CHAPTER X.

JOURNEY FROM EGYPT TO JERUSALEM

THROUGH THE

DESERT, INCLUDING HIS LABORS AND OBSERVATIONS IN THE HOLY CITY AND VICINITY.

We now commence the description, given by Mr. Fisk, of his journey from Cairo to Jerusalem, in company with Mr. King and Mr. Wolff. He passed through the same desert in which the children of Israel wandered, where they murmured and rebelled, and where, after a long protracted "day of provocation," they fell.

"April 7, 1823. Soon after sun-rise an Arab shekh came with our camels. We had engaged thirteen and were to pay six dollars and a half for each, for the journey from Cairo to Jaffa. Four were for ourselves and servant, one for our guide Mustapha, one for water, one for provisions, four for our trunks of books and clothes, and two for the books of the Bible Society and the Jews' Society. We had purchased four goat skins and four leather bottles, in which to carry our water.

"We had hoped to find a caravan going through the desert, but finding it not likely that one would go for some weeks, we prepared to set out alone.

"At 9 o'clock we took leave of Mr. Salt and his family, and rode out of town; and after arranging our baggage, commenced our journey at ten in regular order for Syria. As we started, a Turkish dervish and two or three others joined our caravan. We passed a little way frem Matarieh, and the obelisk of On or Heliopolis. Till one o'clock we rode in the edge of the wilderness, with its immense extent stretching away to the right, and the fertile plains of the Nile to the left. At one our road led us into the fields, but still near the desert. At nearly 4 o'clock, after riding more than five hours, course

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E. N. E. we pitched our tent on the sandy plain near the village Abu-Sabel. Here a number of Mussulmans and several Armenians joined our caravan. They had been waiting at the village for a caravan to pass, with which they might go through the desert.

"In the evening we observed the Monthly Concert of Prayer.

"8.

ney.

We arose at five, and at six resumed our jourAt eight, we passed a village in a large grove of palm-trees. At half past eleven, having rode on with our guide, and trotting our camels till we were almost out of sight of the caravan, we stopped to rest under the shade of a tree. Here we felt the force and saw the beauty of the comparison, 'like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' The caravan came up in half an hour, and we went on. At one, after riding seven hours, course N. and N. E. we pitched our tent on the road near the village Bilbes. Found the thermometer in our tent at 859. In our room at Cairo it had been for some time from 70° to 76o. We have hitherto had fertile fields on our left hand, and the barren desert on our right. In looking off upon the desert we have observed at a distance the appearance of water. The illusion is perfect, and did we not know that it is a mere illusion, we should confidently say that we saw water. It sometimes appears like a lake, and sometimes like a river. As you approach it, it recedes or vanishes.-Thus are the hopes of this world, and the objects which men ardently. false and illusive as the streams of the desert. pursue, "9. Bilbes being the last village before crossing the desert, our attendants were employed in getting things for themselves and their beasts, and we did not set off till half past nine. Several Turks, Arabs and Armenians here joined our caravan. After entering the desert, we counted the persons belonging to the caravan, and found the whole number 74, with 44 camels, 57 asses, one mule, and one horse. Sev

́eral of the camels are loaded with merchandize, and most of the camel drivers perform the whole journey on foot. It may be interesting to some of our friends to see a list of oriental names, and to learn with what a 'mixed multitude,' we passed through the 'great and terrible wilderness.'

"There were Mussulman dervishes:-viz. Hadgi Mustapha, of Jerusalem; Hadgi Abdool, Hadgi Khaleel, and Hadgi Saveer, from Bokkaria; Hadgi Kahman, Hadgi Mohammed, and Abdallah, from near Astrachan.

"Arabs:-Mustapha, our guide and the shekh of the caravan; Ismael (Ishmael) and Abdool Assiz, who own a part of the camels; and Hadgi Ahmed, the conductor of a part of the caravan. Among the camel-drivers on foot were Moses, Mahommed of El Arish, Hassan, Hadgi Ibrahim (Abraham,) Mahommed of Gaza, Said, Khaleel, Mahommed, a lad, and Selim and Selina, two Bedouins.

