The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

AUGUST 23, 1856. By the side of the camels ride my three attendants, the pink of Somali fashion. Their frizzled wigs are radiant with grease; their Tobes are splendidly white, with bor ders dazzlingly red ; their new shields are covered with canvas cloth ; and their two spears, poised over the right shoulder. are freshly scraped, oiled, blackened, and polished. They have added my spare rifle, and guns to the camel load; such weapons are well enough at Aden, in Somali land men would deride the outlandish tool ! I told them that in my country women use bows and arrows, moreover that lancers are generally considered a corps of non-com batants ; in vain ! they adhered as strongly —so mighty a thing is prejudice—to their partiality for bows, arrows, and lances. Their horsemanship is peculiar, they balance themselves upon little Abyssinian saddles, extending the leg and raising the heel in the Louis Quinze style of equi tation, and the stirrup is an iron ring admitting only the big toe. I follow them mounting a fine white mule, which, with its gaudily galunni Arab nad and wrapper cloth, has a certain dignity of look; a double harrelled gun lies across my lap ; and a rude pair of holsters, the work of Hasan Turki, contains wy Colt's six•shooters. One peculiarity of the caravan was the women who formed part of it : ly other attendants must now be introduced to you, as they are to be for the next two months companions of our journey. First in the list are the fair Samaweda Yusuf, and Avbla Farih, buxom dames about thirty years old, who presently secured the classical nicknames of Shehrazade and Deenarzade. They look each like three average women rolled into one, and emphatically belong to that race for which the article of feminine attire called, I be lieve, it:" bussle " would he quite superfluous. Wonderful, truly, is their endurance ,A fatigue ! During the march they carry pipe and tobacco, lead and flog the camels, ad just the burdens, and will never be induced to ride, in sickness or in health. At the halt they unload the cattle, dispose the parcels in a semicircle, pitch over them the Gurgi or mat tent, cook our food, boil tea and coffee, and make themselves generally useful. They hivouack out side our abode, modesty not permitting the sexes to mingle, and in the severest cold wear no clothing but a head fillet and an old Tobe. They have curious soft voices, which contrast agreeably with the harsh organs of the males. At first they were ashamed to see me ; but that feeling soon wore off, and presently they enlivened the way with pleasantries far more naïve than refined. To relieve their greatest fatigue, nothing seems necessary but the jogsi : " they lie at tall length, prone, stand upon each other's backs trampling and kneading with the toes, and rise like giants much refreshed. Always attendant upon these dames is Yusuf, a Zayla lad, who, being one eyed, was pitilessly named by my companions the " Kalen der"; he prays frequently, is strict in his morals, and has conceived, like Mrs. Brownrigg, so exalted an idea of dis cipline, that, b%'t for our influence, he certainly would have beaten the twiS female 'prentices to death. They hate him, therefore, and he knows it. The narrative of the journey shows the prac- tised observation of an intelligent traveller. It is full of admirable points ; and we must particularly praise the author for setting forth the particulars of each day's journey, and for noting the whole cost of his expedition, which, from his departure from Aden to his return — a period of fourteen weeks—was covered by the moderate sum of 1491. According to the author, a considerable saving would have been effected had the whole outfit bean purchased at Aden. Though not free from alarms, his journey was safe, until he arrived within sight of Baran Then his attendants took fright. They were averse to entering the city, without first asking permission of the Amir; but as the author's plans would have been entirely overthrown had the permission been refused, be decided at length on taking the bold course of resuming his real character, and of pre senting himself with credentials from Aden. The result justified his courage. liarar is a walled city of two or three miles in circumference, with a population estimated at 8,000 souls. On the result of the interview with the Amir depended the author's fate. It was an axious moment when he found himself in the presense of the dreaded chief:— The Amir, or, 98 he styles himself, the Sultan Ahmad bin Sultan Abibakr, sat in a dark room with whitewashed walls, to which hung—significant decorations—rusty matchlocks and polished fetters. His appearance was that of a little Indian rajah, an etiolated youth twenty-four or twenty•tive years old, plain and thin-bearded, with a yellow complexion, wrinkled brows, and protruding eyes. His dress was a flowing robe of crimson cloth, edged with snowy fur, and a narrow white turban tightly twisted round a tall conical cap cf red velvet, like the old Turkish headgear of our painters. His throne was a common Indian Kursi, or raised cot, about five feet long, with back and sides supported