The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 by Richard Burton

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I therefore expect that future exploration will develop Midian as
it has done India. The quartzose outcrop called the "Wynaad reef"
(Madras Presidency) produced only a few poor penny-weights per
ton, two and seven being the extremes, while much of it was
practically unproductive. Presently, in February, 1878, the
district was visited by Sir Andrew Clarke, of Australian
experience, member of the Viceregal Council. He invited Mr.
Brough Smyth, of Victoria, to explore and test the capabilities
of the country; and that eminent practical engineer discovered,
in an area of twenty-five by thirteen miles, ninety outcrops,
some yielding, they say, two hundred ounces per ton of gold, fine
and coarse, "with jagged pieces as large as peas." And British
India now hopes to draw her gold coinage from Wynaad.

I conclude this abstract of the book, which would have been
reduced in size had the mass of matter permitted, with the
heartfelt hope that the grand old Land of Midian will not be
without attraction to the public of Europe.

RICHARD F. BURTON.

ATHENAEUM CLUB,

December 16.

CONTENTS.

PART I.
The March Through Madyan Proper
(North Midian).

Chapter I. Preliminary--from Trieste to Midian
Chapter II. The Start--from El Muwaylah to the "White
Mountain" and 'Aynunah
Chapter III. Breaking New Ground to Maghair Shu'ayb
Chapter IV. Notices of Precious Metals in Midian--the Papyri
and the Mediaeval Arab Geographers
Chapter V. Work At, and Excursions From, Maghair Shu'ayb
Chapter VI. To Makna, and Our Work There--the Magani or
Maknawis
Chapter VII. Cruise from Makna to El'akabah
Chapter VIII. Cruise from El'akabah to El Muwaylah--the
Shipwreck Escaped--resume of the Northern Journey

PART II
The March Through Central and Eastern Midian.

Chapter IX. Work in and Around El Muwaylah
Chapter X. Through East Midian to the Hisma

PART I.
The March Through Madyan Proper
(North Midian).

Chapter I.
Preliminary--from Trieste to Midian.

Throughout the summer of 1877 I was haunted by memories of
mysterious Midian. The Golden Region appeared to me in the glow
of primaeval prosperity described by the Egyptian hieroglyphs; as
rich in agriculture and in fertility, according to the old
Hellenic travellers, as in its Centres of civilization, and in
the precious metals catalogued by the Sacred Books of the
Hebrews. Again I saw the mining works of the Greek, the Roman,
and the Nabathaan, whose names are preserved by Ptolemy; the
forty cities, mere ghosts and shadows of their former selves,
described in the pages of the mediaeval Arab geographers; and the
ruthless ruin which, under the dominion of the Bedawin, gradually
crept over the Land of Jethro. The tale of her rise and fall
forcibly suggested Algeria, that province so opulent and splendid
under the Masters of the World; converted into a fiery wilderness
by the representatives of the "gentle and gallant" Turk, and
brought to life once more by French energy and industry. And such
was my vision of a future Midian, whose rich stores of various
minerals will restore to her wealth and health, when the two
Khedivial Expeditions shall have shown the world what she has
been, and what she may be again.

I was invited to resume my exploration during the winter of
1877-78, by the Viceroy of Egypt, Ismail I., a prince whose
superior intelligence is ever anxious to develop the resources of
his country. His Highness was perhaps the only man in his own
dominions who, believing in the buried wealth of Midian, had the
perspicacity to note the advantages offered by its exploitation.
For the world around the Viceroy pronounced itself decidedly
against the project. My venerable friend, Linant Pasha, suggested
a comparison with the abandoned diggings of the Upper Nile;
forgetting that in at least half of Midian land, only the
"tailings" have been washed: whereas in the Bishari country, and
throughout the "Etbaye," between the meridians of Berenike and
Sawakin, the very thinnest metallic fibrils have been shafted and
tunnelled to their end in the rock by those marvellous labourers,
the old Egyptians. In the Hamamat country, again, the excessive
distances, both from the Nile and from the Red Sea, together with
the cost of transport, must bar all profit. Even worse are the
conditions of Fayzoghlu and Dar-For; whilst the mines of Midian
begin literally at the shore.