"Turks:-Hadgi Ibrahim, of Damascus. [He was attended by a black eunuch, and his form and size would seem to mark him out as a son of Anak. 'He seemed built like a tower.'] Three soldiers from Erzeroum; Hadgi Suleiman (Solomon) of Dearbeker; Hadgi Younas (Jonas) of Bagdad; and Hadgi Mahmoud.

"Armenians:-Boghas (Paul) from Smyrna; one from Constantinople; Boghas and three others from Koordistan; and Tameer, who passed for a Turkish soldier, but told us privately that he was an Armenian.

"Greeks:-One from Tocat, where Martyn died, one from Anatolia, (neither of whom speak any thing but Turkish,) and Elias, a Catholic Maronite from Nazareth.

"There were also eight women; one the mother of Elias, three Turkish, one an Arab, and three negro slaves.

"At half past two, after riding five hours, we pitched our tent on the plain called Rode el Wolten. Thermometer in our tent at 79°. Asked the dervish, Hagdi Mustapha, what a dervish is. He replied, 'One that eats what he has to day, and trusts God for the future.' 'Are they priests?" They are among Turks what priests are among Christians.' 'Are they monks? or can they marry?' 'Some marry, others not, as they please.' The term Hagdi, which occurs so often in the above list of names, means pilgrim, and is a title given by the Turks to all who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Greeks have adopted the word into their language, and bestowed the title upon all who have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

"Most of the time to day we have been rising a gentle ascent, course E. and N. E. We are now in the desert, out of sight of the inhabited world. Its appearance, however, is not so perfectly barren, as we expected to find it. Almost every where we see thistles, grass, and flowers, growing out of the sand, though thinly scattered, of stinted growth, and of a dry and withered look. When we stop, we select a good spot for our encampment, raise our tent on its two poles, stretch out the ropes and fasten them to the earth with pins, and then arrange our trunks and boxes of books, so that they serve us for tables, chairs, and bed-steads.

10. When the caravan stops, the camels are turned out to feed on the thistles, weeds, and grass, which the desert produces. At sun-set they are assembled, and made to lie down around the encampment. Yesterday afternoon four of them which carried merchandize for an Armenian, went off, and could not be found. Two or three men were despatched in search of them. This morning they were not found, and we arranged our baggage so as to give the Armenian one of ours. The rest of the company also gave him assistance in carrying his baggage,

and we set off at seven. Saw a mountain at a great distance on our right, and a village far off on our left, In the course of the day the four camels were found at a distance, and brought into the encampment at evening. At two, after travelling seven hours, we pitched our tent at Mahsima. Thermometer in the tent 84°, in the sun 104°. Here is a well of what we call here in the desert, good water. The goatskins, which we took to carry water in, were new, and have given the water a reddish color, and an exceedingly loathsome taste.

"In the evening we found that the butter, which we put up at Cairo for our journey, had bred worms, so that we could not use it.

11. This forenoon the passports of the different companies were thrice demanded by Arab soldiers, who patrol this part of the desert for the purpose of stopping travellers who are destitute of passports.

"Far off on our right hand, we saw a range of moun tains. Our course in the morning was nearly E.; afwards it varied to nearly N. At two, after more than seven hours travel, we pitched our tent at Jissar. Those places in the desert where there are wells, or where caravans are accustomed to encamp, have in consequence received names. We give the names as they are repeated to us by our guide. Our road hitherto has been alternately loose, moveable sand, and hard sand mixed with gravel.

"After some refreshment, we took a Persian Testament, and Genesis in Arabic, and went to Hadgi Mohammed, the dervish. We sat down with him on his blanket spread on the sand, with the sun beating on our heads, and then showed him our books. He reads well in Persian and Arabic. Of the other dervishes, not one knows how to read. While we were reading with him, most of the dervishes, and several Turks and Armenians, gathered around and listened. Mohammed read in Genesis, and said it was very good. Another Turk then took it, and read