Chapter XIV: Part II: Egypt (9)

After travelling for several days, ascended Mount Taurus, now called _Kurûn_. The ascent and descent occupied three days. This is a chain of high rocky mountains, running from East to West, the inhabitants are chiefly Kûrds; and the Turcomans retire here in the summer from the plain of Antioch, as before mentioned. Many thousand acres abound with cedars of great size and age; savines and junipers cover some of the brows. The cedars throw around a delicious odour. Some of our company, when they wished to warm themselves, the air being cold to excess, would set fire to the dead trees by kindling a little dry grass, which would instantly seize the branches, and soon consumed the whole tree. The bases of the mountains generally consist of tufa. Most of the hills are divided by rapid rivulets of the purest water.

On commencing the ascent of Mount Taurus, observed several roads leading to the right; one of them conducts to the copper mines of Tokat, which are very rich, and yield a considerable revenue to the emperor.

After descending Mount Taurus, arrived in the extensive plain of Bostân, which consists of fertile soil, is watered by the river formerly called _Sarus_, and surrounded with mountains.

Bostân is a town rather of small size, and presenting nothing memorable. Here I first observed little two-wheeled carts, drawn by two oxen. The wheels are solid, and the axle turns with them, so that their progress is sufficiently vociferous. Market poor. The inhabitants, like those of Anatolia in general, form a striking contrast to the more polished natives of Syria. They inspected us with stupid curiosity, and without the usual tokens of salutation practised by the Arabs. The common dress a short jacket and fringed turban. The women here are of fair florid complexion, and wear on their heads broad flat pieces of metal, to shelter their faces from the sun and rain. These resemble common eating plates, and are fastened with strings under the chin; the rich have them of silver, others are copper. Their persons and motions are uncouth and destitute of the lascivious mincing, the _motus Ionici_, of the Egyptian and Syrian women.

From Bostân to Kaisarîa the country is plain, but ill cultivated and thinly inhabited. Near the city there are however several productive fields, and watered by the river _Yermok_. This river we had passed a day’s journey from Kaisarîa, running to the South. Near that city the Lombardy poplar again appears in abundance.

Kaisarîa is distinguished at a distance by two remarkable hills, one of them lofty, and at this time covered with snow. This is West of the town. The other, which is to the South, is round and isolated, but not so high. The town is on the south side of a fertile plain, well watered by the _Yermok_ and some rills, and contains a good number of inhabitants. They are now ploughing. In entering the town I observed numbers of the shaggy, strong, and large camels, which are bred by the Turcomans. The black buffaloe, like that of Egypt, is very common here. Kaisarîa is governed by a _Mitsellim_, who is appointed from Constantinople. The city belongs to the Reis Effendi. It is surrounded by walls, now in bad repair. Great quantities of timber are brought here from the mountains, and transported to various quarters.

Angora is eight days’ journey nearly North-west from Kaisarîa. On the fourth day passed a plain, watered or rather inundated by the river _Tumm_. On the eighth day passed a bridge, over a rapid but apparently shallow river, one of the branches of the Halys, at a spot where it makes its appearance from betwixt abrupt rocks. Route variegated with hills, but on the whole rather plain.

Reached Angora on the 22d of November, two hours before sun-set. This city is visible at some distance, being in a lofty situation. It has a striking and agreeable appearance. It is situated on a small river. The castle is very antient, and in former times may have appeared impregnable, being raised on a high perpendicular rock. There is a chain of outworks to a considerable extent, occupying all the high ground.

The city has been surrounded by a substantial wall, in some places apparently double. Marks of a ditch also are visible. I passed three gates, and was told there were three or four more. Fragments of Greek inscriptions may be observed on two of the gates. On the North-west are said to be remains of an amphitheatre, which circumstances prevented me from visiting.

In the city are the ruins of a magnificent _Curia_, erected in the time of Augustus. The architecture is Corinthian, and parts of the inscriptions are well preserved, complimentary to that emperor.

The stones which form the walls are durable, and of an excellent quality. The city must have been strong, being commanded by no adjacent height. Market well supplied, especially with honey and excellent bread. The people are the most polished I have yet seen in Anatolia.

The trade is chiefly in yarn, of which our shalloons are made, and their own manufacture of Angora stuffs. Of the latter I am told they make yearly from fifteen to twenty thousand pieces, of thirty Stambûl pikes each, or nearly twenty-two yards. The breed of goats they say is on the decline. There is however a great extent of country which is capable of supplying food to their flocks; so that the number might be easily augmented. Each goat produces on an average from two to three hundred drams annually. The hair is taken from the whole body, and not the belly alone. They are shorn once a year, the sheep twice. The wool of the latter is particularly fine and long. Of the goats’ hair they have, it is reported, made shawls here, equal in quality to the Kashmirian, and as wide. They cost the maker one hundred piasters a-piece; but the manufacturers were unable to work flowers in them. They have also made good cloth; but the fabric was abandoned for want of encouragement. A special regulation constrains them to work the shalloons with double thread, otherwise they might be made much finer. The best of the Angora stuffs, worked by the piece, stands the manufacturer in about seventy _paras_ the pike, or two thousand (= 3l. 10s. or 3l. 15s.) the piece. I should observe that in the manufacture of camlets no wool is used. Wax is exported, and in this part of Anatolia are cultivated large quantities of _opium_.