Another Pasha wrote to me from Alexandria, congratulating me upon
having discovered, during our first Expedition, "a little copper
and iron." Generally, the official public, knowing that I had
brought back stones, not solid masses of gold and silver, loudly
deplored the prospective waste of money; and money, after the
horse-plague, the low Nile, and the excessive exigencies of the
short-sighted creditor, was exceptionally scarce. The truly
Oriental view of the question was taken by an official, whom I
shall call Arif Pasha--the "Knowing One." When told that M.
George Marie, the Government engineer detailed to accompany the
first Expedition, had sent in official analyses with sample tubes
of gold and silver, thus establishing the presence of auriferous
and argentiferous rocks on the Arabian shore, Son Excellence
exclaimed, "Imprudent jeune homme, thus to throw away the chances
of life! Had he only declared the whole affair a farce, a flam, a
sell, a canard, the Viceroy would have held him to be honest, and
would have taken care of his future."

Still, through bad report the Khediv, who had mastered, with his
usual accuracy of perception and judgment, the subject of Midian
and her Mines, was staunch to his resolve; and when one of his
European financiers, a Controleur General de Depenses, the normal
round peg in the square hole, warned him that there were no
public funds for such purpose, his Highness warmly declared, on
dit, that the costs of the Expedition should be defrayed at his
own expense.

Meanwhile I had passed the summer of 1877 in preparation for the
work of the ensuing winter. A long correspondence with many
learned friends, and a sedulous study of the latest geographers,
especially German, taught me all that was known of mining in
Arabia generally, and particularly in Midian. During my six
months' absence from Egypt my vision was fixed steadily upon one
point, the Expedition that was to come; and when his Highness was
pleased to offer me, in an autograph letter full of the kindest
expressions, the government of Dar-For, I deferred accepting the
honour till Midian had been disposed of.

Unhappily, certain kindly advisers persuaded me to make well
better by a visit to Karlsbad, and a course of its alkaline
"Fountains of Health." Never was there a greater mistake! The air
is bad as the water is good; the climate is reeking damp, like
that of Western Africa; and, as in St. Petersburg, a plaid must
be carried during the finest weather. Its effects, rheumatic and
neuralgic, may be judged by the fact that the doctors must walk
about with pocketed squirts, for the hypodermal injection of
opium. Almost all those whom I knew there, wanting to be better,
went away worse; and, in my own case, a whole month of Midian
sun, and a sharp attack of ague and fever were required to burn
out the Hexenschuss and to counteract the deleterious effects of
the "Hygeian springs."

At last the happy hour for departure struck; and on October 19,
1877, the Austro-Hungarian Espero (Capitano Colombo) steamed out
of Trieste. On board were Sefer Pasha, our host of Castle
Bertoldstein; and my learned friends, the Aulic Councillor Alfred
von Kremer, Austrian Commissioner to Egypt, and Dr. Heinrich
Brugsch-Bey. The latter gave me a tough piece of work in the
shape of his "Agypten," which will presently be quoted in these
pages. It would be vain to repeat a description of the little
voyage described in "The Gold-Mines of Midian." The Dalmatian, or
first day; the second, or day of Corfu loved and lost; and the
third, made memorable by Cephalonia and the glorious Canale, all
gave fine smooth weather. But the usual rolling began off
still-vexed Cape Matapan. It lasted through the fourth day, or of
Candia, this insula nobilis et amana--

"Crete, the crown of all the isles, flower of Levantine waters"

--while the fifth, or Mediterraneo-Alexandrian day, killed two of
the seventeen fine horses, Yuckers and Anglo-Normans, which Sefer
Pasha was conveying to Cairo.

On Thursday morning (October 25), after rolling through the night
off the old port Eunostus, which now looks brand-new, we landed,
and the next day saw me at Cairo. Such was my haste that I could
pay only a flying visit to the broken beer-bottles, the burst
provision-tins, the ice-plants, and the hospitable society of
Ramleh the Sand-heap; and my many acquaintances had barely time
to offer their congratulations upon the prospects of my "becoming
an Egyptian."

My presence at the capital was evidently necessary. A manner of
association for utilizing the discoveries of the first Expedition
had been formed in London by the Messieurs Vignolles, who knew
only the scattered and unofficial notices; issued, without my
privity, by English and continental journals. Their
representative, General Nuthall, formerly of the Madras army, had
twice visited Cairo, in August and October, 1877, seeking a
concession of the mines, and offering conditions which were
perfectly unacceptable. The Viceroy was to allow, contrary to
convention, the free importation of all machinery; to supply
guards, who were not wanted; and, in fact, to guarantee the
safety of the workmen, who were perfectly safe. In return, ten
per cent. on net profits, fifteen being the royalty of the Suez
Canal, was the magnificent inducement offered to the viceregal
convoitise. I could not help noting, by no means silently, this
noble illustration of the principle embodied in Sic vos non
vobis. I was to share in the common fate of originators,
discoverers, and inventors: the find was mine, the profits were
to go--elsewhere. General Nuthall professed inability to regard
the matter in that light; while to all others it appeared in no
other. However, after a few friendly meetings, the representative
left Egypt, with the understanding that possibly we might work
together when the exploration should have been completed. His
Highness, who had verbally promised me either the concession or
four per cent. on gross produce, acted en prince, simply
remarking that the affair was in my hands, and that he would not
interfere with me.

