James Augustus St. John

“ Here commences that scarcity of water which is the curse of this part of Africa. Few or no inequalities in the surface of the ground, scanty traces of cultivation, human habitations occurring at wide intervals, and, in short, nothing to break the dreary uniformity of the scene but a few scattered date-palms waving their fanlike leaves over the brown desert, where at every step the foot was in danger of alighting upon a scorpion resting in the warm sand. ”

“ Meanwhile, as the determination of the governor of Ahmedabad was not yet known, the most intense anxiety prevailed among the fugitives. Every gust which moaned along the surrounding waste appeared to their half-slumbering senses to announce the approach of some messenger. The hours, which seem to flit away so rapidly when men are happy, now appeared so many ages. Time and the wheeling stars above their heads seemed to stand still; and their very souls were sick with expectation. At length, as the red dawn began to appear in the east, a single horseman was discovered scouring across the plain. ”

“ His robe was composed of white satin with small flowers, relieved by a rich border of silk and gold; his turban, of stiff cloth of gold, was adorned with an aigrette, the stem of which was crusted with diamonds of prodigious size and value, in the midst of which a large oriental topaz of unparalleled beauty blazed like a mimic sun; while a string of large pearls fell from his neck upon his bosom, like the beads of a devotee. The throne was supported upon six large feet of massive gold, set with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. ”

“ Nevertheless some traces of the milder manners of Arabia remained. Poetry, adapting itself to the tastes of these rude men, celebrated in songs burning with energy and enthusiasm the prowess and exploits of their warriors, the beauty of their women, the savage but sublime features of their country, or the antiquity and glory of their race. Making their sword the purveyor of their desires, they enjoyed whatever iron thus fashioned could purchase,—ample tents, costly and magnificent garments, vessels of copper or of brass, with abundance of silver and gold. ”

“ It was about fifteen hundred miles distant, as he was informed, from the shores of China. The people were fair, gentle in their manners, and governed by their own princes. Gold, its exportation being prohibited, was plentiful among them; so plentiful, indeed, that the roof of the prince’s palace was covered with it, as churches in Europe sometimes are with lead, while the windows and floors were of the same metal. The prodigious opulence of this country tempted the ambition or rapacity of Kublai Khan, who with a vast fleet and army attempted to annex it with his empire, but without success. ”

“ In ten days they arrived in the territories of Ispahan, and remained some days at the capital, a large and handsome city. From thence he soon departed for Shiraz, which, though inferior to Damascus, was even then an extensive and well-built city, remarkable for the beauty of its streets, gardens, and waters. Its inhabitants likewise, and particularly the women, were persons of integrity, religion, and virtue; but our singular traveller remarks, that for his part he had no other object in going thither than that of visiting the Sheïkh Majd Oddin, the paragon of saints and workers of miracles! ”

“ Being informed that Chardin understood Turkish and Persian, she tormented him, by means of a slave who could speak the former language, with a thousand questions, of which the greater number turned upon the subject of love. After pushing these questions beyond the verge of decency, to the great amusement of her suite, who appeared to be more delighted in proportion as her majesty became more obscene, she suddenly turned to a still more embarrassing topic—demanding to examine the effects of our traveller, and the stores of the monks. They all now trembled for their property. ”

“ Religion, government, morals, manners, costume—every thing in which one nation can differ from another—Chardin had studied in that bold and original manner which characterizes the efforts of genius. His style, though careless, and sometimes quaint, is not destitute of that naïveté and ease which result from much experience and the consciousness of intellectual power; and if occasionally it appear heavy and cumbrous in its march, it more frequently quickens its movements, and hurries along with natural gracefulness and facility. ”

“ Not many days after his arrival, a Syrian whom he had known at Ispahan brought him news from Bagdad which were any thing but calculated to cheer or console his mind. He learned that another sister of Maani had died on the road in returning from Persia; that the father, stricken to the soul by this new calamity, had likewise died a few days after reaching home; and that the widow, thus bereaved of the better part of her family, and feeling the decrepitude of old age coming apace, was inconsolable. Our traveller was thunderstruck. Death seemed to have put his mark on all those whom he loved. ”

“ Traversing the savage defiles of Mount Nififa, whose inhabitants wholly employ themselves in the care of goats and bees, he arrived at Mount Surede, where he became engaged in a very whimsical scene. Cut off by their solitary and remote position from frequent intercourse with the rest of the world, these thick-headed mountaineers had no conception of law or civilization, no idea of which ever entered their minds, except when some stranger, distinguished for his good sense and modest manners, made his appearance among them. ”

“ But these changes of scene by no means impaired his ardour for study. Indeed, the idea of one day opening himself a path to fame as a traveller appears, on the contrary, to have imparted additional keenness to his thirst for knowledge; his comprehensive and sagacious mind very early discovering in how many ways a knowledge of antiquity, of literature, and the sciences might further the project he had formed of enlarging the boundaries of human experience. ”

