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EGYPT AND ICELAND
IN THE YEAR I874.
BI
BAYARD TAYLOR.
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
182 FIFTH AVENUE
1879




Entered according to Aot of Congress, in the year 1874. by
BA.YAF' TAYLOR,
In the Office of the Libraribu.,1 Congress, at Washingtoa




,/ ~?,  
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TO
WHITELAW REID,


WHO, SUCCEEDING HORACE GREELEY AS EDITOR CF TUIB
"NEW YORK TRIBUNE," SUCCEEDS
HIM ALSO AS


THE AUTHOR'S FRIEND.








CONTENTS
PART I.-EGYPT.
CHAP,,                                      PAGE
I AIEXANDRIA AFTER TWENTY-TWO YEARS....   9
II FROM ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO BY RAIL....... I8
II. A NEW PICTURE OF CAIRO................. 28
IV. SIGHTS IN AND AROUND CAIRO............. 37
V. A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS............... 44
VI. INTERVIEW WITH THE KHEDIVE.............. 53
VII. RAILWAYS IN EGYPT....................... 63
VIII. A TRIP TO THE FYOOM..................... 69
IX. THE EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES AT BOOLAK..... 104
X. FRAGMENTS OF EARLY EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 120
XI. EGYPT UNDER THE KHEDIVE'S RULE........ 33
XII. FINAL NOTES FROM EGYPT................. 143




6


CON TENTS.


PART II.-ICELAND.
CHAP.                                       PAGE
I. ON THE WAY TO ICELAND................. 153
II. A SKETCH OF ICELAND'S HISTORY........... I6o
III. A DAY AT THE ORKNEYS.................... 170
IV. THE SHETLAND ISLANDS.................... 177
V. HOLIDAY AT THE FAROE ISLANDS............. I82
VI. ON THE NORTHERN OCEAN................. 89
VII. REJKIAVIK AND rHE KING'S ARRIVAL........ 197
VIII. FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF ICELAND......... 206
IX. THE MILLENN 4AL CEL EBRTA 10" ST REJKIAVIK 213
X. THE RIDE TC TH;NG;ALLA................. 225
XI. FROM THINGVALLA TO THE GEYSERS........ 233
XII. WAITING FOR THE GREAT GEYSER TO SPOUT. 242
XIII. THE NATIONAL FESIIVAL AT THINGVALLA... 254
XIV. A NEW POLITICAL ERA FOR ICELAND....... 266
XV. THE RETURN TO REJKIAVIK AND VOYAGE TO
SCOTLAND...................................  274




PART I.
EGYPT








EGYPT.
CHAPTER I.
ALEXANDRIA AFTER TWENTY-TWO YEARS.
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, March 14, I874.
HEN we passed Crete, two days ago, the north
wind-the very same "Euroclydon" which
once so interfered with the voyage of St. Paul-grew
finally tired of blowing, and a light breeze, with the
promise of summer on its wings, stole over the waters
fi-om the unseen Libyan shore. The gales which have
convulsed the Mediterranean this winter left only a
long, uneasy swell behind them, and we were even
glad to escape the sight of land, coupled as it was in
Sicily and Calabria and Crete with that of abundant
snow. Winter is never so wearisome as when one is
trying to escape it.
I saw Egypt for the last time in 1852, when steamers were just beginning to ply upon the Nile, and a
line of very rude omnibuses crossed the desert from
Cairo to Suez about once a month. There had been
a survey for a railroad, I believe, but the first spadeful
of earth had not yet been turned, and the Suez Canal




IO0


EGYPT.


was among the things not only unprojected, but
almost unmentioned. Abbas Pasha was making awkward attempts to introduce the European military system, upon the success of which further innovations
seemed to be waiting; Soudan was hardly subjected
to the Egyptian rule, and Gondokoro, now the starting-point of exploration on the White Nile, was then
its farthest limit. My own journey to Central Africa
was something so unusual that it was considered haz
ardous, for scarcely a dozen travellers had penetrated
into Nubia beyond the Second Cataract.
All these conditions have been wonderfully changed,
and now, in returning for the second time to a country
which, once seen, forever after attracts, my chief
interest will be to ascertain what corresponding change
has taken place in the condition, the habits, and the
ideas of the people. It is still an undecided point how
far the requirements of modern civilization will-or can
-be accepted by any portion of the Oriental race,
since there are so few which do not interfere with
either religious traditions or social usages of nearly
equal sanctity. There is no permanence in an exotic
civilization, possessed only by the governing class,
as has been the case heretofore; but now that
ship-canal, railway, telegraph, and printing-press
are owned by Egypt, the native race must perforce change or go under. This much by way of indicating the point of view which I have proposed to
myself.
We took passage at Naples on the Rubattino (Italian)
line of steamers, in consequence of reasonable recom



ALEXANDRIA.


II


mendation. The little, slow-going Sicilia, however,
with her berths in which you could not lie at full
length, her cabin in which you could not stand upright, her delicate sympathy with the least restlessness
of the waves, and her refusal to make more than nine
miles an hour under the most favorable circumstances,
was rather a sore disappointment to the seven American and four English passengers. But the fifth morning came at last, balmy and cloudless, and before
noon the pharos of Alexandria hovered like a faint
streak  over the far-sparkling water.  The white
houses on the point, the Cape of Figs, the glare of
the sandy Libyan coast, the windmills and clumps
of stumpy, wind-beaten palm-trees, rose and blended
into a low landscape, just as I had seen them before.
Then came a new mole, creating a grand artificial
harbor, with an inner port, crowded with vessels. The
water was alive with boats; dolphins leaped through
the dancing ripples, and flocks of snowy gulls circled
in the sun or dropped upon the waves. New York
Bay, on a fair June morning, is not more bright,
breezy, and joyous.
My former smattering of Arabic seemed to come
back suddenly with the necessity for using it, and the
vessel was barely anchored before I had bargained
with a boatman to take us ashore. In fact, we got
away so rapidly that a courteous Egyptian officer was
compelled to accompany us, in order that there might
be somebody to receive us at the almost deserted landing place. Passports are still called for, which seems
a most unnecessary regulation, since no fee is de



12


EG YP T.


manded; a douceur of two francs to the officer of
customs saves the necessity of opening trunks, and
the traveller is then admitted into the whirlpool of
coachmen, donkey-drivers, and porters, waiting in the
street outside. But the cries and gesticulations mean
nothing serious, and the stranger who has been frightened by the representations of certain guide-books may
possess his soul in peace if he only keeps a serene
countenance. Show signs of timidity or bewilderment,
and the uproar may rise to a fearful pitch; announce
your will briefly, and with an air of calm authority,
in either English, French, or Italian, and you will be
understood and readily obeyed.
In twenty minutes from the time we left the steamer's deck we were seated in a carriage, and threading
the narrow streets of the old town, on our way to the
Hotel d'Europe. I only needed to say, in Arabic, " I
have been in Alexandria before," to change the howls
of the porters into grins and stop their clamor for
more pay. The noises which followed were simply
picturesque-merchants crying their wares, warnings
of coachmen and donkey-boys, or greetings and gossip in the open booths. Here was old Alexandria
still; nor was there much sign of change when we
emerged into the dusty and shabby " Grand Square."
A bronze equestrian statue of Mohammed Ali, in the
centre thereof, now offends the faith of Islam, while
it encourages but very slightly one's own faith in art.
The hotel has added an immense sign, "Patronized
by H. R. H. the Prince of Wales," with the three
feathers, but omitting the " Ich dien," which I thought




ALEXANDRIA.


13


a bad emen, until reassured by finding service and
table really good.
A far larger stream of human life and a more motley mixture of nationalities poured through the square;
otherwise I noticed but one striking change. This is
the astonishing spread of the English language within
the last twenty years, resulting both from the numbers
of English and American travellers who visit the East,
and the use of the language by travellers of other nationalities. French, which until within the last few
years was indispensable, has been slowly fading into
the background, and is already less available than
English for Italy and all the Orient. I was not a little
surprised, in Rome, 'at being accosted by a native
boot-black with: "Shine up your boots?"      In
Naples, every peddler of canes, coral, photographs,
and shell-fish knows at least enough to make a good
bargain; but this is nothing to what one meets in Egypt.
The bright-witted boys learn the language with amazing rapidity, and are so apt at guessing what they do
not literally understand that the traveller no longer
requires an interpreter. At the base of Pompey's
Pillar to-day a ragged and dirty little girl came out
of a Fellah hut and followed us crying, " Give me a
ha'penny! " All the coachmen and most of the shopkeepers are familiar with the words necessary for
their business, and prefer to use them, even after they
see that you are acquainted vwith Italian or Arabic.
The simple, natural structure of the English language
undoubtedly contributes also to its extension. It is
already the leading language of the world, spoken by




14


EGYPT.


ninety millions of people (double the number of the
French-speaking races), and so extending its conquests year by year that its practical value is far in
advance of that of any other tongue.
In the older streets, and especially in the native
bazars, all is gay, diversified, Oriental. The faces,
costumes, and dialects of Syria, Tripoli, and Tunis
are mixed with those of Egypt, and even groups of
wondering Desert Arabs are a daily sight. I saw
several this morning, evidently very much puzzled by
a collection of large children's dolls in a shop window;
their faces were an interesting study. But with what
a simple dignity they wore their ragged burnouses!
What fine, statuesque grace in every deliberate movement or gesture! These pictures, which meet you at
every turn, give to the newer portion of Alexandria,
which is architecturally like Leghorn or Marseilles, a
semi-Oriental character. Of its 225,000 inhabitants,
at least Ioo,ooo are of European blood. It has more
than doubled in twenty years, and the rubbish of unfinished or demolished buildings meets your eye
wherever you go. The banking capital of the city is
estimated at $125,ooo,ooo-not much less than that of
New-York, where, however, the amount of business
is not always an evidence of the basis upon which it
is carried on. Where everybody rode on donkeys, in
1852, there are now superb equipages, and the rich
merchants are building up a suburb of sumptuous
villas and gardens at Ramleh, four or five miles to the
eastward of the city.
We drove.o the Pasha's garden under fair sunshine,




ALEXANDRIA.


I5


through mild and yet bracing air; but the signs of
a severe Winter were visible in the nipped and dilap.
idated banana trees, the dull hues of the palms, and
the absence of any but the very first indications of
Spring. The sycamore, fig, and mulberry trees are
still as naked and gray as in Northern Italy; only
the almond and apricot are in blossom. The garden
seemed to be under a: mysterious ban; Summer,
Spring, and Winter were mixed in the trees and
plants, as if Nature had lost her calendar and were
feebly endeavoring to find out the season. A large
military band, in scarlet uniform, played various
clashing and jingling pieces to about a hundred auditors, and half a dozen gardeners, in blue cotton caftans, lounged about to see that the few geraniums,
and gilliflowers were not plucked.
The return along the bank of the Mahmoudieh
Canal was altogether more satisfactory. The winding
water-course has all the character of a natural river;
native villages have sprung up on the further bank;
native craft, towed by men, move slowly back and
forth; camels and donkeys bring loads of lush green
grass from the fields beyond; crowds of women wash
clothes or vegetables in the water, and now and then
you see a devout Moslem, turned towards Mecca,
praying his afternoon prayer.  I remembered an
Egyptian coffee-house, shaded with palms, but could
not find it again. In its place there was a small Greek
establishment, where an inferior Mocha was brought
to us in Frank cups, and even the narghileh had lost
its former fashion. Indeed, our going to such a place




t6                 E., GYPT.
at all seemed to surprise the Arab coachman, and to
be hardly welcome to the keeper of the caf6. But
what is to become of the Orient if its characteristic features thus disappear? With the caf6, the story-teller
will go; next, the pipe and the little cup of frothy,
aromatic coffee; and finally, the Egyptian will sit indoors, at a marble table, with a cigar in his mouth and
a bottle of soda-water (?) before him.
Moslem and Frank seem to live very harmoniously
here, side by side. The former have either conquered
their religious prejudices or learned to suppress the
evidence of them. Even in passing through the bazar
of the Tunisians, who have always been narrowly fanatical in this respect, a few words in their language
brought courteous and friendly answers. Whatever
Frank habits the people may have adopted, they still
keep their grace and cheerfulness, their clamor for
much and their satisfaction with little. I am inclined
to think that a change of costume (which means far
more here than in most other countries) must precede
-or at least be the sign of-any important change in
their ideas.
If the Suez Canal has injured the commerce of Alexandria, as was predicted, the loss has certainly been
made up in other ways, for few cities of its size show
greater evidence of present growth and prosperity.
Mr. Babbitt, the American Vice Consul-General,
informs me that the trade with the United States has
greatly increased within the past year. It is not a
place where the tourist tarries long-for the column
which the Arab coachmen call " Bombey's Billar"




ALEXANDRIA.                 17
may be seen in an hour-but it is really an interesting
frontispiece to the new civilization of Egypt. The hotels have all the European comforts except that of
bells, but if H. R. H. was willing to stand at his
chamber door and clap his hands three times for a
waiter to come, why should we object? Besides, you
may remember that they did just so in the Arabian
Nights.
So many American travellers imagine March to be
too late a month for Egypt, that I must inform them
we are just comfortable-and no more-without fires.
The temperature is that of a day in early June, say 70'
in the shade.




CHAPTER II.


FROM ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO BY RAIL.
CAIRO, March I6.
THE old route from Alexandria to Cairo, by steam
or rail, along the Mahmoudieh Canal to Atfeh,
and up the Rosetta arm of the Nile, is a thing of the
past. Instead of twelve hours on the steamer, or
three to six days on a dahabiyeh, the express trains
now make the intervening hundred and thirty miles
in exactly four hours and a half, and carry the traveller
across the rich inland levels of the Delta, which he
never saw in former years. All authorities, guidebooks included, warn you solemnly against taking the
ordinary trains, on the ground that they never obey
the time-table and may be delayed for hours on the
way. For us, however, the express was too punctual,
because too fast. I did not consider an additional
hour and a half any too much for an entirely new
route, and was not particularly satisfied when the predictions proved false and the train kept its exact
time.
At the Alexandria station, a large dusty building
beyond the canal, there was certainly, at the start, an
atmosphere of great repose and indifference. The
ticket-seller at the open window counted gold pieces




FROM ALEXAN DRIA TO CAIRO BY RAIL. 19
for about five minutes before attending to my demand,
and the officials in the baggage-room discussed a variety of topics while weighing and registering our two
small trunks. The first-class fare is a little less than six
dollars, which, with one franc for baggage, is not an excessive charge. A dozen persons were gathered in the
shabby waiting-room, while the native passengers, third
and fourth-class, came forth as a large multitude from
their separate den. The first and second-class cars
were made after the English model, the former with
comfortable leather seats, but without curtains to the
windows. The conductor and his subalterns spoke English,, with a smattering of French and Italian. Every
one connected with the train seemed to be lounging
about the platform, moving slowly, speaking gently,
and apparently coveting an opportunity for a good
nap. There was no noise; the locomotive neither
whistled nor snorted; only a bell, with a very lazy
clapper, struck once or twice somewhere, and, at the
appointed minute, the train slid almost noiselessly out
of the station. From first to last, indeed, there was
less jarring and sound than upon any other railway I
have ever travelled. The track, almost perfectly level
and with few curves, rests on a low embankment of
the elastic alluvial soil, into which the rails are kept
from sinking by using broad iron saucers in place of
sleepers.
For the first twenty-five miles, between Lake Mareotis on the right and the canal on the left, there
is little to be seen. Water and reeds, sandy shores in
the distance, wild ducks and pelicans, and congrega



20


EGYPT.


tions of storks in the nearer marshes, appear on the one
hand: on the other are scant fields of wheat and barley, pastures where horses and buffaloes graze, clumps
of tamarisk or palm, and, bounding all, like a very
dirty frame to a simple but sunny picture, the banks
of the canal, above which you sometimes see the
curved and pointed top of a lateen sail. Every halfmile or thereabouts, wherever there is a little mound
rising a few feet above the inundatable soil, you see
a Fellah village, resembling a nest of mud-wasps
magnified, with lean chickens and children scratching
about in the sun, and a woman or two carrying water
from the neighboring pool.
The first two stations were little more than wateringplaces for the engines; but even there we found
water-carriers with their porous earthen jars, and vendors of oranges and sugar-cane clamoring for custom.
The names of the places were not called out; but an
assistant conductor, who scented backsheesh in the
distance, and spoke a little English, privately announced them to us. A native attendant with a large
dinner-bell on his shoulder, was always on hand,
grave and responsible, to give the signal for departure. Yet, although we halted every twelve miles,
making a leisurely and friendly call in each instance,
our running speed was between twenty-five and thirty
miles an hour.
Once having rounded the eastern end of Lake Mareotis, the road turns to the southward, and enters the
broad, triangular region of Lower Egypt.  The near
marshes and the distant ridges of sand are no longer




ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO B Y RAIL.          2I
seen; fields of cotton, beans, wheat, barley, and clover stretch away to the horizon, intersected by canals
of irrigation, whose courses may be traced by their
borders of tamarisk-the tree sacred to Osiris. The
men and children seem to be all out of doors, plowing
with buffalo teams, cutting clover, watching the grazing animals, or squatting on their heels in the sun and
doing nothing. A fresh, balmy smell of vegetation
enters the open windows as we speed along. The
temperature makes the breeze welcome, yet our woollen garments are none too warm. It is like a warm
spring without its languor, or a summer tempered by
high mountain air.
About forty miles from Alexandria we approach the
large town of Damanhoor, the capital of nearly all
the agricultural region west of the Nile, with which it
is connected by a navigable canal. Some hundreds
of previous mud towns must have crumbled into ruin
and been again built upon, to form the mound upon
which the present place is built. Its material, also, is
chiefly mud; but the lines of the houses, " battering
in " (to use the builder's term) like the pylae of old
temples, give them a certain stateliness. It was either
market-day, or a fair was being held: thousands of
men, women, children, camels, oxen, and asses filled
the open space on the western slope of the mound,
and crowds of the curiously-inclined thronged about
the station. The Egyptian passengers bought heads
of lettuce, which they ate with great relish, curds, and
cakes of coarse, dark bread.  The water-jars were
also in demand for the washing of hands; so that the




22


EG YP T.


railway, thus far, seemed to have adapted itself to na.
tive habits rather than to have modified them. The
people who came to look at the train were simply
idlers, to whom neither locomotives nor Franks were
any longer an astonishment: the innovation was accepted as a part of the Inevitable. As a Progressist,
I ought to have been disappointed; but I am afraid
there was a feeling of satisfaction at the bottom of my
unregenerate nature, on finding that the Oriental repose had not yet been seriously shaken.
Our glimpse of the fair at Damanhoor was like a
tableau upon which the' curtain falls before one has
fairly seen it. The main country road, however, ran
side by side with the railway for ten or fifteen miles
further, and gave us the view of an almost unbroken
procession of people on their way to market. Nothing
could have been more varied and picturesque. A Copt
in his black mantle, bulged out by the wind, as he sat
on his donkey; a camel laden with sacks of grain, on
the top of which was perched a coop full of chickens;
a whole Fellah family, partly on foot, the men riding,
the women with bundles balanced on their heads; a
naked boy, washing himself in a pool left in the drying canal; a peddler resting cross-legged in the sun,
and as grave as the Pope giving his benediction to the
world; an Egyptian officer, prancing along on horseback, with his pipe-bearer, in white and scarlet, running in advance-these were the chief figures in a
procession which was strongly relieved in color,
against the deep, juicy green of the wheat-fields or the
pale, pearly blue of the air. But for these figures,




ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO B Y RAIL.          23
the Delta would have resembled an Illinois prairie as
much as anything.
At noon we reached the Nile, crossing it by a magnificent iron bridge to the town of Kafr ez-Zyat, where
the train stops twenty minutes. There is said to be a
restaurant here, but it is hardly in the station, and I
suspect few passengers patronize it, or a guide would
have been on hand. Lettuce, stalks of sugar-cane and
fig paste were abundantly offered, also oranges grimy
with much handling. We were the only Frank travellers, and undoubtedly received less attention than if
we had come by the express. The sub-conductor was
the only person who seemed at all interested in our
fortunes, and his purpose therein was evident from the
start. But we had prudently brought a lunch with us,
and so enjoyed the stop at Kafr ez-Zyat, which might
otherwise have been a disappointment.
For eleven miles further, to Tantah, the country is
a superb agricultural picture. Every foot of it yields
a rich return, and the soil does not seem to require
more than a week's rest between crops. Wheat is now
a foot high, barley is coming into head, horse-beans
are in blossom, and the almond-trees are fair with
young leaves. Looking toward the sun, the wide level
gleamed like a perfect emerald. The dark brown
loam, as it was turned by the plow, crumbled with a
mellowness which would have made an American
farmer's mouth water. With such a soil, and under
such a sky, the labor in the fields seemed to be half
play. But the Egyptian Fellah, with all his capacity
for indolence, is by no means a lazy man. On the con



24


EG YPT.


trary, he is a steady and cheerful worker, whenever
compelled by necessity, or directed by an authority
which he respects. Few people, in proportion to their
means and the development of their resources, are at
present so heavily taxed, and none bear their burdens
with equal patience.
Tantah is a large and lively town, and possesses one
of the forty or fifty palaces of the Khedive. Other
railways branch from it down the Delta; the station
is spacious and unusually clean, and for the first time
since leaving Alexandria there was a large accession
of passengers. Many of the recently built houses are
Italian in character, handsomely stuccoed and painted,
and embowered in pleasant gardens. This was all I
could observe of a place which I hope to revisit and
describe more particularly before leaving Egypt.
The further stretch of twenty miles before reaching
the Damietta arm of the Nile only repeated what we
had already seen. Once the fertile alluvial plain was
interrupted by a sand-island-a low ridge, four or five
miles in length-which appeared to have been blown
from the Eastern Desert, in the lapse of many centuries,
to its present position. Such islands are probably erratic in their character, like those in Northern Germany, and might be made stationary by the same
means-that is, covering them with certain tenacious
grasses and shrubs. Their elevation above the plain
is so slight that they might even be irrigated, and thus
lose their barrenness. I saw, in fact, the beginning
of the latter process at several points along the road.
But for the palm-trees and the mud villages, this




ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO BY RAIL.           25
part of the Delta might be compared to the richest
lowlands of England, in early June. The deep colors
of the vegetation and the soft, changing hues of the
sky prevented it from becoming monotonous to the
eye. When we had crossed the second Nile and passed
the flourishing town of Benha, where the railway sends
off a branch to Ismailia and Suez, the country became
even more densely populated.  This region is the
Goshen of the Israelites, and one can hardly wonder
that many of them sighed for its flesh-pots while following Moses through the bleak valleys of Sinai. At
this point you see two far blue peaks, rising above the
palms and tamarisks on the south-western horizon,
and know them to be the Pyramids by the precision
of their outlines.
It is but twenty miles further to Cairo, and the landscape becomes gradually more and more crowded with
life. On both sides, in the distance, the bare yellow
hills of the Desert arise to enhance, by contrast, the
luxuriance of the plain: the Fellah villages disappear,
and well-built country-houses, with gardens of orange
and banana trees, take their place. A constant string
of horses, camels, and donkeys fills the main road;
flocks of sheep, with heavy brown fleeces, graze along
the bank, and the white ibises stand upright and look
at the train without fear as,it passes. Here a little
portable steam engine is at work, pumping water for
irrigation; there a man is loosening large cubes of
rich soil from the cracked bottom of a dry canal, and
heaping them up for the enrichment of his gardens.
Camels carry manure to the fields in widebaskets, and




26


EG YP T.


return laden with bales of fresh lucern. As the Citadel of Cairo, with the reed-like minarets of Mohammed Ali's mosque comes in sight, we also see the
smoky chimneys of manufactories, great barracks and
buildings on either side,-in short, a vast, crowded,
active suburb, where there were only open fields in
my memory.
At the station of Kalioob, another railway branches
off to the eastward, following the course of the new
fresh-water canal, which carries the Nile to Port Said
and Suez. It unites with the road from Benha at the
town of Zagazig, and thus forms the communication
by rail between Cairo and the Red Sea. The former
shorter railway, directly across the Desert, has been
abandoned.
On time, but almost too soon, our train entered the
terminal station at Shoobra. An omnibus from the
Hotel du Nil was in waiting, and its conductor carried us quietly through a raging sea of Arab porters.
The native passengers, less fortunate, were seized and
tossed hither and thither; a hundred throats screamed,
entreated or expostulated, and two hundred hands
were hurled forward in menace or toward Heaven in
frantic appeal. How long the confusion lasted, I cannot guess. It grew fainter as we drove away, without
appearing to grow less.
The broad, crowded streets through which we passed;
the European architecture, signs in English, French
and Italian; the open carriages and unveiled ladieswere these Cairo? I could scarcely believe it. Vainly
I peered to right and left, in the hope of discovering




ALEXAN.DRIA TO CAIRO BY RAIL.         27
some old landmark. There was a large, open, dusty
square: could it be the shady Ezbekeeyeh, the haunt
of native gossips and story-tellers? At last came the
old street of the JMooskee, but crowded and muddy as
I had never seen it. Now the omnibus stops: we
thread a narrow, winding lane between high Oriental
houses,, and suddenly emerge into a sunny garden of
palms and acacias, surrounded by the quadrangle of
the hotel. Here, in the balmy evening, as the muezzin calls the asser prayer from a near minaret, no other
sound or cry penetrating from the motley streets, I feel
that I have reached Cairo.




CHAPTER III.


A NEW PICTURE OF CAIRO.
CAIRO, March 20.
IT is not quite easy to make the changes which
Cairo has undergone during the last twenty years
clear to any one who was not acquainted with the
extent and appearance of the city at that time. Its
germ, or original starting point, was the citadel, which
crowns the extremity of a low spur of the Mokattam
Hills, about three miles from the Nile, and where the
mosque built by Saladin and the well he excavated in
the limestone rock are still in existence. The Saracenic city of the Middle Ages grew up around the
western and southern base of this fortress, admitting
Coptic, Jewish, and Frank quarters as it spread, and
as commercial intercourse with Europe brought practical tolerance to its rulers and people. The western
suburb thus always represented the latest phase of
growth, and the stranger reached successively older
belts of history as he penetrated eastward toward the
Citadel. But even the part added by Mohammed Ali,
including the square of the Ezbekeeyeh, was more Oriental than European in character. The native Carenes adopted it as a ground for rest and gossip, and
always crowded its open-air caf6s.




CAIRO.


29


In 1852, the houses on the western side of the Ez.
~ekeeyeh were the end of Cairo in that direction.
Beyond them you entered the broad road, two miles
long, shaded with acacia and plane trees, which led to
Boulak, then a shabby little town, and chiefly important as the point of embarkation on the Nile. I knew,
of course, that the open space between Cairo and
Boulak must have been greatly encroached upon by
the growth of the capital; but I was not prepared for
the astonishing changes in the physiognomy of the
latter which I find, and which seem to be but the prelude to greater transformations. My first day or two
here were really quite bewildering. I recognized here
and there an old landmark, but it was torn away from
its former adjuncts or surroundings. What has been
added is of a character so different that it suggests
another land, another faith, other habits of life. How
it will harmonize with what already existed-wheth~.r,
indeed, it will veritably harmonize for a long while to
come-are questions which one need not try to answer.
It was quite evident that the present aspect of Egypt is
due to the personal will of the Khedive rather than to
the material development of the country, and that the
population, now patiently submitting thereto, would
be equally ready to obey a reactionary successor.
If the plan of destroying the purely Oriental character of Cairo, and turning it into a mimic European
capital, were fully carried out, one might, possibly,
be more easily reconciled to the change; but the city
is just now in that hideous period of transition when
the Old is falling into ruin and the New has not tiiled




30


EG YPT.


its place. Outside of the close, compact, ancient
quarters there is a broad border of unsightly rubbish;
where it is wholly cleared away, blocks of new, rectangular, utterly unpicturesque buildings have reached
the first or second story —and in both cases the result
is dust, stones, scaffolding, impediments.  At least
four square miles of the former fields and gardens between Cairo and the Nile are now laid out in broad
streets, raised high and dry above inundation mark,
rudely macadamized, and lighted with gas lamps.
Boulak and Roda are thus practically joined to the
city; squares and fountains, still lacking water and
trees, are placed at intervals, and a sort of aristocratic,
semi-Europeanfaubourg, suggesting France and Italy
at the same time, is thus in rapid process of creation.
One hardly knows whether to weep or rejoice. The
houses, certainly, are more comfortable homes than
Cairo ever before knew; the gardens around them are
a new and delightful feature; the broad, fiery streets
will eventually become avenues of shade, and free
currents of air from every quarter will make the city
a healthy residence; but-it will not be the Cairo of
the Caliphs and the Mamelukes.
The evening of my arrival I made inquiries for my
faithful dragoman, Achmet es-Saidi, of whose death I
had heard, some years ago, but whom I stubbornly refused to believe dead. An instinct stronger than reason told me I should see him again, and when he
actually came and stood before me-a little grayer after
twenty-two years, but as good a Moslem, as honest a
man, and as faithful a friend as ever —I was surprised




CA IR O.


31


at the fulfillment of my own prediction. He has prospered, in the meantime: he is the owner of several
houses, and no longer needs to accompany the Frank
traveller on his eccentric pilgrimages, but in all else
he is unchanged. I come back to verify my old experience of human nature: in Christian or Moslem.
Jew or Buddhist, the true man is true, and the false
is false: not the creed as an abstraction, but its practical exemplification in life, is the gauge of religion.
Achmet, and various Mohammedan priests whom I
have known, promise me free entrance into their
Heaven; I, in turn, hope to welcome them in mine.
But I am straying from the theme. Through my
old friend, I have been trying to learn how the native
Cairenes look upon the innovations of the Khedive,
the transformations going on in their beloved city.
It is not easy to get to the bottom of the truth, the
Oriental is so prone to accept without reflecting. The
old orthodox Moslem element, I suspect, is discontented and perhaps scandalized; the mass of the people, fond of show, of the display of wealth and the
indirect largesse which accompanies it, are diverted.for the present, and therefore satisfied. The Future
is an unknown factor in the calculation of th.e latter
class. They will cheerfully loaf all day in the sun if
but a single farthing is left them for supper. It really
seems as if the donkey-boys and others who prey upon
travellers conceive their business as a lottery, for they
will refuse the offers in the morning, which, after
lost hours of idleness, they accept in the afternoon.
Our hotel, in the old Frank quarter, a little way off




32


EG YPT.


the lMooskee, lies within the undisturbed region. If I
turn to the right on issuing from it, I presently come
into the ancient bazars, sweet with smothered scents
of aloes and sandal-wood, shaded, stately with grave
merchants, and offering pictures which recall the
Arabian Nights at every turn. There are still carved
Saracenic portals, cool, mysterious courts, arcades
where the grave tailors or jewelers ply their trade,
sunny glimpses of mosques and fountains, and the
usual procession of veiled women, eunuchs, ebony
slaves from Dar-Fur, and the Faithful of the East and
West. Turn to the left, however, and in a few minutes you reach a dusty square where Ibrahim Pashathe Lion of Egypt-checks his horse in bronze and
stretches his bronze arm toward the modern quarters
of the city. "0, Egyptian! " I said to a native;
"r what do the people think of this? " 0, stranger!"
he answered, "they ought to think it a great sin."
But the multitude, I suspect, doesn't think at all, or
there would be fewer photographs of the natives displayed in the shop-windows. The aim of Mohammed
in prohibiting the representation of a human being,
was simply to prevent a lapse into idolatry; hence a
statue, left to itself, without religious honors, soon
ceases to alarm the people's faith.
The Ezbekeeyeh, I insist, has been ruined.  In
place of the old haunt of shade and Latakia smoke,
with its quadrangular canal for the inundation, you
have now a much larger park, which resembles a beggarly section of the Bois de Boulogne. There are in
it a curvihg pond, a bridge, several kiosks, plots of




CAIRO.


33


unhappy turf which pine and languish from the very
efforts to make them grow, and clumps of trees and
shrubbery which seem intended to suggest a cooler
climate and miserably fail. I noticed no palms; they
are probably too Egyptian. It must be a great expense to keep up this exotic park, and, if successful,
it will be just what the uncorrupted traveller does not
wish to see. The palace built for the Prince of Wales,
the Opera House, and the New Hotel (owned by the
Khedive) front on this square, and, on such a miserably cold, rainy day as we had on Wednesday, one
might have fancied oneself in Haussman's Paris. Today, when the sun of Egypt returns to warm us, when
thousands of palms rock in the gentle breeze, and a
warmer color touches the hills of the Desert, the
whole scene is painfully incongruous-almost absurd.
Some of the newer blocks have spacious arcades,
like Turin or Bologna,-an arrangement admirably
adapted to the climate, and certainly better than the
covered bazars of the old city. I do not know how far
this feature is to be applied, for there are vast spaces
where you see only demolition and not reconstruction.
The new streets beyond the great square are' lined
with private dwellings and gardens, and will be well
shaded in the course of time. An adequate supply of
water is the first necessity. This can easily be obtained by an aqueduct tapping the Nile twenty or
thirty miles above Cairo. At present, most of the inhabitants must buy their supply, and I saw the poor
people, yesterday, filling their jars from the dirty puddile in the street. Four or five Government fountains




34


~EC V_/' 7'.


send up a spray which is delightful to behold, but
that is a luxury, and not to be used by the public.
Leaving out of sight the Romantic —that which appeals to an established sentiment, to old associations,
or to a passion for the picturesque in form and colorwhat is the effect of a growth which is not even a graft
on the old stock, but a foreign plant, artificially (as it
seems) nourished, and chiefly by a single personal
will? I am hardly able to answer the question, as yet.
To do so justly, requires a better knowledge of the ideas
and feelings of the native Cairenes than I have yet acquired. They seem unchanged: if there is more
natural patience with the new element which partly
controls them, more fraternal tolerance, release from
old traditions and superstitions, it is hardly manifested
in a positive form. I found them formerly, as now,
friendly, social, transparent in their cunning, easily
checked and controlled, harsh masters and patient
servants. The Frank, of course, is secure against
active discourtesy, and the prejudice from which it
might spring is probably slowly wearing away.
It is difficult to disentangle the imaginary and the
real, in one's memory. Perhaps if the old Cairo
which I knew were now suddenly restored, I should
like it less than what I find. A railway from Alexandria; a bridge over the Nile; a carriage road to the
Pyramids and Heliopolis; a telegraph, a daily paper,
an opera, Christian churches,-these are changes not
to be rejected or undervalued. No doubt, also, when
the work of pulling down and rebuilding-which is
always hideous-shall have been completed, the result




CA IRO.


35


will be far more satisfactory than the present stage of
transition. I am amazed at the growth of Cairo, yet
cannot fully enjoy its character.
As if to make the change more emphatic, the wintry weather we tried to escape by leaving Italy has
followed us even here. After a sharp north wind on
Tuesday, Wednesday came with cloud and a chilly
rain (thermometer at 45~) which lasted all day, and
obliged us, since fire-places are unknown, to sit in
cloaks, with doors and windows closed. The VMooskee
was knee-deep in mud this morning, and the streets
of Boulak were a succession of pools. March is usually the most delightful month of the year, in Egypt;
but now, when Constantinople is snowed up, and
people freeze to death on Chios, we must needs shiver
on the banks of the Nile. How far the present unusual amount of rain here is attributable to the opening of the Suez Canal, the increased area of agriculture, and the planting of trees in the Delta, is a question which it would be premature to discuss. One can
hardly draw conclusions on a less basis than the average of ten years.
The expense of living, in Alexandria and Cairo, has
increased about fifty per cent. since i852; but the expense of a voyage up the Nile is from two to three times
as much as then. A large dahabeeyeh, then costing two
hundred and fifty dollars per month, now commands
seven hundred and fifty dollars-which, considering
that the value of the boat is about three thousand five
hundred dollars, is enormously exorbitant. Luxurious
travellers are chiefly to blame for this state of things,




36                  EGYPT.
and I imagine that the Stars and Stripes cover quite
as much reckless ostentation as any other flag. The
steamers take parties of twenty or thirty at forty-six
pounds apiece, to the First Cataract and back in three
weeks. These parties generally return in a state of
violent contention, even (in one case, this Winter)
with pending duels, which is rather a dismal view of
human nature to one who has seen Abydos and Karnak.
I have given, thus far, only my first rapid impressions,
reserving the right to change them as further experience may require. I do not and cannot believe that
development is loss-certainly not where it strikes
deep roots into the nature of a race and feeds it with
new sustenance. But the Orientals draw comfort and
strength from other sources than we do, and one must
learn what thoughts are hidden under their grave
faces before deciding finally how they are affected by
the grand movements of our age.




CHAPTER IV.


SIGHTS IN AND AROUND CAIRO.
CAIRO, March 23, 1874.
MUST begin with the weather-a theme unknown
to Egyptian conversation, unless it happens to be
very extraordinary, as now. You cannot say, "What
a fine day! " in a country where all normal days are
fine; nor exchange predictions when to-morrow, and
next week, and next month, are known in advance by
everybody.  Egypt has heretofore been a certain
refuge to all who are weary of our endless meteorological small-talk; but I begin to doubt whether it
will continue to remain so. The Mexicans have always said that the Anglo-Saxon race changes the climate wherever it settles. So, here, it almost seems
as if the increase of the Frank element and the introduction of Frank civilization have given lawlessness
and change to an atmosphere which once was calm
as the Sphinx and steady as the Pyramids.
For two days past the thermometer has fallen to 44~
in the mornings. Day before yesterday it snowed at
Suez, and a passenger just arrived from India says
that the voyage up the Red Sea, hitherto known as a
very horror of heat, was painfully cold! We have




38


EGYPT.


tried in vain to get even an Arab mnangal, or brazier
of coals; but the hotel has none to offer. So we put
on shawls and overcoats through the day, and go to
bed early that warmth may come back under double
blankets. " 'Tis the clime of the East, 'tis the land of
the sun! " Turn over your Byron, and when found make
note of. Toward evening there is a heavy shower or
two, and last night it rained again furiously. The
old, unpaved streets thus become almost impassable
from mud, and the authorities have invented no better
plan than to collect and carry it away in carts. The
consequence is that the level of the streets is rapidly
sinking, and in a few years more the merchants will
sit on high banks while their customers stand below
and bargain. His Highness, the Khedive, it appears,
being engaged in erecting several new palaces in ad
dition to the thirty or forty he already possesses, has
no money to spare for the cleansing and paving of
Cairo. It is a sad condition, and one which claims
our deepest sympathies.
For the past two or three days I have been learning
Cairo over again, and the first confusion resolves itself
into tolerably definite bounds. A line drawn north
and south at the entrance of the Mooskee, the ancient
Frank street, separates what is left of the old city
from the modern squares and avenues in the west.
The latter are thus embraced in an i.rregular quadrangle, extending to the Nile at the former towns of
Boulak and Roda. The first impression made upon
the stranger is thus the worst; for the chief hotels are
near the line of demolition and incomplete restoration




SIGHITS IN AND ARO UID CAIRO.


39


which separates the two portions of the capital. Here,
acres of old Saracenic houses are being levelled to the
ground, or have left gaps of stone and dust behind
them; blocks of growing buildings are unsightly with
scaffolding and heaps of prepared material; old trees
are cut away, new ones are making efforts to grow,
and sun, wind, and dust alternately assail you. Two,
three, or at the utmost five years, may see these gaps
closed, the streets roofed with shade, the new gardens
filled with bowery foliage, and the transition thereby
relieved of its present disagreeable features. When
that much is accomplished, Cairo may be more attractive than ever.
The old streets seem crowded with life as never before; but here, as in Alexandria, I notice no change,of any consequence in the appearance or habits of the
Moslem population. The Cairenes were always more
tolerant of the Franks than the Syrian Arabs or the
Turks at Constantinople; but now, when one wears
a fez and speaks a little Arabic, they cannot be sure
he is not in the Pasha's service, and are courteous as
a matter of policy. The ugly women still go closely
veiled, while the young and beautiful seem inclined
to adopt the Turkish costume of wearing a thin white
gauze which keeps up the Oriental proprieties, while
allowing them to enjoy the new luxury of admiration.
I have seen numbers of Pashas' wives and Odalisques
-Turkish or Circassian women-riding out in their
carriages, with their lustrous eyes and tints of milk
and roses scarcely dimmed to the public eye. Some
of them were exquisitely beautiful.




40


EGYP T.


Another evidence of a change in the ideas of the
governing class mnay be found in the character of theis
dwellings. The curiously latticed balconies of carved
wood, behind which the women were wont to sit
unseen, are no longer constructed; the many windows
of the new Italian houses have no more formidable
guard than ordinary Venetian blinds. In place of high
stone walls around the gardens, there are frequently
iron railings; even little ornamental statues are beginning to creep in among the flowers. I am not able
to say how far the daughters of the higher class are
educated, but since many of them are now able to read
and speak French, and are allowed to associate familiarly with European ladies, they must gradually become discontented with the jealous surveillance of the
Orient. It will be a long time, however, before any
reform of this kind strikes down among the lower
orders of the people.
I have almost come to the conclusion that there is
no more cheerful and patient race in the world than
the Egyptian Moslem. My remembrance of their nature, in this respect, is more than confirmed on seeing
them again. The classes who make their living out
of strangers are on the watch for a good bargain, of
course, but they are easily manageable, and much less
apt to violate an agreement than the Italians. Even
the country children, with their incessant cry of
"backsheesh/" their laughing eyes and cheerful acceptance of a refusal, contrast pleasantly with the incessant whine and the " per amore di Dio " which
one hears in Rome and Naples. I have spoken to




SIGHTS IN AND AROUND CAIRO.           41
numbers of Fellahs or tradesmen in the streets, and
always received a courteous and frank answer. If one
of the natives happens to be rude in a crowd, he is
generally reproved by the bystanders. Even sudden
quarrels among the people are settled without malice,
and you often see two good friends who, fifteen minutes before, were pummeling each other. It is the
worst possible policy for a traveller to lose his temper
here; a firm but cheerful bearing will carry him
through all straits.
I have found one thing quite unchanged-the old
avenue of Indian sycamores and acacias leading to the
palace and gardens of Shoobra. That is, the trees
themselves remain, with their gnarled and twisted
gray trunks, their immense snaky arms, and their uninterrupted arch of shade, forming a vista five miles
long; but villas and gardens on either side have crept
far out over the former fields, and the broad stretches
of harvest land across which you once saw the Pyramids and the Mokattam hills, have shrunk into scattered patches, destined also to disappear in the course
of time. This road is still the favorite drive of an
afternoon, and nothing can be more picturesque than
its mixture of camels and carriages, dandies and donkeys, chignons and henna stains, stove-pipes and
white turbans, salaam-aleikooms and ravi-de-vousvoirs.
The magnificence of Shoobra is quite gone, however. The pool in the Kiosk of Fountains is full of
water-weeds; the menagerie of African animals has
been transferred to Gezeereh, across the Nile; the




42


EG YP T.


ridiculous miniature hill, with its pine-trees, looks dis.
mally dilapidated, and the garden has become an ordinary orchard of orange, almond, and peach-trees.
We did not think it worth while to enter the palace
to see a lot of French furniture, so inferior, both in
color and design, to the upholstery of Persia or Bagdad. The gardener presented the ladies with bouquets,
in which only the gilly-flower was fragrant; to me he
gave a button-hole rosebud, which grew only the
sweeter as it withered.
A day or two ago, on passing the grand old mosque
of Sultan Hassan, we stopped and entered unchallenged. There is something very simple and noble
in the interior. A bright-eyed little girl, who gave
her name as Zaida, brought us slippers of matting, to
wear over our shoes; a very meek attendant accompanied us; another lingered beside the nmimbar, or
pulpit, but no others of the faithful were present to
be shocked by our entrance-if, indeed, such an occurrence shocks them at all now. But the coolness and
stillness of the grand inner court, with its four open
semi-domes on the sides, its central roof of sky, and
its large fountain for ablutions, impressed us with
greater solemnity than many an emblazoned Christian cathedral. The perfect simplicity and sincerity
of Moslem worship appeals to the Quaker element in
my own blood; so, when I enter a mosque, the signs
of race and climate and the symbolism of faith fade
away, and I only remember that we are fellow-believers in the One God.
Side by side with the pile of Sultan Hassan-the




SIGHTS IN AAND AROUND CAIRO.


