My Foreign Travels (Part 2), December 1887
[Part Two.]
I propose in my lecture this evening to take you with me, as well as that
can be done by my slow train of thought and speech, over a part of the
countries embraced in my recent tour in the old world. [I shall endeavor to
give you a passing glimpse of some of the interesting things I saw, and the
lights and shadows in which I saw them.]1Crossed out in typescript text.
[Taking into]2The word “into” in the original typescript text was corrected by Douglass to read "in." When words were partially crossed out by Douglass, the entire original word will be reproduced inside a set of brackets and the corrected word published as in Douglass's final text. In account with 3It is unclear whether Douglass crossed out these words in typescript text. the philosophical sug-
gestion, that much of the interest felt in the objects that surround us in the
world, is due to the lights and shadows in which we view them, I shall give
you more of my thoughts of things [I saw]4Crossed out in typescript text. than details and descriptions of
the things themselves.
To any who may desire more than this, I commend the ever-increasing
number of guide-books and letters from abroad that fall about us very much
like the leaves of autumn, and which are about as dry. In these, however,
details and descriptions can be more successfully rendered than in an
evening lecture of an hour and twenty minutes, which I believe is about the
limit of a Boston lecture.
Aside from the great cities of London and Paris, with their varied and
brilliant attractions, [of which I have spoken on another occasion,]5Crossed out in typescript text. Douglass possibly alludes to his delivery of a lecture on 15 December 1887 on the topic of the first portion of his foreign tour. and
aside from the peculiar interest felt in the Mother country, spite of the many
causes she has given to American resentment, the American tourist will
find no part of a European tour more [attractive]6Crossed out in typescript text. interesting than the
country over which he will travel between Paris and Rome, for here he will
behold the cradle in which the civilization of [eastern ]7Crossed out in typescript text. western Europe was
rocked; the nursery in which it was trained; the land from which it was
finally brought to the shores of America;—where some think it will reach
its highest development and perfection;—a pretension to which I have not
the least objection, and shall rejoice in its fulfillment.
The whole way between these two great cities, with its [rich]8Crossed out in typescript text. valleys,
mountains and plains, is deeply interesting and thought-suggesting, for it
was not only the cradle of western civilization, but its battle-ground as
well,—the scene of its heroic endeavor, where human courage, fortitude
and high resolve were displayed on both sides;—where every inch of
progress was sternly disputed; where the helmet, shield and spear of east-
ern thought and power were met by the sling and arrow and desperate
courage of determined barbarism. Nor did the tide of battle always set one
way. Indications of the stemness and duration of the conflict are still visible
all along the line. These are seen in numerous fortified towns and cities; in
grim old convents, monasteries and castles; in their massive walls and
gates; and in their iron-bolted and barred windows. These old piles are
often found, according to the wisdom of the wary eagle, built on lofty
crags, and in the clefts of rocks and mountain fastnesses difficult of assault
and easy to defend. These all tell of troublous times, when homes were
castles, and palaces were prisons, and men held their lives and their proper-
ty by the might of the strongest. In these countries material is furnished by
which we can, to some extent, measure the immense cost of our civiliza-
tion; for we may not only here survey the field where the old and new met
and struggled in irrepressible conflict, but we may discern the separate
elements which entered into and formed the general result.
One does not need to be very learned in the science of ethnology or
archaeology to discover [during his travels]9Crossed out in typescript text. here, [in the men, the manners
and the customs prevailing]10Crossed out in typescript text.—something of Egypt and Africa, as well as
Greek and Roman influence.
As we move eastward and southward between the two great cities,
black hair, black eyes. full lips and dark complexions increase. You see the
South and the East in the style of dress; in the gay colors, the startling
jewelry, and in the free and easy outdoor life of the people.
I have seen it alleged that the habit of carrying burdens on the head is
peculiar to the Negro and a proof of his inferiority. It was not necessary that
I should go to Europe for facts to refute this allegation, yet I was glad to see
that both in Italy and the south of France, the custom is about as common
[in both these countries, ]11Crossed out in typescript text. as it is among the dusky daughters of the Nile.
If the custom originated with the Negro, it has been well learned by the
Caucasian. I welcome it as another evidence of the kinship of nations, and
of the strength of human brotherhood.
