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THE STORY TELLER OF THE DESERT--BACKSHEESH!

or, Life and Adventures in the Orient

With Descriptive And Humorous Sketches Of Sights And Scenes Over The Atlantic, Down The Danube, Through The Crimea J In Turkey, Greece, Asia-Minor, Syria, Palestine, And Egypt; Up The Nile, In Nubia, And Equatorial Africa, Etc., Etc.

With fine Steel-Plate Portrait of the Author.

"Overland through Asia,"

"Underground," etc.

Hartford, Conn.

The following pages are the result of a peaceful crusade to the East, undertaken for purposes of pleasure and profit. The author has endeavored to combine the humorous features of the journey with the store of useful knowledge that should be the result of a tour through the Orient. He trusts that he has so combined them that both will be satisfactory, and that the reader will be amused while seeking instruction and instructed while seeking amusement.

There is a story of an honest old Quaker resident of Philadelphia, who sent his son to make the tour of Europe. The young man determined to see all that could be seen, and gave his whole mind to the search for enjoyment. When he returned from his travels his father said:

"John, thou hast been absent a twelvemonth and past, and thou hast drawn on me for eighteen thousand dollars. John, that is a great deal of money for thee to spend in one year."

"I know it, father," was the young man's response, "but I have had lots of fun for that money."

In return for the labor and fatigue incident to Oriental travel, the author believes that he found an ample reward in the entertainment and information which the journey afforded.

The author is glad to avail himself of this opportunity to express the gratification he feels at seeing his book so profusely and artistically illustrated. In this department of the work the publishers have displayed their enterprise and liberality in such a creditable manner, as to justly entitle them, not only to the author's grateful acknowledgments, but to the hearty thanks of all who may read his book.

Finally he would thank most cordially the many gentlemen in the various countries he visited who gave him the benefit of their personal experience and observation. Their names are too numerous to be included in this preface, and their nationalities comprise nearly all the civilized countries of the globe. T. W. K.

Principally designed, or reproduced from photographs, by Karl Giradet, Faguet, Frank Beard, James C. Beard, Arthur Lumley, L. Hopkins, and eminent artists, and mostly engraved by Messrs. Holier, Pannemaker, Laptante, Gusmand, Gauchard, and other noted engravers of Paris; by W. J. Palmer, and the London Illustration Company, of London; and by Charles Speigle, of New York.

Page.

CHAP I--STEAMER LIFE ON THE ATLANTIC.

Leaving Home--Our Pilgrimage Begun--Sights and Scenes on Deck--"Life on the Ocean Wave"--Out at Sea--The Traveller's Little World--Feeling Queer Inside!--Delights of Sea-Sickness--Reminiscences of a Jolly Old Boy--What Became of the Judge--Bringing up his Liver!--Too Big for his Berth--Sleeping in a Second-Hand Coffin--A Race with a Lemon--The Leg of Mutton Dance--Eccentric Conduct of a Boiled Turkey--Too Much Sauce!--"Dressing" the Judge's Trowsers--Alone at Sea--A Funny Conspiracy--Fate of a Timid Man--Confidence Betrayed--The Young Man from the Country--His Wisdom and his Woes--Drinking Petroleum--The Judge Turns Joker--Who Owns the Ocean Steamers.........033

CHAP II--SCENES IN VIENNA.--DOWN THE DANUBE.

On English Ground--The Road to the East--Life in the Austrian Capital--Fun and Festivity--Visit to the Big Beer-Garden--Effects of Champagne--Animated Conversation--How Twenty Thousand Dollars were Spent--The Man with the Torn Vest--Headaches at a Discount--Yankees in a Row--A Pugnacious Russian--"Quits," but not Satisfied--Challenging an American--The Fashionable World--Down the Danube--Scenes on the River--I low Austrian Cigars are Made--An Imperial Tobacco Dealer--The Rattle of Wagram--Castle of l'resburg--We Enter Hungary--An Evening in a Wine Cellar--Want of a Little Soap--Night Scene on the Danube,..........048

A City of Renown--Overwhelmed by the Moods--Lying in Clover--What I Saw in the Hungarian Capital--"The Poor Folks' Bath"--Rather Warm Quarters--Life Among the Magyars--The "Miffs" of an Imperial Couple--Her Majesty's Choice--A Model Captain--Charles Matthews and the Row-cry Roy--Facts and Fancies of a Snoring Match--The "Judge" and the "Doubter"--The Man who Wouldn't Relieve--Who were the "Hamals," and What They Did--People in Strange Garments--Raggy Breeches versus glop--The Fortress of Belgrade--Servin, and What I Saw of Its People-- The Assassination of Prince Milochi--Rather Bad for Poetry,..........063

CHAP IV--NEARING THE ORIENT.--"BACKSHEESH!"

