Samuel Manning - The Land of the Pharaohs

The Land of the Pharaohs

SAMUEL MANNING

The Land of the Pharaohs, S. Manning

Jazzybee Verlag Jrgen Beck

86450 Altenmnster, Loschberg 9

Deutschland

ISBN: 9783849650223

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Availability: Publicly available via the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA) through the following Creative Commons attribution license: "You are free: to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work; to make derivative works; to make commercial use of the work. Under the following conditions: By Attribution. You must give the original author credit. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above." (Status: unknown)

IN the dim grey dawn of a February morning, I was on the deck of the Austrian steamer Urano, peering eagerly through the mist to the southward. The clear crystalline blue of the Mediterranean had changed to a greenish grey, showing that we were in shallow water. As the sun rose, the haze vanished, and we could make out the coast-line, a long stretch of sand, here and there broken by a hillock, a clump of palm-trees, an Arab village, or the white walls and dome of a santon's tomb. Then a forest of masts came into view, and, rising above them, a venerable column and a lighthouse. The column we recognise as Pompey's Pillar; the lighthouse is the modern representative of the famous Pharos of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the ancient world. We were approaching that mysterious land which had attained a high civilisation, and a settled monarchy, when Abraham, went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. It was in its glory when the Hebrews were there held in bondage. It had passed its prime when David and Solomon sat upon the throne of Israel. It had sunk into decay when Rome rose to power, and at the dawn of modern history, it had ceased to exist as a nation. Hebrew patriarchs, Greek philosophers, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman conquerors, have all been drawn hither, and its annals are inextricably interwoven with theirs. It played an important part in the greatest event in our world's history, when Joseph arose and took the young Child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son. In later ages, the land of the Pharaohs is ever coming into prominence. Amongst the early Christians, Cyril, and Athanasius, and Origen; amongst the early Mohammedans, Amrou and Omar; amongst the Crusaders, St. Louis of France, and Saladin the chivalrous enemy of Richard Coeur de Lion, all lead our thoughts to Egypt. What wonder, then, that it was with a feeling of almost reverential awe, that I first gazed upon the soil which, for four thousand years, had been the scene of so many memorable deeds?

The gravity of those of our party who were for the first time visiting Mohammedan countries, was somewhat disturbed by the appearance of the pilot who now came alongside. His dress was a curious combination of eastern and western attire, very characteristic of the mongrel population of Alexandria. It consisted of a Turkish fez, an Arab abba, baggy linen knickerbockers, and a pair of unmistakable English boots with elastic sides. Having seated himself cross-legged on the gangway of the steamer, pipes and coffee were served, and he steered us through the intricate channel into the harbour of Alexandria. The usual scene of confusion now ensued. Scores of boats came round us, manned by half-naked negroes and Arabs. I was seized by half-a-dozen fellows at once, each endeavouring to drag me into his boat. A similar conflict was going on over every article of my baggage, and it was only by a vigorous application of the dragoman's whip that I and my belongings were rescued from them and stowed away in one of the boats.

We only escaped from the hands of the boatmen to fall into those of the donkey-boys, who effectually dissipated whatever feelings of reverence yet remained. These Arab lads are surely the cleverest and most impudent little urchins on earth. Our city-Arabs cannot compare with them. In broken English they vaunt the praises of their animals: Take my donkey; him berry good donkey; him name Billy Barlow. If the traveller be presumably an American, the sobriquet is changed to Yankee Doodle. One ingenious youth, whose only garment was a ragged cotton shirt, through which his tawny skin showed conspicuously, having tried Billy Barlow, Champagne Charley, and half-a-dozen names beside, made a final appeal, by exclaiming, Him name Rosher Tishburne; him speak English; him say, How you do, sar? It was impossible either to lose one's temper or retain one's gravity amid this merry, clamorous crowd. At length we extricated ourselves from them and made our way to the hotel.

Anywhere, except in Egypt, Alexandria would be regarded as a very ancient city. Its history goes back more than two thousand years, to the time of its founder, Alexander the Great, B.C. 333. But here, this venerable antiquity seems quite modern. It is a mere parvenu, which sprang up when the kingdom of the Pharaohs had run its course and reached its close. It is now a busy thriving port in which the east and west meet in strange confusion. Nubians, Arabs, Berbers, Greeks, Italians, French, English, Circassian pilgrims, Lascar sailors, Chinese coolies, jostle one another in the crowded streets. A string of camels pass with their burdens into the railway station. A Bedouin sheikh takes a ticket for Cairo, or wrangles over the price of a piece of Manchester goods. Hadjis from Mecca are waiting to go on board the steamer bound for Constantinople or Beyrout. Sailors from the harbour, or soldiers en route for India, shoulder their way through the bazaars. Go into a bank or counting-house, and you might fancy yourself to be in the heart of London. Step out into the street, and you see a devout Mussulman spreading his prayer-carpet in the roadway, and performing his devotions, as little disturbed by the bustle around him as though he were alone in the desert.

The northern coast-line of Egypt is a sterile waste, consisting of little else than salt swamps, lakes of brackish water, and barren sand. The importance and prosperity of Alexandria are therefore due, not to the surrounding district, but to the fact that it is the port for the only African river which flows into the Mediterranean. Regions of boundless fertility stretch southward to the equator, through which the Nile flows and forms their sole means of communication with the sea. To the ancient world, Alexandria, which lay near the mouths of this mighty river, formed the meeting-place of eastern and western civilisationthe emporium of European, Asiatic, and African commerce. With the downfall of the Byzantine Empire, its glory departed. The Mohammedan conquest fell like a blight upon its prosperity, and the discovery of the route by the Cape of Good Hope gave the death-blow to its commerce. For many generations it was little more than an obscure village of the Turkish Empire. During the present century it has again been rising into importance. Its present population is estimated at a quarter of a million. In the year 1871, its exports reached upwards of ten millions sterling, its imports nearly six millions. The opening of the Suez Canal has diverted the through traffic to India into the new channel. But other causes have been at work, which have more than made up for the loss thus sustained, and the population and commercial prosperity of the city are rapidly increasing.