Travelling in the East.

WHAT the "grand tour" of our forefathers was to fashionable young men before, and for many years after, our long war with France, the Eastern trip has become of late years. Without the regular round of Malta, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and the Holy Land, the youth of good family or good means is not considered to bring his educational course to perfection. So much so is this the case, that there are certain seasons of the year when at Jerusalem, Damascus, Beyrout, or Jaffa, the English language is almost as much spoken as it is in Pall Mall or Hyde Park. That the rising generation of senators, lawyers, country gentlemen, and members of parliament, must derive benefit from this tour there can be little doubt. Travelling, no matter how performed, must to some extent expand the mind. The objectionable part of what may be called the regulation Oriental trip is its sameness,-by which I mean that every party of travellers follows the preceding party, just as one soldier does another in the ranks, or as the string of people at the door of a French theatre move forward by each one stepping where the person in front last stood. Thus, when young Lord A, the Honourable Mr. B, and Sir Henry C, have between them engaged as travelling tutor the Reverend Mr. D, they invariably proceed whenever their party is ready, vid Dover, Calais, Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, and Malta, to Alexandria. They don't tarry long in that city of AngloIndian travellers, sore-eyed inhabitants, saddle - donkeys, Levantine Italians, Greek merchants, and consuls-general of all nations. day after landing in Egypt generally sees them at Cairo, which they reach by rail in a few hours. In that by far the most Oriental city in the East-except, perhaps, Damascus-they engage a dragoman, and make their preparations for the boat-trip up the Nile.. The dragoman is either a Maltese, a Syrian, or an AlexandrianItalian. He talks Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, and English, equally fluently and equally badly; but as times go, and considering the opportunities he has to cheat his temporary masters, he certainly cannot be called dishonest. His engagement with the travelling party partakes more of the nature of a contract than of services given for wages paid. He undertakes for a certain sum per head to convey the party over their two or three months' journey, and

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to "see them through it" in every possible way. The terms and stipulations are regularly drawn up in writing, and a duplicate copy deposited with the English Vice-Consul at Cairo, or wherever the contract may have been made. In this document the dragoman binds himself to provide tents, horses, good food-consisting of so many meals, and each meal of such and such articles-hotel accommodation when possible, and all that the travellers can possibly want during their Eastern trip. The prices he charges range from fifteen shillings to two and even three pounds a-head each day, according to the number of the party and their various requirements. If the travellers amount to six or seven, and will put up with a few hardships or rather the want of a few luxuries-in parts where the carriage of luggage is difficult and expensive, the dragoman will probably undertake to find them in every thing for about thirteen or fourteen shillings a-day; the word "every thing" meaning as good a horse of the country to ride as can be hired; a tent for the party to sleep, and another to dine in; three good meals, consisting of breakfast, with eggs, ham, cold meat, tea, bread, &c., before starting; a luncheon of cold meat, bread, wine of the country, and coffee, at the mid-day halt; and a dinner of soup, roast meat, fowls, &c., on arriving at night. This, with good camp-beds to sleep upon, and a sponge-bath in which to "tub" every morning, with carriage for a fair quantity of clothes, cannot be deemed dear at the price I have mentioned. Not but what much higher rates are asked and given. I remember meeting at Damascus a dignitary of the English Church, who had just come across the desert from Jerusalem, and who paid his dragoman at the rate of five pounds a-head for himself, wife, child, nursemaid, and English man-servant-twenty-five pounds a-day. But the party had its luxuries in proportion to the price paid. "Even coming through the desert, sir," said the reverend gentleman to me, "my wife had a tepid bath every morning, the baby a warm bath every morning and evening, whilst I never wanted for my cold tub.' Now, considering that all the water for these ablutions had to be carried on camels, most of it for upwards of a hundred miles, it was no wonder that the dean or archdeacon-I forget which—had to pay pretty highly for his cleanliness, which, although it is certainly next unto godliness, need not be indulged in at such a fearful price. I never shall forget this clergyman and his party. He evidently was a most worthy man, had been long a fellow of his college-so he told me—and had married late in life. In all that regards the antiquities of the East whether sacred or profane, he was quite at home; but of modern habits or customs, out of England, he could make nothing whatever. Most travellers in the East, if alone, or if only

accompanied by wife, brother, or intimate friend, make one tent serve for every purpose; and even when half-a-dozen are together, a dining and a sleeping tent are considered enough. Not so the gentleman of whom I speak. His camp consisted of no less than seven tents, besides the usual little cooking tent in which the dinner is prepared. One of these served himself, wife, and child, as bedroom; in another they dined; a third was their sitting-room; a fourth the head of the family used as his dressing-room; whilst not only had the nurse and valet each a tent to sleep in, but they had between them a third in which to dine and sit. No wonder if the very reverend had to pay his dragoman a hundred pounds every four days; for if a man is mad enough to bring babies, nurses, and English valets into the desert, he ought to be rich enough to pay for his folly.