The Angora cats are confined to the same district with the goats. The soil is a fine red marl; but there is no peculiarity so striking in the site, soil, or air, as to offer any probable induction concerning the origin of those two remarkable breeds of animals, so dissimilar from those of other regions of the East.

Angora is one of the neatest cities I have yet visited. The streets are paved with large granite, but without foot-paths. Wax is produced in the neighbourhood, to the value of two thousand piasters a year; one fourth of which quantity is generally consumed in the city itself. It is surrounded by mountains, but there are numerous gardens near it, producing much fruit, especially excellent pears, which are sent for presents to Constantinople. The esculent plants barely suffice for the city, and the corn is brought from other places, the land being employed most profitably in the pasturage of the goats.

On the 16th of November 1797 proceeded towards Ismît or Nikmid, the antient Nicomedia, a maritime town, distant ten days. On the first day of our route saw the river of Angora running north through the plain. Two days after met fifty camels laden with fuller’s earth for the manufacturers of Angora. The 30th of November observed in the side of a hill a most beautiful appearance of strata, to the number of nine or ten in the breadth of eight feet, the widest of them grey chalky stone, then a wide one of red earth, or marl, then narrow ones of red earth and chalk alternately, each about four inches wide; surface gravel.

December 7th, set out from Kostabec three hours before sun-rise, and did not reach Tourbali till about one in the afternoon. The general face of the country is a rocky forest of pines and oaks. We kept mostly in the valley, till half past nine in the evening, when we ascended a very high mountain, which we also in part descended before we reached Tourbali. Several small streams descend both to the North and the South; one in particular, forming the river that runs by Angora. This part of Mount Olympus must in course be very high.

I found grapes in almost all the towns, after leaving Angora, but those of Teracli were the best I had seen since leaving Damascus; they are white, and of a fine flavour, and some of them of very large size.

December 5th, after passing Yeywa, came to a long well-built bridge over the considerable and rapid river, which disembogues into the Black sea, called _Sakaria_: a long bridge leads over the marshy lands to _Ismît_, a large town, extended in length, built on the side of a hill to the east of the plain. The mountains near it are lofty, and become visible long before one arrives there. Ismît is paved, but dirty, and built of wood. Most of the houses have a garden attached to them. The khan is neat, but not very large—Few remains of antiquity. A great number of Greeks resides here.

On the 7th left Ismît, and after passing along the shore to Scutari, where we arrived in the morning of the 9th, proceeded immediately to Constantinople.

Some general remarks arise concerning Anatolia, formerly Asia Minor. The parts through which we passed have more of the wild and romantic[62] than of the cultivated aspect; soil very various, but a deep clay is the most prevailing. Wheat and barley, and the yellow durra, _Holcus Arundinaceus_, form the chief, if not only products of agriculture. The whole is pervaded by hordes of Kurds and Turcomans. Numerous mendicants. The little security there is arises from the superior ferocity of a few Pashas, which allows of no robbery save their own. The depopulation is gradual, constant, and infallible, and indubitably arises from the extreme badness of the government, than which nothing more wretched can well be conceived.

CHAP. XXVIII.

_Observations at Constantinople — Paswân Oglo — Character of the present Sultan — State of learning — Public libraries — Turkish taste — Coals — Greek printing-house — Navy — Return to England._

When I arrived at Constantinople there was a considerable alarm raised by the progress of the arms of _Paswân Oglo_, Pasha of Wîddîn. Originally Aga of that city, that is, chief of the Janizaries and commandant, he formed a powerful opposition to the Pasha, consisting of many rich and eminent inhabitants, who were dissatisfied with the Pasha’s conduct. By numerous intrigues and disputes the latter was gradually deprived of his authority, and Paswân Oglo usurped his place. After the last Russian war, the Porte being much in want of money, had recourse to new and unpopular measures of finance. Taxes were for the first time imposed on articles of consumption, as grain and wine. Paswân availed himself of the discontents occasioned by these impositions, and as his power increased boasted that he would correct such abuses.

The Porte, following its usual policy of rewarding where it cannot punish, of decorating the head which it wishes to strike off, confirmed Paswân in the Pashalik. His military force at first did not exceed four or five thousand, but, by the influx of the discontented, was now swelled to fifteen thousand or more, of enthusiastic and determined followers. Most of them consisted of the Janizaries on that side of Romélia, who were extremely dissatisfied at having passed unrewarded after the brilliant actions they had performed against the Austrian arms, and at the encouragement given to the recently established corps of Fusileers, an innovation which stung their ancient prejudices.

The Aga of the Janizaries at Constantinople, being consulted on the suppression of the rebellion, gave his opinion, that there was danger lest the Janizaries should go over to their brethren. The Diwân assembled in great perplexity, all were irresolute, till the Capitan-pasha, Hussein, said, “Nothing can be more easy than to crush this rebel.” The members instantly retorted, that if it were so easy, why not undertake that duty himself. Hussein exclaimed, “Only give me the means, and I pledge myself to conduct them!” He was in consequence appointed, and abundant supplies of men and money were assigned. Instead of Janizaries, the Timariots or feudal troops of Asia were summoned. Before I left Turkey a slight skirmish had taken place. The troops which marched against Wîddîn were computed at one hundred and fifty thousand. Paswân Oglo, unable to meet such a multitude in the field, was contented to defend Wîddîn. His success and further progress are sufficiently known.