by a dwarf railing ; being an invalid, he rested his elbow upon a pillow, under which appeared the hilt of a Cutch sabre. Ranged in double line, Perpendicular to the Amir, stood the " court," his cousins and nearest relations, with right arms bared after fashion of Abyssinia. I entered the room with a loud " Peace be upon ye!" to which H. H. replying graciously, and extending a hand, bony and yellow as a kite's claw, snapped his thumb and raiddle,finger. Two chamberlains stepping forward, held THE PRESS. my forearms, and assisted me to bend low over the fingers, which, however, I did not kiss, being naturally averse to performing that operation upon any but a woman's hand. My two servants then took their tarn : in this case, after the back was saluted, the palm was presented for a repetition. These preliminaries con cluded, we were led to and seated upon a mat in front of the Amir, who directed towards us a frowning brow and an inquisitive eye. Some inquiries were made about the chiefs health : he shook his head captiously, and inquired our errand. I drew from my pocket my own letter: it was carried by a chamberlain, with hands veiled in his Tube, to the Amir, who after a brief glance laid it upon the couch, and de manded further explanation. t then represented in Arabic that we had come from Aden, bearing the compli ments of our l)aulah or governor, and that we had entered Harar to see the light of H. H.'s countenance : this in• formation concluded with a little speech, describing the changes of political agents in Arabia, and alluding to the friendship formerly existing between the English and the deceased chief Abubakr. The Amir smiled graciously. This smile, I must own, dear L., was a relief. We had been prepared for the worst, and the aspect of affairs in the palace was by no means reassuring Whispering to his treasurer, a little ugly man with a badly shaven head, coarse features, pug nose, angry eyes, and stubby beard, the Amir made a sign for us to retire. The baise main was repeated, and we backed out of the audience•shed in high favour. According to grandiloquent Bruce, " the Court of London and that of Abyssinia are, in their principles, one ": the loiterers in the Harar palace yard, who bad before regarded us with cut-throat looks, now smiled as though they loved us. Marshalled by the guard, we issued from the precincts, and after walking a hundred yards entered the Amir's second palace, which we were told to consider our home. There we found the Bedouins, who, scarcely believing that we had escaped alive, grinned in the joy of their hearts, and we were at once provided from the chief's kitchen with a dish of Shabta, holcus cakes soaked in sour milk, and thickly powdered with red pepper, the salt of this inland region. After this the author felt at ease. He stayed at Harar several days—laid the foundation of political and commercial intercourse, and then departed for Berberah, on the coast, which he safely reached with his attendants. On his return to Aden, he made every pre paration for a more extensive expedition. He returned to Berberah on the 7th of April, 1855, accompanied by Lieutenant Stroyan, Lieutenant Herne, and Lieutenant Speke. His party consisted of forty-two persons, pro vided with every necessary for their journey. In the completeness of their outfit consisted their danger. The chapter describing the assault of their camp by a body of Bedouins, 350 strong, will be read with the deepest interest. Surprised at night, and overpowered by numbers, the author, with Lieutenants Herne and Speke, fought their way through their assailants, and ultimately reached the coast, though not without severe wounds. Lieutenant Stroyan was unhappily killed. With this catastrophe all thought of the expe dition was abandoned ; but the author gives what appear to us excellent reasons for estab lishing a British station at Berberah. He regards it as the key to the Red Sea, and the centre of East African traffic, and as much more advantageously situated than Aden itself. Apart from these considerations, there can be no doubt that a British station on some part of this coast would be most desirable for opening up communications with the in terior. The volume is the best Lieutenant Burton has yet produced, and its attractiveness is in creased by some coloured plates of scenery and costume, and by a plan of the author's routes. A Handbook for Travellers in Wilts, Dorset, and Somerset. With a Travelling Map. London: Murray. THE plan of this handbook is that of Murray's famous Continental Red-books, adapted to the illus tration of our own land. A sufficient number of routes are given through each of the three counties to embrace the objects most interesting to a tourist, either from natural beauty, historical association, antiquarian remains, architectural examples, art collections, industrial celebrity, ancestral history, local tradition, or,—for what England is perhaps most famous,—its numerous and beautiful or splendid family seats. The description of the latter naturally occupies a great portion of the volume, as it is in them that English character can be best read, and English history best studied. By a precise and pregnant style, there is compressed into the volume an immense amount of matter, the whole appearing to be the result of personal survey. We need not point out the use of such a book. It contains the pith of those ponderous county histories which were 811 the most marked feature of literary enterprise a cen tury ago, but which seem too bulky and expensive for modern taste; the Handoook containing besides all in formation necessary to the traveller. We cannot ima gine a volume more acceptable to the country houses of the counties to which it relates, or more likely to en hance the pleasures of country residence. 