43


walls of which are beginning to crack dangerously —
the Khedive is building a magnificent mosque of
equal proportions, to bear the name of his mother. It
is hardly yet sufficiently advanced to enable one to
judge of its architectural style; but I venture to say
that it will embody the Saracenic fancies of a European architect, and be about as truly Saracenic as the
Church of the Madeleine is Greek. Many persons,
however, will never detect the difference. Here, all
around the base of the Citadel, there is tearing down
and building up, with the usual rubbish and whirling
dust.
It was a relief to ride out the Abbasiyeh Gate, pass
the deserted cemetery under the walls, and issue upon
the brown, dry plain, where stand the Tombs of the
Caliphs. Here the lonely domes, rippled with patterns of ornament like so many drifts of desert sand,
the exquisitely varied forms of the minarets, the empty
courts and falling arcades have only the arid hills for
a background. A reach of the Nile valley shimmers
in the distance like a dark-green lake. Strings of
melancholy camels pass, from time to time, and the
cries of their drivers sound almost like those of wild
birds in the distance. Here the imagination is powerfully stirred, and the vanishing Orient becomes real
again,,




CHAPTER V.


A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS.
CAIRO, March 25, I874.
yESTERDAY I decided that the weather had finally settled fair, and we might venture as far as
the Pyramids without encountering either rain or cold
wind. Yet it was a day which would have deceived
any one unfamiliar with the phenomena of the Egyptian climate. The sky was overcast, rather with a soft,
ashen-colored fleecy vapor than with clouds; the
wind blew lightly from the south, leaving a heavy,
sultry feeling when it paused, and I was hardly surprised when an English tourist predicted "a fearful
storm, presently." When I answered "a storm is
impossible to-day," he looked at me with an air of
pitying incredulity, and then turned away. We engaged an open carriage at twenty francs for the day,
provided ourselves with lunch, and set out at nine
o'clock. Just above Boulak the Nile is now spanned
by a splendid iron bridge, beyond which a broad highway has been built, leading to the very base of the
Great Pyramid. This is certainly better than the
former approach by ferry-boat and donkey-path, for it
reduces the practical distance from three or four hours
to one and a half.
The way was crowded with camels and country




A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS.


45


people, the former bearing huge but not very heavy
burdens of freshly-cut clover. Women and donkeys
bore loads of vegetables, and the boys trotted, yelling,
after them. Our dark footman, in his white cap and
shirt, ran in advance of the carriage, parting the multitude to right and left with his long stick, and crying
out: " Take care, there! Take care of your legs! the
strangers are coming!" Thus we passed over the
bridge, entered the avenue of acacias leading to Gizeh,
and saw the Pyramids, flushed with a faint rose-color,
against the sky. The west bank of the Nile, Gezeereh, was formerly an island, as its name indicates, and
will soon be one again. The shallow channel having
been allowed to fill up, or being purposely dammed,
the river became so much stronger in its current that
the Boulak shore is partially eaten away, and the island
must, needs be restored. We presently reached the
track of the railway to Upper Egypt, which now starts
from Embabeh, on the western bank, but will soon be
run in connection with an early train from Alexandria,
so that travellers can leave the Mediterranean in the
morning and almost reach Siout, the capital of Upper
Egypt, in the evening. Looking southward over the
wheat fields, the immense fronts of two unfinished palaces meet the eye: I should take each of them to be as
large as Buckingham Palace, in London. The Khedive is building them for his two sons. And taxes are
high in Egypt, and money is scarce, and half of Mariette's inestimable collection of antiquities is stowed
away in dark magazines for want of room to show
them.




46


EG YP T.


The carriage-road is raised about twelve feet above
the level of the soil, in order to be dry during the season of inundation. The acacias with which it is
planted seem to grow with difficulty, and just now
many of them are being removed and replaced with
trunks a foot or two in diameter. They need expensive watering, however, until the roots are long enough
to reach the permanent moisture of the lower soil.
Even the huge old trees on the way to Shoobra seem
to require an occasional drink, in dry seasons.
Nothing could be lovelier than the intensely green
wheat lands, stretching away to the Libyan Desert,
bounded on the south by thick fringes of palm. The
wind blowing over them came to us sweet with the
odor of white clover blossoms: larks sang in the air,
snowy ibises stood pensively on. the edges of sparkling
pools, and here and there a boy sang some shrill,
monotonous Arab song. In the east, the citadelmosque stretched its two minarets like taper fingers
averting the evil eye; and in front of us the Pyramids seemed to mock all the later power of the world.
Not forty, but sixty centuries look down upon us from
those changeless peaks. They antedate all other human records, except those of the dynasty immediately
preceding that which built them. Hebrew, Sanskrit,
and Chinese annals seem half modern when one stands
at the foot of piles which were almost as old as the
Coliseum is now when Abraham was born.
We crossed the track of the railway, drove beside it
for a mile or two further, and then struck directly
across the level lands toward that rocky terrace of the




A TRIP TO THE P YRAMIDS:


47


Libyan Desert, which serves as a base for the Pyramids. Children ran beside the carriage clarcring for
money, and one or two boys, laboring under the singular delusion that they were contributing to our
pleasure, played the reed flute after a most weary and
distressing fashion. But there was less annoyance
from these causes than you generally meet in Italy, or
even some parts of Switzerland.
Nearer the Desert, there were belts of drifted sand
across the road, and the wheat and clover, after struggling briefly with their ancient enemy, ceased on
either side. It was so difficult for the horses to climb
the last slope that we dismounted and walked to the
northern base of the Great Pyramid, on the top of
which a little flag was fluttering, and two or three
dark forms were perceptible. The modern house,
built by the Khedive for the reception of his royal
and imperial guests, offers to all visitors the advantage
of shade and cold steps to sit on. A crowd of Fellahs
was in attendance, eager to help us up and down, to
climb -both Pyramids in ten minutes, or to sell us
modern scarabcei. They are now, however, a much
better behaved race than formerly. Nearly all of
them have a fair smattering of English, their demands
are regulated by custom, and if the traveller chooses
one as an inevitable guide and protector, he escapes
much annoyance from the others.
I had no desire to make the ascent a second time,
although it was well worth doing once. A crawl into
the hot and stifling interior can only be recommended
to the archaeologist. The grand, simple masses, built




48


EGYPT.


by Cheops and Cephrenes, satisfy both the eye and
the imagination when viewed from below, a few hundred yards from their bases. The best point, I think,
is a sandy mound beyond the Sphinx, whence you get
the exact view given in one of Carl Werner's wonderful aquarelles.
I found the Sphinx buried under ten or fifteen feet
more of sand than when I saw him last. The face was
evidently intended to be seen from below, for its expression becomes almost grotesque when the spectator
is brought so near its level. About eight years ago
M. Mariette discovered a very ancient temple just beyond it, and this, although lying wholly below the surface of the desert, has been kept tolerably clear of the
drifting sand. I have seen nothing in Egypt which
seems so old as this temple. It is built mainly of
rose-colored granite, the pillars simply square monoliths, roofs and doorways of the same, and no sign
of.inscriptions or decorative sculptures. It is certainly older-and who shall say how much older?-than
the Pyramids. In some sepulchral chambers lying
back of the pillared court, the roof is made of huge
blocks of alabaster. The whole edifice, in its bare and
massive simplicity, suggests Stonehenge rather than
the later architecture of Egypt.. small fee opened for us one of the lower rooms of
the Khedive's house, and we lunched in coolness and
quiet. One of the native hangers-on, after looking at
me for some time, said:
'" You were here a long while ago? "
"Yes," I answered.




A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS.


49


Trwenty years, or more?", Yes "
' And there was a gentleman with you-a Nemtzowe (German), I think?"
' Yes."
'"And you had trouble with the men who went up
the Pyramid? You went to yonder village (pointing
towards it), called the sheikh, and had the men punishe? "
" 'Yes."
" And there was a boy who carried a water bottle;
and the sheikh of the village told him to bring coffee
for you; and there was no coffee, at first; and the
shekh gave the boy a slap, threw him out the door,
and told him not to come again until he brought
it?
Yes: -well?"
"I was that boy."
I questioned Achmet to know whether he had told
the story of my first visit with its serio-comic interlude;
but he had not. The man's astonishing memory,
after so many years of tourists, had recognized me and
reproduced the incident with all its minor details.
By this time, several other carriages had arrived
from Cairo. Parties were lunching on the cold steps,
bargaining for modern scarabcei, strolling towards the
Sphinx with a crowd of Arabs at their heels, or climbing the steps of the Great Pyramid with many an awkward straddle, shoved from below and pulled up from
above. There were tweed coats, eye-glasses, canes,
chignons, fans, parasols-but let not the romantic




50o


EGYPT.


reader suppose that the sublime repose of the old
Egyptian world was in the least prejudiced by these
objects. They were but as drift-wood or sea-weed,
surging around the base of mightier natural pyramids,
along the shores of Norway or Maine. One is carried
so iar back-set in the presence of such imperious human will and unhindered power-that the real and far
more permanent greatness of our age fades away, and
its careless representatives become, for the time, mere
stingless insects, that hum and buzz for a few minutes,
to be carried away by the next breeze. No!-you
might pack billiard-rooms, lager-beer saloons, caJes
chanitants, stock-brokers' offices, and  Free-Trade
Leagues, around the pyramids, hold political meetings with a speaker standing on the Sphinx's head, or
make the adytum of the old temple below resound
with revival hymns, and you could not diminish tne
impression which these wonderful monuments exact
and compel you to feel. A dead faith —a lost race-a
forgotten power-a half recovered history-names and
glories and supreme human forces become as shadows
-yet what tremendous, overwhelming records they
have left behind!
As I rested in the shade, looking up to the gray
pinnacles, so foreshortened by nearness that much of
their actual height was lost, yet still indescrinably
huge, I could think of but one thing: we must have
a new chronology of Man. There, before me, the
Usher-Mosaic reckoning was not only antedated, but
a previous growth, of long, uncertain duration, was
made evident. There, in stones scattered about the




ATRIP TOP THE PYRAMIDS.


51


Desert, were inscriptions cut long before any tradition
of Hebrew, Sanskrit, Phoenician, or Greek-clear, intelligible words, almost as legible to modern scholarship as those of living languages. This one long, unbroken stream of light into the remote Past illuminates darker historic apparitions on all sides, and
sweeps us, with or without our will, to a new and
wonderful backward starting-point. Of course, the
learned in all countries are familiar with our recently
acquired knowledge on this point; but is it not time
to make it the property of the people everywhere-to
discard the unmanly fear that one form of truth can
ever harm any other form-to reveal anew, through
the grandeur of Man's slow development, the unspeakable grandeur of the Divine Soul by which it is directed?
I would not venture to say that even the English
tourist, who addressed me with: " Is there-awanything particular to see here?" was not touched
somewhere in the roots of his externally indifferent
nature. I am quite sure that cold chicken was not
the only thought of the young ladies who sat lunching
on the steps. When I find a gay young Irishman, to
whom snipe and wild ducks are a prime interest, nevtheless going out to see the Pyramids by moonlight,
and then again at two o'clock in the morning to climb
'them for the sunrise, I am convinced that Cheops
builded better than he knew, and that this pile of
stones means much more to the world than the depository of his royal carcase.
Well: I meant to send you practical, realistic re.




52                 EGYPT.
ports of Egypt, and this letter will be sure to bring
down upon me the wrath of Mark Twain, and all
others who distrust earnest impressions. I plead guilty, however, and confess that I do not wholly belong
to the generation which makes jokes of accidents and
murders, and finds material for laughter in classic art.




CHAPTER VI.


AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KHEDIVE.
CAIRO, March 27, I874.
TWO or three days ago Mr. Beardsley, the Agent
and Consul-General of the United States for
Egypt, during an interview with the Khedive, was kind
enough to request that His Highness would receive
Colonel Knox, of New York and Siberia, and myself. Permission was accorded at once, and on my
return from the Pyramids I found that the hour of
half-past ten yesterday morning was already appointed
for the ceremony. The etiquette of the Egyptian
Court is sufficiently simple; full evening-dress, with
white cravat, as at most of the German Courts, is the
prescribed costume. On our way to the Consulate
we picked up an open carriage with a respectable driver,
beside whom the official kavass might sit without de.
preciating his gold lace and sabre, and then, accom.
panied by Mr. Beardsley, we drove to the Palace of
Abdeen. This is a plain, two-story building, stuccoed and painted light-blue, in the southwestern part
of Cairo, fronting on a square which has been laid out
between the old city and the new suburbs. A tall
palm-tree, on each side of the main entrance, is the
only ornamental feature. There are a few flower-beds
and a fountain in the inner court, half a dozen soldiers




54                 EGYPT.
stand on guard, and as many minor officials wait at
the portal leading to the Khedive's apartments. But
these outward signs of state and power are remarkably few and unpretending.
The Master of Ceremonies, Murad Pasha, an Albanian with amiable blue eyes and ruddy face, received
us at the door, and ushered us into a waiting-room,
handsomely carpeted and furnished in European style.
He spoke French tolerably, and started a conversation
on indifferent matters by informing me that he had
never been to the top of the great Pyramid. Presently
Ibrahim Pasha, the Khedive's nephew, and one of the
fortunate youths whose marriages were recently celebrated with so much pomp, entered the room. He is
the son of Achmet Pasha-the next heir before the
Khedive-who was drowned at Kafr ez-Zayat by the
railway train running into the Nile. I should take
Ibrahim Pasha to be twenty-two or twenty-three; he
is tall, rather handsome, with an expression of phlegmatic amiability. He made a few languid remarks,
but afterward showed a little interest in speaking of
an American trotting mare (Irottezse) which he had
recently acquired. It is now, in fact, an every-day
sight in Cairo to find an Egyptian official driving at a
spanking rate, with a smart native tiger sitting behind
him.
Precisely at the appointed minute, the Khedive's
Secretary announced that His Highness would receive
us. Murad Pasha led the way as far as the first landing,
where he halted, leaving Mr. Beardsley to mount the
second staircase, followed by Colonel Knox and nmy.




INTERVIEW     WITH THE KHEDIIVE,        5
self. The Khedive was standing alone, at the further
end of the large carpeted hall above. At the top of
the stairs we all paused and bowed; then His Highness came briskly forward, bowed again, and shook
hands as we were presented, pronouncing the usual
courteous phrases in very excellent French. He led
the way into a small, comfortable apartment, quite
like an English parlor in its size and appointments,
seated himself on a chair in one corner near the window, and invited us, by a slight gesture, to take places
on the sofa near him.
Having once seen the Khedive's father, the famous
Ibrahim Pasha, the fierce old Lion of the Orient, in
1845, in Florence, I sought and easily found a strong
resemblance to him in the former's face. But it was
a softer, kinder, more cheerful likeness. Ismail Pasha
is about forty-four years of age, and of the medium
height, although his corpulence makes him appear
shorter. In spite of his girth of chest and the massive thickness of his legs, he moves with quickness
and vigor; and his face, phlegmatic in repose, becomes bright and animated when he speaks. The
pleasant gray eyes gleam under the rather bushy
brows; the mouth, full and voluptuous as in all the
race, is mobile and expressive, without those grim
lines in the corners which indicate a cruel inflexibility
of will. He wears his own thick dark hair under the
fez, and a full beard, clipped moderately close. His
costume was a dark coat of tweed cloth, gray trousers,
and patent-leather boots: a single diamond in the
cravat was the only ornament.




56


EGYPT.


At first I thought the Khedive slightly at a loss to
open the conversation, a very natural and probably
frequent experience with all rulers upon whom the
etiquette of their own Courts is imposed. But in the
Orient forms are looser, there is a franker, more democratic character of intercourse between the governing
and the governed, and we felt at liberty to make remarks and ask questions-in short, to assist in stirring
up the currents of talk. His Highness spoke with
great clearness, elegance of style, and intelligence,
upon all the subjects discussed. He never hesitated
for a word, chose apt and direct illustrations, and accompanied his account of recent events in Soudan
with graceful and lively gestures. The circumstance
that I knew the region, as far as the land of the Shillooks, led him to go into many interesting details of
the recent conflict between the Egyptian troops and
the army of Dar-Fur.
His attempts to suppress the trade in slaves, which
is the principal source of revenue for the King of DarFur, was, he assured us, the sole cause of the difficulty.
Between Dar-Fur and the Egyptian province of Kordofan, there is a wild, wandering tribe which has thus
far been allowed to retain its old liberty on condition
of informing the Egyptian Governor of all hostile
movements on the part of Dar-Fur. But when the latter collected an army of ten thousand men, with three
cannon, which Said Pasha had sent as a present to
their King, during his viceroyalty, this intervening
tribe became faithless, failed to report the movement
and held back, waiting to see which side would be




INTERVIE 1Y   WITH THlE KtEDIVE.        57
victorious. The Egyptian commander had but 300
soldiers when the invasion occurred. By hastily calling together all armed civil subordinates within reach
he increased his force to 600 men, and then gave battle. The Egyptians, however, had o00 well-organized
soldiers, armed with Remington rifles, several rifled
cannon, and one mitrailleuse. Their victory was complete. They captured the enemy's cannon, killed the
Dar-Furian general, and dispersed the army. The
latest report is that a new force, which shall embrace
the entire military strength of Dar-Fur and be commanded by the king's son, is nearly ready to renew
hostilities. But the Khedive has evidently no fear of
the result.
I made no reference to the new expedition, under
Colonel Gordon, now on its way to the lake regions of
Central Africa, because it is generally understood
that the Khedive is not over-well pleased with any
reference to Sir Samuel Baker, Pasha. The latter
seems to have spent about $2,500,000 without accomplishing anything more than a temporary advantage
over certain tribes-in any case so much less than was
either promised or expected, that the accomplished
facts are not sufficient for the most modest glorification. Colonel Gordon has an excellent reputation
for pluck and endurance, and now, since the road is
in a measure broken for him, he may be able to complete the work wherein Baker, as a pioneer, nearly inevitably failed. The expedition of Rohlfs to the Libyan Desert, however, was not forbidden ground; but
the Khedive informed us that he had no news of it




58                 E GYP 7T.
since the beginning of February. Dr. Sch\einfurth,
whose remarkable expedition to the country of the
Nyam-Nyams will shortly be published, is waiting in
the great Oasis of Kharjeh (four or five days' journey
west of Thebes,) for news of Rohlfs's party. Two days
ago he informed the German Consulate here that the
expedition, according to a rumor which had reached
the Oasis, was on its return, but the Khedive considered this as a mere report, entitled to no credence.
After an animated talk of half an hour His Highness rose, which was a signal that we should take our
leave. He accompanied us into the outer hall, shook
hands again, very courteously begged us to apply to
him in case we found he could be of any service, and
remained standing until we had descended the first
flight of steps, when there were final bows on both
sides. His manner, during the reception, was that of
an intelligent and thoroughly-bred gentleman toward
strangers who are commended    to his attention.
Murad Pasha received us at the foot of the steps,
accompanied us to the portal, and the interview was
over.
The Khedive spoke of a race of pigmies which had
been discovered in the very heart of Central Africa,
beyond the land of the Nyam-Nyams, and advised us
to look at two natives of the tribe which had recently
reached Cairo. On leaving the Palace of Abdeen,
therefore, we drove immediately to the Palace of the
Nile, near Boulak, where they are now kept. On
making inquiry, the soldiers in the inner court immediately pointed out two small boys (apparently), wear



IiNTER VIE W   VITH THE KHEDIVE.        59
ing the fez, and dressed in jackets and trowsers of
white wool. I should have taken them for children of
some Ethiopian tribe at the first glance, and was not
satisfied, until after a close inspection, that one of
them was a full-grown man.
Dr. Schweinfurth saw some natives of the tribe
among the Nyam-Nyams, but only reached the borders of their country, which lies beyond that of the
latter, and therefore south,of the equator-probably
from three to five hundred miles west of the central
part of the Albert Nyanza. But after Schweinfurth'a
return the veteran Italian traveler Miani, whose
name, carved upon a tree near Fatiko, will be remembered by all readers of Speke's and Baker's narratives,
started on a new journey of exploration from which he
was destined never to return. On the 6th of November last some boats reached Khartoum with the journals and collections of Miani, who died in a country
called Monbutto. These were taken by the governor
of Khartoum, and three pigmies, who were supposed
to be slaves, were temporarily imprisoned. When the
intelligence reached Cairo, the Khedive ordered Miani's papers and collections to be given to the Italian
Consul and the pigmies to be sent to him. One of
them, a woman, died on the way; the other two
reached here a few weeks ago. They are the first of
their race who have ever been seen outside of Central
Africa. The Khedive, who gave me these particulars.
seemed much interested in the people, and probably
intends to use them, if they survive, as a medium ol
future intercourse with their tribe.




60


EG YP T.


The soldiers brought the pigmies forward foi our
inspection. They came, half willingly, half with an
air of defiance, or of protest against the superior
strength which surrounded them. A tall Dinka, from
the White Nile, blacker than charcoal, who accompanied them was one of Miani's men.  He spoke
some Arabic, and I was thus able to get a little additional information through him. He assured me that
the pigmies were called Naam; that their country
was a journey of a year and a half from Khartoum
(probably the time occupied by a trading expedition
in going thither and returning), and that the place
from which they came had the name of Takkatikat.*
The taller of the two pigmies, Tubbul by name, was
twenty years old; the younger, Karal, only ten or
twelve.
The little fellows looked at me with bright, questioning, steady eyes, while I examined and measured them.
Tubbul was forty-six inches in height, the legs being
twenty-two inches, and the body, with the head,
twenty-fbur, which is a somewhat better proportion
than is usual in savage tribes. Head and arms were
quite symmetrical, but the spine curved in remarkably
from the shoulders to the hip-joint, throwing out the
abdomen, which was already much distended, probably from their former diet of beans and bananas. Yet
the head was erect, the shoulders on the line of gravity,
and there was no stoop in the posture of the body, as


* Dr. Schweinfurth calls the country "Akka," in his
recent work.




INTER VIEW WITH TJiE KHEDIVE.           6i
in the South Afiican bushmen. Tubbul measured
twenty-six inches around the breast and twenty-eight
around the abdomen; his hands and feet were coarsely formed, but not large, only the knee-joints being
disproportionately thick and clumsy. The facial angle
was filly up to the average; there was a good development of brain, fine intelligent eyes, and a nose so flattened that, in looking down the forehead from above,
one saw only the lips projecting beyond it. The nostrils were astonishingly wide and square; the complexion was that of a dark mulatto.
The boy Karal was forty-three inches high, with the
same general proportions. Both had woolly hair, cut
short in front, but covering the crown with a circular
cap of crisp little rolls. Tubbul's age showed itself,
on nearer examination, in his hands, feet, and joints,
rather than in his face. He had no beard, but was
apparently of virile years.  I lifted him from the
ground, and should not estimate his weight at more
than sixty-five pounds. The soldiers stated that neither of the two had learned more than a few words of
Arabic, but that they talked a great deal to each other
in their own language. However, when ordered to
speak, Tubbul turned and walked away. A soldier
seized and drew him back, whereupon he stood still
and sullen in his former place. At a recent meeting
of the Egyptian Institute it was stated that the language of these pigmies has no resemblance to that
of any other in Central Africa.
The country of Naam, or Takkatikat, or whatever
may be its correct name, is reported to be an equato



62


EGYPT.


rial table-land covered with low, dense thickets, in
which the pigmies hide. The Khedive told me that
they are quite warlike, and by no means despicable
foes to their larger negro neighbors, since they are
active as apes and difficult to find among their native
jungles. Dr. Schweinfurth supposes them to be the
pigmies mentioned by Herodotus. The Darwinians
will hardly find an intermediate race between man and
monkey, in them. Their curious physical peculiarities, especially the curvature of the spine, the prominent development of the shoulders, the wide mouth,
with flat but distinctly marked lips and the squareness
and breadth of the nostrils are not of a simian character. In fact, they look less like the chimpanzee than
several of the tall and athletic negro tribes.
When I was on the White Nile, in 1852, the NyamNyams were spoken of by the people as a frightful
race of cannibals, with tails. No one had ever seen
them; the very name was a terror to the natives of
Soudan and an obstacle to the traveller. Now their
country has been reached and partially explored, and
specimens of the race have ventured even as far as
Khartoum. The pigmies prove to be far more interesting than they, from an ethnological point of view,
and we shall certainly soon learn more of them




CHAPTER     VII.
RAILWAYS IN EGYPT.
CAIRO, April 2, I874.
IT is not quite twenty years since the first railway in
Egypt, from Alexandria to Cairo-rendered necessary by the overland route from England to Indiawas completed. The construction was not expensive,
the two arms of the Nile were not bridged but crossed
by steam ferries, and the result was so encouraging
that a continuation of the line from Cairo to Suez was
soon determined upon and carried out. The first road
was one hundred and thirty-one miles in length, the
second ninety-four. The latter offered few difficulties
in the way of grading; the line followed the old caravan route, skirting the northern base of the mountains
between Cairo and the Red Sea, and the chief inconvenience was the necessity of carrying supplies of water
from the Nile to the intermediate stations.
Since the Suez Canal has been completed this line
is changed. The new fresh-water canal, leaving the
Nile at Cairo, following the course of an ancient Egyptian canal, and supplying the town of Ismailia, with a
branch to Suez and a large pipe extending fifty miles,
to Port Said, on the Mediterranean, suggested a change
in the rout of the railway. The track directly across




64


E GYP T.


the desert was taken up, and a new line built, beside
the fresh-water canal, with a branch to the AlexandriaCairo road at Benha, and another from the town of
Zagazig (in the eastern part of the Land of Goshen)
to Cairo. Thus the passengers overland to India now
travel directly from Alexandria to Suez, without touching the capital. The number of steamers which traverse the Suez Canal, however, is constantly increasing, and the stage by rail through Egypt will nc
doubt be given up altogether in a few years more.
But the building of railways in Egypt thus introduced by the exigencies of a foreign route of travel
will henceforth be continued, both as a necessity and
a source of profit to the Government. The natives
have bravely overcome whatever prejudice or super.
stition they may have had in the beginning; they now
crowd the trains, evidently enjoy the rapid motion,
and even trust their donkeys, camels, and horses of
Nedjid blood, to the cattle-cars. Freight as well as
passenger traffic increases constantly, and, carelessly
as the trains seem to run on all except the main lines,
accidents are very rare. The officials have acquired
a certain amount of exactness in regard to time, but
in a passive mechanical way, as if the subject had not
yet reached either brain or conscience; and I presume
the telegraphic signals of stoppage or delay are still
looked upon as a sort of pastime, to allay their languid curiosity. Somehow, nevertheless, the machine
keeps going; the time-tables may be reduced to a
state of chaos, but the trains avoid collision, and thd
passengers neither fear nor complain. All is quiet,




RAIL WAYS IN EG YP T.           65
easy, good-natured. At the stations a man cries out
to the people on both sides of the track: "Take care
of your legs, 0 men, 0 women! " just as the donkeyboys do in the bazars. The waiting-rooms are swept
as rarely as the chambers in the old-fashioned khans,
and, like them, are populous with fleas. There is
generally a long divan, covered with dirty chintz
cushions, but no European chairs. The tickets are
printed in Arabic, except the first-class, which are
also in English.
At a way-station on the road to Upper Egypt, I
ventured to express a little impatience, after waiting
three hours for the one daily slow train, and finding
that its whereabouts had not even been announced by
telegraph. '" You must remember," said the official
to whom I spoke, "that this is a new road, and it
takes some time to get everything in order."
" How long has the road been open?" I asked.
"Only five or six years. "
"'And when do you expect to have the trains running on time? In forty or fifty years?" I inquired,
with a grave countenance, and the official, never suspecting irony, answered:
"Inshzllah! " (If God wills it.)
There is now a tolerably complete network of communication by rail throughout the Delta. From Zagazig, on the Suez road, a branch runs to Mansourah,
and thence to Damietta; another from Tantah to
Mansourah; a third to Dessouk, on the Rosetta
branch of the Nile; and there are various other
shorter lines leading to the rich agricultural centres.




66


EG YPT.


The road from Alexandria to Rosetta will soon be
built, together with another leading directly from the
Alexandria-Suez line to Port Said. When the latter
are finished there will be no part of the Delta more
than twenty miles from a railroad. The great increase
in the area of cultivated land must be attributed rather
to this fact than to any special encouragement given
by the Khedive's Government to the agricultural industry of the country.
The Upper Egypt Railway was finished as far as
Benisouef, seventy-five miles south of Cairo, some five
or six years ago, and has made rather slow progress
since, although it seems to do a good business, in spite
of the competition of the Nile boats. The track is now
finished as far as Siout, the capital of Upper Egypt,
two hundred and fifty miles from Cairo, where it will
probably rest awhile, before being extended to Kenneh, Thebes, and Assouan. A branch road twenty-five
miles in length, strikes westward from it across an arm
of the Libyan Desert and reaches Medeeneh, the capital of the province-or, rather, large detached oasisof the Fyoom. From Medeeneh, again, two branches,
some fifteen or twenty miles long, connect with sugar
factories belonging to the Khedive, but trains are only
put upon them during a'small part of the year.
Workmen and material are at present being sent up
the Nile to construct a small railway around the First
Cataract at Assouan. This undertaking will hardly
require more than a year to complete; it will make a
difference of several days in the transport of freight,
ttc., between Egypt and the countries of Soudan.




RAILWA YS IN EGYPT.


67


A far more important plan, however, is the building
of a road from Wady Halfa, the Second Cataract, to
the Ethiopian Nile, at the old capital of Shendy,
within seventy or eighty miles of Khartoum. This
route has been surveyed, and the report, prepared by
Mr. Fowler, an English engineer, presents the undertaking in a very feasible form. The road will follow
the Nile through Nubia to the town of Edabbe, where
the great northward and eastward curve or "elbow "
of the river commences, and will thence strike through
the Bayuda Desert to a terminus not far from the
junction of the White and Blue Niles. Its entire length
would be about five hundred and thirty-three miles,
and the cost of construction, on account of the easy
grading and low price of labor would be comparatively
small. There are numerous good wells in the Bayuda
Desert, obviating the necessity of transporting supplies
of water.
All this looks well, but Mr. Fowler's plan of eventually continuing the line to Khartoum, and then building another road thence along the northern base of
the Abyssinian Highlands, to the Red Sea, strikes me
as being a little too ambitious. It is true, as he says,
that overland passengers to India, disembarking at
Alexandria, and having a continuous line of rail to the
Abyssinian port of Massowa, would not only avoid the
dreaded temperature of the Red Sea, but would gain
three or four days in time; but, I imagine, before this
line is completed, there will already be a direct railway in existence, passing through Asiatic Turkey,
Persia, and Afghanistan.  Or, will it be by the way




68          RA IL WA YS IN EG YP T.
of Astrakhan, the Aral Sea, or the Oxus? For if
England does not soon build such a line, Russia will.
The Egyptian Government, by overturning the jeal.
ous and despotic chieftaincies of Nubia, Ethiopia, and
Soudan, has reduced the great central region watered
by the Nile, to tolerable order. It has now the higher
task of repopulating, by a wise and just administration
of affairs, the desolated provinces, re-opening the old,
sand-choked canals of irrigation, turning the plains of
wiry grass and poisonous euphorbia into harvests of
wheat, cane, and cotton, and finally (since every
measure here is dictated by a policy of pure selfishness), drawing a revenue from the moderate taxation
of wealth, ten-fold more than now, from the oppressive
taxation of poverty. In spite of all that has been
done, up to this time, I see no reason for such a
hope.




CHAPTER VIII.


A TRIP TO THE FYOOM.
CAIRO, April 2, 1874.
A   S a region which is in Egypt, but in many striking respects not of it; which is as fertile as the
Nile-valley, yet never inundated; which has been
known and inhabited for five thousand years, is within
a day's journey of Cairo, and still remains unvisited by
the annual throng of tourists-the Fyoom may claim
to be something of a curiosity. Among the English
and American residents of Alexandria and Cairo I
have found, it is true, several who intend making
shooting excursions thither (water-fowl being very
abundant at certain seasons), but not one who has
ever carried out his intention. The last description of
the region was written a year ago by a French artstudent, who accompanied his master, Gerome. Its
inaccuracies are as evident as they are fantastic, yet
of the kind which stimulates the reader to go and see
for himself. Wilkinson and Mariette Bey supply the
necessary archaeology-which is not very extensiveand this is the end of preparation, unless the traveller
be of luxurious habits.
There were two young Americans in Cairo who were
willing to venture with me beyond the frontier of




70


EG YP T.


hotels, without taking tents and camp equipage with
us. An old, devout, one-eyed Moslem, named Hassan
Suleyman, was engaged by Achmet as attendant and
interpreter; shawls and Bedouin capotes constituted
the only baggage. In such light travelling order we
set forth four days ago on a cool morning for the railway station of Boulak-Dakrour, beyond the Nile,
where the daily train for Upper Egypt starts whenever
it gets ready, without regard to the published timetable. Bridge and highways were crowded, at that
early hour, with country-people bound for market,
camels laden with bales of freshly-cut clover, and
donkeys hardly visible under huge sacks of vegetables.
The Pyramids, flushed with red, and wonderfully
sharp in outline, seemed to have been moved much
nearer the Nile since the evening before, when they
hovered like half-transparent shadows on the dim
verge of the plain.
This railway station, like the others I had already
seen, seems to have assumed the character of the old
caravan camp. Scores of Fellahs, petty merchants,
and sometimes also Bedouins squat in the dry dust
and bargain or gossip; bales and jars are heaped
around, camels kneel with tethered knees, and women
with oranges, or boys with earthen water-bottles cry
their wares far more loudly and mournfully than is
necessary. Even the native passengers are in no
hurry to take their seats, for the train is in no hurry
to go; the locomotive is like an old caravan-leader,
who summons one and then another detachment of his
troop, and pretends that all is ready long before he




A TRIP 70 THE FYOOM.


71


thinks of starting. By degrees, however, the open
third-class cars were filled; some officials and prosperous merchants settled themselves in the more comfortable second-class, but we were the only tenants of
the faded compartment, cushioned with dusty leather,
which bore the word "'FIRST" (in English) on the
door. Our departure, also, like that of a caravan, was
so quiet that we hardly noticed it: there was only
noise during the preparation.
Once beyond Gizeh, the palm-groves and wheatfields sped rapidly past; the pyramids of Sakkarah
and then of Dashoor, took their "eternal stands" in
turn, on their platforms of wind-blown Libyan sand.
Here and there a reach of the Nile glittered on the
left, and the yellow Arabian hills drew nearer. The
unfolding changes of the landscape would have been
monotonous had they not been so bright: but every
field hastening towards harvest was of a more succulent green than the last, and every cape of the desert
hills on either side blazed more keenly under the increasing fervor of the sun. I had seen the same pictures, far more slowly evolved, from the deck of a Nile
boat, in 185I, and could not then wish to behold them
in swifter succession; but now the very swiftness with
which they came seemed an additional charm.
We halted at Bedrasheyn (station for Memphis!)
then at Kafr el-Iyat, and one or two other unimportant towns. At each place a multitude of the Fellah
youth of both sexes suddenly made their appearance
with water-bottles and bunches of green horse-beans,
which they offered for sale. A grim brakeman-if




72


EGYPT.


there is such an appendage to these deliberate trains
-in every case drove away the children, pursued
them, overtook them in the fields, emptied the water
or scattered the bean-pods, regardless of the lamentable shrieks and weeping which followed, and then
returned to the train with an air of triumph, only to
provoke a fresh attempt. In vain we commissioned
Hassan to stop the persecution of the persistent young
Egyptians, the sale of water and raw beans seeming to
us sanctioned even by all prohibitory laws; the brakeman, or whatever he was, continued his crusade at
each station, and we always left a shrill chorus of
curses and lamentations behind us. Centuries hence,
no doubt, the same scenes will be repeated, for the
Egyptians learn a new fact even more slowly than the
Bourbons in Europe or the Jackson Democrats at
home.
After nearly three hours of such travel we reached
the station of El-Wasta, about fifty-five miles south
of Cairo. Here we left the train to pursue its wayward course towards the frontiers of Upper Egypt,
and waited for the corresponding train from above,
after the arrival of which, and not sooner, we should
be forwarded westward on a branch-road to Medeeneh,
the capital of the Fyoom. Hassan found a tolerably
clean room in the station-house, and began to unpack
our lunch, when the announcement came that this
apartment was reserved for high government officials,
and dare not be profaned by Frank tourists. So we
betook ourselves to the waiting-room for the higher
classes, which had not been swept for some months,




A TRIP TO THE FYOOM.               73
and would not have been temporarily habitable but
for windows without glass. Hassan, as a devout Mussulman, refused the offered wine; but the stationmaster scented it from afar, and so implied a consent
in his first refusal that both conscience and palate
were finally satisfied. After all, I can tolerate many
of the faults of the native Egyptians: no other people are so frankly hypocritical. Their attempts to
circumvent you are a sort of conventional obedience
to the promptings of their self-interest-if the attempt succeed, the success justifies it-if it fail, well,
they have at least done their duty!
In the warmth of his opened heart the stationmaster informed us that the down train was due at
half-past one, but hardly ever arrived before five; so
we were left to amuse ourselves at El-Wasta in the
interval. While my friends went off to try to shoot
pigeons with revolvers, I made a sketch of the Haram el-Kedab (False or Lying Pyramid), which rose
massive and majestic above the western sands. It is
singular that this monument has received so little attention from archaeologists. Its form, a diminishing
cube, ending in a terrace from which rises a second
and narrower cube, is like that of no other Egyptian
pyramid. In the necropolis beside it, Mariette Bey
found, two or three years ago, the wonderful painted
statues of Prince Ra-Hotep, and Princess Nefer-t, of
the Third Dynasty, undoubtedly the oldest, as they are
the most excellent specimens of Egyptian art. There
is much evidence to declare that this pyramid is considerably older than that of Cheops,-and it has never




74


EG YPT.


yet been opened. However much of Ancient Egypt
has been discovered and deciphered, I am convinced
that still more is waiting under sand and behind stubborn masonry.
A swarm of Fellah boys so persecuted me, that I
finally made a temporary surrender, and tried to find
a diversion in " chaffing" them. But they were almost too much for me, unless my knowledge of Arabic had been complete. If I happened, for a moment,
to get the better of one, in repartee, in five minutes
be reappeared with something stronger and sharper.
The backsheesh I gave, only brought demands for
more, and when I remonstrated against such shameless greed, the inevitable answer was: " What would
you have? we are all miserably poor." Finally, I retreated into a little garden of fig, pomegranate, and
date trees adjoining the station, and prohibited the
imps from coming near. It was quite in vain: they
kept within the range of my eyes, as I turned to one
side or the other, and would soon have exhausted
even my assumed Oriental patience, had not two
grave seigniors arrived from the village. When the latter began to talk with me, the boys became silent and
respectful. The courtesy, the easy, quiet dignity of
the men was something delightful to encounter. It
was not long before the wildest and rudest of the boys
was persuaded to give an imitation of the zumarra, or
Arab flute, which he rendered by the voice with a
good deal of skill: then, as I preferred a song, he
threw back his head, opened his throat to the utmost,
ane simply released (as it secmcdI a hundred varia.




A TRIP TO THE FYOOM.


75


tions of some strain of yearning and passion which
had been pent within him. Arabic notes are divided
into thirdSs of tones instead of semi-tones, and the
music thus receives a peculiar swaying, undulating
character which it is quite impossible to describe. With
the wildest abandon, the song is yet held within metrical limits; certain words, as they recur, flutter, and
tremble through a scale which is new to our ears;
but the sentiment of the song can never be mistaken.
How could this thoughtless boy, still singing soprano, so give voice to the intensest virile passion?
It was a puzzle to me, as I looked upon his bright,
laughing eyes, yet heard the deep-breathed " Allah! "
which attested the supreme satisfaction of the two
men. With the same groans, or rather grunts, of
ardent spiritual delight, as I have often heard at campmeetings at home, they accompanied the lines of a
song which was a ruder reflection of that which Solomon sang, " Open to me: the dew is on my head: I
wander lonely in the night —O, night, 0, night!
Hearken, my beloved, I seek thee in the night!"
Even the smaller boys were silent, with a touch of ignorant respect on their faces: to a stranger the performance would have appeared religious rather than
amorous. There was a decent pause afterwards: then
the lawless greed and mockery of the young crowd
broke forth, worse than before.
Punctally to the usual delay, the train from above
made its appearance, and paid a visit of nearly half
an hour. After its departure, we took our seats in one
of the passenger-cars attached to a freight-train to




76


EG YPPT.