A new institution had been recently ordained by the reigning Sultan. Perceiving that his troops had been unable to oppose those of Russia, he had, with the assistance of the French, who supplied non-commissioned officers to instruct them, founded a regular corps of infantry, consisting of about one thousand. They were clothed in a tighter dress, and their arms[63] supplied by government. The French have also assisted the Turks in casting a great number of brass field-pieces and battering cannon; nor are they without some flying artillery.

The present Sultan is not deficient in discernment, or warm wishes to promote the happiness of his people; but through the usual imperfection of his education, he is the slave of his own impetuosity, and a stranger to the recesses of the human heart. His motives are generally right, but the means, opposed by popular prejudices, are often ineffectual.

Sultan Selim, after correcting the police of the capital, turned his beneficent views to the encouragement of learning among his subjects. He has revived the mathematical school, in which, however, small progress had been made; his ignorance of the world leading him to think that his orders can form minds, and that a pension confers capacity. He has restored the printing office, and a new Arabic type was casting by an ingenious Armenian. But whether the improvement of the type may contribute to the diffusion of solid knowlege among the Turks, may fairly be questioned. The first book ordered to be printed was a Persian dictionary. An engraver on copper is also settled here, the subjects are the armillary sphere, some plans of fortification, the box-compass, and the like.

The Turks are remarkable for half-measures. In the mathematical and marine school, a substantial and commodious building, they are furnished with every thing—except instruments and books; the class small or none; but the end of the institution is considered as completely answered, as there are professors who meet and smoke their pipes together.

There are several _Kuttub-chans_, or public libraries, among which the principal are those of St. Sophia and the Solimanié Jamasy; but none so elegant as that built by Raghib Pasha, formerly Grand Wizîr. The magnificent institutions of this great man being envied by the Sultan of the day, his head was the forfeit of his virtues. This library is an insulated building, in the middle of a square court, consisting entirely of marble, and very neat and convenient. A large tomb, decorated with gilt brass, in which Raghib Pasha is buried, forms the centre of the library. Around are numerous books, on all subjects, chiefly as usual theology; convenient seats and elegant carpets and cushions for the readers. A librarian constantly attends. The light is well disposed, and the place perfectly quiet; so that I have no where seen a building or institution more complete of the kind. The apartment is raised above the ground by seven or eight easy steps. Fronting the street there is a school, founded by the same Pasha. It is a convenient room, of thirty-five feet long and proportionate width, where about an hundred boys are taught to read and write, and the more simple part of their theology. There is only one class, which attends every day for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.

I met with a Mohammedan, a native of _Balk_, who understood the first six books of Euclid. A young Englishman, who has embraced Islamism, and is lately established at Constantinople, had translated Euclid into Turkish, and published an astronomical ephemeris. Having received some encouragement, he was proceeding to read lectures on mathematical subjects. Many scribes are found here who write elegantly and correctly.

The national taste does not seem rapidly to improve. One of the Sultanas, sisters of the monarch, has not long since built a villa on the Bosphorus, half in the European style, half in the Chinese.

There is a considerable market for books, containing many shops, well supplied.

Strata of coals are found at about four hours distance on the European side. An officer in the service of the Porte informed me that he had at first obtained the exclusive right of working them. He sent them to the Crimea. Since that time better coals having been found in that country, and the right of working them having been soon afterwards taken from him, the mine was neglected, and then discontinued. It was difficult to work on account of the sandy soil which fell in. He said he could sell them at Constantinople for a para the oke.

Went to a Greek printing-house conducted by an Armenian. They were printing a small exhortation in the Greek language, written by Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, against the prevailing tenets of Deism and Atheism. They throw off about a thousand sheets a day.

The navy has of late been greatly improved by Le Brun and other French ship-builders. On the 2d of April 1798 there were eight ships of war at anchor in the Bosphorus; three seventy-fours, four fifties, one forty. The whole navy amounts to fifteen ships, fit for service, and of considerable force.

The Turkish women, in fine weather, ape the European custom of taking the air in their carriages, in a great square; but they are concealed in small latticed waggons, and veiled. They thus lose the best part of the display, “the mighty pleasure of being seen.”

I shall close my remarks on Constantinople with observing, that the country between it and Adrianople is completely plain, and that the capital is, on the land side, incapable of any defence against a victorious army. The uncertainty of the winds and channels join with the forts to defend the other side from any sudden assault.

Proceeding through Wallachia to Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipsic, Potsdam, Berlin, and Hamburg, I arrived in London on the 16th of September, 1798, after an absence of nearly seven years.

CHAP. XXIX.

_Comparative view of life and happiness in the East and in Europe._

—_Et qui plus est, il me semble que je n’ay rencontré guere de manieres, qui ne vaillent les nostres._ MONTAIGNE.

The great contrast which is observable between the manners and personal character of the Orientals and Europeans, insensibly leads to a comparison of its result in society. The character of every nation merits the attention of the philosopher; and the less that nation resembles ourselves, the more its distinguishing features require our investigation.

