost lost her head.Winter and spring were pleasant enough in this22-2340

Damascus suburb, but the heat in summer-105 ° F. in theshade-rendered some sort of country abode indispensable.So quarters were found at B'ludan in the Anti- Libanus—a little Christian village , Greek Orthodox and RomanCatholic, which clings to the eastern flank of the Zebadánivalley. It lies some twenty- seven indirect miles acrosscountry-an eight hours' moderate ride on horseback, andtwelve for baggage- laden camels. The house, romanticallysituated amongst the mountains, is described as little betterthan a large limestone barn , with a deep, covered verandahrunning along one side, and provided with ample stablingon the other. It had to be cleaned, whitewashed, andfurnished; and, from the absence of any complaints, Ibelieve it was fairly adapted to its inmates' mode of living,a mode simple in the extreme. The air outside wasdelicious, hot only for an hour or two about midday; andthe views may be imagined from the fact that on the rightof B'ludan rises Jebel Sannin, monarch of the Libanus,and on the left Hermon, king of the Anti- Libanus.Amidst these wild scenes the Burtons led a partlyEastern, partly farmhouse, existence. Butter and milkwere procurable from the Bedawi, sheep and kids fromthe passing flocks. Bread was home- made, and gameabounded on the neighbouring hills. Isabel gave a mostsentimental account of life at B'ludan- how she andher husband rambled over the hills at early dawn;how all the sick poor within seventeen miles came to bedoctored; how the hungry, the ragged, the oppressed,crowded into the garden, asking the Consul to settle theirdifferences, and assist them with gifts of food, clothes andmoney. It was sadly like acting Good Samaritan to snakes.À propos of her doctoring, she tells an amusing story. Adying peasant woman sent a piteous request for aid, and itwas deemed advisable to soothe her last moments by administering a harmless dose, which the poor soul mightimagine a sovereign specific. Next morning her son pre-Life at B'ludan 341sented himself before our Lady Bountiful, informed her ofhis mother's death, and then, to Isabel's unbounded indignation, begged for a little more of the nice, white powder,as he had a bedridden grandmother whom he was mostanxious to get rid of. Nor were her benevolent endeavoursto relieve the victims of the cholera epidemic more gratefully received. She dispensed a pretty strong dose of opiummixed with some other drug, the prescription of an AngloIndian surgeon; and when the " gift of God " failed, asin common with every other remedy it does at times, theamateur physicking was described in the Levant Herald aswholesale poisoning. Worse still, in return for all hercharity to the repulsive paupers of B'ludan , she was insulted in the street by the Shaykh's son; and the quarrelthat ensued, during which she spiritedly slashed the man'sface with her riding whip, did Burton no good with theauthorities. Rudyard Kipling, in one of his admirable.Indian stories, gives a sad example of the danger of evenkindly meddling with races of whose dispositions we knownothing; and, evidently, Isabel's was a case in point.Yes, she described existence at B'ludan, anyhow in theearlier days, as a little heaven below. We will now turnto Burton's opinion of it. " The idea of pitching tent onLebanon is delightful. Pleasant illusions dispelled in aweek! As the physical mountain has no shade, so has themoral mountain no privacy: the tracasserie of its town andvillage life is dreary and monotonous as its physicalaspect, broken only by a storm or an earthquake, when amurder takes place or when a massacre is expected. Forthe reasonable enjoyment of life , place me on Highgate'sgrassy steep rather than upon Lebanon. Having learnedwhat it is, I should far prefer the comforts of Spitalfields,the ease of Seven Dials, and the society of Southwark. "We may reconcile the two opinions as follows:Burton had no trace of " Holy Land on the brain. "Imagination carried to the extreme of viewing objects as342

66they are not was never his foible; and from prejudice hewas entirely free. .Really refreshing is it after readinghigh- flown nonsense about a little country, picturesqueoccasionally, but mostly barren and disforested- nonsensewhich has been freely ridiculed by Mark Twain and others,to follow our plain- spoken traveller in his journeys throughSyria. No exaggeration, no sentimental reminiscences, notrite quotations. He admired the grand, weird parts ofMoab, he remarked the beauty of Bashan, a comparativelywell- wooded tract; but Hermon he described as a commonhogsback, " berry-brown, moreover, in September andOctober. Carmel he spoke of as a short, barren buttresscrowned with a convent and a lighthouse, the latter decidedly useful; the plain of Sharon was ruthlessly compared to our Bedfordshire fields, while as for the Cedars ofLebanon, he declared they presented so mean and raggedan appearance, that no English squire would have admittedthem into his park. Yes, glowing language is sparinglyused in our traveller's word- pictures of Syria; but it ispossible that with eyes still full of the might and majestyof the Chilian Andes, and the grace and grandeur ofMagellan's Straits, he viewed the insignificant lines anddull tintage of the Libanus under somewhat unfavourableconditions.Still, though not a lovely country, Syria is intenselyinteresting. In 1870 it was yet more so. On first arriving,Burton feared his occupation as an explorer would be cleangone; but he soon found that, while certain lines had beenwell trodden, hardly a single traveller, and no tourist, hadever ridden ten miles off the usual ways.Even now, fewpersonally know how many patches of unvisited and unvisitable country lie within a couple of days' ride of greattowns and cities, such as Aleppo and Damascus, Hums andHamáh. And valid reasons exist for the apparent oversight. The unexplored spots are either too difficult or toodangerous for the multitude. To conscientiously visit even

Trips in Syria 343the well-known places in Palestine occupies six months;but, when we come to unbeaten tracts, where there ishardly a mile without a ruin, the certainty that the surfaceof the antiquarian mine has been merely scratched, andthat long years must elapse before the land can be considered fully explored, must take possession of any sensiblebrain.Burton's first trip, however, was to the often- describedPalmyra, or Tadmor in the Wilderness. He was accompanied by his wife, the Russian Consul, a French traveller ,the Vicomte de Perrochel, besides a numerous company ofservants, dragomans and kavasses. Seventeen camelscarried baggage and water, while the twelve horses weremounted by their owners and their following. Had a smalldetachment of the tribe, El- Meyrab, escorted the party,there would have been no danger whatever from theBedawin that infest more or less all parts of Syria; but asmatters were, Jane's luckless Arab disarmed, perched upona mule, and closely guarded by two picked domestics, musthave vividly suggested the skeleton at the feast. I sayfeast, because this picnic appears to have been most luxurious. Carefully arranged halts, with coffee, lemonade andother light refreshments always ready, well- cooked meals,tents pitched with comfortable bedding inside at the end ofthe daily march, proved so agreeable, that our travellersspent quite eight days in covering the 150 miles that liebetween Damascus and Palmyra.Arrived at their destination, Burton and his two friendslost no time before exploring Zenobia's once magnificentcity. All three men were anxious to collect as many curiosas possible, so they hired forty-five coolies to assist in digging, and commenced operations at a group of tomb towersbearing W.S.W. from the great Temple of the Sun. Thisgroup marks the site of one of the two Via Appia whichentered Palmyra, the first on the high road to Damascus,the second, the main approach from Hums and Hamáh,344

Both are lined on either side with monuments, which heretake the place of the Egyptian pyramids; and their squat,solid forms of gloomy, unsquared sandstone contrast remarkably with the bastard classical Roman architectureglittering from afar in white limestone. Although only aday and a half could be spared for excavations, Burtonmade a pretty good haul. To mention every object wouldweary most readers: suffice it to say that he and his friendsexhumed from the complicated, chambered catacombsseveral ancient skulls differing in toto from those of theSyrian population of the present day, some remnants ofstatuary which had fallen from the entrance to the tombtowers, and most curious of all , deep down in one of thegraves, a lock of hair stained yellow. This strange relicwas shown later to a distinguished physiologist, who, aftera careful examination , opined it had belonged to somePalmyrene beauty, and as it appeared to be dyed,evidenced the ultra-civilisation prevailing at the court ofZenobia.Besides relic-hunting and riding about the neighbourhood, our party interchanged hospitality with the twoprincipal Shaykhs. After one dinner given by Burton inhis biggest tent, the strange company strolled togetherover the ruins by moonlight, returning when tired to camp,where the kavasses and camel-drivers treated them to aconcert, dancing the sword dance to barbarous music,varied by weird howls. All this sounds highly romanticto dwellers amidst ordinary English scenes; but Palmyraappears to have had serious drawbacks. The water wasdetestable, tasting like that of Harrogate; the climatewas vile, and the natives were horribly diseased. So,after a week, Burton, though loth to leave a place whereso much buried treasure yet lay concealed, thought itadvisable to expose his party no longer to the risks offever and dysentery. Already husband and wife were moreor less knocked up, and the Vicomte fared little better.The Columns of Baalbek 345An oasis on the northern side of the Arabian desert seemshealthy enough; but, may be, the camping- ground close tothe great colonnade was unwisely chosen. Future visitorswere advised to select a space amongst the trees near thefountain, anyway a more sheltered spot, where the simoomcould not blow over the tents, a disaster which nearlyhappened more than once during this short sojourn inthe wilderness.Baalbek, situated only thirty miles N.N. W. of Damascus,interested our traveller yet more, and he paid it repeatedvisits. He was much concerned to find that, owing tothe supineness of the Turkish Government, the gloriousremains of city and temples were wantonly injured bythe natives, some of the great columns having beenmore or less undermined for the sake of metal clampsworth a few piastres. The keystone of the noble portal,which began to slip in 1759, and which falls lower withevery slight earthquake, did not escape his keen eyes;and in consequence of his urgent representations to RashidPasha, Governor- General of Syria, a Mr. Barker, chiefengineer to the Government, was commissioned to inspectit. The two men met and forthwith planned to underpinthe keystone with a porphyry shaft, the prop to be as thinas possible, so as not to hide the grand old eagle, emblemof Baal, the Sun God, that occupies the lower surface ofthe middle soffit stone. Unfortunately, Mr. Barker, soonafter beginning work, was summoned to Damascus on sometrivial excuse; and the Governor, although he had givenhis consent to carrying out the repairs, suddenly changedhis mind à la Turque, and employed his engineer in constructing a sort of goat-track road which led to nowhere.So, after an ineffectual appeal through the Times toEnglish antiquarians, Burton in despair abandoned poorBaalbek to the decay and desolation of the last fourteencenturies.His first visit duly paid to these splendid ruins, he346

proceeded to examine the spot where lie the true sourcesof the Litani and the Orontes. In Syria and Palestinegenerally, great influents have ever since historic agesbeen confounded with sources; whilst the latter are thoserepresented by the most copious, not by the most distantfountains. Moreover, Wasserschieds, versants and rivervalleys were and are universally neglected, if, as oftenhappens, the young spring is drawn off for irrigation; thiswill especially appear at the head of the Upper Jordan.Hence we have the historical, which is still the popular,opposed to the geographical or scientific source. Again, inhighly important streams, like the Jordan, the historicalmay be differently placed by the Hebrews, the Classicsand the Arabs. The Litani originates in a muddy, uncleanpool, without perceptible current during the dries; an oval ,whose longest diameter is at midsummer about one hundredfeet. The true source of the Orontes issues from the footof a grey Tell and is fed further on by many streams.This river, contrary to the rule of all waters in Cole- Syria ,flows north, and is known by the natives as El- Asi, or theRebel. And it is a rebel to the last: the gusts of the Asigorge, where it falls into the Gulf of Antioch, are, as sailorswell know, fierce, furious and unmanageable, as are theheadwaters.quoted almost word forNot that the informationThe above paragraph I haveword from " Unexplored Syria. "is very interesting, or at present even novel; but for thefollowing reason . The exhaustive survey set on foot bythe originators of the Palestine Exploration Fund, a surveybegun not a day too soon, as many ruins figured by thesurveyors will soon have utterly vanished under the destructive hands of Change, owes not a little to our versatiletraveller's labours. In the two bulky volumes just referredto, published in 1872, we may see how hard he workedduring his leisure hours with his friends, Professor Palmerand Tyrwhitt Drake, in ascertaining the altitudes of theBurton and the Syrian Mountains 347principal mountains, the true sources of the rivers, in correcting inaccuracies, in recovering lost sites. In the courseof one excursion alone, he prepared for local habitation onthe map of Syria the names of five great mountain blocks ,traced out their principal gorges, and determined the disputed altitudes of the Anti- Libanus. The best atlasesthen failed to name a single valley north -east of Zebadani,or a single summit save one, and that a misnomer. Now,the whole of Western Palestine is mapped on a scale whichincludes every ruin as well as every spring, every watercourse, every wood, and every hillock; but it is rare tofind even a solitary reference to the man who helpedforward that work by his personal exertions, his influence,and his advice.

His visit to Baalbek and the northern Libanus, notomitting the Cedars, which, as aforesaid, inspired but scantenthusiasm, was followed by a sister excursion to thesouthern regions, long celebrated as a principal strongholdof the Druses. At Shakkah, a village near the edge of theJebel Duruz Hauran, Burton and his two friends werereceived by one Kabalan, a local chief, who had promisedan escort of ten horsem*n to Umm Niran, a curious cavecontaining water, situated in the volcanic region east of theDamascus swamps. But, for this favour, instead of demanding a moderate fee, he insisted upon forty napoleons, an extortionate sum, which our traveller, withhis deep-rooted objection to being fleeced, refused to pay,whereupon the old ruffian hung out his true colours, andthreatened to prevent the party from leaving Shakkah.Burton merely laughed in his face, ordered the horses, anddeparted for Tayma, another village about eight milesfurther on. Kabalan, too surly to return even a partingsalutation, squatted baboon-like outside a fine old paganruin and meditated his revenge.But the travellers were notescort, sorry as it proved to be.fated to set out sans theirOne by one, prompted no doubt by inquisitiveness, sundry Druse youths dropped into Tayma, mounted on their best mares, until at last theremustered six guns. During the first march they were reinforced by their attendants, and thus the total amounted tothe respectable figure of ten combatants- without payingforty napoleons.Events proved that the escort might just as well haveremained at home. Burton was much disappointed withthese people. A brave and even desperate race in their ownmountains, where they are everybody, a residence in orabout a town where their numbers are insignificant appearsto utterly demoralize them. Even at a few miles beyondtheir own habitations they are as fish out of water. Onlyone of the six young Druses who volunteered to accompanythe three Englishmen during a short tour of discovery intheir neighbourhood got so far as Damascus. Their behaviour en route was womanish in the extreme. They calledfor water every half-hour, ate every hour, and clamouredfor sleep every four hours. They complained of the heatand the cold, of the wind, of the dust, the mist and thedew. They declared the fatigue of a half-night's journeywas intolerable, and often they would throw themselves intothe shadow of a rock, pitiably sighing forth the words:"Mayyat laymun "-lemonade. After their first day's ridethey turned black with sunburn, and one, perhaps the mostinventive, fashioned an umbrella of leaves fastened to along stick, which he kept strictly for his own convenience.The mares, soft and lazy as their masters, dropped theirplates, and after the second day half of them fell lame.Altogether a curious experience of a race lauded in books oftravel as singularly brave, temperate and moral, and whosereligion is supposed to be unusually pure and advanced.There was indeed no reason to remember the Druses ofShakkah with affection, for worse remains to be told. Kabalan did not lose much time in meditation. The day ourparty left Tayma he sent an emissary to the Ruhvah valley,On Tour 349mustered the Bedawin, and proceeded on the Englishmen'strack. Fortunately, the latter discovered his treachery intime, adopted the tactics of hunted animals, and so savedtheir lives. The story runs as follows:Burton, Drake and Palmer, with their uncomfortablecrew of followers, started June 2nd on the tour already mentioned. A stiff sirocco was blowing, blurring the outlines ofthe far highlands; clouds appeared to the north- east andnorth- west, and a distant rag or two of rain trailed upon thehead of Jebel Duruz Hauran. After a good breakfast ourparty rode north-eastwards, amidst a scene wild enough toplease a wizard. Lava torrents showed volcanic dykes,secondary craters, and blow-holes with barrows arbitrarilydisposed at all angles. Stone heaps were placed as landmarks, and there were not a few graves. Some hares and alizard or two darted away from the strangers; men therewere none. By the afternoon the cavalcade slowly ascended a hill- brow, whence they had their first view ofthe Safá, a volcanic block with seven main summits. Adeeper blackness made it stand out from the gloomy plain,which seemed a rolling waste of dark basalt. But, in thefar distance, extending from east to south-east , and raisedby refraction from the middle ground which lay beyondand below the rolling volcanic foreground, glittered thesunlit horizon of the Euphrates desert .It was interesting enough to rivet a stranger's attention,but, like many old travellers, Burton's eyes were everywhere. Amongst numerous half- effaced footmarks ofsheep, goats, and shod horses appeared the fresh hoofprints of a dromedary. The rider was evidently boundfor the north- eastern regions, where the Bedawin dwelt;and our three wise men gave the ill - omened footprints allthe significance they deserved. Existing plans had to bealtered then and there, and the escort kept in profoundignorance of the route.Not that any work was to be neglected. No indi-350

vidual of that plucky trio had the slightest intention ofreturning to Damascus until he had seen and done whathe went to see and do. This coolness seems marvellouseven to one familiar with Burton's feats of valour, andwith the noble heroism of the man murdered in the WadySudr while striving to serve his country. That all threeexplorers were perfectly cool is proved by Burton's minutedescription of the hideous volcanic region through whichthe party were riding-a landscape spoiled and broken topieces, blistered, wrinkled, broken- backed and otherwisetormented; here ghastly white, there gloomiest black, andscorching beneath the sun of a Syrian June. The aneroidwas duly corrected, the thermometer noted, the tape used,all as leisurely as though no foe were on the track, nomortal danger threatening of a cruel death should that foesucceed in running down his prey. Physical disagreeablesalso abounded. The road became simply a goat- path overdomes of cast-iron ovens in endless succession; the escortwasted so much water that the masters had to go without;and lastly, a furious gale arose, which filled the air withacid, pungent dust, obscured all landmarks, and delayedthe little company several hours on their way.However, pushing on in spite of all obstacles, theysucceeded in reaching the cave at Umm Nirán, a mysterious cavern occupying the eastern slope of a roundedbubble of basalt, which opens with a natural arch of trap.The hottest weather fails to dry this curious tunnelledreservoir, which has evidently been enlarged by man,possibly by one of the olden kings of Damascus. Burton,regardless of the Jann supposed to haunt the spot for thebenevolent purpose of driving thirsty strangers out of theirwits, scrambled in on all fours, and reached the water inabout three minutes. The supply was sweet, and coolenough to depress the immersed thermometer from 74° inthe air to 71º. The atmosphere of the place, which by theway was tenanted only by a water- scorpion, felt close andA Fortunate Escape 351dank; and whilst the roof was an arid, fiery waste of theblackest lava, the basalt ceiling of the cave sweated anddripped incessantly. The taped length of this tank was140 feet; according to the Arabs, it is supplied by springsas well as rain-probable enough, as all above the cavewas dry as the Land of Sind, and, during summer sunshine,the hand cannot rest upon the heated surface.After a comfortable bath our travellers passed the nightin the open air, and made next morning for an extinct volcano in the neighbourhood, Umm el- Ma'azah. Thencethey visited the so- called lakes, which at that moment con- tained no water. But now the party had to turn theirattention towards the preservation of their lives . In one ofthe most dangerous spots, significantly named the Road ofRazzias, the Druse escort suddenly became unwilling toproceed. A palaver was held . Every attempt was madeto find out the Englishmen's plans, and, of course, all failed .During the night mares and men, with but one exception,disappeared.Truly it was time to get home. Next day brought thisdesert excursion to an end. A gallop over the plain ofthirty miles placed our heroes in safety, but not an hour toosoon. The Bedawin had tracked them at last, missed themat the Umm Nirán by the merest chance, and had ourparty not ridden hard for their lives, must have speedilyovertaken them. By peculiar good fortune Burton and hisfriends escaped from a murderous crew of ruffians numbering eighty to a hundred horsem*n and some two hundreddromedary riders. His remarks thereupon are characteristic:"I duly appreciated the compliment-can any unintentional flattery be more sincere?-of sending three hundred men to dispose of three. Our zigzag path had savedus from the royaume des taupes, for these men were not sent toplunder. The felon act, however, failed; and our fifteendays of wandering ended without accident. "352