Medeeneh, and were tormented by the unwearied boys
until the motion became too rapid for them to follow.
There was still an hour before sunset, and twenty-five
miles to be traversed; but the gap in the Libyan hills
to the westward hinted of no heavy grades, and we
soon attained a cheerful rate of speed. The road
crosses the green plain of the Nile nearly at right
angles to the course of the river. At that hour, husbandman and camel and buffalo had finished their
day's work, and were plodding towards one or the
other of the villages which nestled under their several
palm-groves, in the distance. One, only, lay near the
railway-track, built upon the ruins of many centuries
of previous villages, above a pool of water fed from
the distant Nile. A place so fantastic in appearance
I have rarely seen. Every house in it was surmounted with from six to a dozen pointed turrets, with diminutive doors and windows for the convenience of the
pigeon inhabitants. Large flocks of the pearly-plumaged birds circled over the palms, going forth to forage or returning with their spoils.
A mile beyond this curious picture every sign of
life vanished. A few yards of drifted sand, pierced
with clumps of a tenacious grass which sends its roots
down to the lurking moisture, divide the garden of
the Nile from the Libyan Desert. In scarcely more time
than is required to write these words, we found ourselves in a bare yellow waste, and all the rich land of
life lying as a diminishing belt behind us. Some
low ridges soon hid it wholly from our view; a vast
plain of gravel, dotted with stony hummocks, and




A TRIP TO TlHE FYOOM.             77
pools of sand where in living regions one would look
for water, stretched to the sky on all sides. The air
took on a sudden freshness and purity; the life within
me beat more joyously from its contrast with the external lifelessness; it was the perfect atmosphere of
the Desert, at last! But to inhale it, thus, from the
open windows of a railway-car,-to see the yellow
ridges appear, speed past and recede, while remembering the camel's pace and the distant well,-was to
me something strange and unreal. As upon the sea,
there was no longer a consciousness of locality; when
the green disappears, like the land, there is nothing
fixed until it rises again.
The illusion, however, was brief. We had not
traversed more than half a dozen Iniles of desert before we saw some men and donkeys, following a distant
trail; then, in the south, the blunt pyramid of Illahoon dipped above the horizon, and was followed,
shortly afterwards, by the dark crumbled pyramid of
Hawarah, lying some eight or ten miles further to the
west. As I beheld them, during the brief time when
they were both visible at once, I could not help musing
a little upon the ages when they were the landmarks of
two intensely jealous populations, and when the
stretch of desert betwen them was frequently the
field of bloody conflicts. Further to the right once
stood the stately city of Crocodilopolis, where the
crocodile was worshipped as a sacred animal; further
to the left was Heracleopolis, the inhabitants whereof
adored the ichneumon. Now, even as the latter animal is the natural enemy of the crocodile, so the Her



78


EGYPT,


acleopolitans became the enemies of the Crocodilopol
itans; each party believed in, exalted, and defended
the honor of its special beast. Many and sanguinary
were the fights which arose from this cause; but, let
no one laugh at them, for several centuries to come!
Does not the old strife exist, under different symbols?
Have we not still our Ichneumonites and Crocodilians?
The two Pyramids, moreover, served to indicate the
course of the immemorial canal which made the Fyoom, as the Nile makes Egypt. The gap in'the Libyan Hills, through which it is led, must be considerably below the desert plateau, for not even the topmost
fringes of its bordering trees were visible. When I
turned away from the southern window of the car, at
last, and looked through the northern, I was startled
by a broad, airy gleam of green and purple, melting
into the sky along a far-away horizon. There lay the
Fyoom!    The miles on miles of wheat and cotten
fields, striped with long palm-groves, slowly sinking
towards an unseen lake, beyond which floated the outline of barren, rosy-tinted mountains, resembled the
Nile valley, it is true, but they were bathed in another
atmosphere.  There was something of the same
change which one notices on crossing the channel between England and France: neither earth nor sky
seems exactly the same.
An intermediate belt of grass-tufts, bushes, and
stunted trees divides the desert from the harvest-land,
and the little station of El Edwa, where the train
halted for a few minutes, was like none of those on the




A TRIP TO THE F YOOM.             7
Nile railway. A few dark-skinned Bedouins stood at
a respectful distance; the children on hand neither
offered water and beans nor asked for backsheesh; and
the drifted sands male a loneliness about the place, as
if it were some old caravan-well, not yet accustomed
to the new animal which now snorted for his drink.
A little further we crossed a ravine which seemed natural,, but may have belonged to the earlier and more
perfect system of canals. There is at least evidence
that a higher upland than is at present reached by
irrigation, was fertile in the ancient days.
From El Edwa, it is but five miles to the capital,
Medeeneh,-or, to give its full and stately title,Medeenet-el-Fares, "The  City  of the Knight."
This is later Arabic: the old city was first CrocQdilopolis, and afterwards Arsinoe.  The name of
the province, Fyoomn, is the old Egyptian "Pi-om,"
meaning "the sea," so called either from the natural lake which still exists, or the artificial lake made
by Amenemha III., of the Twelfth Dynasty (3000
B. C), to which the Greeks gave the name of Lake
Mceris. The great canal which supplies the whole
region with water is now called Bahr-Youssuf (Joseph's River), from a tradition, as old as the time of
Josephus. that the Hebrew Joseph ordered its construction. In reality, it is nearly a thousand years
older than his day; yet, as there are few so ancient
and persistent traditions without some basis of fact,
it is quite possible that Joseph may have superintended its repair or enlargement. Mariette's discovery,
that the Hyksos (Shepherd) Kings of Egypt ruled




So


EGYPT.


also over the Fyoom, combined with the indirect evi.
dence that Joseph lived in Egypt under their dynasty,
certainly favors this assumption.
For the remaining five miles the track was nearly a
level: cultivated fields on both sides, gardens, villages,
and a brilliant sunset illumination made the approach
to our destination very promising.  Finally, we saw
minarets ahead, the luxurious villa of a rich official,
masts and sails between the acacias, and then the
train very slowly came to a stop on the rails. There
was no sign of a station, but Hassan came to the door
and said: "Here we get out. Master!" A sudden
doubt as to our fortune for the night entered my soul:
but my companions, new to the Orient, took up the
march with as cheerful a faith as if there was a Fifth
Avenue Hotel in Medeeneh. The first steps, in fact,
were alike surprising and charming. We stood upon
the banks of what seemed a natural river, winding
at its will under overhanging palms and acacias,
bearing laden barges, and washing the walls of the
town with slowly-moving yet strong, deep, and clear
waters. There was no gateway, but an arch of trees,
in front, where gossips sat with their pipes and coffee, and enjoyed the increasing cool of the evening.
It was evidently the main entrance to the town; for
the comers and goers were numerous enough to keep
the air full of dust which was vapory gold to look at,
and as bad as Scotch snuff to inhale.
Piloted by Hassan, we plunged into the long, winding, shaded street of bazars, where it was not yet so
dusky but that we could perceive the surprise of the




A TRIP TO TIHE FYOOM.0.


8i


merchants at the appearance of Franks, The day's
business was over: they had leisure for curiosity, and
were passively grateful for a chance to indulge it.
Halting, finally, at a Greek cafe, the windows of which
made a goodly show of prohibited liquors, we solicited
lodging for the night; but the proprietor, after a rapid
glance at our persons, quickly, but very firmly declined. " Is there no khan? " I asked. Yes, there was
a native khan in the neighborhood, the only place in
the town where strangers could be entertained. We
set off again, with a string of inquisitive idlers following us, and presently reached a dingy portal which
gave access to a court so narrow and gloomy that it
rather seemed to be a blind alley. The courteous proprietor, however, had very primitive ideas of comfort.
He took us up a crumbling stairway, along a terrace
where the dust of ages had never been disturbed, and
then, with an air of triumph, opened the door of a
dismal cell, littered with straw, feathers and filth, —
only vile walls and viler floor-and said: " Your lordships can sleep here! "
Having often lodged in worse places, I was not
greatly disconcerted; but the faces of my companions
expressed sudden despair. They set out with Hassan
to make another desperate search for quarters, while
I went below and ordered coffee and a narghileh.
One inquisitive native after another dropped in, and
formed a circle around me; none but courteous questions were asked; yet there was a general attitude
of expectancy which the amateur Oriental comprehends at once. I therefore gave them as much infor



82                 EG YP T.
mation as I thought was necessary, and we got on
very well together.
It was more than half an hour before Hassan and
my companions returned. This time, their countenances were white: with them came a young Copt,
who was introduced as Tadrus, teacher of the American Mission School, and custodian of a civilized chamber where Mr. Harvey, the missionary, lodged when
he visited Medeeneh.  Since we were the latter's
countrymen, Tadrus offered us the room, and led the
way to a remote quarter of the town, while Hassan
vent to order dinner of a native cook. The entrance,
through stables and dark passages, was not promising,
but after mounting to an upper terrace, we found a
clean, spacious room, with a broad bed, a divan,
tables, and chairs, cheerfully illuminated by a kerosene lamp.  Tadrus entertained us with an account
of the school, and introduced two of his Coptic friends
in the course of the evening; the Moslem dinner,
when it came, was excellent; Moses, the servant of
Tadrus, fetched from a cafe a bottle of strongly resinous yet classic Chian wine; so that when we all —born
Christian, converted Christian, Copt, and Mohammedan-lighted the permitted pipe together, the City of
the Knight lost its inhospitality and there was peace
and comfort under the splendid Egyptian moon.
At sunrise, three donkeys and a mule came to the
door: Hassan had engaged them, collectively, for the
day, together with the services of two men, for six
francs! But the furniture belonging to the animals
was of the kind which satisfies the native Fellah,-a




A TRIP TO THE FYOOA.


*83.ilnle piece of rope instead of a bridle, a bit of bagging for a saddle, and no stirrups. The latter defect
was remedied, in my case, by a doubled rope, laid
across the mule's back, into the loops of which my
feet were thrust. It answered very well, unless, forgetting its unattached, sliding character, I happened
to bear more heavily upon one foot: then, the other
foot was drawn up suddenly, and I risked losing my
balance.
On issuing from  the town we crossed the mair.
canal, and found ourselves at once within the mounds
of the ancient Crocodilopolis,-brown, shapeless heaps,
illed with potsherds, and possibly concealing many
historic treasures in their unexplored depths. But
what a day!-feathery clouds, tinted like ashes-ofroses, floating in a pale blue sky, a sun that warmed
without burning, and a cool north-wind, saturated
with the odor of clover and bean-blossoms! All that
is happiest in brain and blood rose to the surface of
life. and took possession of the hour. The owner of
the beasts rode with us to the end of the ruins, begging to be paid in advance, but I refused so kindly and
cheerfully that he finally turned homeward, apparently
quite content.
The way was a field-path, constantly interrupted by
ditches for irrigation and the gullies left from old canals. Yet it was another region than the Nile valley.
In front of us, to the northward, we saw the rosy tops
of the hills beyond the lake; on all other sides the
green fields stretched away until they made their own
horizon; and the first canal, or arm of Joseph's river,




84


EGYPT.


when we reached it was no sluggish, muddy stream,
lagging along between regularly-cut banks, but a
clear, natural brook, shooting to the right or left in
search of hollows, bordered with reeds and wild willowbushes, and murmuring with a most distinct and
delightful sound. Most of the Fellahs in the fields
were too busy to greet, or even to take note of us, and
those we met in the path returned a hearty "Aleikoom-salaam  " which is often withheld from the unbeliever, in Egypt. A few miles from Medeeneh we
saw an unexpected apparition,-a Frank lady on horseback; and, when I lifted my turban from force of
habit, she saluted me with a hearty "Good morning! "
Although we were traversing the upper or higher
plateau of the Fyoom, the vegetation did not seem to
be artificially called forth. Where there was no irrigation, bushes or clumps of grass bordered the path,
and a turf which the Khedive cannot create for his
parks at Cairo, made a soft carpet under the palmgroves. At the first large village, Biahmoo by name,
I inquired for beioot kadeerm-" old houses,"-which
is the conventional term for ruins among the Fellahs.
The people pointed to two piles of masonry near at
hand, and we rode thither as a matter of duty, knowing that the Egyptian monuments in the Fyoom are
few and unsatisfactory. I confess, however, that the
rude, unsculptured piles we found at Biahmoo, provoked a keen curiosity. They are quite unlike anything else in Egypt. Two quadrangles, about two
hundred feet apart, stand nearly on a due north and




A TRIP TO THE F YOOM.


85


south line: they are a hundred by a hundred and fifty
feet in dimensions, each having a square mass of masonry in the centre, and the remains of a pyramid at
the south-eastern angle. The steep slope of the latter,
67~, is cut from the layers of stone, not filled in from
the regular courses, as in the case of all other Egyptian pyramids. To me this seemed to be the earliest
form of pyramidal architecture, especially since it is in
the neighborhood of the False Pyramid, which is certainly the oldest in the Nile valley. Who shall say
how long the huge, roughly-dressed stones have been
resting one upon the other? Since Mariette, after a
rich experience of twenty-five years, still hopes to find
a statue or other record of Menes, the first historical
king of Egypt, at Abydos, the lay explorer has a claim
to indulge his fancies.
Beyond Biahmoo, the land increased in richness
and beauty. We were approaching the edge of the
first plateau, and the winding canals fell into shallow
glens, plunging over weirs in little waterfalls, or fairly
hiding from view under masses of shrubbery. I hardly
like to call them " canals," for the habit of thousands
of years gives them the charm and dignity of natural
streams. The pictures they make are quite fresh,
even to one who knows the rest of Egypt thoroughly.
Here you see a cottage on a high bank, willow-shaded,
such as would have captivated the pensive soul of
Rogers, but beyond the sparkling water, palm-trees
stand in a bed of the richest clover. The borders are
natural turf; wild-flowers blossom in masses, and even
the highest swells of the soil on either hand are no




86


EGYPT.


dryer than our grain-fields at home, in August  One
cannot sa) that the landscapes of the Nile are pastoral, for the cultivator's art is everywhere too evident;
but here the scenery was really so, although its charm
depended on differences so slight that they will hardly
bear description.
We had travelled ten miles or more, when one of
the donkey-drivers pointed out Senoris, a long, brown
village, embowered in palms, and lifted, like all
Egyptian villages, on the ruins of ages of decayed or
destroyed towns. Here dwelt Mr. Harvey, the American missionary, who for seven years past has been
buried in the depths of the Fyoom, hated by the
Copts whom he faithfully endeavors to convert, and
tolerated, in no unfriendly wise, by the Mussulmen.
We only needed to ask for " the school," and were at
once guided to his quarters. The sound of juvenile
voices, each learning its lesson in a loud sing-song,
met us half-way; but our arrival produced a sudden
silence, for the hospitable missionary could not receive
the first countryman who had ever visited him, without giving a holiday. His wife, on her way to Medeeneh for the mail, was the Frank lady whom we
had met, but Tadrus had already intrusted the mail
to our hands. A native servant, deaf and dumb, entered and shook hands, with inarticulate sounds
which expressed both welcome and respect; then
Miss Thompson, who teaches the girls of Senoris,
helps the oppressed women of the place to their
rights, and turns domestic quarrels into peace, summond us to a Christian breakfast. I think we should




A TRIP O0 TItE FYOOl8.


87


have fared hardly in the Fyoom had it not been for
the American Mission.
I asked Mr. Harvey whether he did not find the
Mohammedans more tolerant than the Copts, in religious discussion, and he frankly answered, " Yes;
it often happens that when the Copts assail me, the
Mohammedans partly range themselves on my side."
This is simply the consequence of a more active religious intelligence, for Islam  is nowhere such a
mechanical dependence on forms as one finds in
Oriental Christianity; the congregation worships,
rather than the priest. A few converts are made
among the Copts, it is true; but the chief and permanent value of these missions lies in the education
which they give to the young. The exampleof an upright Christian life, also, is of great service, where it
can be continued by a succession of missionaries who
have close and sympathetic relations with the people;
but no deep impressions can be produced until there
is a depth prepared to receive them.
There is something touching about the adult native
converts connected with all foreign missions where
they are not yet numerous enough to form a community by themselves. If not social outcasts among
their own people, they are regarded with the same instinctive dislike as an abolitionist formerly in Virginia,
or a Unitarian in Scotland. They look depressed,
uneasy, like men who expected to be assailed and are
not strong enough to become assailants in turn. In
most cases, they cut themselves off from all ordinary
paths of s access in life, such as their brethren follow,




88


EGYPT.


and become appendages of the chaiity which has
sent them a better faith. If two or three generations
of intelligent and self-reliant ancestors lay behind
them, they might be able to defy and conquer the
native prejudice; but they are generally pioneers
without daring, reformers who only move as they are
pushed.
From the higher ground near Senoris, one gets the
first view of the eastern part of the lake. Here the
second plateau of the Fyoom falls away, and the
streams flow in actual valleys which must have been
original depressions of the soil. The Birket el-Korn
(Lake of the Horn), as it is now called on account of
its curved form and pointed ends, was not the ancient
Lake Mceris. The site of the latter has been definitely fixed by the researches of M. Linant, its nearly
obliterated outline corresponding with the descriptions
given by Herodotus and Strabo. It was an immense
artificial lake with shores of masonry and dyked earth,
occupying the southeastern part of the higher plateau
of the Fyoom. The village of Biahmoo stands at its
northwestern corner.  Its circumference was nearly
thirty miles, whence it was fully able to store up water
from the fat years of inundation for any lean years
that might follow, the overplus being easily discharged
into the Lake of the Horn, the level of which is considerably below that of the Nile. No wonder that
Herodotus pronounced this lake one of the most marvellous things he saw in Egypt!
King Amenemha III. of the Twelfth Dynasty appears, from the insciiptions belonging to his reign,




A TRIP TO THE FYOOM.


89


to have been the creator of Lake Moeris. This would
fix the date of its construction at about 3000 B. C.,
several centuries before Abraham's visit to Egypt.
Let us no longer marvel at the Roman aqueducts or
boast about the Croton or Cochituate, or even the
Chicago Tunnel! Not one engineering exploit since
the days of King Amenemha has equalled his, in daring and grandeur; and the evidence of successful construction is furnished by the fact that it was still perfect two thousand five hundred years after its completion.
We left Senoris at noon, taking a westward course
along the edge of the plateau, parallel to the lake
shore. Mr. Harvey ordered his donkey, and accompanied us, and his thorough knowledge of the language and habits of the people made the companionship doubly valuable. I could not shake off the impression that I was somewhere in Central Africa, instead of within such easy reach of Cairo: only out of
Ethiopia could I call similar landscapes to mind. The
hollows were deep in lush vegetation; the dry ridges
were clothed with thickets of euphorbia; besides
palms, acacias, and sont trees, the cactus rose with a
huge trunk and spreading arms, and along the clear,
rapid streams there were generally more reeds and
rushes than one finds on the borders of the Nile. One
valley which we crossed was surprisingly picturesque.
Its broad, winding bed lay a hundred feet below the
level of the plateau. Half-way down there was a
sheikh's tomb, beside a grove of immense tamarisktrees; after crossing the water the path climbed along




90


EGYPT.


the edge of clay bluffs and gained a height whence the
green plain to the north and the glimmer of the lake
became visible.
We met two Fellahs of the better class, riding upon
donkeys, and one of them cried out as he approached:
"0 stranger, help us if you can!-say something to
the rulers that will persuade them to relieve us from
oppression! " The man spoke in good faith,-partly,
no doubt, from a natural belief among the people that
the Khedive is more susceptible to foreign than to
native influences. Oppressive taxation, with lack of
order and justice, certainly exist; but nothing could
have so illustrated the conscious helplessness of the
people as such an appeal to an unknown Frank. Alas,
for the Orientals! They get but scanty justice, I fear,
even from us; we praise the rulers who keep them
abject and ignorant, and then revile the people because they are not manly and intelligent.
We rode onward between orchards of the fruit-bearing cactus, which also serve as supports for magnificent grape-vines. Nowhere in Egypt do the grape
and the olive flourish as in the Fyoom: the markets
of Cairo, in the season, are supplied from here.
There was a quaint village perched on a rise, with a
bright pond of water, on which wild-ducks were
swimming, in the hollow below. Some venerable
fathers and mothers of the hamlet, half-dozing in the
shade, woke up and greeted us quite cordially. My
friends tried their pistols on the ducks, without success, unless the amusement of the wild brown children might be considered such. Not one of the latter




A TRIP TO THE F YOOOM.


91


begged of us: in fact, the word ' backsheesh " is
unused throughout the whole of the Fyoom.
As we drew westward, the palm-groves increased
in frequency and stately height; and they, with the
cactus-vineyards between, made the path a shady
lane, delightful to traverse. In two hours, or more,
after leaving Senoris, we reached the curious village
of Fiddimeen, which is built along the opposite banks
of a deep glen, one side being Coptic and the other
Moslem. From the edge of the stream to the summits of the high, sinuous ridges on either side, palmtrees grow like a natural forest. As I looked down,
over the masses of mud towers, bastions, and -flat
domes, the groups of people passing to and fro beside the water, and all the minor features of the fantastic place, I felt inclined to ask: " How much further is it to Timbuktoo? "
We did not enter the town, but turned off to the
right between walled gardens, and presently issued
upon a broad, breezy hill, sandy in patches, but still
bearing fair fields of grain. The glen of Fiddimeen
lay on our left, showing the vivid gloss of orange and
lemon orchards under the crowns of its thousands of
palms. Then, slowly, all the lower land between us
and the lake came into view, the long blue sheet of
the lake itself, and the rosy slopes of the bare mountains beyond it. On one side, many a square league
of glorious harvest-land; on the other, everlasting
barrenness, yet life could have no lovelier frame.
The Birket el-Korn, is thirty-five miles in length, and
seven in its greatest breadth; so that our view, emn




92


EG YP7'


bracing nearly its whole extent, was as broad as that
from the Great Pyramid, and much more beautiful.
The village of Senhoor, our destination, was seated
on a projecting spur of the plateau, still separated
from us by the glen of Fiddimeen. Descending into
the latter, we found it spanned by a lofty dam of masory which had given way in the centre, the ruins
meeting in a tottering bridge, over which we rode.
This was Moslem (it might have been American!) engineering: King Amenemha would have cut off the
builder's head. All the bottom of the valley, although bare of turf, was delightfully shaded with large
trees, and as we wound through them towards Senhoor, two Frank ladies advanced to meet us. It was
the missionary's wife, who had returned from Medeeneh soon after we left Senoris, and then, taking Miss
Thompson and a palm-basket of provisions with her,
had preceded us by a shorter road. Thirty miles on
horseback already, and the prospect of ten or fifteen
more, could not take away an atom from her cordial
welcome. We re-formed in a new and much more
picturesque procession, and created quite a stir of
excitement as we entered the village.
Senhoor is raised upon such lofty piles of ruin that
there must have been a town there, at least five thousand years ago. A part of it is again falling into decay: we passed through streets where there were
empty, roofless walls on one side, and swarming habitations on the other. In Egypt, one might almost
say, there is a mud-hut barometer, building up in
prosperity, and letting fall in a season of want. The




A TAIP TO THE FYOOM.             s
more frequent these fluctuations, the more rapidly the
basis, or pedestal, of the village is elevated; and variations fiom the general average would indicate the
particular fortune of each locality. This is a hint
which I offer to the archaeologists. At Senhoor, I feel
convinced, a tunnel cut through the lowest stratum
might well repay the expense. After Medeeneh, it is
perhaps the most central and commanding position
in the Fyoom; and the obelisk of Osirtasen I. (first
king of the Twelfth Dynasty), no less than the enormous undertaking of Lake Mceris, show that the
province must have been inhabited long before that
date.
At the very end of the town we came upon mounds of
debris loftier than any house in it, and climbed to the
summit to enjoy the far, sunny prospects. Below, at
the foot of the mound, stood the dismantled gateway
of some old Saracenic palace, rich with carvings and
horse-shoe arches; away to the west rose the tall,
smoking chimney of the Khedive's sugar refinery at
Nezleh. It was a confusing jumble of old history and
modern science; but the perfect day united all contradictions in one harmonious blending of form and
color. After all, there is a great deal of humbug in
the assumption that old historic associations are disturbed, or put to flight, by the intrusion of modern
(and hence, of course, prosaic) features, in a landscape. I rather fancy, that the mind which cannot
retain such associations in the presence of steam-engines and stove-pipe hats, is but weakly receptive of
them.   To be consistent, the sentimental tourist




394                 EGYPT.
should only appear in toga and sandals, and cry out
"ai! " or "eheu! " instead of "alas /" and " ak,
woe / " Pray understand me; the sentiment is natural and manly, and I do not respect the man who disclaims it; but, if it be genuine, it will not be neutralized by the inevitable, the beneficent changes of time.
The Senhoorites gathered gradually and formed a
wide, irregular ring about the foot of the mound,
while we delayed upon the breezy summit. When we
finally descended to where our animals were waiting
in the shade of a mud wall, a tall, dignified native, in a
white turban and blue caftan, came and saluted me,
when he presently asked: " Will you go to your
house?"  I had quite forgotten the old, once-familiar
form of Oriental courtesy, and gave a literal answer;
but Mr. Harvey quietly suggested the true meaning,
which was, "Will you come to my house?"    The
native gentleman insisted, furthermore, that we should
all pass the night under his roof; and his invitation
was so warm and persistent that it was rather an embarrassment to decline. Then we must accept a dinner-at least a schowrmneh, or sheep roasted whole;
but we finally compromised, with some little difficulty,
on coffee. He led the way, and we followed, with the
usual procession of idlers behind us. Down to the
edge of the lower plain, over capes and promontories
of rubbish, through gardens and orchards went the
way, until, on the eastern side of the town, we found
an open space, walled on two sides, and with a fine
sculptured portal of stone leading to an inner courtyard.




A TRIP TO 7'HE F YOOM.


905


Our host called himself the sheikh el-belled, or village magistrate, and a younger man, pale and sombre
of face, whom I took to be his brother, kept always
at his side. On either side of the portal were wicker
boxes, which might serve either as chicken-coops or
sofas, and upon these we took our seats. The ladies
boldly entered the inner court —a privilege which we
could not help but envy,-and made their way to the
magistrate's harem. Coffee was served, I gave cigars
to the magistrate and his supposed brother, and there
was some conversation"But over all there hung a shade of fear;
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted."
The ladies came back, omitting nothing in phrase or
manner demanded by Moslem courtesy; the invitation was renewed, yet with an earnestness which,
somehow, made me anxious to escape it; coffee was
served a second time, and after profuse and hollow
compliments we took our leave.
Half an hour afterwards, riding up the glen of Fiddimeen, our native attendants explained the apparent
mystery. The real magistrate of Senhoor was not the
man who had represented himself to us as such, but
the pale, sombre-faced young man who sat beside him.
A year ago, the father of the latter, riding up the
glen on his way to Medeeneh, to attend certain festivities of the Khedive at Cairo, was shot by an ambushed assassin. Suspicion fell upon a neighboring
magistrate, an enemy of the family, but all direct
evidence of guilt was wanting. Nevertheless, a month




96


EGYPT.


or two later, the suspected man was murdered in turn,
and this time there was some indirect evidence which
pointed towards the son of the first victim, the pale
young man we had seen. He was arrested and imprisoned; then, after a preliminary examination, released on bail, and was now awaiting his trial. For
this reason, he had felt a delicacy about inviting us
personally, and therefore commissioned a friend (not
a brother) to assume the title of magistrate and entertain us in his stead!
It was a curious story and suggested a number of
morals, which I will not declare, since they must be
evident to every thinking reader. The acceptance of
the hospitality would have been an uncanny experience; yet the ghost of the crime already sat over the
hospitable portal, and prevented our entering. The
people who followed us talked very freely about the
matter: they were not particularly shocked, although
they seemed to regret that the ways were not so secure
as under the regime of Said Pasha. But the picture
of that pale, sombre young man, sitting beside the
stately portal of his own house and permitting another
to play the part of its master, haunted me for a long
time.
Long before the tale was finished we had entered
the deep, winding valley of Fiddimeen, which we followed up to its divided, double-religioned town. Any
valley-except it be a cloven gorge of the desert hills
-is a phenomenon in Egypt. But here we followed
the course of leaping, plashing waters, and the hills on
either side were dark with rustling palm-trees, and by




A TRIP TO THE FYOO 7M


97


and by the orange gardens and vineyards swept down
from the heights, bringing odor, color and shade itr
one superb flood. Perhaps I seem to make too much
of so simple a feature; but whatever violates the broad,
natural conditions of a country, always surprises and
charms.  Moreover, the Fyoom is so accessible, yet
so unknown!
The town of Fiddimeen is even more picturesque
seen from below than from above. There was a sort
of market or exchange of commodities, on the Moslem
side, over a bare slope below the houses; the Copts
came over and mingled peacefully with their neighbors, and we, fraternizing with neither (except in a
purely human sense), received greetings which were
entirely friendly. Mr. Harvey led the way to the top
of the ridge, and there took temporary possession of a
Moslem cactus-orchard, which gave at least dabs or
shovelfuls of shade from its spatulate leaves; the
owner's wife brought us water-bottles, and the owner
himself kept away the curious children. It was a picturesque lunch in every sense: three anointed and
three lay Christians, one devout and several indifferent Musselmen, a Copt or two, and overhead a peace
and glory in the sky which seemed to smile at mere
symbolism, and to acknowledge the native instinct of
prayer, worship and faith, in each. The noises of the
village were unheard; the birds sang around us, and
the natives kept politely out of sight until we had finished the excellent cold fowls and nutritious Fyoonm
bread which our hosts-for so they still were-hatl
brought from Senoris.




98


EG YP T.


It was hardei to resist a pressing invitation to return
with the latter; but we were obliged to decline, for
the sake of seeing another part of the Fyoom, and inspecting, if possible, an obelisk of Osirtasen I., before
returning to Cairo. By this time it was four o'clock
in the afternoon, and the two hours of daylight which
remained would barely suffice for our return and that
of our friends to their home at Senoris. So the animals were collected, cordial adieus were said, and our
temporary caravan divided into two equal parts on the
western brink of the valley of Fiddimeen, they crossing to the road by which we had come, and we turning
away to the right, over the upland. The two patient
and cheerful attendants from Medeeneh ran with us
encouraging the weary mule and asses; the day was
still bright and mellow, and, although I knew that our
ride of thirty-five miles through the heart of the Fyoom had enabled us to overlook and comprehend
the character of the region we had not traversed, I
sincerely regretted that I had not brought a tent and
a week's supplies, so as to have deliberately studied the
land and its people. The circumstance that all my
forgotten knowledge of Arabic-unused for twentytwo years-had returned, and restored, as by a sort of
human magic, every broken link of sympathy with the
people, made more evident how much I was losing by
such a hasty visit. But man may be man, yet not
fully C master of his fate."
We returned through a lovely country; yet, on
leaving the edge of the plateau which slopes suddenly
down to the plains bordering the Lake of the Horn



A TRIP TO THE FYOOM..g
following the streams up valleys of diminishing depth,
and gaining a more uniform, if richer, level of cultivation-the former surprises ceased. I am afraid I paid
more attention to my shifting stirrups and the premonitions of coming aches than to the promise of the
rustling grain-fields. The present dimensions of the
cultivated part of the Fyoomn are about thirty by twenty-five miles, with a population of one hundred and
fifty thousand. In the old days of Egypt it was considerably larger; for at the western extremity of the
lake, where now all is sand and gravel, there are still
important ruins of Egyptian and Roman temples, with
the traces of fields and canals. From the highest
ridges I saw no sign of mountains to the westward;
and here, as wherever water is carried, the earth will
produce whatever is needed, the limits of the habitable region may undoubtedly be extended much further
in that direction. The supply of water has recently
been increased by feeding the Bahr-Youssef with a
branch canal which leaves the Nile somewhere near
Siout; but one result thereof, I was told, is a rise in
the surface of the lake and the flooding of lowlands
heretofore cultivated. King Amenemha avoided this.
when he made Lake Moeris, and there seems to be no
remedy but in a reservoir which shall hoard the oversupply.
We passed several villages on the way; the path
was lively with groups of people, coming and going as
the sun drew near his setting. The approach to
Medeeneh, along the banks of the main canal, was
unexpectedly imposing: it might have been Bagdad




100


EGYPT.


and a branch of the Tigris. But I was too weary, by
this time, to feel more than the mechanical satisfac.
tion of the eye. On approaching the gate of the city,
we despatched Hassan to his Moslem friend, the cook,
with an order for fried fish from the lake, and followed
the irregular outer wall southward and eastward along
the edge of a wide pool which reflected the sunset,
until the grooms advised me that we were near the
school of Tadrus.
I made my way to the upper terrace, thinking to
surprise that "mild-eyed, melancholy" custodian;
but it was myself who was surprised. The kerosene
lamp was lighted in the room we had occupied; at
the table, engaged in counting a pile of copper coins,
sat a handsome, fair-faced, and dark-eyed Coptic
lady. Seeing me, she rose, greeted me in a musical
voice, came forward with an easy grace, took my
hand, and kissed it before I could reverse the compliment. "I am   Mariam," she said, in Arabic; "I
teach the girls here, but would not have kept the
apartment so long, had I not supposed that you would
stay at Senoris."  She despatched Moses in search of
Tadrus, and left when the latter arrived; yet I should
have preferred to continue a conversation carried on
with so much frankness and cheerfulness, on her side.
Tadrus half sighed as he said that probably no one
would ever seek her in marriage, the prejudice against
converts to Protestantism being so great among the
Copts. Nevertheless, she seemed to be a thoroughly
bright and happy nature. Two young Coptic gentlemen (not converts) visited us during the evening




A TRIP TO THE FYOOM.


101


They had been partly educated at the Mission School,
and were not a little proud of their smattering of
English. Such as these must in time break down the
prejudices of the sect.
After the long day's journey, the Fellah saddle and
the sliding stirrups, I found the divan cushioned with
aches, and arose in the morning with such a feeling
of decrepitude that my first thought was to discover
a sufficient reason for not visiting the obelisk of Osirtasen I., two or three miles to the southward of the
town. Tadrus soon furnished one. The obelisk, he
said, lay prostrate in the midst of a cultivated field;
it was wholly covered with earth, except a space of a
yard or so in the centre, where some hieroglyphicsthe king's name, he supposed-were visible. Now, as
I had already seen the nomen of Osirtasen I. on the
obelisk of Heliopolis, there was no necessity for taking
taking such pains to behold that again-and nothing
more. As for the famous Labyrinth, the site whereof
is marked by the brick pyramid of Hawarah, absolutely nothing is left. The believers in the Ichneumon
appear to have cut it up, root and branch. In fact,
the probable area can only be guessed from greater
ridges of broken granite and limestone fragments. It
is difficult to understand the astonishment of Herodotus at its magnitude, and his statement of its three
thousand chambers seems (in spite of his honesty as a
narrator) to be hugely exaggerated. But the Crocodile was thoroughly suppressed, and to this day the
sacred reptile never shows himself in the Fyoom.
It was such a dazzling morning —everything that w,




I02


EGYPT.


saw from the roofs or the streets, or the winding banks
of Joseph's River, was so sunny and beautiful that I
was tempted to "invite my soul" to lounge there for
the day. My companions, however, were too young
and too American for such an experiment; and, besides, the idleness of a railway-car, with its flying panoramas, was nearly as good an indulgence. Tadrus
and his Coptic friends accompanied us to the track
outside the town, and waited patiently until the locomotive made up its mind to start. There was no appointed time of departure, in fact; nor was it necessary, since we had an indefinite margin of from two to
four hours at El Wasta. I could not understand why
I should pay more for a ticket to return than for one
to come; but, since the ticket-seller said: " I am entitled to sometzctilg more, and you see it is not a great
deal," I suppose it was right.
On approaching the ravine along the eastern edge
of the Fyoom, I looked for signs of an ancient Egyptian dyke, which Mr. Harvey informed me were visible
if one knew where to look for them, but cannot be sure
that I really saw them. That the ravine was thus
dyked, however, is almost certain, if, indeed, it was not
originally an artificial canal connected with Lake
Moeris. At El Edwa there was a small fair, or marketday, and many dark Bedouins who camp on the barren outskirts of the province, had come together with
their sheep and camels. They gazed upon us with
stony, silent curiosity, while the train halted; the
boys gathered nearer, but started back, in real or
feigned alarm, whenever one of us made a movement,




A TRIP TO THE FY00M              103
Their eyes were as the eyes of doves by the rivers of
waters, washed with milk; and their teeth like flocks
of lambs that are even shorn, which come up from
the washing.
We had another inspiring ride across the isthmus
of desert; blue lakes of the mirage glittered in the
hollows, the pure north-wind made the sand dance
and vibrate along the crests of the ridges, and my
eyes so adjusted themselves to the direct and reflected
sunshine that the first glimpse of the deep Nile-green,
through a gap in the hills, was like the loom of a
thunder-cloud. The cry of "backsheesh!" which
we had not once heard since leaving El Wasta, was
waiting for our return, and for six hours (so long delayed, the one daily train from above!) the ravenous
imps tormented us. The last gleam of sunset struck
the topmost wedge of the False Pyramid as we moved
off for Cairo, and it was nearly midnight under the
cold, cold moon, when the train reached the station
of Boolak-Dakrour.




CHAPTER IX.


THE EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES AT BOOLAK.
CAIRO, April 3.
TN the beginning of November, 1851, as I was slowly
plodding along on a donkey, over the sandy spurs
of the Desert between the Pyramids and Sakkara, the
Fellahs who accompanied me had much to say of a
strange Frank, who had hired people to dig holes in
the earth in the hope of finding golden chickens. I
paid no great attention to these stories until, on reaching the sandy plateau behind the village of Mitrahenny
(the site of ancient Memphis), I saw a number of Arabs
carrying sand in baskets, and my donkey-drivers cried
out, "There is the Frank!" On the brink of the
excavation, overlooking the workmen, stood a man of
twenty-eight to thirty years of age, tall, blond, terribly sunburnt, and apparently worn with exposure and
the endless annoyances of his task. I approached
him, and entered into conversation. He was French,
and seemed a little reserved in his manner, until the
accidental mention of my being an American and not
an Englishman restored his confidence and communicativeness. We descended the excavation, walked two
hundred yards in one of the exhumed streets of Memphis, and there I learned of the magnitude of the discoveries he had already made. Few men have ever




ECG YPTIAN ANTIQUITIES A ' BOOLAK. it
given me such an impression of patient enthusiasm.
At that time only a few scholars knew of his labors,
and when he wrote in my note-book the name " Auguste Mariette " it was as new to me as to the world
at large.
Since then there has been no pause in M. Mariette's devotion to his self-imposed task. He was at
first supported by contributions from France-very inadequate and irregular, I suspect-and was obliged to
work without the favor of the Egyptian Government,
if not covertly opposed by the influence of England.
European diplomacy in the East moves in ways that
are dark and oftentimes contemp-(rather let me
finish the word otherwise)-lative. During the reign
of Abbas Pasha, M. Mariette worked steadily against
discouragements: under Said Pasha there came a
new if incomplete freedom; and finally the Khedive,
Ismail Pasha, has turned the dauntless archaeologist
into Mariette Bey, "Director of the Department for
the Preservation of the Antiquities of Egypt," granted him an annual sum for the prosecution of his researches, founded an Egyptian Museum at Boolak,
and promises further support, which may be given in
case no more viceregal marriages take place within
the next few years.
Knowing how ruthlessly Egypt has been plundered,
since the days of Denon-what obelisks, statues and
sarcophagi have been conveyed to London, Paris, and
Berlin-how  Belzoni, Lepsius, Abbott, and many
others have rummaged temples, tombs, and pyramids
for the sake of their pockets and button-holes, and,




o6                 E GYP T.
moreover, how the rage of Winter tourists for relics
has not only exhausted the legitimate supply of scaraboei, papyri, and pottery, but given rise to a manufacture of new articles of the sort,-I was prepared to
find the Museum at Boolak only a depository of cast
away odds and ends, as confused and unsatisfactory
as the collections you see in the Louvre or the British
and Berlin Museums. These latter, every traveller
knows, are not Egypt, any more than an old Roman
brick is a part of the majesty of the Coliseum. But
I never quite understood their lack of interest, even
to one who has seen Denderah and Karnak, until the
exact historical arrangement of Mariette's collection
had opened my eyes.
Now-one can say without fear of contradictionthe most valuable Egyptian Museum in the world is
in Cairo. That which was previously carried away
being, for the most part, easily accessible, proves to
belong to the later rather than the earlier dynasties.
Unwearied digging has enabled Mariette to reach the
records of the Ancient Empire, and to show-what we
never before suspected-that the glory of Egyptian
Art belongs to the age of Cheops, and only its deca.
dence to the age of Rameses II. (Sesostris). Not only
the Art, but the Culture, the Religion, the political
organization of Egypt are carried back to the Third
Dynasty (4450 B.C.), and Menes, the first historic
king, dawns upon our knowledge, not as a primitive
barbarian, but as the result of a long stage of unrecorded development. I do not hesitate to say that
since Champollion discovered the key to the hiero



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES A T BOOLAK.         o07
glyphics, no scholar has thrown such a broad and clear
light upon Egyptian life and history as Mariette. It
is understood that the Museum at Boolak is only temporary. It hardly contains half of the inestimable collection, and some of the halls, undermined by the current of the Nile, have already been vacated, in order
to preserve their contents. The Khedive promises a
spacious and appropriate building, fronting on the
great square of the Ezbekeeyeh, and he cannot have it
erected too soon. It makes one shudder to think
what irreplaceable wealth is accumulated between
those low mud walls at Boolak, and how easily some
accident might lose it to the world.
There has been so much discussion in regard to the
chronology of Ancient Egypt, that a few words on this
point may be an advantage to the reader, in perusing
the brief account which I must necessarily give of the
more ancient monuments. Let me, therefore, repeat
what many already know, and some may have forgotten, that our only former authority was Manetho, an
Egyptian priest, who lived under the Ptolemies, Soter,
and Philadelphus, in the beginning of the third century before Christ. He wrote, in Greek, a complete
History of Egypt, compiled from the records preserved
in the Temples of Memphis and Heliopolis. This
work, which is quoted by Josephus, Eusebius, and
other authors, is unfortunately lost, except a chronological table of thirty dynasties, beginning with
Menes, and terminating with the invasion of Egypt by
the Persians. Manetho's table gives the names of the
kings and the length of their reigns; and the sum




Io8


EGYPT.


total is so immense, carrying the duratic n of the Egyp.
tian Empire to such a remote point in the past, that
most scholars have shrunk from accepting it, preferring to suppose that a number of the dynasties were
cotemporaneous (that is, existing side by side in Upper and Lower Egypt), and not successive.
For the sake of convenience I will take Mariette's
division of the dynasties into historic periods, together
with the dates conjecturally given for the commencement of each, by the older scholars, by Bunsen, and
finally by Manetho and Mariette:


Wilkinson,
Dynasties. Poole, etc.
Ancient Empire.. I. to X. 2700 B. a.
Middle Empire..      to     2200 B. c.
1 XVII. )
i XVIII. )
Later Empire....     to. 1520 B. c.
XXXI. )
XXXII. )
Greek Rule.....     to      332 B. c.. XXXIII 
Roman Rule.......XXXIV.       30 B. C.


