Élisée Reclus

“ Thus like an inner within an outer circle, there is developed in the centre of the Old World a zone of riverain lands, forming, so to say, a little world apart, and comprising such famous historical cities as Memphis, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Tyre, Antioch, Kphesus, Miletus, Smyrna, Athens, and Constantinople. In the length of its course the Nile is one of the great rivers of the world, and by many of the tribes along its banks the earth is supposed to be divided into two parts by this mysterious stream, coiled like a snake round the globe and grasping its tail in its mouth. ”

“ Standing on the verdant hill upon which is built the picturesque town of Tivoli, silvery cascades may be seen to escape in every direction. Some of them glide down the polished rocks; others shoot forth from gloomy arches, remain suspended an instant in the air, and then disappear again beneath the foliage; but every one of them, whether a powerful jet or a mere thread of water, possesses some charm of its own, and, as a whole, they form one of the most delightful spectacles to be witnessed in Italy. It is these cascades which have rendered Tivoli famous throughout the world ”

“ Like the streams of Greece, the wadies of Barka are fringed with oleander plants ; dwarf palms grow in clusters along the sea-coast; fruit-trees of the Italian zone, dominated here and there by the tall stems and branches of the date-palm, flourish in the well-watered gardens now usually surrounded with hedges of the " Barbary fig," an immigrant from the New World, which has already become so common in the Mediterranean flora. ”

“ Seafarers navigating the strait, some 18 miles wide, flowing between Fernjindo- Po and the African mainland, contemplate in fine weather one of the grandest, spectacles on the surface of the globe. They pass through a superb gateway, formed on one side by the Kameroons with its wooded hills, rugged peaks, and snow-flecked cone, on the other by the island of Fernando-Po, with its lofty bluffs, its slopes clothed in verdure from base to summit, its perfectly regular volcano overtopping all. ”

“ Towards its north-east extremity the lake is dominated by a lofty range, with steep rocky cliffs sinking sheer down to the water's edge. In some places the cascades, sparkling on the slopes like silvery streaks, mingle their spray with the foam of the waves breaking on the rock-bound coast. Shallows are rare, and except at a few points on the west side the explorer may sail for days together close in shore without meeting any shelving beach or reed-grown shoals. ”

“ We know not; for, if we go back for a few thousand years, every fact is shrouded in darkness. We know nothing even as regards the origin of the leading nations of Europe. Are we the “sons of the soil,” and the “shoots of oak-trees,” as told in the poetical language of ancient tradition, or are we to look upon the inhabitants of Asia as the ancestors to whom we are indebted for our languages, and for the rudiments of our arts and sciences? Or did those immigrants from a neighbouring continent settle down amongst an indigenous population? ”

“ In this land of simple outlines, little surprise is caused even by the regular forms of the pyramids skirting the western edge of the plateau, at dawn pink and hazy cones, like flames of fire dimly seen in the brighter sunshine, at sunset gloomy triangular masses standing out against a brazen sky. ”

“ A few cultivated tracts, which become continually rarer the farther we advance from the capital of Barka, alternate with the grassy steppes and saline pools skirted by swampy margins. Low hills scored with ravines, the haunts of jackals and hyenas, project in headlands seawards. Here and there the coast is fringed with reefs, while elsewhere sandy dunes line the open beach. Not a single palm raises its leafy stom above these dreary, surf-beaten wastes, which are the terror of the mariner. ”

“ They fight in silence, without the beat- ing of drums, or any battle-cries; the warrior who betrays any symptoms of cowardice is hacked to pieces by his companions. Whoever fails to bring back the spear and other equipments of his comrade in arms, with whom he has made brotherhood by drinking the same blood, meets with universal scorn, can make no more friends, and becomes little better than an outcast. Like all fighting people, such as the Kafirs, Matebeles, and Zulus, the Masai exhibit a great love of finery and personal ornamentation. ”

“ The instinct for art has passed into the blood of the people, and we need not wonder if an Italian peasant builds his house and plants his trees so as to bring them into harmony with the surrounding landscape. This constitutes the greatest charm of Italy; everywhere art goes hand in hand with nature. How many artists are there not in Lombardy, Venetia, or Tuscany who would have become famous in any other country, but whose names will never be remembered, in consequence of their overwhelming numbers, or because their lot was cast in some remote village ! ”