Among the Fleas--The Mystery of the Redclothes--A Cool Explanation-- Under the Spray--What Became of the Dragon--A Queer Story about Flics--What Is an "Araba?"--Conversation without Words--Changing Shirts in Public--The Iron Gate--Scene at the Custom-House--Official Obstinacy--The "Sick Man"--Scenes in the Orient--The Mysteries of the Quarantine--How we Dodged the Turks--The Turk and his Rosary--Pity the Poor Israelite!--Why an Unlucky Jewess was Whipped--The Secret of the Turkish Loan--How the Money is Spent--Ten Million Dollars Gone!--What is "Backsheesh?"..........078

CHAP V--THROUGH THE CRIMEA.--IN AND AROUND SEVASTOPOL.

A Visit to the Crimea--The Porter with the Big Books--The Danger of Siberia--Our Entry into Sevastopol--Terrible Reminiscences of the Crimean War--How we Shirked the Cemetery--The Great Dock Yard of Sevastopol--We Visit a Remarkable Gunboat--What we Saw Below-Deck--The Story that our landlord Told--An Enterprising Tartar--The "Doubter" Offers an Opinion--How the "Judge" Stole a Newspaper--Adventures by the Way--The "Doubter" gets into Trouble--We Fly to the Rescue--Eccentricities of a Selfish Man--We Rise and Depart,..........093

CHAP VI--ACROSS THE BLACK SEA.

Locomotion in Constantinople--Horses, Donkeys, Shanks' Mare and Sedan Chairs--Turkish Street Cars--Women in Public--The Veiled Queens of Seraglios--The Drugs of the Orient--Henna and its Uses--Ottar of Roses, Musk and Bergamot--Shawls and Silks of Price--The Treasures of Ormus and of Ind--The Workers in Precious Metals--Vases of Gold and Platters of Silver--An Aureole of Gems--Loot for Soldiers and Swag for Burglars--The Weapons of Ancient Islam--Blades of Damascus and Swords of Mecca--A Wonderful Collection--Old Clothes and New Truck--A Seedy Moslem Swindler--An Exorbitant "Backsheesh"--What Happened to the Judge--A Dispenser of Justice in the Lockup,.........135

The Great Moslem Fast--Nights of Feasting and Days of Fasting--The Injunction of Mahomet--The Ravenous Mussulman--An Hotel Swindle--A Stranger and they Took Him In--"Too Thin, Too Thin"--Greek Wine--Going Out in a Blaze of Glory--Thunder, Smoke, and Flame--The Approach of the Sultan--How he Looked--A Peep at the Ladies of the Harem--The Veiled Queens--The Sultan's Mother--The Empress Eugenie at the Seraglio--Insult Offered to Eugenie--A Queen in Tears--A Question of Court Etiquette--Murdering Christians,..........145

CHAP X--THE MOSQUES.--FAITH AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE MUSSULMANS.

Among the Mosques--Their Special Uses--Greek Burglars, their Capture and Execution--A "Firman," What Is It--A Turkish Dragoman--A Relic of Ancient Byzantium--Its Name and Origin--Taking a Portrait--Turkish Superstitions--Worshipping in St. Sophia--Moslem Fanatics--Counting The Minarets--What Came of a Wet Pair of Boots--The Judge in a Tight Place--The "Doubter" Commits Sacrilege--Uncovering a Sarcophagus--Attacked by the Priests--Barefooted Worshippers--Teachings of the Koran--Cleanliness and Temperance--Why Turkish Women Do Not Go to the Mosques--Why Good Mussulmans Never Get Drunk,..........153