I must not trouble the reader with the tedious tale of the pains
and the labour which accompany the accouchement of such an
Expedition. All practicals know that to organize a movement of
sixty men is not less troublesome--indeed, rather more so--than
if it numbered six hundred or six thousand. The Viceroy had
wisely determined that we should not only carry out the work of
discovery by tracing the precious metals to their source; but,
also, that we should bring back specimens weighing tons enough
for assay and analysis, quantitive and qualitive, in London and
Paris. Consequently, miners and mining apparatus were wanted,
with all the materials for quarrying and blasting: my spirit
sighed for dynamite, but experiments at Trieste had shown it to
be too dangerous. The party was to consist of an escort numbering
twenty-five Sudan soldiers of the Line, negroes liberated some
two years ago; a few Ma'danjiyyah ("mine-men"), and thirty
Haggarah ("stone-men" or quarrymen).

The Government magazines of Cairo contain everything, but the
difficulty is to find where the dispersed articles are stored:
there is a something of red-tapeism; but all is plain sailing,
compared with what it would be in Europe. The express orders of
his Highness Husayn Kamil Pasha, Minister of Finance and Acting
Minister of War, at once threw open every door. Had this young
prince not taken in the affair a personal interest of the
liveliest and most intelligent nature, we might have spent the
winter at Cairo. And here I cannot refrain from mentioning,
amongst other names, that of Mr. Alfred E. Garwood, C.E.,
locomotive superintendent; who, in the short space of four
months, has introduced order and efficiency into the chaos known
as the Bulak magazines. With his friendly cooperation, and under
his vigorous arm, difficulties melted away like hail in a
tropical sun. General Stone (Pasha), the Chief of Staff, also
rendered me some assistance, by lending the instruments which
stood in his own cabinet de travail.[EN#13]

Poor Cairo had spent a seedy autumn. The Russo-Turkish campaign,
which had been unjustifiably allowed, by foreign Powers, to drain
Egypt of her gold and life-blood--some 25,000 men since the
beginning of the Servian prelude--not only caused "abundant
sorrow" to the capital, but also frightened off the stranger-host,
which habitually supplies the poorer population with sovereigns
and napoleons. The horse-pest, a bad typhus, after raging in 1876
and early 1877, had died out: unfortunately, so had the horses;
and the well-bred, fine-tempered, and high-spirited little
Egyptians were replaced by a mongrel lot, hastily congregated
from every breeding ground in Europe. The Fellahs, who had
expected great things from the mission of MM. Goschen and
Joubert, asked wonderingly if those financiers had died; while a
scanty Nile, ten to twelve feet lower, they say, than any known
during the last thousand years, added to the troubles of the
poor, by throwing some 600,000 feddans (acres) out of gear, and
by compelling an exodus from the droughty right to the left bank.
Finally, when the river of Egypt did rise, it rose too late, and
brought with it a feverish and unwholesome autumn. Briefly, we
hardly escaped the horrors of Europe--

"Herbstesahnung! Triste Spuren
In den Waldern, auf den Fluren!
Regentage, boses Wetter," etc.

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Pharaohs, whose scanty interest
about the war was disguised by affected rejoicings at Ottoman
successes, the Prophet gallantly took the field, as in the days
of Yusuf bin Ishak. This time the vehicle of revelation was the
learned Shayhk (ma? ) Alaysh, who was ordered in a dream by the
Apostle of Allah (upon whom be peace!) to announce the victory of
the Moslem over the Infidel; and, as the vision took place in
Jemadi el-Akhir (June), the first prediction was not more
unsuccessful than usual. Shortly afterwards, the same reverend
man again dreamt that, seeing two individuals violently
quarreling, with voies de fait, he had hastened, like a true
believer, to separate and to reconcile them. But what was his
surprise when the brawlers proved to be the Sultan and the Czar,
the former administering condign personal punishment to his
hereditary foe. This, the enlightened Shaykh determined, was a
sign that in September the Osmanli would be gloriously
triumphant. Nor was he far wrong. The Russians, who had begun the
campaign, like the English in India, with a happy contempt both
for the enemy and for the elementary rules of war, were struck
with a cold fit of caution: instead of marching straight upon and
intrenching themselves in Adrianople, they vainly broke their
gallant heads against the improvised earthworks of Plevna. And
ignorant Europe, marvelling at the prowess of the "noble Turk,"
ignored the fact that all the best "Turkish" soldiers were Slavs,
originally Christians, renegades of old, unable to speak a word
of Turkish; preserving their Bosniac family-names, and without
one drop of Turkish blood in their veins. Sulayman Pashas army
was about as "Turkish" as are the Poles or the Hungarians.