In one other respect I saw in France and Italy the wisdom of Africa and
the social disposition of Africans imitated;—[and that is the disposition]12Crossed out in typescript text.
in the custom of the people to congregate at night in towns, villages and
hamlets, while they make their living by tilling the soil far away. Farm
houses exist but they are few and far between. Beautiful fields and vine-
yards may be seen on all sides, but you look in vain amid these fields and
vineyards, for the houses of the people who till them. The village has taken
the place of the farm-house, and the peasants sometimes go several miles
[away]13Crossed out in typescript text. to their fields and vineyards to work. They go out in gangs in, the,
morning and return in gangs in the evening. Another point worthy of notice
is the fact that the labors of the field are not monopolized by the men, but
are equally shared by the women. One of the pleasantest sights to be seen as
you pass along, are groups of these people by the roadside, taking their
frugal noonday meal of hard bread and sour wine, and apparently as
cheerful and happy with their humble fare as are those who are arrayed in
silks and satins, purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day.
Pleasant, however, as it was to see these people, apparently getting an
equal share of happiness out of life with the rich and great, my American
idea of the true position of woman was somewhat disturbed by this ex-
posure of her to the hardships of the field and vineyard. If to labor in
common with men is an object to be desired and battled for, the women of
the old world have [won]14Crossed out in typescript text. that position already. Like the men they go to
the field bright and early in the morning, and like the men and with the
men, they return late in the sombre shades of the evening.
On our way from Paris to the south of France. we passed in sight of
Fontainbleau—one of the most famous of all the famous palaces of that
country.15Located about forty miles southwest of Paris, the palace of Fontainebleau was constructed in the mid-sixteenth century by the French king Francis I. The palace was highly regarded by subsequent French monarchs and the Emperors Napoleon I and III on account of its extensive grounds and richly decorated interiors. , Murray's Foreign Handbooks, 16th rev. ed. (London, 1884), 13-17. It is now no longer the proud abode of royalty, as of yore. Like
all else of imperial and monarchical possessions. this palace has become
under the republic the possession and resort of the people. It is still kept in
excellent condition. We get only a hasty view of the grounds in passing, but
[see]16Crossed out in typescript text. enough to [see]17Crossed out in typescript text. observe that they conform in the strictest sense to
the French idea of taste and skill. Perhaps the most striking feature of [this
taste]18Crossed out in typescript text and first replaced by the handwritten interlineation “which” that Douglass subsequently crossed out to substitute “the latter." the latter is its demand for perfect uniformity. The trees and walks
must conform to straight lines. It employs the line, the plummet, and the
pruning-hook with remorseless severity. If one branch of a tree is found
longer than another, it is cut off. If the hedge is trimmed, it must be done as
if by rule, compass and square. Nature is allowed no [profession]19Crossed out in typescript text. profu-
sion of liberty. If she is crooked, she must be made straight; if she leans, she
must be made vertical; if she is high, she must be cut down to a dead level.
The houses, gardens, roads and bridges are all nearly alike. When you have
seen them in one part, you know what they are in another, for one is like the
other.
After Fountainbleu, [we came to]20Crossed out in typescript text. comes the old city of Dijun, re-
markable for being the centre of the finest vineyards and the most-famous
wine of France, and the seat of the great dukes of Burgundy.21Douglass refers to the vineyards of the Côte d'Or surrounding Dijon in eastern France. That city was the capital of the independent duchy of Burgundy, which France annexed in the fourteenth century. , 21-26; Alexis Lichine, Wines of France (New York, 1951), 96-100. Traces of the
wealth and power of these most potent dukes are still visible in their old but
well-preserved [old]22Crossed out in typescript text. castle.