While vanity instigates us to claim an undisputed superiority, experience often compels us to doubt the validity of the sentence on which we insist. We are fearful of being reduced to acknowlege, that the labour, the thought, the agitation which have place among us, often augment not the happiness of the individual, and are of doubtful utility to the collective body. It is not however designed to insist on any such concession; and only a few considerations shall be offered in the order that they arise.

—Animo satis hæc vestigia parva sagaci

Sunt, per quæ possis cognoscere cætera tutè.

LUCRETIUS.

Impatience, activity, and sanguine hope, are habits of an European. By education his imagination is exalted and his ideas are multiplied. By reading, and frequent intercourse with foreigners, he is enabled to present to himself the state of distant times and remote nations. Their knowlege, their arts, their pleasures become familiar to him; and, from a fixed principle of the human mind, the lively idea of all these advantages generates the hope of appropriating them. His first attempt is haply crowned with success, and he is thus stimulated to farther effort: but as the bounds fixed to his attainments are removed the farther he advances, and improvement is infinite, his ultimate disappointment is inevitable, and it is felt with a poignancy proportioned to the confidence of his first hopes.

The habits of the Oriental, on the contrary, are indolence, gravity, patience. His ideas are few in number; and his sentiments in course equally rare. They are, however, generally correct, springing from the objects around him, and for the most part limited to those objects.

A chief cause of this contrast, must be the mode of education in each community. Education should be the art of forming man on the principles of nature; by due attention to her unerring progress, no advantage of life can remain unimproved, and no duty can be misunderstood. But in no nation with whose history we are acquainted, has such a system been established. Almost every one forms its disciples on the narrow views of that community, and nature is distorted and paralised by authority.

The leading fault of education in the various parts of the Turkish empire, originates in the prevailing superstition. Wherever this does not operate, the practice is sufficiently rational.

The children of the Arabs early attain the character of manhood. A grave demeanour, fortitude in suffering, respect for age, filial affection, contempt for frivolous amusements, frugality, temperance, hospitality, are taught in the easiest and most effectual manner—by example; and where there is least probability of counter-instruction—in the house of the father.

They are early taken out of the hands of women, and sent to study the Korân; an employment which indeed has only the negative advantage of saving a portion of their time from positive idleness. As they advance towards maturity, little coercion is employed, but no incitement is administered to error. The father gradually accustoms himself to treat his son on the footing of an equal; who, on the other hand, seldom forgets the respect which is not imperiously exacted.

The dress of children is free from ligatures, their diet simple, and they are accustomed to variations of season, and enured to fatigue. These are a part of the advantages of Oriental education. Among its more serious inconveniences may be enumerated, an excessive credulity, the offspring of profound ignorance, and a keenness bordering on dishonesty and falshood. It is not easy to gain knowlege which is not sought. The boy respects his father, and the summit of his ambition is to imitate his sire. The parent is guided chiefly by the reflection, how far he may extend his pursuit of gain with impunity; of course a very refined morality is not to be expected from the son. Happiness once confined to the small circle of a family, little anxiety remains for the world at large. Hence the faintness of the conception of a community, and the duties arising from it.

In Europe, education is the art of moulding the soul to the times; and the preceptor is commonly successful in conveying the instruction, of which experience has taught him the advantage, and which he is no stranger to the mode of applying. Advancement is the object; and to obtain it activity is required. This end is gained; but in the art of directing the powers of his mind to the attainment of his own happiness, or to the public utility, or of preserving his body sane and vigorous, the man remains still a child; and thus the true object of education is frustrated. We have on this head then, it would seem, no great reason to boast our superiority.

The distinctive character of a nation is not to be sought in great cities. The manners of these reciprocally approximate. In that part of Egypt where the character of women is unsophisticated by mixture, however strong their passions, they are not unchaste. This perhaps proceeds more from the influence of public opinion, than the sanctions of municipal law.

Among the people, as they are to take part in domestic duties, their education is bounded by the useful. Among the opulent it extends to the ornamental, and many females in Kahira are taught to read and write. Instead of complaining of their seclusion as an injury, they may sometimes be observed tenacious of it as a mark of respect. That seclusion, though originating in the real or supposed licentiousness of the sex, is, at this time, far from being the effect of individual jealousy, but by long adoption, become a part of bien-séance. “I consented to become your wife,” said a woman to her husband, in my hearing, “that I might be veiled or private, _masturê_, and remain tranquil in my family; not to be sent to the market, to meet the eyes of _chalk-illah_, all the world.”

This seclusion of women has an important effect in society; and the Orientals are accordingly, as has often been remarked, in a great degree strangers to the passion of _love_. It is thought indecent in company to speak much of women, and no man would venture to declare, that he had a preference for a particular woman, or intended to marry her.

Social intercourse is thus rendered less vivacious and amusing, but numberless inquietudes are avoided. They who affirm, however, that nothing is sought from women, among the people of the East, but sensual gratification, seem to err. Why should a man, by having several women, necessarily become insensible to what is amiable or estimable in any individual among them? Or is individual character rendered absolutely indistinct by their being associated together?

They are equally in error who assert, that women in the East are slaves. Perhaps it might correctly be said that they are treated as children; but, supposing this to be true, do not tenderness and affection operate towards children?