In March Burton found time for a visit to Jerusalem.He travelled by land with his two friends, there being muchthey wished to do by the way, but he sent his wife by seaas the safer route. The Holy Week, which fell rather latethat year, is not the best time for studying the topographyand antiquities of this interesting city, especially if the complicated ceremonies of Latin and Greek, Armenian andCopt-some lasting throughout the night, and none of themworth seeing-must be attended. However, in this casethere was a division of labour; the wife went to the interminable services, while the husband worked equally hard inhis own fashion . Assisted not only by Messrs. Drake andPalmer, but by Captain (now Sir Charles) Warren, andClermont Ganneau, an Orientalist whose laborious studieswere striking out a path beyond and beside older investigations, our sturdy Deist set himself to determine some of themore celebrated historical sites with almost boyish enthusiasm . Want of space forbids my enumerating morethan a few of the changes then proposed in the topographyof Jerusalem and its environs by these five clever menchanges rendered inevitable by the rapid increase of knowledge characteristic of our century.According to Clermont Ganneau the Temple occupiednot the south-western angle, the centre and the northernpart, nor yet the southern portion, but the whole of thepresent Haram Enclosure, extending to the Birkat Israil.In this view he has been followed by Conder, who deemedit most improbable that any architect would neglect theobvious advantage of the summit of a hill for an uneasyslope; or depart from the universal custom of selecting thehighest ground for temple, fort, or city. The Pool ofBethesda he declared to be not the traditional BirkatIsrail, but an underground piscina lately discovered withinthe enceinte of Sta . Anna; this was verified in 1888 bySchick, who found the remains of the substructure. TheEcce hom*o arch all five men recognised as of the ÆliaInvestigations around Jerusalem 353Capitolina period, erected probably in commemoration ofthe decisive victory over Bar Cochebas, and the thirdsystematic destruction of the city. The young Frenchmanfurther pointed out that the Tombs of the Kings-whichmust be sought for about Sion, the city of David, andthence to Siloam-are a monument of the later Asmoneans;while the curious crypt, popularly known as the Tombs ofthe Prophets, is merely the remains of an old Christiancemetery attached to one of the numerous monasteriesfounded upon the Mount of Olives. This last he provedby showing crosses over the loculi, and by a dozen or soof Greek graphite, mostly proper names of men and women,and belonging to a period as far back as the first year ofofficial Christianity, that is to say, not far from Constantine. The so-called Holy Sepulchre he claimed as the" Monument of the High Priest, " the fifth after the returnfrom the Captivity, popularly known as John, son of Judas,but called in Nehemiah ( xii . , 2) Jonathan , son of Joiada.Needless, perhaps, to add that all agreed that every traceof the site of the rock tomb of Joseph of Arimathæa isutterly lost; even in the fourth century no reliable traditionconcerning its position existed.Clermont Ganneau also made sundry interesting discoveries in some enormous quarries near the city, knownas the Royal Caverns. The entrance, not far from thegate of Damascus, looked like a mere hole in the wall;creeping through, a stranger found himself in endless artificial caves and galleries, most of them unexplored. Bymeans of the magnesium light, for candles and matcheswere almost useless, Ganneau perceived a branch on theright, displaying characteristic traces of human labours,rock-rings for hanging lamps, and a very ancient stonepicture representing the man-headed, bearded , and wingedAssyrian bull.No contretemps seems to have marred Burton's stay atJerusalem. He evidently enjoyed it keenly, and, save for23354

the noise and confusion caused by the pilgrims, his visitwas happily timed. He could inspect in person the ableand honest labours of Wilson and Warren; he wasdelighted with the learning and originality of ClermontGanneau, and during the whole of his sojourn he was ableto enjoy the society of Drake and Palmer, men who sharedhis views and feelings, and with whom he could alwayswork in perfect accord.Leaving the fascinating city with much regret, not onlyfor its own sake, but for that of the friends it harboured,husband and wife proceeded to Bethlehem, Jericho, theDead Sea, in short, to most places of interest in Palestine.All went smoothly until they arrived at Nazareth, wherethey were joined by Tyrwhitt Drake. Here, strangelyenough, a wretched village fracas proved the commencement of a run of ill-luck which culminated in the loss ofour traveller's appointment, August 15th , 1871 .The Burtons and their followers, with two other parties,composed of Americans and Germans, had camped for thenight in a grassy plain outside Nazareth, close to the GreekOrthodox church. Early next morning, a Copt who happened to be prowling about, bent on mischief, enteredIsabel's tent, probably to extort money. She called forassistance, and he was promptly expelled by her servants.Unfortunately, just as the squabble was at its height, theGreek congregation filed out from their devotions, and,seeing a row, could not resist joining therein, of coursetaking the part of the Copt against the strangers. Matterssoon began to look ugly, for Burton's followers numberedbut six, while the assailants mustered about one hundredand fifty. The two Englishmen had rushed half dressedfrom their tents at the first alarm, and done everything intheir power to soothe and calm the excited mob. Vainly:they were received with a shower of stones so dense as todarken the very air. A rich and respected Greek, carriedaway by fury and fanaticism, shouted, " Kill them all,Enmity of the Greeks 355kill them all; I will pay the blood money! " Burton'smuleteer, in terror of annihilation, yelled in reply, " Shame,shame! this is the English Consul at Damascus, and he ison his own ground. " Further speech was smothered inthe uproar, the fight waxed more furious, three of ourtraveller's servants were badly hurt, he was hit repeatedly,his sword arm injured, and although he stood perfectlycalm, marking out the ring-leaders to arrest them later,he saw the odds were too great to contend against muchlonger. Pulling a pistol from his belt, he fired in the airas a signal for aid to the neighbouring camps. Happily,it was promptly responded to, and the white- livered ruffiansturned and fled .For this outrage no redress whatever could be obtained.The Greeks, with the mendacity so characteristic of theirnation, declared it was not they who began the quarrel,a most improbable story, considering their superior numbers. Worse still, a scandalous report of the affair wasforwarded to Damascus, Beirut and Constantinople, signedand sealed by their bishop. This prelate, who was clearly notone of those excellent ecclesiastics who make our Tractarianclergy yearn for reunion with the Eastern churches, hadbeen for some time past on unfriendly terms with theEnglish Consul. He had purchased from the Turkishauthorities a synagogue and cemetery which for the lastfour hundred years had belonged to the Jews of Tiberias,some of them British protected subjects; and the transaction being a fraudulent one, Burton had been forcedto protest against it, drawing thereby upon his devotedhead the wrath of Monseigneur Niffon and his Orthodoxcongregations. Bishop and flock vied with each otherin spreading abroad the most mischievous tales how theConsul and his party had directed a regular fusillade atharmless worshippers, ignoring the fact that not onepious soul could boast of a wound-how Burton and hiswife had rushed into their church and torn down the23-2356

pictures, finishing up with a "pas de deux " in the sacredbuilding; in short, such a tissue of lies, that at last ourambassador at Constantinople telegraphed to know whatit all meant. Apparently a trumpery squabble, it excitedan enormous amount of dormant ill- feeling, and so provedthe straw that shows the wind.Nearly two years had passed away since our traveller'sarrival in Syria. The time had been spent in able and honest work, work which exactly suited the man. Hispost required the exercise of constant vigilance and attention to the strangest variety of interests, while it allowedhim occasional leisure for exploration and discovery. Hewas as happy as a man generally is when in his right place,and in after days he used to say the twenty-three monthsspent in Syria were amongst the pleasantest of his life.Most improbable, then, does it seem that he endangeredhis tenure of this valuable appointment by any unpopularact not absolutely necessary. Duty must be done; thishe never shirked; but we know from his writings, fromthe testimony of his best friends, that his idea of duty wassimple, straightforward, and utterly free from the slightesttaint of fanaticism . I hope my readers will follow meattentively through the next few pages. The true causeof the terrible crash in August, 1871 , the recall which waslittle better than temporary disgrace, has to be patientlysifted from a mass of nonsense and misrepresentation, andeven from the minor agents which, unhappily, all more orless contributed to bring about the disastrous issue.Certainly, he had made enemies of sundry Jew moneylenders. Not, as has been falsely stated, of the wholeJewish community-his behaviour in the matter of thecemetery and synagogue unjustly acquired by BishopNiffon proves that; but there had been trouble with theusurers. In 1870-71 , anybody having the smallest pretension to be called English could obtain a sort of officialrecognition, and rank thenceforth as a British subject,Burton and the Money-lenders, 357amenable only to the authority of the consular courts. Thepersons thus protected numbered forty - eight, and themajority do not appear to have abused their privileges.Three, however, were Jews, of whom Shylock was theprototype. When Burton arrived, one of this trio interviewed him without loss of time, and announced that hehad three hundred cases of debt, amounting in all to nearlysixty thousand pounds, for the Consul to deal with at once.Burton's reply was characteristic: " Sir, you had betterhire a consul for yourself alone; I was not sent here as abailiff, to tap the peasant on the shoulder in such mattersas yours. "He soon discovered that the ignorant Syrian peasantswere being ruined by hundreds. One poor wretch, ninetyyears old, had been imprisoned throughout an entire winterbecause he could not afford a napoleon; young men werethrown into jail for sums so inordinately increased byinterest and compound interest, that it was impossible torepay even half; and, in some cases, whole villages werebeing sucked dry by these detestable vampires. No honestman could by any possibility aid or abet so crying an evil;consequently the money - lenders, furious because theyreceived no assistance in their nefarious practices, wrotebitter complaints of their Consul to sundry leading Jewishfamilies in England. And, enemies being usually moreactive than friends, the Hebrews whose part Burton hadconscientiously espoused in the Niffon affair unfortunately remained silent.Then arose a missionary trouble. An enthusiastic ,self-ordained evangelical preacher, who, by the way, hadnot taken the precaution to master Arabic before expounding his version of the Gospel, and therefore pathetically entreated his hearers to lift up their dog unto theLord, for a broken and contrite dog He would not despise,¹insisted upon distributing Testaments and tracts in the

1 Kalb-heart, kelb-dog.

bazaar, calling meanwhile upon the Moslems to forsakeMohammed and be baptized. This rant amongst an inflammable population like the Damascenes could not beallowed to continue. The regularly appointed missionarieswere most cautious in their methods of conducting theirlabours, and lived on friendly terms not only with theirbroad-minded Consul, but with the other Christian sectsand the irritable, intolerant Turks. The volunteer inquestion was, to put the matter gently, a fanatic. “ Ishould glory in martyrdom," he announced when Burtonremonstrated with him."But we should not, nor would the many thousandGreek and Roman Catholics that inhabit the neighbourhood," returned the Consul, who then and there tookmeasures to prevent a repetition of these zealous thoughsomewhat halting utterances. And he was only just intime to save the man from insult or imprisonment, for thematter having reached the ears of the acting Turkishgovernor, that redoubtable official immediately ordered allthe books to be seized and burnt in the market- place.Burton again exerted his authority, this time to preventthe ignominious cremation; but the disappointed aspirantto palm and crown, so far from being grateful for receivingback his treasures intact, left Syria furious, and on reachingLondon, loudly proclaimed his wrongs.Although, besides the usurers and the irregular proselytisers, Burton had an enemy in his Consul- General, whopreferred an easier life with a more commonplace associate,I do not believe any one of these troubles was the truecause of his recall. But on carefully reading the endlesspapers and correspondence connected therewith, I find avery curious circ*mstance. For the first time in his lifeBurton was not on thoroughly friendly terms with theMoslems. The Governor- General of Syria had become aninveterate foe, and we hear of other annoyances connectedwith men of a faith who formerly hailed him as a brother.A Fanatical Outburst 359This will be explained by a strange story in his wife'smemoirs. As related in her usual hazy fashion, when factsare concerned, three parts mirages of her own imagination,it seems at first fairly bewildering. Burton posing as amissionary, self- ordained like the Stiggins he had so latelysnubbed! A marvellous tale indeed: let me try to makeit intelligible.aDuring Isabel's stay at Damascus, a sort of religiousintrigue amongst a sect of Mohammedans called theSházlis was going on in the lower quarter of the town`known as the Maydan. To entitle the movementChristian revival would be exaggeration; it appearedrather a sort of hysterical, superstitious outburst, to whichuneducated people of all nationalities are occasionallysubject, and which is powerfully stimulated by the certainty of opposition . Stories like those of Lourdes, visionsand revelations unutterable, were whispered from mouthto mouth; the seers worked themselves into a state ofsomewhat noisy exaltation, and before long a RomanCatholic priest of Teutonic origin appeared on the scene,to distribute crucifixes and devotional manuals amongstthe enthusiasts. The latter soon numbered two hundredand fifty, held regular meetings in each others ' houses,and at last publicly announced they were yearning forbaptism and formal admission into the Church of Rome.Meanwhile, legends of the appearance of Isa bin Maryamin the suburbs of Damascus, ¹ and accounts of the extraordinary behaviour of the neophytes, ended by attractingthe by no means friendly attention of the Moslem authorities.Great was the consternation of the Ulema, or learned men,on hearing of heresy rapidly spreading in their midst; andmany a session did they hold in order to discuss what steps totake in such a strange and unusual dilemma. The sequelmay be easily guessed. We are all aware that Moslems1 The second coming of Christ is to take place at Damascus, but Antichrist, or Dajsal, has to come first.360

are not noted for toleration towards their renegades; anumber of the poor deluded wretches were arrested, and,although nothing was known for certain as regards themeans adopted to make them acknowledge the error oftheir ways, it was but too probable they were not overtenderly dealt with.Now this was a matter which in no way concerned ourConsul. Not a single English or Scotch clergyman wasmixed up in it, merely a German Roman Catholic priest.There was already more than enough to do in protectingthe Protestant missions, the schools, the lives and propertyof British subjects, without interfering with the religioussquabbles of the Turks. And Burton, who, in commonwith his friend Drake, had the lowest opinion of SyrianChristians, priest- ridden , steeped in superstition to such adegree that they are the most arrant cowards in creation ,was about as likely to assist in increasing their numbers asto join in a Shakers' dance .But he reckoned without his wife. Isabel, anxious toconvert the Moslems by latter- day miracles as she had beento Romanize his Majesty of Dahomey with her magiclantern, threw herself open-armed into this revival. Sheoffered to stand sponsor to the two hundred and fifty ' vertsen masse, and she confessed to baptizing every dying personshe could get hold of. And while her husband, continuallyabsent exploring or attending to the duties of his consulate,knew nothing, or next to nothing, about her dangerous proceedings, she impressed upon the people the belief that sheacted with his full permission and approval. All naturalenough. A zealous admirer and follower of IgnatiusLoyola ( Isabel never made any secret of her Jesuiticalproclivities) could not be expected to resist the temptation of so wholesale a conversion-from her mortal enemy,too, El- Islam . For she particularly disliked this creed,partly from jealously of her husband's partiality, in contradistinction to his utter contempt for that of Rome; andThe Recall from Damascus 361partly on account of the sanction it gives to polygamy, anOld Testament practice of which Burton never seems tohave thoroughly disapproved. We cannot be surprised atthe terrible blunder she committed, but that it was ablunder, and a fatal one, there remains very little doubt.Enemies a man like Richard Burton could not fail to make,but he could hold his own against them; when he had tograpple with those made by his wife, he was overpowered.So his good friends, the Moslems, gave him the coldshoulder. Doubtless they blamed Haji Abdullah's solitaryspouse, for they behaved with singular moderation. Still ,disagreeable reports got abroad of a probable attempt toassassinate him, and before long a warning reached theForeign Office that, owing to Turkish fanaticism, theConsul's life was in danger. This, after so many otherdisagreeable reports, proved the last straw. Disputes withthe Jews, the Greek bishop, and others, mattered little;but the English Consul must keep friends with the rulersof Syria. Can we blame the Foreign Office? Significantenough it is to any unprejudiced reader that the nextappointment was in a Roman Catholic country.