Bunsen.      ianetho.
3623 B. c.   5004 B. o.
2925 B. c.   3061 B. c.
1625 B. c.   1703 B. o.
332 B. C.    332 B. C.
30 B..       30 B. c.


Edict of Theodosits, introducing Christianity, 381 A. D.
It will be noticed that the discrepancy, which is less
than two centuries, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty (that of the Theban, Amosis, who
expelled the Hlyksos or Shepherd Kings), increases to
two thousand three hundred years on reaching the
first historical king, Menes. But it is precisely upon
this earlier period that Mariette's discoveries throw
the most astonishing light. The names of the kings,
their order of succession, and the length of thei!




E!GYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES AT BOOLAKX, Ioa
reigns, correspond with Manetho's table, and there is
no evidence of any two dynasties, among those recorded, having existed side by side. Although fully
aware of the difficulties which may be created by this
extension of Egyptian chronology, and by no means
inclined to accept it as exact, Mariette frankly acknowledges himself unable to dispute it. The character of the monuments, now for the first time properly contrasted, indicates great changes, even within
the rigid boundaries of Egyptian art; and these are
so clearly marked that the age of a statue or sarcophagus may often be approximately estimated before
reading the inscriptions upon it. In short, the same
process of study and critical knowledge of details,
heretofore so successfully applied to Greek and Roman antiquities, now opens a way for us into the shadows of the mysterious "' forty centuries" which passed over Ancient Egypt before our synchronous history
begins.
Enough by way of prelude. On reaching the Museum at Boolak, which is free to all visitors except on
Fridays, you first enter a dusty garden-court, on the
high, crumbling bank of the Nile, with a glimpse of
the opposite shore, and the dim, over-lapping triangles of the Pyramids. On the left is an ordinary
Turkish dwelling, the residence of Mariette Bey; on
the right is the Museum, a very plain, cheap structure,
but so admirably arranged that its treasures can be at
once discovered and profitably studied. I saw large
square granite boxes on both sides o' the entrance,
and was about to pass them without Special notice.




flo


EGYPT.


wht,. Herr Brugsch, brother of the Vice-Director, said:
" These are the oldest sarcophagi yet found." They
were of the Fourth dynasty (Cheops), and imposing
from their very simplicity-each a mass of hollowed
granite, with a flat lid having two square projections
at each end, as if two men might be expected to take
them in their hands and thus lift off the cover. One
contained the words, in hieroglyphics, on each of the
four sides: " The King's Son."
Mariette's collections (that is, so much of them as
there is room to exhibit) are arranged in seven vestibules and halls. There is no such attempt at effect,
as in the Museum in Berlin, where the frescoes of the
Theban tombs are imitated on the walls, and a beautiful doorway, violently torn fiom its original place by
Lepsius, is stuck together again. The relics are simply arranged according to their civil or religious character, those of the earlier dynasties having the most
conspicuous places, and these latter, by their higher
artistic character, are the first objects which attract
the eye on entering. There are plenty of statues of
the gods, coffins, and sarcophagi, as in other museums;
yet, towering over them, instinct with life and character, are those marvellous forms of carved wood or
painted limestone, belonging to the Third and Fourth
dynasties, which flash upon us a new revelation of the
oldest civilization of Egypt.  No other statues like
these have yet been recovered: they give the Museum
a distinct and separate value.
In the court there are three statues belonging to
an age from which no other monuments have bees




EGYPTIAN AzTIQUITIES A T BOOLAK. ii
found —that of the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, whose
invasion of Egypt about the year 2200 B. C. (Manetho), atnd usurpation of the government for nearly
five centuries, are sufficiently attested by other records. It has been a matter of conjecture who these
Shepherds were, and few archaeologists could have been
prepared for the marked Turanian or Tartar type,
which is so distinctly given in their statues. The eyes
are long and narrow, the brows prominent, the cheekbones projecting, the mouth large and wide, and the
beard thick upon the jaws and chin. They are certainly neither Egyptian nor Semitic: I have seen just
such faces among the Calmucks, in Russia. Two of
them were found at Tanis (the Zoan of the Old Testam.ent) in the Delta, and the third in the Fyoom,
which shows that the Hyksos possessed at least all
Lower Egypt. They have been savagely battered
and mutilated, probably during the dynasty which
overthrew the rule of their originals; but the hard
dark granite still holds the type of the race. If the
pre-Trojan city discovered by Dr. Schliemann should
prove also to have had Turanian inhabitants, here
would be a new link, of the highest importance, in
the chain of the earliest migrations.
In the main vestibule, crowded with precious relics, I can only notice those extraordinary specimens
of the oldest Egyptian Art, which are to be seen nowhere else in the world. The eye is at once'drawn to
two life-sized statues of painted limestone, which,
from their pedestals, seem to overlook and guard the
later remains. They are nude, save a cloth, folded




112


EGYPT.


in front like an apron, which falls from the hips to the
knees. The arms and legs are rather stiffly modelled,
but quite free from the conventional rigidity of Egyptian statues. Indeed, the hands, feet, and joints show
a careful study not only of nature, but also of the individual. The trunks are excellently rendered, in
their main masses, like the half-finished clay model
of a modern sculptor. But the heads are simply
amazing, in their correct embodiment of life and
character. In them there is no prescribed solemnity
of expression, in closed lips, steadfast eyes, and hands
resting flatly on the knees, as in the statues chiselled
two thousand years later. They beam with a frank,
free, naive apprehension of Nature; and exhibit the
activity of an Art which is just about to overcome the
last stubborn resistance of the material. There is no
representation of motion, as in the crowning days of
Greek sculpture; the figures stand or sit, but you
feel that a slight effort would enable them to rise or
walk.
One of the statues represents a priest named RaNefer, another a civil official, Ti/i, whose tomb still
remains entire at Memphis, where these and other
similar figures of smaller dimensions were found. The
most of them date from the Fourth or Fifth dynasties.
The colors are as brilliant as if but yesterday applied
to the stone. The climate of Egypt and the sand
under which the sepulchral chambers have so long
been buried, seem absolutely to prevent decay, and
thus these most ancient recovered monuments appear
to be modern in comparison with those which were




E'GYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES AT BOOLAK. II3
exposed to the air. In I85T, shortly after my meeting with Mariette at Memphis, he discovered the unviolated tomb of an Apis-bull. On first entering, he
saw upon the light layer of dust covering the floor the
distinct footprints of the men who had placed the
mummy in his sarcophagus, 3,700 years before!
Passing on to the main hall, the first objects I
sought were the wooden statues belonging to the Fourth
dynasty (that of Cheops, about 4235 B. C.), discovered not long since. The light from the ceiling, falling on the close-cropped crown of the old "village
magistrate." (sheikh el-belied, as he is now called by
the Egyptians), gave him the reality of a living figure,
among so many which seemed to be dead or asleep in
the shadows. The statue, about three feet eight inches
in height, is carved out of sycamore wood, which has
now become hard and resonant as metal. It represents a corpulent man of about forty-five years of age,
holding in one hand a long staff of office, while the
other, clenched, hangs at his side. His only garment
is a cloth wound around the loins and falling to the
knees. The face is remarkably intelligent, cheerful
and benevolent-a Shakesperean head, one might say,
it gives such evidence of a large, rich, and attractive
nature. The nose is slightly aquiline, with sensitive
nostrils of only moderate breadth, the lips, large and
half-smiling, equally ready to open for a joke or a
blessing, and the cheeks and chin full, but firmly
rounded and not puffy. The eyes, especially, are remarkable specimens of the earliest pre-Raphaelite attempts to represent nature. They are inserted, and




114


EG YP T.


with a finesse of invention which almost seems a
higher art. The lashes are thin rims of bronze; the
whites are formed of white opaque quartz, the iris ol
rock crystal, and in the centre of each is set a small
crystal with many facets, which from every side reflects
a keen point of light, like that in the human eye.
Herr Brugsch said to me: " There are times when
this head absolutely lives; " and I could well believe
him. The statue is probably six thousand years old,
thus antedating by three thousand seven hundred
years all other relics of art which are in any way
worthy of being placed beside it.
There are two other heads of wood, with torsos, of
the same era-whether broken or mutilated I could
not ascertain. One, a woman, possesses the same distinct individuality as the good and just magistrate.
There are differences in the two sides of the face, which
show the most careful study of the original. She is
neither handsome nor ugly, but you see at once that
she was no ordinary person, and that, in her day, you
would much rather have had her for a friend than an
enemy.
I will hasten through two intervening chambers to
reach what impressed me as the most interesting group
in the whole collection. It was found only eighteen
months ago, in an ancient necropolis, beside that
singular pile of masonry, called by the natives the
Haram el-Keddb, or Lying Pyramid, on the western
bank of the Nile, about fifty miles south of Cairo.
This structure has never been opened, or even adequately examined, but the conjecture of some archae



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES A T BOOLAI. T15
ologists that it was built by King Sne-frou, the predecessor of Cheops, is possibly confirmed by Mariette's
discovery of the two painted limestone statues, which
belong to the Third Dynasty.
The inscriptions show that they represent the prince
Ra-IIotepf and the princess Nefer-t, who may have
been either his wife or sister. The size of life, they
sit side by side on plain, massive chairs; but the attitudes are easy and natural, and the hands are not laid
upon the knees. Only the drapery-a loin-cloth for
the man and a simple white garment, without folds,
for the woman-is stiffly and awkwardly represented..
The muscles of the chest and limbs, the joints, hands,
and feet, are carefully modelled, and the heads might
be boldly set beside the best portrait-busts ever made.
Ra-Hotep's flesh is painted of a fresh, ruddy color,
and Nefer-t's a pale olive; yet the features indicate
that they belonged to the same race. Nothing can be
finer than the delicate individuality expressed in the
two faces. His is strong, proud, asserting authority;
hers, kind, sympathetic, yet carried with the air of one
to whom respect is inevitably paid. The type is the
same as that of the "village magistrate," but greatly
finer and nobler. The eyes are inserted in the same
manner, and are of even more admirable workmanship; for they fairly gleam and sparkle, and there are
moments when a human intelligence suddenly lights
up the face.
It is a remarkable circumstance, and one over which
the ethnologists will doubtless break their heads, that
these remains of the earliest, freest, and highest art




II6


EGYPT.


yet discovered in Egypt should represent a quite dif
ferent physical type from that of the later dynasties.
That they are Caucasian, or Aryan, is evident at the
first glance; that they possessed intelligence, energy,
and those moral qualities which we express by the
word " character," seems equally certain. Looking
at Ra-Hotep's face, your first impression is: "Here
is a gentleman! " The remains of the Ancient Empire suggest a certain amount of freedom-continuous
development among both rulers and people; those of
the Later Empire, on the contrary, are rigidly stamped
with the seal of a priestly despotism.
Here, for instance, is a splendid granite statue of
King Sha-fra (Cephrenes, the builder of the second
Pyramid), which Mariette found at the bottom of a
well in the very ancient granite temple, which he discovered eight years ago, near the Sphinx. It bears all
the marks of the same ardent, struggling art which we
detect in the wooden and limestone statues.  The
head is slightly lifted: the features are modelled with
a care which attests to us the exactness of the portrait;
the eyes look, and do not simply dream, as in the
forms of the Later Empire; and while one hand rests,
but not flatly, upon the knee, the other is closed and
brought down upon the thigh, as who should say:
" Such is my will!" The figure speaks and commands, while the later Thothmes and Rameses sit,
like Brahma, in endless passiveness. It will be found,
I am sure, that the decadence of the art of Egypt,
during her most illustrious historical periods, was due
to the despotic limitations of her religion. It was the




EGYPTIAN AN7'IQUITIES A T BOOLAK. 117
same spirit which, during the Middle Ages and since,
has compelled the artists to give a particular color to
the drapery of each Apostle, and to design Annunciations, Assumptions, Transfigurations, Judgments,
according to one easily recognizable pattern.
Mariette's discoveries, thus far, have thrown less
light upon the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, than
many might have expected, or wished. We are apt
to forget, in the great importance which the Biblical
narrative possesses for us, that a small subject race, like
the Jews, could only be accidentally mentioned in the
annals of such a proud and powerful people. A few
strong probabilities, however, are worthy of being noticed. The conjectured period of Joseph's arrival.in
F gypt corresponds with that of the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, who, being strangers themselves, would
the more readily confer high authority upon a stranger. Moses, almost certainly, was educated as an
Egyptian priest under the reign of Rameses II., and
the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Menephthah was the latter's son, a superb bust of whom is in Mariette's museum. The name, Moses, is the Egyptian Mesu, signifying "child" or "boy."  A recently-deciphered
papyrus contains an official report concerning a certain "Mesu," who is declared to have much influence
over "the foreign people," as the descendants of the
Hyksos, the Israelites, and other Semitic tribes settled in the Delta, were collectively designated.
Bricks made with and without straw, are to be found
in quantities among the ruins of Bubastis and other
Egyptian cities in the Land of Goshen.




1I8


EGYPT.


It is difficult to make an end, while so much re
mains undescribed, yet I must try to avoid the formality of a catalogue. A large glass case in one of
the eastern rooms is quite filled by the magnificent
jewels of the queen, Aah-hotep (of the Eighteenth
Dynasty, about 1700 B. C.), supposed to be the
mother of King Amosis, who overthrew the Hyksos.
The splendid gilded coffin was found intact, only two
or three feet below the soil, at a small village near
Thebes. It appears to have been stolen from the sepulchre by thieves who were pursued or became alarmed, and hastily buried it by the way. No modern
queen would hesitate to wear the exquisite chains,
diadems, ear-rings, and bracelets of this Theban
woman. It would require a professional jeweller to do
justice to the admirable quality of the workmanship.
Of even greater interest are the household articles,
implements of trade, food, etc., which, like the spoils
of Pompeii, restore for us the domestic life of the
people. Here, for instance, are stools, cane-bottomed
chairs and work-boxes, four thousand years old,
yet no more dilapidated than if they came out of a
garret of the last century; nets, knives, needles, and
toilet ornaments; glass bottles and drinking cups,
as clear as if just blown; earthenware, glazed in blue
and yellow patterns, the very counterpart of old Majolica; seeds, eggs, and bread; straw baskets, and a
child's ball for playing; paint-boxes with colors and
brushes, and boards for games of draughts-in short,
a collection almost as varied and complete as the
ashes of Vesuvius preserved for us of the Graeco



JGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES AT BOOLAK. II9
Roman life of the year seventy-nine of our era. But
these Egyptian relics date from one thousand to
three thousand years before our era began.
I have left myself no space to speak of the stele of
Alexander, or the Canopic Stone, which, like the Rosetta Stone of Champollion, contains the same document in Greek, Hieroglyphic, and Demotic characters. It is a limestone slab, six feet high, beautifully
engraved,,and in the most perfect state of preservation. This additional proof of the correctness of
Champollion's interpretation of the hieroglyphics was
really not needed, but the confirmation it brings will
be a comfort to many hesitating minds. I have purposely paid less attention to the later and more exact
historical records in the Museums, because the revelation of the earliest periods, which Mariette has very
recently brought to light, are still comparatively unknown to the world; and they are certainly of incal.
culable value.




CHAPTER X.


FRAGMENTS OF EARLY EGYPTIAN T.:rERATURE.
CAIRO, April 4.
IMUS ' return once more to Mariette's discoveries.
In order to appreciate their importance, the reader
must remember that the difficulties in the way of deciphering the hieroglyphic characters have been so
nearly overcome, that most of the civic or religious
records are now read with almost as much facility as
if they had been inscribed in Hebrew or Syriac. Although Champollion's inspired genius and marvellous
good fortune only gave him the interpretation of
about seven hundred characters, more than four thousand five hundred are now intelligible to the scholars
of Germany and France. Moreover, it is settled that
Egypt had her written language long before the Pyramids were built, together with all the main features of
her religion, and a well-developed if not an elaborate
political organization.
In proportion as the mysteries of the old Egyptian
Faith are revealed to us, we discover, in place of a
gross and grotesque mythology, the evidences of a
symmetrical theological system, based upon a profound
philosophical apprehension of the forces of Nature.
Mariette says:




EARL Y EG YP TIAN LITERA TURE.        121
"c On the summit of the Egyptian Pantheon hovers
a sole God, immortal, increate, invisible, and hidden
in the inaccessible depths of his own essence. He
is the Creator of heaven and earth; he made all
that exists, and nothing was made without him. This
is the God, the knowledge of whom was reserved for
the initiated, in the sanctuaries.  But the Egyptian
mind could not or would not remain at this sublime
altitude. It considered the world, its formation, the
principles which govern it, man and his earthly destiny, as an immense drama in which the one Being is
the only actor. All proceeds from him, and all returns to him. But he has agents who are his own
personified attributes, who become deities in visible
forms, limited in their activity, yet partaking of his
own powers and qualities."
In fact, as in all forms of Faith, there is a ladder
rising from pure realism to the highest pinnacle of
spiritual aspiration; and individual souls, or classes
of souls, rest at the height which corresponds to their
quality.
We must suppose that a people so far developed as
the Egyptians under the Ancient Empire, had also a
Literature. The character of their art would attest it,
if nothing else. Songs, poems, parables, perhaps romances, must have been written, chanted, or recited,
and even if the isolated grandeur and awe attached to
the rulers prohibited the inscription of such works upon
solid tablets, they could hardly have escaped being
here and there deposited, on papyrus scrolls, with the
bodies of their authors or their admirers. The scribes




122


EG YPT.


appear to have been a large and important class, as
early as the Fourth Dynasty, and they, in combination
with the priesthood, probably produced the prayere
invocations, and litanies of the Temples, which became
oithodox and therefore invariable for the Later Empire.
I believe no fragments of a purely secular literature
have yet been found; but the many translations made
by Mariette show the high poetic character of the early
religious and historic literature. Certain forms of the
faith, in fact, lent themselves as readily to poetry as
those of the Greek Mythology. Its basis was strongly
spiritual, the leading article being a belief in the immortality of the soul, and its future reward or punishment for the deeds done in the body-a belief, the earnestness of which, among the Egyptians, is all the more
remarkable because it seems to have been quite weak
or imperfect among the ancient Hebrews. Then the
myths of Isis and Osiris, typifying the struggle of Light
with Darkness, the beautiful attributes of the young
god Horus, the rising sun represented by Harpocrates
issuing from the lotus-flower, with numberless others,
offer imagec which would kindle the imagination of
even a primitive poet. One of the oldest specimens
was found at Memphis, on a tablet of the Ancient
Empire. It had belonged, according to the inscription, to the tomb of a royal scribe, named Anaoua;
and a part of it contains a remarkable invocation to
the Sun.




EARL Y EG YP TIAN LITERA TURE. 12j


" HYMN TO THE SUN.
" Words pronounced in worshipping the Sun, whc
rises for the Creation from the solar mountain, and
who goeth down in the divine life by the Osiris, the
royal scribe, the chief of the house, Anaoua, proclaimed the Just. He speaketh:
"' Hail to thee, when thou risest in the solar mountain under the form of Ra, and when thou goest'down
under the form of Ma! Thou circlest about the heavens, and men behold and turn toward thee, hiding
their faces! Would that I might accompany thy
majesty when thou displayest thyself on the morning
of each day! Thy beams upon the faces of men could
no one describe: gold is as nought, compared to thy
beams. The lands divine, they are seen in pictures:
the countries of Arabia, they have been numbered:
thou alone art concealed! Thy transformations are
equal to those of the celestial ocean: it marches as
thou marchest. Grant that I reach the land of eternity and the region of them that have been approved;
that I be reunited with the fair and wise spirits of Kernefer, and that I appear among them to contemplate
thy beauty, on the morning of each day! "
A thorough poetic spirit breathes through the mysticism of this chant. The beginning half suggests the
invocation of Ossian, but has a freshness and simplicity
far beyond the sentimental resonance of the latter.
Behind the material sun which is addressed, one distinctly feels the principle of good, of light, and intelligence, which its orb symbolizes.




124


EG YPT.


The next quotation I shall make is from a tablet
celebrating the victories of Thothmes III., which was
chiselled for the great temple of Karnak. This monarch, one of the greatest who ruled in Egypt, was the
fourth successor of Amosis, who overthrew the Hyksos, and lived in the seventeenth century before Christ.
He was a famous conqueror, during his reign, according to an inscription still existing: " Egypt set her
frontiers wherever she pleased." He subjected Nubia,
Syria, Mesopotamia, and perhaps a part of Asia Minor; and it was apparently toward the close of his
reign, on the occasion of some solemn celebration of
his victories, that the chant of praise was written. It
is a poem, in the true sense of the word, not an historical document, and its author was perhaps some
priestly Theban laureate. It represents a period two
thousand years later than the " Hymn to the Sun," and
is consequently cast in a much more symmetrical and
artistic form. The opening is a welcome given by
the god, Amun-Ra (the Jupiter Ammon of the Greeks),
" the lord of the thrones of the world," to King
Thothmes on the return of the latter from his triumphs:
" Coine to me and be rejoiced in beholding my
grace, 0 mine avenger, living forever! I shine through
thine adorations; my heart dilates to thy welcome in
my temple. I enfold thy limbs with mine arms, to
give them health and life. Pleasant are thy favors to
me, through the image which thou hast set up for me
in my sanctuary. It is I who compensate thee; it is I
who give thee power and victory over all the nations;




EARL Y EG YP TIAAN LITERA TURE.       125
it is I who cause the knowledge and the fear of thee
to be upon all countries, and that the terror of thee
reaches even unto the four supports of the heavens."
There is much more of this preliminary welcome in
the same strain. Then, suddenly, the god Amun-Ra
begins to intone a cadenced chant, in which we find
one of the very earliest indications of a rhythmical poetic form. Its resemblance to the later Hebrew chants
will not escape the reader:
AMUN-RA TO THOTHMES III.
4' I am come, and I permit thee to smite the princes
of Tahi: I cast them under thy feet when thou passest
through their lands. I have made them behold thy
splendor, as a lord of light; thou shinest upon them
like mine image.
" I am come, and I permit thee to smite the inhabitants of Asia, to lead into captivity the chiefs of the
land of the Rotennu. I have made them behold thy
majesty bound with the girdle, bearing weapons and
fighting upon the chariot.
" I am come, and I permit thee to smite the country
of the East, to penetrate even to the cities of the Holy
Land. I have made them behold thy majesty, like
unto the star Canopus, which darts forth its flame and
brings the dew.
"' I am come, and I permit thee to smite the country
of the VWest: Kefa and Asia are under thy terror. I
have made them behold thy majesty, like unto a young
and valiant bull: his ornaments are his horns, and
nothing resists him.




I26


EG YP T.


" I am come, and I permit thee to smite all the
districts: the land of Maten trembles with fear before
thee. I have made them behold thy majesty like unto
a crocodile: he is the terrible master of the waters:
no one ventures to approach him.
" I am come, and I permit thee to smite them that
dwell in the islands; the inhabitants of the sea are
under the terror of thy shouts of war. I have made
them behold thy majesty like an avenger who stands
upon the back of his victim.
" I am come, and I permit thee to smite the Tahennu: the isles of Tana, they are subject unto thy
designs. I have made them behold thy majesty like
unto a lion terrible to see, who lieth down upon their
corpses in the breadth of their valleys.
"I am come, and I permit thee to smite the districts of the waters: that those who dwell around the
great sea may be bound by thy hand. I have made
them behold thy majesty like the king of the wing
which soars, and whose sight lays hold upon whatever
it pleases.
" 1 am come, and I permit thee to smite those who
are in their.... that the Heruscha * be led by thee
into captivity. I have made them behold thy majesty
like unto the jackal of the south, he that, in his hidden prowlings, traverses all the land.
" I am come, and I permit thee to smite the Anu
of Nubia; that the Remenson may be put under thy


* The Tleruscha were the same as their descendants the
present Bischari tribe in the Nubian Desert.




EARL Y EG YP TIAN LITERA TURE.         127
hand. I have made them behold thy majesty like
unto that of them who are thy two brothers: * their
arms are brought upon thee to give thee [victory]."
It seems to me that the Hebrew Literature draws its
style and character as directly from the Egyptian as
the Latin does from the Greek. If the lofty theism
preserved as a mystery in the sanctuaries of the temples struck a far profounder root in Israel, during its
free and glorious ages, and blossomed in the highest
and divinest forms of spiritual aspiration, the tone
and cadence of its expression suggest none the less the
language of the Nile. Who shall say, indeed, whether
the chief element of Faith, purified by the inspired
genius of Moses, was not originally the same.
If a collection were made of similar or equivalent
expressions, in Egyptian and Hebrew, it would surely
be richer and more striking than is now generally
supposed. Beginning with an ancient inscription on
the temple of Sais: " I am who is, has been, and ever
shall be," we should doubtless find a long series of
reverential phrases, which are already familiar to our
ears. Mariette says that the following, from one of
the early Egyptian rituals, is repeated so frequently
on stel/ and tombs that we are justified in supposing
it to be part of a daily prayer: " Through my love
have I drawn near to God. I have given bread to
him who was hungry, water to him who was athirst,
' Thothmes III. succeeded his brother, Thothmes II.
The other brother may be his masculine and victorious sister, Hatasou, who was rege it seventeen years during his
minority.




128


EGYPT.


garments to him who was naked, and a place of shelter to the abandoned."
One more passage, in which an historical event is
narrated both in a poetic and dramatic fashion, must
conclude my specimens of the Old Egyptian Literature. It is sculptured on the exterior wall of the temple of Karnak, and also on the northern front of the
large pylon at Luxor. Some Egyptologists call it the
"Poem   of Pen-ta-our," but I am  unable to say
whether that is the author's name. The subject is an
exploit of Rameses II. (Sesostris), toward the close
of his eighteen years of war with the people of Asia,
and therefore between the years 1350 and 1400 B. c.
It appears that under Rameses II., a series of rebellions occurred throughout the regions conquered by
his predecessors, Sethi and Rameses I. In Nubia,
Libya, Asia Minor, and along the borders of Media
and Assyria, the tribes rose against the Egyptian rule.
One by one they were reconquered, but a people
called in the inscription, "the vile race of Khetas,"
held out stubbornly to the end, and were never thoroughly overcome. They stood at the ihea of a confederacy of smaller tribes, the narlcs oi which (Aradus, Patasa, Kashkash, Cherobe, etr.) may hereafter
determine their geographical ]ocalrty. In the fifth
year of his reign, in marching upcn the city of Atesch,
Rameses II., deceived by titc Bedouins, whopl the
Khetas bribed to act as guidcs for him, became separated from his army, and suddenly found himself
alone, surrounded by the enemy. What then happened, is thus related b) cre poet:




EARLY EGYPT74IA    LITERA TURE.      129
"His Majesty, in the health and strength of his
life, rising like the god Month, put on the panoply of
battle. Urging forward his chariot, he entered into
the army of the vile Khetas; he was alone, no one
else with him. He found himself surrounded by two
thousand five hundred chariots, and the most rapid
warriors of the vile Khetas, and the numerous tribes
who accompanied them rushed to stay his course.
Each of their chariots held three men, and the king
had with him neither his princes, nor his generals,
nor the captains of the bowmen and the chariots."
In this perilous strait, Rameses addressed the following prayer to the supreme god of Egypt:
" My bowmen and my horsemen have abandoned
me: not one of them is here to combat beside me!
What, then, is the purpose of my father Ammon? Is
he a. father who denies his son? Have I not gone
according to thy word, 0 my father? Thy mouth,
has it not guided my marches, and thy counsels, have
they not directed me? Have I not celebrated thee
with many and splendid festivals, and have I not filled
thy mansion with my spoils? The whole world hath
assembled to dedicate to thee its offerings. I have
enriched thy domain, immolating to thee thirty thousand beeves, with all sweet-smelling herbs and the most
precious perfumes. With blocks of stone have I raised
temples for thee, and for thee have I set up the eternal trees. I have brought obelisks from Elephantina,
and even I have caused the everlasting stones to be
moved. For thee my great ships traverse the sea, and
carry to thee the tributes of the nations. I invoke
9




130


EG YP T.


thee, 0 my father 1 I am in the midst of throngs of
unknown people, and I am alone before thee: no one
is beside me. My bowmen and my horsemen abandoned me when I cried to them: not one of them
heard me when I called them to my aid. But I choose
Ammon rather than thousands of bowmen, than
thousands of horsemen, than myriads of young heroes,
even were they all assembled together! "
The god answers:
"Thy words have resounded in Hermonthis, 0 Rameses! I am near thee, I am thy father, the Sun:
my hand is with thee, and I count more to thee than
millions of men assembled together! The two thousand five hundred chariots, when I shall be in their
midst, shall be broken before thy horses. The hearts
of thine enemies shall grow weak within their sides,
and all their members shall be relaxed. They shall
fail to discharge their arrows, and shall have no courage to hold the lance. I shall cause them to plunge
into the waters, even as the crocodile plunges: they
shall be thrown one upon the other, and they shall
slay one another. Not one will I suffer to look behind him: he that falls shall not rise again."
Then the charioteer, standing beside Rameses, thus
addresses him:
" 0, my good master, generous king, sole protector
of Egypt in the day of battle, we are left alone in the
midst of the enemy's ranks: stay thy course, and let
us save the breath of our lives! What shall we do,
0 Rameses, my good master i"
The king answers:




EARL Y EG YP TIAN LITERA TURE.        r31
" Courage, be of good cheer, 0, my charioteer! I
shall throw myself into the midst of them, even as
darteth the divine hawk: overthrown and slaughtered,
they shall fall in the dust."
Six times Rameses drives his chariot through the
hostile ranks, slaying many of their best warriors.
Then some of his generals and horsemen come to his
assistance, and are greeted with a sharp reproof,
which, indeed, they seem to have well deserved. In
the evening the whole Egyptian army arrives, and
finds the field of combat covered with the bodies of
the slain. The generals thus address the king:
" Good fighter, thou of the dauntless heart, thyself
hast done the work of thy bowmen and thy horsemen.
Son of the god Tioum, formed out of his own substance,
thou hast effaced the country of the Khetas with thy
victorious sword. Thou, 0 my warrior, art the lord
of all strength: never was a king like to thee, who
fightest for thy soldiers on the day of battle. Thou,
king of the great heart, art the first in combat; thou
art first of the valiant before thine army, in the face
of the whole world risen against thee."
Rameses replies to them:
"No one of you hath well done in abandoning me
thus, alone among mine enemies. The princes and
the captains have not joined their hands to mine. I
have fought, I have repulsed thousands of the tribes,
and I was alone. The horses which carried me were:
Power in the Thebaid and Repose in the Superior Region. They are they which my hand found when I
was alone among mine enemies. I order that corn




132                 EGYPT.
shall be served to them before the god Phra, each day,
when I shall again be within my royal pylons."
The exaggerations of the poet and the conventional
honors he accords to the king do not prevent us from
recognizing some of the features of an actual occurrence. Rameses no doubt fell into an ambuscade,
and possessing superior arms, armor and horses, defended himself gallantly until assistance arrived.
The flattery is not much more excessive than in most
modern paintings of battles, wherein the crowned
head is always represented as halting or riding forward
under the heaviest fire of the enemy.
These fragments belong to the earliest literature of
the human race; for the last of them, just quoted, was
written while Moses was yet a child. I therefore
make no apology for the length of this letter, although
its contents may be known to those whose attention
has been especially drawn to the surprising revelations which Egypt has so long kept secret, but at last
fully revealed to the world.




CHAPTER XI.


EGYPT UNDER THE KHEDIVE'S RULE.
CAIRO, April 4.
ELEVEN years have elapsed since Ismail Pasha,
the Viceroy, or Khedive (an uncertain title, supposed to be a grade higher than the former) of Egypt,
succeeded to the heritage of his grandfather, Mohammed Ali. Since then, the Suez Canal has been completed, and for more than four years has been opened
to the commerce of the world; the cities of Ismailia
and Port Said have grown up with the rapidity of
Kansas or Nebraska towns; the delta is covered with
railways, and Upper Egypt is reached by the locomotive; the regions of Soudan have become safe, orderly,
and easily accessible; and Cairo and Alexandria have
their statues and theatres, their paved, sprinkled, and
gas-lighted streets. More significant than this, the
area of cultivated land has increased from twenty to
thirty per cent. throughout the country, the extension
of the canals and the growth of the trees have produced a marked influence on the rainfall, and thus
climate as well as industry are coming to resemble the
European rather than the former African conditions.
In Cairo, for instance, where the average was until
recently, four or five rainy days in a year, it has now




134


EGYPT.


increased to twenty-one; in the Delta, where it was
eight, it is now forty! This change correspondingly
diminishes the temperature of the Winter months;
and fires for warmth, although still unknown, are already a necessity. This year the Spring is not more
forward than in Southern Italy: it has only just come,
with a startling rapidity which I had supposed peculiar to high northern latitudes. Three days ago, the
Indian sycamores, on the road to Heliopolis and
Shoobra, stood perfectly cold and naked: to-day they
are veiled in the brightest drapery of young leaves.
The buds of the poplar and mulberry trees, also, are
opening so fast that one can fairly notice a change
from hour to hour. But this is April, in a land where
February is wont to be the Spring month.
Is is difficult to estimate the character of a development which depends upon the will of one man. With
the wonderful spectacle of Japan before our eyes, we
may easily be misled by the external signs of change
in Egypt. In Japan, however, the experiment is tried
upon a curious, restless, and quick-witted people,
whose religious faith, tolerant because philosophic,
interposes no serious hindrance to their advance in
civilization. Here, the conditions are very different;
every change requires care and caution, and old prejudices have even a greater force than personal interest. From all I can learn, the recent development of
Egypt is chiefly material: due in great measure to the
desire for show and gain of a ruler who is shrewd, intelligent, practical in business matters, and personally
ambitious. It is too much to expect that an Oriental




EG YP T UNDER THE KHEDIVE'S R ULE. 135
prince, in our day, shall manifest a hearty interest in
the well-being of his subjects. The Egyptians complain bitterly of three evils, which to them more than
counterbalance the advantages thrust upon them.
These are: enormous taxes, utter lack of defense
against the arbitrary will of those set over them, and
the negligence and corruption of both civil and criminal courts.
Until the last two or three years, Egyptian statistics
have been very confused and untrustworthy. It is,
therefore, difficult to make any satisfactory comparisons.  The people compare the Khedive's government with that of his predecessor, Said Pacha (I854 to
I863), which gave them justice, security, and only
moderate burdens; and they seem to forget what they
previously endured under Abbas Pasha, and during
the last years of Mohammed Ali's reign. The latter,
with all his tremendous energy and keen political wisdom, was a selfish despot. He originated a method of
taxation which would have ruined Egypt had it not
been changed-a bounty on date palms, amounting to
seven or eight cents a tree. During my journey in
Ethiopia, in I852, this tax had just been increased,
and, in some districts, the people ruthlessly destroyed
their palm groves in order to evade it. The tax has
now been converted into one upon real estate, which is
so high that a tract planted with date-palms costs at
the rate of twenty cents a tree. The cost of labor and
food has also increased, it is true, but in nothing like
the same proportion. When, therefore, the people see
the Khedive spending, in a few weeks, fifteen million




136


EGYPT.


dollars for the marriage festivities of his sons; when
they see enormous palaces building for these sons,
while a score or two of royal residences are standing
empty; when they hear that the Government is hard
up for money, while jewels are purchased and foreign
opera troupes brought to Cairo regardless of expense,
-it is not much wonder if they become impatient.
Ignorant as they are, I verily believe the most of them
would submit more readily to their burdens if the revenues of Egypt were bestowed mainly on necessary
public works.
The people, moreover, are still suffering from a
great inflation and reaction which is curiously connected with our own internal struggle. The cotton
crop of Egypt had been steadily, but rather slowly,
increasing, up to the year I86o, when it reached about
one hundred and fifty thousand bales. The breaking
out of the Rebellion gave a tremendous impetus to
this branch of production; the sudden rise in the
value of cotton made it more profitable than wheat or
sugar-cane. All over Egypt the cultivation spread:
the shrewd agriculturists, who foresaw their chance,
made such profits that the small Fellah farmers even
pulled up their maize and onions, and planted cotton.
By 1864 the production had reached four hundred
and fifty thousand bales, which brought a market
price three hundred and fifty per cent. higher than in
I860.
For the first time, perhaps in thousands of years,
Egypt did not produce enough breadstuffs to support
its people: wheat, corn and even fodder for cattle




EGYPT UNDER THE KHEDIVE'S RULE.           137
were imported in large quantities. But the cattle
themselves, half-starved and overworked by the labor
of breaking new fields and drawing water, night and
day, died in enormous numbers,-six hundred thousand head, according to an official report. It became
finally necessary to import meat, oil, butter, and even
lard, unclean to all Mohammedans, from Europe.
This created a temporary branch of trade, wherein
the speculators made enormous fortunes out of the
necessities of the people-just as they do in certain
other lands. The scarcity of animal power led to the
introduction of small portable steam-engines for pumping water, and of cotton-gins. But engineers, machinists for repairs, and especially fuel, were difficult
to be had and very expensive: had the price of cotton kept up, the natives might have overcome this
difficulty, but the most of them lost heart with their
first reverses, and a castaway steam-engine, rusting in
a ditch, is now a common enough sight.
Most of the Fellahs were simply made wild by their
sudden accession of wealth. Some of them built new
houses, out of all proportion to their landed property;
others invested in Circassian or Abyssinian slave-girls;
but the most bought arms, golden ornaments, and
jewelry. By and by the rise in the cost of all necessaries of life began to diminish the profits. Then
came the end of our war; but the imaginative, credulous Egyptian still believed that his age of gold
would last. He borrowed, generally, on the most exorbitant terms; the meshes gathered about him, and
in a year or two more he was little else than a beggar.




138


EG YP'.


The Khedive turned this state of things to his own
immense profit. He entered the field as a lender on
a large scale, as a purchaser of mortgages which were
always foreclosed when due, and as a wholesale customer for the soil of Egypt. First the small farmers,
then the large land-owners, saw their estates transferred to him, then the intervening tracts were acquired by threats or persuasion, at a low price, until
entire districts passed into the vice-regal hands. It is
difficult to say how much of Egypt has in this manner become the Khedive's private property: some
persons assert that it is half the productive soil. The
firee Fellahs are thus converted into mere laborers, or
tenants at will, and more than ever subject to that
arbitrary exercise of power which already seized upon
them for special service, whenever it was judged necessary.
The production of cotton, although it has somewhat
fallen off since I865, remains still much greater than
formerly.  In 1871, it was about four hundred thousand bales. The production of sugar from cane is
also increasing rapidly, but as the Khedive's private
speculation. An Anglo-Indian indigo planter is here,
at present, in the same interest.  He failed to find the
proper conditions for indigo culture in the Delta, and
has gone to the Fyoom.
We must not rashly declare that such experiments
and innovations, dictated by personal interest and a
form of ambition which is really unusual in the Orient,
will neither educate nor benefit the people. They
will probably do both; but the concentration of the




EG YP T UNDER THE KHEDIVE'S R ULE. I39
ownership of the soil in 'the hands of the ruler, is a
serious and dangerous evil. The Khedive is liberal,
often splendidly generous, with his means; not common avarice, but the love of power, the necessity of
display, prompted him to take advantage of the
thoughtlessness of the people. It was a sad mistake,
for, to their minds, it adds deliberate injury to his
former neglect.
On the other hand, something is being done for
their education, and herein the foreign residents have
assisted to the extent of their means and opportunities. At the close of Mohammed Ali's reign, there
were three thousand children in the elementary schools
in Egypt; there are now ninety thousand, but of these
only three thousand and eighteen are girls. This is one
scholar to every nine hundred and seventy-three of
the whole population. I have noticed that the
younger Egyptian officials who have been tolerably
educated are impatient of the stupidity of their ignorant countrymen, and far more inclined to look upon
them with contempt than willing to join in measures
for their improvement.
In regard to religion, a greater tolerance certainly
prevails in Cairo and along the valley of the Nile.
The Khedive's own liberality in this respect is of
course imitated by nearly the whole body of his civil
servants, and the latter impress something of it upon
the people. But, if he had taken pains to make himself respected and beloved by the latter, as was his
predecessor, he might have already sapped the remaining prejudices of Islam. I was a little 'surprised, on




140


EGYPT.


my arrival here, to find no sign of a rampant orthodox sentiment-a religious protest against acts and
habits which were once supposed to bring defilement.
I have since learned that such a movement has really
been developed, within the last ten years, although it
only ventures to show itself on the outskirts of the
country. A new sect, called the Sesnusssre, has been
formed, with the avowed object of restoring the primitive purity of Islam, trampling down the tolerance accorded to foreigners and teaching hate instead, andas a matter of course-rejecting every element of civilization which has been borrowed from the Franks.
This sect has gained a little foothold in some of the
Oases of the Libyan Desert, but it only exists secretly
here and there in Egypt. It is too late for any such
reaction to have even a temporary importance. Mecca
has no Infallible Pope, to issue dead doctrines by proclamation, and make them living verities to millions of
unquestioning souls.  Islam  has only its inherent
strength to depend upon-but that is still not much
weakened. In fact, if the same vital warmth of belief
existed among the members of the Roman Church,
Infallibility would be unnecessary.
The Fellahs of Egypt possess many excellent qualities. They have an equal capacity for industry and
indolence, which misleads those tourists who take
most note of the latter condition. They have a natural fund of humor, are very quick-witted, and learn
easily, although the inventive faculty has nearly disappeared, owing to long disuse. Fond of the minor arts
of cheating, they are rarely guilty of the greater ones;




EG YP T UNDER THE KrHEDIVE'S RULE. 141
and the same man who will use every effort to get an
advantage over you, will faithfully fulfill the special
trust you repose in him. They are radically good.
humored, cheerful even under sore privations, and
bear but a brief malice when offended. The stranger
who is firm and good-tempered at the same time;
who detects and thwarts their cunning without getting
into a rage about it, and who enforces his will, taking
care that it shall not be unreasonable, will never have
any difficulty with these people.
Even Herodotus made the mistake of declaring that
the fruits of the earth are nowhere brought forth with
so little labor as in Egypt. We are accustomed to
consider the Valley of the Nile as a sort of natural
harvest-field, self-renewed from year to year, its inhabitants having little more to do than sow the seed,
and look on idly until the grain is ripe. I cannot
see, however, that the Fellahs perform less, or less
continual, labor than the farmers of Europe or America. The inundation, it is true, leaves a thin deposit of
new loam, but the field must be manured, in addition,
from the supply furnished by the numberless pigeonhouses, and afterward well plowed. Then, during
the growth of the grain, the irrigation requires daily
supervision and toil. As the water sinks in the canals,
it must be raised to the fields, either by wheels turned
by buffaloes, or poles and buckets worked by men.
From morning until night the people are busy, and I
never heard one of them complaining of the amount
of his toil
The Khedive is now forty-four years old, and bids
7




142


EGYF T.


fair, from his appearance, to rule for at least a ouar.
ter of a century to come. It is not probable that his
policy will be materially changed. He enjoys the surprise of visitors, called forth by the new aspect of the
Delta and Cairo, and the reports of his achievements
which are published in Europe. I doubt whether any
other prince would have invited the redoubtable
Miihlbach to spend a winter in his capital; but then,
he was not obliged to endure much of her overpowering society. He is thoroughly intelligent, and wideawake to all that is going on in the world; even the
High and Low Church squabbles in England do not
escape him. Whatever can be introduced into Egypt
with the smallest prospect of gain, or even without
direct loss, will find him ready to consider it. If he
lives, we shall surely have a railway to Khartoum, and
steamers on the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas. The
crown prince, Ibrahim, is said to be a young man of
sluggish intellect and little promise; but the Khedive's second son, Mohammed, now Minister of War,
is fully his father's equal in intelligence, energy, and
ambition.