They hold not the same rank as in Europe; and if they did, the intrigues carried on in the _harem_, would render their husbands and themselves miserable. In their present state, accidents of this kind are not without ill effects, but, in general, serve rather to minister a cause of diversion, than to produce any very serious evil. Of course they give much less disturbance than in Europe.

The spirit of Chivalry, fostered by the Crusades, changed, in the heated imagination of the youthful hero, the lovely object of his desires, into a deity that was to be adored. The visible nature of the divinity fanned the flame of devotion. Whether the fair benignly smiled, or scornfully averted her countenance from the humble votary, her perfections were equally the subject of his eulogies, and her will of his propitiation. But all his services were sublimely disinterested, and were to remain without hope of remuneration, till giants should be immolated to her perfections, and widows and orphans chaunt forth in her presence the praises of their generous deliverer.

These chaste amours, in which all was elevated, and all exquisitely unnatural, according to modern ideas, were yet the foundation of the rank women hold in modern Europe. This system, forced and contrary to nature, could not long have place, and perhaps the sex itself grew satiated with the frigid adulation of distant votaries, however flattering to its vanity. A more licentious gallantry then took place, and the charm was quickly dissolved. The intercourse between the sexes being at length reduced to the simple gratification of the sensual desire, society was almost in the same state in the West, as in the East, at the period when the seclusion of females first took place.

But the Europeans adopted a different plan. They either despised the security of bolts and bars as ineffectual, or too much of their former respect yet remained to allow the attempt. The sex at length wearied, but not satiated with simple sensuality, was governed in the choice of its indulgences by caprice; and the men were studiously employed to attract the æillades of their mistresses, and to chain this fickle sentiment, by varied foppery and grimace. Hence the romantic tales of our novels, hence the inconsequential conduct of their heroes, and hence the agitations of our societies, at which the Orientals would smile.

It is not said, that the miseries and violent dissensions which exist in families, result from the rank females hold in European society. Eternal litigations, and all the confusion of severe laws and loose morals are not attributed to that cause. It is only hinted that these evils are coëtaneous with that state of society, and that the pure institution of matrimony may be enforced by the commanding voice of religion, and sanctioned by municipal law, yet those evils may remain without a remedy.

The young of each sex are, in Europe, brought together, and taught to attach themselves to each other: but interdicted from uniting, unless equal in rank, fortune, &c. Passion however is strongest at an early age, when the reason which should guide it is weakest. But the public institutions eternize the punishment of a momentary folly. Parental authority, at other times, interferes, and pretending only solicitude for the child’s happiness, renders both the parent and the offspring miserable.

The husband is vain of exhibiting in public his admired bride. From familiarities with a variety of men which, by being public, are authorized, she is induced to try them in private. The man becomes unhappy and ridiculous, the wife disgraced, and the lover impoverished. Little or nothing of this is known in the East.

Another striking dissimilitude between the Europeans and Orientals is observable in the number and quality of their respective laws, and the administration of public justice. Though a multitude of commentaries has been written on the simple maxims contained in the Korân, applying them to the particular cases which occur in society, the whole falls far short, in point of extent, of the most simple systems of jurisprudence with which we are acquainted. The single circumstance of each man being advocate in his own cause, contracts all judicial proceedings to a small compass, and, whether justly or unjustly, all legal disputes are speedily terminated. So that no man can bequeath to his family the inheritance of judicial ruin.

It will no doubt be thought, that the corrupt character of judges, and the sale of their decrees, are evils for which no advantages can compensate; and here, at least, it may be urged, that in Europe the administration of justice is more equal, and the right is not generally to be shaken by a bribe.

On the other hand, whatever may be the integrity of the judges in their decisions, the length and delay of the proceedings is sufficient to re-produce all the evils which are thought to be obviated by the absence of judicial corruption. If one of the parties be poor and the other rich, the latter commonly has the option of ruining the former by throwing impediments in the way of a decision; and it is of little importance to a man to know that he is ultimately victorious, when his property is already consumed, ere the cause draw near its termination.

But independently of the immense expense of a process in most countries of Europe, the anxiety and suspense while it is depending, tend to lessen the happiness of society, and are, by their frequency, serious evils.

Domestic manners furnish a more minute, but not unimportant contrast. In receiving strangers at his house and when they leave it, the Oriental testifies no great emotion. The visitor is welcomed rather by actions than words. An Arab or Turk having once accorded protection, which he does with a kind of distance and hauteur, never afterwards withdraws it, and his word may be relied on. In visiting, as is well known, the common but absurd practice, which obtains among ourselves, of urging those to stay longer, of whose company one is already tired, is obviated by the simple use of a little scented wood in a censer.

In their communications every thing tends rather to tranquillize the mind, than to excite the passions. The quarrels of the mere mob, indeed, evaporate in idle vociferation; but among persons of any breeding, the voice is scarcely ever raised above its ordinary tone.

The greatest number of menials in a family (and in the East they are very numerous) occasions no confusion. All is conducted in silence and order. All such directions as are in the common routine of affairs, are given by signs, and are instantly understood; not from pride, or as implying the vast distance between master and servant, but principally to avoid all _equivoque_, when persons of various descriptions are present, and, by making secresy a uniform habit, to avoid all suspicion from the adoption of mystery in giving orders before company, when any thing is to be said which it is not intended that company should hear.