The Dervishes of Constantinople, What Are They?--How they Live and What they Do--Unclean and Devout Beggars--Where they Bury their Dead--Opening their Circus--Removing the "Doubter's" Boots--An Amusing Situation--Clearing the Floor--Human Top-Spinning--Dropping into Jelly-Bags--A Pliable Lot of Living Corpses--The Howling Dervishes--Where and How they Live--A House Full of Madmen--A Shrieking Chant--"La Hah il Allah"--Stirring Up the Wild Beasts--Spectators Joining in the Chorus--Horrible Superstitious Rites--Treading on Sick Children--Reaching Paradise by Bodily Tortures--A Sad Disappointment--The Founder of the Sect, and who he Was--Pulling Teeth as a Proof of Sanctity,..........166

In sight of Syra--Active Trade in one Fish--A town all Built of Marble--The "Doubter" Expresses his Sentiments--Gustave's Adventure--Walking on One's Ear--"A little more beer, boy!"--The Pirates' Retreat--Extraordinary Politeness in a Cafe--A lesson for American Barkeepers--In the Stamboul's Cabin--"Blowing great guns"--A Tale of a Tub--Honey and Marble--Standing in the City of Demosthenes--The Battle of the Rival Hotels--Profanity in an Unknown Tongue--Out-generaling Inn-keepers--Tricks on Travellers--Useful Knowledge for Foreign Travel,..........187

First Impressions of Athens--Opinion of the "Doubter"--"Not Worth Damming"--The Oldest Inhabitant of Athens--Celebrated Ruins--Reminiscences of Greek Grammar--A "Big Injun" on Greek--Drinking Beer on Sacred Soil--A Toper-graphical Survey--The Acropolis--What Is It?--The Temple of Jupiter Olympus--Seven Hundred Years in Building--A Young Englishman in a Scrape--Sunset from the Acropolis--Byron's Glorious Lines--The Parthenon and its Surroundings--Foundations of the Ancient Citadel--Excavations of Antiquarians--Greek Art--An Important Discovery--The Line of Beauty,..........197

Mars' Hill, the Place where St. Paul Preached on the Unknown God--The Prison of Socrates--The Country of the Brigands--Escorted by Greek Soldiers--Captures by the Brigands--How they Treat Captives--Extorting Ransoms--Buying Coins and Relics--Swindling Travellers--Among the Ruins--Strange Contrasts--"Chaffing" the Guide--Position of the Persian and Grecian Hosts--Xerxes' Throne--"The King Sate on the Rocky Brow"--Making the Ascent by Proxy--"I No Go ze Mountain"--The Battle of Marathon--A Survivor of the Battle--How the Victory was Won,..........213

The Opera at Athens--Handsome Greeks--The King and Queen--A Lovely Trio--Losing a Heart--Byron's "Maid of Athens"--How She Looked--Her House and History--The Acropolis by Moonlight--Waking the Guard--A Sham Permit--"Backsheesh"--The Parthenon by Night--Greek Gypsies--Among the Curiosity Shops--Dr. Schliemann and his Trojan Discoveries--The Gold and Silver Vases of King Priam--Where they were Found--Relics of the Sack of Troy--Curious Workmanship--Some Account of the Excavations--We Leave Athens--A Queer Steamer--"Pay or Go to Prison"--End of Our Steamship Adventure,..........225

A Rough Night on Shipboard--A Sea-Sick Turk--What he Said--Rum and Petroleum--Meditations on Turkish Hash--The Camel, his Tricks and Uses--A Knowing Brute--How he Shirks a Burden--George Smith, the Assyrian Savan--Beyrout--Its Antiquities and Wonders--Going on Shore--The Dragoman and his Office--Eastern Guides and their Character--Travelling on Horseback in Syria--The Road to Damascus--An Unexpected Trouble--Paying Fare by Weight--Disadvantages of a Heavy "Party"--A Trial of Wits--Waking up the Judge--Telling White Lies--The "Doubter's" Predicament,..........252

"The Sights" of Beyrout--Excursion to Dog River--An Obstinate Carriage-Owner--How he was "Euchred"--Moral of this Incident--Off for Damascus--Ascending Mt. Lebanon--An Arab Driver--Cultivating "Kalil", our Jehu--The Cedars of Lebanon--A Grove as Old as Solomon's Temple--A Wonderful Old City--The Temple of the Sun--Mystery of Tadmor--Cyclopean Masonry--Monstrous Monoliths--Their Dimensions--The "Doubter's" Doubts and their Solution--Sleeping in an Arab House--What we Saw There--Divans as Couches--A Dangerous Valley--The Robber's Haunt,..........264

CHAP XX--DAMASCUS.--THE GARDEN CITY OF THE EAST.

