The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 12, 1857.

rare a successful one is few people know better
than ourselves, considering the multitude of
volumes which make their appearance on our
table, and which we never see or hear of any-
where else. Among the vast number of
volumes belonging to this species which have
been published within the last two years the
" general reader " knows probably the names
of about four or five. Lieutenant Burton,
Canon Stanley, and Mr. Porter—we do not at
this moment recall any others—have achieved
a popularity extending beyond the narrow
limit of reviews. and would probably be placed
in the same shelf with " Eothen " and the
Crescent and the Cross." The author of
Sinai and Palestine," indeed, merits even a
higher place, for he has refrained from the
temptation to which most travellers succumb,
of making himself the prominent object in his
narrative, and has produced a thoroughly
digested and methodical work, which does
not lose its freshness with the close of the
season, but will be read with as much plea-
sure twenty years hence as at the present
day. We should be inclined to indulge the
somewhat hopeless wish that there were more
writers like him, did we not remember that
the qualities which make a man an active and
enterprising traveller are too often acquired at
the cost of the educational training which
alone could enable him to place his discoveries
before the public in a judicious literary form.
We must not complain, then, if in the case of
barbarous or difficult regions we get no more
than the raw material, so to speak, of a book of
travels ; the diary, with its monotonous recur-
rence of traversed miles, its bewildering suc-
cession of uncouth names, with no connecting
link but that of contiguity, and forgotten as
soon as we have turned the page ; its petty
details of personal hardships, its fragments of
landscapes, and its heterogeneous scraps of
botany, geology, or ethnography—all of which
some future explorer or topographer may
perhaps weave into a consistent and intelli-
gible whole, but which now pass before the
eye of the reader in a fatiguing though not
uninteresting diorama, requiring nothing but
order and coherence to render it of permanent
value.
Of the two volumes placed at the head of
this notice that of Mr. Hamilton is by far the
mast important, since his " wanderings " were ,
almost entirely out of the beaten track of I
tourists, while those of Mr. Prime were over
ground which numbers of Englishmen
traverse every year. Mr. Hamilton, having
crossed the Desert from Cairo to Suez and
made the tour of Mount Sinai, proceeded to
Jidda, on the east coast of the Red Sea.
From Jidda ho made an excursion through
the " Hedjaz " to Tayf, a city in the direction
'of, but further inland than, Mecca ; and on
his return to the coast crossed the Red Sea to
Sawakin, a small port on its west side. From
this point his route lay through Soudan to
Khartoum, at the junction of the Blue and
White Niles, and thence by the river to Lower
Egypt.
Mr. Hamilton's narrative is simple and
clear, and his style perfectly unaffected and
very readable. He seems to have been as
diligent an observer as the difficulties of his
journey allowed him to be, and, though not
professedly scientific, to have noted down a
great variety of facts in botany and natural
history. He gives a better idea of the parti-
cular than of the general topographical
features of a country ; he is good at a cabinet
picture, bat not at a bird's-eye view. The
importance of his book lies more in the
novelty of part of his route than in the extent
of his researches into special points. In the
chapter on Sinai, for instance, we could not
have understood his description at all without
the knowledge gained from previous writers ;
and he does not attempt to assign to their
localities any of the events mentioned in the
Bible, nor even to be aware of the opinions of
previous travellers on the subject. If he is to
be judged by the slightness of his remarks on
this part of his journey, he will undoubtedly
have left much for those who may follow in
his track.
Few if any tourists penetrate so far as
Khartoum (in Mr. Hamilton's spelling Char-
!am), which is the great emporium of the
ivory trade of Eastern Africa, and a place of

continually increasing importance. In a map
of the U. K. Society' we find the population
stated to be 20,000 ; it is now double that
number, although the climate is unhealthy,
and the morality even more lax than is usual
in remote commercial cities ; its sole virtue is
hospitality. It is at Khartoum that the
mystery of the Nile commences—not the Nile
which Bruce explored, but the Bahr-el-Abiad,
which is really the principal stream, and to
pursue which so many fruitless expeditions
have been organised. On the chances of
discovery Mr. Hamilton has the following ob-
servations :

