Samuel Bevan

“ The right sort of man was soon found, a copper-legged fellàh, who stowing away in his shirt-front the residue of his half-eaten supper, was speedily perched aloft on the hump of the willing beast, and in a few minutes we had turned our backs upon the low wall which environs the dirt and dreariness of Suez. Evening had set in ere we passed the well, so familiar to desert travellers, and the angry voices of the camel-drivers wrangling over a few pints of muddy water, became gradually inaudible, as we gained the clear hard sand beyond, now sparkling in the light of the rising moon. ”

“ Here also is the open barca, with its striped canopy of red and white, contrasting pleasantly with the sable hue of the old regime, whose colour no one has yet been sufficiently bold to depart from. All the boats are rowed by two men, as none would appear at the passeggiata with a single gondolier. Speed is a great desideratum, and all is rushing and gliding—the barcaruoli seem in their own [Pg 296] proper element, and vie with each other in parading their skill, cutting and cleaving with their sharp prows, or dashing along in one mass, like a vast floating raft of gondolas. ”

“ Every one knows the peculiar appearance of the Piazza di San Marco, with its oriental-looking church and lofty bell-tower, and its rows of glittering arcades. Under one of these porticoes, whose massive columns support the building called the Procuratie Nuove, is the Caffé Florian, a house which has been but once closed for the night, during the last hundred years. It has indeed no doors, unless a few glass frames, to keep out the cold winds of winter, can be so denominated. ”

“ And anon the puffing little English steamer, no bigger than a Thames penny ’bove-bridge, with its English captain (!) in gold-laced cap and familiar “go-ahead” and “ease her.” And then Atfeh and its darkness, din and confusion fade away in our wake, and we gratefully sniff the morning air borne down upon the bosom of old Father Nile; and the cheery rattle of cups and saucers, and the fragrant aroma of early “Mocha,” force from us the admission that there may be a bright side to every picture. ”

“ A gloomy stillness, however, seems to reign everywhere, for the rumble of wheels is seldom heard save when the Pasha returns from his evening drive, or when the carriages belonging to the rival hotels are brought out of the dusty remises, on the arrival of some steamer. There is but one solitary Cafè in the town, and that by no means an excellent one. It possesses nevertheless a sort of casino or subscription-room, where for twelve dollars a year, one may see the principal papers of France and Italy, and get a chance rubber of billiards with some passing traveller. ”

“ We gazed and wondered, but feeling that this was indeed the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, inasmuch as we all lay gasping on our backs, half-buried in sand, and almost choked with smoke, we made as hasty a retreat as the mode of egress would allow, bestowing a few paras on the old Arab, and cheering him with the assurance that he might eventually arrive at something valuable, if he should escape burying himself alive in the attempt, a consummation which a trifling sand-slip might at any time effect. ”

“ Could I but tell how to shape a course we might soon reach one or other of the low ranges of sand-hills which skirt the Suez desert. But should we fail to hit the rising ground, our strength might be exhausted, and escape still more uncertain. ”

“ The most dignified-looking people in the Corso, are the Roman dandies, who seldom condescend to mingle in any of the active sport, but stand condensed in a mass at the doors of the various caffes, smoking their cigars, and turning to the right and left with a mingled expression of imbecility and good-natured contempt. The higher classes may be seen in the procession which threads its way, unending and at dreary pace, from end to end of the long street. These, and the lower orders, or basso ceto, are by far the most facetious, and keep up between them, the true spirit of the Carnival. ”

“ Never did juice of princely grape or humble “malt” confer such unalloyed satisfaction as that pint of tepid, highly-flavoured Nile-water! Then the bonnie Arab and I dined together off horse-beans and tank-water, and, exhausted by the combined effects of heat, fatigue, and excitement, laid ourselves down side by side on the same bed of straw, to sleep. ”

“ This gentleman informed us where we should at once find apartments, and introduced us to his landlord, the Signor Raffaelli, living in a commodious house, at the Campo San Vio, about a stone’s-throw from the Accademia, on the Grand Canal. We rowed thither the next day, and taking possession of our rooms, had time to look about us. Not only is Venice unlike any other city in the world, in respect of its peculiar position; but every thing Venetian seems to possess a distinct and particular charm, that indefinable non so che, belonging to it only, even to the most ordinary common-places of life. ”

“ The disembarking from the Peninsular and Oriental steamer, the landing at Alexandria, the passage of the Mahmoudieh canal and subsequent voyage up the Nile, the sojourn in Cairo, and the eighty-four miles of desert ere the traveller reached Suez, afforded altogether a little mine of adventure and novelty, anticipated with keen enjoyment by the genuine lovers of travel. At the time of which I write, Waghorn and Company were a sort of Eastern Pickford’s, conveying passengers and merchandise of all descriptions between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. ”

“ Whilst the mail barge was making its slow way round to the Mahmoudieh, I had time to reach the shore, and join the passengers at Rey’s Hotel, as they were starting for Moharrem Bey, which is the point of departure of the passage-boats. The pushing and scrambling for donkeys, on such occasions, is sometimes highly amusing, and it is long ere the cavalcade is in motion. When there is no moon, the scene is lighted up by crackling pots of burning charcoal, raised aloft on poles, shedding a lurid light. ”