The manner of the recall seems to have been unnecessarily harsh. Burton and his almost inseparable companion,Tyrwhitt Drake, were just setting off for a ride over thehills about B'ludan, little dreaming how never again wouldthey wander together over the slopes of Lebanon, when aragged messenger slipped a note into the former's hand.It proved to be from Mr. Kirby Green of Beirut, and itcontained the startling intelligence that, by order of theConsul- General, he had arrived the previous day, August15th, and taken over the Damascus appointment.Hardly believing the evidence of their senses, the twofriends leapt into their saddles and galloped into townwithout drawing rein. They found their worst fearsrealised. The post which Burton had been so proud of,the post he had worked to retain with unblemished honour,362

was not only taken from him, but already filled up. Onthe 19th, all hope having vanished of any mistake in theorders received from home, he sent a message to his wife:"I am superseded. Pay, pack and follow at convenience; "and then with an aching heart he started for Beirut toembark for England.A cruel blow, one that required a strong brain to bearwithout reeling. At fifty years of age to be dismissed likesome worthless domestic, without even a day's warning.The step may have been necessary-indeed, viewing itthrough the softening haze of five-and-twenty years, Ithink it was necessary. But so honest, so erudite, soheroic a servant of the Crown, should have been moretenderly dealt with in circ*mstances peculiarly cruel and.distressing.

CHAPTER XV

LION-HEARTED though Burton was, the shock of this sudden recall told upon him cruelly. On landing inEngland he came at once to us at Norwood, and remaineduntil his wife's return from Syria. My father had latelyheld civil and military appointments in Canada, so we hadnot seen our wanderer for several years. The pleasure ofour long- deferred meeting was sadly spoilt by his dejected,heart- broken mood, a state of things we were quite unprepared for, as he had travelled so rapidly that he had notthought it worth while to write-in fact, a letter wouldhave arrived the same time as himself. Never had weknown him so wretched, so unnerved; his hands shook, histemper was strangely irritable, all that appreciation of funand humour which rendered him such a cheery companionto old and young alike had vanished. He could settle tonothing; he was restless, but would not leave the house;ailing, but would take no advice-it was indeed a melancholy spectacle.Natural enough! He was feeling not merely the lossof what we younger members of the family called a " beggarly Consulate " (our opinion of a Consul then tallied withLady Augusta's in Charles Lever's novel) , but he knewthat, thanks to his wife's imprudence and passion for proselytizing, all further promotion was hopeless- Morocco,Constantinople would never be for him; his career wasblighted. All this he saw at the time, and it proved onlytoo true; but as the days went by his marvellouslysanguine disposition reasserted itself, and, as his sisterused to say, made him expect not only improbabilities,but impossibilities.364

Presently Isabel arrived in London with the enormousamount of baggage the Burtons usually carried about withthem, plus a pretty but useless Syrian maid. The booksalone occupied a dozen cases, and curiosities of everydescription filled one large room . Her husband then leftus for Montague Place, where the father and mother-in-lawwere still living (the latter had come to regard him asa necessary evil); but before he went we arranged tospend part of the following year together in Edinburgh.Prior to his sudden return from Syria, we had thought ofpassing twelve months in Scotland; and as soon aswe found he would enjoy the change, and seemed quitecheered up by the prospect of a visit to the northerncapital, we departed to search for comfortable quartersin that romantic but fearfully cold and gusty town.When Burton had recovered his spirits a little, hecommenced a correspondence with the Foreign Office on thesubject of his sudden removal from his Eastern post. Heobtained, however, no satisfactory answer. He was in noway blamed, but the true cause of his recall was kept secret.The Press, which knew little or nothing of the attemptto convert the Shazlis, mostly blamed the Governmentfor its rigorous treatment of so gifted a servant. But LordGranville persisted in evading the main question, bidedhis time, and finally presented our luckless Benedict witha berth which ensured for the donor freedom from incessantcomplaints, and for the receiver a whole skin.Unfortunately, a year elapsed between the two appointments, and a very lean year it proved to the Burtons.Neither, it may be remembered, was remarkable foreconomy; but Isabel, who held the purse-strings, used toget quite indignant when reminded of the duty of providingagainst rainy days. However, unlike La Fontaine's Cigale,1 Burton left the management of his pecuniary affairs to his wife in order to have more time for study, but this arrangement worked sobadly that at his death only a few florins remained out of £12,000 recently paid him for the Arabian Nights. "-A Stay in Scotland 365she was not allowed to want. Each side of the familypossessed its wealthy member, and the individuals in question, being as generous as they were rich, came to theassistance of our imprudent pair. A little ready moneywas, indeed, all they really required, as there was nonecessity for housekeeping, that bane of small incomes,for the wife and her Syrian maid, who, by the way, becameabout as unpleasant in her line as Allahdad had becomein his, lived with the Henry Arundells, while her husbandpaid long visits to old friends, and had his brother andsister's home always open to him.Twice he stayed with us in Edinburgh. The first timewas in February, and we were delighted to see that theDamascus trouble, which we feared had almost mortallywounded him, was skinning over. No one could have ina higher degree the invaluable form of common- sensewhich enables its possessor to speedily reconcile himselfto the inevitable. The cherished appointment was irretrievably lost, but he had grieved long enough, and now itwas time to turn his thoughts to some more profitablematter. A gleam of sunshine too had appeared after thestorm. While racking his brains to find out how to keephimself and his wife until he was again employed, he hadmet a Mr. Lock, who was on the look out for a trustyemissary to report on some sulphur beds in Iceland. Mr.Lock had just obtained from the Danish Government theright of working the mines of Myvatn in the northernportion of the island, and he was anxious to know if thiscould be done with any certainty of profit. Passagemoney, all expense of outfit, would be paid any way, anda big fee besides, if the property realised expectations.Burton, who had long been anxious to visit Ultima Thule,agreed with alacrity to undertake the survey; and, asGranton was his starting point, he spent part of his firstvisit in making preparations for the trip, and prolongedthe second to his departure in June.366

By May he was quite himself again, and seemedthoroughly to enjoy life. Many a walk did we taketogether down Princes Street and up Arthur's Seat; andwell I remember him swinging along in his grey ulster andhigh-crowned soft felt hat. Every trifle was noted by hiskeen eyes, and he appeared just as well amused whileclimbing the solitary hill with his sister and nieces as inthe busy street where his friends were constantly exchanging greetings or stopping him for a chat. Seldomhave I seen him better pleased with any place than withEdinburgh. In spite of its unattractive climate, he likedthe town, the bracing air corrected a tendency to livertroubles, and he was flattered by the kindness and hospitality with which he was received . The 93rd Highlanders,stationed at the Castle, entertained in genuine Highlandfashion; and at our house he met most of the leadingScotch families who happened to be lingering in thenorthern capital. Lord Airlie was High Commissionerthat year, and he and his handsome wife rendered thereceptions at Holyrood even more popular than usual;those romantic evenings when the grim old palace presentsfor the nonce so bright and picturesque a scene-womenin their smartest gowns, men wearing their medals andribands. Burton, while his brother-in-law donned his redcollar and cross and star of the Bath, looked almost conspicuous in unadorned simplicity. The K.C.M.G. wasgiven to him nearly fifteen years later.We long looked back to these two visits. It was sucha pleasure to know that his exuberant vitality had triumphedover his misfortunes. No doubt the complete freedomfrom any domestic worry helped not a little in the cure.Thoroughly contented, he was again able to sympathisewith the pursuits and interests of every one of us, notneglecting even the family pets. Of course, his stay, likemost of life's pleasant interludes, seemed far too short bothto him and to ourselves; and, as usual when he said good-A Visit to Iceland 367bye, his hands turned cold and his eyes filled with tears.Only his brother-in-law was permitted to see him off. Suchan amount of feeling was especially touching on the occasionin question, as this tour, which he was looking forward towith intense interest, was his first treat in the travellingline since the Damascus crash.The somewhat uninteresting nature of the undertakingforbids a detailed account of Burton's visit to Iceland.Besides, that small white spot in the Arctic Sea, vergingon the desolation of Greenland and lacking the grandeurof Nature in Norway, is now well- trodden ground; andwhile travellers or students would do well to study " UltimaThule," the general reader might resent too copious quotations from these erudite tomes.¹ But the first impressionsof such a man on viewing the stock sights are well worthrecording, for Burton always insisted upon writing of thingsas they are, not as magnified or bedaubed by fancy. If alltravellers had been as truthful, how much less we shouldhave to unlearn!Thanks to the simple school- books of our early years,we were accustomed to draw for ourselves a delightfullyexciting picture of Ultima Thule. Even in more eruditeand more recently published works, Burton suspected thecolours were laid on too lavishly; on arriving in the countryhe found the " touching up " had been even more audaciousthan he imagined. " Giddy, rapid rivers " proved onlythree feet deep, " stupendous precipices " mere slopes, whichthe Icelandic ponies scaled with ease; perils from Polarbears rather perils to the starved , numbed quadrupeds inquestion, which could hardly run away from the sports- man's gun. The Hecla of our ingenuous childhood, apillar of heaven upon whose dreadful summit white, blackand sanguine red lay in streaks and blotches, with volumesof sooty smoke and lurid flames ascending skywards, is in1 Published by Nimmo, 2 vols. , 1875.368

sober reality a commonplace heap half the height of Hermon ,rising detached from the plains, a pair of white patchesrepresenting its " eternal snows. " Most disappointing ofall were the Geysers: the Great Geyser merely hiccupped,the Strokkr required a full hour's poking up before it wouldtreat the spectators to the tamest of displays , and the LittleGeyser declined to give the slightest sign of its existence.No wonder our traveller dubbed them gross humbugs,adding, " if their decline continues so rapidly, in a fewyears there will be nothing left save a vulgar solfatarra."As to the " midnight sun, " its rays had to be excluded fromhis uncurtained bedchamber by his landlady's flannel petticoat, a garment she kindly parted with for that purpose.Still, though the wonders had been exaggerated, Burton,with his usual fairness, allowed there was much to seeand to enjoy in Iceland. Mild east winds prevailed atReykjavik; after July 11th the sky was cloudless for awhole fortnight. The peculiar charms of the island, andit has peculiar charms, grew upon him. During such delightful weather there is much to admire in the rich meadsand leas stretching to meet the light blue waves; in thefretted and angular outlines of the caverned hills; in thetowering walls of huge horizontal steps which define theFjords; and in the immense vista of silvery cupolas andsnow-capped mulls, which blend and melt with ravishingreflections of ethereal pink, blue and lilac into the greyand neutral tints of the horizon. There is grandeur, too,when the storm-fiend rides abroad amid the howl of gales,the rush of torrents, the roar of waterfalls, when the seaappears of cast-iron, when the sky is charged with rollingclouds torn to shreds as they meet in aërial conflict, whengrim mists stalk over the lowlands, and when the tallpeaks, parted by gloomy chasms, stand like ghostly hills inthe shadowy realm. And often there is the most picturesqueof contrasts: summer basking below, and winter ragingabove; peace brooding upon the vale, and elemental warWhirlwind Bolts 369doing fierce battle upon the eternal snows and ice of the upper world.Ofcourse Burton did not spend much time in criticismand contemplation. Thoroughly equipped for work, he didwork. His costume on occasions appears to have beenmore comfortable than beautiful. During his stay inEdinburgh, he had provided himself at Messrs. Hunterand Macdonald's with sou'westers at 2s. each, outer andinner hose at 3s. 6d. , sailors ' trousers for ios. , stout oilcloth coats at 18s. 6d . , and warm mittens, perhaps notquite so smart as those knitted by our Dorcases for DeepSea fishermen, at 1s. 3d. Nothing could have provedmore suitable for his many boating trips, or for fordingthe rivers. In spite of frequent drenchings and suddenchanges of temperature, he never once caught cold. Attimes he rode the Iceland ponies, and was well satisfiedwith their agility, strength, and sure-footedness. Not aday was wasted. Every morning found him exploringeither on foot, pony- back, or in a boat coasting aboutthe island.Foremost came the business on which he had been sent.To familiarise himself with the subject he first visitedHusuvik, a port only ten miles distant from the mines ofKrisuvik, then in full work. Having carefully surveyedthese, he made his way, accompanied by the Messrs. Lock,a small party of workmen and nineteen ponies, to Myvatn,the concession he had to report upon. Various incidentsenlivened the march. At one village where they halted thepeople were holding a fair, and were mostly in the statepolitely called excited. Mr. Lock, senior, had a narrowescape from a hideous matron, snuffy as our great grandmothers, who tried to kiss him. Near Hrossaborg it wasthe sand that proved too lively. A dozen columns werecareering at once over the plains, although rain had fallen.during three days. One of these curious whirlwind boltsstruck the caravan, but, unlike the powerful Shaytan of the24370

Arabian wilds, it did not even remove a hat. The journeyended pleasantly enough save for the loss of a carpet-bag ortwo and the disappearance of a homesick pony.Three days were spent at the Solfatarras of Myvatn,lodgings being found at the house of a farmer whosealacrity in composing a bill of charges had won a widereputation. It was not pretty scenery save to a capitalist'seye-a speckled slope of yellow splotches set in dark redand chocolate- coloured bolus, here and there covered withbrown gravel, all fuming and puffing, and making thetender-hued Icelandic flora look dingy as a Sierra Leonemulatto. Burton worked hard. On one surveying expedition food, liquor, tobacco, all ran short; and afteran eight hours' ride he regained his quarters with feetso numbed that he feared a case of frostbite. Prettystrong remedies were immediately applied, but it wasnot until morning that his circulation was restored.As regards the results of the survey, the mass of mineralwas enormous, and the reproductive process, which occupiesa period of thirty years in Italian mines, is produced withinthree in those of Iceland. In short, the speculation seemeda very promising one. At that time nearly all the sulphurfor Europe and America was drawn from Sicily; andIceland being much nearer, and the chance of her portsbeing blockaded in case of war much slighter, it seemed wellworth while to seek a new source of supply. But the schemeultimately collapsed . The difficulties of transport, the vileclimate, the countless obstacles that always hinder theestablishment of a new industry proved too much even forBritish pluck and patience. And now, since Clarke'sprocess, patented in 1888, enables us to make our sulphurfrom the refuse of soda manufactories, we hear no moreabout the mines of Iceland.The speculation was unsuccessful; but the work hadproved a veritable boon to our traveller. It had filled adreary gap in his life-given him a fresh interest. TheThe Trieste Appointment 371bracing summer marvellously benefited his health, andwhen on September 1st he embarked for England, helooked at least fifteen years younger.At home a piece of good luck awaited him, all thepleasanter because long deferred. Some of his friends,dreading the effect that the misrepresentations of so manyenemies might produce on the Foreign Office, feared hemight either never be employed again, or else be offeredsome post so small and ill -paid as to seem hardly worth hisacceptance. Lord Granville, however, was far too justand clear-sighted to make any such blunder. As I havealready said, he waited until a good berth fell vacant, andon Charles Lever's death at Trieste, appointed BurtonConsul in his stead.As consulates go, Trieste was not to be despised . Theemoluments amounted to £600 a year, besides £100 officeallowance, and there was a vice- consul. It was unsuitablein some respects; a third class seaport seemed hardly theright place for a scholar who spoke twenty-nine languages,not including dialects, a man who occupied the proudposition of premier linguist in Europe. Ma che fare!There were many advantages: the duties were light, theleave was unlimited, Isabel could convert whom shepleased; indeed, she tells us in print that she stoodsponsor to a housebreaker. Naturally, at first we felt ithard that he should be condemned for life to dull, prosyoffice work, which anyone not absolutely idiotic could do aswell; but now, on looking back dispassionately, I can butthink that the enormous amount of liberty accorded himduring those eighteen years proves that Lord Granville,far from bearing any ill - will against the luckless Haji, madeup for the harshness of the recall by providing him for therest of his days with what was practically a sinecure.Trieste is not one's beau ideal of a home. Foreigntowns rarely reach that level. Like many such cities, itpresents a fair appearance from afar, a foul one on close24-2372