“ Till lately, funerals were the most dreaded events in Ashanti society. On the approaching death of a chief the slaves were watched or even chained to prevent them from escaping the terrible ceremony, and immediately after his last gasp two were sacrificed to accompany him beyond the grave. Then at the solemn burial, the whole gang of appointed victims, numerous in proportion to the rank or wealth of the deceased, walked in the funeral procession amid a throng of women howling and dancing, their bodies painted a blood-red colour. A certain magic word might save the wretches doomed to die ”

“ So well established was its claim to the foremost place in the development of civilisation, that the Greeks themselves regarded the Nilotic region as the common cradle of mankind. Whatever be the constituent ethnical elements of the nation to which we trace the germs of our intellectual life, it is certain that their civilisation was of African origin. It had its earliest seat in the narrow and fertile valley of the Nile, between the arid rock and the still more arid sands of the wilderness. ”

“ But life is always the price paid for such a mistake. Some years ago a company of soldiers perished from thirst in this very region. Disre- garding the warning of their guides, the unfortunate men, fresh from Egypt, and mad with thirst, broke from the ranks and rushed towards the seeming lakes of transparent water which were presented to their eyes on all sides. They pressed on eagerly towards the ever-receding phantom, and one by one fell prostrate, to leave their bones to bleach on the sands. On another occasion a detachment was sent across the desert to Berber on its way to Khartum. ”

“ The Wa-Huma are also distinguished by their intense love both of personal freedom and political autonomy, sentiments which are but feebly developed amongst the true Negro populations. Such is their horror of captivity and a foreign yoke, that those who have failed to maintain their independence are no longer regarded as true Wa-Huma. The very women who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Arab slave-dealers are looked upon as degraded for ever, and should they escape from bondage, are burnt alive by their own people. ”

“ The prospect from the heights of Capodimonte and the other hills surrounding the immense city is full of beauty: promontories jut out into the blue waters, islands of the most varied colours are scattered over the bay, shining towns stretch along the foot of verdant hills, and vessels ride upon the waves. Looking inland, we behold the grey summit of Vesuvius, which, lurid at night, and always threatening, imparts a modicum of danger to the voluptuous picture. ”

“ Before him stretched a large lake, its blue waters laughing in the sun, studded with gem-like islets clad in verdure, and bordered by castles, high pinnacles, turrets, and battlementa, and again by gleaming villages and smiling hamlets — the whole scene fairylike in its beauty, while presenting a most painful contrast to the arid sand and fierce heat and con- suming thirst from which the traveller was suffering. It is in vain that we rub our eyes and seek to disabuse ourselves of the illusion. ”

“ At the same time, we must not shut our eyes to the fact that equality will obtain in the end, not only between America and Europe, but also between these two and the other quarters of the world. The intermingling of nations, migrations which have assumed prodigious proportions, and the increasing facilities of intercourse, must in the end lead to an equilibrium of population throughout the world. Then will each country add its proper share to the wealth of mankind, and what we call civilisation will have “its centre everywhere, its periphery nowhere.” ”

“ To Egypt we owe the art of writing, afterwards modified by the Phoenicians, by whom it was communicated to all the peoples of the Mediterranean basin. The very groove of our thoughts had its origin on the banks of the Nile. Mankind is undoubtedly ignorant of its first epochs, nor can anyone assert positively that civilisation first arose in Egypt. Nevertheless, we are unable to trace it further back than the written records of this land, whose pyramids mark for us the limit of past times. ”

“ We almost fancy we look upon architectural piles; and the temples with which many a summit is adorned appear to epitomize them.
It is verdure and the sparkling water of rivulets which we miss most on the shores of Greece. Nearly all the mountains near the coast have been despoiled of their large trees. There remain only bushes, mastic, strawberry, and juniper trees, and evergreen oaks; even the carpet of odoriferous herbs which clothes the declivities, and upon which the goat browses, has in many instances been reduced to a few miserable patches. ”

“ Separated from the surrounding countries by the relief of its plateaux and mountains, Ethiopia also differs from them in its climate, vegetation, fauna, inhabitants, and history. In this vast continent, where the people elsewhere intermingle like the waters of the sea, it rises like a vast highland citadel, constituting a world apart. The Abyssinians have had an historic evolution different from that of the nations surging round the foot of their highlands, like the waves dashing against the cliffs. ”

