They stood close together between the
walls, and waited until the whole were assembled, when the entire
party, namely, the moveable wall and the beauties concealed behind
it, proceeded step by step. The scrambling over the narrow ship's
ladders was truly pitiable; first one stumbled, and then another.
The landing occupied more than an hour.
13th May. The captain brought me word that a German missionary was
accidentally at Bassora, who had a dwelling with several rooms, and
could probably give me shelter. I went to him immediately, and he
was so obliging as to provide me with a room in which, at the same
time, I found a fireplace. I took leave of the good captain with
sincere regret. I shall never forget his friendliness and
attentions. He was a truly good-hearted man, and yet the
unfortunate crew, mostly Hindoos and negroes, were treated worse on
board his ship than I had observed elsewhere. This was the fault of
the two mates, who accompanied nearly every word with pushes and
blows of the fist. In Muscat three of the poor fellows ran away.
The Christian Europeans excel the pagan Hindoos and Musselmen in
learning and science; might they not also at least equal the latter
in kindness and humanity?
A small English war-steamer was expected at Bassora in the course of
a few days, which carried letters and dispatches between this place
and Baghdad, and whose captain was so good as to take European
travellers (of whom there are not many that lose themselves here)
with him.
I availed myself of the few days of my stay to look about the town,
and see what still remains of its ancient celebrity.
Bassora, or Bassra, was founded in the reign of the Caliph Omar, in
the year 656. Sometimes under Turkish, sometimes under Persian
dominion, it was at last permanently placed under the latter power.
There are no vestiges of antiquity remaining; neither ruins of
handsome mosques nor caravansaries. The fortified walls are much
dilapidated, the houses of the town small and unattractive, the
streets crooked, narrow, and dirty. The bazaar, which consists of
covered galleries with wretched stalls, cannot show a single good
stock of goods, although Bassora is the principal emporium and
trading port for the Indian wares imported into Turkey. There are
several coffee-stalls and a second-rate caravansary in the bazaar.
A large open space, not very remarkable for cleanliness, serves in
the day as a corn-market; and in the evening several hundred guests
are to be seen seated before a large coffee-stall, drinking coffee
and smoking nargillies.
Modern ruins are abundant in Bassora, the result of the plague which
in the year 1832 carried off nearly one half of the inhabitants.
Numbers of streets and squares consist only of forsaken and decaying
houses. Where, a few years back, men were busily engaged in trade,
there is now nothing left but ruins and rubbish and weeds, and palms
grow between crumbling walls.
The position of Bassora is said to be particularly unhealthy: the
plain surrounding it is intersected at one extremity with numerous
ditches filled with mud and filth, which give off noxious
exhalations, at the other it is covered with forests of date trees,
which hinders the current of air. The heat is so great here, that
nearly every house is furnished with an apartment, which lies
several feet below the level of the street, and has windows only in
the high arches. People live in these rooms during the day.
The inhabitants consist for the most part of Arabs; the rest are
Persians, Turks, and Armenians. There are no Europeans. I was
advised to wrap myself in a large cloth and wear a veil when I went
out; the former I did, but I could not endure the veil in the
excessive heat, and went with my face uncovered. The cloth (isar) I
carried so clumsily that my European clothes were always visible;
nevertheless I was not annoyed by any one.
On the 16th of May, the steamer Nitocris arrived. It was small
(forty horse power), but very handsome and clean; the captain, Mr.
Johns, declared himself ready to take me, and the first officer, Mr.
Holland, gave up his cabin to me. They would not take any
compensation either for passage or board.
The journey from Bassora to Baghdad would have been very fatiguing
and inconvenient if I had not met with this opportunity. With a
boat it would have required forty or fifty days, as the distance is
500 English miles, and the boat must have been for greater part of
the distance drawn by men. The distance by land amounts to 390
miles; but the road is through deserts, which are inhabited by
nomadic tribes of Bedouins, and over-run with hordes of robbers,
whose protection must be purchased at a high price.
17th May. We weighed anchor in the morning at 11 o'clock, and
availed ourselves of the current which extends 120 miles up the
stream.
In the afternoon we reached the point Korne, also called the Delta
(fifty miles from Bassora). The Tigris and Euphrates join here.
Both rivers are equally large, and as it could not, probably, be
decided which name should be retained, both were given up, and that
of Schatel-Arab adopted.
Many learned writers attempt to give increased importance to this
place, by endeavouring to prove by indubitable evidence that the
garden of Eden was situated here. If this was the case, our worthy
progenitor made a long journey after he was driven out of Paradise,
to reach Adam's Peak in Ceylon.