CHAPTER XII.


FINAL NOTES FROM EGYPT.
ALEXANDRIA, April 6.
A   SOJOURN of three weeks in Cairo has somewhat reconciled me to the changes in the physiognomy of the newer half of the city, because they are
the signs of coming change in the public and domestic life of the Orientals. Simply for artistic reasons,
one would be glad to keep the ancient houses, with
their carved doorways, their pillared courts, and the
" hushed seraglios" beyond; the close, irregular
streets, almost always in shadow; the spicy, twilight
bazars; and the long lanes where craftsmen of one
trade work and gossip at the same time, have a fascinating stamp of the old Chalifate, and we should
lose many vivid illustrations of past history in losing
them. But we must remember that many of these
picturesque features belong to political and social con.
ditions which either have ceased or soon must cease.
The dwelling, for instance, represents a secluded, unseen household; the narrow streets are synonymous
with disease and deformity; the localization of forms
of labor is a sign of caste.
There can be no doubt that the broad, open streets
of New Cairo mean comfort and health to the inhab



144


EGYPT.


itants. When the trees now planted spread an arch
of shade above them, and the garden shrubs have
grown into bowers, the plagues of sun and dust will
disappear. Moreover, the rich Egyptian, who inhabits a house built in the European style, cannot
maintain a wholly invisible harem. His wives, who
already begin to wear the white vail of thin Turkish
gauze instead of the hideous black mask of the Cairene
women, must walk in gardens or sit in chambers partly
open to the public gaze. One such garden, on the
Shoobra road, is even adorned with Italian statues of
nymphs and goddesses. A few, but not many, of the
new residences are surrounded with stone walls instead
of iron railing. The education of girls is the startingpoint; the example of European women is another
aid; but the reform-like all others of a domestic
character-must be accomplished with very little aid
from the men. Polygamy is the natural tendency of
the male sex, except where the ethic sense has reached
a high or sensitive point of development.
I went to see the dancing dervishes again, and satisfied myself that the performances belong to the same
class as the shouting, leaping up and down, or rolling
and dancing excitements which were once quite prevalent in Kentucky and other Western States. They
are produced by a state of nervous exaltation (see the
lectures of Dr. Brown-Sequard), which some are able
to produce at will, and by which others are infected.
There were about fifteen dervishes in the ring; the
movements were at first slow and languid, though a
little drum and two inharmonious flutes did what was




FINAL NOTES FROM EG YPT.


I45


possible to quicken them. The increase in the rapidity of the gyrations corresponds exactly with the rapt,
absorbed, blissful expression on the faces of the dancers. There was a boy of seventeen, dressed in palegreen silk, who had evidently lost all sense of time
and place; but some of the older performers had
partly exhausted their power of happy abstraction, and
studied the spectators out of the corners of their eyes.
The musical accompaniment is an innovation; so,
also, was the spectacle of an English artist, making
sketches of the dervishes in their characteristic attitudes.
Mr., Hamilton Wild, of Boston, who has just returned from the Second Cataract, brings back a collection of Nilotic studies which satisfy me better than
any I have yet seen. Most artists who come to Egypt
seek for strong, not to say violent, effects of color; yet
the distinguishing characteristic of Egyptian landscape
is a preponderance of the sweetest and most exquisite
gray tints. The sky here is never so blue as in Italy
or America; the clouds are rarely seen in large, shining masses; the distances, composed mainly of
fawn-colored sands or yellow-gray mountains, are delicately subdued in tone-in fact, nothing seems to
gleam or burn except the fields of young wheat, as
you look across them toward the sun. It is a scale of
color filled with most subtle and almost infinite gradations. I am glad that a competent painter has at last
seen the real instead of the conventional Egypt.
I spoke in a former letter of the change of climate
during the past few years. A Winter season like the




146


EGT, p 7.


present is an anomaly, of course, but there can be no
doubt that the average Winter temperature in Cairo
and the Delta is lower than it was at the beginning of
the century. Since the foreign population has so
largely increased, we find also that the sanitary conditions of the country have been under-estimated. The
hottest months are May and June, when the wind is
generally from the south and sometimes rises into a
dry, hot hurricane, which last two or three days. The
rising of the Nile in Ethiopia seems to temper the atmosphere for two or three weeks in advance of the inundation at Cairo. July and August are hot during
the middle hours of the day, but have pleasant evenings and cool nights, and are not unhealthy. The
chief danger of fever is during September and October,
but even then it is not greater than in most of the
Italian cities. Our Consul-General, Mr. Beardsley,
intends to spend the coming Summer in Cairo, with
his family-a trial of the climate, last year,. having
satisfied him that it is neither unhealthy nor oppressively hot.
The comparatively large mortality among the natives is accounted for by their habits of life, and the
low state of the healing art. The boys who survive
dirt, privation, opthalmia and other diseases, become
as good physical specimens of men as one finds in
Italy or Spain. The population of Egypt proper was
5,251,757, on the eleventh of March, 1872: it has probably increased about half a million during the last ten
years. Nubia, Ethiopia, and Soudan add about 2,000,ooo to the inhabitants of what might properly be call.




FINAL NOTES FROM EGYPT.


147


ed the Egyptian Empire. The proportion of Copts is
about one-tenth, and the population of Frank or Eu
ropean birth cannot now be much less than I50,000ooo.
The climate, during the last fortnight of our stay in
Cairo, was simply perfect. To the raw winds and
chilly showers succeeded almost cloudless days, fanned
by odorous breezes from the growing gardens. The
temperature ranged between 70~ and 80~ in the shade
at noon, falling to 60~ in the evenings. It was neither too warm to walk in the sun, nor too cool to sit
in the shade. Yet the unusual weather of the preceding weeks seemed to have left its mark in the shape
of coughs, ailments of the throat and rheumatic pains.
Day by day the dahabiyehs returned from upper
Egypt, bringing all except a few belated tourists, and
enticing reports of the wonderful climate of the Thebaid. Our time was too closely measured, however,
to allow us to enjoy the remaining ten or twenty days
of delightful weather, before the khamseen, or southwind, begins to blow.
So I took another leave of my faithful friend, Achmet es-Saidi, with the hope, dependent on Allah's
will, of seeing him yet once more; and we returned
to Alexandria across the bright harvest-plains of the
Delta. We patronized the slow train, as before, and
found it equally punctual.
This visit of a month, after so many years of absence, has richly repaid me. The revival of every old
interest in Egypt in a profounder form assures me
that it was not the novelty of fresh sensations, the
youthful delight in a new and picturesque life, which




r48


EGYPT.


constitute the charm of the land, Some far-off, magnetic power, some range of impressions which seem
to be half revelation and half memory-as of a strain
of blood which carries the instinct of kinship for
thousands of years-breathes alike from pyramid and
palm-tree, from the unchanging features of the wide
landscapes and the serene quiet of the sky. It is not
alone that the idea of a passive existence is suggested
to the mind as possible and endurable; for here are
the earliest records of any higher aspirations in the
human race-signs of the grandest struggle and
achievement. We know the mystery preserved in the
adyta of the temples and concealed behind the vail of
Sais; but we are brought face to face with the mystery of Man himself, as nowhere else in the world. I
do not clearly know what it is that so draws, allures,
and impresses me.
The number of visitors in Egypt from all countries
has immensely increased during the last twenty years.
This winter there have been almost as many Germans
as English and Americans; but the latter hire dahabiyehs by the month and travel en seigneur, while the
former generally content themselves with a steamboat
trip to the First Cataract and back. The expenses of
travel have considerably increased; for a deliberate
and comfortable Nile trip, in fact, they have more
than doubled. The hotel charges vary from twelve
to sixteen English shillings a day for board and lodging: the steamboat journey of three weeks costs two
hundred and thirty dollars, all expenses included; but
a clean, roomy, and convenient Nile boat, for fiom




FINAL NOTES FROM EGYPT.             I49
three to five persons, cannot now be hired for less
than five hundred dollars per month. A party of three
or four must calculate on paying a good dragoman
from thirty to forty dollars per day for all expenses.
As the voyage to Wadi Halfa and back occupies three
months, it must now be classed among the luxuries of
travel. Outside of Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez, there
are very scant accommodations for travellers, even in
the larger towns of the Delta, and he w io wishes to
examine the ruins of Bubastis, Sais, ot Tanis, must
still take his portable dwelling with him.
We leave to-morrow for Naples iD  He Italian
steamer Africa.








PART II.
ICELAND.








CHAPTER I.


ON THE WAY TO ICELAND.
ABERDEEN, Scotland, July 21, 1874.
W    HEN I sailed from Alexandria, a little more than
three months ago, nothing was further from my
anticipation than that I should undertake another and
much more unusual journey, before returning home.
But to the few who have never known any other Alma
Mater than the New York Tribune:
(" Stern, rugged nurse, thy rigid lore
With patience many a year I bore!")her (or its) call is like that of the trumpet unto the
war-horse. Its, desire wears the shape of duty, and I
know not how to decline that which it is still possible
to do. So the homeward tickets must be taken for a
month later, and, after hasty preparation, here I sit
already beside the North Sea, bound for a latitude
which I never meant to reach again.
Not that there is no interest in Iceland itself. On
the contrary, the handful of old Scandinavians there
preserve for the scholars of our day a philological and
historical interest such as no equal number of men
have ever achieved in the annals of the world. A
thousand years ago they cut loose from Europe, and




154


ICELAND.


carried the most virile element of its Past almost out
of the reach of later changes. But Iceland is so remote from us, in an intellectual as well as a material
sense, that any satisfactory knowledge of it requires a
special appropriation of time and study. The onl)
Americans competent to make the journey with the
certainty of reaping a full reward for their time and labor, are George P. Marsh and Prof. Willard Fiske, of
Cornell University. I confess that I never understood
theseparate, isolated character of Icelandic research
until within the past month, while endeavoring to ascertain how much of its language and lore are accessible to one who has learned something of modern
Danish and Swedish.
The one thousandth anniversary of Ingolf's landing
-the first settlement of Iceland-has brought the
bleak Northern island so suddenly into the circle of
general interest that many readers will welcome a
variety of details from which, at other times, they
would turn away. I shall take advantage of this circumstance, and prepare, during the voyage, a brief
historical outline which may serve as an introduction
to the millennial festival. As yet, however, I can
scarcely realize that I am actually on the way, and
must ask the reader to be content with a few rapid
notes of the journey up to this point.
Although it is only six years since I last saw London, the mighty capital has changed quite as much as
New York is accustomed to do in the sane space of
time. Certainly, under a clear Summer sun, with so
little coal-smoke that the dome of St. Paul's can be




ON' THE WA Y TO ICELAND.


155


seen six miles away, with new thoroughfares cut
through the narrow and tangled old alleys, and gay
suburbs planted wherever you remember a field or
common, the city seems to have become a soberer
Paris. The embankment along the Thames, with its
spacious drive, its trees and gardens, is an astonishing
embellishment; but in all other quarters a similar
work is going on-a more cheerful style of architecture, greater use of color and ornament, ampler
space and air, more abundant signs of a cosmopolitan
diversity of taste and habit.
A kindred change is slowly creeping upon the people. The Englishman (if not more than sixty years
old) is decidedly a mellower and more sympathetic
creature than he was twenty years ago. My experience
during the past two years on the Continent indicates
that it is rather easier to become acquainted with
English than with American travellers. Outside of a
certain range of conventionalities (constantly growing
smaller), the former are generally very free, cordial,
and companionable. I do not suppose that we, as
Americans, are specially liked, but, if we are not
courteously treated, it is pretty sure to be our own
fault. Neither the remark which Goldwin Smith was
reported to have made, nor its reverse, is true. In
fact, with the closer intercourse which now exists, hate,
from one side, would be almost a compliment to the
other.
Formerly, on returning to England from Germany
or France, there was a striking increase in the expenses of I'ving and travel. This distinction has now




156


ICELAVD.


ceased the cost of many things has diminished there,
while that of others has risen there. On principle, I
never patronize the large, new, shiny, and showy
notels, and am unacquainted with their scales of prices;
but at an ancient hostelry in London, where Nelson
lodged for the last time on English soil, where the oldfashioned coach-and-four pulls up every afternoon, as
it dashes in from the country, I can make myself very
comfortable for about four dollars per day. And in
London it makes much less difference where one
lodges than in New York.
The English railways, however, are slow to introduce necessary innovations. They have not yet made
up their minds to check baggage, and are hesitating
about the sleeping-car. The night express, from
Euston-square to Edinburgh, was the perfection of
speed and smoothness: we made the four hundred and
one miles in a little less than ten hours: but there were
only the old chances of sleep and rest. I believe there
is a sleeping-car on one of the roads to Scotland, although, as no one seemed to be positive, I did not try
to find it. In all other arrangements the English
roads certainly surpass ours. The guards (conductors),
station officials, and porters, are the most courteous
and obliging of their several tribes. They seem never
to forget each passenger's needs, nor to grow impatient of his much questioning.
Leaving a clear, hot sky, and a temperature of 9go
at London, we found gray, moist clouds hanging over
the Scottish Lowlands, and at Edinburgh that peculiar pearly, silvery atmosphere which has given its




OAT T7E WA Y TO ICELAND.


157


character to English landscape art. Various American flags were flying, as a friendly greeting to one of
Cook's parties, and although Donald, of the clan of
Macgregor, did not pay us that compliment at the
Royal Hotel, his printed poetical salutation-with a
copy of "' The moon's on the lake, and the mist's on
the brae," words and music-was quite as welcome.
In order to appear as Scotch as possible, we ordered
broiled salmon for breakfast, and spoke with a lilt to
the waiters. Ere long, however, Mr. Cyrus Field arrived, in company with his friend, Mr. William Nelson, the famous publisher, and we were then joined
by Herr Hjaltalin of Iceland.
The preparations for the trip were so nearly completed that our inspection of the steamer at Leith was
a matter of form rather than necessity. The Edinburgh and London Shipping Company have most
generously offered to Mr. Field the use of their steamyacht, the Albion, one hundred and eighty-five tons,
and Captain Howling, mariner and gentleman, took
upon himself the charge of provisioning her for the
cruise. Our party at Edinburgh was only four-Mr.
Field, Murat Halstead of The Ciicinnati Commercial,
Dr. I. I. Hayes, and myself. The others, Mr. Gladstone (son of the ex-Premier), and Professor Magnussen of Cambridge, agreed to join us at Aberdeen.
Dr. Kneeland of Boston, who preceded us to Edinburgh, decided to sail from Leith with the steamer,
while we proceeded to Aberdeen by rail. We shall
thus be a company of seven-five Americans, one
Englishman, and one Icelander.




158               ICELAND.
Mr. Nelson's hospitality at Hope Park, his charming residence at the foot of Arthur's Seat, was the
crown of our brief stay in Edinburgh; but early in
the afternoon we were forced to leave, Messrs. Field
and Halstead having agreed to make a rapid trip over
the Grampians to Braemar and Balmoral, while Dr.
Hayes and myself stopped at Perth for the night, and
came on to Aberdeen this morning.
I have never before been further north than Stirling,
and hence was not prepared for the exceeding loveliness and richness of this part of Scotland. So much
of the old moorlands have been reclaimed that Macbeth's witches would now have some difficulty in finding a place to meet. From the Grampians to the
Sidlaw hills the eye detects no waste or ragged point;
all is cultivated to the highest pitch of smoothness and
cleanness. Even the sheep and cattle in the fields
seem to have been newly washed. Passing Birnarn,
on the left, and Dunsinane on the right, you come to
Glamis, and the castle, surrounded by deep, rich
groves, hath truly a pleasant seat. I looked in vain
for a kilted laborer in the fields; all wore trowsers.
At Laurencekirk there was an " Agricultural Show,"
and a large collection of the people; but the picturesque features of Scotland were wanting.
At Stonehaven the railway comes down to the seaside, and goes onward to Aberdeen along the crest of
high granite cliffs, whence there are inspiring views
over the North Sea, which is to-day as blue and quiet
as the Mediterranean. I caught a glimpse of the estate of Urie, or Ury, where once lived Robert Barclay,




ON THE WtA Y TO ICELAND.


159


the friend of William Penn, and the author of the
" Apology for the Quakers."  The place now belongs
to Mr. Alexander Baird, but the Barclay family is still
in existence in the neighborhood. "Barclay of Urie"
is a strikingly noble and picturesque character: in
him the vigor of the old Norse blood is nowise weakened through his advocacy of the doctrine of peace.
After many delays to the train, we finally reached
Aberdeen, a city of 90,000 inhabitants, and built almost wholly of gray granite. The color and solidity
of the material give the place a sober and rather dignified air, and there is less bustle and movement in
the streets than one would expect, considering its
commercial importance. It is nevertheless an agreeable atmosphere. You feel the presence of a sound
and bracing element, without being excited or driven
at too fast a pace. I shall probably have no chance
of seeing the environs, or of making any acquaintances; so you must be satisfied with this first general
impression.
The Albion, with Dr. Kneeland, arrived early this
morning, and now (9 P. M.) Messrs. Field and Halstead make their appearance, soaked with Highland
rain, and bearing bunches of heather. We hoped
to have touched at Wick, and carried John Bright
across to the Orkneys; but he has given up the trip.
We shall probably touch also at the Shetland and Faroe
Islands, whence I shall have opportunities of reporting
progress.




CHAPTER II.


A SKETCH OF ICELAND'S HISTORf.
ORKNEY ISLANDS, July 23.
THE afternoon train brought to Aberdeen yesterday
Mr. Gladstone and Mr. William Nelson, our
Edinburgh host, who decided at the last moment to
accompany us as far as the Shetland Islands. Everything else being in readiness, Captain Howling of the
Albion requested us to go with him in a body to
the Local Marine Office, for the purpose of being
" entered" or "inscribed," according to law. The
Albion not being a passenger steamer, it seemed that
she could only take us on board on condition of our
being registered as regular seamen!-a hollow technicality, of course, but it satisfied the law.
The officials had evidently been prepared for the
nature of their duty, when we reached the Local
Marine Office, for there was a general smile and the
most hearty politeness. We signed something (I have
not the slightest idea what it was), adding our ages
and places of birth, after which something else was
rapidly and mechanically read, to the effect that we
would obey the captain, would conduct ourselves with
decency and order whenever we went ashore, and
would observe all the regulations applicable to persons
6




A SKI ETCH OF ICELAND'S HISTORY. I61
in marine service. One of the party inquired whethel
there was any fee; whereupon, the official, with an
additional smile, informed us that, on the contrary,
we would be entitled to a backsheesh of one shilling
per month, if we returned without having made ourselves amenable to the mutiny laws during our absence! This was comforting-and, inasmuch as the
regulations were not administered in the form of an
oath, we left the office without any special weight on
our consciences.
By this time a slow, drizzling rain had set in, and
we made haste to get on board the steamer. A small
crowd of men and boys collected to see us off, and
were evidently a little startled when we gave three
farewell cheers. The only enthusiastic respondent
was a gamin with an empty coffee-bag, which he
waved wildly around his head, as he rushed along the
pier, following us. There was a little delay at the
dock gates, another crowd of curious spectators, and
finally, between six and seven o'clock, we issued into
the outer bay, and thence into the open sea.
The clouds hung low, with watery gleams of sun between them; the waves hardly rocked under our keel,
and so we sped northward, skirting the coast to Peterhead, whence the Scotch shore trends abruptly westward, and our course lay northward for the Orkneys.
The night was exquisitely calm and mild; and now,
in the early morning, as I go on deck, I see the interrupted lines of the far, ancient Orcades rising above the
horizon line. In three or four hours we shall reach
Kirkwall, the capital, on the eastern coast of Pomona,




I62


ICELAND.


or Mainland, the largest island, where we propose
spending the rest of the day. In the meantime, let me
collect my scattered historical notes of Iceland, and
give the promised brief outline which the reader has a
right to demand, in order the better to comprehend
the story of a thousand years, now about to be commemorated.
The earliest history of Iceland is something like the
picture which most travellers give of the first sight of
its shores-a land glimmering for a moment through
mist and cloud, disappearing, reappearing, and then
hiding itself for hours as if reluctant to be discovered.
Wherever the famous Ultima Thule of the ancients
may have been, it was certainly not Iceland. The
Irish monk, Dicuil, in a chronicle the date of which is
referred to the year 825, states that just one hundred
years before (A. D. 725), some Irish priests, sailing for
two days and nights due northward from Ireland, discovered some islands in the sea. I am not acquainted
with any earlier record of exploration.
Dicuil relates that Irish hermits settled on these
islands, and occupied them until they were discovered
by the Norse Vikings, when the former thought it better to leave. In 825 the islands were uninhabited,
save by great numbers of sheep, whence the name,
Far-Oer-Sheep Islands. Before this latter date, however, Iceland also had been discovered by the wandering Irish monks, and various traditions concur in mentioning the year 795 as the date of this event. The
intercourse between Norway, the Shetlands, Orkneys
and Hebrides, must have made both discoveries knowr




A SKE TCH OF ICELAND'S HISTOR Y. 163
to the Norsemen. The Irish appear to have used Iceland as a sort of Thebaid, where the zealous anchorites
of that day could withdraw from the world without the
least chance of being ever disturbed. It was a singular perversion of Christianity which sent them to that
Northern wilderness, to delight the God of Humanity
by abjuring all knowledge of, or sympathy with, their
brother men.
Early in the year 86r the Norwegian rover, Grim
Gamle (Old Grimes!), rediscovered the Faroe Islands.
When he brought the news to Norway, a famous Viking by the name of Naddodd set forth to take possession of the new territory, but was driven by storm to
the coast of Iceland before the close of the same year.
The mountains being all covered with snow, he called
the land Snjoland (Snow-land). Three years afterward, (in 864,) Gardar, a Swede, sailing for the Hebrides to take possession of ah inheritance which had
fallen to his wife, was also driven by adverse winds to
the shores of Iceland. He landed, afterward sailed
entirely around the island, and gave it the name of
Gardarsholm.
In 867, Floke of Norway, in consequence of the reports given by Naddodd and Gardar, sailed directly
for Iceland. The flight of a raven, which he let loose
at sea, served him as a guide. He found the island,
and on account of the quantity of drifting ice on the
northern coast, gave it the name of Iceland, which
from that time was adopted by the Norsemen. The
position and size of the island being now generally
known, Ingolf, of Norway, sailed thither in 870, on a




I64


ICEiLA tD.


voyage of exploration, the results of which are not re
corded. We only know that he returned to Norway,
killed a man, and in order to escape the blood-revenge,
sailed again for Iceland in his own ship, in the year
874. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law,
Leif of the Sword, and the families and servants ol
both. They landed at Rejkianes (not far from Rejiavik, the present capital), and there made a settlement. It is thus exactly a thousand years, this Summer, since the Scandinavians first planted themselves
on Iceland.
The wars of Harald Haarfager (Fair-hair) with the
three rival kings of Norway occasioned the emigration of other families to Iceland; and after Harald's
victory near Stavanger, in 885, so many left that the
King, fearing that Norway would be depopulated, imposed a heavy fine upon the emigrants. The latter
were mostly Jarls or ruling nobles, Herser or inferior
nobles, and the Bonder, or farmers. They were the
best blood of the race, and seem to have taken with
them its purest Gothic elements. They were attracted
to Iceland by the certainty of political freedom, no
less than by the reported mildness of the climate and
the abundance of salmon and other fish. Some accounts also speak of abundant forests. Many Danes,
Swedes, and families from  Ireland and the Hebrides followed the first emigration, so that in sixty
years (by 934) all the habitable part of the island was
settled. The population was then probably as large
as it has been at any time since.
We find no incident of general interest in the his.




A SKE TCH OF ICELAND'S HISTORY. 165
tory of Iceland until the year 982, when Bishop Fridrek and Thorvald Kodrenson first preached Christianity, and when Erik the Red, banished by the
Thing, or assembly of representatives of the people,
sailed for Greenland, where he made a settlement on
the Eireksfjord.  The coast of Greenland had been
seen, but only seen, by Gunnbjorn, as early as 876 or
877. After the migration thither of Erik the Red, the
southern coast became gradually colonized. A series
of remarkable discoveries followed in rapid succession,
and the chronicles of the times leave us in equal admiration of the daring of the Norse sea-chiefs and
amazement that their great achievements should have
been practically lost to the world.
I can only give the briefest outline of these discoveries; they form a separate chapter of Icelandic history, concerning the island much less than our own
land. In 986, Bjarne Herjulfson, sailing from Iceland
to Greenland, was driven southward by storms, and
first saw the mainland of America, probably a part of
Labrador. In Iooo, Lief, the son of Erik the Red,
fitted out an expedition to seek this new land. He
first reached Newfoundland, to which he gave the
name of Helluland, then Nova Scotia, which he called
Markland, from its abundant forests, and, finally, passing Nantucket, he made his way to the mouth of Taunton River, and there built houses. Here was the Vinland (Wine Land), whither, for twelve years, the Norsemen came both from Iceland and Greenland.* It was
* Prof. Fiske considers that the Gulf of St. Lawrence best
corresponds to the accounts of Vinland in the ancient nar.
ratives.




I66


ICELAArD.


probably their own jealousies and dissensions, rather
than the hostility of the native tribes, which prevented
them from making a permanent settlement.
Some of the discoverers, especially Thorvald Eriksson, explored our coast as far southward as Chesapeake Bay. Thorfinn Karlsefne, another of the temporary settlers, had a son, Snorre Thorfinnson, born
in Vinland, and I remember to have seen a statement,
long ago, that the sculptor Thorwaldsen was a descendant of this first native American. More than a
ceutury later, in I 121, Bishop Erik Upsi, of Greenland,
made a voyage to Vinland, but no account of it has
yet been discovered. In I356, a vessel went from
Greenland to Nova Scotia for timber, and was blown
by stress of weather to Iceland on its return. It is impossible that the knowledge of these voyages should
not have been current in Iceland in I477, when Columbus, sailing in a ship from Bristol, England, visited the
island. As he was able to converse with the priests
and learned men in Latin, he undoubtedly learned of
the existence of another continent to the west and
south; and this knowledge, not the mere fanaticism
of a vague belief, supported him during many years
of disappointment.
But let us return to the proper history of Iceland.
Christianity, after being adopted in Norway, required
but a few years to overcome the waning and weakened
Scandinavian faith. In 996, it was preached again
by Stefner, and during the following year Thangbrand,
a German monk, went on a special mission to Iceland.
The work ad anced so rapidly that in the year Iooo




A SKETCH OF ICELAND'S HISTORY.         167
'that of Leif Eriksson's discovery of Vinland), the
lawgiver of Iceland, Thorgeir, decreed the legal establishment of the Christian faith and the Christian
worship. Although he was bribed to this step by the
missionary Thormod, who gave him sixty-five marks
of silver to advocate its adoption by the Volksthing,
or Assembly of the People, the population must have
been quite ready for such a change. Five articles
were adopted, as follows:
I. All inhabitants of the island shall accept Christianity, and whoever in the land is still unbaptized
shall receive baptism.
2. The temple and images of the Gods shall be
destroyed.
3. If any one be convicted by witnesses of having
publicly made offerings to the Gods, or worshipped
their images, he shall be banished from the land.
4. But should he do these things secretly, he shall
suffer no punishment. (!)
5. The old laws concerning the exposure of children
the eating of horseflesh, and all others which do not
overthrow Christianity, shall remain in force.
In Io56, Iceland received a Bishop, Isleif. He was
succeeded, in I096, by his son Gizor, also a married
man, who made Skalholt the seat of the Bishopric.
The rich and marvellous literary age of Iceland
began soon after the establishment of Christianity,
when the art of writing was introduced and schools
were opened in all parts of the island. The easy form
of Christianity inaugurated in Iooo, changed little in
the habits or tastes of the people. The " exposure of




s68


ICELAND.


children," for example, was a liberty allowed the father,
either to accept a child at its birth, or to carry it to a
waste place, to perish by hunger and cold or be devoured by wild animals.
The change of faith, therefore, still allowed the oral
sagas to exist-nay, affected their conversion into permanent chronicles, at a time when the greater part of
such literature, in Scandinavia and Germany, was
suppressed by monkish influences. The manuscript
literature of Iceland is probably, at the present time,
the richest in the world; for, when the art of writing
was introduced, it was the only land in Christendom
where the laymen were more zealous scholars and authors than the monks. As the chronicles were produced, they were written on parchment, copied, and
read all over the island. Many a low Icelandic cabin
still contains annals, lays and epics, which have never
yet seen the light.
The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries
witnessed the beginning, growth, and glory of the Icelandic literature. Saemund, who wrote the Edda now
called by his name, died in  133, and forty-five years
later Snorre Sturluson, the famous author of the
Heimskringla, was born. In 1213, he was chosen
Lawgiver of Iceland, and in 1241 was assassinated in
a family quarrel. His death marks, not precisely the
end of the great literary epoch, but the end of its
best production.
Up to this time-for nearly four centuries-Iceland
had been an independent state, divided into districts
which possessed a patriarchal, chiefly hereditary form




A SKE TCH OF ICELAND S HISTOR Y. 169
of local government, yet united in the representative
assembly of the Althing, which held its sessions annually in the Thingvally, near Rejkiavik. But at last
this semi-republican nation dissolved, as formerly the
Hellenic confederation, through internal dissensions.
The local magnates, many of them descended from
powerful Norwegian jarls, gradually became involved
in murderous quarrels. Some of them rode to the
Althing attended by seven hundred or even twelve
hundred armed followers.   In a single fight between two rivals one hundred and ten men were
slain. Not only the isolated mansions were burned,
but entire districts were laid waste in this suicidal
strife.
Finally, exhausted, bleeding, weary of her own discord, Iceland fell an easy prey to the machinations of
a small party, which, in the year I262, acknowledged
allegiance to Hakon VI., the King of Norway. All
publicity in the administration of affairs, even all
interest therein, ceased suddenly and for a long time.
The voice of the Sagaman became silent, for there
were no more heroic deeds. A little more than a
century later-in I380-Iceland fell with Norway, by
inheritance, to Denmark, and has since then been a
stepmotherly treated possession of Denmark.
He:re my hasty chronicles must cease for to-day.
The anchor drops in the harbor of Kirkwall, and the
fairest of Northern days invites us ashore. More tomorrow!




CHAPTER III.


A DAY AT THE ORKNEYS.
LERWICK, Shetland Isles, July 24.
EXCEPT the westernmost island of Hoy, which lifts
a defiant fiont, one thousand one hundred feet in
height, toward Scotland, the Orkneys are rather a lowlying group. The shores rise gradually from rocky
hems, fringed with breakers, until their long lines
merge into blunt, broad summits. Near the shore
there are bright green fields of oats or barley, but
higher up is a uniform tint of greenish gray or brown.
The strait between Pomona, the main island, and
Shapinshay is tolerably straight and tame, its chief
feature being the gray, turreted pile of Balfour Castle,
on the right. Just opposite, an arm or bay opens
westward to Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkneys.
By nine o'clock the steamer dropped anchor in the
shallow harbor. The American flag at the fore-an
unusual sight in these waters-drew a small crowd to
the end of the pier, and we were all mustered by curious eyes as we landed. Mr. Nelson, our Edinburgh
friend, attracted a very marked attention, but the
secret thereof soon leaked out; he had been taken for
the Right Hon. John Bright! Curiosity is pardonable




A    DAY A T TIHE ORKA'E NR        17t
in such an out-of-the-way place as Kirkwall: it was
friendly, good-natured, never intrusive, and we presently learned how to turn it to good service. Every
question was eagerly answered by half a dozen listeners; whatever we wanted or needed to see was made
accessible; obliging friends seemed to be lying in wait
at each corner, and thus no moment of our brief time
was squandered.
It seemed to be neither an English nor a Scotch
town which we were traversing. The houses of gray
stone, with their pointed gables and high chimneys,
suggested  Normandy.   Narrow, winding streets,
paved with large, flat slabs, led inward from the water-side, and, after some five minutes, we issued upon
an open square, deserted and partly grass-grown, on
one side of which rose the massive pile of the old
Norse cathedral.
A one-legged sacristan came upon his crutches, and
unlocked the main entrance, before we had half done
admiring the ivy-leafed capitals of the clustering attached columns. The interior is plainly grand, and
would be still more imposing were the chancel not
completely walled up to the vaulted roof, in order
to shut out the diminished modern congregation
from. the chill and dampness of the ancient church.
The eastern part of the nave, which was built about
the middle of the twelfth century, is a large, beautifully-proportioned specimen of the Early Gothic. The
pillars are circular and massive, but the roof is a true
Gothic arch. One is surprised to find such a structure
here, where all the present population might easily be




~72


ICELA AD.


gathered within its walls. At the time it was built,
however, the Jarls of Orkney were daring sea-robbers,
and the cathedral was no doubt chiefly built by unwilling contributions.
The limit of our stay only, allowed us to undertake
an excursion to Maeshow, a noted Pict and Norse
sepulchre between nine and ten miles from Kirkwall.
The Castle Hotel furnished a conveyance for all; the
way was hard, smooth, and of easy grade, and we
bowled along at the rate of seven miles an hour, enjoying the exquisitely pure and cool air, yet (it must
be said) a little disappointed in the scenery of Orkney.
The fields on either hand showed us grass, or oats, or
potatoes, or turnips; gorse, heather, or dry bunchgrass occupied the ridges above them. Here and
there some men were hoeing or herding; sleek, softcolored cattle were feeding on the short grass, and
haymakers were piling the dry swaths into cocks.
The sea-channel, of a dim blue, lay on our right, and
now and then a tanned sail lagged slowly along, before
the insufficient breeze.
Five or six miles from Kirkwall, we reached a village called Finstone, which is chiefly remarkable as
having three churches for about two hundred inhabitants. In the gardens there were elder-bushes in
blossom, and one rather stately house towered up out
of a belt of unusual trees. Here we turned inland
through a shallow valley, where a tract of woodland
seemed to have been planted, with a thicket as the
result. There was a small farm-house, with a huge
quadrangular barn of cut stone beside it, and the




A DAY A T THE ORKNE YS.


r73


driver, with the gravity of a man who speaks the
truth, informed us that the cows there were milked
three times a day, each time furnishing eight quarts
of milk apiece,-or six gallons a day for each cow!
" I tell the tale as 'twas told to me."
From the crest of the valley the land fell westward
to the blue sheet of Loch Of, the upper end of which
is fresh water, and the lower, invaded by the tide,
partly salt. We already saw the sepulchral mound of
Maeshow, and beyond the loch the tall Druid stones
of Steenness. It was a simple, monotonous, almost
desolate landscape; yet the fair sunshine and delicious air were those of the Egyptian Delta,-so enjoyable in themselves that the scenery around us became
a secondary matter.
The sepulchre is an exceedingly curious relic of the
Past, and I would give you its origin, purpose and
history if anybody had ever been fortunate enough to
discover them. There is, first, a ring-mound about
two hundred feet in diameter. Inside of this the
signs of a deep, wide moat; then a mound at least
one hundred feet in diameter by forty in height. A
doorway on the western side admits you into the interior by a passage as low and narrow as that leading
into the Great Pyramid. Exactly in the center of the
mound there is a sepulchral chamber twenty feet
square, with three smaller chambers on three sides of
it. The Norsemen, who certainly broke open the
mound, and possibly appropriated it to the same uses,
have scratched a number of runic inscriptions, figures
of dragons and other fabulous animals, on the face of




174                ICELAND.
the stones. Inasmuch as there is considerable diffetence of opinion in regard to the meaning of these
runes, I will spare you the various theories.
We returned to Kirkwall, dined, mailed our letters,
and sailed for the Shetlands. But to-day, after having landed, made acquaintance with certain of the
people, travelled fourteen miles over the misty, Ossianic hills of the interior, and made this hasty chronicle oi a part of yesterday's experience, I must suddenly close. The steam hums and quivers, a man
waits to take our mail ashore, and in five minutes we
are off for the Faroe Islands.




CHAPTER IV.


THE SHETLAND ISLANDS.
OFF THE FAROE ISLANDS, July 25.
O   UR little steam-yacht rocks and swings so furiously that it is next to impossible to write, or to
read what one has written; but I will endeavor to
make a brief record of our experiences thus far. At
Kirkwall, in Orkney, we took on board a pilot for the
Shetland Isles, and returned to the open sea by the
channel through which we had entered. The northern Ork.neys are low and monotonous in outline, and
no feature belonging to them clings especially to the
memory.   From their extremity the loftier Shetlands
may be seen, in clear weather, at a distance of sixty or
seventy miles. Half-way between the two lies Fair
Isle, upon which two hundred inhabitants live in a
miserable way, supporting themselves by fishing and
knitting, or weaving the wool of their sheep. As the
island has no harbor, and landing is only practicable
in good weather, the people are sometimes half famished before supplies can reach them. It is now proposed to remove them in a body to New Brunswick,
and leave the island without inhabitants.
At midnight we saw the light on Sumburgh Head,
the southern point of the mainland of Shetland, but a




I 76


ICESLAN4.D.


dense fog soon rolled down upon the water, and compelled us to creep onward at a snail's pace. The herring fishery is now in season, and the sea was crowded
with small craft, both from the islands and from Scotland. Morning found us shut in by a dull, low sky,
with no land in sight; but, after feeling about for three
hours, the island of Mousa detached itself from the
mist, and soon afterward we saw the Noss of Bressay.
The strait between this latter island and the larger
Mainland, leads to Lerwick, the capital of the Shetlands.
Here, at last, were bold, lofty shores-walls of basalt, hollowed into caverns by the waves, the headlands split into pillars or rising in fantastic arches out
of the foam of breakers. Flocks of sea-birds wheeled
about them, piping their plaintive cries, and the
rounded green summits were speckled with sheep.
The dark, lowering sky was in unison with these wild
shores; the air was so penetrated'with a fine, invisible
moisture, that our water-proof mantles slowly dripped
as we sat on deck.
Mainland is at least sixty miles in length, and the
town of Lerwick is situated near its centre, on the
eastern side, Bressay forming a complete breakwater
for the harbor. The houses of gray stone climb the
steep banks in a confused but most picturesque manner, with a background of dark, bleak and scarred
mourtains. The anchor had no sooner dropped than
a cro6vd of curious natives collected at the little land.
ing-place. Our boats carried the English and American flags, which were evidently a signal of profit to




THI Si E TLAND ISLANDS.


177


the people, for a quantity of advertising cards were
thrown to us before we landed, and more were waiting
on the pier. Truly enough, Shetland lace and hosiery
proved to have attraction for the most of our party,
and several pounds were spent before any steps were
taken for visiting the interior.
It was not easy to find a conveyance. The people
were very willing to assist us, but there seemed to be
a scarcity of horses and vehicles. Finally we discovered a "wagonette" and pair, and Mr. Hay, the Danish Consul offered his dog-cart. The only trip possible with the time at our disposal was across the island
to the port of Scalloway, on the western side. As we
drove out of Lerwick I looked in vain for trees in the
gardens; the only luxuriant growth was cabbage. We
passed a small old fort, skirted the sea for a short distance, and then turned inland into a broad valley between bare and gloomy hills. Far and near the soil
was gashed by cuttings for turf, which is here found
in layers from three to six feet in thickness. Women,
young and old, many of them barefooted, were carrying basket-loads of turf on their back, each load being
worth, as the driver informed me, about three pence.
" The women do nearly all the work on the Islands,"
he said. " The men fish or make voyages to foreign
ports during the Summer, and spend the Winter idly
at home."
We saw a few genuine " Shelties " grazing on the
hills, little rough-coated creatures, with good, intelligent faces. The stallions are now worth ~to apiece,
owing to an increase in the demand for them; but a




178


ICELAND.


good mare may still be had for,6. The sheep, feeding far and near on the short, nutritious grass, are
wonderfully clean and beautiful creatures, blackheaded and white-bodied, with fleeces that show a
gloss like that of silk.
It was a strange, lonely landscape through which
we passed. Misty clouds hung upon the broad crests
of the hills, sometimes sinking and wrapping us in
moisture, then rising and leaving the country fresh
and clear. The region of turf extended for several
miles, to the dividing ridge of the island. Beyond
this, there was a fine view westward over small isles,
away to the promontory of Fitful Head, which every
reader of Scott's "Pirate" will remember. Scalloway, with the stately ruins of a castle, lay below us,
and there were fields of wheat, barley, and potatoes in
the valley behind it. This was the old Shetland capital: it does not now contain more than eight hundred
inhabitants, while Lerwick boasts of more than four
thousand.
On our way to the castle, several neat, pleasant
women came out of the cottages and offered falls
(veils) of the finest white woollen lace for sale. The
knitting of veils, shawls, scarfs, and hosiery of all
kinds is the chief industry of the Shetlands. I am
told that the women have no prepared patterns, but
keep the delicate, elaborate designs in memory, and
work them with perfect accuracy. A girl and four
boys accompanied us to the castle, the former as
guide, the latter out of curiosity.  " This is the castle
built by Earl Patrick Stewart, in I6oo," said the gil.