inspection. Its death rate is at times appalling, and littlewonder. During the winter the Bora pours down from thenorth, bitterly cold, and sometimes so violent that thequays have to be roped to save people from being blowninto the sea. Cabs and horses have been upset, a trainhas been overturned, and an English engineer was oncesuddenly hurled into a ship's hold by this aggressive blast.The summers are hot and debilitating, while, to add to theunwholesomeness of the place, the Citta Vecchia, datingfrom the days of Strabo, is unutterably filthy, a veritablefocus of infection, as its drainage, flowing into the harbour,is wafted inland by the sirocco, and spreads around odourswhich would have sickened Cloaçina herself.Such as it was, the Burtons had to make the best of it.Their earlier home was a flat, airily situated in a tall blockof buildings close to the sea. It had one merit, for it wasperched so high that the smells failed to reach it. At firstIsabel contented herself with ten rooms, but after a timeinsisted upon twenty- seven. Burton's own private apartments—he was too busy a man not to require a den tohimself-were gay with Oriental hangings, brass trays andgoblets, chibouques with great amber mouthpieces. Signsof the Crescent reigned paramount, crucifixes, madonnas,relics, and so forth being strictly relegated to his wife'sside of the flat. Glittering daggers and curious sabres hungon the walls, and the favourites amongst his eight thousandvolumes were neatly ranged in plain deal bookcases in hissanctum sanctorum. Thermometer, aneroid, every kind ofscientific instrument, had each a little place of its own;while clocks and watches, which, like most punctual men,he delighted in, ticked cheek by jowl. The office was inthe heart of the town, whither Jack Tar after a spree couldeasily find his Consul, and where the Consul, if necessary,could confer with his good- natured colleague, Mr. Brock.Life at Trieste was simple and regular. Burton roseabout 5 a.m., studied until noon, strolled from his rooms toLife at Trieste 373the fencing-school, thence to his Consulate. By evening herequired a little relaxation; and not being of the tame- catspecies, addicted to his own armchair in his own chimneycorner, he and his wife used to dine with a party of friendsat the Hôtel de Ville, where they could obtain a fair dinnerand a pint of country wine for a florin and a half.So much for their town existence. But no lover of pureair could hope to remain well for long in a place whichnumbered as many stenches as far- famed Cologne. Whileexploring the neighbourhood, Burton pitched upon summerquarters, whither he could repair for hygienic surroundings.Opçina, the sanatorium in question , is one hour from, andtwelve hundred feet above, Trieste. The visitor can driveall the way along a good road, and after his very moderateexertion be rewarded by a lovely view of the town, thesea, and all the picturesque points of land. Fairly goodaccommodation is afforded by an old-fashioned village inn,where the Burtons hired rooms by the year, and stayed forperiods ranging from three days to a month, whenever theirhealth required a change. This pied à terve proved mostconvenient; for the surrounding Castellieri-prehistoricremains, supposed to be Celtic-are eminently interestingto scholars and antiquarians; in fact, every spot of groundwithin a hundred miles of Opçina soon became familiar toour indefatigable traveller. Of Trieste he made a mostcareful study, as well as of the province of Istria, describing,in what he modestly called " a little guide- book, " the ruinsof the Roman Temple, Jupiter Capitolinus , the classicalArco di Riccardo (Richard of England, who was neverthere), the remnants of the Roman theatre and aqueductin the old town, and the two Museums with their contents.The Burtons often went further afield . Sometimes theywould cross over to Venice, or pay a short visit to thefascinating Austrian capital. Certainly some of these tripswere rather costly, the hotel bill during the Great Exhibi-374

tion at Vienna amounting to £163 for only three weeks!Little cared they. Several legacies fell in about that time,and paid for many a tour. One especially interesting excursion was to Italy, the principal object being to study, on thespot, the Etruscan remains at Bologna. Here Burtonremained some weeks, investigating the antiquities andcollecting material for a small volume, partly of criticism,but mainly of original research , in which, from the hastilyacquired data at his command, he has presented a completeand exhaustive account of this most ancient of the cities ofEtruria. From the preface we learn that his stay wasvery enjoyable. The rich collections in the museums, andnumerous trips to the sites which yielded them, made timepass pleasantly and profitably, while local notabilities viedwith each other in treating their erudite guest with themost graceful attention and courtesy.A desirable coincidence which occurred in 1875, of sixmonths' leave and one of the legacies afore- mentioned,rendered practicable a winter tour through India. Ourrestless pair were only too glad to get away from Triesteduring its most disagreeable season. Burton declared cleancold he could stand, dirty cold he could not. They startedon New Year's Day, 1876, by an Austrian Lloyd steamer,bound for Port Said. What with old associations and theabsence of any accident or annoyance, this ramble amongstfamiliar scenes was interesting enough to the former" lieutenant of blacks "; but as there was nothing remarkable about the journey, only the solid results thereofconcern the public.One of these was a most amusing book, " Sind Revisited," in two volumes; the other the inception of hislast great expedition, to the ruined cities of Midian. Thelatter originated in almost fairy-tale fashion. Readers ofthe "Pilgrimage " may remember a description in its pages.of a genial friend, Haji Wali, whom Burton met whilesojourning in the Wakalah in Cairo; in fact, I have brieflyHaji Wali Confides in Burton 375alluded to him myself in chapter iv. In the course of .one of many confabulations, the Haji, in an outburst ofconfidence, entrusted his cosmopolitan chum with a secret,which for a quarter of a century was destined to be keptinviolate. It happened by the merest chance: while thesaid pilgrim, who, in addition to strict observance of hisreligious duties, never neglected to secure the good thingsof the world wherein Allah had temporarily placed him,was returning from his second visit to El- Hejaz, he foundgold close to the Gulf of Akabah. The caravan had haltedfor the night, he had strolled away from his companions,and, while walking along the dry bed of a torrent, he suddenly perceived sand of a curious colour. Scooping up adouble handful, he secured it in his handkerchief, andcarefully concealed it about his person. On arriving atAlexandria, he showed his trouvaille to an assayer, who, bymeans of his art, produced a bit of gold about the size of agrain of wheat. Ever since that day the Haji had beensedulously searching for some companion in whom to confide; and, as soon as he had satisfied himself regarding theprobity of his new friend, he proposed they should traveltogether to the spot and try their luck.Burton, though brave, was not foolhardy. He saw atonce that a journey amongst the wild tribes of Midian, withonly one companion, would, if any suspicion of treasureseeking got abroad, end in certain death for both. Moreover, he had set his heart on the far more romanticpilgrimage to Meccah and Medinah, where the risks, if asgreat, were less ignoble; and so for a long while the schemefell through.Still, though many years slipped by, he did not forgetthe Haji's story. According to classical and Arab writers,gold has been found in Midian; why then should it not befound again? The land is scarred and honeycombed withancient mines, and it seems improbable those bygoneworkers, with their comparatively rude tools and appliances,376

had extracted all the metal. Anyway, he decided that thematter was well worth investigating as soon as a favourable opportunity presented itself.It came at last. Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, who, whatever his faults might have been, was always anxious todevelop the resources of his country, happened to hearthat long ago the site of a goldfield had come to Burton'sknowledge. In the then critical condition of Egyptianfinance, no chance of procuring supplies of the preciousmetal was to be neglected; so, when our traveller wasreturning from India, viâ Suez, the Viceroy honoured himwith an invitation to report on the matter vivâ voce. Hisreception was peculiarly gracious, and the first audienceconvinced him that this prince was a thorough master ofdetail, and that if he decided upon sending an expedition toMidian, he would do the thing liberally and well. Finally,after a few days' delay, Ismail came to the conclusion themines were worth a search, and formally commissionedBurton to lead a caravan to the spot where the metallicsand had been discovered.Nothing could please our traveller better. Now remained to find Haji Wali. A friend in the telegraphservice was at once engaged in the quest, and a clue wassoon discovered. An old man of that name, weighing somesixteen stone, was said to be living at Zagazig. Ensued along correspondence. The Haji had four young children,his wife expected a fifth, he now numbered eighty- two winters; and, under such circnmstances, it was not surprisingthat he seemed exceedingly shy of undertaking a long anduncomfortable journey. Fearing interminable delays,Burton swooped down on the old fellow in person, and bydint of many a " flattering tale, " which none knew betterhow to tell than himself, he persuaded the octogenarianthat, from a pecuniary point of view, it would be wellworth his while to make the effort . As might be expected,even after his consent had been obtained, the ancient provedA Gold-seeking Expedition 377rather troublesome. Hardly had he arrived at Suez, than,declaring he had described everything, he asked to go homeagain, adding, with many a groan , there were pains in hishead, in his side, and in his knees which utterly unfitted himfor the fatigue of the expedition. Two bottles of bitter alea day effected wonders; still Burton must have heaved ahearty sigh of relief when the venerable Haji's serviceswere no longer required.As on the occasion of the famous expedition to the LakeRegions of Central Africa, our traveller began with a “ preliminary canter." Midian was to him virgin ground, so itseemed only prudent to prospect with a small band, beforeleading a numerous and expensively equipped company.The reconnaissance lasted three weeks, from March 31st toApril 21st, 1877; but as I am about to describe in detailthe second expedition, which covered four months, I willmerely add that the first proved an entire success. TheLand of Midian is still wealthy; turquoise mines exist ,traces of gold are abundant, also of iron and silver. Eightboxes filled with metalliferous quartz, greenstone, porphyryand basalt, were carried back to Egypt for analysis, besidesbags of gravel and sand for laboratory work.The hot season necessitated a delay of six monthsbefore the survey could be resumed. Burton returned toTrieste, and never had that unsavoury seaport and itsduties appeared more dreary and distasteful. Throughoutthe summer he was fairly haunted with memories of theLand of Jethro, with its sweet fresh breezes, its perfumedflora, its glorious colouring and its grand simplicity. Thegolden region appeared to him in many a nightly dream, inall the glory of that primæval prosperity dimly revealed bythe recently interpreted Egyptian hieroglyphs. Again hebeheld the mining works of the Greeks, the Romans, andthe Nebathæans, whose names are preserved by Ptolemy,the forty cities mere ghosts and shadows of their formerselves, mentioned in the pages of the medieval Arab378

geographers; and the ruthless ruin that under the dominionof the Bedawin gradually crept over the country. Andmany a fair vision floated through his waking brain of afuture Midian, whose rich treasures of various mineralswould restore unto her wealth and prosperity after hissecond expedition had shown to the world what she hasbeen and what she may be again.At last the happy hour for departure struck. On the19th of October, 1877 , Burton left Trieste for Cairo. Sixweeks sufficed for preparations. The Government magazines provided necessary stores, orders from headquartersthrew open every door, and although a few delays anddifficulties occurred, all was plain sailing compared withwhat it would have been in Europe. The Viceroy, who,it was said, paid all the expenses out of his own privatepurse, had determined that the expedition should notmerely carry out the work of discovery by tracing themetals to their source, but that it should bring homespecimens weighing tons, enough for assay and analysisquantitive and qualitive, both in London and Paris. Sominers and mining apparatus were provided, with all thematerials for quarrying.The personnel consisted of an escort of twenty-fiveSoudanese soldiers , a few experienced miners and thirtyquarrymen. The European staff mustered five -Burton,M. George Marie, an engineer, Mr. J. C. Clarke, atelegraph engineer, M. Emile Lacaze, an artist, and M.Jean Philipin, who, in addition to other duties, acted asblacksmith. The Egyptian commissioned and non-commissioned officers numbered thirteen, there was a smallcompany of servants and camp followers, and last, butnot least, fat old Haji Wali appeared on the scene, thepreliminary canter having been too short to visit thespot where he had found the gold. A few mules wereshipped; but camels could be procured on the spot, andthere would be no difficulty as to expense, the generous"(En Route to the Land of Midian 379Viceroy having presented Burton with two thousandnapoleons, besides all the stores.Finally, the first week in December, 1877, the expedition departed by special train, under the immediateauspices of the governing family of Egypt. In spite ofa heavy gale, which detained the party at Suez for a day ortwo, and which later sorely endangered the mules-Burtonseemed more anxious about their limbs than his ownthe gunboat safely reached her destination, off Fort ElMuwaylah, on the Midianite coast. A more disagreeablevoyage would have been soon forgotten in sight of thoseglorious mountain walls which stand out from the clearblue sky in passing grandeur of outline, in exceedingsplendour of colouring, and in marvellous sharpness ofdetail. "Once more," exclaimed our traveller, " the powerof the hills was upon me."No time was lost in disembarking the stores and properties, including sundry cases of cartridges and five hundredpounds of pebble- powder, which had been imprudentlypacked immediately under the main cabin. Implements aswell as provisions were given in charge of an old Albanian,who acted as magazine man. This done, the steamer proceeded to a quiet little harbour a mile or two further, forthe purpose of patching up her boilers, which had alreadycaused no small trouble, and threatened to cause more.Burton's landing at Fort El- Muwaylah was conductedwith such ceremony as to be almost a function. The gunboat saluted, the fort answered with a rattle and patter ofmusketry; all the local notables received the expedition inline, drawn up on the shore. To the left stood the civiliansin tulip- coloured garb; next were the garrison, some dozenBashi- Buzouks, armed with matchlocks; then came thequarrymen, in uniform; while the black-faced escort heldthe place of honour on the right. The latter gave ourtraveller a loud " Hip, hip, hurrah! " as he passed .A whole day was spent in inspecting the soldiers and380

mules, in despatching a dromedary- post to Suez with newsof the arrival, and in conciliating the claims of rivalBedawin. Several of these gentry offered themselves asguides to the interior, of course for a consideration. Eachwanted his camels to be hired and no one else's, eachdemanded extortionate sums, so extortionate indeed, thatit was fortunate the Viceroy had proved liberal. Finallythree Shaykhs were engaged, one hundred and six camels,and several dromedaries with their drivers. Half thisnumber of quadrupeds would have sufficed , had not thewretched animals, one and all, been half- starved, andutterly unable to carry any great weight. Their greatestfeast was a meagre ration of mixed beans, and their dailybread consisted of the dry leaves of thorn trees; no wonderthey had hardly energy even to bite. In two or three days.all was ready, and the caravan straggled off to Jebel El- Abyaz.Straggled is the only word to use. Burton declared thefirst march reminded him of driving, or attempting to drive,a train of unbroken mules over the prairies. The escort,thinking solely of themselves and their property, seemeddetermined to follow their own sweet will , while eachDesert craft sailed snarling and yelling along, steeredafter a fashion which proudly disdained the usual caravanfile. Burton, mounted on an old white mule, appears tohave performed the work of a sheep-dog in keeping hisunruly party together.sense.Matters improved later. The lawless Arabs andEgyptians soon found their chief would stand no nonHis character, a rare combination of determinationand gentleness, made him an almost ideal leader of semicivilised races; and, as we have seen in other expeditions,it was rare indeed for him to lose all control over the menunder his command. Prosperity attended them. The firstpart of the journey through Midian Proper lasted fifty-fourdays, during which time about 107 miles of ground weresurveyed with the utmost care. The country throughDifficulties with Haji Wali 381which they travelled was essentially a mining one, extensively but superficially worked by the ancients. Besidesspecimens of gold, silver, and iron, copper ore was discovered which sometimes yielded as much as forty percent. of metal. Of the forty ruined cities, eighteen werevisited during the exploration of Midian Proper, includingthe capital, Madiáma, the greater part whereof, originallybuilt of gypsum, must, when new, have looked like a scenein fairy land. Its ruin was utter-foundations of walls, abastion built in three straight lines overhanging the perpendicular face of a gorge, traces of furnaces now levelwith the ground, and sundry sunken, shattered catacombswere all that remained of the once wealthy and powerfulworshippers of Baalpeor. A few old coins were picked up,some so glued together by decay and eaten out of allsemblance of money as to be illegible; others, after beingtreated with acids, fairly decipherable. Amongst the littlecollection was a copper coin thinly encrusted with silver,proving that even those days produced " smashers. """But now I hear the reader interrupt, "Tell me aboutHaji Wali and the torrent bed. Did he lead the caravanto the auriferous Wady, and did it contain gold? Well,it is my painful duty to relate that age had sadly deterioratedthe once excellent qualities of my uncle's old friend. Thepious pilgrim who had twice braved the perils of the wayto Meccah and Medinah, now, like the old person of thenursery rhyme, would not even say his prayers. Wheninformed by the Mullah it was the hour for devotion, heanswered, " Wait a bit." Nor did he perform his earthlyduties any better than his heavenly ones-his promisesproving like the proverbial pie-crust, made only to bebroken. The caravan had got about half way to thespot so long the centre of interest, when he suddenly insisted on returning home. Not for love of wife or children, but to look after his pecuniary affairs. And he stuckto his intention. Maddened by fear lest during his absence,382

in the height of the cotton season, the fellahs of Egyptwould neglect to pay their debts, he malingered to such anextent that Burton feared the old fellow would kill himselfout of sheer spite. So, after several attempts to detain himeven a few days longer, he was permitted to leave theExpedition, then encamped at the Wady Sharma, andto ride to the Fort, whence a pilgrim-boat was about tostart for Suez. On parting, the old man vowed he wasdying and could hardly keep in the saddle. Little didhe know that his whilom chum watched him amble away,and, almost pleased to be rid of the responsibility, laughedto see how rapidly he urged on his hapless mule as soon ashe imagined himself well out of sight.However, he had had the grace to leave a rude mapof the spot. So many valuable mines had been discoveredalready, that it mattered comparatively little whether thisparticular site proved auriferous or not. But as the caravanwas now so near, Burton thought it advisable to try bymeans of the plan to discover the place which had provedalmost the raison d'être of the Expedition. And this hesucceeded in doing. A rounded hill close to the AkabahGulf, a dry watercourse between two tall bluff cliffs , asolitary mimosa, tallied with the description so oftenrepeated of the scene of the trouvaille. At once thewashing trough was prepared, a trench dug, and thegravelly sand manipulated. But to no purpose. Eithersome exceptionally heavy torrent had carried away theprecious metal en masse, or, more probably, the workershaving ascertained for certain the existence of gold elsewhere, would not put up with the delay and trouble of asufficiently- prolonged search. That gold existed in theneighbourhood Burton heard on all sides. In camp menspoke freely of dust stored in quills carried behind the ear and sold at Suez. But neither promises nor bribes wouldpersuade the poorest Bedawin who prowled about the tentsto break through the rule of silence; and, after a fortnightThe Exploration of Midian 383had been wasted over this fruitless task, Burton gave theorder to depart.The exploration of Midian was divided into three principal journeys. The first , already partly described, conIcluded with a quartz prospecting trip along the Gulf ofAkabah, whereon, the winds being chronically high and thegunboat's boilers hopelessly dilapidated, our party werevery nearly shipwrecked. Between each excursion wasan interval of rest at headquarters, Fort El- Muwaylah,which, being one of the defended stations of the CairoHajj, or pilgrimage caravan, seemed quite a gay andcivilised spot after the solemn inland wildernesses. Hereall enjoyed a halt of about ten days, preparatory to amarch on the Hismá. Burton's heart was firmly fixed onthis project, for he hoped to find an "unworked California "to the east of the Harrah volcanoes, virgin regions wheregranulated gold still lingers, unlike the mines on the coast,where machinery must take the place of the human arm.His Shaykhs and camel men, however, were by no meansso enthusiastic, the region in question being the haunt ofa tribe, the Ma'ázah, who from all reports seemed littlebetter than cut-throats. Objections were silenced at last,and the party set out in force at 6.30 a.m., February 19th.Their Remingtons numbered ten, their camels fifty, anddromedaries six. Discipline had wonderfully improved, forthe caravan now loaded in twenty minutes instead of fivehours, and when no fear of danger delayed it , started infifteen minutes after bugle-call.Their route lay through East Midian. Having proceeded about six miles, they stopped for rest and refreshment by the side of a thready stream in the section of theSurr, which receives the Wady El- Najil. The banks werecrowded with sheep and goats as in the days before the"hosts of Midian " received such an u merciful thrashingfrom the hands of Gideon and his vindictive warriors; andthe adjoining rocks possessed peculiar attractions for hares,384