Dimitri and his Hotel--Court-Yards and Fountain--How People Live in Damascus--Parlors, Bed-Rooms and Boudoirs--A Bet and its Decision--The "Doubter and his Donkey"--The Street called "Straight"--Bab-Shurky--Spots Famous in History--Shaking Hands across a Street--Scene of St. raid's Conversion--The Window of Escape--Tombs of Mohammed's Wives--The "Doubter" Figuring on Probabilities--An Unexpected Upset--Visiting the Leper's Hospital--A Frightful Spectacle--The Great Mosque--View from the Minaret--The Bazaars and Curiosity Shops--Making a Trade--A Case of Fraud,..........278

In the Slave-Market--A Dealer in Human Flesh--A Stealthy Trade--Examining Female Slaves--Serfdom in Syria--Inside Views of a Syrian Household--Jewish Houses--An Oriental Song--Smoking with the Ladies--Syrian Customs--A Famous Arab Chief--Visiting Abd-el-Kader's House--The City of the Caliphs--Taking a Bath--Mohammed and his Trowsers--A New Species of Cushion--The Bath-House--Disrobing--Securing our Valuables--Muslem Honesty--Sitting Down in a Hot Place--Gustave's Misadventure--Undergoing a Shampoo--Rubbed to a Jelly--The Couch of Repose--A Delicious Sensation--"All ze Luxuries,"..........290

Turning our Faces Eastward--The Land of the Sun--Palmyra, Bagdad, and Babylon--The Desert in Summer and Winter--A Dangerous Road--The Robbers of the Wilderness--Ruins in the Desert--A City of Wonders--The Haunts of the Bedouins--Engaging an Escort--The Start for Palmyra--On a Dromedary's Back--The Environs of Damascus--A Bed on the Sand--"Every One to his Taste"--A Knavish Governor--Winking at Robbery--In the Desert--On the great Caravan Track--Caravansaries, What Are they?--The High Road to India--An Arab Fountain,..........300

Among the Bedouins--A Genuine Son of the Desert--High-Toned Robbers--A Sample of Bedouin Hospitality--Etiquette in an Arab Encampment--A Case of Insult--Tent-Life and its Freedom--A Nation of Cavalry-Warriors--Bedouin Dress, Manners and Customs--Their Horses and Weapons--A Singular Custom--A Caricature Steed and his Rider--Arab Scare-Crows--On the Road to Palmyra--A Mountain of Ruins--The Grand Colonnade--The Temple of the Sun--A Building Half a Mile in Circumference--An Earthquake, and What It Did--The City of the Caliphs,..........307

"Doing" Syria--The "Short" and the "Long" Route--How to Choose Them--Engaging a Dragoman--Farewell to Damascus--Preying on Travellers--The Wonderful Rivers of Syria--Crossing the Desert--A Picture of Desolation--Scene of St. Paul's Conversion--A Striking Contrast--Ancient Ruins and Modern Hovels--A Night with the Bedouins--A Hard Road to Travel--A Glorious View--The "Doubter's" Mischance--The Lizard in the Boot--A Ludicrous Scene--Gustave's New Joke--Mollifying a Native--The Massacre at Hasbeiya--Treachery of a Turkish Colonel--Scene of Christ's Labors--In the Holy Land,..........318