I add here, for the sake of bringing together all I have
to say on the White Nile, the information derived from M.
Lafargue, one of the oldest traders in Soudan, who accom-
panied Dr. Knoblecher in passing the cataract which
stopped the progress of Mehemet Ali's mission. They
found the passage easy of navigation, and the river beyond
it, a magnificent stream 201) yards wide. At a slum dis-
tance beyond this point a yearly market is held, frequented
by Abyssinian and Mussulman merchants from the coast—
a proof, as M. Lafargue very justly remarked, that the
river most be navigable southwards for a great distance,
and that there must be another great watercourse running
to the sea; such heavy articles as form the staple trade of
this country could not be conveyed at remunerating prices
by any mode of carriage but water. He suggests that a
small steamer, with shifting paddles, to escape risk of
injury in passing the cataracts, might be sent up with the
fair prospect of reaching a point far beyond any discoveries
hitherto made. Fuel is to be procured in abundance along
the shores, and nothing need be feared from the people of
a country which has not yet been visited by white men. It
is only in the hostilities occasioned by former visitors that
any danger can originate.
I have seen an old Portuguese map in which the Nile is
represented as issuing from a great lake in the centre of
Africa about the 10 deg. of south latitude. Many per-
sons at the present day hold this opinion, and recent
discoveries have done much to confirm our belief in the
correctness of these old charts. Should the opinion be
true, there is probably nothing to prevent a light steamer
from reaching the sources of the Nile. The lucky man
who has it in his power to undertake the enterprise will
be rewarded, not only with the lasting fame which must
attend him who first unveils the mysterious river, but a
more solid prize awaits him, for it is well known, in Egypt
at least, that the Nile flows from Paradise. This was the
objection made by the ulemah of Cairo to Mehemet Ali,
when he sent out his expedition ; it perhaps had a con-
siderable effect in preventing its success, though it did not
deter the old Pasha from the adventure. He answered
them, that if the sources were found, we should then
know that the River of Egypt is not the Nile. I believe
that the whole expense of fitting ont such an expedition,
and bringing it to a successful termination, would not ex-
ceed 6,000/. sterling Vast regions, supposed to be fertile
with unknown treasures, might then he opened to Euro-
pean enterprise. The steamer mast not draw more than
two and a half feet of water ; it must be well armed, and
part of the deck, at least, protected with a permanent awn-
ing of light sheet iron covered with felt.
The work of Mr. Prime is one of far greater
pretension, but in our opinion of less perform-
ance. The author is an American, and his
aim has apparently been to make what ladies
call a pretty book. There is a great air of
" finish " about it ; the chapters are all deco-
rated with titles:—" The Dead of Alexandria"
—" Prayers and Coffee"—" Arrakee and An-
tiques "—" Memnon and his Daughter," &c.
&c., which have an affected, pseudo-Bul-
werian look, like an imitation of the " Last
Days of Pompeii," or Longfellow's " Hype-
rion." The contents, though not otherwise
than amusing in themselves, will not have
much novelty to those who have read the work
of Eliot Warburton ; and there is an uneasy
straining after effect throughout, which is not
always as successful in a published volume as
it would be in a letter intended merely for
home consumption.
Mr. Prime went up tho Nile as far as Den-
dera ; saw all the orthodox sights, and heard
the sounds, even to the " church bells" which
Eothen describes, and which we find corrobo-
rated as follows :
And in the night I heard the sounds of a distant land
come to me distinctly on the gale. You may laugh at
me ; you may say I write it because others have said
and written the same ; you may tell me I dreamed it. I
care not what you say, but I know that on that stormy
Saturday night 1 heard the church bells of my old home
sounding over the tossing waves of the Nile. Yes, i heard
them. 1, too, laughed when I read in the books of travels
of others that they heard such sounds on the desert, but I
did nut laugh now, for I have learned the truth of those
sounds right well.
I was sitting just here where I now sit, writing a letter
home, to be mailed when we should reach Luxor. Pro-
found silence for a moment rested on everything. There
was a lull in the wind. The flow of the river was swift
and noiseless.

•
• • •
Soft, soft and sweet they came over the swift river ;
clear, rich, and full. There could be no mistaking them.
I might have doubted, but the tones were all the same.