Not the less did Cairo develop the normal season-humours of the
Frank. Among the various ways of "doing the Pyramids," I
registered a new one: Mr. A---- , junior, unwilling wholly to
neglect them, sent his valet with especial orders to stand upon
the topmost plateau. The "second water" of irrigation made
November dangerous; many of the "Shepheards" suffered from the
Ayan el-Muluk, the "Evil of Kings" (gout), in the gloomy form as
well as the gay; and whisky-cum-soda became popular as upon the
banks of the Thames and the Tweed. As happens on dark days, the
money-digger was abroad, and one anecdote deserves record. Many
years ago, an old widow body had been dunned into buying, for a
few piastres, a ragged little manuscript from a pauper Maghrabi.
These West Africans are, par excellence, the magicians of modern
Egypt and Syria; and here they find treasure, like the Greeks
upon the shores of the Northern Adriatic. Perhaps there may be a
basis for the idea; oral traditions and written documents
concerning buried hoards would take refuge in remote regions,
comparatively undisturbed by the storms of war, and inhabited by
races more or less literary. At any rate, the Maghrabi Darwaysh
went his ways, assuring his customer that, when her son came of
age, a fortune would be found in the little book. And true
enough, the boy, reaching man's estate, read in its torn pages
ample details concerning a Dafi'nah (hoard) of great value. He
was directed, by the manuscript, to a certain spot upon the
Mukattam range, immediately behind the Cairene citadel, where the
removal of a few stones would disclose a choked shaft: the latter
would descend to a tunnel, full of rubbish, and one of the many
sidings would open upon the golden chamber. The permission of
Government was secured, the workmen began, and the directions
proved true--"barring" the treasure, towards which progress was
still being made. Such was the legend of Cairo, as recounted to
me by my good friend, Yacoub Artin Bey; I can only add to it,
Allaho A'alam!--Allah is all-knowing!

The sole cause of delay in beginning exploration was the want of
money; and this, of course, even the Prince Minister of Finance
could not coin. Egypt, the fertile, the wealthy, the progressive,
was, indeed, at the time all but insolvent. At the suggestion of
foreigners, "profitable investments," which yielded literally
nothing, had been freely made for many a year, and the sole
results were money difficulties and debt. The European financiers
had managed admirably for their shareholders; but, having assumed
the annual national income at a maximum, instead of a minimum,
they had brought the goose of the golden eggs to the very verge
of death. The actionnaires were to receive, with a punctuality
hardly possible in the East, the usurious interest of six per
cent., not including one per cent. for sinking fund. Meanwhile,
the officers and officials, military, naval, and civil, had been
in arrears of salary for seven to fifteen months; and even the
Jews refused to cash at any price their pay certificates.

Nothing could be more unwise or unjust than the exactions of the
creditors. Men must live; if not paid, they perforce pay
themselves; and thus, of every hundred piastres, hardly thirty
find their way into the treasury. Ten times worse was the
condition of the miserable Fellahin, who were selling for three
or four napoleons the bullocks worth fifteen per head. Thus they
would tide over the present year; but a worse than Indian famine
was threatened for the following. And the "Bakkal," at once petty
trader and money-lender, whose interest and compound interest
here amount, as in Bombay, to hundreds per cent., would complete
the ruin which the "low Nile" and the Christian creditor had
begun.

A temporary reduction of interest to three per cent., with one
per cent of amortization, should content the greedy shareholder,
who seeks to combine high profits with perfect security. During
November, 1877, there were five M.P.'s at Shepheard's; and all
cried shame upon the financial condition of the country. Sir
George Campbell opened the little game. In his "Inside View of
Egypt" (Fortnightly Review, Dec., 1877) he drew a graphic picture
of the abnormal state of poor Egypt; he expressed the sensible
opinion that, in the settlement, the claims of the bond-holders
have been too exclusively considered, and he concluded that no
more payments of debt-interest should be made until official
arrears are discharged.

