The
Mere Wind Of One Of These Huge Guns Would Be Sufficient To Topple
Over A Thousand Men.
What sensations of dread and horror must be
awakened in the breast of a foe when this hollow rock,
In the day
of siege, emits its flame, smoke, and thundering wind from a
thousand yawning holes; horror not inferior to that felt by the
peasant of the neighbourhood when Mongibello belches forth from all
its orifices its sulphureous fires.
Emerging from the excavations, we proceeded to view various
batteries. I asked the sergeant whether his companions and himself
were dexterous at the use of the guns. He replied that these
cannons were to them what the fowling-piece is to the fowler, that
they handled them as easily, and, he believed, pointed them with
more precision, as they seldom or never missed an object within
range of the shot. This man never spoke until he was addressed,
and then the answers which he gave were replete with good sense,
and in general well worded. After our excursion, which lasted at
least two hours, I made him a small present, and took leave with a
hearty shake of the hand.
In the evening I prepared to go on board the vessel bound for
Tangier, trusting in what the Jewish secretary had told me as to
its sailing. Meeting him, however, accidentally in the street, he
informed me that it would not start until the following morning,
advising me at the same time to be on board at an early hour. I
now roamed about the streets until night was beginning to set in,
and becoming weary, I was just about to direct my steps to the inn,
when I felt myself gently pulled by the skirt. I was amidst a
concourse of people who were gathered around some Irish soldiers
who were disputing, and I paid no attention; but I was pulled again
more forcibly than before, and I heard myself addressed in a
language which I had half forgotten, and which I scarcely expected
ever to hear again. I looked round, and lo! a tall figure stood
close to me and gazed in my face with anxious inquiring eyes. On
its head was the kauk or furred cap of Jerusalem; depending from
its shoulders, and almost trailing on the ground, was a broad blue
mantle, whilst kandrisa or Turkish trousers enveloped its nether
limbs. I gazed on the figure as wistfully as it gazed upon me. At
first the features appeared perfectly strange, and I was about to
exclaim, I know you not, when one or two lineaments struck me, and
I cried, though somewhat hesitatingly, "Surely this is Judah Lib."
I was in a steamer in the Baltic in the year '34, if I mistake not.
There was a drizzling rain and a high sea, when I observed a young
man of about two and twenty leaning in a melancholy attitude
against the side of the vessel. By his countenance I knew him to
be one of the Hebrew race, nevertheless there was something very
singular in his appearance, something which is rarely found amongst
that people, a certain air of nobleness which highly interested me.
I approached him, and in a few minutes we were in earnest
conversation. He spoke Polish and Jewish German indiscriminately.
The story which he related to me was highly extraordinary, yet I
yielded implicit credit to all his words, which came from his mouth
with an air of sincerity which precluded doubt; and, moreover, he
could have no motive for deceiving me. One idea, one object,
engrossed him entirely: "My father," said he, in language which
strongly marked his race, "was a native of Galatia, a Jew of high
caste, a learned man, for he knew Zohar, {22} and he was likewise
skilled in medicine. When I was a child of some eight years, he
left Galatia, and taking his wife, who was my mother, and myself
with him, he bent his way unto the East, even to Jerusalem; there
he established himself as a merchant, for he was acquainted with
trade and the arts of getting money. He was much respected by the
Rabbins of Jerusalem, for he was a Polish man, and he knew more
Zohar and more secrets than the wisest of them. He made frequent
journeys, and was absent for weeks and for months, but he never
exceeded six moons. My father loved me, and he taught me part of
what he knew in the moments of his leisure. I assisted him in his
trade, but he took me not with him in his journeys. We had a shop
at Jerusalem, even a shop of commerce, where we sold the goods of
the Nazarene, and my mother and myself, and even a little sister
who was born shortly after our arrival at Jerusalem, all assisted
my father in his commerce. At length it came to pass, that on a
particular time he told us that he was going on a journey, and he
embraced us and bade us farewell, and he departed, whilst we
continued at Jerusalem attending to the business. We awaited his
return, but months passed, even six months, and he came not, and we
wondered; and months passed, even other six passed, but still he
came not, nor did we hear any tidings of him, and our hearts were
filled with heaviness and sorrow. But when years, even two years,
were expired, I said to my mother, 'I will go and seek my father';
and she said, 'Do so,' and she gave me her blessing, and I kissed
my little sister, and I went forth as far as Egypt, and there I
heard tidings of my father, for people told me he had been there,
and they named the time, and they said that he had passed from
thence to the land of the Turk; so I myself followed to the land of
the Turk, even unto Constantinople.
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