“ The palace itself was a mile in length, but, not being of corresponding height, had rather the appearance of a vast terrace or range of buildings than of one structure. Its interior was divided into numerous apartments, some of which were of prodigious dimensions and splendidly ornamented; the walls being covered with figures of men, birds, and animals in exquisite relief and richly gilt. A labyrinth of carving, gilding, and the most brilliant colours, red, green, and blue, supplied the place of a ceiling; and the united effect of the whole oppressed the soul with a sense of painful splendour. ”

“ Upon another occasion Leo, returning from a celebrated mosque in one of the suburbs, beheld another curious scene no less characteristic of the manners of the times. In the area before a palace erected by a Mameluke sultan, an immense populace was assembled, in the midst of whom a troop of strolling players, with dancing camels, asses, and dogs, were exhibiting their tricks, to the great entertainment of the mob, and even of our traveller himself, who thought it a very pleasant spectacle. ”

“ Having occupied several days in contemplating the enormous ruins of temples and palaces existing on the plain, our traveller descended into what is called the Subterranean Temple; that is, a labyrinth of canals or passages, hewn out in the solid rock, turning, winding, and crossing each other in a thousand places, and extending to an unknown distance beneath the bases of the mountains. The entrances and the exits of these dismal vaults are unknown; but travellers and other curious persons find their way in through rents made by time or by earthquakes in the rock. ”

“ The inhabitants, however, though clothed superbly, and glittering with rings and other ornaments of gold and silver, were immersed in the grossest ignorance, and addicted beyond credibility to every odious and revolting vice. From thence, after a short stay, he returned towards the coast, and arrived at Messa, a city surrounded by groves of palm-trees and richly-cultivated fields, and situated about a mile distant from the sea, close to which there was a mosque, the beams and rafters of which were formed of the bones of whales. ”

“ It was during this journey that he visited the celebrated281 ruins of Persepolis. He arrived in sight of the Forty Pillars on the 1st of December, 1686; and looking towards this scene of ancient magnificence, where the choicest of the population of a vast empire had once sported like butterflies in the sun, his eye encountered about fifty black Turcoman tents upon the plain, before the doors of which sat a number of women engaged in weaving, while their husbands and children were amusing themselves in the tents, or absent with the flocks and herds. ”

“ Her husband was no less distinguished by his friendship for our traveller, who nowhere in Persia experienced more genuine kindness or generosity than from this noble family.
During this visit to Casbin, Chardin had the honour, as it is vulgarly termed, of presenting two of his countrymen to the shah; and so powerful is the force of habit and prejudice, that this able, learned, and virtuous man really imagined it an honour to approach and converse familiarly with an opium-eating, cruel, and unprincipled sot, merely because he wore a tiara and could sport with the destinies of a great empire! ”

“ The northern wall of the city was washed by the sea, and along the top of it ran a fine terrace or public promenade, whence the inhabitants might enjoy the prospect of133 the blue waves, skimmed by milk-white water-fowl, or studded by innumerable ships and galleys, perpetually entering or issuing from the port. The houses, rising one behind another, in rows, upon the side of a lofty hill, all enjoyed the cool breeze blowing from the Mediterranean, as well as the pleasing view of its waters. ”

“ Ibn Batūta, who could not, of course, avoid visiting so great and perfect a being, going to his cell, found him to be a thin, beardless, copper-coloured old man, possessing all the external marks of a saint. When the worthy traveller saluted him, instead of returning his salutation, he seized his hand, and smelt it; and then, turning to the interpreter, he said, “This man is just as much attached to this world as we are to the next.” ”

“ Not a soul could advise any thing for the general safety, or knew how to avert the doom which impended over himself. Presently, however, Dara, half-dead with grief, came out to his people, and addressed himself now to one person, now to another, even to the meanest soldier. He perceived that terror had seized upon every soul, and that they were all about to abandon him. What was to be his fate? Whither could he fly? It was necessary to depart instantly. The condition of the army may be conjectured from that of our traveller. ”

“ On the summit of this ridge were then found the ruins of a very ancient city, on the white walls and solitary monuments of which there existed numerous inscriptions, but couched in a language and characters totally unknown to the inhabitants, some of whom supposed it to have been built by the Romans, though no mention of the place occurs in any African historian. The wretched race then inhabiting the mountain dwelt in caverns, or in huts of stones rudely piled upon each other. Their whole riches consisted in large droves of asses and flocks of goats ”

“ Innumerable fountains, shaded by lofty spreading trees, among which the walnut was conspicuous, sprung forth from the bosom of the hills, and leaping down over rocks and precipices amid luxuriant foliage, united in the sunny valleys, and formed many cool and shining streams. This fertile region was well stocked with inhabitants—farms and villas everywhere peeping from between the trees, and refreshing the eye of the traveller. ”