[Farther on we come to the important city of Lyons—a great manufac-
turing place and]23Crossed out in typescript text. The spirit of the ancient times was still upon us as we
entered Lyons—the centre of the silk industry of France. One of the first
things we did here was a work of love. To look for the grave of Henry
Wagoner who died here while attached to the American Embassy—and
who was a son of my old friend, H. O. Wagoner, of Colorado.24One of Douglass's most enduring friendships was with another Maryland-born black, Henry O. Wagoner, Sr. (1816-?). Apparently born into a free black family in Hagerstown, Wagoner learned to read and write despite a lack of formal education. He spent most of his youth working on western Maryland farms but fled to Ohio in 1838 out of fear that his Underground Railroad activities had aroused suspicion. The following year he moved to Galena, Illinois, where he found employment as a newspaper typesetter and bill collector. He next worked for a newspaper and taught school in Chatham, Canada West, from 1843 until he relocated to Chicago in 1846. In that city he operated a profitable milling business. Wagoner met Douglass during one of the latter's lecture trips in Illinois in the late 1840s and became an occasional correspondent for his Rochester newspaper. Wagoner also participated in abolitionist activities and aided John Brown by allowing him to use his mill to hide liberated Missouri slaves on their way to Canada in March 1859. During the Civil War, Wagoner acted as a recruiter of black troops for regiments in Illinois and Massachusetts. In 1865 he settled permanently in Denver, Colorado, where he hosted Douglass's sons Frederick and Lewis and taught them typography. Eight years later, Douglass returned the favor by using his influence to help secure Wagoner’s son. Henry O. Wagoner, Jr. (?- 1878), a position as consular clerk in Paris, France. Douglass later attempted to aid the younger Wagoner, who had attended the Howard University Law School, in his pursuit of the consul's post when it became vacant in 1877. The younger Wagoner died in 1878 and when his father learned of Douglass's travel plans, he sent Douglass a map of the Cemetery of the Red Cross at Lyons, with a request that his old friend visit his son's grave. Wagoner was an active Republican and received appointments as clerk of the Colorado state legislature in 1876 and as deputy sheriff of Arapaho County, Colorado, in 1880. He maintained a steady correspondence with Douglass on the major political issues of the post-Civil War decades. , 18 February 1848, 24 August 1849; FDP, 11 December 1851; Simmons, , 679-84; Henry O. Wagoner to Douglass, 27 August 1866, 10 December 1873, 23 March 1878, 13 July, 13 October 1885, 19 August 1886, 1 October 1890, 17 August 1893, and Henry O. Wagoner. Jr., to Douglass, 2 April 1874, General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 197-98, 700-03, reel 3, frames 241-43, reel 4, frames 193, 217- 19, 380-81, reel 5, frames 783-84, reel 32, frames 250-51, reel 2, frame 733, FD Papers, DLC; Quarles, , 39, 59. [In our
search]25Crossed out in typescript text. we ascended the [immense]26Crossed out in typescript text. heights of Fauvriere,27Crowned by churches and military fortifications. the Heights of Fourviere along the west bank of the Saône River possesses a commanding view of the city of Lyons and its neighboring countryside. , 53. 60. from which
may be had one of the [greatest]28Crossed out in typescript text. grandest views of the surrounding
country. We were [conducted to this immense height]29Crossed out in typescript text. accompanied by a
kind-hearted woman, who seemed to know at a glance that we were strang-
ers, and without assurance of fee or reward. consented to be our guide.
How one such person, as this kind woman was, can give a pleasant impres-
sion of a whole city full. She was evidently a good Catholic, and her
kindness made even the many sounding church bells of Lyons seem sweet-
er to us. We [had a chance in Lyons to see and did see]30Crossed out in typescript text. also witnessed a
grand military review—a genuine French review, with all the pomp and
circumstance of glorious war—the largest I had ever seen. The spectacle,
though imposing, was sad: men in the prime of life thus preparing for
human slaughter and to be slaughtered, are a sight painful to contemplate.
[The next old city,]31Crossed out in typescript text. Dating far back in the centuries, and full of
interesting associations, is Avignon. This place was for more than seventy
years the home of the popes, and the scene of pontifical pomp and magnifi-
cence. Five at least of these ecclesiastical dignitaries were here consecrated
to the service of the church.32In the period between 1305 and 1378, seven popes resided in the French city of Avignon in the Rhone River valley. After Pope Urban VI restored Rome as the seat of the papacy, two more Avignon-based “popes” contested the spiritual authority of their Roman rivals until 1423. Ferm, , 49; , 129-35. Avignon [is in keeping with my general
remarks]33Crossed out in typescript text. especially illustrates my remark as to the general character of
the country between Paris and the Eternal City.34The sobriquet “Eternal City" has been attached to Rome since the first century B.C. William Morris and Mary Morris, (London, 1977), 206. It is surrounded by a high
wall, flanked by thirty-nine towers, and is entered through four great gates.