“ This coast range terminates abruptly in the Sierra de Montsia (2,500 feet) , close to the delta of the Ebro, and before the pent-up waters of the river had excavated themselves a path to the sea it extended right to the Pyrenees.
All these mountains are for the most part naked, and shrubs appear like black patches upon their whitish slopes. They stand out clearly against the blue and limpid sky, whose transparency has won Murcia the title of the “most serene kingdom.” The climate in the valley of the Segura is even more African in its character than that of Andalusia. ”

“ The bas-reliefs of the monuments show us the Egyptian of three thousand years ago bowed down beneath the lash, just as they are at the present day. The victim of a continual oppression, and an excessive extortion, the fellah is unable to shift his quarters like the nomad Bedouin. In the vast level plain of the delta, or in the narrow valley of the river, there is not a single retreat in which he can hope to find a refuge from his taskmasters. Although his misery is without issue and his future without hope, still he passionately loves the land of his birth. ”

“ Villas and castles rise on every promontory and in every valley of these favoured districts. For a dozen miles on either side of Genoa the coast is lined by villas. The population of the city has overflowed the walls which once confined it, and is establishing itself in populous suburbs. The long street which winds between factories and gardens, scales promontories, and descends into valleys, will continue to grow in length until it extends along the whole coast of Liguria, for the charms of the country attract men of leisure from every quarter of Europe. ”

“ The cliffs of the Jebel-Mokattam extend to the south-east angle of the city, where their advanced spurs are crowned with the citadel, which was occupied by the British forces in 1883, immediately after the battle of Tel- el-Kebir. From this eminence, flanked by sustaining walls and ramparts, a view is commanded of the whole city, with its cupolas and minarets, its party-coloured buildings, its groves and gardens. Round this city of bright colours and throbbing life, stretches the grey and silent plain overlooked from a distance by the pyramids. Cairo had been built on the bank of the Nile ”

“ A small district in the Marches, joined to the coast by a single road, has maintained its independence through ages. Monte Titano, which rises in one of the most beautiful parts of the Apennines, and the base of which has been used as a quarry since time immemorial, bears upon its summit the old and famous city of San Marino. From its turreted walls the citizens can see the sun rise above the Illyrian Alps. San Marino, with some neighbouring hamlets, constitutes a “most illustrious” republic, and is now the only independent municipality of Italy. ”

“ The wizards, daubed with ochre, decked with fantastic finery, conjuring the demons by their wild gesticulations, leaps, and shouts, flitting about in the glare and suddenly plunging into the surrounding gloom, appear themselves like spectres of the night, or fantastic beings from another world. The Wa-Nyoro have also a warlike dance like that of their kindred, the southern Zulus, and, like them also, make war with assegai, spear, and shield. ”

“ In the forests of Calabria the olive-tree affords as much shade as does the beech with us. Even the bare rocks on the coast yield excellent grapes and garden fruits. Naples, Sicily, Andalusia, and certain districts of Greece and Asia Minor realise our beau idéal of the sub-tropical zone, and only the heaths on the Adriatic slope and the upper valleys of the Apennines remind us that we are still in Central Europe. ”

“ There are no villages, for all the cultivators of the soil live in towns, and are content to travel daily to their fields, which are occasionally at a distance of six miles. Sometimes they pass the night there, in a cavern or a ditch covered with boughs, and at harvest-time the labourers sleep in improvised sheds. This absence of human habitations imparts an air of solemn sadness to vast corn-fields covering valleys and slopes, and we almost fancy we are wandering through a deserted country, and wonder for whose benefit the crops are ripening. ”

“ From the south we seize at a glance the entire slope of the mountains, from the vineyards and plantations of mulberry-trees to the forests of beech and larch, the pastures, the naked rocks, and the dazzling fields of ice. But the cultivator only ventured into this difficult region when forced by poverty. The features of the northern slope are quite different. There the land rises gradually, and the valleys are less fertile, but the inhabitants can easily reach the heads of the passes, whence they look down upon the inviting plains of Italy. ”

“ When northern winds hurl the agitated waters of the latter against the sombre cliffs which guard the entrance to the Bosphorus, the contrast between this savage sea and the placid waters of the strait and its charming scenery is striking indeed. At every turn we are arrested by unexpected charms. Rocks, palaces, woods, vessels of every description, and the curious scaffoldings of Bulgarian fishermen succeed each other in infinite variety. ”