hawks, and partridges. In these upland regions water isfound almost everywhere, and is generally drinkable;hence the Bedawin prefer them to the arid and thirsty coast.Though mostly parched and stony, Midian has her bits ofArcadia. One is the great Wady Dámah, where ourtraveller saw not only flocks of sheep and goats browsingon the luxuriant herbage, but spots where a thin forestgathers and clumps of trees form quite a feature in thelandscape. Again, in the Wady Sharma, the water sceneryand consequent greenery is as fresh as Damascus. Whilethere encamped, Burton used to wake every morning surprised by the home-like sound of a little runnel, babblingalong its bed of rushes, stones and sand, accompanied bythe musical rustling of several tall trees, which completedthe fresh and delightful scene.Next day was spent in northing, during which ourcaravan passed a broad tree-dotted flat of golden sand,bordered by an emerald avenue of dense mimosas formingline under the greenstone hills to the right, and the redheights on the left. Plants were rare; chiefly remarkablewere the sorrel, and the blue thistle, or rather wild artichoke, a thorn loved by camels. Sometimes an impatientrider would leave the comparatively easy tracks in thevalleys for a short cut over hills so steep as to induceeven the three Shaykhs to dismount, anyway before commencing the descents. Views from the heights were lovely,especially the blue and purple screen of Sinai, which formeda splendid background . There was nothing to distractattention from the gorgeous aspect of Nature, for justthen all traces of man had vanished; the Ma'ázah wereup country, and another tribe had temporarily quittedtheir grazing grounds. On the night of February 21st,the caravan halted after a total march of eleven miles atthe foot of a granite block wherein a gap supplied themwith tolerable water.All went well until February 23rd, when the enemy'sA Bad Beginning 385country appeared in sight. Burton and some of his officerswere preceding the escort, who, on approaching the hauntsof the bandits, had become so excessively nervous —startingat every sound—that it was necessary to show an example.While passing some black tents on the left bank of theSurr, where that stream enters a narrow rocky gorge,our traveller perceived about a dozen Arabs scamperingover the sides of the Pass. The heights scaled, theyemitted some unmelodious yells intended for a war song,and what was still more objectionable, they distinctlythreatened to fire.Dismounting at once, Burton looked to his weapons,and then, like one of Dumas' heroes, began to parley. Butthe ragged ruffians, who knew neither of the escort northe numbers of the Expedition, explained in their barkingvoices that they would be satisfied with nothing less than plunder. And again they howled their war cry. Fortunately, at that moment the Soudanese soldiers, with theirformidable guns gleaming in the sunshine, appeared on thescene, and immediately the Ma'ázah changed their tone,kissed Burton's hands, and declared, with one eye fixed onthe Remingtons, there had been some mistake.Still, it was a bad beginning. Next day a messenger,despatched in hot haste to obtain a pass from the principalmen of the tribe, appeared officially heading five chiefs, whowere followed by a tail of some thirty rowdy rascals. Twoof these personages were mounted on horses, wretchedanimals stolen from another tribe, the rest on fine,sturdy, long-coated camels which looked Syrian ratherthan Midianite. So important an arrival was signalisedwith a certain amount of ceremony; bugler and escort,drawn up in front of the mess-tent which had to serveas audience chamber, saluted with all the honours.During the palaver that ensued all was sweet as honeyoutside, and as bitter as gall within. The Ma'ázah, manyof whom then saw Europeans for the first time, eyed their25386

hats curiously, with a facial movement which meant, " Sonow we have let Christian dogs into our land! ” Whenasked whence they had procured the two horses, theyanswered curtly, " Min Rabbina " (from our Lord) , thussignifying stolen goods. However, in spite of their evidentdisinclination to have any dealings with strangers, theypromised to escort the Expedition to their dens on themorrow.That night was raw and gusty, the mercury sank to 38°F.; and blazing fires kept up within and without the tentshardly sufficed for comfort. Doubtless, Burton slept little;anyhow, early morning found him engaged in a finalstruggle with his three Shaykhs, who were driven almostto desperation by the prospect of entering the robbers'haunts with their precious camels. Finally, after everyavailable argument they could urge had been disposedof, they consented to proceed a little further; and at7.15 a.m. the caravan and its brigand guides marcheddue eastward through the Pass leading to the enemy'scountry. The path was the rudest of corniches, wornby the feet of man and beast, and showing some ugly,abrupt turns. The ground, composed mostly of irregularrock steps, presented few obstacles to the horses andmules; but the camels, laden with the mess-table and longtent poles, must have had a troublesome time. Of course,the cautious beasts advanced leisurely, feeling each stonebefore they trusted it, so all arrived without the slightestmishap.Burton and his European companions preceded as usualtheir noisy, braying company. On the Pass - top theyhalted to prospect the surrounding novelties . Lookingdown the long valley just traversed, they distinguished adozen distances whose several plains were marked by allthe shades of colour that the most varied vegetation candisplay. And in the far horizon appeared the eastern facesof the giants of the coast- range, glorious in all the grandeurThe El-Nejd Plateau 387of their vast proportions. In fact, our traveller was standing on the westernmost edge of the great central Arabianplateau, defined as El- Nejd, the highlands — an uplandrunning parallel with the " Lip-range " and with the maritime ghauts, and known as the far- famed Hismá. It probablyrepresents a remnant of the old terrace which, like theSecondary gypseous formation, has been torn to pieces bythe volcanic region to the east, and by the plutonic upheavals to the west. Its length may be 170 miles. Theviews on all sides were striking and suggestive. Facingthe spectators was El- Harrah, the volcanic area whoseblack porous lavas and honeycombed basalts are stillbrought down to the coast to serve as hand-mills; then,southward, appeared a line of red ramparts and buttresses,beyond which soared the sky- blue mountain- block thattakes its name from the ruins of Shaghab. Besides itsbeauty, the land possessed another attraction, one everdear to Burton's heart-it had never yet been troddenby European feet.¹Unfortunately, it proved impossible to penetrate thisthen unknown region. The Ma'ázah chiefs and theirfollowers, after a display of rapacity and ill-temper farfrom reassuring, suddenly sent off messengers in everydirection, a step which looked uncommonly like a generalcall to arms. The chiefs then publicly declared they wouldhave no Nazarenes in their mountains, and privately consulted whether they should not raise a force of dromedarymen to exterminate the strangers. And all this dulyreached Burton's ears.19 It was most annoying. Not only had the "virginCalifornia to be abandoned, but the Hismá also, aregion full of archæological interest. Besides, how disconcerting to beat a retreat before these unmannerlybrigands with their beggarly pop- guns, their wretched1 Since that time it has been explored by Mr. Doughty and others.

accoutrements! I think Burton did heave just one sighfor the days when an Englishman might have forced hisway through black man's land without having every shredof character torn to bits by those mock philanthropists whomake no distinction between men and semi- apes. However, under the circ*mstances, no alternative remainedbut to turn back. So, at 4.30 a.m., February 25th, hearoused his camp, gave orders to strike the tents andload, an order obeyed with suspicious alacrity; and, aftersome slight show of resistance from the robber chiefs, who,as usual, wished to extort money, the caravan made itsway out of the enemy's country.The time was not wholly wasted. When out of reachof the Ma'ázah, Burton journeyed leisurely through SouthMidian, surveying and collecting specimens on the way.Ruins innumerable studded the land, ancient mines yawnedopen to the sky. More enticing to the eye was the weirdand fascinating aspect of the southern Hismá wall, as seenin the distance. Based on mighty massive foundations ofbrown and green trap, the undulating junction perfectlydefined by a horizontal white line, the capping of sandstonerises regular as if laid in courses, with a huge rampartfalling perpendicularly upon the natural slope of its glacis.Further eastward the mass has been broken and weatheredinto the most remarkable castellations, into likenesses ofcathedrals, spires, minarets, and pinnacles, of fortresses,bulwarks and towers. Nor are the tints less remarkablethan the forms. When day warms them with its gorgeousglaze, these curious shapes wear the brightest hues of red,set off by lambent lights of pink and ruby, and by shadesof deep transparent purple. The even- glow is indescribablylovely, all the lovelier because evanescent; the moment thesun disappears the glorious rosy smile fades away, leavingthe pale grey ghosts of their former selves to gloom againstthe star- spangled sky.Burton's journey through Eastern Midian occupied aSouth Midian 389month. It included his fruitless attempt to penetrate theMa'ázah country, a visit to Shuwah and Shaghab, two ofthe ruined metal-working cities, and a partial ascent of theSharr, a mighty maritime Alp, monarch of Midianitemountains. This successfully accomplished, the Expeditionreturned as usual to Fort El- Muwaylah for rest and freshstores before undertaking its third and final march.The latter, which lay through South Midian, wouldinterest hardly any save a geologist or metallurgist. Burton, however, believed it was chiefly there that gold wouldbe found, pending the exploration of the tract east of theHarrah volcanoes. The whole eastern counterslope of theoutliers that project from the Ghaut section , known as themountains of the Tihámat Balawiyyah, is one vast outcropof quartz. The parallelogram between north latitude 26°,including the mouth of the Wady Hamz, and north latitude27°, which runs some fifteen miles north of the Bada plain ,would form, so he believed, a Southern grant sufficientlylarge to be divided and subdivided as soon as judgedadvisable. Free gold was noticed in the micaceous schistsveining the quartz, and in the chalcedony which partsthe granite from the gneiss.Little now remained to do. After about three weeks'scrupulous survey of this rich, metalliferous region, duringwhich all manner of fruitless enquiries were made concerning stone- coal, the Viceroy, having laid even greater stresson the search for black diamonds than for gold , our travellerfelt his mission was accomplished, and that he could with aclear conscience turn the head of his old grey mule homewards. And as both Egyptians and Europeans weredesirous of leaving a country which possessed for themfew, if any, charms, once the signal for return given, therewas but little delay. Ismail had already sent anothergunboat, one with sound boilers, to convey the Expeditionback to Egypt. A busy scene ensued on arriving at headquarters. The remainder of the stores, which, wonderful390

to relate, had been honestly dealt with by their caretaker,the old Albanian, were transferred to the ship from thefort. Twenty-five tons of specimens were gradually stowedaway in her hold, and the three Shaykhs received such ahandsome fee that they actually refrained from grumblingmuch. At last came the exciting moment when the Sinnar,firing a farewell salute to Fort El-Muwaylah, started onher homeward way. Suez was safely reached April 20th ,1878.Nothing could be more flattering than Burton's reception by the Viceroy. Directions were given for an exhibition of the trophies. It proved a great success, opened,as it was, by Ismail in person, and attended by all themembers of his family. Experts from England and Australia pronounced a favourable verdict on the specimens ,and our traveller was directed to draw up a general description of the province, to report upon the political and othermeasures whereby it could be benefited, and to suggestthe means of profitably working the mines. Moreover, theViceroy renewed his promise that Burton should receiveeither a concession, or a royalty of five per cent. , on thegeneral produce of the mines as a reward for his discoveries.Apparently our hero had won both honours and affluence. Or, had he yet another disappointment to bear inhis sorely disappointed life?

CHAPTER XVI

APPARENTLY Fate had decreed that never wasRichard Burton to win fortune by exploration . Thetwo expeditions to the mines of Midian, which promisedso much, ended in utter failure. Ismail Pasha-perhapsthe ablest, certainly the most extravagant, ruler Egypt hadyet known-had been compelled to abdicate, and Tewfik,his son, reigned in his stead. The first results of thechange of government, until the English had succeeded inreducing the financial confusion to some degree of order,were not particularly happy. Public works were neglected,the great improvements which could only become profitablelong after their completion were more or less starved, andthe burden of taxation became every day less endurable.Ismail's downfall, every one knows, happened suddenly.When Burton left Egypt, after his triumphal return fromMidian, the political horizon was certainly lowering, buthe did not anticipate his patron's speedy deposition; nor,when the news reached his ears, did he fear that the policyhitherto pursued of developing the resources of the countrywould be reversed. So he journeyed leisurely throughGermany for the purpose of examining various collectionsof arms to figure later on as illustrations in his " Book ofthe Sword," and, by means of his consular duties andliterary work, managed to while away the time until hecould ascertain personally how matters were progressing inCairo.Towards the end of 1879, having once more obtained afew months' leave, he again visited that city, and there didhis utmost to induce the new Khedive to renew the works392

in Midian. But, after sundry fruitless attempts to gain theear of the principal advisers of the Viceregal Court, Burtoncould not conceal from himself the unwelcome certaintythat all his labours had been thrown away, and that thefunds already expended might just as well have been flunginto the Nile, for any good they were likely to do the oldBlack Land. Tewfik had become Khedive under circ*mstances of exceptional difficulty; he could spend no moneyon schemes, however brilliant . In fact, the change of rulershad destroyed at a blow all our hero's hopes—not merelyof his own fortune and advancement, but the nobler onesof restoring wealth and prosperity to an unfortunate country.Every effort to persuade the more powerful officials to listento his plan for converting deficits into surpluses was receivedwith worse than coldness; the National Party opposed hisscheme as the idea of a foreigner, and all agreed that, owingto the wretched condition of the Egyptian treasury, it wasutterly impracticable. So, having wasted at Cairo nearlyhalf a year of his life, Burton returned to his Consulatewearied out and disgusted.After about eighteen months' work at Trieste, varied bya brief visit to London, our traveller made his final attemptto wring treasure from the many rich hoards yet lying inthe bosom of Mother Earth. As in the case of the Icelandic sulphur mines, a Liverpool merchant requiredBurton's services. Mr. James Irvine, a large mine ownerin the Gulf of Guinea, had just obtained important concessions in the valley of the Ancobra River; and awarethat Burton knew more about the Gold Coast than anyother Englishman, requested that he, together with CaptainV. L. Cameron, should inspect his new property and adviseregarding the best means of extracting the precious metal.Although the West Coast of Africa is not usually regarded as an agreeable touring ground, this offer wasreceived with rapture by our versatile traveller. Delightedat the prospect of escaping from commonplace Trieste,West Africa Revisited 393utterly oblivious of many a bygone fever in those malarialdistricts, he eagerly consented, and on the 18th December,1881 , found himself once more on the familiar route. AtMadeira he was joined by Cameron, who, like himself, wasin high spirits and fully equipped for work. They voyagedleisurely per ss . Senegal , spending a day or two at Bathurst,Freetown, and other mouldy, mildewed pest-houses alongthe coast, which they briefly described as being in anadvanced stage of decomposition. The latter part of thejourney was not rendered more agreeable by a crowd ofnative passengers- daddy, mammy, and piccaninnyespecially as these negroes were permitted to travel firstclass. Black daddies, whose conversation at every mealconsisted of whispering into each other's ears, with anoccasional guffaw like that of a laughing jackass, andwhose pronounced kleptomania no surveillance could keepin check, especially excited Burton's ire. Nor did eventhe sable women find favour in his sight. Their languageand manners seem to have been indescribable; theirappearance, thanks to frightful semi- European gowns ofstriped cottons, harlequin shawls, and scarves thrownover jackets which showed more than neck and bare armsto the light of day, he compared to devils seen in dreamsafter a supper of underdone pork, and would, he added,have scared away any crow however bold.Barring these black nightmares, the voyage seems tohave been pleasant. There was a little too much rollingoccasionally, the Senegal being a ship sailors euphemisticallyterm lively, and nobody, however industrious, can write orread with much result when this movement becomes toopronounced; but the glorious Harmatan weather, with itscool, dewy mornings and evenings, and the pale roundfaced sun gleaming through an honest fog, made ourtraveller wish that sundry friends who had marvelled athis pleasure in exchanging the bitter blasts of theNorthern Adriatic for this genial temperature could394