899

There was the Presbyterian bell, deep, stern, and solemn
in every stroke; the Episcopal church bell, more musical
and silvery ; the old Scotch church bell, that was for ever
chanting the Psalm, "They that go down to the sea in
ships "—all clear and loud ; and then the wind arose, and
they went away over the desert, and I heard them far off,
and then no longer.
We will introduce our next extract from Mr
Prime by an anecdote of which he has re-
minded us. About thirty years ago there was
a man well known in London society by the
name of " Everywhere M—." Though any-
thing but agreeable, he had vast impudence,
and, enjoying the reputation of a Government
spy, he had the entreo to numerous houses in
the fashionable world. One evening, at a
party, a small group of persons were admiring
a magnificent necklace worn by a lady, one of
the guests. M— came up, and was im-
pertinent enough to take hold of the necklace
to examine it as it lay on the bosom of its
wearer ; with a touch of her finger she un-
clasped it, and allowed it to drop into his hand.
For once, he was abashed ; returned it, looking
rather crestfallen ; and speedily made himself
scarce. Now for a parallel instance :

On the bank of the river, near this village [near Eane],
I sat down and watched the women coming for water.
One and another came, each helping the one before her to
lift the enormous jar to the top of her head.
At length there appeared one of the noblest specimens
of feminine beauty that I remember. A tall and splen-
didly formed girl came down close by me, the wind blow-
ing hack her single thin cotton garment so as to reveal
the outlines of a perfect form, one that Prasiteles might
have dreamed, one such as it is seldom permitted human
eyes to see. Her tunic was open from neck to waist, and
her bust, contrary to the common appearance of the
Egyptian women, was full and of delicate outline. Her
face was Greek, her lips classical in their severe beauty.

Imagine my astonishment as this vision swept by me,
not three feet distant, and paused within a rod to dip
water in a heavy jar. I gazed admiringly at her, as
who would not? She returned my gaze with cold
curiosity, and eyes devoid of interest, but dark, lustrous
eyes withal, that had fire in them which might be made to
flame.

She had on her neck a string of antiques, chiefly
scaraluei. I had seen them thus before, and had purchased
some curious antiques from the necks and wrists of the
women. I walked up to her and took hold of them. She
sto3d like a statue, motionless, with her black eyes fixed
on mine, but was silent, and allowed my examination
without fear or objection.
" How much shall I pay you for your necklace? "
She looked, but made no reply, and, stooping down,
lifted her jar; a friend helped her swing it to her head,
and then, dropping her hands, she walked up the bank in
stately style, nor looked back, nor seemed to have the
slightest interest in the fate of Bralteem Effendi. To be
cut thus by an Egyptian ! On reflection, I have thought
that she was perhaps deaf and dumb—possibly idiotic,
but I think not that, for she was too splendidly beau-
tiful.
There is, doubtless, a difference between a
London drawing-room and an Egyptian village,
but lessons of good manners may be give n in
both places: and "Braheem Effendi" (Oriental
for " Prime, Esq.") seems to have received one
on this occasion which we trust he will lay to
heart next time he meets one of nature's gen-
tlewomen, whether she be fortified with im-
pregnable crinoline or reveal her " perfect
form " through a " single thin cotton gar-
ment."

-------
However, in spite of a good deal of false
sentiment and claptrap, it, is evident that
Braheem Effendi is a very good fellow, and it
is probable that he would be an agreeable
travelling companion, though he likes to make
the most of every little incident that occurs
to him. His enthusiasm and sincere enjoy-
ment of his tour might have enabled him, with
a little more correctness of taste, to have pro-
duced a striking book, and we shall not be
sorry to meet with him again in some region
less hackneyed than the Lower Nile. We
must perforce part friends from a gentleman
who treats us so handsomely as in the follow-
ing paragraph
There is a comfort, when travelling eastward, in meet-
ing Englishmen. You are very certain, in coming in
contact with the English pleasnre•traveller, to meet a
gentleman. Exceptions are very rare. It is also worthy
of remark that the English gentleman, so soon as he learns
that you are American, regards you as a fit companion
which is a degree of confidence that he is very far from
reposing in one of his own nationality. Englishmen
meeting Englishmen look on one another as so many
pickpockets might, each of whom was certain that each of
his neighbours meant to rob him on the first available
opportnnity.
This perhaps arises from the danger that for.sign
acquaintances may entail unpleasant and impracticable
recognitions at home. There is no apprehension of this
in meeting Americans, and this may serve to explain a