TIlE SHETLAND ISLANDS.


I7o.


"' It's him that treated the people so cruelly, and it's
here that he was took. Go up stairs and you'll see
the room where he was discovered by the smuk o' his
pipe. He was beheaded at Edinboro' in the year
1615.1"
' Served him right," remarked one of our party.
Indeed, it wasn't enough punishment," the girl
answered with energy.
The castle-walls, some seventy feet high, make;
very picturesque ruin. The boys climbed everywhere with us, and the youngest, a fine, bright-faced
fellow of ten —' a poor, unfortunate orphan," as the
girl said,-ran to his grandmother with a few pennies
we gave him, and then returned to attend us. They
all spoke a much better English than the common
people of Scotland. The pure Norse blood of the
Shetlanders is apparent at the first glance; some
phrases of their former tongue are still in general
use, but in face, form, and manner, they are wholly
Norsemen. In Lerwick you often see hair of such a
wonderful ruddy-golden hue that it verily shines by
its own light. The people are frank and cordial, with
just enough shyness to give them an air of dignity;
we found them, without exception, friendly and cordial. Few of them are positively handsome, but all
have a rich glow of health and animal vigor on their
faces.
We drove back through another valley, passing two
fresh-water lochs, which abound in trout. In this valley there was apparently no turf; grain and potato
fields occupied its bed, and the high slopes on either




t8o


ICELAND.


side were crowded with sheep. From two crests which
we climbed there were wide and sublimely dreary
views over hill and firth, Bressay, the skerries, and the
distant sea. One may travel the northward road for
forty miles, said the driver, but there are neither villages nor taverns on that part of the island.
At Lerwick we engaged a pilot, for thirty shillings
to take us through the difficult channel between the
northern' part of Mainland and the island of Yell.
The queer, labyrinthine yet most substantial little
town interested us greatly, and we might easily have
spent several days in learning its many original features; but the necessity of getting to Iceland in time
for the Millennial Jubilee admitted no further delay.
Three genial Shetland gentlemen joined us at dinner
in the cabin, our mail was dispatched, and we started
at five o'clock, under the gray arch of cloud which
had spanned our arrival.
The strait was a repetition of the same scenery.
Lofty, dark, guano-streaked cliffs and headlands,
haunted by thousands of sea-birds, brown and purple
hills behind them, fresh green of grain-fields in the
valleys, with here and there a lonely farm-house, or a
cluster of five or six as an attempt at a village, alternated on either side. After two hours or more, the
pilot indicated a group of houses as the point where
he wished to be set ashore, as the open sea was visible ahead, and there were no further reefs in the
channel. A fish'ng-boat came out for him; and some
of us, noticing a dozen golden-tinted rock cod in the
bottom, proposed to buy them. 'No money," said




THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. S            8i
the fisherman, " but you may have them for brandy."
The captain consenting, the exchange was made, and
we steamed away from the bare, dark, picturesque
and fascinating Shetland shores, into the gray, rainy,
and restless Northern Ocean,




CHAPTER V.
A HOLIDAY AT THE FAROE ISLANDS.
THORSHAVN, Faroe Islands, July 26.
TEESTERDAY I could only think of Longfellow's
stanza:
From the tumbling surf, that buries
The Orkneyan skerries,
Answering the hoarse Hebrides;
From the wrecks of ships, and drifting
Spars, uplifting
On the desolate, rainy seas.
There was no night, but a dull, Northern twilight,
which increased rather than brightened into a sombre,
moist, chilly day. An uneasy sea made our little
steamer rock and roll, and there was no sail to be seen
anywhere. So passed the hours until four in the afternoon, when, far ahead, a high mountain-isle, with
sheer sides, showed its head above the mists which
still concealed its base. Presently, on our left, the
long mass of Suderoe, the southernmost island of the
group, became visible, and it was evident that the lofty
peak in front was the Little Diamond. Beyond it lies
the Great Diamond, a rock nearly a mile in diameter,
and with a sea-wall of cliff certainly not less than five
hundred feet in height.




A ZlOLIDA Y AT THE FAROE ISLANDS. I83
Passing showers hid those grand shores and drove
us from deck for an hour or two, but the sky cleared
a little toward evening, enabling us to see the outlines
of Stromoe, the main island, on which lies Thorshavn, the capital, and Naalsoe, which protects its
harbor on the east. Here all things are on a grand
and impressive scale. The mountains rise to the
height of two thousand six hundred feet, and the fiords
by which the islands are indented resemble those of
Norway in their bold and savage character. In fact
the Faroes seem to have drifted away from Northern
Norway, and been anchored here in a milder and
moister climate.
On approaching Thorshavn, two Danish men-ofwar showed themselves through the mist. The royal
standard floating at the stern showed that we had
overtaken His Majesty Christian IX., on his way to
Iceland. It was nearly nine o'clock, and cloud and
twilight combined dimmed the picture of the town;
yet its roofs of grassy turf were so bespangled with the
white cross of Denmark on its red field, that the effect
was something like that of an illumination.
Our boats were lowered as soon as the anchor held,
and we made for the shore. The town covers a narrow tongue of land between two small bays. Huge
masses of rock line the shore and prop the most of the
houses, which are crowded together as if trying to
keep warm. There are one or two small and rude
landing-places, and at one of them a group of friendly
Faroese assisted us to get ashore. Blond and ruddy,
with Phrygian caps on their heads, knee-breeches




184


ICELA SD.


with rows of silver buttons at the knees, brown stockings over powerful calves, and heavy wooden pattens
on their feet, saying " God aflon / " (Good evening)
with a tone which made it sound like "welcome!"
-they were all Norsemen, and capital specimens of
the race. The town, which has about a thousand inhabitants, was crowded with people, many having
come from other parts of the islands, for the king, we
learned, had been expected the day before, but had
only landed at two o'clock that afternoon. The men
looked at us with some curiosity, possibly supposing
us to be a delayed part of the royal suite. There was
nothing intrusive in their ways; all greeted us, lifting
their caps, but not even the boys followed our steps.
There are no streets, properly speaking, but a multitude of irregular lines, winding and climbing among
the houses, some roughly paved, some leading over
the natural rock. The buildings are all of wood,
tarred for better preservation, with roofs of birch bark,
upon which is a sod a foot thick, always kept green
and luxuriant by this moist, temperate air. The
poorer dwellings, into which I glanced as we passed,
are often but a single room, in which the whole family
cooks, eats, and sleeps.
Wandering at random, we descended into a shallow
ravine, down which a small brook, born among the
inland fells, trickles over the rocks. "It is nearly
dried up," said a Faroese in answer to my question;
"'we have had two months of warm, dry weather this
summer." The road leading to the Governor's house,
on a knoll above, had been freshly strewn with flow



A HOLIDA Y A     THE FAROE ISLANDS. 185
ers, following the tral;e of which downward we came
to a triumphal arch of mosses and ferns, with the
word '" Velkommen!" on the side toward the sea.
Here the King had landed and been officially received.
First the Governor, Herr Finsen, made a loyal
and dutiful address; then Herr Raaslbv, the Burgomaster of Thorshavn, followed, but at the conclusion
of his speech he fell suddenly to the earth-and died!
The event was tragic rather than ominous, for the unfortunate Burgomaster had been both unwell and excited for some days previous.
We visited the Postmaster and aranged for the forwarding of our letters, then returned on board to
sleep. The King and Prince Waldemar were the
Governor's guests, and every tolerable house in the
place was occupied with civil and naval officers. At
ten o'clock it was still daylight.
This morning Thorshavn looked its best and brightest. Every farmer and fisherman wore his Sunday
dress, looked fresh and clean, and had a gloss on his
curling yellow locks. The houses were decorated with
strings of fish, hung up to dry, which imparted their
odors to the air. Passing the Governor's house I
noticed a large gray cat waiting her chance to see the
King, as if taking advantage of the old proverb. His
Majesty was at breakfast, and everything was quiet
about the house. We went to the top of a hill behind
the fort, whence there was a good view of the country.
The gay flags waving from every verdant roof, the decorated vessels in the harbor, and the gleam of flowers from small but lovingly-tended gardens, madl sa




I86


ICELA ND.


much brightness that we no longer missed the sun.
Fields of grass, oats and potatoes, inclosed by stone
walls, stretched for a mile or two back of the town;
then rose a semicirlce of dark gray mountains, their
crests playing hide and seek with the rolling mists.
We visited the Post-Office, the School, and various
other places; but there were Danish guests at all, and
everybody was at breakfast. At eleven we went to
church, a neat white building, large enough to accommodate five hundred persons. The clergyman,
Herr Hammersheim, who has done excellent service
in collecting and preserving the folk-lore of the
Faroe Islands, kindly ordered the sacristan to give us
a pew. The people flocked in until all the seats were
taken-sturdy, sun-burnt frames, women apparently
as hardy as men. The latter were picturesque in
their knee-breeches, the former almost ugly in a headdress of black silk, tied so as to bulge out at the
sides and to show long, pointed ends. As the crowd
grew dense about us a very perceptible odor of dried
fish and old leather filled the air.
The bells chimed, not very musically; the front
door of the church-the portal of state —was unbolted,
and finally Gov Finsen, in full uniform, holding a
white-plumed chapeau on his arm, entered, preceding
the King. Christian IX. and Prince Waldemar followed, the latter in a plain morning suit of gray. The
King must be near sixty years of age, but looks considerably younger. He has a good nose and chin,
wears a heavy mustache, and would be quite handsome but for a lack of expression in the eyes. He




A HOLIDA Y AT THE FAROE ISLANDS. I87
walked quickly up the aisle, nodding to the rigI t and
left, and took his place near the altar, whereon (as is
customary in the Lutheran Church of Denmark and
Sweden) large wax candles were burning. Prince
Waldemar is a ruddy, gray-eyed, stout young man of
twenty-one. The Minister of Justice, Klein, a chamberlain or two, naval officers, Carl Andersen the poet,
and others, about twenty in all, followed the royal
personages, took their seats, and the service began.
The hymns were sung by the congregation to the
accompaniment of a feeble organ. Neither in time
nor in tune were they successful; I detected a few good,
untrained voices, but the most had no idea whatever
of choral singing. Then the clergyman intoned a
prayer, and read the chapter for the day, the congregation rising to their feet as he began. The sermon
was short and of a safe character; it included none
but the stock theological phrases, and probably did
not provoke a thought in the mind of any person
present. I was very grateful, however, for its brevity,
for the close heat and increasing pungency of the fish
and leather odor were fast making the church insupportable. Two long hymns and another chanted lesson closed the services. The clergyman wore a black
surplice, and a broad Elizabethan ruff around his
neck.
The people, I noticed, all saluted the King very
respectfully, but with a simple, quiet dignity of their
own. There was no running after him, no pressing to
get near, no cheering, or any other token of special
enthusiasm. Personally, I believe l e is liked; but he




I88


ICELA ND.


represents a dynasty almost new, and possesses no traditions of loyalty. The Faroese have always been
more liberally treated by Denmark than the Icelanders, and they have no important favors to ask at this
season. This is, it is true, the first time a King of
Denmark has visited the islands; but it hardly has a
further significance.
Since church many boats have come off with Faro
ese visitors to the two steam frigates, the Jylland and
the Heimdal. There is a rough sea outside, and hard
rowing in the harbor, but the people laugh as they
pass, and make the most of their holiday. A little
while ago the King and Prince came off to dinner,
drawn by a diminutive steam-launch which belongs to
the frigate. We had the Danish standard run up to
the main, dipped the English and American flags, and
saluted the party from the quarter-deck as it passed
under our stern. They leave for Iceland to-morrow
afternoon, and we shall have about twelve hours' start
of them.
We have attempted no excursion into the interior,
for there are no roads and almost no horses. It would
probably be impossible to mount all of us-at once.
Stromoe has a length of fifteen or twenty miles, but
very little of the soil can be cultivated, and the popu.
lation is mostly centred in the little coves where fishing-boats can find shelter.




CHAPTER VI.


ON2 THE NORTHERN OCEAN.
STEAMER ALBION, July 28.
W   E waited at Thorshavn until three o'clock yesterday morning, for the night was thick and
overcast, and some daylight was necessary for the
navigation of the narrow channel between Stromoe
and Osteroe. There were many visitors to the royal
frigate Jylland during the afternoon, including a number of Faroese ladies, and, to judge from the tunes
played by the band, there must have been much and
lively dancing on deck. A dozen boat-loads of exceedingly merry human freight were carried to shore, and
then the King followed, to pass another night at the
Governor's house.
Some of our party returned, to take a parting look
at the curious little town. The people still enjoyed
their Sunday and national holiday in a very quiet,
decorous way. About two hundred of them, in their
jackets of homespun wadmal, black breeches, and
heavy wooden pattens protecting their seal-skin
shoes, were drawn up in a line around the head of the
northern cove to await the King's landing. Tame
pigeons and chickens sauntered up and down the
rough alleys, and the buttercups and marigolds scat



90o


ICELAND


tered for the welcome were still tolerably fresh, in the
moist, misty air. The Faroese are a very simplehearted, honest, and kindly people, and by no means
deficient in intelligence. Their lives are rude and
hard, for high waves and furious currents in the fiords,
and windy hurricanes on the hills, limit even their
possible labor, and the best fortune barely gives them
enough barley, fish, and milk to live upon.
Thorshavn lies in latitude 62~ north, yet the Winter
temperature never falls below I4~, rarely below 20~,
and the sheep continue to pasture in the valleys.
There were formerly forests of birch trees in sheltered
parts, but they have long since been exterminated,
and peat is used for fuel. A vein of coal has been
discovered on one of the islands. Barley grows tolerably well, up to a height of about three hundred
feet above the sea: beyond that line it will not ripen.
The summits of the mountains, which are broad, flat
table-lands from one to three thousand feet high, are
swept by such furious gusts of wind that no vegetation
can exist there. The earth and hardy herbage are
torn from the rock, rolled up like a sheet of paper,
and hurled far into the valleys.
For the sum of three English shillings the obliging
postmaster sent off a boat, at two in the morning,
for our last letters, and then we got up steam for departure. The two frigates were to sail in the afternoon, and it was necessary that we should get the start
of them, in order to secure the simplest accommodations in Iceland. The weather, although dull, was favorable; the sea had gone down, the mists had risen and




ON THE NORTHERN QOCEAN.


Tq9


rested upon the dark island-summits, and the bleak,
sublime shores on either hand distinctly marked our
way. On the east they rose in sheer precipices, over
great caverns hollowed by the waves, wherein the auk,
the puffin, the kittiwake, and other Northern seafowl
were now asleep on their rocky perches. By day they
sometimes rise in such clouds as to darken the sun,
and with cries that stun the ear; but we heard and
saw nothing of them.
After sunrise the clouds scattered, the sun came out
in a blue sky, and the tremendous headlands of
Stromoe and Osteroe became flushed with airy pink
and purple. We saw them for hours; the fishingboats that cruised off the shores dipped sooner under
the horizon, and left our vessel alone on this lonely
ocean. The wind blew from the north-east, raw and
piercing; gray films of cloud crept over the sky, and
the deck was deserted by the most of our party. We
were fortunate, however, in having a smooth sea, with
a good prospect of keeping it for the rest of the
voyage. The steamer makes nine or ten knots, which
allows us to calculate on a run of less than thirty-six
hours from Thorshavn to Ingolfs Head, the nearest
point of Iceland.  Towards evening the wind fell,
veering to the south, and the air became milder. The
temperature of the water has been steadily 52~, since
leaving the Shetland Isles. We have at last left the
night behind us, and a twilight which is almost day
makes the midnight cheerful. Last evening the sailors
danced Scotch reels on the forward deck, with such
vigor that we were half tempted to join them. En



I92


ICELAND.


couraged by Captain Howling, they then came aft and
sang us some capital Scotch and Irish ballads. We are
only twenty-seven persons on board-passengers, officers, crew, firemen and stewards,-and the captain
exercises his government so quietly that there seems
to be perfect discipline without command.
This morning at eight o'clock we were about sixty
miles from Portland Cape, the southern point of Iceland,
near the famous Skaptar Jokull, which would doubtless be visible at this moment were the sky not so hazy
and dark. We have left Ingolf's Head to the eastward, and give rather a wide berth to the shore on account of a dangerous reef. It is a curious experience
for a landsman to coast along a land so strange, remote, and interesting as Iceland, while it is still
invisible, and to measure his position by landmarks
which he cannot see.
JULY 29, 3 P. M.
Our hopes of getting quietly into an Icelandic
port before this time, have been miserably disappointed. Yesterday afternoon the south wind increased, the clouds thickened, rain and scud began
to sweep the decks, and the rapid fall of the barometer denoted a gale. Our prudent captain turned the
steamer's head another point away from the shore,
which now could not be sighted without running
dangerously near it. About nine o'clock, however,
four or five distant dark specks rose against the sunset,
over the raging waves. They were the Westmranna
Islands, a small rocky group, lying some fifteen or




ONA THE NOR THIERN OCEAN.


193


twenty miles off the south-western coast of Iceland.
The tradition says that Hvorleif, one of Ingolf's companions, took with him some Irish slaves-"' men of
the West "-as the Irish were called by the old Norsemen. These men, employed as herdsmen, killed and
ate Hvorleif's ox, and then said a bear had devoured
it. Growing bolder. they next killed Hvorleif himself,
took a boat and coasted along until they saw these
islands, where they made an independent settlement.
The gale increased in violence until our vessel
strained and labored in the heavy sea. It was hardly
possible to keep the deck, and we went below, but not
to sleep. The slowing of the engines, toward midnight, called me up again, and I found that we had
entered a channel between Heimaey, the main island
of the group, and two small, barren islets on the
north. Beyond the latter, dim under a belt of cloud,
yet quite visible in the northern twilight, stretched
the base of the Eyafjell Jokull, one of the most devastating of the Icelandic volcanoes. Heimaey, on
our left, appeared to be about a mile and a half in
length, rising at each end into peaks a thousand feet
high, with a dip of lowland between, Somewhere
opposite to us lay the harbor of Kaupstadr ( < tradingport "), and it seemed the better course to enter and
seek a temporary refuge from the gale. But all was
dark and silent on shore; we sent up rockets and
blew the steam-whistle, but after waiting until nearly
one o'clock in the morning, Capt. Howling determined to push onward rather than risk the chance of




194


ICELAND.


being obliged to lie under the lee of the island for a
day or two longer. Dark, precipitous masses, girded
about by the constant foam and thunder of the waves,
the islands seem to repel us more than the vexed
sea beyond. We had still seventy miles to the headland of Rejkianaes, with the torn and rocky coast of
Iceland on our lee; but, fortunately, there was less
rain and no fog during the night hours.
The steamer bored her head into the ridgy waves,
and quivered as the heavy-hammer blows struck her,
Wedged in our narrow berths, we watched the wild
gymnastics of everything that could toss; or saw,
through the buried ports, the early daylight strike
through the green water. The tightness and buoyancy of the little vessel gave us faith in her seaworthiness, and as hour after hour passed by and we steadily
made our seven knots, keeping well off the iron coast,
which was dimly visible through driving scud, we
conlgratulated the captain on his choice of the two
evils. The barometer was still sinking, the gale still
increased; but by eleven o'clock we were off the
sharp corner of Rejkianaes (" Smoky Nose"), the extreme south-western corner of Iceland, and the broad
Faxa Fiord opened to the north. We had still seventeen miles to the other corner of the long peninsula,
beyond which our course would be eastward toward
Rejkiavik, and under the lee of the land. The sea
was already much less violent, the sun shone out
athwart the drifting clouds, and both waves and shore
were covered with flocks of Arctic birds, nearly all
varieties of which I saw for the first time. The hand



ON THE NORTHERN OCEAN


195


some solan goose slept upon the billows, with its head
under its wing, and, when awakened by the steamer's
approach-sometimes, in fact almost touched by its
side-flapped off over the water, screaming in terror,
Litttle terns and puffins darted hither and thither;
gray eider-duck flew to and from their nests on the
rocks, and the snowy sea-gulls circled in all directions.
There was a wonderful profusion and animation of
bird-life, and the dark cliffs and foam-girdled skerries
seemed less bleak and forbidding, after seeing how
these creatures loved them.
IN HARBOR, 5 P. M.
After rounding the point of Utskalar, we lost more
than half the force of the sea. Outside, the gale raged
as furiously as ever; but as we advanced further into
the fiord, the spray-walls of the breakers sank lower,
lines of shore glimmered green in the sun, and the
outlines of huge mountains detached themselves from
the mist to the northward. Here and there a low,
stout-looking house was to be seen; then the village
and church of Bressastadr, on the right, and finally the
naes (nose) or headland of Rejkiavik harbor, directly
ahead. A beacon, on the point, served to pilot us.
Over the low shore the masts of four or five men-ofwar at anchor showed the position of the harbor, and
some of the houses of the little Icelandic capital began
to loom up behind them. The inland mountains,
coming out more clearly, suggested a colder and more
barren Scotland; all the features of the scenery were
large, broad, and sublime in their very simplicity.




196               ICELAND.
Passing between two islands we came into port.
One German, two French, one Swedish, one Norwegian and one Danish frigate lay at anchor, with
twenty smaller sailing craft nearer shore. The town
stretched along two low hills and the hollow between
them, and surprised us by its bright, substantial appearance. We were presently hailed by a boat which
brought to us a ruddy gentleman, who came on board,
introduced himself as a member of the Committee of
Arrangement, and proposed to assign us a proper anchorage. But no sooner had our anchor fallen than
we were boarded by an officer from the Danish frigate, who stated that we would be in the King's way on
His Majesty's arrival, and must move to the opposite
side of the harbor. The Icelandic committee-man
protested against this Danish interference; our captain remained neutral, and we kept away from the
dispute. It was some time before the matter was settled. Denmark conquered, Iceland yielded and went
away. We hove anchor and moved to a newposition,
and here we are, at last, free to set foot ashore!




CHAPTER VII.


REJKIAVIK AND THE KTNG'S ARRIVAL.
REJKIAVIK, July 30.
A  S soon as our steamer was fairly moored last evening we got into the boats and went ashore. There
is a beach three or four hundred yards long, with
several wooden jetties running down into the water,
the rise of the tide here being seventeen feet. There
was quite a little crowd waiting to receive us, and our
friend Magraisson no sooner landed than he was recognized and heartily embraced by both ladies and gentlemen. One of the first was Sheriff Thorstenson, for
whom I had a package of letters. It was very evident
that all Rejkiavik was in a state of unusual excitement
and expectation. The people greeted us respectfully
on all sides, but in spite of their apparent curiosity,
asked no questions.
Smooth, tolerably Droad streets of volcanic sand and
gravel, with flagged sidewalks; square wooden houses,
which seemed stately in comparison with those of
Thorshavn; merchant's store-houses, without signs,
yet generally thronged with people; little gardens of
cauliflower, radishes, and turnips; white curtains,
pots of geranium, mignonnette, and roses in the win



r98


ICELAND.


dows, and ruddy sun-browned faces looking out upon
us-such were the features of the place which first
caught the eye. Flags floated from all the larger
buildings, and a new jetty, with a crimson canopy,
was in preparation for the royal landing. A few officers and sailors from the foreign men-of-war were
mixed with the crowd, taking away something from
its distinctive Icelandic character.
Herr Magnuisson fortunately espied Zoega, the man
of all others whom we desired first to meet. In order
to accompany the royal party to Thingvalla and the
Geysers, and to take part in the national celebration
at the former place, horses, guides, and tents were
necessary. With the usual scanty travel, Rejkiavik
and the immediate neighborhood are unprovided for
an emergency like the present; the King and his
company alone have ordered one hundred and sixty
ponies. Zoega hesitated, according to the habit of
his race, promised nothing positively, but agreed to
breakfast with us this morning-which, as matters
have since turned out, meant that he was willing to
try, and believed that he should succeed. We next
called on Herr Thomsen, one of the principal merchants, who was most generous in the offer of his services, and has since given us much more of his time
than we could expect him to surrender on a day like
this. 
Finding that I had a letter to the Danish Governor,
Finsen, Mr. Thomsen accompanied me to the Government House, a white mansion on a knoll which
slopes down bright and green to a little canal, con6




REJKIA VIK AND THE KING'S ARRIVAL. I99
necting the harbor with a lake behind the town. In
the official chamber I found a courteous gentleman in
uniform, who regretted that his Majesty's coming
would lessen his power to show the desirable amount
of attention to our party. He volunteered, however,
to secure us good places for the services in the Cathedral, next Sunday; and this was really all we
needed. Coming forth from the presence, I followed
the tracks of my friends, and presently found them
at the house of Dr. Jbn Hjaltalin, editor of the Sazmundur Frddi, a strong, ruddy-cheeked, gray-haired
son of the North, in whose welcome there was no uncertain sound. He spoke English readily, gave evidence of much and various knowledge, and seemed
rejoiced to meet his journalistic brethren of other
lands. We had a most agreeable visit of half an
hour, and then returned through the main street,
seeking the house of Sheriff Thorshenson. I asked a
man who was mending the street whether he spoke
Danish; he shook his head but called another workman, who at once guided us to the Sheriff's door, and
when I offered him a piece of money, laughed as if it
were a good joke, and ran away.
By this time it was late, and twilight was gathering
apace under the dark, rainy sky. We returned to the
steamer for supper, and slept in delightful quiet after
the restless torment of the gale. This morning the
wind still blew, the dark clouds hung low on all the
hills, rainy gusts swept the harbor, and the thermometer on deck stood at 48~. But the Danish vessel, the
Frl'a, got up steam early, and went down the fiord in




200


ICEL ANID.


search of the royal frigates. The preparations on
shore were completed by this time, although as late
as yesterday some persons were engaged in giving the
black paling around their gardens a gayer coat of
paint. Whether the town has been specially cleaned
for the occasion I know not, but it is certainly very
trim and tidy.
By ten o'clock the vessels were signalled in the distance, and immediately the men-of-war began their
decorations. I looked for an increase of flags on shore,
but there was not half so many as at Thorshavn. In
half an hour the foreign frigates were all in a flutter
of brilliant colors, and even our little Albion made a
gallant show. The people crowded the beach even
before the Danish masts made their appearance above
the low western head-land. Then the yards were
manned, French, German and Swedish officers came
on deck in full uniform, boatswains and gunners took
their stations, and-it began to rain.  Nearer, but
very slowly, came the expected vessels; as the 7Jylland
appeared in full view between the islands, the first cannon blazed, flash, smoke and thunder followed in rapid
succession from the five hulls, the rocky shpres sent
back their echoes, and the whole harbor rang. There
was no fort on shore, scarcely a cannon; the people
stood as a dark line in front of the houses, silent and
motionless. The salute was answered by the Heimndal,
while the King's vessel passed between the foreign frigates, the sailors of the latter cheering lustily. The
quarter-deck was left to His Majesty, who stood beside
the mizzen-mast, with the Prince at a little distance.




REK ZfIA VIK tAND THE KING S ARRIVAL. 201
The cannon-smoke drifted over the water, and thus
tie national song of Denmark was suggested:
"King Christian stood by the lofty mast,
In mist and smoke!"
Then anchors dropped, a boat pulled ashore, Gov.
I insen came off, and the commanders of the foreign
vessels called to pay their respects. Our party was
hungry and went to dinner.
We had scarcely been helped to a superb Iceland
s dmon, when there were signs that the royal landing
v as about to come off. The boats were made ready
ii i all haste; we rushed from the table and pushed for
t'le shore, but His Majesty was already under way.
IHis boat and our two were nearly abreast; He had
e ght oars, and we but three apiece. I saw no other
s nail craft moving in the harbor; everybody seemed
to be ashore. The Danish flag on one side, and the
American and English on the other seemed to be running a desperate race; the Icelanders must have enj(yed the spectacle, if they had not been, probably,
too excited to notice it. Urged by words and promies of reward, our sailors did their best, and just as
the King stepped upon the scarlet cloth of his landilhg place, we sprang upon the nearest jetty.
The formal reception by the authorities of Iceland
a id the delegates of the people was almost private in
its character. The royal pier sloped down to a platf(rm, between a double row of Danish flags hung
with green garlands. The gentlemen stood on this
platform, and none of their addresses or the replies




3202


ICELA4 tD.o


thereto were audible at a distance of thirty feet. A
small crowd of people, gathered on the sand at the
edge of the water, cheered with some heartiness, but
the main body of the people. about two thousand in
number, kept silent, as they heard nothing. In ten
minutes all was over: the Governor came up the
pier, followed by the King and Prince, both walking
rapidly and looking very cheerful and amiable. They
were received with a cheer which was evidently genuine, if not loud nor universal. The people seemed
unused to such a demonstration; in fact, I noticed
several who opened their mouths as they took off their
hats, made the beginning of a shout, and then timidly
gave it up.
After the King's suite came the chief officials, the
bishop in velvet and satin, a snowy Elizabethan ruff,
and a high hat, the clergyman, and the members of
the native committee-the latter strong, ruddy, farmerlooking men, whose white gloves did not harmonize
with their heavy brown coats. There were about forty
persons in all, and the whole crowd fell in behind
them as they advanced toward the Governor's residence. A number of men, running along the beach,
gained the little open common before the King appeared, and greeted him again with much the most
enthusiastic cheer of the day. The door of the Governor's house opened and Madame Finsen appeared,
dressed in a simple black silk, without any ornaments.
She descended the steps of the first garden terrace,
curtsied at the right moment to the royal guest, a little
less deeply to the Prince, and accompanied them tc




RE aKIA VIK AND THE KING'S ARRII 'VAL. 203
the door. This sounds like a very simple matter; but
not many ladies would have accomplished it with
such admirable grace, tact, and self-possession. All
Rejkiavik was looking on; the sun flashed out as if
on purpose to light up this little episode, and thus the
first landing of a Danish king on the soil of Iceland
came to an end.
Tile Bishop, Committee, and other officials waited
at the bottom of the garden, until summoned by a
chamberlain in a red coat, when they too disappeared
behind the Governor's door. I now turned to inspect
the crowd, and found to my surprise that the women
were much more picturesque figures than the men.
Many of them wore square boddices of some dark
color, a gown with many pleats about the waist, with
bright blue or red aprons. Nearly all had a flat capor, rather, a circular piece of black cloth-on the top
of the head, with a long black tassel on one side,
hanging from a silver or gilded cylindrical ring, an
inch or two in length. These rings are precisely like
those which the women of Cairo wear over the nose,
to hold the veil in its place. Some of the girls had
their hair braided, but many wore it loose; and I saw
one maiden whose magnificent pale yellow mane suggested a descent from Brynhilde. The men showed
only two colors-the brown of their wadmal coats and
trowsers and the ruddy tan of their faces. Few of
them are handsome, and their faces are grave and
undemonstrative; but they inspire confidence by the
simple strength expressed in the steady blue eye and.he firm set of the lips. There were plenty of tawny




204


ICELAAD.


or piebald ponies with manes like lions, in the streets.
I suppose many healths must have been drunk during
the day, for the old Norse habit still flourishes here;
but I saw only one man who was somewhat unsteady
on his legs, while he managed to keep his face sober.
In the afternoon, under the guidance of Herr Magnusson, we made a number of visits. Bishop Pjeturson first received us, and with a gentle, refined
courtesy becoming his station. Conversation was carried on in French with himself, in English with his
son, and in Danish with his wife. A bottle of champagne was produced, and the kind hosts touched
glasses with us, in welcome to Iceland. We explained our object in coming, told of the interest felt by
our countrymen in this rare historical anniversary,
and claimed kinship of blood on the score of the
early relationship of Goth and Saxon, and our own
later infusion of the Norman element. There is no
Icelander-no Scandinavian, indeed —but knows and
is proud of the race from which he is descended.
Our next call was on Herr Thorberg, Governor of
the Southern Syssel (District) of Iceland. Madame
Thorberg spoke English with fluency and elegance,
-in fact, we have discovered that the Rejkiavik ladies
generally speak English and the gentlemen French.
Then we visited, in turn, the Professor of Theology,
the Dean, and the Rector of the University. The
latter gentleman had heard of the collection of volumes for Iceland made in America-mainly through
the efforts of Prof. Willard Fiske of Cornell University,-but stated that, with the exception of a case of




RE 'KIA VIK AND THE KING'S ARRIVAL. 205
publications of the Smithsonian Institute, nothing of
it had yet arrived. The duplicate volumes, when
they come, are to be sent to Akureyri, the northern
capital.
It was stretching the hospitality of the gentlemen
almost too far to visit them toward the close of a day
so important and exciting for them; but nothing could
exceed the genial warmth and kindliness of our reception. I notice something of the same quiet dignity,
which is a characteristic of the upper classes, also
among the common people. It must be a chief feature of the Gothic blood, for it exists in the same form
in Spain and some provinces of Sweden. Such men
will take your pay and serve you faithfully, but you
must never forget to treat them as equals. The impression which the Icelanders have made upon me,
thus far, is unexpectedly agreeable. I am convinced
that I should find the ways of the people easy to
adopt, and that, once adopting (or at least respecting)
them, I should encounter none but friends all over the
island.
As for Rejkiavik, it is far from being the dark, dirty,
malodorous town which certain English and German
travellers describe. The streets are broad and clean,
the houses exceedingly cosy and pleasant, the turf of
the greenest, the circle of the fiord and mountains
truly grand, and only the absence of any tree suggests its high latitude.




CHAPTER ViII.
FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF ICELAND.
REJKIAVIK, August i.
I CAN scarcely continue to give a coherent record
of events, for, in a place so remote and original in
its character, everything that happens seems to bear
a certain stamp of interest. If you step on a blossom,
it may be an arctic plant, unknown elsewhere; if a
bird flies overhead, it is probably an eider duck; if a
boy speaks in the street, he may use words made venerable in the Eddas of Saemund and Snorre Sturlusson. Isolation, separate development, prevalence of
elements that have perished in other lands, make Iceland a stud) by itself. Scarcely anything I have
learned in former travel, even in Sweden and Norway,
explains the features of life here. Anchored in the
middle of the Northern Ocean, between two continents, the island belongs but very slightly to either.
But the simplest form of narration, after all, is the
truest, and I know no better plan than to give the
events and impressions of our days in the exact order
in which they come to us. Yesterday, for instance,
furnished us with a different stock, and, inasmuch as
there is no further public ceremony until Sunday, we
let ourselves comfortably drift along the current of
chances, appropriating no hour in advance.




FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OP ICELAND. 207
The sweep of mountain shores inclosing the northern extremity of the Faxa Fiord, and the inland
ranges have been gradually growing into form since
our arrival, and almost every hour brings out some
unexpected feature from behind the drop-curtain of
cloud which at first concealed them. To-day, the
panorama is surprising. Sixty-five miles to the west,
floating on the sea like an iceberg, shines the unbroken white mass of the Snaefells JOkull. North..
ward of him the land disappears, to emerge again in
sharp blue peaks, which are overlapped by higher and
nearer promontories, until, across the last bight of
the fiord, the bare mountains show every gully and
ravine, every streak of snow, patch of pale green
herbage or purple volcanic rock. Sun and shadow,
ever in motion over their sides, make continual and
exquisite changes of color. Inland, there is the greatest variety of outline, from the turfy shores to the
horns, peaks, and rampart-like ridges in the distance.
The air is wonderfully clear, so that the tints of the
great panorama-which has a sweep of over a hundred
miles —are marked by the greatest possible delicacy
and purity. Without being deep and glowing, as in
the South, they produce almost the same effect, and
there are moments when one can only think of the
Mediterranean and the Grecian Archipelago.
We spent yesterday morning on shore. The sailors
filled our water casks at the town pump, some of the
party bought eider-down or photographs, others paid
further visits of ceremony. Captain Howling, proposing to take stones from the nearest harbor island as




208


iCELAND.


ballast, was quite taken aback by the refusal of the
proprietor to allow any portion of his volcanic real
estate to be carried away. The reason given was that
the island would be gradually diminished in size, and
furnish so much the less brooding-ground for eider
duck! These self-sacrificing birds make their nests
almost in the outskirts of Rejkiavik. They are protected by law, and show no fear of men.
I called upon the French Consul and his family, and
the Chief-Justice of Iceland, finding, as everywhere
else, intelligence, refinement, and a most kindly hospitality. The young ladies spoke English and French
with fluency. The long Winter, during which no
steamer comes from Denmark and the rest of the
world, has no practical existence for them, is devoted
to reading and study, and they thus fully keep pace
with their sisters in other lands.
In the afternoon, the captain proposed a boat excursion to a hot spring near the shore, a mile or two
from the town, and three of us joined him. On the
way we called on the German frigate Niobe, to whose
first officer, Capt.-Lieut. Von Schroder, I had been
commended by his friends in Erfurt and Gotha. The
vessel, of stanch old English build, is used as a training-ship for cadets, of whom there are at present
thirty-five on board. Our reception by all the officers
was so hearty that it could only terminate in mutual
invitations to lunch and dinner. Officers of the army
are proverbially strictly national, officers of the navy
cosmopolitan; but I should be glad if our gentlemen
of the latter estate wvere able to speak to visitors, in a




FUR THER IMPRESSIONS OF ICELAND. 209
foreign port, in their own language, as every one of
these was, and to discuss Literature and Art as
eagerly and intelligently as old traditions of the service.
We pushed off at last, hoisted a sail, and swiftly
ran along the coast, seeking for the embouchure of a
river, which is fed from the hot springs. The wind
enabled us to skirt the rough basaltic shore closely,
without much danger of staving in the bottom of our
little craft, but we failed to detect the exact point.
There was a two-story house of stone on a broad headland; several boys on ponies came dashing down the
green slope behind it, and a group of children at a
little cove seemed to watch our movements with much
interest. We found, too late, that they were beacons
to the entrance of the hot river. Our only profit from
the trip was the sight of an enormous seal-it could
hardly have been less than twelve feet in lengthwhich every now and then popped up its huge, stupid
head behind us. After a dance of nearly two hours
over the rough waves, we were glad to return and
leave the hot springs from which Rejkiavik (the
smoking or steaming harbor) is said to derive its name.
Our visits on shore have been continued to-day.
They are always agreeable, but so much alike in form
of reception, heartiness of welcome, and even the material features of the residences, that it is scarcely necessary to describe them  in succession.  The best
houses in the town are very much alike in structure
and internal arrangement. There is usually a little
hall or ante-room, about large enough to pull off an




210


ICELAND.


overioat in, then the study or reception-room of the
owner, according to his profession, and beyond it the
salon where the ladies receive their guests. White
curtains, pots of flowers in the windows, a carpet on the
floor, a sofa, centre-table with books and photographs,
and pictures on the walls are the invariable features
of this apartment; and in spite of the lowness of the
ceiling and other primitive architectural characteristics, it is always cheerful, bright and agreeable.
Rocking-chairs are not uncommon, and the guest
easily forgets both latitude and locality as he looks
out upon' currant-bushes and potato-plants, while conversing with a grave, earnest-faced young lady upon
Shakespeare, German literature, or the latest music.
The common people-if one has a right to use the
word "common" in referring to such a people-are
still something of a puzzle to me. Except among our
Indian tribes, I never saw such stoical, indifferent
faces. They watch us with a curiosity which is intense, but never obtrusive, yet when I attempt to
make a nearer acquaintance through the medium of
Danish they are shy and shrinking to such an extent
that they do not attempt to conceal it. The average
stature is short, not above five feet six inches, the
complexion of a coarse, ruddy brown, hair generally
blonde and straight, eyes blue or gray, body broad,
short, and compact, with short, sturdy limbs, large
hands and feet-in fact a general aspect of rough
vigor, but also of something more than that. What
this something may be it will be my task to discover
wnen we go into the interior of the island.




FURTHER IIMPRESSIONS OF ICELAND. 211
This morning some of our party took ponies and
rode out to the Laxa, or Salmon River, about four
miles from here. Mr. Thomsen, a very enterprising
and obliging merchant, who supplies our vessel during her stay here, accompanied them as he had accompanied the King yesterday. The salmon were not
quite so ready to be captured as His Majesty found
them (a circumstance I will not endeavor to explain),
but I believe ours caught a dozen, some of which have
been ordered to be " kippered " for friends and families. I have never tasted fish more succulent, prodigal of flesh, or delicious in flavor.
The journey to Thingvalla and the Geysers gives us
some anxiety. It is absolutely necessary to take a
tent, as every farm-byre in the neighborhood is sure
to be crowded by family and friends, and the churches
(the only hotels to be reckoned upon in Iceland) will
be opened to the multitude. In a land like this, where
the tavern is unknown and private hospitality is so
limited by the scanty resources of the people, I find
it simply and entirely Christian that the Church
should be opened to shelter the weary traveller, to
give him a roof in the season of cold and rain, and to
protect his nightly slumbers. But we hear of so
many families who are going to attend the ceremonies
at Thingvalla that some prudence is absolutely prescribed. The King's guide, Zoega, promises us thirty
horses, with saddles, packs, and provision-boxes.
During the two days of the King's stay he has been
gaining in popularity. His frank, handsome face attracts the people; they find him easily accessible, and




212               ICELAND.
the interest he takes in all matters which cc.,rn
them is evidently not assumed. To-day he p ad a
visit to the old Bjarne Thorsteinson (father of the
Sheriff), who is ninety-four years old and has been
blind for a long time. Entering unannounced, His
Majesty greeted the old man, taking his hand. "Who
are you? " said the latter, "I don't know you; what
is your name?  " I am called Christian the Ninth,"
said the King.  "Well, then," Bjarne remarked,
" if you take a blind man by surprise, you must ex.
pect to hear such questions."
All looks well for the festival to-morrow.




CHAPTER IX.