“ I had no time to view the antiquities of the ancient city of Arles, so was fain to satisfy myself with a sufficiently lucid description of them, to be found in Murray’s hand-book. We had a delightful steam to Marseilles, though the change from the sweetness of the sea-breeze and blue water, to the stinks and exhalations of its closed harbour, was any thing but refreshing. From its very narrow outlet, the port of Marseilles is perhaps as bad in this respect as any in the Mediterranean. ”

“ He will recall the hurry-skurry scramble on donkey-back through the bazaars and labyrinthine suburbs of Alexandria; the limited ablution, and the comfortless confusion of the odd thè-dinant at the hotel, and finally, perhaps, the writer’s “call to horse” if such a term can be properly applied to the kicking, braying, fighting squad of ready-saddled donkeys below. Then the pell-mell race at full gallop by rough and treacherous paths, over the half-hidden ruins of ancient Alexandria, to the unsavoury Mahmoudieh, and lastly the squeeze into the omnibus-like and overcrowded treykshuyt. ”

“ We were besieged by a legion of fleas and musquitoes, whilst bats came wheeling in at the open windows, scraping our faces as they skimmed over us.
We were up with the daylight, and mounting our donkeys, trotted merrily through the palm-groves on to the desert. The Pyramids of Sakhara stand among a sea of ruins; the ground is cut up and excavated in every direction, and the discovery of hitherto unopened tombs is of constant occurrence. ”

“ Camels, donkeys, merchandize of every description, shrieking women, boys, and greasy Arabs, were jumbled together in indescribable confusion; the men fighting and cuffing one another, with the most violent gesticulations, in their anxiety to appropriate the luggage of the newly arrived passengers, in order to convey it to the city. Furner, armed with a huge whip, which I learnt to call by the name of “Korbash,” dealt his blows right and left on the heads and shoulders of the natives, and speedily cleared a way for us to where a group of donkeys were standing, all saddled and bridled. ”

“ A carriage with three stout black horses, unicorn-fashion, was at the door of the hotel by half-past seven, and providing ourselves with some cold fowl and Capri wine, we set off for Herculaneum, rattling over the hard stones at a pace which would have been alarming, had our horses been held in by any other than a Neapolitan coachman. A ride of an hour brought us to Resina, and we alighted at the stone steps which lead to an ancient theatre, freed only in part from the load of lava which buried it. The sinking of a well by a peasant is said to have led to its discovery, in the year 1713. ”

“ The Piazza di San Marco, is the most agreeable of breakfast parlours: turn which way you will, something amusing is sure to present itself. Itinerant vendors of odd wares wait upon you every two or three minutes, and no sooner are you fairly seated, and commencing the perusal of some article in the day’s journal, than a dirty-looking fellow flings at your feet a large wooden box, and keeps a steady eye on your boots. This is your Venetian shoeblack. ”

“ And what spot can furnish more beautiful and diversified subjects than Venice, where every turn reveals some fresh scene, and every canal abounds with palaces and churches, or picturesque masses of building. The chimney-pots alone are a study, and the genius of John of Bologna is apparent, even in the knockers and scrapers at the street doors. ”

“ Sleep however, overcame me before I had finished, and I was dreaming most agreeably of far-off persons and scenes, when a sudden shock and instantaneous stoppage of the boat, upset my candle and empty beer-bottle, and caused a dire commotion among the cups and spode-ware in Antonio’s pantry. I ran on deck immediately, and found, as soon as I could collect my scattered senses, that our precious Maltese captain had run us into the bank, having quietly followed the example of those around him, by dropping to sleep at his tiller. ”

“ Four strong horses, mounted by as many Arab riders, were attached to the one long iron boat, which contained us all, and the word having been given to cast loose, we bid a hasty adieu to our friends on shore, and by a little after midnight, found ourselves in motion. Our crew consisted of a fat Maltese pilot, two or three Arabs, and a cook, named Antonio, and it was gratifying to remark, that the latter had not forgotten several well-stored cafasses, or provision-baskets, with apparatus for making tea and coffee, and a large brazier of ignited charcoal for heating his kettles. ”

“ This proposal had met with the most vigorous and animated opposition from the other faction, headed by O’Neil, who had proved himself a most able champion, having set forth in an eloquent and elaborate speech, the consequences of such a measure,—the impropriety of introducing an Italian style of drawing to the annihilation of all originality,—the injustice of placing a master over men who never would submit to his criticism, and the unenviable position in which such a master would necessarily be placed,—the reflection, in fact, upon the state of English art, and other weighty considerations. ”

“ At every step, the evidences of volcanic movement meet the eye. The foundations of the houses are of lava, lying in huge masses by the road-side, just as they have been rolled down from the mountain, and the carriage-way itself is so beautifully hard, that it needs only an occasional shower to wash away the dust, to retain it in perfect order. ”