The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller - Sir Francis Bond Head

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and cloth of gold; his turban, his girdle, and the head of his dagger sparkling with diamonds, one of which was of extraordinary size. He entered abruptly into discourse about the war between Russia and the Turks, and asked Bruce if he had calculated what would be the consequences of that war. With becoming gravity, our astrologer replied, "That the Turks would be beaten by sea and land wherever they presented themselves." Again the bey asked, "Whether Constantinople would be burned or taken?" "Neither," replied Bruce, with great dignity; "but, after much bloodshed, peace will be made with little advantage to either party."

      The bey struck his hands together, swore an oath in Turkish, and, turning aside to Risk, he said, with much emphasis, "That will be sad indeed! ... but truth is truth, and God is merciful!" He then offered Bruce coffee, sweetmeats, and protection; and, after desiring him to inform Risk if any one should dare wrong him, dismissed him from his presence.

      A few nights afterward the bey again sent for Bruce. At the door he met the janisary aga, who had absolute power of life and death, without appeal, all over Cairo and its neighbourhood. Having learned that Bruce was the "Hakim Englese" (the English physician), he politely asked him to prescribe for him, as he was not very well. Bruce replied to him in Arabic that he could not then stay, as the bey was waiting. "No! no! go! for God's sake, go!" exclaimed the aga; "any time will do for me!"

      The bey was sitting completely by himself, leaning forward with a wax taper in one hand, and holding in the other a small slip of paper close to his eyes, which were apparently weak. He did not perceive Bruce until he was close to him, and started when he heard the word "Salam!" At first he seemed hardly to know why he had sent for Bruce; but at length, in a melancholy tone, complained that he had been sick immediately after dinner, and was afraid something had been given to do him mischief. Bruce felt his pulse, and, having inquired whether his meat had been dressed in copper properly tinned, he ordered the bey to drink warm tea and water until it should cause him to vomit. The great man looked astonished, and asked Bruce if he knew that he was a Mussulman. "Sir," replied Bruce, "I am none; I tell you what is good for your body, and I have nothing to do with your religion or your soul;" and with these words he took his leave, the bey muttering to himself, "He speaks like a man!"

      Next morning Risk came from the convent to say that the bey was far from well, upon which Bruce interrupted him by inquiring how the warm tea and water had operated. Risk replied that the bey had not yet taken it, and then confessed that, by desire of his master, he was come to see how it was to be made. Bruce soon showed him this, by infusing a very little green tea in a large quantity of warm water, on which Risk insinuated that it would be farther necessary for Bruce to drink it, in order to show what effect it would produce upon the bey. Bruce, with considerable dignity, declined being patient and physician at the same time, but very politely offered to make Risk sick, which, he said, would answer the purpose of instruction equally well; this suggestion, however, was not very readily assented to, and yet Risk was evidently at a loss how to proceed. The poor old Greek priest, Father Christopher, happening unluckily to intrude at this very moment, it was instantly agreed to vomit the patriarch, who, finding himself in danger, and that the odds were two to one against him, instantly sent for a caloyer, or young monk, who was obliged to submit to the experiment before them.

      Bruce now became anxious to quit his solitary mansion at the convent: from Risk he procured peremptory letters of recommendation to Sheikh Haman, to the Governor of Syene, Ibrim, and Upper Egypt; also letters from Ali Bey to the Bey of Suez, to the Sherriffe of Mecca, to the Naybe or Governor of Masuah (the port of Abyssinia), and to the King of Sennaar. Anxious to reduce his baggage as much as possible, he tore from his books those pages only which were likely to be of service to him, and, having taken leave of the bey, and bidding adieu to his friends, he embarked with his little party on the 12th of December, to proceed up the Nile, which, partly flowing from the distant mountains of Abyssinia, meanders through the lifeless desert of Nubia, and down the narrow valley or ravine of Egypt, separated from sandy or rocky deserts by two chains of mountains, which enclose this inconsiderable strip of irrigated land.

      Bruce's boat or canja, which was to carry him to Furshoot, the residence of Haman, sheikh of Upper Egypt, was about one hundred feet in length, with two masts, each bearing an enormous lateen sail, the mainsail yard being one hundred and twenty feet in length. The cabin or dining-room was about twenty feet square, with close latticed windows made to admit the freshness of the air, and yet so as to be a defence against a set of robbers on the Nile, who are in the habit of swimming under water, or in the dark on goatskins, to pilfer from vessels everything they can lay their hands on.

      Previous to sailing, Bruce had taken the precaution of applying to his useful friend, Mr. Secretary Risk, concerning the captain of the canja, Haji Hassan Abou Cuffi, who was obliged to deliver up his son Mohammed as security for his own good behaviour. The wind being contrary, the canja was towed against the stream by a rope, and in this way it advanced but a few miles to two convents of Copts, called Deireteen. Here Bruce passed the night, having had a fine view of the pyramids of Geeza and Saccara, and being still in sight of a prodigious number of other pyramids, which, like beings of another world, seemed everywhere to be haunting the desert. On the opposite bank of the Nile, an animated and picturesque scene was displayed in the encampment of a large party of the Howadat Arabs.

      On the morning of the 13th the canja unfurled her enormous sails, and slowly passed a considerable village called Turra, on the east side of the river; and Sheikh Atman, a small village of about thirty houses, on the west. The Nile is here about a quarter of a mile broad, the distance between the foot of the mountain and the Libyan shore being about half a mile; and Bruce agrees with Herodotus in thinking this the narrowest part of the valley termed Egypt.

      In order to search for the ancient city of Memphis, Bruce left his boat at Sheikh Atman, and, entering an extensive and thick wood of palm-trees, continued this course until he came to several large villages called Metrahenni, all built among date-trees, so as scarcely to be seen from the shore. The people in these villages were of a yellow, sickly colour, with dejected, inanimate countenances. Towards the south, in the desert, as far as the eye can reach, there are vast numbers of pyramids, some appearing, like vessels at sea, just above the horizon. "A man's heart," says Bruce, "fails him in looking to the south and southwest of Metrahenni; he is lost in the immense expanse of desert which he sees full of pyramids before him. Struck with terror from the unusual scene of vastness opened all at once upon leaving the palm-trees, he becomes dispirited from the effect of the sultry climate. From habits of idleness contracted at Cairo; from the stories he has heard of the bad government and ferocity of the people; from want of language and want of plan, he shrinks from attempting any discovery in the moving sands of Saccara, and embraces in safety and in quiet the reports of others, who, he thinks, have been more inquisitive and more adventurous than himself."

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