have spent a day with him. Finally, after passing thehummocks of Apollonia, Axim, his destination, peeped upover the portbow at dawn on the 25th of January.The first aspect of Axim is charming; there is nothingmore picturesque upon this coast. Situated on a baywithin a bay, it boasts of a noble forest as background;and consisting of a fort and subject town, it wears abaronial and Old World air, decidedly agreeable after thefrowsy mean-looking settlements touched at en route.The agents of the several Aximite houses soon came onboard, hobnobbed with captain and passengers, and presently embarked with Burton and Cameron in the usual heavysurf-boat, manned by a dozen leathery -lunged " Elminaboys " with paddles, and a helmsman with an oar. Theanchorage place lies at least two miles south- west of thelanding stage, but since only one sunken reef preventslarger vessels from running into the bay, a reef whichmerely requires a buoy to mark its whereabouts, Axim canpride herself on possessing the safest harbour on this partof the African sea-board.Our travellers and their belongings, duly housed by Mr.Irvine's agent in his little bungalow facing Water Street,spent a day or two inspecting town and fort, marvellingmeanwhile at the unusual cleanliness of the natives, who,even on chilly mornings, never failed to take a bath in thesea. Then business had to be attended to. The King ofAmrehía, who had granted the concession , had not yet signedthe document enabling Mr. Irvine's representatives to takeformal possession of the Izrah mine. So the potentate.came in state to Water Street to affix his sign-manual tothe legal papers; and as usual on such occasions, theinterview consisted chiefly of compliments, presents anddrinking. Nothing more about the king's costume needbe said than that it was peculiar: better leave it to thereader's imagination.Soon after this important preliminary, the two friendsA Wealthy Countrystarted for the scene of their labours.395The site of theIzrah Mine proved a fine one, situated about four geographical miles from the sea. The travellers also visitedneighbouring concessions even superior; but all had certaindisadvantages, vile roads, and equally vile anchorage at thenearest points on the coast. Gold was abundant, but theblacks who delved for it were arrant thieves; and asmachinery was costly and the staff had to be liberallypaid, the prospects of handsome dividends for Englishshareholders seemed somewhat doubtful. The two friendsworked together most amicably: Cameron made an excellent route survey of the district, corrected by many andcareful astronomical observations; Burton described theland as minutely as possible, searched, often under abroiling sun, for the shortest cuts to the sea, and studiedseparately the various gold- pits belonging to the differentproperties. He came to the conclusion that this Wasacountry, Ancobra section, is far richer than the mostglowing accounts have represented it . The land is literallyimpregnated with the precious metal, and there are, besides, signs of diamond, ruby, and sapphire. On the otherhand, he could not help noticing the serious drawbacksalready mentioned.But now, to his sore discomfiture, Burton was remindedthat even his iron constitution could not last for ever.Both he and Cameron worked too hard. Their morningsand evenings were spent in hammering quartz and goldwashing, often in fetid pits half full of water; their daysin walking instead of hammocking. Deeming themselvesseasoned travellers, they neglected such simple precautionsas fires at dawn and sunset. And, as usually happens afterany great imprudence committed in such a climate, thepenalty was soon exacted. Both men fell ill on the sameday-Cameron was prostrated by a bilious attack, Burtonby fever and ague. The former resorted to chlorodyne, thelatter to Warburg's drops (tinctura Warburgii) , in which396

he had the greatest faith; but sickness left them so utterlyprostrate that, after long and anxious deliberation, theydecided on that not very dignified proceeding by whichpeople live to fight another day. So, more dead thanalive, our travellers embarked on the Ancobra river, andhastened back to the comparative luxury of Axim.The rest is soon told. Cameron, the younger man,speedily recovered and returned to work. Burton, whocould not shake off the fever, reluctantly confessed to athorough breakdown, and so took the next steamer toMadeira, where he had little to do except to look after hisown health. At the end of a month he was joined by hisfriend, who had completed the required survey singlehanded, and the two men returned to Europe.As may be guessed already, the Izrah mine and others,in spite of their rich store of metal, did not prove a success.¹Two volumes, crammed with information, were the soleresults of Burton's efforts . His expenses were paid, andwith this he had to be content. His last long journey wasover, and had left him neither richer nor poorer than whenhe started.Acknowledging with his usual plucky good sense thathis most vigorous years were past, he now turned hisattention entirely to literature; for awhile, with scantsuccess. Much time was devoted to a translation of the" Lusiads, " followed up by a " Life of Camoens " and aCommentary.2' Englished by Richard Burton, and well done,As it was well worth doing, "said Gerald Massey. And certainly the man was equal tothe task. None but a traveller can do justice to a traveller,and it so happened that most of his wanderings formed arunning and realistic commentary on the " Lusiads." He

1 To the Gold Coast for Gold." Two vols.2 "Camoens." Six vols.

had not merely visited almost every place named in the"Epos of Commerce; " in many he had spent months, andeven years. Only they who have personally studied theoriginals of the word- pictures of Portugal's greatest singercan appreciate their perfect combination of fidelity andrealism with fancy and idealism. And another of ourtranslator's qualifications was his thorough appreciation ofthe poem combined with ardent admiration for the poet.The gracious and noble thoughts of the " Lusiads " revivedhim as the champagne air of the mountain-tops; and thesoldier-writer, whose motto was " Honour, not Honours,"commanded the warmest sympathy of one whose life bore astrange resemblance to that of Portugal's noble and unfortunate son.Unluckily, this was not the sort of work to bring at thetime either fame or fortune. The general reader couldhardly be expected to clamour at the libraries for anarchaic translation of a classical epic. Not surprising,therefore, is it that this fine rendering of the "Lusiads,"enriched by notes of the most varied erudition, fell almoststillborn upon the press . Now, as the truest copy ofCamoens' immortal poem, it has become a standard work;then, like many books that finally attain this fondly- covetedposition, it resulted in pecuniary loss to its writer.Once more Burton's affairs began to look gloomy. Hisstartling failure of health during his trips to the Gold Coasthad revealed pretty plainly that he could no longer bear thestrain of travels in pestilential climates. Moreover, in 1883he was seized with a severe illness, suppressed gout affectingstomach and heart, which confined him to his bed for eightmonths. His last publication had not paid its expenses,no further legacies were expected just then, and a flat oftwenty- seven rooms, even though situated in a dirty Austrianseaport, requires a certain amount of money to keep up.But Richard Burton was destined to enjoy a briefseason of sunshine before leaving a world which had often proved so dark and dreary. Sanguine as he was, I do notthink he had any idea of the great good fortune life yetheld in store for him. Hitherto his writings had broughtin at most sums such as two or three hundred pounds; atother times next to nothing; or, as in the case of the"Lusiads," left him out of pocket. Now, by a curiouschance, the birth of one of his brain-children attracted averitable shower of gold. By a literal translation of the"Arabian Nights, " those wonderful tales first known inEurope through the French rendering of Antoine Galland,1704-1717, Burton realised what many persons would consider a little fortune, viz. , twelve thousand pounds.isThe history of this " revelation of Orientalism "romantic to a degree. With many intermissions it hadtaken thirty-two years to write; and laborious thoughthe work had often proved, it never failed to afford itsauthor interest and amusem*nt. During long years ofofficial exile to the deadly climates of East and WestAfrica, the dull half- clearings of South America, it wasa faithful talisman against ennui and despondency. Fromdisagreeable or commonplace surroundings the Jinn boreaway the translator to the land of his predilection—Arabia,a region so familiar to his mind that even when he casthis first glance on the scene, he tells us, it seemed areminiscence of some bygone metempsychic life in thefar distant past. Again he stood under the diaphanousskies, in air glorious as ether, whose very breath causesmen's spirits to bubble like sparkling wine. Then wouldappear the woollen tents of the Bedawin, mere dots inthe boundless waste, the camp-fire shining like a glowworm in the village - centre, and the Shaykhs gravelytaking their places round the blaze, the women and children standing motionless outside the ring while their guestrewarded their hospitality by reciting a few pages of theirfavourite tales. Even in wild Somaliland no one turneda deaf ear to these fairy stories, and many a time did ourThe "Arabian Nights " 399traveller keep the men of his caravan in good humourunder trying circ*mstances by telling of mighty Harun- alRashid, or the immortal Barber.The conception of this invaluable addition to Englishliterature took place shortly after the " Pilgrimage to Meccahand Medinah. ' Burton arrived at Aden in the winter of1852, and while lodging with the friend whose absence heso regretted on the journey to the Lake Regions of CentralAfrica, he came to the conclusion after many a confabulation with Dr. Steinhauser, who was as good an Arabist ashimself, that, while the name of this wonderful treasury ofMoslem folk-lore is familiar to almost every English child,no student ignorant of the language is aware of the valuablesit contains. Even grey- beards at Oxford had to contentthemselves with selected, diluted, and abridged transcripts.Galland had gallicised the general tone and tenour to suchan extent that even the vulgar English versions have failedto throw off the French flavour. Torrens attemptedliteralism , but his execution was of the roughest, nor didhis familiarity with Arabic suffice him for the task; whileLane affected the Latinised English of the period andomitted nearly all the poetry. Clearly the work of bringingout a first-rate translation remained to be done. Burtonwas the first to confess that the coarseness of the originalwas a drawback; but students of " all sorts and conditionsof men can hardly avoid finding themselves at times faceto face with unpleasant realities. Anyway, the friendsagreed before parting to collaborate and produce a full,complete, unvarnished copy of " Alf Laylah wa Laylah, ”Steinhauser taking the prose and Burton the metrical part.They corresponded on the subject for years; but the doctordied in the seventies, and the survivor was left to completethe work alone.""It progressed fitfully amidst a host of obstacles. Burtonhad several large deal tables in his study, each devoted toa different set of books and manuscripts; and now that400

the "Lusiads" were finished and cleared off, the " Nights "became all paramount. He laboured incessantly at hisgigantic task until 1880, when the process of copying began,and he felt himself within measurable distance of its completion.Here, perhaps, the question suggests itself to an intelligent mind, what might be the traveller's motive forspending so much time and labour upon a collection ofwonderful fairy-tales? And I explain with pleasure, for hisobject was most laudable. By preserving intact not onlyits spirit, but even its mécanique, its manner and matter,this Eastern Saga book seemed to be the work parexcellence to place in the hands of men studying for theIndian Civil Service or qualifying as officials in Egypt,Persia, Syria, or even in those of our cleverest soldiers.With the aid of the writer's Annotations and his TerminalEssay, he believed an attentive reader might learn moreof the Moslem's manners and customs, laws and religion ,than is known even by the average Orientalist; while ifhe cared to master the original text, he would find himselfat home amongst educated men in Egypt, Syria, Majd, andMesopotamia, and be able to converse with them like agentleman, not, as too often happens in Anglo- India, like agroom. Semitic studies alone teach how to deal with arace more powerful than any pagan, and strangely enoughthese are apt to be thrust aside for others comparativelyuseless. Does England forget she is at present the greatestMussulman Empire in the world? Apparently, for of lateyears she has systematically neglected Arabism, and evendiscouraged it in examinations for the Indian Civil Service.Briefly, Burton believed if England wishes to govern herMoslem subjects wisely, she ought to know something oftheir literature .And he was well qualified to be her teacher. No oneelse could give her the results of such enormous experienceof Arab and Oriental life. His practical acquaintance withThe Reception of the " Arabian Nights " 401the East, his mastery of the languages and dialects, hisindefatigable industry, all prepared him for a tour de forcewhich has been well described as unprecedented. Thenecessity for the work was obvious; fortunately, theexecutor possessed every faculty for its successful accomplishment.Volume I. appeared September 11th, 1885. The originaledition-I say original, because a Library Edition has beenissued since his death-consisted of ten volumes and sixsupplementary ones, which included explanatory notes anda Terminal Essay on the history of the "Book of theThousand Nights and a Night. " Hardly had the pages,yet damp from the press, time to dry before a veritablehymn of praise saluted the translator. The marvellousdisplay of linguistic flexibility, the exquisite flow of language, the wonderful erudition displayed in the notes,captivated the critics as the voice of the charmer. Noticeafter notice appeared in " dailies " and " weeklies, " onemore courteous and appreciative than another.the foreign press far behind. From every city in Europeliterati wrote complimenting the great cosmopolitan Englishman upon the wealth of learning contained in thelatest translation of " Alf Laylah wa Laylah. " Neverhad a writer enjoyed a nobler triumph, never had a writerdeserved one more.Nor wasNaturally, after so many disappointments, so manyfailures, this unstinted praise fell like balm on a woundedspirit . He became brighter, happier, less of a pessimist .Professing himself truly thankful for the good word of theFourth Estate, he acknowledged most gracefully the congratulations received from all sides:" I seize the opportunity, " he said, " of expressing mycordial gratitude and hearty thanks to the Press in general,which has received my Eastern studies and contributionsto Oriental knowledge in the friendliest and most sympathetic spirit, appreciating my labours far beyond the 26402

modicum of the offerer's expectations, and lending potentand genial aid to place them before the English world intheir fairest and most favourable point of view."Of course a few discords mingled with the generouschorus of admiration called forth from all truly learnedmen by Burton's great work. I notice the most blatantscreech, because it is necessary to clear up all misconceptions, not merely those concerning the object of thework, but also the manner in which that object was carriedout. Sundry extra nice or nasty critics complained in somewhat Tartuffian strains of the coarseness of " Alf Laylahwa Laylah. " Wilfully ignoring the safeguards wherewithBurton had almost prudishly invested his book, they pretended to be as shocked at this translation of an Arabianclassic, limited in issue and intended only for the select few,as though it were destined to repose on the drawing- roomtable side by side with-reader, forgive the sneer-the lastnauseous case from the Divorce courts. Now Burton hadtaken every precaution, and they knew it , to ensure hisvolumes reaching the hands, and the hands of those alone,for whom they were penned. The work was printed, neverpublished, one thousand sets being issued to picked sub- scribers. In a circular forwarded with the first volumethe translator earnestly begged it might be kept under lockand key; and although, later on, strong pressure wasbrought to bear upon him to issue another five hundredcopies, he loyally refused either to break faith with hissubscribers or to add unnecessarily to the number of awork suitable only for a small class of readers.Never, by my uncle's special request, having evenseen the original, I have given the above summary of itshistory from a somewhat cursory inspection of the editionbrought out by Mr. H. S. Nichols, and from reading thereviews and laudatory letters written in 1886. About thisLibrary Edition I have something to say. The unexpected appearance of these twelve volumes in 1894 created"The Scented Garden " 403a considerable stir. Published almost in their entirety,with merely a few excisions absolutely indispensable, theywere an unwelcome surprise to the original subscribers;and the sale of the copyright, by which the widow obtained three thousand pounds, regardless that a bookfor private circulation would be scattered broadcast overthe country, coming as it did so soon after her somewhattheatrical destruction of the " Scented Garden, " could notpass unchallenged. None of her husband's relativessanctioned the proceeding; in fact , their consent was notasked. In all such matters Isabel Burton was guided byher own caprice. To any friends who have enquiredwhether Burton himself would have authorised the act,I have always given a decided answer in the negative; wehave already seen by his refusal to issue another fivehundred copies, even to his own subscribers, that it wouldhave been utterly foreign to his original intention- viz. , ofplacing the " Thousand Nights and a Night " in the handsof the few, the very few who could profit by them.And now, leaving the subject of the wonderful translation of " Alf Laylah wa Laylah, " I must add a few linesconcerning the Burnt Manuscript.Reams of nonsensehave been written about an act intelligible only to thosewho held the clue.Burton had succeeded so well with the " Nights," andhis literary friends had agreed that the insight he had giveninto Moslem life was of such priceless value to the countryat large, that he determined on following up his work byone more translation of the same character. His originalsubscribers, delighted with their first treasure, gladly consented to inscribe their names a second time; and anacquaintance offered six thousand pounds for the whole, inorder to save Burton and his wife from the almost intolerable worry of personally forwarding the book to everyindividual. The Arabic MS. in question, which had beentranslated by a Frenchman, but which, like the " Nights,"26-2404

could be done justice to only by a scholar and a traveller,is entitled: "The Scented Garden, Men's Hearts toGladden, of the Shaykh al Nafzáwi, " and was to beprinted and circulated with all the same precautions ashad been taken with its predecessor. When the workwas two-thirds finished death struck down the writer. Thefate of the fragment was truly strange. Isabel, who haddescribed the " Arabian Nights " as her husband's MagnumOpus-Isabel, who knew exactly how he had been engageduntil the last day of his life, and who was assisting himby every means in her power, took the papers from thedesk in which he had carefully locked them, deliberatelyread through pages which probably she only half understood, and then, inspired by what seems to have been afit of hysteria or bigotry, flung them leaf by leaf intothe fire. As the MS. happened to be unfinished, and,as she told us herself, she could trust nobody to finish itfor her, it was, comparatively speaking, valueless, and thesacrifice extolled merely by sundry unusually foolish womendid not cost much. This act furnished food for thought,even to minds the least reflective. For it was a dangerous precedent. Men whose wives differ from them sovastly in religious views should leave special instructionswith regard to their papers. Owing to irrepressible hopefulness concerning his own health, Burton had neglectedthis precaution: even when all could see that his life washanging by a thread, he wrote to his sister in Englandmaking plans for the future, and only a few days before theend he told her gleefully of the progress of his last translation and of his little army of admiring subscribers . Littledid he imagine how soon after that cheery letter his bookwould be ashes, he in Eternity! Much sympathy wasshown us on this occasion , for every kind- hearted personrealised the bitter pain the mad act caused his family andfriends. Not so much on account of the destruction of themanuscript, insulting though it was, but on account of theThe Palazzo at Trieste 405wrong impression concerning the character of the workconveyed by a deed which the widow made no secret of,when she should have veiled it in absolute silence. But ifthe lesson to other great men similarly circ*mstanced beremembered, the lesson that bigotry is ever cruel and untrustworthy, the " Scented Garden," like certain sentientvictims of Romish fires, will not have been burnt in vain.To resume the thread of my story. Though Burtoncould ill afford the expense of a move before the publicationof the " Nights, " he found himself obliged by failing healthto give up the flat and to take a house on the outskirts ofTrieste . His last illness had left his heart so weak thatthe 120 stairs leading to his airy abode tried him cruelly.On the 16th of July, 1883 , husband and wife migrated totheir new home. It resembled one of those Palazzi whichItalians loved to build in other times; and it was said tohave been erected by an English merchant in days longpast when our wealthy commercial men yet patronisedTrieste. A good entrance led to a marble staircase; someof the rooms, numbering twenty in all, were magnificent insize; but scorpions were unpleasantly numerous, and theblasts for which Trieste is notorious must have oftensuggested the cave of Eolus. The Palazzo evidentlyshowed to best advantage in summer, for it remained fairlycool in the hottest months; its large garden and orchardoverlooked the bay, and the views on all sides were lovely.It was quite the handsomest home the Burtons had everowned. Unluckily, it did not prove a wholesome one.Burton, who like his father detested little rooms, a resultno doubt of that craving for air caused by weak heart anddifficult respiration, chose the very biggest in the house forhis bedchamber, and the aspect happened to be north.Though warmed in winter by a large stove, the draughtsfrom the ill-fitting window- sashes must have been bitter,and to keep himself warm he wore a fur-lined coat all dayand slept at night, not between sheets and blankets, but406