Our First Morning in Palestine--Breaking Camp at Banias--"From Dan to Beersheba"--Explanation of the Phrase--The Cup of the Hills--The Golden Calf of Jeroboam--Story of Vishnu and his Idol--An Incident and its Moral--The Battle-fields of Joshua--A Singular Species of Plough--The "Doubter" in a Quandary--Joseph's Pit--The Sea of Galilee--Fishing with Poisoned Bait--Capernaum and its Ruins--Scene of Christ's Miracles--The Birthplace of Mary Magdalen--A Horde of Beggars--A Pitiful Spectacle--The Robber's Cave--Herod and his Strategy--The Jews of Tiberias--A Seedy Crowd--Ruins of the Ancient City--The Spot where Christ Fed the Multitude,..........329

Bathing in the Sea of Galilee--Standing on Holy Ground--How the "Doubter" was Unhorsed--A Second Absalom--Lunching on the Summit of Tabor--Saracenic Vengeance--A Reminiscence of the Crusades--A Magnificent Sight--Discussing "Backsheesh" with the Natives--The "Doubter" as a Cashier--The Grotto of the Holy Family--Mary's House--The House of Loretto--The Story of the Miracle--The Monk and the "Doubter"--Dean Stanley's Explanation--Joseph's Tool Chest--The "Doubter's" Demand--The Witch of Endor "At Home"--Blood-Revenge--A Pertinacious Feud--Saul and the Witch,..........341

The City of Nain--"Spoiling the Egyptians"--Ruins of an old Philistine City--Curious Strategy--The Torches in Pitchers--Kleber and the Turks--Ahab's Palace--Tropical Picture--A Crusader's Church--More "Backsheesh"--The Samaritans of To-day--The Mount of Blessings and the Mount of Cursings--A Despised People--A Strange Religious Belief--A Parchment Thirty-five Centuries Old--Jacob's Well--Its Present Appearance--The Tomb of Joseph--The Scene of Jacob's Dream--The Philistines' Raid,..........355

Once More in Damascus--Taking the "Short Route"--Starting for Bcyrout--The Fountains of Damascus--Rain-Storm in the Anti-Lebanon--Stora and its Model Hotel--Poetical Fancies--A Compliment to Mine Host--The "Doubter" as a Rhymist--Climbing Mount Lebanon--Tropic Suns and Arctic Snows--View from the Summit--A Vision of Fairy-Land--Coming Down on the Double-Quick--In Sight of the Mediterranean--Taking Ship for Jaffa--Sidon to a Modern Tourist--Tyre--Jaffa--A Dangerous Roadstead,..........362

Views of Jaffa--A Queer-Looking City--The Oldest Inhabited Town in the World--The Massacre of Jaffa--A Stain upon the Memory of Napoleon--A Contract with a Dragoman--A Close Margin--The Value of Credentials An Honest Arab--Getting into Saddle--An American Colony--Their German Successors--The Fruits of the Country--Generous Conduct of the "Doubter"--On the Road to Jerusalem--A Night at Ramleh--In a Russian Convent--The Gauntlet of Beggars--The Pest of the Road--Begging as a Fine Art--The "Gate of the Glen"--Among the Mountain Passes--In Sight of the Holy City,..........370

CHAP XXX--THE LIONS OF JERUSALEM.--THE TEMPLE, THE SEPULCHRE, AND THE HOLY OF HOLIES.

First Sights in Jerusalem--Appearance of the Streets--What the "Doubter" Thought--A Change of Opinion--The Tower of David--The Street of David--Church of the Holy Sepulchre--Scenes Around It--Palace of the Knights of St. John--Via Dolorosa--Damascus Gate--Walls of the Holy City--Visiting the Temple--The Ilarem and Mosque of Omar--Visiting the Substructions--A Triple Veneration--Place of Wailing--The Quarries--Remains of an Ancient Bridge,..........381

From the Gates of Jerusalem to Bethlehem--A Touching Incident--Tent-Life at Bethlehem--The Milk Grotto--Its Miraculous Character--The "Doubter" Expresses Himself--The Oldest Christian Church in the World--Quarrelsome Monks--A Deadly Fight--Remarkable Conduct of the "Doubter"--Pious Pilgrims--A Christmas Festival--A Corpulent and Hospitable Monk--A Wearisome Ceremony--The Monks in Costume--The Women of Bethlehem--A Bevy of Beauties--Under Guard--Armenian Soldiers--Travelling to Saba--Among the Monks--A Curious Convent--Armed against the Bedouins,..........398

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