The ingenuity of man in contriving his own unhappiness, is in no part of the world more conspicuous than in Europe. Our mutual intercourse is so beset with forms, that it becomes doubtful whether it be a good or an evil; and the individual, not unfrequently, leaves a company dissatisfied that he ever entered into it. Hence a continued desire of changing place and forming new acquaintance.

Whenever a number of persons meet together, eating and drinking seem to be a necessary bond of union; and they often do not separate without that kind of festivity which impairs the health of each, and creates dissensions, as it were, by its mechanical operation. The sole benefit which results from the social meals of the Arabs, is to us entirely unknown.—No man thinks himself incapacitated from injuring his neighbour, in consequence of having divided with him a loaf of bread, and a little salt, at the convivial board.

In the East social intercourse is less artificial, and less hampered with rules. It is maintained with more complacency, and relinquished, not without hope of renewal. We too have now indeed abandoned a part of its more inconvenient formalities; but some of its oppressive and despotic laws continue unaltered. The exterior may be changed; but the substance is identical.

In the East, they who are guilty of excess in drinking bury their inebriation in the gloom of their closet. By this, present disturbance, and future ill example are equally obviated, whatever may be the ill consequence to the wretched victim of intemperance. Of excess in eating there are few examples; for their longest meals, even when a series of dishes is presented, as at the tables of a Pasha or a Bey, are terminated in a few minutes. The moderation and temperance of diet indeed throughout the East are matters of high praise; and, whether virtues of climate, habit, or reflection, merit imitation among ourselves. The reward is present, uninterrupted health and tranquillity of mind.

If the multitude of wants constitute human inquietude, it must be remembered how much of what to us is indispensable is, to them, as if it had never been.

With them society is rendered tranquil and easy by mutual forbearance; with us it is vexed with the necessity of mutual adulation.—In the one region each man sets a fashion to himself, in the other all the constituent parts are wearied with serving an idol that the collective body alone has set up. Each stands bareheaded from respect to the other, when both might remain covered without inconvenience to either.

Politeness is, with the one, an easy compliance, with which all are satisfied; with the other, it is a difficult effort, from the practice and the experience of which the parties mutually retire discontented.

The fashions to which we are slaves, are indeed many of them so little founded in reason, that one is sometimes disposed to consider them as imagined by the indolent and restless, to occupy the thoughts and time of those who have no better employment; or invented, like certain dogmas, to shew the merit of implicit credence. A certain dress is to be worn, a certain establishment kept up, under pain of indelible ignominy; and the man whose circumstances disable him from complying with this terrific mandate, with timid irresolution hides his head.

See the European in conversation, even among his equals, he is not so solicitous to express such thoughts as rise in his mind, as to find some employment for his tongue. It is not to give utterance to what naturally occurs, but that conversation may be _kept up_, that all are anxious. Garrulities, and misconceptions are civilly uttered for arguments; and the abortions of fancy and caprice, hold the place of the sane offspring of judgment and reflection. Yet we laugh at them for using short and few phrases, (_phrases courtes et rares_, as Volney describes them,) when they have nothing to say!

It is with them however neither ridiculous nor irksome to be silent. They go into company to be diverted, not to labour, and they esteem effort in conversation a vain toil. The raillery and repartee of the Occidentals is, among them, supplied (it must be allowed very inadequately) by the _Meddahs_, story-tellers, and professed jokers.

Human life in the East is exposed to a variety of casualties. Pestilence, famine, tyranny, all conspire to diminish its security. It is natural to set a smaller value on any advantage, in proportion to the facility of privation. Hence the Orientals are not much disturbed at the thoughts of death, but resign life without a sigh. The mind is tortured when the blossoms of hope are suddenly torn from it; but their gradual decay is not incompatible with a kind of tranquillity.

The European, more dissatisfied with the present, and only supported by the hope of what is to come, attached beyond measure to the advantages which his anxieties have been prolonged to acquire, has already, even at an early age, fixed to himself a period, short of which he thinks it _hard and unjust_ to be deprived of life.

Concerning past events the fatalist is consoled by reflecting, that nothing he could have done would have altered the immutable order of things, and that his efforts before would have been as vain as his regret now is. This idea, indeed, is perhaps not destitute of ill effects, but it surely produces some good. If, by persuading them that the evils which they suffer are unavoidable, it prevent them from endeavouring to avoid them, it also prevents their repining at what must at all events be endured as the immutable law of the universe.

The European attributing more power to volition, ascribes to his own want of judgment or energy the result of whatever terminates unfavourably. Thus a part of his life is occupied by self-accusation, which, however, ensures no amelioration for the future.

In the East, if age be respected, it is respected, in part at least, from the decorous behaviour of the aged. In Europe, if it be rendered ridiculous, it is so too often, by a vain effort to perpetuate the character and manners of youth.

The commanding influence of a system so flattering to the pride of its professors, and operating so powerfully on their hopes and fears as Mohammedism, aided by the dread of present suffering, has so far counteracted the strong impulse of avarice, that _gaming_ is in a great degree banished from society in the East. All the evils and inconveniences therefore of that practice, so severely felt throughout Europe, are almost unknown in the Turkish empire.