THE MILLENNIAL CELEBRATION AT REJKIAVIK.
REJKIAVIK, Sunday Evening, August 2.
THE first of the two days set apart for the commemorative festivities dawned cloudless and
splendid. A sharp wind from the north, before sunrise, blew away every vestige of mist or cloud; Snsefell
gleamed like an opal over the water, and when, at
eight o'clock, a gun from the King's frigate gave signal, the gleam and sparkle of the linked flags, as they
ran up to peak and yard-arm and down to the water,
was something really glorious to behold. On, shore
there were signs of gathering and preparation, and
many a line of moving specks on the far hills showed
that the country people were betimes on the way.
The programme for the day consisted of commemorative services in the Cathedral, a banquet in the hall
of the University, and a popular festival on the hill of
Austurvelli, a mile from the town. The last feature
promised to be the most attractive, since, after songs
and speeches, there were to be dancing andflugeldrar
myklir —" great flying fires." The new Constitution,
which went into force yesterday, has not been announced with any special ceremonies. Copies of it
had already reached Iceland, the people were very




214


ICELAND.


generally acquainted with its provisions, and content
to accept it as the beginning of a reform. The celebrations, here to-day, and on Friday next at Thingvalla, have therefore a historical rather than a political character.
We went ashore at half-past ten o'clock, and found
everybody hastening toward the Cathedral. The open,
grassy square around the old building was covered
with picturesque groups of people; the lake in the
rear of the town glittered in the sun, and the high
peak of Keylur slept in the blue distance. Genuine
Icelandic costumes appeared at last, and original and
graceful they were. The women wore white helmets
of a curious pattern, the horn curving over in front, six
inches above the head, the base richly embroidered
with gold, and a white veil thrown over all and floating upon the shoulders. They had also closely-fitting
jackets of dark cloth, heavily braided with gold or silver, and broad belts of silver filigree work. Not more
than half a dozen of the men, in all, wore the old
national costume. It consists of a jacket and kneebreeches of dark-gray homespun cloth, stockings of
the same color, seal-skin shoes, and a round hat with
the brim turned up. The only ornament is a bow of
red ribbon at the knee.
The king and his cortege had just entered the
Cathedral as we reached it, and the foreign naval
officers who had been invited to the ceremony were
crowding with the natives into the low northern portal.
We had been furnished with slips of parchment as admission tickets to seats in the main isle, and the sacris



THE MILLENNIAL CELEBRA TION.          2T5
tan placed us in front, opposite the bishop's pulpit.
The choir was singing one of ten new anthems composed for the occasion; lights were burning in the
chandeliers on the altar, and between the gallery-pillars; wreaths of heather decorated the walls, choir,
and galleries, and there was a glow of flowers around
Thorwaldsen's baptismal font. The dull red of the
walls and dark panels of the wooden ceiling harmonized well with these simple adornments; the building
wore an aspect of cheerful solemnity, becoming the occasion. The seats filled rapidly during the chant, men
and women sitting together as they could find places.
Then the service commenced, after the ancient Lutheran fashion. In fact it was nearly an exact repetition
of that we had seen in Thorshavn, except that the
Icelandic language was used. The hymns were very
simply and grandly sung; and the " Psalm of Praise,"
written by Matthias Jochumsson, and composed by
SveinbjiOrnsson-the first musical work by a native
Icelander, I am told-produced a powerful effect. In
whichever direction I looked, I saw eyes filled with tears.
The repetition of the refrain: Islands thusund dr" Iceland's thousand years," rang through the Cathedral in tones which were solemn rather than proud,
and gave expression to the earnest religious spirit in
which the people had come together.
The sermon, by Bishop Pjetursson, was quite unintelligible to me. It was delivered in a lamenting, almost lachrymose voice, with scarcely a change.of inflection from beginning to end; and the impression,
if any were really intended, must have been much




2r6


ICELA ND.


diminished by the copious doses of snuff taken by the
speaker, and the appearance of his handkerchief, as
it lay on the pulpit-desk. The exercises lasted for an
hour and a half, closing with another glorious anthem.
By following the printed words, as they were sung by
the choir, I not only acquired the pronunciation of the
language, but perceived its admirable adaptability to
music and poetry.  The meaning of many of the
words came to me, without their grammar, making
clear, at least, the general sense of the hymn.
The programme for the popular celebration in the
evening included a procession, which should leave the
Cathedral-square at half-past three o'clock. Many of
the people, however, hurried away before that hour,
as if shy to take part in anything so formal, while
groups of others lingered about the place, waiting for
some voice of organization which never came. At
least, up to four o'clock, when Mr. Field, Dr. Hayes
and myself betook ourselves to the royal banquet,
there were no indications that any procession would
be formed.
At the University Building a lackey in a scarlet coat
took our hats and mantles, and directed us to the
waiting-room up stairs. A number of Icelanders from
the country were allowed to go up and down, to peep
into the dining-halls, inspect the musicians and their
instruments, and otherwise indulge their curiosity. It
must have been an extraordinary sight to the most of
them. The royal pantries, extemporized out of the
recitation rooms, seemed to attract them especially,
and even the empty dish had its interest for them un



THE MILLENNIAL CELEBRA TION.          217
til the viands began to appear. By twos and threes
and half dozens the guests gathered. Except the Icelanders, the Danish poet Carl Andersen, and ourselves, all were in civil, military, or naval uniform.
The Royal Marshal, Baron Holten, who seems to
have been chosen, like his fellow Marshals at all
Courts, for love of good cheer and good-fellowship,
Governor Finssen, Minister Klein, Captain MalteBrun, Admiral Lagercrantz, of the Swedish Navy, the
Bishop, Chief-Justice Jonasson, and finally our hale
and hearty friend Dr. Hjaltalin, were among the number. Last of all came Madame Finssen, preceding the
King and Prince Waldemar. Tall and stately, in her
black moire robe, she was as composed and perfect in
manner, as when we saw her descend the garden steps
to welcome His Majesty.
The King walked around the circle without any
ceremony, exchanging a few words with each person
as he passed. The Marshal did not make his appearance when our turn came, so we were self-introduced
as American guests and not as individuals. Prince
Waldemar is younger than I thought-not more than
eighteen or nineteen-and still boyishly diffident in
his manner. He seemed inclined to keep in the background as much as possible. I found Christian IX. as
frank, simple, and cordial as he appeared at first.
What he said it is not necessary to repeat, being the
usual common-places indulged in where both sides are
restricted by etiquette of place and persons. There
was no more than was necessary for politeness, on
either side.




2I8


ICELAND.


Finally, dinner was announced, the King gave his
arm to Madame Finssen, the band blew its trumpets,
and we marched into the large hall of the University,
which was decorated with flags, pyramids of rifles,
stars of swords, and other warlike ornament, not quite
appropriate to unarmed and peaceful Iceland. My
place proved to be between Capt. Malte-Brun (a
nephew of the famous geographer) and an officer who
introduced himself as Commandant Letourneur of the
French Navy. Next to him, at the end of the table,
sat the King's Adjutant, Von Hedemann. The menu,
printed in gold, which lay by my plate, announced a
dinner such as Iceland could scarcely furnish —and,
indeed, although served with delicately artful sauces,
to disguise the fact, almost every dish came in cans
from Copenhagen. The silver plate and porcelain,
with the royal arms, the wine glasses, cakes and bonbons-everything, I think, except the snipe and salad,
were Danish. We had duck and venison, green peas,
truffles, etc., but the rarest thing for the native guests
must have been the dish of black Hamburg grapes
which came with the dessert. They were as fresh as
if just plucked.
The King finally rose, briefly expressed his thanks
for the friendly reception he had received, hoped that
the Constitution he had brought with him might contribute to the material prosperity of the island and the
development of its people, and closed with the toast:
" Long live Old Iceland! " The full force of the band
struck in with the cheers that followed; a signal from
the roof started the cannon of the war ships; shores




THE MILLENNIAL CELEBRA TION.         2zi
and harbor rang, and all the inhabitants knew that
" the King drinks to Iceland! " Klein, the Minister
of Justice, next made a speech which gave great satisfaction, although-so far as I could understand itthe substance appeared to be theoretic rather than
practical. He spoke of the mutual rights and duties
of monarch and people; and, inasmuch as his expressions must have been previously submitted to the
King, they were accepted by the Icelanders as virtually emanating from the latter. He gave the health of
the Crown-Prince, and there was fresh rejoicing when
the King, in returning thanks, promised that the latter should learn the Icelandic language. There were
other toasts to the Queen of Denmark, Prince Waldemar, and the remaining members of the Royal Family, and then the company rose. Half an hour was
devoted to cigars, coffee, and conversation in the
outer hall, by which time it was six o'clock, and the
people's festival had commenced on the eastern
hill.
The road thither led past the prison, which is altogether the finest building in Rejkiavik. But, alas
for the wisdom of those who decreed its erection!-it
waits in vain for an inmate. The smoothly-cut walls
of gray lava-stone, the cheerful cells, the spacious
prison-yard invite some one to be culprit and enjoy
their idle luxuries; but the people are too ignorant to
accept the call. On the summit of the hill above
there is a rather graceful square tower, built by the
students during their play-hours as a place of shelter
when the weather was stormy; but now it serves as a




220


ICELAN D.


beacon for vessels at sea and veary travellers ap.
proaching from the interior.
The road, which was so broad and smooth that it
must have been specially made for the festival, now
crossed a long hollow in the stony soil, and climbed a
hill opposite, nearly a mile away, where flags, tents,
and a moving multitude announced the location of
Austurvelli. The broad, rounded summit of the hill
had been laboriously cleared of stones, and furnished
a space where four or five thousand people could have
been accommodated; but not more than two thousand
were present. There were a rostrum for speeches, a
tent for the King, another tent which suggested a
possibility of refreshments-and that was all. But
the elevation, slight as it was, commanded a singularly
bleak and sublime panoramic view. On all sides the
eye overlooked great spaces of sailless sea or barren
shore, until, fifty miles away, ranges of dark volcanic
hills inclosed the horizon. The level evening sunshine fell coldly across the vast view, the wind blew
sharp and keen from the north, and, with every allowance for the tough constitutions of the Icelandic
people, I could not see how much festivity was to be
extracted from the place, time and temperature.
Nothing was done, of course, until the King's arrival. Then, in firing a salute with hand-grenades, two
gunners were badly wounded, one losing his right
hand. Finally, when the Royal progress had been
made through lines of eagerly staring and embarrassed
natives, the singing began. In Iceland nothing is
done without singing, and it is the most attractive




THEIE MILLENNIAL CELEBRA TION.        221
feature of the celebration thus far. The song was followed by speeches from the rostrum, chiefly greetings
to the people, winding up with sentiments and cheers.
Admiral Lagercrantz spoke for Sweden, Rolfsen, the
author, for Norway (and his eloquence awoke a real
enthusiasm), and then various others followed, the admirable male choir of Rejkiavik interrupting the
speeches with national songs.
I have been pondering for several minutes how to
introduce the next episode of the celebration. It is so
easy for the reader to disparage, in his thought, the
writer who is compelled to mention himself! Yet the
reporter, as I am here, must needs brave all prejudice
of the sort, and attend to his plain duty, first of all.
So let it be now! Two days ago we were discussing,
in the cabin of our steamer, the question whether we
in our capacity as Americans should make even an
unofficial representation at this festival. We knew
that the Icelanders desired that our presence, which
seemed to be welcome to them, should be in some way
manifested; yet it seemed difficult to decide how this
should be done. The proposal, on my part, to address
a poetic greeting to Iceland, was so cordially received
by my companions that I could only comply. The
stanzas which follow were written in all haste, in the
midst of distracting talk, and make no claim to any
poetic merit:
AMERICA TO ICELAND.
We come, the children of thy Vinland,
The youngest of the world's high peers,




222


ICELAND.
O land of steel, and song, and saga,
To greet thy glorious thousand years!
Across that sea the son of Erik
Dared with his venturous dragon's prow;
From shores where Thorfinn set thy banner,
Their latest children seek thee now.
Iail, mother-land of skalds and heroes,
1y love of freedom hither hurled,
Fire in their hearts as in thy mountains,
And strength like thine to shake the world!
\Vhen war and ravage wreckled the nations,
The bird of song Imade thee iher lhome
The ancient go(ls, the alcient glory,
Still dwelt w\ithin thy slores of foaim.
lIere, as a fount may keep its virtue
Whlile all the riivers turbid 1ruIl,
The manly growth of deed and daring
Was thine beneath a scantier sun.
Set far apart, neglected, exiled,
Thy children wrote tlceir runes of pride,
With power tlat brings, in this thy triumph,
The conquering nations to tlhy side.
What though thy native harps lie silent,
The chord they struck shall ours prolong:
We claim thee kindred, call the mother,
0 land of saga. steel, and song!


Our friend Magntisson immediately took this greeting ashore, where it was translated into Icelandic by




THE MILLENNIAL CELEBRA TIOV.          223
Mathias Jochumsson, the poet, who has given Shakespeare's Lear and Macbeth admirably in Icelandic.
I quote the first stanza of his translation, as a specimen of the language. The italicized th is soft, as in
thenl.
Her koma iorn thins bjarta Vinlands
Semr byggjum yngstu heimsins grund,
Thfu ettland kappa, songs og sogu,
AtA signa thig a fraegt/arstund!
Now, when all other greetings had apparently come
to an end, Magndsson took the stand, and in an eloquent speech referred to the presence of the American
party,. This drew all eyes upon us, and was rather
embarrassing, although inevitable; but the interest
and good-will of the people were clearly evident.
When the address was finished, the Mayor of Rejkiavik, Sveinbj6rnson, announced that the Skald, T  -,
of America, would reply. All the aforesaid "Skald"
was able to do was to state, in most imperfect Danish,
that he was not sufficiently master of the language to
express fully the feelings of himself and friends; he
could only assure the people of Iceland that we thanked
them, with all our hearts, for their recognition of our
fatherland, and then closed with "6 Hail to Iceland and
the whole Norse race!"-which the people received
with hearty cheers, the King leading.
Soon afterwards the dances began; but as the national dance-if there ever was any-is now lost, and
waltz, polka, and quadrille prevail here as elsewhere,
there was nothing picturesque in the spectacle. Our




224                ICELAND.
Rejkiavik acquaintances were all there, and the ladies,
especially, were very lively and communicative; only
the sharp wind from Greenland's icy mountains,
which blew without ceasing, chilled our very marrow.
Before the " great flying fires " were let off, we found
it prudent to return to the landing-place and signal
our steamer's Doat.




CHAPTER X.
THE RIDE TO THINGVALLA.
CAMP AT THE GEYSERS, August 5.
TT was rather unfortunate that our plan of travel
coincided so nearly with that of the King's party as
to oblige us to make the same day's journeys, and encamp at the same places, but, as we desired to see
both the Geysers and the National Festival at Thingvalla, there was no help for it. On Sunday evening,
at Rejkiavik, everybody went out to listen, see, sing or
dance at Austurvelli; the ponies destined for us weie
grazing on some distant pasturage; and Zoega, who
had undertaken to get us off at eight o'clock in the
morning and then do the same thing for the Royal
expedition at one in the afternoon, groaned under the
burden of his anxiety. All went well, however. The
boxes with canned provisions had been packed on
shipboard, under the supervision of two guides, and
were already adjusted to the carrying power of the
horses: the tent and other equipments were also in
readiness, and only a saddle here, a strap there, with
an extra loose pony or two, were wanting when we
landed. It rained by fits, in a cheerless way, though
a group of natives, gathered to see us off, made
nothing of it. Zoega's bright little daughter, to-whom




226


ICELAND.


he had taught English during the long Winters, flitted
about and made her first essays as interpreter, our energetic leader blew his whip-whistle from time to time,
and so the caravan finally grew into order.
We trotted out of Rejkiavik, a company of twelve
men and thirty ponies. There were, first, the seven
members of our party; the steamer's cook and second
steward, detailed by Captain Howling for our service;
and three Icelanders-Geir, Zoega's nephew, a darkeyed, intelligent youth of seventeen; Eyvindur, a man
of thirty, whose curling brown hair and dashing horsemanship gave him almost a Mexican air; and the
blond, blue-eyed, ever-laughing J6n, whose genial
temper no worries or fatigues could ever touch. The
sturdy ponies, white, dun, or piebald in color, with
immense manes and tails, had each and all an expression of great docility and intelligence. I pretended to
whisper a charm into the ear of mine before mounting, and the animal actually leaned his head toward
me, listened, and seemed to make an effort to understand.
Before we passed the mound of Austurvelli, the
clouds broke away, the broad mountains beyond the
fiord shown out in gleams of transparent color, and
we were cheered by the promise of a fine day. Driving the seven laden and the twelve loose ponies before
us, we trotted along the stony promontory of Rejkiavik for about four miles, when the appearance-or
promise-of a highway came to an end, and was replaced by half a dozen well-beaten bridle paths. Below us, in a bare valley, flashed the Laxi, or Salmon




TIE RIDE TO THINGVALLA.


22?


River, which I found to be very rapid and icy cold
when we forded it. A little beyond we passed the
first farm-house, a group of five attached buildings,
surrounded by a square of heavy earthen ramparts.
This last feature, designed only to keep and shelter
the cattle, gives each bcet (pronounced byre, like the
equivalent Scotch word), the appearance of a little
fortress. A very small garden of potatoes, turnips
and cabbages, and a field or two of carefully kept
grass-land for hay, constitute an Icelandic farm: all
else is open pasture-range, with or without much vegetation, according to the age of the lava.
It was eight or ten miles through a region of stony
hills before we reached the second and third farms,
beyond which there was no sign of human habitation
during the remainder of the day's journey. Wherever
the disintegrated rock had been washed down into the
hollows, grass was growing; but the heights and
ridges nourished little beside thyme, saxifrage, and
other low, starved-looking Arctic plants. My relief,
in the midst of this desolation, was in looking abroad
to the grand, lofty ranges of mountains, north, south,
and ahead of us. The intense clearness of the air, La
in Colorado and Ecuador diminished their apparent
distance, while the softness and purity of their tints
revealed it to an experienced eye. In form they were
often extremely beautiful, the abrupt outlines produced by volcanic upheaval alternating with long,
level ridges, like those of the old Alleghanies. Grass
nowhere seemed to grow above a height of about one
thousand feet, after which the soil showed a coating




228


ICELAND.


of silvery moss. I have seen landscapes of the same
bare, bleak character in other parts of the world, but
none that so repelled the efforts of human life to
plant itself there.
Our ponies knew perfectly well what was required
of them, and we had no trouble beyond the shifting
of unevenly balanced packs.  The loose animals
sometimes strayed aside, but a dash of Eyvindur and
a shout of " Ho! ho! " generally recalled them to the
track. We climbed a ridge whence there was a backward glimpse of the harbor of Rejkiavik, with a new
steamer entering. This could be none other than the
Wicklow, chartered by a party of English tourists,
and due in Iceland before the Sunday celebration.
Pushing forward, we passed two cold lakes, another
windy height, and then descended into Soljedal, a
lovely, grassy valley, threaded by a winding stream.
This is the usual halting-place between Rejkiavik and
Thingvalla, because it is nearly half way, and it is
the only spot where the ponies can graze. We had
now been four hours in the saddle, our legs were
chilled from splashing through the icy streams, and
rest and refreshment were never welcomer. Dismounting, we threw our bridle-reins upon the grass.
This is a sign to the pony that he will be wanted
anon, and consequently he does not wander far away;
if the reins are left upon his neck he considers himself free to scamper at will. We all lunched together
on the meadow, J6n, Eyvindur, and Geir coming up
like free men to take their share with us. Here, in
Iceland, the old Gothic sense of equality manifests




THE RIDE TO THINGVALL.4.


229,


itself just as in Spain, and the stranger who respect:
it will rarely have cause to complain of the people.
It is strange how the two furthest branches of one
original race have retained so many of the same primitive characteristics.
The afternoon's ride was monotonous and weary.
We rose out of Soljedal, skirted an isolated mountain,
and issued upon a broad, dreary upland, where our
course was marked, far in advance, by high cairns of
stone, erected to guide the traveller during the snows
of Winter. Plover and curlew piped their melancholy
notes from the damp hollows sprinkled here and there,
and presently Dr. Hayes and Mr. Gladstone yielded
to the temptation, took their guns and rode away
from the path. We soon lost sight of them, but took
the precaution to leave Geir behind as a guide. Gradually ascending, we came upon a divide whence the
Faxa Fiord was visible in the rear and a distant sheet
of blue water in front. The latter could be none
other than the Thingvalla lake; and away beyond it,
to the north-east, another valley opened into the heart
of Iceland. New mountains appeared; the landscape
increased in breadth and sublimity, and we urged our
ponies forward, confident of soon reaching our destination. But it was a vain hope: the country fell in
broad, barren terraces, each of which concealed the
succeeding one from view, so that we seemed to be
approaching a brink which continually receded. The
lake broadened, the mountains grew higher, the sun
sank lower behind us, and still we rode on. At last,
the foremost ponies disappeared,. as if the earth had




230


ICELA NDA,


swallowed them up; there was a low stony bridge in
front, which we had scarcely heeded. A few paces
more, and we looked down into the Allmannagja.
The plateau terminates in a sheer volcanic rampart,
one hundred and eighty feet in height, but split into
such strange, weird, toppling masses that it is difficult
to make a picture of the scene. There is a diagonal
cleft which furnishes the only descent to Thingvalla,
and this is called the Allmannagja, or " Chasm of the
People." Under us lay the valley, only three or four
hundred yards in breadth, green, peaceful, watered
by a bright river, and hemmed in beyond by the shattered sides of an enormous lava-field. Southward, toward the lake, stood a little black church upon a
mound, and an encampment of tents in front of it denoted the King's resting-place for the night. We
descended the cleft, which is not so grand in proportion as it is uncanny and devilish in aspect. The
black rocks seem to sway and grin and threaten when
you look up to them, like those in Faust's " Walpurgis-Night." Eyvindur shouted, but there was not
much of an echo. In less time than I anticipated we
were at the foot. A rain was rapidly coming up, so
we rode past the church to the parson's turf-roofed
byre behind it, and Magnusson, who was that
worthy man's friend, asked where we might pitch our
tent.
In' the hay-field there was a rocky caldron, filled
with water so clear and cold that it was rather liquid
ice. The parson, in dress and appearance a farmer,
approached me, and pointing to the Eod, said:




THE RIDE TO TEING VALLA.


231


" Pzanus est locus." I managed to reply: " Planus
et bonus, Domine / " —but was greatly relieved that
our classical conversation proceeded no further. The
King's scarlet-coated lackeys were cooking in a corner
of the stone wall, there were glimpses of porcelain
and silver in open chests, and we dared not keep the
good parson from his rarer and higher duty. All gave
their hands to the work of pitching the tent, for the
rain was by this time fast and steady. The cook discovered a natural fire-place among the rocks, the sod
was covered with rubber cloth, our chests were opened,
and the gleam of our tin could not be distinguished,
in the twilight, from that of the Royal silver.
It was a confused, and-to be candid-not averycomfortable bivouac that night. The sportsmen came in
an hour later, with seventeen plover, the Royal party
arrived about the same time, and a mixed Danish,
Russian and Hungarian company who lodged in
the church paid us visits of curiosity; but all was
wet outside of our tent, and all was weariness within.
Good store of blankets kept us from suffering with
cold, but I imagine none of us slept very soundly.
Most of our party visited the famous " Hill of the
Law," and had much to say of its grand, gloomy, and
peculiar character; but I thought it would keep until
our return from the Geysers. In the morning the sky
promised better weather. There had been no darkness in our tent the whole night, and when we turned
out at four o'clock it seemed to be eight. The king
strode away with his gun, but brought nothing back.
I saw him afterward, in the lane before the ch irch,




232               ICELAND.
shaking hands with the people over the top of a stone
wall. As we rode past the camp on leaving, he was
breakfasting in the open air, and replied to our salu.
tations with a piece of bread and meat in one hand.




CHAPTER XI.
FROM THINGVALLA TO THE GEYSERS.
CAMP AT THE GEYSERS, August 5.
W    E left our friend Magnusson and several pro.
vision chests at Thingvalla, and set off early for
the Geysers, in order to keep out of the way of the
greater and more important caravan. The wonderful
plover-stew which an Arctic explorer and a Cincinnati
editor had employed two zealous hours in producing,
had recruited our strength; we were not yet so damp
as to be disagreeable, and so commenced the ride of
forty-five miles in cheerful spirits. A mile up the valley, after passing a little farm called Skyrcot, we struck
to the eastward into a hraun, or lava-field, torn and
convulsed beyond anything we had previously seen.
In the holes and gaps where soil had gradually accumulated there grew stunted willows and birches,
rarely more than three or four feet in height. This is
called the Thingvalla Forest! It apparently covers
eight or ten square miles, and miserable as it seems,
is able to supply the few farms in the neighborhood
with sufficient fuel.
It is a question whether Iceland was ever wooded, as
some of the sagas indicate. No large tree trunks have
been found in the peat-beds, and there are no local
traditions of woodland. I am convinced that the hardier trees, such as birch, Scotch fir, mountain ash, and




234


ICELAND.


alder, might be raised in sheltered places, with a little
care. Yet almost the only tree in Iceland is a mountain ash, about twenty-five feet high, at Akureyri, on
the north coast. Neither temperature nor the prevailing winds are sufficient to prevent the growth of timber: it is more probable that the people never seriously thought of trying the experiment.
The lava-field was at least five miles in breadth,
sloping southward from a group of dark, scorched
mountains, whence the eruption had evidently flowed.
The sides of a long ridge in front were marked with
distinct fissures, many miles in length, showing how
enormous must have been the mass thrown out, The
regularly curved mountain of Breithi-Skiold (Broad
Shield), streaked with snow, closed the northern vista
of the valley. The first fissure we reached is called the
Hrafnagjad, or Raven's Cleft; it is about one hundred
feet deep, and astonishingly jagged and distorted. A
natural bridge, formed by the falling together of the
edges, leads across it, after which a further climb of a
quarter of a mile brought us to the level of an upper
hratlu, wilder and more desolate than that of Thingvalla.
This was apparently the outflow of a later eruption
than that which produced the former lava-field; for the
great coils and twisted streaks of the hardened flood
lay bare all over the surface, vent-holes for the last escaping gas riddled it like a colander, and the only vegetation still lurked in sheltered ruts and holes. I saw
one depression, the size and shape of a half-barrel,
which was filled with the most beautiful geraniums.




FROM THINGVALLA TO THE GEYSERS. 235
Our caravan had already fallen into an orderly manner of travel. Eyvindur and J6n rode ahead, taking
charge of the baggage and loose ponies. While the
latter kept to the track the guides sang melancholy
native songs, or passed the horn of snuff from one
nose to another. This implement, like an old-fashioned powder horn, has a neck which holds the proper
charge: the man throws his head back with a sudden
jerk, applies the horn to his nostril, and receives the
contents. The process is repeated at least a dozen
times a day, and the result is an upper lip which only
the most reckless passion could tolerate as the agent
of a kiss.
The boy Geir rode beside me, eager to learn something more of a world he had never seen. When
puzzled to understand some English word, or at a loss
to find the one he wanted, he would generally ask:
"What is it in Latin?" Presently he surprised me
by the question, " What do you think of Byron as a
poet? "  ' He is one of the very first in modern English literature," I answered. " Is not the Song of the
Spirits, in Manfred, considered very fine? " Geir asked
again. "' I like it very much."
Happening to mention German, the boy began to
talk the language, with about as much fluency as
English. He had read Schiller's ballads and The Robbers, which latter seemed to have made a great impression upon his mind; but he was most desirous to
hear something of the works with which he was still
unacquainted. ' I have heard that Goethe's Faust is
very difficult to understand," he said; "so I have not




236


ICELA rD.


yet tried to read it, but I hope to be able in a yeal ot
two more. Shakka-spey-arr "-so he pronounced the
name once, but as soon as I corrected him, always
properly afterwards-" Shakespeare is also difficult,
but I have read King Lear, and mean to read all the
other plays. Is Faust anything like Shakespeare in
style? " And this was a poor, fatherless boy of seventeen, with only an Icelandic education! Modest,
sweet-tempered, warm with a tireless eagerness for
knowledge, not one of our party could help loving
Geir, and feeling the sincerest interest in his fortunes.
In spite of the tremendous desolation of the scenery,
it was far more varied and grand than that between
Rejkiavik and Thingvalla. The sky cleared as we
reached the farther end of the lava field, at the corner
of a mossy mountain with a bare black summit, where
the path descended through a rocky ravine to a stretch
of green meadow land below. Far to the east, fifty or
sixty miles away, the horizon was bounded by a long
line of snow-topped mountains.  " Hekla! " cried
Evindur, pointing to a broad, humpy mass of snow
which rose considerably above the general level. The
summit was still hidden, but the mantle (heklu means
" a mantle" in Icelandic), of snow was so unbroken
and extended so far down the sides that the perfect
quiet of the volcano was manifest. There has been
no eruption since 1845.
While the guides rearranged some shifted packs on
the meadow we rode to a cave at the base of the
mountains. Over it there was an abrupt wall of
porphyritic rock, in which we could see sparkling




FROOM THING VALLA TO THE GEYSERS. 23;
veins of obsidian. The peaks beyond-apparently
extinct volcanic cones-showed the most extraordinary
forms, and were almost as black as coal. We all noticed a resemblance to Dore's illustrations of Dante,
except that here there was a far wilder and gloomier
originality. The cave, which was low-roofed, rough,
wet, and altogether disagreeable, had been used as a
sheepfold for ages. Many unknown individuals, shepherds, or passing travellers, had laboriously carved
their initials about the entrance. In one place we
found (or fancied) the date of 1396, but, with the
best will in the world, I could discover no Runic characters. 
Beyond the valley, the path struck across a high,
hilly region towards another mountain-cape, about
eight miles distant. Here, however, many thousands
of years have crumbled the lava, and the red, mellow
volcanic soil, a foot or two deep, was well covered
with grass, herbs, and heather. The piping of plover
and curlew seduced our two sportsmen from the
track, while we kept on, enjoying the gleams of sunshine and comparative warmth. The thermometer
would have shown a temperature of from 60~ to 65~;
during the nights it fell to 48~.
As we approached the mountain, the eastern range,
including Hekla, which had been hidden for two
hours, again came into view, and this time free from
cloud. "We don't often see Hekla so clear as he is
now," said the guide. It was a lonely but a surprisingly peaceful and pastoral landscape.  From  the
height: where we rode we overlooked a grassy plain,




238


ICELAXND.


some twenty miles in breadth, sparkling here and
there with little lakes or the winding courses of riveis.
Beyond it were low, softly undulating hills, over which
Hekla towered-or rather heaved —broad, heavy in
outline, and only beautiful because the sun made a
golden gleam of its snow. Toward the sea some blue
scattered peaks rose like islands; far to the north,
where the great plain came down from the very heart
of Iceland, there were glimpses of remoter snows and
glaciers. But out of the green level, fifteen miles
away, there suddenly shot a silvery column of steam,
at least a hundred feet in height. "The Geysers!"
some one cried; but no! it was a great boiling spring,
or caldron, Eyvindur said, which never sends up jets
of water. It was the only thing in the vast view which
resembled a sign of human life-and was really a menace against life.
We were to have made our halt at a farm called
Laegr,where a flag was put up in honor of the King's
passing; but the guides declared that rinderpest or
epizooty had just broken out there, and we must go
further. After fording some swift, icy streams in the
valley beyond, we stopped near a church and two farmsteads, and enjoyed a most welcome rest of an hour.
There were, as yet, no signs of the Royal caravan.
The route, during the afternoon, followed the bases
of the mountains which inclose the great valley wherein the Geysers lie on the west. It keeps above the
meadows as much as possible, to avoid the marshy
soil. We encountered but one large stream, which
came thundering down through the lower hills, be




FROM THING VALLA TO TIHE GEYSERS. 239
tween dark piles of rocks. The road reaches it at a
volcanic chasm, split directly up the middle of its bed,
the water on each side falling fifteen feet. This is
crossed by a little wooden bridge, to reach which the
ponies must first stem the furious current. It looks
hazardous, but the beasts are so sure-footed that the
passage is perfectly safe. Just below the cataract there
are two of the most perfect natural abutments that
ever were seen, and a span of thirty feet would connect them. The stream is called Brygg —the Bridge
River —for it is probably the only stream in Iceland
so distinguished.
It was seven o'clock; the pale, level light slowly rose
on the eastern mountains, and we were getting to be
wretchedly weary, when another mountain corner was
turned, and over the plain, at the foot of a dark, isolated hill, about five miles off, rose a dozen tall columns of steam. The Geysers, at last! " It is spouting! " cried Jon, as one jet shot higher than the
others. Messrs. Field and Halstead pushed on at a
gallop; I preferred keeping with the baggage, and
soon noticed that the appearance was steam and not
water. But presently Eyvindur came, proposing that
I should ride forward with him. My pony that afternoon, although the smallest of the whole lot, was a
most restive, mettlesome creature; a word and a
touch sent him off like a bolt. We galloped a couple
of miles, reached and passed the two leaders, and
should have been first at the "meet," had not the
path struck into the meadows. Here the tracks were
worn deeply into the soil, and my feet struck the turf




240


ICELAND.


on each side as the pony galloped. It was no less
hazardous than disagreeable; but the stubborn animal, after trying to resist the rein. suddenly threw
himself on his haunches. As I had not dared to rely
much upon the stirrups I was flung over his head, and
came down with that sort of a shock which is violent
in proportion to one's weight. But neither the pony's
native goodness nor his intelligence failed him. I saw
a hoof almost over my face, coming down; but, quick
as lightning, he sharply bent his knee, threw the foot
backward with all his force, and brought it upon the
turf beside me. Then he quietly waited for me to
rise and mount; but Eyvindur insisted that I should
take his taller animal.
There is a byre, or farmstead, at the foot of the hill;
the hot springs lie just beyond, along the eastern base,
and not much above the level of the plain. A space
four hundred yards in length by one hundred in
breadth includes the two Geysers, the Strokr, and
about twenty smaller springs. We rode between the
latter, which were simply boiling and roaring from
holes in a bed of silicious rock. Beyond them came
the Strokr, a larger and more furious pit, then a patch
of green turf, on which the tents were already pitched
for the Royal party, and beyond it a low, crater-like
elevation, half-veiled in steam, which I was.rather reluctant to recognize as the Great Geyser. But there
was no other caldron beyond it; half a dozen men
were standing about the brim-yet it looked so natural and harmless!
Some of the King's attendants, while advising us




FROM THIZG VALLA TO THE GEYSERS. 241
where to encamp, stated that the Geyser had spouted
once that morning and twice the day before. This
was unwelcome news, for the guides had already told
us how capricious it could be, sometimes going off several times in quick succession, and then remaining sullenly quiet for a week. There was no time to think
of that now; our baggage arrived, and after eleven
hours in the saddle, we sighed only for rest and food.
The tent was pitched on a turfy slope near the highest
boiling spring (which is close beside the Great Geyser,
but seems to have no connection with it), and Geir
was sent to a village three miles off to procure us fuel,
hay for bedding, and fresh milk. At my suggestion
the cook placed some canned meats in the spring,
which prepared them for use in a very short space of
time. Half an hour later the King arrived, and the
whole place became, to the eye, a sort of holiday picnic ground, where the steaming pillars suggested only
cooking.
16




CHAPTER XII.
WAITING FOR THE GREAT GEYSER TO SPOUT.
THINGVALLA, August 7.
SLEPT soundly the night after our arrival at the
Geysers, but some members of our party were
excited and restless. Toward morning, there were
several mysterious underground thumps, which sent
them posting to the Great Geyser's brim; but only
denser steam and a heavier overflow of water followed.
The scene in the morning was curious. We took our
toilet articles, and went, half-dressed, to the hollow between the Geyser and the spring, where the surplus
overthrow is shallow and lukewarm. It was already
occupied; a royal chamberlain was scooping up water
in his hands, an admiral was dipping his tooth-brush
into the stream, a Copenhagen professor was laboriously shaving himself by the aid of a looking-glass
stuck in a crack of the crater, and the King, neat
and fresh as if at home, stood on the bank and amused
himself with the sight. The quality of the water is
exquisite; it is like down and velvet to the skin, soap
becomes a finer substance in it, and the refreshment
given to the hands and face seems to permeate the
whole body. If one could only have a complete bath!
A day's labor would make a pool sufficient therefor,
yet the idea has never occurred to a single soul, native
or foreign I




WAITING FOR THE GREAT GE YSER. 243
I did not dare to venture a quarter of a mile away
from the Geyser, during the whole day. We all fell
into a condition of nervous expectancy which could not
be escaped, comical as were some of its features.
There was a pile of turf-perhaps a cart-load-beside
the Strokr, which lay just below our tent, and we were
told that the caldron would be compelled to spout
for the King, as soon as he had finished his breakfast;
so we sat down contented to the second plover-stew
which Mr. Gladstone and Dr. Hayes had provided for
us. The farmer from whom we had procured fuel
sent us several bottles of delicious cream, and a large
salmon for dinner.
The Strokr is a pit about five feet in diameter, and
eight feet deep to the ordinary level of the water,
which is always in a furious, boiling state.  Prof.
Steenstrup assured me that it is not connected with
the Great Geyser, as the analysis of the water shows a
difference; but the people are equally convinced that
it is, and that to provoke its activity diminishes the
chances of the former spouting. However this may
be, the royal command was given. The pile of turf
was pitched into the hole, and all gathered around, at
a safe distance, waiting to see what would follow.
For ten minutes we noticed nothing except a diminution of steam: then the water gushed up to the level
of the soil, in a state of violent agitation; subsided,
rose again, spouted the full breadth of the hole to a
height of fifteen or twenty feet, sank back, and finally,
after another moment of quiet, shot a hundred feet
into the air. The boiled turf, reduced to the consist



244


ICELAN1D.


ency of gravel, filled the jet, and darkened its central
shaft, but I did not find that it diminished the beauty
of the phenomenon. Jet after jet followed, sending
long plume-like tufts from the summit and sides of the
main column, around which the snowy drifts of steam
whirled and eddied with a grace so swift that the eye
could scarcely seize it.  At such moments the base
was hidden, and the form of the fountain was like a
bunch of the Pampas grass in blossom-a cluster of
feathery panicles of spray.
The performance lasted nearly ten minutes, and
was resumed again two or three times after it seemed
to have ceased. Two or three of the last spoutings
were the highest, and some estimated them at fully
one hundred and twenty feet. Finally, the indignant
caldron threw out the last of its unclean emetic, and
sank to its normal level. The King, who had turned
aside to salute our company, was in the act of expressing to me his admiration of the scene, when the Little
Geyser gave sudden signs of action. There was a
rush of the whole party; His Majesty turned and ran
like a boy, jumping over the gullies and stones with
an agility which must have bewildered the heavy officials, who were compelled to follow as they best could.
It was a false alarm. The Little Geyser let off a few
sharp discharges of steam, as if merely to test the
pressure, and then, as if satisfied, resumed its indolent, smoky habit.
The cone of the Great Geyser is not more than
twenty feet high, and appears to have been gradually
formed by the deposit of the silicious particles which




WAITING FOR THE GREA T GEYSER. 245
the water holds in solution. The top is like a shallow
wash-bowl thirty feet in diameter, full to the brim, and
slowly overflowing on the eastern side. In the centre
of this bowl there is a well, indicated by the intense
blue-green of the water, and apparently eight or ten
feet in diameter. It has been sounded, and bottomor, at least, a change of direction-reached at the
depth of eighty-five feet. At the edge, where the
water is shallow, one can dip his fingers in quickly
without being scalded. Small particles placed in the
overflow are completely incrusted with transparent
silex in a day or two. Prof. Steenstrup informed me
that the water has important healing properties. The
steam has an odor of sulphuretted hydrogen, but the
taste thereof is so soon lost that where the stream
becomes cold, we used it for drinking and making
coffee.
I shall never forget that calm, sublime day at the
Geysers. After reading many descriptions, I was
never less prepared for the reality of the scene. Instead of a dreary, narrow volcanic valley, here was a
landscape bounded on the west by mountains, but to
the north, east, and south, only to be spanned by a
radius of fifty miles. Near us, a quiet, grass-roofed
farmstead; toward the sea, meadows and gleams of
rivers; in front, the broad green plain, its inclosing
hills and Hekla rising lonely above them; northward,
a church and neighboring byres, a smooth grassy
ridge beyond, the snow-streaked pyramid of the Blafjall (Blue Mountain), and far in the distance the luminous, icy peaks of the Arna Jokull. From our tent




246


ICELA ND.


the noise of the boiling waters could not be heard;
the steam ascended quickly, soon dissipated in the
light wind, and the expression of the scene before me,
as I watched it for hours, lying on the soft turf of the
hill-side, was one of perfect peace and repose.
At half-past one o'clock, there came a dull thud,
felt rather than heard; then another, and another,
and we all rushed towards the Great Geyser. Before
any one reached it, however, the noises ceased; the
water rose a foot or so, giving out dense volumes of
steam, but in five minutes it became quiet as before.
The King and his attendant officials strayed up the
hill, and there the former devoted some time to carving the subjoined rune upon one of the rocks:
I874.
There were various small parties of the native population at the Geysers during the day; but fewel
than might have been expected, even taking into account the sparse settlement in this part of Iceland.
They were coarse, solidly built figures, the bodies much
larger than the legs, the hair thick and blond, and
the faces broad, weather-beaten, and apparently expressionless. I saw half a dozen-four men and two
women-stand vacantly grinning at the King as he
passed them, and even when he politely saluted them,
the men hesitated, in awkward shyness, before they
even touched their hats. Another, to whom he was




WAITING FOR THE GREA T GEYSER. 247
speaking in a kindly manner, with his hand upon the
man's shoulder, suddenly remembered that some
mark of respect was necessary, and snatched off his
hat with as much haste as if there had been a hornet
inside of it.
Among the people were several sick persons, who
had made long journeys in the hope of finding a
physician in the King's suite. Disappointed in this,
they turned to Dr. Hays and our jovial Rejkiavik
friend, Dr. Hjaltalin. The first case was a man suffering from Bright's disease, for which, unfortunately,
we had no medicines. But the medicine-chest, when
it was opened, attracted our visitors with a singular
power. Men and women crowded around, gazing
with eager interest and (as it seemed to me) longing
upon the bottles of pills and potions. I offered a
quinine pill to a woman, and she instantly took and
chewed it, without ever asking a question. To confirm a faith so profound, I felt obliged to take two of
the pills myself.
Soon afterwards there came a married couple, the
mother carrying a baby which, as it needed but a
glance to see, was almost dying of croup. They had
carried the poor child on horseback for five hours, in
the hope of finding relief. There was no time to be
lost; hot baths and poultices were ordered at the
byre near at hand, and in the mean time an opiate
was administered. The gasping and writhing of the
child was too much for those strong Icelandic men.
The mother stood calm and firm, holding it; but
Zoega ran away in one direction and Eyvindur in an



248


ICELAND.


other, crying like children, and the farmers turned
aside their heads to hide their tears.
At the byre nothing could exceed the kindness of
the farmer's family, —in fact, of all who could help.
The King's purveyor furnished white bread for a poultice; a hot bath was made ready, and the father stuffed
the child's clothes into his bosom to keep them warm
for it. All night the people watched with it, and the
next morning everybody looked happy, on hearing
that its condition had somewhat improved.
The next case was a boy with hip disease, for whom
little could be done, though the Doctor constructed a
temporary support for his foot. The people invariably
asked how much they should pay, and gratefully shook
hands when payment was declined. I made an effort
to talk with a group of farmers, finding them ready
enough, only a little embarrassed at the start; but
when I asked: "Do you know Saemund's Edda!"
there was an instant flash and flame in their faces,
and all shyness vanished. The Njal and Volsunga
Sagas, Snorre Sturlusson, with a score of obscurer
Sagas of which I had never heard, were eagerly mentioned and discussed. It was remarkable to see their
full knowledge of Icelandic literature, and their vital
interest in it.
"Do you know who first discovered America?"
I asked.
"Yes, yes!" they all cried, in a body; "it was
Leif, the son of Erik tile Red."
"When was it?"
" About the year Iooo. And there was Thorfinn




W'AITING FOR THE GREA T GE YSER. 249
Karlsefne, who went afterward, and Thorwald. They
called the country Vinland."
" We know it," said I. " I am a Vinlander."
They silently stretched out their hands and shook
mine. An instinct of the true nature of the people
arose in me Within an hour I had seen what tenderness, goodness, knowledge, and desire for knowledge
are concealed under their rude, apathetic exteriors. To
meet them was like being suddenly pushed back to
the thirteenth century; for all the rich, complex,
later-developed life of the race has not touched them.
More than ever I regretted my ignorance of the language, without knowing which no stranger can possibly understand their character.
At half-past four there came a repetition of Geyser
thumps, louder and more rapid than the first time, and
at eight o'clock a third manifestation. We fondly
hoped that these were signs of increased activity,
which would soon bring about an outburst.  Our
excitement increased to such an extent that, although
watches had been set for the King's sake, Messrs.
Halstead, Hayes, and Gladstone volunteered to keep
independent watch for us. The two former passed
half the night sitting on the edge of the Geyser-basin.
They were once scared away by a thump which threatened to split the rocky shell under their feet, but
nothing followed except a violent overflow of water. I
heard the noises twice during the night, and waited
vainly for a call; the twilight was so bright that the
spectacle would have been visible at any hour-had it
come.