But I have digressed most shamefully. The anecdote of this traveller I relate merely to show what a man may pay his dragoman in the East if he be so inclined. This is the highest charge I ever knew made for any journey in Syria, Palestine, or the Holy Land; and the cheapest I ever heard of was one made by a party-of which I made one-in the spring, after the civil war of 1860. We were four in number-namely, a French officer, belonging to the French Expeditionary Army, then in Syria; a French missionary priest; the Special Correspondent of a London paper; and the present writer. We agreed to take no dragoman with us, but to leave the management of every thing in the hands of the priest, who had been many years in the country, and spoke the language like a native. We hired a native cook, and had also with us the soldierservant of the French officer, who turned his hand to any thing; a Maltese, who was in my own service; and a native lay brother, who belonged to the same religious establishment as the missionary. We started from Beyrout, and took the coast road to Sidon, where we put up for the night with the Spanish Franciscan fathers-I padri di Terra Santa, as this order is called in the East. From Sidon we went on to Tyre, from Tyre to St. Jean d'Acre, and so to Mount Carmel, where we halted three days at the famous convent. Thence we went by easy stages to Nazareth, Cæsarea, Cana of Galilee, on to Jerusalem; always putting up when we could in convents, and carrying no tents with us. From Jerusalem we made the usual excursions to visit Bethlehem and the river Jordan. After nearly a fortnight's sojourn in the Holy City, we returned to the coast vid Nablous, and from Tyre took the road by what is called the natural bridge to Baalbec, and thence over into Lebanon to the Cedars, returning by the coast road from Tripoli to Beyrout. When we got

back to the latter town, we had been absent from the place about forty days; and when we came to make up our accounts, each person's share amounted to a trifle less than two thousand piastres, or sixteen pounds sterling; and for this sum we had seen all that was best worth visiting in Palestine, the Holy Land, Syria, and Mount Lebanon, and had enjoyed ourselves most thoroughly.

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As I said before, this was the cheapest, as that of the English clergyman's was the dearest, journey I ever knew to be made in the East. It is true that we had particular advantages. Our caterer -he is still alive, and on the mission in Mount Lebanon, where he has laboured for some twenty years-(I only hope he will meet with this Number of The Month, and remember the pleasant days we spent together both on this and in other trips in the East)-spoke Arabic as few Europeans do, and was acquainted with the country we had to pass through as well as any reader of this periodical knows the way from his dwelling-house to his club. Moreover, we not only had no dragoman, whose duty and pleasure it would have been to make a profit out of us, but our worthy leader was exceedingly economical; and although we lived well en route, we had no foolish luxuries. Then again, by living at the various Latin or native convents we came across, we not only saved a considerable sum in carrying provisions, but also were able to dispense with tents, tables, iron beds, cooking-pots, and other heavy articles necessary to the comfort of those who sojourn under canvas. could not meet with a convent, we asked our way to the house of either the priest of the village or one of the chief inhabitants. In Palestine and Syria hospitality is considered a sacred duty; and therefore you are rather conferring a favour on your entertainer than he on you when you take up your abode at his house. If he, or if -as in the case of a convent-the community is poor, you desire your servant to purchase the meat, eggs, vegetables, and whatever you require for your evening meal. But if you put up at the house of a rich man or wealthy convent, your host provides every thing. At a private house it is customary to give a present to the servants before leaving; in a convent you generally present the Superior with something for the church. In neither case is a present asked for, nor if you don't give it is any thing said; but such is the usual custom; for it would be impossible for any community to entertain every traveller that passes through the place and receive nothing in return by way of payment. On the journey I have mentioned, we lived at the Convent di Terra Santa in Jerusalem ten days, and at Mount Carmel three; and as our party consisted of four persons, besides three private servants and two mule-drivers, it would have

been a very considerable tax upon these convents if we had been entertained gratis, more particularly as the house where you lodge invariably finds barley for your horses and mules. The rule we made was to give from one to two napoleons a-night for the feeding and lodging of ourselves, our servants, and our horses and mules; and these two pieces of gold the worthy monks used to look upon as an almost royal present.

The great difference of travelling in the East with or without a dragoman is, that whereas in the former case you are very much the servant of your servant, in the latter you are your own master, and can come and go and do as you like. But for strangers in the land, who know nothing of the language or the country, and whose time is probably limited, it is impossible to do altogether without some person to guide them. What I recommend is, to engage a dragoman, but not to leave him to fix the day or hour at which you will arrive at or depart from any place. English travellers in the East seem all bitten with the mania of punctuality for the time they are in the country. They would forego the pleasure of visiting Palmyra, Baalbec, Jerusalem, Mount Lebanon, Bethlehem, or Nazareth, rather than miss this or that steamer which arrives and departs on a certain day at a given hour. I remember an English peer, a man with plenty of means and nothing to do but amuse himself, who threw over the sheik who had promised to escort him from Damascus to Palmyra, and to whom he had paid an advance of fifty pounds, which he of course lost-rather than not be at Beyrout on a certain day, when his yacht was due at that port from Malta. In fact, just as the great majority of American travellers seem to visit Palestine for the purpose of discovering where the holy sites are not, so almost every English party in that land appear to be going through it as if for a wager against time. During the eight years I lived in the East, I hardly ever met an American who did not hold as almost an article of faith, that our Lord was not crucified where He is said to have suffered; or that the Mount of Olives of the gospel was not that of the present day; or that the Holy Sepulchre ought to be in some other spot than where it is; or that the ancient and modern Capernaum are different places; or that the Holy Grotto at Nazareth-where on the marble pavement is inscribed (as marking the spot where Our Lady stood during the Annunciation), VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST-is not a complete take-in. Our cousins are not unbelievers in religion, but they are in places; or rather they seem always impressed with a morbid anxiety to prove that this, that, or the other spot should be somewhere else than where it now is. So with English travellers in the East,-their besetting sin is hurry.