If activity and a careful provision for the future, and that each should contribute his efforts to the good of the whole, be necessary to constitute the happiness of a people, how happens it that the Orientals, among whom these requisites are wanting, should yet be happy?

The system of morals contained in the writings of the Orientals, is at once sublime without being impracticable, and levelled to the use of mankind, without being loose or low. Yet it is usual with us to talk of their brutal stupidity! But this system is not practised among them—and is the Christian system of morals practised among Christian nations?

The Arabian and Persian histories and romances abound with traits of magnanimity, of generosity, justice, and courage, no way inferior to, but in some instances exceeding those of other nations. The Greeks and ourselves have indeed stigmatised them with the name of barbarians; but impartial inquiry proves that they are susceptible of all that is admired in a polished people; that crimes are treated among them as among other nations, and that though their passions may be expressed in a different way, they have always the same source and the same object.

No man who reflects on his past enjoyments and sufferings can doubt but that the latter, by their intenseness, duration, and frequency, have been decidedly predominant.

To render them more equal, that is, to be less miserable, or to make life tolerable, either the number of pleasures must be augmented, according to the system of the Epicureans, or that of pains must be diminished, according to that of the Stoics. The Orientals strive to attain the one object like ourselves, by sensuality; and here it is not to be conceived that they are happier than we are; but the other they gain in a much more complete degree than ourselves, and are much more exercised in the stoical system, which seems the most effectual to the purpose.

The passions, indeed, it is said, are to the mind what motion is to the body; and the absence of either causes and marks, in each respectively, symptoms that may be termed morbid.

A perfect absence of passion is certainly preternatural, if it may not be called impossible; but as our passions are more likely to be called into action by painful than by pleasurable sensations, it seems little doubtful, that the mind, on which they operate most feebly, will remain in the most tranquil state. This tranquillity, this absence of pain, (for joy, however poignant, is but a transient gleam, a coruscation, which passing, renders the obscurity which succeeds it more sensible,) is the single species of happiness of which mankind is allowed to partake.

A man of great sensibility has his feelings hourly wounded by minute accidents, at which one of less lively sensations would smile.

Such a one is transported with love, and, if that love be successful, his gratification is exquisite. He is suddenly moved by compassion,—how refined his feeling in offering relief to distress! He ardently desires fame,—how is he elated with the slightest praises! But how often is his warm affection requited with neglect, or its gratification found impossible? How often will his compassion be excited, without the means of affording relief? And how much more is mankind disposed to obloquy than to eulogy?

But this is not all; the same mind which is strongly acted on by these passions will also have its peace disturbed by pride, ambition, anger, jealousy, and resentment. The subjects of all these tormenting emotions crowd on it too closely to allow its complacency to be permanent. The sunshine of the morning will inevitably, ere night, be succeeded by a tempest.

Some slight omission of ceremonial will offend its pride, some _sordid repulse_ will check its ambition; it will flame with anger at the breaking of a jar, or pine with jealousy at the like frailty in a mistress.

Something of the same kind has place with regard to taste. A man of delicate taste feels refined enjoyment from the contemplation of a beautiful landscape or a fine picture, or the perusal of an elegant poem; and is equally disgusted at the sight of any thing deformed, disproportioned, or unnatural in either. But, it may be said, he has the option of contemplating a disagreeable object, but not of feeling an unpleasing sensation. And is it indeed so easy, in being perpetually conversant among mankind, to avoid observing their works? or does not the man who reads unavoidably fall on absurdities which disgust him? Social man has been too long employed in counteracting nature, not to have moulded all to his dwarfish intellect; and the abortive efforts of imagination are numberless both in the arts and in letters.

Then it will be said, human happiness is reduced to apathy; and the lively taste and ardent passions, which have established the superiority of Europeans, only serve to diminish their sum of felicity! This would be pushing the argument too far; but each will draw his own conclusions.

The chief points of contrast between the Europeans and Orientals being thus marked, it will be seen how far it may be doubted on which side lies the greater degree of happiness.

=APPENDIX.=

* * * * *

=No. I.=

_Illustrations of the Maps._

In compiling the two maps which accompany this work, the writer has made use of his own observations in that part of it to which those observations had extended. For the remainder of the information exhibited in each, he has trusted to the report of the more intelligent natives, who having frequently traversed the neighbouring countries, might be supposed in some measure qualified to describe what they had seen. Yet he has not ventured to lay down a single position which had not previously been confirmed by the distinct and concordant testimony of at least three or four individuals. Even with this castigation, it is unnecessary to remark how impracticable is the task of approximating the bearings, from the oral testimony of those who have no clear idea of bearings, and scarcely know how to distinguish the eight principal points. Almost equally difficult is it to give the face of a country, or an account of its productions, which the informant perhaps traversed between sleep and waking, or when too much occupied with the sufferings of the road, or the end he had in view, to be at leisure to attend to its detail.

The names of places so obtained and positions so adjusted, it has been thought proper to distinguish by dotted letters, with a view to denote hesitation and uncertainty. The part with which he was himself more particularly acquainted, or which was sufficiently supported by the authority of former maps, is marked with ordinary letters. The writer’s own route is pointed out by a green line, the reported routes by a single engraved line, without colour.