'The accom panying map is the least satisfactory part of the book. It should be larger, more distinct., mounted, and coloured. This hint is commended to the publisher's attention from an old tourist. Woodcuts of particular routes, too, would not be amiss. Precision in such works is the great desideratum of the traveller. We hope support will not be wanting to induce Mr. Murray to illustrate the whole of the United King dom in the style of this most pleasing, instructive, and companionable volume. Zuriel's Grandchild. A Novel. By R. V. Sparling. Three Vols. London : Newby. THERE are decidedly two classes of novels. The first and best have an intellectual character. They are written for the world. They have claims to notice of some kind apart from their story ; they are the talk of society, and they obtain almost universal cir culation. The second class are issued to meet the demands of the comparatively small num bet of per sons who find a continual supply of fiction necessary to their existence, and who are not very particular as to the quality of their mental aliment. "Zuriel's Grandchild," as may be supposed, belongs to the latter class. Uncritical readers will find it amusing. It has plenty of incident, and many passages are marked by genuine pathos. The readers to whom it appeals will not perceive, or will readily overlook, its crudity, in consideration of its social adventure and continued movement. Remarks on the Practicability of Opening up a Com munication between the East Coast of India and the Cotton Districts of Nag pore. By Lieut.-Colonel Grimes. London : Allen. THE main object of Colonel Grimes's pamphlet is to insist on the importance and practicability of river navigation (of all specks of communication the cheapest and most commodious) in India, and espe cially of opening a communication between the fertile cotton districts of Nagpore and the coast of Bengal, by means of the connecting rivers, the Kanhan, the Wyne Gunga, and the Godavery. From his prac tical experience as a resident for twenty-five years in the Presidency of Madras, half of which time was spent in the vicinity of Nagpore, Colonel Grimes is an excellent authority on the subject. One part of his pamphlet demands special notice. Were his proposed communication opened, it would be neces sary, he says, to establish merchants in the cotton districts to purchase that and other agricultural pro duce. Here, then, is a hitch. You cannot establish merchants by order. How comes it that they are needed ? Colonel Grimes tells us : The grower of produce—cotton, or whatever it may be— is never the exporter ; he is generally excessively poor, frequently dependent upon advances for the means of cultivating a crop. This is the real reason why the communication pro posed by Colonel Grimes has not yet, been opened, and it is the real obstacle to the plan he proposes. While the cultivator continues thus " excessively poor," the resources of India never can be developed, and industry and commerce must languish. Why the cultivators should be so excessively poor is the question. The natives of India have a passion for accumulation, and when fair play is allowed them they evince extraordinary aptitude for industrial enterprise. The fault is in the system which refuses to them property in the soil, which deprives them of opportunities of accumulation, and which keeps them in an abject state. Talk as we may of the productive resources of India, they never will be, and never can be, developed until fair inducements are held out to the natives to improve and extend their cultivation, to accumulate property, and to in vest capital in the soil. Do this, and India will soon become, under the fair and equal laws of Britain, one of the most productive and flourishing countries in the world. Refrain from doing this, keep the cultivators by excessive rents and arbitrary exactions " excessively poor," grind them down to the dead l.vel of the pauper tenantry of Ireland before the famine, and no public works or schemes of this kind will ever raise the country to prosperity. What India wants is not so much great public works as an independent landed proprietary, instead of the single and monstrous ownership of the Indian Go. vernment; and to establish such proprietary must be the first object of those Who have the welfare of India really at heart. The Climate of Pau. By Alexander Taylor, 111. D London: J. W. Parker and Son. Tins is a new elition of a very useful and well con ceived volume, partly medical and partly descriptive. It is a complete guide-book to invalids, and contains