50o


ICELAN4 7D.


The Festival at Thingvalla obliged us all to leave
the next day. Just as the King's tents were struck,
the subterranean noises began once more; there
seemed to be a malicious, tantalizing demon at work,
to excite and delude us. As a last compensation
another pile of sods was hurled into the Strokr, and we
all gathered about it. An English party had arrived
the day before, and the artist of 7Te London Illustrated News stood on a mound, with pencil and sketchbook, to record the result. We waited a quarter of an
hour and nothing came; the King, who had meanwhile joined our American party, informed us that the
Little Geyser would spout in a few minutes. What
authority he had I do not know, but it was bad; the
Little Geyser kept as quiet as a lamb.
Half an hour passed, and the Strokr took not the
least notice of the irritation. The royal party mounted
and rode away with many a longing, lingering look
behind-when, just as they were passing out of sight
around the corner of the hill, and we were turning
toward our tent, the Strokr went off like a cannon.
The wonderful, plumy bursts were repeated, for a
shorter space of time than before, but equally lofty and
violent.
It seemed hard to leave the spot, for the day we had
spent there was perfect in its way. All afternoon
there had been a lid of cloud over the sky, lifted, all
around, over an intensely clear horizon. The broad,
saddle-backed top of Hekla gleamed resplendent in the
level evening light-at first gold, then amber, then
silver against the rosy air, and finally a strange shining




WAITING FOR THE GREAT GEYSER. 251
pearly green, a tint I never before saw. The faraway Jokulls kept the sunshine on their glaciers for a
full hour after it had disappeared from the rest of the
landscape, and it was difficult to believe that they rose
out of the lifeless deserts of the interior. "I never
knew Hekla to be so clear, or the Geysers so quiet,"
said Prof. Steenstrup, who had twice before visited the
spot.
Dr. Hayes and Mr. Gladstone, with the English
party, remained behind all day, and reached Thingvalla this morning after riding all night. They were
only rewarded with the continual subterranean thumping, and took their revenge upon the Strokr, which
they so incensed that he spouted half a dozen times.
"The pack-ponies were loaded; we got into our
saddles, moved reluctantlyfdown the grassy slope, and
turned our faces away from the lazy volumes of steam.
Then —there was a sudden concussion in the earth, a
momentary quivering followed by a strange, hissing
sound. As we sprang from the ponies, the basin of
the Geyser swelled and cast out a great volume of
water. Out of the centre a solid crystal mass was
thrust up to the height of twenty feet; then, before it
wholly fell back, the central jet shot one hundred and
fifty feet into the air. Again and again this huge
liquid shaft, sparkling with indescribable glory in the
morning sun, was hurled on high. Amazement, awe,
terror -"
This, or something like it, was what I hoped to be
able to write, up to the very last moment. But the
truth must be told: the Great Geyser would not spout.




252


ICELAND.


I must have turned in my saddle a hundred times
while the steam-columns were visible, half-fearing,
half-expecting a sudden increase of their volume,for the worst disappointment would have been to miss
the spectacle so nearly.
Our return to Thingvalla was delayed a little by the
circumstance that we travelled more rapidly than the
King's caravan, and were several times obliged to draw
aside from the path and halt, to avoid entanglement
among the driven ponies. We stopped at the byre of
Millir to get a drink of milk on the way. The owner
is evidently a rich farmer, for he has a wire-fence
around his excellent grass land, and a patch of healthy
potato-vines before his door. The guest-room was
very small, but neat, and there was a glimpse of quite
a comfortable bed-room behind it. But there was the
same low, dark entrance, branching to stables, dwelling and store-rooms, as in all Icelandic houses, the
same close atmosphere and thick, rank smell, which
certainly account for the great mortality among the
native children.
The milk is equal to any in the world. I drank a
great bowl of it, and gave the man a piece of money
for his daughter, a clean, rosy girl of ten, with a string
of artificial pearls around her neck. As I was about
to mount he brought her out to thank me by shaking
hands, but when I claimed a kiss she gave it with innocent readiness. As we again crossed the high lavafield, which was blacker than ever under the shadow
of clouds, it occurred to me that the landscapes of the
moon must be similar in character. Blackness, bleak



WAITING FOR THE GREAT GEYSER. 253
ness, and the chill spirit of extinct flame mark the
mountains of Iceland, and nowhere does a grassy
meadow or a bank of humble flowers seem worth so
much as here.




CHAPTER XIII.
THE NATIONAL FESTIVAL AT THINGVALLA.
REJKIAVIK, Aug. 8.
REACHING Thingvalla towards eight o'clock on
Thursday evening, the wild valley had undergone
a complete transformation since we left it three days
before. The steep green slopes along the foot of the
Allmannagja were dotted with little tents; four large
pavilions, with several smaller ones, had been erected
along the bank of the river; on the Mount of the
Law a flagstaff was planted, from which floated the
ancient banner of Iceland, a white falcon in a blue
field; while on the opposite side, towards the Axar
cataract, the mound where the judges were proved of
old bore a decorated tribune and the standards of the
nations represented at the Festival. On the right
floated the colors of Norway, England and the United
States; on the left those of Denmark, Sweden, and
the German Empire. The standard of France was
placed beside ours the next morning, when Baron
Letourneur and another French officer arrived.
Groups of people were scattered all over the valley,
or on the rocky, grass-topped heights; flags floated
in all directions, the smoke of camp-fires arose,
shouts, greetings and songs resounded through the




NA TIONAL FESTIVAL A T THING VALLA. 255
air, —in short, in place of the former gloomy silence
and solitude of the scene, all was life and joy.
Riding close upon the heels of the King and his
escort, we saw the groups of people gather suddenly
to a crowd around the foot of the mound. It appeared
that a body of twelve Icelandic bonder, or farmers,
selected for their appearance no less than their character and standing, had ridden forward to meet His
Majesty at the farm of Skyrcot-a little oasis in the
lava-field, about a mile distant-and had escorted him
to the place of the festival. Here, ranging themselves
six on each side of the path, they made a sort of gateway to the Thingvalla ground. The Chairman of the
Committee, Fredriksson, made a short address of welcome, which was followed by such loud and repeated
cheers that many of the ponies took fright. Gov.
Finssen was unhorsed, but the King, who is a most
accomplished rider, sat firmly, patting his intelligent
pony on the neck. Then twenty-four girls came forward, scattering the native flowers of Iceland-thyme,
anemone, saxifrage, and geranium-in the Royal path,
while the choir, posted on the lava rocks, struck up
one of their solemn, soul-stirring chants. The Royal
camp was pitched, as before, on the little hill in front
of the church, but there was now quite a village of
tents around it. This welcome was almost an im-.provisation, but it was entirely successful, and struck
a favorable key-note for the following day.
Slowly making our way on our jaded horses through
the friendly crowds, we fell in with Capts. Von Schrbder and Von Pawels of the German frigate Niobe, to




256


ICE LA ND.


whom we had offered the shelter of our tent for the
occasion. The camp was soon made behind the
church and beside the icy crystal of the Thingvalla
spring. For the rest of the evening the greater part
of the crowd ate, drank, and made themselves comfortable. The Rejkiavik students sang their songs, I
believe some speeches were made to various separate
circles, but all the proceedings had a fiee, informal
character. There was no darkness to cover us as with
a cloak; somebody walked and somebody talked outside, through the long nocturnal twilight, and we
should have slept little but for the grevious fatigue left
from the preceding days.
Morning came and brought no sun. The fair
weather was gone; a cold wind blew down from the
central deserts of the Island, and the Broad-Shield
Mountain, in the north-east, soon grew dim under a
veil of rain. The plovers piped on the heather-coverea
ridges of lava, and the weird laughter of the loons was
heard along the shores of the Thingvalla Lake. Our
friend Magnusson came early with an invitation from
the National Committee to breakfast with them and
the Royal party in the pavillion at eleven o'clock. The
exercises at the Mound of the Judges were to coinmence at ten, so, after taking coffee, I set out with our
German guests to visit the famous Logberg, or Hill of
the Law, where the Althing or Popular Assembly of
Iceland was held for nearly nine hundred years.
History states that when the independent chiefs who
first took up the habitable part of Iceland found it
necessary to unite and form a superior government for




NA T10NAL FESTIVAL A T THINGVALLA. 257
all, they had some difficulty in selecting a suitable
spot for its deliberations. In the year 930, Thingvalla
was finally chosen, and no other spot, certainly, could
have invested the Al/thing with such an air of awe and
solemnity. The great lava plain of Thingvalla (or, in
Icelandic, Thingvetlir) is rent by deep, tremendous
fissures, in a general direction from north to south.
One of these, on the eastern edge of the valley, forms
almost an island, attached to the main mass of rock
by a narrow natural bridge. It is about three hundred
yards long, but not more than sixty or seventy feet
wide at the broadest part. The summit is uneven,
rising as you approach the further end, until its jagged
pinnacles look down on either side into chasms one
hundred and fifty feet deep, where a dark mysterious
indigo-colored water flows onward, whence or whither
no one can tell. The character of. the place is more
than savage: it is diabolical.
Near the entrance one ancient Jarl was supposed to
be able to defend the whole mount, since access was
impossible at any other point. A part of the rock
must afterward have given way and fallen across the
chasm, for it is now bridged toward the other extremity. The white falcon of Iceland flapped lonelike in the
rain as we stood upon the mound where the forty-eight
judges sat upon the middle bench, each with a deputy
before and another behind him, making one hundred
and forty-four in all. At first this mound was inclosed
by a circle of hazle sticks, bound with the sacred cords
or fillets. The Lawgiver, who was chosen for three
years, directed the proceedings. After the year 999,
7




258


ICELA ArD.


the Althing was opened on the Thursday between the
I8th and 23d of June, and remained in session fourteen
days. Since agriculture could not be carried on in
Iceland and the raising of cattle required little labor,
the men early acquired.the habit of travelling to
Thingvalla every year, so that finally many thousands
of persons assembled in the valley, exchanged information, traded, feasted, and thus established a kind
of National Fair. The civil and criminal cases were
practically tried before the whole people, and whatever
law was decreed went immediately into action.
After Iceland fell to Norway, and then to Denmark,
the form of holding the Althing was still observed, although it was scarcely more than an empty form. The
meetings were held in the open air, as in the old and
glorious ages, until the year I690, when a wall' of
blocks of lava waserected and a canvas roof spanned
over it to protect the delegates from inclement
weather. Here Danish law was proclaimed to the
people up to the year 800o, when the seat of justice
was removed to Rejkiavik. Even the old wall has been
taken away, and the Hill of the Law is now as bare
and grand as when it witnessed the deliberations of a
free people.
I was surprised to remark that so few natives visited
the place. Now and then a man, probably from some
remote part of the island, climbed the uneven crest,
and looked up in a vacant way at the ancient banner
or down into the awful chasms of cold, swirling water;
but the pavilions and flags, the music and the multitudes beyond the river were greater attractions. In




NA TZONAL FESTIVAL A T THING VALLA. 259
truth, it was an uncanny spot, and I did not myself
feel inclined to linger there longer than was necessary.
By this time a light but steady rain had set in, and all
but the hardened Icelanders moved toward the place
of ceremonies in waterproof coats. After crossing the
plank bridge which had been thrown across the river,
the King was arrested by the formal address of the
People of Iceland on the occasion of the Thousandth
Anniversary. It was read by Herr Thomssen, of
Bressastadr. Hearty loyalty, covering a strong expression of the distinct desire of the people for independence in their own government, characterized
this as all the other addresses. The King responded
briefly, there were cheers, the band struck up the
Danish national anthem, and the procession moved
forward to the mound. The people seemed to have
lost, at. last, their apathetic expression: their faces
were bright and animated, they cheered lustily, and
even we, who came last in the ranks, received our
full share of greetings.
The remaining ceremony consisted simply in the
reception of commemorative addresses which had been
fowarded to Iceland. The National Committee, with
Fredriksson as President and Magnusson as chief active member, took their places on the tribune; the
King and other high officials formed a circle below,
on the slope of the mound, and the people scattered
themselves to right and left, as they could best get a
view. The four Scandinavian Universities-Copenhagen, Lund, Upsala and Christiania-sent congratulatory documents, inscribed on vellum and hand



26o


ICE LA ArD.


somely bound; societies of students in Denmark and
Norway greeted their Icelandic (Pan-Scandinavian?
brethren; the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen
sent a testimonial to the effect that it considered
Thorwaldsen an Icelander, and there were addresses
from patriotic societies in Norway, which aim at reviving the old Norwegian language so far as practicable-at least, preserving an idiom distinct from the
Danish. Last of all, as being unofficial, the poetic
greeting adopted by the Americans present and mentioned in a former letter, was added to the other documents.
Half an hour was then devoted by the King to receiving such of the people as desired to speak to him.
His manner, as it has been from first to last, was admirable-never lacking in true dignity, yet thoroughly
simple, friendly, and familiar. He has evidently taken
especial pains to meet the shy, democratic Icelanders
half way, and has been more successful than he probably suspects. The absence of the usual signs of
profound respect among the people, often the stolidity
of the man spoken to, the steady, unconscious stare
of interest, so forgetful that his greeting is frequently
not returned, must be quite a new experience for
Christian IX. He cannot always quite conceal a fleeting expression of weariness or disappointment; yet I
am sure that he is every hour making friends in Iceland. I have: taken the trouble to ask as many of the
people as can understand me, what they think of the
King, and the one answer is: " He is very friendly,
and we are sure he is honest."




NA TIONAL FESTIVAL A T THlINGVALLA. z6i
At the door of the large pavilion the chorus was
stati,ned, and we had a new song-Minni Konungs
~ Thingvelli, written by Jochumsson, to the grand old
Danish air of "King Christian lays aside his Sword."
It was superbly sung, and the auditors were silently
but very deeply moved. The following hasty translation is the best return I can make the author for his
courtesy in rendering a similar service to myself:
THE KING'S WELCOME TO HINGVALLA.
I.
With strong foot tread the holy ground,
Our snow-land's King, the lofty-hearted,
Who from thy royal home hast parted,
To greet these hills that guard us round!
Our Freedom's scroll thy hand hath lent us,
The first of kings whom God has sent us,
Hail! welcome to our country's heart!
II.
Land's-father, here the Law-Mount view!
Behold God's works in all their vastness!
Where saw'st thou Freedom's fairer fastness,
With fire-heaved ramparts, waters blue?
Here sprang the sagas of our splendor:
Here every Iceland heart is tender:
God built this altar for his flock!
III.
Here, as in thousand years of old,
Sound the same words, a voice unended,
As when their life and law defended
The spearmen with their shields of gold:




262


ICELAND.


The same land yet the same speech giver+
The ancient soul of Freedom liveth,
And hither, King, we welcome thee!
IV.
But now are past a thousand years,
As in the people's memory hoarded,
And in God's volume stand recorded
Their strife and trial, woes and fears;
Now let the hope of better ages
Be what thy presence, King! presages,Now let the prosperous time be sure!
V.
Our land to thee her thanks shall yield,
A thousand years thy name be chanted,
Here, where the Hill of Law is planted,
'Twixt fiery fount and lava-field:
We pray All-Father, our dependence,
To bless thee and thy far descendants,
And those they rule, a thousand years I
At the close of the song we were ushered into the pavil.
ion, and assigned places with the other foreign guests.
The breakfast was substantial and sufficiently national,
consisting of salmon, mayonnaise of fish, cold mutton,
and excellent Rejkiavik bread, with claret, sherry, and
finally champagne. It was, in fact, rather a dinner
than a breakfast, or served as such for the Royal party.
Thomssen of Brcssastadr first arose and made a pleasant, semi-humorous speech in Danish. He repeated
the old legend of the first discoverer of Iceland meeting a dragon, a bull breathing flame, and a giant




NA 'IONAL FESTI VAL A T THING VALLA. 263
coming down from the mountains with an iron staff,
all three of which the hero must overcome before he
could possess the land; and then, likening Christian
IX. to the hero, left us in doubt as to whom or what
was typified by the three monsters. However, exact
simile is not always required; the compliment to the
King found the Icelanders warm and prepared to receive
it, and the end was His Hajesty's health, with nine
tremendous cheers. The King returned thanks, with
evident feeling, and gave as a toast: " Prosperity to
sublime Iceland! "
After a health to Queen Louise of Denmark, proposed by Chief-Justice Jonasson, our friend, Erik
Magni'sson made the speech of the occasion. It was
in Icelandic, and I could only guess a little of its substance, here and there; but the rich rhythm and resonance of the ancient tongue were a delight to the ear.
Its contrast with the previous Danish speeches was
surprising. The natives present kindled and warmed
as the speaker proceeded, until there was a burst of
" Bravo! " after almost every sentence. In fact, in
spite of the open loyalty of the speech, it was powerfully calculated to arouse the national pride. Magnitsson spoke of the Icelanders as being themselves of
Kingly blood, as obedient only to honor and honesty,
and as claiming an equal measure of respect with that
they yielded. His words were manly, not defiant: the
very beginning of the address-" Sir King," instead
of " Your Majesty,"-struck the old independent keynote, and the close, hoping that the second thousand
years of Iceland's history might find the same dynasty




264


ICELAND.


in power, was only uttered after a distinct declaration
of what was expected from the dynasty in the mean
time.
This was a fitting close to the celebration. When
we issued from the pavilion it was raining more dismally than ever. The horses for the King's party were
in readiness, and by one o'clock they were in the saddles, meaning to reach Rejkiavik the same evening.
The members of the choir went in advance to the Allmannagja, and there, under the lava walls of the tremendous cleft, sang a parting song. One by one the
calvacade disappeared around the corner of the sharp
crest, and Thingvalla was left to the people of Iceland.
Near the national pavilion there was a large tent
belonging to the merchants of Rejkiavik, then a second
for the students, and a third for the mechanics. I
looked into each of them in the hope of discovering
some characteristic group, or haply of being invited to
share in some festivity; but the owners were scattered
over the valley, and only a few ladies had taken shelter from the rain. We climbed the rocks to get a
view of the Axar-foss, and looked into the pool where
witches and capitally-condemned criminals were
drowned in the old days, then wandered back to our
tent and waited, but without much confidence, for a
change in the weather.
I had several visitors during the afternoon. With
one of them, a farmer named Halldar Bjarneson, I
managed to infuse enough Icelandic words into Danish
to have some conversation about the ancient sagas.




ArA T7ONAL FESTIVAL A T THING VALLA. 265
He informed me that he was descended from Sigurd,
the Dragon-slayer, and that Hradevald, a King of
Denmark, twelve hundred years ago, was also his ancestor in a direct line. Immediately after him came one
of the few beautiful girls I saw in Iceland, the daughter of a clergyman on the Breidi-Fjord, a thorough
lady in her manners. She had studied English during
the long Winters, but had never spoken the language;
yet, in half an hour, with a little encouragement, she
began to speak it very slowly and deliberately, yet
with surprising correctness.
There were to have been many more speeches and
songs from the tribune on the mound, but the rain
seemed to have disturbed the programme. After the
King's departure, the people broke up into little companies, some of which were jolly enough, and all, I
imagine, made the best of their situation. Our party,
however, was already soaked to the skin, and we could
do nothing else than crouch under our tent-covers for
the rest of the day.




CHAPTER XIV.
A NEW POLITICAL ERA FOR ICELAND.
REJKIAVIK, August 8.
N order to understand clearly the present political
situation-or crisis, if the word be not too strong a
term-in Iceland, one should be familiar with the previous history of the island. This is not easily accessible, at least so far as its history under Danish rule is
concerned; but a few leading outlines will be sufficient
to explain the gradual decay of the native energy of
the people, and the loss of their prosperity.
The original Government instituted by the first settlers was independent and rudely patriarchial in character, rather than republican. The chiefs, who emigrated from Norway, with their dependents and slaves,
became Goder (a title combining the offices of priest
and judge), and the Al/tziizg, or Assembly of the
People, rather represented their class interests than
those of the whole population. Nevertheless, they
were powerful enough and wise enough to establish a
system under which there was tolerable equity for all,
and which contributed to the national success of Iceland. It was certainly a much freer and simplei systemn than had been previously known in Noiway;
yet, even after the introduction of Christianity, blood
revenge was permitted, and ambush, or the surround



A AVE l7 POL~ITICA L ERaA.


267


ing of a house and burning of a whole family, was
considered justifiable.
The old accounts of the prosperity of the island
seem strange to those who visit it now. During the
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, great quantities of wadnzal (a coarse woolen cloth), furs, skins,
eider-down, fish, oil, and tallow were sent to England
and Norway, and exchanged for meal, timber, iron
and steel implements, linen, fine cloths, and carpets.
Many Icelanders visited not only the northern capitals
of Europe, but also Constantinople, Rome, and Jerusalem, As each returned, he was welcomed at all
gatherings of the people, and was expected to describe
his adventures. Family festivals occupied much of
the spare time of the inhabitants.  A marriage,
birth, or death brought hundreds together, and they
were often entertained many days. When Hiskulk
died, nine hundred and sixty persons drank for fourteen days in his honor, and at Hjalke's funeral there
were one thousand four hundred and forty present. A
man named And, feeling his end appproaching, gave
a grand feast, during which he distributed his property among his heirs, and bestowed rich gifts on all
the principle guests.
The young men held athletic matches, and strove for
preeminence in bowling, riding, running, swimming,
and skating. Chess was a favorite game, and songs
were also sung for prizes. The Skalds wandered from
house to house, singing the chronicles of the ancestors, which were cut in runes on staves, to assist the
memory, before the introduction of writing in Gothic




268


ICELAND.


characters. All these characteristics testify to a state of
well-leing among the people, which they have not possessed for many centuries past. The internal feuds
which so weakened them that voluntary submission
to Norwegian rule seemed the least of many evils,
was the first cause of their downfall. In proportion as the Icelanders lost their native energy and
independence, they yielded the more easily to the encroachments, first of Norway and then of Denmark,
upon the rights at first reserved for themselves.
The latter gradually disappeared, or were so curtailed that they barely continued to exist in form; and
about the year I66o the island virtually lost every vestige of independence. Denmark's rule was absolute,
and there was no appeal from it. Even the few traders
appointed by the Danish Government for the island,
and allowed the entire monopoly of its commerce were
Danes, not Icelanders. The people grew steadily
poorer, and powerless in proportion to their poverty.
This state of things lasted, with slight variations, for
nearly two centuries. Some amelioration was granted
by the Danish Government in I845, but even then,
and since then, Iceland was treated with less consideration than the Faroe Islands and other dependencies of Denmark. Nevertheless, here was a beginning
which stimulated some of her patriotic citizens to
bolder action. An agitation ensued which has not yet
entirely ceased, although comparatively a great deal
has been accomplished. The leader of the movement
is J6n Sigurdsson, a name dear to the people of Iceland,
although its bearer could not be present at this memo



A NE W POLITICAL ERA.


269


rable anniversary. The Constitution which, as the
King declared, he "' brought with him," is mainly due
to the persistent claims and representations of J6n
Sigurdsson at Copenhagen. Copies of it were furnished
to us; but I think it unnecessary to translate every
clause in detail, and will here only give a brief resume
of its most important features.
The document is divided into seven parts, or chapters. The first of these, which contains thirteen paragraphs, deals with the relations between the King and
Danish Government on one side, and the legislative
assembly, or Althing on the other. The legislative
power belongs to the King and Althing, the executive
power with the King alone, and the judicial power
with the judges. Iceland has no voice in Danish national questions, since it is not represented in the
Rigsdag at Copenhagen; consequently it bears no
part of the national expenditures. The highest power
in Iceland belongs to the Governor, who is appointed by
the kling. Should the Althinzg have reason to complain
of the Governor, the King decides in each particular
case.  [Although the Minister for Iceland is declared
to be responsible for his acts, the King's power practically neutralizes this clause.] TheAlthing, called by
the King, sits every other year, but only for six weeks,
unless prolonged by Royal consent. A special session
may be called for at the King's pleasure; the latter
may also prorogue the Allting, but only once a year,
and for four weeks at a time. The King has power to
dissolve the Althing, in which case new elections
shall be held within two months, and the new Assem



270


ICELAND.


bly shall meet the following year. No decree of the
Althing has the force of law without the King's consent, and if he fail to sign a bill before the next session of the body, the bill is null and void. The
minor provisions of this first chapter harmonize with
these leading features.
Chapter II. relates to the Constitution of the Al/thing.
It shall consist of thirty deputies elected by the people,
and six chosen by the King. The former hold office
during six years, the latter retaining their places in
case an Assembly should be dissolved. The Althing
is divided nto an upper and a lower house, the former
composed of the six deputies appointed by the King,
and six more chosen by the thirty elected members
from out their own number. The lower house is thus
formed by the remaining twenty-four members of the
latter class. The other clauses of this chapter relate
to the filling of vacancies and the civil conditions which
make a citizen of Iceland eligible to election as a member of the Althizig.
Chapter III. defines the legislative functions of the
two houses and their cooperative action. The regular
Althing shall meet on the first work-day in July (unless the King orders otherwise), in Rejkiavik. Each
house has the right to introduce and pass bills; also to
appoint committees for the investigation of matters of
special interest, such committees having power to send
for persons and papers. No tax may be imposed, altered or removed, except by course of law. The Aliting has entire control of the finances of the island,
which it must regulate by a biennial budget, with the




A NEW POLITICAL ERA.


271


condition that the salaries of the Danish functionaries
(including the six members appointed by the King),
take precedence of all other expenditure. The regulations in regard to the reading of a bill three times,
to returning a bill from one house to another with
amendments, to a quorum of members being present,
etc., are similar to the parliamentary laws of other
countries, and need not be repeated. Two-thirds of
the members of either House constituting a quorum,
however, it will always be possible for four of the
King's deputies to prevent any legislation not agreeable to Denmark, by their simple absence.
Chapter IV. contains clauses regulating the judiciary
powers.
Chapter V. provides for the State Church, the
"Evangelical Lutheran," but guarantees liberty of
conscience to all the inhabitants.
Chapter VI. embraces provisions relating to the
freedom of the subject, the sanctity of home and
private property, the freedom of labor, poor-laws, elementary education, freedom of the press, freedom of
association and assembly, rights of municipal government;, taxation, and privileges of the nobility, which
last, together with their titles, are henceforth abolished.
Chapter VII. and last provides that propositions
with a view to amending or adding to the present
Constitution may be introduced either at a regular
or an extraordinary session of the Althing. If such
a proposition receive the necessary majority in both
houses, the Althing shall be dissolved forthwith and




272


ICELAND.


a new election ordered. If the newly-elected Althing
then accepts the same proposition without amendment, and the latter then receives the Royal sanction,
it comes into force as part and parcel of the constitutional law.
It will be sufficiently seen from this abstract how
jealously the Royal prerogatives are guarded, and how
carefully the Danish supremacy is provided for in a
Government which professes to bestow a certain
amount of autonomy upon Iceland. Yet, with all
its illiberal and even despotic restrictions, the people
accept the Constitution, for it is something. If nothing else, it is the beginning of that political education
which they have utterly lost for so many centuries,
and which alone can finally qualify them to obtain
their, just demands. The great service which J6n
Sigurdsson has rendered to Iceland is not so much in
the gift of this Constitution as in the fact that he has
broken the long apathy of the people, persuaded
them to ask, and secured them a result which means
courage for the future, if not satisfaction with the present. In this sense the Ist of August, 1874, is the
opening of a new era in Iceland's history.
Notwithstanding a common origin and so much of
common legend and tradition, there seems to be a
considerable gulf between the two races. They are
certainly not attached to each other, for each is too
proud to give more respect than is returned-in fact,
each would willingly claim the largest share. I do not
find that the Danish officials-even those who have
been some years on the island-take any pains to




A NEW POLITICAL ERA.             273
learn the language, or acquaint themselves with the
deeper characteristics of the people. If my impression is right, this is greatly to be regretted. With
all their pride, their sensitiveness, their jealousy, and
the rash, hot blood sleeping under their grave demeanor, no people are more worthy the honest and
unselfish friendship of their rulers. I have rarely, if
ever, been so profoundly interested in a race. Not
Thingvalla, or Hekla, or the Geysers-not the desolate, fire-blackened mountains, the awful gloom of the
dead lava plains, the bright lakes and majestic fiords
-have repaid me for this journey, but the brief
glimpse of a grand and true-hearted people, innocent
children in their trust and their affections, almost
more than men in their brave, unmurmuring endurance I




CHAPTER XV.
THE RETURN TO REJKIAVIK      AND   VOYAGE   TO
SCOTLAND.
OFF CAPE REJKIANCES, August 9.
H   OW suddenly all has changed I Yesterday morning we were still at Thingvalla; this morning we
are passing Cape Rejkiances, in storm and rain and
driving scud, and Iceland is but a dim line of savage
coast on the lee I
Our last night in the tent was rather dismal. A
cold, steady rain being less a necessity to us than to
the natives, even the closing shouts and songs of the
festival could not entice us forth from our imperfect
shelter, to seek the scene of rather confused jollification through mud and icy water and sodden turf. We
huddled under the wet canvas, wrapped in rugs and
blankets, and kept up a grim cheerfulness for an hour
or two following dinner-after which all gradually
dropped into audible slumber. The order was to rise
at two in the morning, and start at three, so as to
reach Rejkiavik by noon. I gave myself up to untroubled rest, trusting to Mr. Field, who is never more
in his element than when a start is to be made.
The getting up in the damp, however, was dismal,




THE RE TURN TO RE7KIA VIK.


275


and the start was more easily arranged than accomplished, for a batch of our ponies ran away and were
not found for an hour or more. It was half-past four
when our vanguard, leaving the baggage and two
servants to follow with the guides, moved away past
the church of Thingvalla, across the rising river, and
into the chasm of the Allmannagja. The track had
become simply horrible. All the fresh earth thrown
upon it to make the King's way easy had been worked
into a paste by rain and many hoofs. Our ponies
slipped, stumbled and splashed, coating us with mud
to the hips, while the ice-cold water, gradually soaking through the toughest leather, chilled both blood
and marrow. Hardly had we climbed the Allmannagja, when a drizzle set in which soon became a rain
and then a storm, and anything more dark, forlorn,
and cheerless than our journey it would be difficult to
imagine.
I have already described the scenery, and can only
add that every fleeting charm of color imparted by
sunshine and clear air had vanished, and the entire
gloom and sterility of the land became hideously apparent under such a sky. We jogged steadily onward,
silent and much-enduring; when we urged our ponies
they stumbled, when we allowed them to walk they
became discouraged.  Hour after hour, across the
broad, lonely terraces, the desolate lava-field with its
cairns of stone, up and down the,stony swells, around
the angle of the isolated mountain, we pressed, until
the meadows of Soljedal announced our half-way station
to Rejkiavik.




276


ICELAND.


Here there was a brief halt, a change of riding
ponies, and a division of a very scant supply of ship's
biscuit and salt tongue. Three of our party had gone
on, and we found them at the first farmstead, a mile
or two further, waiting for the good-wife to make them
coffee. The place looked prosperous, according to the
Icelandic standard, yet the house was low, cramped,
and far from clean. The rain leaked into the passageways, and the tangle-haired children, at nine o'clock
in the morning, were still in bed. Formerly every
tolerable house on the island had its bath-room; now
the guest-room is called (the old term being retained)
the "bath-room," and the bath has become an unknown feature of Icelandic life! The general want of
cleanliness gives rise to another plague of the country,
which I need not describe more particularly, since our
tent-life preserved us from it.
Of course, the change for the worse in the habits of
of the Icelanders is mainly owing to their poverty. It
is singular that they developed a sturdy national life
and a degree of literary culture, which is almost phenomenal during the darkest ages of Europe, and that
the close of this illustrious period is nearly coeval with
the beginning of the same development in England,
Germany, and Italy. A good deal of the Icelandic
decline is undoubtedly to be attributed to the combined neglect and oppression of the Norwegian and
Danish rulers; but the material misfortunes of the
island must not be overlooked, in the summary of
causes. Iceland not only possesses twenty-five active
volcanoes, but the most of them have sent forth erup




THE RE TURN TO RE7KIA VIK.


277


tions of greater magnitude and destructive power than
any others in the world. In a land where human life
is supported on such a slender basis, the temporary
annihilation of one of the two chief resources is equivalent to an inability to support life at all.
A few hundred years ago, there was an extensive
tract of fertile land around the base of the Skaptar
JOkull, near the southern coast of the island, which
is now a complete desert. The terrific eruptions of
this volcano not only covered enormous spaces with
lava, but destroyed all the cattle through a much
greater extent of territory. The smoke sent forth is
full of metallic dust, partly of copper, which poisons
the pasturage wherever it falls. Wherever this occurs,
famine is sure to follow, with pestilence as its natural
accompaniment. In the year 1827, the Algerine corsairs came to Iceland, which did not possess-as it
does not now-a fortification or a single soldier. They
ravaged all places near the coast, where the greatest
wealth was concentrated, and slaughtered a great
number of the inhabitants. During the eighteenth
century, there were eighteen periods of famine, and
forty-three years during which all vegetable growth
failed. In 1707, upwards of eighteen thousand persons died of small-pox; and between the years 178>
and I785, volcanic eruptions, famine and failure of veg
etation reduced the population of the island from for
ty-eight thousand six hundred and sixty-eight to thirty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-two. During this calamitous period, the scanty commerce of
Iceland was wholly in the hands of Danish traders;




278


ICELAND


native enterprise was simply impossible, and it is easy
to imagine how the spirit of the people became crushed.
Helplessness and hopelessness are the surest causes
of moral and material deterioration.
So late as I824-5 there was another dismal visitation of famine, and in 1827 epidemic diseases ravaged
the island. At present, as I have already stated, the
population is about seventy thousand more than it has
been for two centuries. Notwithstanding the unusual
fertility of the women, the number increases very
slowly, owing to great mortality among the children:
out of one thousand born, less than half reach the
fourteenth year. Eighty-one per cent. of the population live by raising cattle, and only about ten per cent
by fishing. In I863 there were on the island five hundred and fifty thousand sheep, thirty-five thousand
horses, and twenty-five thousand cattle, and the value
of the trade with Denmark was estimated at a little
more than $ I,0o0,OO.
The first requisite for Iceland is an improvement in
the physical and domestic lives of the people. The
Winters are not very severe, and the habit of living in
such close, reeking hovels of turf evidently originated
in the cost of lumber and fuel. Coal, but of what
quality I am not able to state, has been discovered on
the island, yet it will be of little advantage until there
are a few practicable main lines of communication.
The fisheries around the coast, which might yield so
much, are a source of much greater wealth to France
than to Iceland; there are, at this moment, five thousand French fishermen in these waters, with two fri




THE RETURN TO RE7JKIA VIK          279
gates in Rejkiavik harbor to take care of them. Potatoes, beets, turnips, and many other vegetables might
be cultivated to a much greater extent than at present.
Wild fowl are very abundant, yet there seeni to be no
hunters. The temper of the people has come to be
that of grim, patient, chronic endurance, and they have
neglected even the few scanty sources of help which lie
within their reach.
We rode the remaining twenty miles to Rejkiavik in
a dilapidated condition of mind and body. Instead of
a gallant, compact cavalcade, with whistle sounding
and banners advanced, the members of our party
straggled along the road for miles, singly, or in mutually commiserating pairs. Captain Von SchrOder,
whose horse refused to carry him, was picked up by a
merry company of Icelandic theological students, furnished with a fresh pony, and entertained with songs
and wine at the last byre on the road. But the storm,
fortunately, retreated and rested on the black northern
mountains: the sun even came out, soon after we had
forded the Salmon River. Then, the last vigor was
called out of our ponies; in trot and gallop we cleared
the long, stony ridges, until, at one o'clock in the
afternoon, all the comfort and civilization of the world
seemed to beckon us, as we reached the beacon-tower
of Rejkiavik and saw again the snug houses on shore
and our floating home in the harbor.
Invitations were waiting for a ball to be given the
following (Sunday) evening. The King was to leave
on Mondty morning, the characteristic festivities were
already at an end, and we speedily decided to leave the




280


ICELAND.


next morning. A ball is a ball all over the world; the
presence of so many strangers in Rejkiavik made it
difficult to get fresh supplies, and the members of the
more important families were growing nervous and
unhinged after ten days of greater excitement than
had been packed into the whole previous course of
their: lives. So, longing for rest after our week of
chills and bruises, we yielded to the proposal of our
leader and said good-bye to Iceland.
Zoega and Geir took supper with us on board, and
Eyvindur and Jon, hearing at a late hour of our proposed departure, engaged a boat and came off specially to say farewell. I may add that Zoega's bill foi
the whole expenses of the inland trip was perfectly
honest, although not even the cost of a single item
was stipulated in advance. The boy Geir went away
supremely happy with an armful of books, and a small
present made the two guides our friends for life. The
King, who had sent his captain during the afternoon
to pay us an official visit in his name, entrusted us
with his telegrams and letters for England and Denr'ark; the French, Swedish, and German frigates sent
us a considerable mail; and it was quite evident that,
in being the first to depart, we were doing a service to
all the others.
EDINBURGH, August 14.
Thank Heaven there is something firmer than the
waves of the Northern Ocean under my feet! For
four days our toy of a steamer (registered at I85
tons) tossed and bounced on the lonely waters,
leaking through the deck planks, until a state of




THE RETURN TO RE7KIA VIIK.


2.31


sodden misery seemed to be our doom. Mr. Gladstone's Icelandic pony, on the deck, refused bay
and water for two whole days; but Capt. Howling's
norn-budding ram, with a face like that of a mischievous child, looked out of the door of a dog-house, and
seemed to say: " You've put me in a strange position,
but I'm equal to it." Suavi mare magno-the line of
Lucretius always returns to my memory with special
force after such a voyage.
We had had no observation for a day, and the strong
currents in those seas are uncertain and perplexing;
but our gallant captain, who stood by the pilot-house
in the storm for fifty-one hours, found himself, in the
dark of Thursday morning's twilight, just between the
rocky islets of Rona-a sort of outer sentinel of the
Hebrides. By six o'clock in the morning we reached
Thurso, the most northern port of Scotland where
Messrs. Field and Halstead decided to go ashore and
continue their journey to Edinburgh by rail. The
sea had become perfectly calm, soft blue sky greeted
us for the first time since leaving Iceland, and all the
aspects were so favorable that the rest of our party
remained on board.
Yesterday, in fact, was the pleasantest of the whole
voyage. We passed the Pentland Firth, between the
high Orkneyan cliffs of Hoy and John o'Groat's House,
made a broad stretch across the mouth of Murray's
Firth, and during the late afternoon ran down the
Scottish coast, through fleets of fishing-craft, literally
thousands in number. Warm air, level sea —  Sleek
Panope with all hei sisters plavtd,"-sight of trees on




282


ICELA ND.


shore which we had not seen for a month, made the run
delightful; but the night brought such a hurricane as
has not been experienced for years.  Pitchy darkness
covered the water; the rain fell in sheets; a mass o.
diffused lightning descended directly upon our vessel,
enveloping it in heat like that of a furnace, and the
captain was obliged to heave to and wait till the first
fury was over. This morning, nevertheless, we were
safe inside one of the Leith docks.
The end of our strange and adventurous journey
occurred this afternoon. Having been obliged to ship
as British seamen at Aberdeen, we must, of necessity,
be formerly mustered out of the service before the
Captain could be released from his obligations on our
behalf. So we were summoned from Edinburgh to
the Marine Office at Leith, where a certificate of discharge was gravely delivered to each of us, we wrote
our names in a portentous folio volume, and then received, each, one shilling of Her Majesty's currency,
as bounty. On examining my discharge, I was highly
gratified to find that opposite to the record: "Character for Ability in whatever Capacity engaged," stood
the written report, " very good," and against " Character for Conduct," also " very good."
If the readers of my chronicles are equally willing
to sign this certificate, we shall now part as the best
of friends.


FINIS.




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