The loss already mentioned of a large portion of his detached papers, has effectually deprived him of the power of presenting the chart of the route with all that exactness and minute detail which ought invariably to accompany all geographical researches. But if he have been compelled to use the _result_ of his celestial observations, which alone his journal furnished, without the recapitulation of particulars, he has been careful to compare them with the bearings which fortunately were most of them preserved, without venturing to force the latter to the former: _e.g._ the result of his observation, as he found it briefly noted, would have brought _Charjé_ and _Mughes_ several miles farther East; but having found the distance and bearings exactly accord with this position with respect to _Assiût_, he has preferred it to the attempt of fixing the position of those places, by observation of which he was unable to give adequate proof of the accuracy.

The position of _Assiût_ is fixed, both in latitude and longitude, by observation. That of _Charjé_ in latitude by observation; in longitude, as above described. While at _Sheb_, the Writer had an opportunity of observing his position at leisure, both in latitude and longitude. At _Selimé_ he enjoyed the same satisfaction. The mountains, to the East of the road, are laid down according to their appearance to the eye of the observer from the villages of _Elwah_, and the route of the caravan beyond them. Their S.E. extremity, as here marked, rests solely on the report of a native of _Mahas_. The distance from _Selimé_ to the river, has been judged fully established by the uniform and unvarying testimony of a number of Jelabs of _Dongola_, &c. who travel that route.

The latitude of _Leghéa_ was variously observed, both in going and returning. Its longitude is only determined by the bearing of the road, relatively to _Bîr-el-Malha_ S. and _Selimé_ N. Several days consumed at _Bîr-el-Malha_, afforded the means of determining its position both in latitude and longitude.

_Sweini_ and _Zeghawa_ have been placed only according to the bearing and distance computed from _Cobbé_ and _Le Haimer_. But the two latter places are fixed without much doubt by frequent lunar observations, the occultations of Jupiter’s satellites, &c.

With regard to _Cubcabéa_ and _Rîl_, no more could be done than to place them according to the uniform and constant report of the natives. They are both places much frequented, and in so small a distance no mistake of importance can have arisen.

The bearings of the road from _Cubcabéa_ to _Wara_, and thence to the capital of _Bornou_, are not laid down but from numerous inquiries, and some labour employed in adjusting them. That road occupies sixty days. The position of the capital of Bornou varies from that which is allotted to it in the latest maps, but scrupulously adheres to the bearings and distance given. _Abu-Shareb_ is from _Cobbé_ nearly W. by N. _Abu-Shareb_ to _Wara_, N.W. by N. From _Wara_ to the capital of _Baghermi_, between W.N.W. and N.W. by W. Road winding S. From _Baghermi_ to _Kottocomb_, N. by W. 2 W. From _Kottocomb_ to _Bornou_ nearly in the same direction.

_Sennaar_, as well as the course of the Nile, the coast of the Arabian gulf, _Masouah_, _Gondar_, _Swakem_, &c. have the same position as in M. Rennell’s map. _Sennaar_ is in longitude 33° 30′ 30″. _Cobbé_ being in 28° 8′, the difference between them will be 5° 2′ 30″—_Rîl_ cannot be more than twelve or thirteen miles E. of _Cobbé_, but _Rîl_ is only twenty-three days journey from _Sennaar_. There remain therefore on a direct line 4° 50′ which is about twelve and a half geometrical miles _per_ day; and admitting the smallest possible deviation, will give fourteen miles by the road. This on so long a journey is much more than might be expected, and by no means accords with the route to _Bornou_, which allows only about nine miles for each day’s march.—D’Anville’s position of _Sennaar_ (29° 39′) would bring it too near to _Rîl_, leaving only eighty miles between them, or three miles and quarter _per_ day. Whether the truth lie between the observation of Mr. Bruce and the conjecture of D’Anville, or whether the former be well established, and the length of each day’s march may be accounted for from the straitness and facility of the road, some future occasion must determine. One circumstance would seem clear, viz. the distance between the _city Sennaar_, and the _Bahr-el-abiad_, which the repeated and unvaried testimonies of the natives relatively to the interval of three, or three and half days, leave no room to doubt, have hitherto been placed much too far apart.

The road from _Wara_ to _Dar Kulla_ exhibits a remarkable coincidence as to the number of rivers and lakes which it passes, with that part of Major Rennell’s last general map of Northern Africa, which forms what he considers as the alluvies of that portion of the continent, though it be neither in the same latitude nor longitude.

Of these various streams little description was obtained. The country they flow through is said to be great part of the year wet and marshy; the heat is excessive, and the people remark that there is no winter. The course of the rivers, if rightly given, is for the most part from E. to W.

The river called _Bahr Misselad_ is said to be a considerable one. It’s source is not described, but appears to be not far distant from the supposed site of the copper mines. Those who frequent this road, ordinarily pass two years from the time of leaving _Wara_ till their return to that place, or _Cobbé_. Of the time actually employed in the route they differ in their report, but it may be estimated at from 150 to 180 days; at a medium 165. _Wangara_ I have never heard mentioned. Whether it may be the same country with some one of those described is uncertain; but its production being gold, does not accord with any of them; that commodity not being, as far as was related to me, found in any quantity to the W. _Zamphara_ is yet known to several of my informers, as a country near to _Bornou_; but no particular description was given.