buffalo skins. A little den, where he could turn thekey on all intruders when extra busy, was also fittedup for his use; but the big bedroom appears to havebeen his favourite study. And it proved an unfortunatechoice. Dove non entra il sole entra il dottore; and inthis case when the doctor entered he came to stay.Never have I met a man with fewer fads than RichardBurton; but a large room was to him a necessity. Manyyears ago I well remember him say he could not writein a garret with a sloping roof; and we used to be verycareful, however small the house might be wherein wehappened to be living, to give him the most spaciousapartment we possessed.In May, 1885, the Burtons came to England, partly tosuperintend the printing of the " Nights, " partly for changeand amusem*nt. It was delightful to see our hero sohappy over the success of his venture. Sixteen thousandpounds had been promised by his subscribers; he calculated printing and sundries as costing about four thousand,and the remainder was net profit. Except when his fatherdied, he had never possessed such a sum before; and atthe time it appeared inexhaustible. We were then stayingat Norwood, so he could easily run down from Londonand tell us all his plans and doings. Bubbling over withfun, he would pretend to make a great mystery as to theKamashastra Society at Benares, where he declared the"Nights " were being printed-about as true as thetales themselves-or he would try to alarm us by announcing that they might all be burnt on their arrivalin England. But we had perfect faith in him, and werenot to be taken in. At other times, after a trip toOxford, he would tell us about his fruitless attempts toobtain for reference from the Bodleian Library the WortleyMontagu MSS. of " Alf Laylah wa Laylah." These saidjourneys to Oxford were very disagreeable; he grumbledsadly about the discomfort of the Library, declaring thatA Visit to Tangier 407few students save the youngest and strongest could endureits changeable, nerve - depressing atmosphere.Nor asregarded himself were his complaints unfounded. Oxfordinvariably upset him; and as that year the cold set in earlyand found him unprepared , he contracted a severe chillamongst the fogs of Isis , which, as usual, turned to gout.It was deemed advisable by his doctor-he was thentrying the rhubarb and saline treatment for his complaintto winter abroad. So he settled himself for some monthsat Tangier, leaving his wife in London. As often happenswhen invalids quit their own country, he might just as well,so far as meteorological conditions were concerned, haveremained at home. The highly- extolled climate of Moroccodid not appear to the best advantage. More than once itrained for three days without a break, once it even snowed,and as houses at Tangier are guiltless of fireplaces, thetemperature for delicate folk must fall at times to a depressing, if not a dangerous point. However, there was littletime to think about small discomforts. Burton's labourswere incessant, for only two volumes of the " Nightswere printed, and he had the remaining fourteen to preparefor the press. In spite of hard work and indifferent health,he passed some happy days in the picturesque old town.The Minister and his wife, Sir John and Lady DrummondHay, showed him much kindly attention; friends and admirers flocked round him when he was disposed for society;and when alone, with the white domes and the spreadingpalms ever in his sight, he was able to peacefully finish thegreatest literary achievement of his life.Sometimes he would stroll about Tangier, and listen tothe Rawi, or reciter, who yet flourishes in Moslem cities .One at Tangier used to haunt the Soko de barra, or largebazaar in the outskirts. Here the market people formed aring about the speaker, a stalwart man, affecting littleraiment, and noticeable chiefly for his shock hair, wild eyes,and generally disreputable aspect. He usually handled a short stick, and when drummer and piper were absent, hecarried a tiny tom-tom, shaped like an hour-glass, uponwhich he tapped the periods . This bard opened the dramawith extempore prayer; he spoke slowly and with emphasis,varying the diction with breaks of animation, abundantaction, and the most comical grimaces. He advanced,retired, and wheeled about, illustrating every point withpantomime; and his features, voice and gestures were soexpressive, that even Europeans, ignorant of Arabic, divinedthe meaning of his tales. All the stories Burton heard werepurely local, but a young Osmanli , domiciled for some timeat Fez and Mequinez, assured him that the " Nights " werestill recited there.It was at Tangier that Burton's last piece of goodfortune came to pass. One day a telegram arrived fromLord Salisbury, conveying in the kindest terms the newsthat the Queen, at his recommendation, had made him aK.C.M.G., in reward for his services . Only his nearestrelatives knew how keen was the pleasure afforded by this honour to one of the least worldly of men. Under allcirc*mstances a loyal and chivalrous servant of the Crown,he now recognised with delight that he was not viewedwith disfavour by his Sovereign. And the distinction wasall the more acceptable because so unexpected. ThoughConservative to the backbone, Burton was too proud andsensitive to vaunt his devotion to Queen and country,fearing lest it might be imagined he was trying to obtainby patronage what he preferred to win solely by his ownexertions. Such unusual delicacy is apt to be misunderstood, and many people imagined his sympathies lay withdemocracy. Occasionally, perhaps, a combination of mentaland physical pain made him irritable, unduly pessimistic,and inclined to consider himself ill - treated by the Government then in power; but hardly had the fit of gout, thepecuniary annoyance passed away before he resumed theeasy, sweet-tempered mood most usual to him. His veryHealth Troubles 409last words uttered in public, on the occasion of the Jubilee,would prove, if proof be needed , he was no disappointedplace-hunter, no votary of King Mob, but a true and loyalhearted English gentleman." May God's choicest blessings crown our Queen's goodworks. May she be spared for many happy, peaceful, andprosperous years to her devoted people! May her mantledescend upon her children and her children's children! "Once more did Burton wend his way homeward. Wesaw him oftener in 1888 than during any previous visit .Both brother and sister made every effort to meet asfrequently as possible, almost as if they knew their nextparting would be final. First he stayed with us atFolkestone, then we arranged to pass some weeks togetherat Norwood, and last of all we met again by the seaside.When he landed in June, we were horrified at the changein his appearance. We knew of course he had been ill andthat his wife had engaged a resident physician, but he hadnot prepared us for the utter breakdown in health, writingrather about his plans than his sensations . By the autumnhis loss of strength was yet more startling. His eyes worethat strained look which accompanies difficult respiration,his lips were bluish-white, his cheeks livid; the least exertion made him short of breath and sometimes even hewould pant when quietly seated in his chair. The ironconstitution which had borne so much pain and labourwas almost exhausted, and heart disease, a hereditarymalady, was making rapid strides. Still, his splendidpluck never forsook him, he seemed to live on by sheerforce of will; and his wonderful faculty of concentratinghis attention on outward objects, his favourite adage being" The wisdom of youth is to think of, the wisdom of matureage is to avoid dwelling upon , Self, " enabled him to keepat bay that distressing melancholy which is often bred byan incurable disorder. Every morning, so long as the fineweather lasted, he and his sister took an early walk together,410

and talked over times and scenes long past. Strangelyenough, my mother remarked that his memory, clearand retentive as to all concerning the present, failedslightly when he referred to his boyish days . The earlyportions of an autobiography partly dictated by himself arefull of inaccuracies—inaccuracies proved on reference to ourold family Bible.The end was indeed approaching, and perhaps the mostpainful feature in the case was an ever-increasing restlessness; even if a place suited him he could not remain in itwith any pleasure longer than a fortnight. The bracing airof Folkestone afforded greater relief than any he had yetbreathed, and we were most anxious he should give it afair trial. Good English food, open fireplaces, the freshwinds from the Channel were preferable, we urged, to kickshaws, close stoves, and ill- smelling foreign towns. Trueenough, he answered, and forthwith took rooms at thePavilion with his wife and doctor, lunching with us everyday, and seeming for awhile fairly happy and amused.When he first arrived, autumn was not very far advanced,and the weather continued fine enough for him to take longdrives in an open carriage to places of interest in the neighbourhood, especially to Dover, where, many years before,he had twice stayed with his sister and other relatives.Then, by degrees, the weary longing for change seized himagain; alarming insomnia set in, and it seemed he musttravel or die. One gusty October morning, brightenedoccasionally by a pale gleam of sunshine which threw intobold relief the grand white cliffs of Eastern Kent, RichardBurton left his native land to return no more." I shall never see him again, " exclaimed his sister, asshe tearfully watched the outbound steamer. And shenever did.During the next two years the roaming was incessant.It seemed as though he dreaded a " straw death, " andaffronted all the perils of land and sea in hopes of escaping it.A Narrow Escape 411One marvels how, with such delicate health, he could haveendured the noise, fatigue and worry of the innumerablejourneys; and there is little doubt all combined to exhaustthe small stock of strength that yet remained. Everyletter we received was dated from a different place. Geneva,Vevey, Montreux, Berne, Venice, Neuberg, Vienna, Trieste,Brindisi, Malta, Tunis, Algiers, the Riviera, and finallyInnsbruck, Ragatz, Davos and Maloja. On the way to thelast he met with a carriage accident. As he was drivingfrom Davos in a landau drawn by two grey horses one ofthe animals suddenly sprang over a low stone wall, luckilybreaking the traces and leaving its fellow and the carriageon the other side. The scene of the disaster was a narrowroad winding along the edge of a sharp precipice whichdipped into the lake, and had both horses taken the leap together, nothing could have saved our traveller from beinghurled into the watery depths. Very lovely did he thinkthe scenery at Maloja, and, for a time, very health-givingthe air; but by the end of August snow fell so incessantlythat he longed to get back to Italy. The party started onthe 1st September, 1890, spent a few days at Venice, andthen very unwillingly returned to Trieste.It had become absolutely necessary to resume for awhilehis consular duties. During this last summer Burton hadreceived more than one hint from the Foreign Office thathis presence at Trieste for two or three months would bedesirable. Marvellous was the amount of liberty accordedto the dying hero, but some pretence of work had to bekept up just for the sake of appearances. No one at homeknew how very ill he was, and it is possible that otherofficials, who were remorselessly chained to their posts, mayhave grumbled at the favour shown their fellow consul.Burton recognised the justice of the mild reproof, anddetermined, with a mighty effort, to wander no more forthe next ten or twelve weeks. His servitude was nearlyat an end; by March he would have completed his time,412

claimed his pension , and could live where he liked anddevote his last days to literature. But oh! the five wearymonths that lay between, could he exist through them?As I have already said, it was agony to linger long anywhere, but here, besides the feeling of being fettered, wasa strange horror of Trieste, well- nigh uncontrollable. Perhaps, like his Scotch mother, who exclaimed on enteringthe house in Bath, wherein later she ended her harmlessand amiable life, " I smell death here, " he had a presentiment of what awaited him in the Palazzo by the sea .However, brave and patient to the last, he tried to whileaway the autumn hours by working diligently at his translation of the " Scented Garden, " and, as a treat, arrangingwith his doctor various little details of a winter tour, whichhe hoped to take by-and-by to Athens and other places inGreece. But his travelling days were done.For a week or so before the fatal 20th of October,Burton suffered from a slight attack of gout, not sufficientlyserious to prevent him from taking his daily walk, butpainful enough to make him say he was beginning to losethe good gained in Switzerland and to feel once more thecorroding climate of the pestilential seaport. These attackswere much dreaded by his doctor, for the heart had becomeso weak that its action was distressingly impeded by theflatulence that always followed in their wake. On the 19thhe seemed neither better nor worse. He had worked atintervals during the day at his translation, and whendinner-time came he put away his papers with a strangesort of lingering care; he was always tidy, but on thisoccasion everything was arranged with singular neatness.He dined sparingly, laughed and talked in his usual fashion,and at about ten o'clock went upstairs to bed, accompaniedby Dr. Baker, who generally assisted him to undress. Nopremonitory symptom of the fatal seizure seems to havebeen noticed by either; on the contrary, Burton assuredhis friend, when wishing him good night, that he feltunusually well and hoped to enjoy a fair night's rest .Last Moments 413Hardly had a couple of hours elapsed before he began togrow uneasy, and his wife, who slept in an adjoining room,hearing him groan and toss from side to side , went to fetchDr. Baker. Still, the attack seemed a slight one comparedwith many others which had preceded it , so the doctor afterexamining the state of heart and pulse administered aremedy, and at his patient's urgent request returned tobed. At 6.30 a.m. Burton was no better, worse rather,and his physician was again summoned. Now the sickman evidently realised that his state was critical . Feelinghis strength fast ebbing, he called out with rare presenceof mind, " Isabel, chloroform , ether, quick! chloroform ,ether!" Either drug taken internally is a powerful stimulant, and far more diffusible than whisky or brandy. Butno time remained for further remedies. Suddenly thebreathing became laboured, there were a few moments ofawful struggle for air, then, conscious to the last, he exclaimed, " I am a dead man! " fell back on his pillow andexpired . The brave heart, so unmercifully tried, wasstilled for ever. But not before all his work was nearlydone, not before he had received unstinted praise, notbefore he had been loved and honoured, not before we whom*ourned him knew that his swift, painless death, before hismatchless genius had begun to wane, was surely well.So passed from our midst one of the heroes of our age.I would fain linger over his patient endurance of suffering ,his indefatigable industry, his perfect composure face toface with Eternity, but painful as the task is, I must tell ofthe awful farce which was enacted about that death- bed.In the letter mentioned below it was stated that Burtondied suddenly at 7 a.m., October 20th, 1890. The terribleshock of so fatal a termination to what seemed an attack oflittle consequence, would have daunted most Romanists1 This account of Sir Richard Burton's death is taken from a letterwritten by Dr. Baker to Lady Stisted, 21st October, 1890. Later bothhe and Lady Burton's maid, an eye-witness, agreed in declaring thatSir Richard had expired before the priest's arrival.414

desirous of effecting a death- bed conversion. It did notdaunt Isabel. No sooner did she perceive that her husband's life was in danger, than she sent messengers inevery direction for a priest. Mercifully, even the first toarrive, a man of peasant extraction, who had just been.appointed to the parish, came too late to molest one thenfar beyond the reach of human folly and superstition. ButIsabel had been too well trained by the Society of Jesusnot to see that a chance yet remained of glorifying herChurch--a heaven- sent chance which was not to be lost.Her husband's body was not yet cold, and who could tellfor certain whether some spark of life yet lingered in thatinanimate form? The doctor declared no doubt existedregarding the decease, but doctors are often mistaken. So,hardly had the priest crossed the threshold than she flungherself at his feet, and implored him to administer ExtremeUnction. The father, who seems to have belonged to theordinary type of country - bred ecclesiastic so commonabroad, and who probably in the whole course of his lifehad never before availed himself of so startling a methodof enrolling a new convert, demurred. There had beenno profession of faith , he urged, there could be none now;for-and he hardly liked to pronounce the cruel wordsBurton was dead. But Isabel would listen to no arguments,would take no refusal; she remained weeping and wailingon the floor, until at last, to terminate a disagreeable scenewhich most likely would have ended in hysterics, he consented to perform the rite. Rome took formal possessionof Richard Burton's corpse, and pretended, moreover, withinsufferable insolence, to take under her protection his soul .From that moment an inquisitive mob never ceased todisturb the solemn chamber. Other priests went in andout at will, children from a neighbouring orphanage sanghymns and giggled alternately, pious old women recitedtheir rosaries, gloated over the dead, and splashed thebed with holy water, the widow, who had regained herThe Death-bed Conversion Farce 415composure, directing the innumerable ceremonies.¹ OneEnglishman, and only one, had the courage to protestagainst this unseemly disregard for the dead man's wishes ,thanks to my honest fellow-countryman. But it was of no avail. After the necessary interval had elapsed,Burton's funeral took place in the largest church inTrieste, and was made the excuse for an ecclesiasticaltriumph of a faith he had always loathed.Even the demonstration at Trieste was not sufficient.The widow insisted on repeating the funeral ceremoniesat home- on proclaiming once more her strangely wonvictory over Protestantism and infidelity. So her husband's body, after lying awhile in the Trieste cemetery,was conveyed to England and placed in an eccentrictomb in the Roman Catholic burial ground at Mortlake.Again the shaven priests intoned the mass, again theacolyte bearing the crucifix preceded the corpse to thegrave, again was Truth trampled under foot in a vainendeavour to exalt a Church ever an enemy to Light.Poor deluded woman! After all it was but a barrentriumph. No wreath from Royalty, silent or outspokendisapprobation from right - minded people. In spite ofnumerous and pressing invitations, only one member ofher husband's family, a distant cousin, accepted: sister,niece, his favourite relatives, and many of his best andmost sympathising friends, refused to countenance a Lie.The hero had been ever true to himself, and it behovedthose who loved him to remain steadfast to the last.It was a painful sequel to a noble death. But we mustlook to the future. Fifty years hence London's everadvancing tide will have swept away every vestige of theshabby sectarian cemetery where Richard Burton lies. Buthis works will remain as a legacy to his country. So long1 Be it understood we did not blame Dr. Baker. He was employedprofessionally by Lady Burton, and had no authority to resist an out- rage which, moreover, was utterly unexpected.