“ The city proper lies on the sea, at the foot of the fortifications crowning the steep heights of Monjuich. There is another citadel of immense size to the east of the city, yet this latter reposes gaily beneath its batteries, which could easily reduce it to ashes. Barcelona boasts of being the great pleasure town of Spain. Its population is less than that of Madrid, but there are more theatres and concert halls. The dramatic performances are of a superior class, and the taste of the people is more refined. ”

“ Bounded by abyssal depths of thousands of fathoms, and submerged one hundred fathoms at most below the waters of the ocean, this pedestal of France and the British Islands must be looked upon as the foundation of an ancient continent, destroyed by the incessant action of the waves. If the shallow portions of the ocean, as well as those of the Me­di­ter­ra­nean Sea, were to be added to Europe, its area would be increased to the extent of one-fourth, but it would lose, at the same time, that wealth in peninsulas which has secured to Europe its historical superiority over the other continents. ”

“ We have heard of some of these peoples by vague report, but there are others concerning whom we absolutely know nothing. And thus it happens that in this age of steam, of the printing press, of incessant and feverish activity, we still know nothing, or very little, of the centre of Africa, of a portion of Australia, of the interior of that fine and no doubt most fertile island of New Guinea, and of vast table-lands in the centre of Asia. Nay, even the country which most men of learning love to look upon as the cradle of our Aryan ancestors is known to us but very imperfectly. ”

“ It was in maritime and mountainous Europe, with its islands, peninsulas, and valleys, its varied features and unexpected contrasts, that modern civilisation arose, the result of innumerable local civilisations, happily united into a single current. And, as the rivers descending from the mountains cover the plains at their foot with fertile soil, so has the progress accomplished in this centre of enlightenment gradually spread over the other continents to the very extremities of the earth. ”

“ In the temperate regions of Europe summer is the season of flowers and foliage, but in Andalusia it is that of aridity and death. Except in gardens and irrigated fields all vegetation shrivels up and assumes a greyish tint like that of the soil. But when the equinoctial autumn rains fall in the lowlands, and snows in the mountains, the plants recover rapidly, and a second spring begins. In February vegetation is most luxuriant, but after March heat and dryness again become the order of the day. Indeed, Andalusia suffers from a want of moisture. ”

“ Subsequently the merchants of the small Dutch Republic seized a portion of the heritage of Spain and Portugal, and the wealth of the entire world was floated into the harbours of their sea-bound islands and peninsulas. In our own days Great Britain, thanks to its favourable geographical position, in the very centre of great continental masses, and the energy of its people, has become the great mart of the world. London, the most populous city of the world, is also the great centre of attraction for the treasures of mankind ”

“ The mountains of Western Morea do not present the regularity of the eastern chain. They are cut through by rivers, and to the south of the Aroanian Mountains and the Erymanthus they ramify into a multitude of minor chains, which now and then combine into mountain groups, and impart the most varied aspect to that portion of the plateau. Everywhere in the valleys we come unexpectedly upon landscapes to which an indescribable charm is imparted by a group of trees, a spring, a flock of sheep, or a shepherd sitting upon a heap of ruins. We are in beautiful Arcadia, sung by the poets. ”

“ The lowlands of this region form a vast triangular plain, bounded by the Tekir Dagh and the coast range on the south, by offshoots from the Rhodope on the west, and by the granitic mountains of Stranja on the east. This is one of the dreariest districts of all Turkey. Swampy depressions and untilled land recall the steppes of Russia; and in summer, when the wind raises clouds of dust, we can imagine ourselves in the midst of a desert. The dreary monotony of this plain is relieved only by the pale contours of distant mountains, and by innumerable artificial mounds of unknown origin. ”

“ To the happy conditions of soil, climate, configuration, and geographical position, the inhabitants of Europe owe the honour of having been the first to obtain a knowledge of the earth in its entirety, and to have remained for so long a period at the head of mankind. Historical geographers are, therefore, right when they insist upon the influence which the configuration of a country exercises upon the nations who inhabit it. ”

“ There is no modern people respecting whom more astounding acts of bravery are recorded than of the Albanians. In the fifteenth century they had their Scanderbeg, who, though the theatre of his glory was more circumscribed than that of his namesake of Macedonia, was hardly inferior to him in genius, and {121} certainly surpassed him in justness and goodness of heart. Or what nation has ever exceeded in courage the Suliote mountaineers, amongst whom not an aged man, a woman, or a child was found to beg for mercy from Ali Pasha’s executioners? ”