At last the Phare d'Alexandrie (November 29, 1877), doubtless
under official inspiration, put forth the following article,
greatly to the satisfaction of the unfortunate employes:--

"Si nos renseignements particuliers sont exacts, le comite des
finances vient de prendre une excellente decision. Elle consiste
en ce que, aussitot l'argent pour le paiement du prochain coupon,
prepare, le ministe're, avant tout autre, procedera au paiement
des appointements arrieres des employes.

"Nous apprenons, on outre, que S. A. le ministre des finances,
meme, a declare, molu proprio, que jusqu'au complet paiement des
arrieres dus aux employes, et dans le cas ou il se presenterait
une depense de grande importance, prevue meme par le budget, de
ne pas en ordonner le paiement sans, au prealable, le sommettre a
l'adhesion du comite.

"Nous applaudissons de toutes nos forces a cette bonne nouvelle
d'abord, parcequ'elle affirme une fois de plus la scrupuleuse
exactitude qu'on apporte au paiement des coupons, ensuite elle
prouve le vif interet qu' inspire au gouvernement la situation de
ses nombreux employes, enfin elle nous fait esperer qu'apres
avoir songe a eux, on s'occupera aussi a payer les autres sommes
portees et pre'vues au budget de l'annee."

Accordingly, on December 2nd, the Prince Minister of Finance took
heart of grace, and distributed among the officials one month's
pay, with a promise that all arrears should presently be made
good. On the same day his Highness issued to the Expedition 2000
napoleons, in addition to the 620 already expended upon
instruments and provisions. This was the more liberal, as I had
calculated the total at 1500: the more, however, the better. In
such work it is money versus time, the former saving the latter;
and we were already late in the year--it had been proposed to
start on November 15th, and we had lost three precious weeks of
fine autumnal weather. The stores were equally abundant: I wanted
one forge, and received three.

Of course, many details had been forgotten; e.g., a farrier and
change of mule-irons, a tinsmith and tinning tools, a
sulphur-still, boots for the soldiers and the quarrymen, small
shot for specimens, and so forth. I had carried out my idea of a
Dragoman with two servants; and the result had been a model
failure, especially in the most important department. The true
"Desert cook" is a man sui generis; he would utterly fail at the
Criterion, and even at Shepheard's; but in the wilderness he will
serve coffee within fifteen minutes, and dish the best of dinners
within the hour after the halt.

Mr. Clarke and Lieutenant Amir worked with a will; and they were
ably seconded by Colonel Ali Bey Robi and Lieutenant-Colonel (of
the Staff) Mohammed Bey Baligh. But the finishing touch to such
preparations must be done by the master hand; and my unhappy
visit to Karlsbad rendered that impossible. The stores and
provisions were supplied by MM. Voltera Brothers, of Cairo: I
cannot say too much in their praise; and the packing was as good
as the material. M. Gross, of Shepheard's, was good enough to let
me have a barrel of claret; which improved every week by
travelling, and which cost only a franc a bottle: it began as a
bon ordinaire, and the little that returned to Cairo ranked with
a quasi-grand vin, at least as good as the four-shilling Medoc.
Finally, Dr. Lowe, of Cairo, kindly prepared for us a medicine
chest, containing about L10 worth of the usual drugs and
appliances--calomel, tartar emetic, and laudanum; blister,
plaster, and simple ointment.[EN#14]

A special train was made ready for Thursday, December 6th; and,
at ten a.m., after taking leave of their Highnesses, who
courteously wished me good luck and God-speed, the Expedition
found itself under weigh. We were accompanied to the station by
many kind friends: my excellent kinsman Lord Francis, and Lady F.
Conyngham, Yacoub Artin Bey, General Stone, and MM. George,
Garwood, Girard, and Guillemine.

The change from the damp air of Cairo to the drought of the
Desert was magical: light ailments and heavy cares seemed to fall
off like rags and tatters. We halted at Zagazig, remarking that
this young focus of railway traffic has become the eastern key of
Lower Egypt, as Benha is to the western delta; and prophesying
that some day, not far distant, will see the glories of Bubastis
revived. Here we picked up my old friend Haji Wali, whom age--he
declares that he was born in the month Mizan of 1797--had made
only a little fatter and greedier. We gave a wide berth to the
future Alexandria, Ismailiyyah, whose splendid climate has been
temporarily spoilt by the sweet-water canal of the same name. The
soil became literally sopped; and hence the intermittent fevers
which have lately assailed it. A similar disregard for drainage
has ingeniously managed to convert into pest-houses Simla and
other Himalayan sanitaria.

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