as the spirit of enterprise animates Englishmen his exploitswill be honoured; so long as genuine literature is appreciated his books will help to educate heroes yet unborn.While England sees not her old praise dim,While still her stars through the world's night swim,Afame outshining her Raleigh's fame,Alight that lightens her loud sea's rimShall shine and sound as her sons proclaimThe pride that kindles at Burton's name,And joy shall exalt their pride to be The same in birth if in soul the same.ALGERNON C. SWINBURNE.Bayerische StaatsbibliothekMünchenAPPENDIXLIST OF SIR RICHARD BURTON'S WORKS.A Grammar of the Játaki or Belochkí Dialect. 1849.Grammar of the Mooltanee Language. 1849.Critical Remarks on Dr. Dorn's Chrestomathy of Pushtoo, orAfghan Dialect. 1849.Reports to Bombay:-(1) General Notes on Sind; (2) Notes on the Population ofSind. Printed in the Government Records.Goa and the Blue Mountains. 1851 .Scinde; or the Unhappy Valley. 2 vols. 1851 .Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus.1851.Falconry in the Valley of the Indus. 1852 .3 vols. 1855.A Complete System of Bayonet Exercise. 1853.Pilgrimage to Meccah and El- Medinah.First Footsteps in East Africa. 1856.Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa.2 vols. 1860.The whole of Vol . XXXIII . of the Royal Geographical Society.1860.The City of the Saints (Mormon) . 1861 .Wanderings in West Africa. 2 vols. 1863.Abeokuta and the Camaroons. 2 vols. 1863.Marcy's Prairie Traveller. Notes by R. F. Burton. 1864.The Nile Basin. 1864.A Mission to the King of Dahome. 2 vols. 1864.Wit and Wisdom from West Africa. 1865.Psychic Facts. Stone Talk, by F. Baker. 1865.The Highlands of the Brazil. 2 vols. 1869.Vikram and the Vampire; Hindú Tales. 1870.Paraguay. 1870.Proverba Communia Syriaca. 1871 .27418AppendixZanzibar: City, Island , and Coast. 2 vols.Unexplored Syria, by Burton and Drake.1872.2 vols. 1872.The Lands of the Cazembe, and a small Pamphlet of Supplementary Papers . 1873.The Captivity of Hans Stadt. 1874.The Castellieri of Istria: a Pamphlet. 1874.Articles on Rome. 2 Papers. 1874-5.New System of Sword Exercise: a Manual. 1875.Ultima Thule: a Summer in Iceland. 2 vols. 1875.Gorilla Land; or, the Cataracts of the Congo. 2 vols . 1875.The Long Wall of Salona, and the Ruined Cities of Pharia andGelsa di Lesina: a Pamphlet. 1875.The Port of Trieste, Ancient and Modern. Journal of the Societyof Arts, October 29th and November 5th, 1875.Gerber's Province of Minas Geraes.by R. F. Burton.Etruscan Bologna. 1876.Sind Revisited. 2 vols. 1877.Translated and AnnotatedGold Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities. 1878.The Land of Midian (Revisited) . 2 vols. 1879.Cheap Edition of Meccah and Medinah. 1879.Camoens. 6 vols. of 10. First publication, 1880.I. The Lusiads, Englished by R. F. Burton. 2 vols.II. The Commentary, Life, and Lusiads. R. F. Burton.2 vols. , containing a Glossary, and Reviewers reviewed.III . The Lyricks of Camoens. 2 vols. R. F. Burton. Fourmore vols. were intended to be issued.The Kasfdah. 1880.A Glance at the Passion Play. 8vo. 1881.To the Gold Coast for Gold.The Book of the Sword.2 vols. 1883.One volume of three.1884.By R. F.Burton, Maître d'Armes.Arabian Nights. Printed by private subscription . 1,000 setsof 10 vols. , followed by 1,000 sets of 6 supplementary vols.1885-1886.Iracema, or Honey Lips, and Manoel de Moraes, the Convert.Translated from the Brazilian by Richard Burton. I shillingvol. 1886.The Scented Garden, Man's Heart to Gladden, of the Shaykhal Nafzáwi. Printed for the Kama Shastra Society.AppendixThe Priapeia. Privately Printed. 1890.419Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al- Medinah and Meccah.2 vols. Memorial Edition . 1893.A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. I vol. Memorial Edition. 1893.Vikram and the Vampire, or Tales of Hindu Devilry. I vol.Memorial Edition. 1893 .Arabian Nights, 12 vols. Library Edition . 1894.The Kasidah. 1894.The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Privately Printed. 1894."The Uruguay " (translations from the great Brazilian authors) ,by Richard and Isabel Burton; the Book of the Sword, 2more vols.; the Lowlands of the Brazil; Translation ofCamoens, 4 more vols.; Personal Experiences in Syria; ABook on Istria; Slavonic Proverbs; Greek Proverbs; TheGypsies; Dr. Wetzstein's " Hauran " and Ladislaus Magyar'sAfrican Travels.First Footsteps in East Africa. 2 vols Memorial Edition. 1894.Besides which, Sir Richard Burton wrote extensively for" Fraser," " Blackwood, " and a host of magazines, pamphlets,and periodicals; lectured in many lands; largely contributedto the Newspaper Press in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America(both North and South) , to say nothing of poetry and anonymouswritings.H. S. NICHOls, printer, 3 SOHO Square, LONDON, W.

Front matter

Biogr.3250dUB3250IdCAPT. SIR RICHARD F. BURTON, K.C.M.G. , F.R.G.S., ETC.Etat 69<36633708540014,S<36633708540014Bayer. Staatsbibliothek

THE TRUE LIFE OFCAPT. SIR RICHARD F. BURTONK.C.M.G. F.R.G.S. ETC.a

JuligmandPeppel.THE TRUE LIFE OF. Capt. Sir Richard F. BurtonK.C.M.G., F.R.G.S. , ETC.WRITTEN BY HIS NIECEGEORGIANA M. STISTEDWITH THE AUTHORITY AND APPROVAL OF THEBURTON FAMILYH. S. NICHOLS3 SOHO SQUARE AND 62A PICCADILLYLONDON W1896W6167/1127от1930.TRADEREGISTEREDMARKENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, 1896.Bayerische StaatsbibliothekMünchenH. S. NICHOLS, PRINTER 3 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.SUMEDedicatedTO THEDEAR AND GLORIOUS MEMORYOFRICHARD FRANCIS BURTON,DISCOVEREROFTHE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

Contents

CONTENTS.CHAPTER IBirth—Baptism-The Burton Family-The Reverend EdwardBurton-Maria Margaretta Campbell — Louis Lejeune andLouis Quatorze-The burglary at Newgarden-Joseph Netter- ville Burton-Martha Beckwith Baker-Burton's brother andsister-Colonel Burton's complaint-Tours-The Château deBeauséjour-The features of the Burtons -Religion- Burtonas a child-Early education -The Return to England -Richmond-School life -Scarlet fever Georgiana Baker- MissMorgan-Return to the Continent -M. Du Pré -Fencing- The falcon -Snails-Winter at Blois -Colonel Burton's asthma-The travelling chariot-The journey to Italy-Leghorn-- Pisa -Rome - Sight- seeing Rome Neapolitan fencing--Cholera-Pau-Boxing-Pisa again - Drawing - SignorinaCaterina-Burton intended for the Church-Life at OxfordTandems-College friends—The Whites-Method of studyinglanguages-Burton disputes with his tutors the correct pronunciation of Latin vowels-Family reunion at Wiesbaden-Gamesof hazard-Burton desires to join the army-His father's objections-Burton decides to get rusticated-The steeplechaseBurton leaves Oxford-Mode of leaving-Edward joins the37th Regiment- ―PAGEIX ContentsCHAPTER IIBurton enters the Indian army-Outfitting -Departure fromEngland - The voyage -Arrival at Bombay -The cadets'quarters-Type of Sepoy-Sanitary bungalows-HindustaniBurton joins the 18th Bombay Native Infantry-The journey to Baroda Gujarat Baroda Life at Baroda -SportBurton's company-Two months ' leave-An examination inHindustani―The south-west monsoon—Hinduism—Appointedinterpreter-First visit to Sind-The cantonment at KarachiAlligators -Charging the Arabian Sea- Camel- riding-Quarters at Ghara - The Sind Survey assistantship - Surveying thePhuléli and Guni rivers - Falconry -Burton as a BayzazHis Persian love-Her death-A tour in Sind-Resignation ofthe Sind Survey assistantship-The beginning of the Sikh war -Down with fever-Goa-Old Goa-The abduction of thesub-prioress - Calicut -The Malabar coast-OotacamundExamination in Persian-First thoughts of the PilgrimageBurton studies Moslem divinity-Religious views-The returnto England .-PAGE27CHAPTER IIIThe voyage home—Visits to relations-Visit to Pisa-Old scenesin Italy-The Mussulman Allahdad-Hydropathic treatment—The salle d'armes at Boulogne-Burton's cousins-Affaires decœur Knowledge of character-Burton's sister - Characteristic traits-Friends and enemies-Paintings and portraits of Burton-His health Swordsmanship- Bayonet exerciseTreasury generosity-Financial difficulties-Preparations forthe Pilgrimage-" Good- bye. "-CHAPTER IVThe voyage out-Practising Eastern manners-A stay on theMahmudijah canal-A born believer-The journey commences—The outfit—The journey to Cairo—A new nationality—The vôle of an Indian physician-Prescriptions Servants - TheMeccan-Supplies-A Desert ride-View of Suez-The voyageto Yambu-The Golden Wire's passengers -Nights ashore— A wounded foot-Arrival at Yambu-The start- En routeStoppage at Said's wells-The banditti of El- Hejaz-Reinforcements-The ill -famed Pilgrim Pass-A fight in the gorge-55-The " Blessed ValleyContents- View of El- Medinah - A Medinitehousehold-Everyday life at El-Medinah-Entering Bab elRahmah-Description of the mosque-The Prophet's tombAround El-Medinah- The sanctity of El-Bakia-- Prayers —BeggarsCHAPTER VThe plan to cross Arabia-Preparations for Medinah-Appearance of the caravan-Mode of travelling-Incidents on theroad-Water supplies-Assuming the Ihram-A sermon-TheBedawin-A night in a pass-The Valley of Limes-Meccahby star-light-A Meccan welcome-The Meccan mosqueInspection of the Kaabah-The rite of circumambulation--The Black Stone-Lodgings in Meccah-A night-visit to the Kaabah-Mount Arafat- The Muna miracles The Arafatsermon Stone-throwing-Interior of the Kaabah-Animalslaughter at Muna-The sermon in the mosque-Character ofthe Meccan-The Little Pilgrimage-Departure from Meccah -Exit of Mohammed the MeccanCHAPTER VI―Return to India-The exploration of East Africa decided uponExpedition formed-Departure from Aden-Stay at ZeilaThe Governor Sharmarkay-Life at Zeila-A Somal Friday—The escort-Departure-The two cooks-The route to Harar-A Somali arcadia—A scare-Region of the Ghauts-Anthills-A short rest-Gerard Adan-An attack of colic-Theenvoy-First view of Harar-Inverview with the Amir-Impressions of Harar-The Harari Shaykh Jami—A valuable ally-Departure from Harar-The ride to Berberah-Anotherexpedition-Attacked by hillmen ---Burton severely wounded— Death of Lieutenaut StroyanCHAPTER VIIIn England on sick- leave-Death of Burton's mother-A paperon Harar The Crimean War-Literary work-Departure forthe Crimea-Burton's opinion of the War-In the prime of life-Edward Burton -Arrival at Balaclava -Appointed toBeatson's Horse - General Beatson -The Bashi-BuzouksInactivity-An unwise policy-Interview with Lord Stratford- Removal of General Beatson--Burton leaves the Crimea-TheDark Continent againxiPAGE73ΙΟΙ130159xii ContentsCHAPTER VIIIPAGEAn Expedition to Central Africa - Burton's influence on thedevelopment of the Lake Regions-Supporters of the Expedition-Zanzibar Island—A pestilential town-Initial difficulties-The dialect-Outfit and supplies—The Louisa-The Emerald Isle of the East-Bad weather-Mombasah-Herr RebmannBurton's opinion of Germans-The reception at Tanga—Thetown-Canoeing on the Rufu-Magnificent scenery-Chogwe-Departure for Tongwe-The bull-dog ant-A night with theJemadar-Tongwe-" Bombay "-On the road to Fuga-SultanMamba-Impressions of the country-The Highlands of Fuga-Sultan Kimwere-A decaying king-The rainy season atFuga The return to the sea-coast-The Pangani Falls--Hunting hippopotami--- Down with fever again-Dismal days . 174CHAPTER IXThe Expedition sails from Zanzibar-Insufficiency of portersDeparture for the interior -Burton engages a Mganga-Afavourable prophecy-Life on the march-Order of travelling-The state of the routes-A halt for the night-Food -Aflattering composition-Rate of progress-K'hutu-An attackof marsh fever-A slave raid and rescue-Through K'hutu—Ahot-bed of pestilence-A transformation scene-A death march-Troubles with the Baloch and porters-Insect stings-TheUsagara Chain-The Ugogo Pass-Ugogo-An African chiefBombay saves Burton's life-Arrival at Razeh-" Hearts offlesh " The kindness of Snay bin Amir-A noble Arab-—Attended by a lady-doctor-Mode of treatment 201CHAPTER XResuming the march-A smoking party-Yombo Venuses--TheLand of the Moon-Perils of travelling-A hospitable hostBlackmail-A settlement of salt- diggers-Bog-land-First viewof Tanganyika Lake-A vision of beauty-The disembarkationquay of Ujiji in 1858-The natives-A ceremonious visitExploring Tanganyika Lake -Speke's trip -Difficulties inobtaining canoe-The 12th April , 1858-Alone with the natives-Man-eaters-The sources of the Nile-A violent storm-Adrunken brawl- Supplies run low—Unexpected help-QuittingContentsUjiji-Incidents of the return march-Burton hears of hisfather's death-The mistake made at Kazeh-The lost opportunity-Burton's opinion regarding the sources of the Nile-Abreach of faith-Speke's death-Farewell to Snay bin Amir- Character of Burton's followers-Their idea of the hereafterCHAPTER XI64Burton's friends and admirers-The summer of 1859-A tour inthe New World-The Indians at war--The Butterfield Express-In a prairie waggon-The Patlanders—An Indian remove—Indians' aversion to being sketched-Mormon emigrantsMormon campaigns-The Rockies "—A grand tableland—Pacific springs-Echo Kanyon-Salt Lake City-The Mormons -Brigham Young-Temple Block-A Sunday in Utah-Thediscourse-A day in Great Salt Lake City-Arrival of a partyof emigrants-The Great Salt Lake-Its components andbuoyancy-Avisit to Camp Floyd---The gold diggings-Burton'smarriage-His wife's relations—He accepts the Consularship of Fernando Po . •xiiiPAGE225251CHAPTER XIIThe journey to Fernando Po- Unhealthy character of the district-Fernando Po-" Christian Abbeokuta " -African inhumanity—A palaver—A beautiful panorama—A holiday in the Cama- roons-The Camaroons as a convict settlement-A FrenchWest-African colony-Struck by lightning-Gorillas-On theCongo-Cataracts-A magnificent river- Baffling nostalgiaA mission to Gelele " -A suggestion for his conversion—Landing from the Antelope-Whydah-The dance to the capital -A scandal amongst the Amazons-The refreshment table- Gelele's appearance · Gelele's household - The AmazonsArrival at Abomey-Presentation to the king-The yearlycustoms-A king's ghost-Human sacrifices—" The processionof the king's wealth "-Dancing-Burton expostulates-TheGovernment's message delivered-Gelele's presents to HerMajestyCHAPTER XIIIRemoved to Santos-Burton's domestic life-His wife's education-Her assistance in literary work-Five months' leave-Rio deJaneiro The Dom Pedro Segundo Railway- The Morro277xiv ContentsVelho gold mine-Down a mine-An interesting inspection- A curious craft-The Rio das Velhas-A visit to the diamonddiggings-The Francisco river-Delayed by the elementsBurton and books-An exciting journey on the river-The Brazilian cataract-A severe illness-Burton starts to visit thebattle-fields of Paraguay-Monte Vidéo-Its dangers-Impressions of Buenos Ayres-Paysandu-Hairless dogs-Indians— Scenes of strife-Conclusion of the war-The Paraguayancapital-Another appointment • •PAGE308CHAPTER XIVA short stay in England-The consulate of Damascus Burton'sduties-Damascus-The cottage at Salihiyyah-ReceptionsHis wife's friends -The quarters at B'ludan- The rôle of theGood Samaritan-Burton's opinion of the country-Trips inSyria-Palmyra-Relic-hunting--The columns of BaalbekThe sources of the Litani and the Orontes-Burton and theSyrian mountains - Trouble with the escort's chief - TheDruses of Shakkah—On tour—A strange reservoir-A fortunateescape - Jerusalem visited -The Temple -Interesting discoveries-The Holy Land-A village fracas—Enmity of theGreeks -False accusations-Burton and the money-lenders—Missionary troubles-A fanatical outburst-Religious troubles-The actions of Burton's wife-The recall from Damascus-335CHAPTER XVA severe shock-Blighted hopes-No satisfaction—A stay inScotland-Life in Edinburgh-A visit to Iceland-Delusionsdispersed―The charms of Reykjavik—An outfit for Iceland—The journey to Myvatn-Whirlwind bolts-The sulphursprings- Return to England-The appointment at Trieste—Trieste The home-Everyday life-The Province of IstriaA winter tour through India-Haji Wali confides in Burton—The discovery ofgold-Burton heads a gold-seeking expeditionThe wealth of the Land of Midian-Fair visions-The personnelof the prospecting party-En route-The landing at Fort ElMuwaylah-Departure of the caravan-Difficulties with HajiWali-The exploration of Midian-East Midian—A meetingwith the Ma'ázah-The El-Nejd plateau-A retreat-TheSouthern Hismá wall-South Midian-The return 361"ContentsCHAPTER XVIIsmail's downfall-Tewfik's powerlessness- Another prospectingtour-West Africa revisited-Arrival at Axim-A wealthycountry-Down with fever again-The return home-Literary labours-The 'Arabian Nights "-Burton's predilection forArabia-Burton's motive for translating the " Nights " -Thereception of his great work-The Library Edition of the"Arabian Nights "—The burning of the manuscript of " TheScented Garden " -The Palazzo at Trieste-A visit to England-A visit to Tangier-Burton created a K.C.M.G.-Hisloyalty Health troubles-Two years' roaming-A narrowescape-The beginning of the end-His last day-Last moments The death- bed conversion farce-A Roman Catholicburial-The endAPPENDIXXVPAGE391. 417

BayerischeStantabibliothekMünchenTHE TRUE LIFE OFCAPT. SIR RICHARD F. BURTONK.C.M.G. F.R.G.S. ETC.