Though its wall is twelve feet high and is thus flanked by towers, they
would furnish little defense against the projectiles of modern warfare. It
has survived, like many other things, the use for which it was erected. The
chief feature of Avignon is its old palace of the popes, and a very [good and
a]35Crossed out in typescript text. striking feature it is. In its appointments the palace justifies the Ger-
man proverb, that “they who have the cross will bless themselves.” It is
situated on an eminence proudly overlooking the city and surrounding
country and has about it and belonging to it large and beautiful grounds
which no doubt were once very pleasant to the eyes of the holy pontiffs who
once took their morning walks in them. Catholics have long known how
[to] select locations. On looking at the situation, I could not help remark-
ing, that what we see going on around us in the way of wise selection of
locations for Catholic churches is no new discovery with that church. She,
at this early day, knew well how to take advantage of topographical condi-
tions, and to make her ecclesiastical buildings, by situation, grand and
impressive. This famous old palace, was, however, not only a palace, it
was something more. It was [a court]36Crossed out in typescript text. at once a palace and a prison, where
many poor souls have endured the agony of trial and of death for their
opinions. It was a place of prayer and a place of punishment. The holy men
who ruled them could be lions as well as lambs. They had halls of judg-
iment, halls of inquisition, halls of torture, [as well as]37Crossed out in typescript text. and halls of
banquetting. In the day of its palatial glory, religion stood no such nonsense
as [what we call]38Crossed out in typescript text. free-thought. It had here a dungeon deep and dark into
which many a quivering body was thrown and from which none ever came
out alive. Believe with the Church, or be tortured and die. Recant your faith
or be hurled among the damned, was in those days the stern voice of the
church. Men like R. G. Ingersoll39Robert Green Ingersoll. would have been speedily disposed of
had he [they] lived in Avignon, [in the days of her holy popes]40. 40Crossed out in typescript text. [at any
time during the reign of]41Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. in the day of its glory. We could have been
shown some of the implements of torture, used by these holy men of yore,
but for the order of Louis Napoleon, forbidding their exhibition. [Previous
to the Louis Napoleon reign, some of the ghastly instruments of torture
were often shown to visitors; but during his reign they were withdrawn
from public view. ]42Crossed out in typescript text. Cold and cruel as he was he could not bear the sight of
these fiendish instruments, [and it was by his order that the exhibition was
forbidden. That which superstition and bigotry held as a glory, he held as
a shame and looked upon with a shudder.]43Crossed out in typescript text. Though he trampled Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity44The popular motto of the French Revolution of 1789. under his feet, he knew enough to know that this
is the nineteenth century—a fact that some even now in our country seem
not to know, and have yet to learn.
There is, however, enough left about this old papal palace, to amaze,
thrill and shock. There are lingering and [sticking]45Crossed out in typescript text. stalking about within
its thick [and damp]46Crossed out in typescript text. and gloomy walls, in [gloomy]47Crossed out in typescript text. its narrow rooms
and dark passages, behind its huge locks[,] bar[s] and bolts, the ghosts of
dead and buried murderers as well as those of the murdered. In walking
through it, imagination easily created visions of what had transpired there.
It called up the inquisition, that court of death and hell, and painted for us
the terror-stricken faces of the accused, and the saintly satisfaction of the
priestly inquisitors in consigning men and women to death and hell for no
crime but that of thinking differently from the Church and refusing to lie.
We were shown the open and stony mouth of the dungeon into which
heretics were hurled and out of which none ever came alive.
But let us not think too badly of these old Catholic saints and pontiffs.
They were what their religion made them. They were true to their faith.
They had the key that could unlock heaven and lock up hell.48Douglass adapts Matt. 16: 19. They
believed literally in cutting off right hands and plucking out right eyes—
when right hands and right eyes were not their own, and they lived up to
their convictions.49Douglass paraphrases Matt. 5: 29-30, 18: 8-9, and Mark 9: 43, 47. They could smile when they heard the bones of a live
heretic crack in the stocks, and enjoy the anguish of a maiden when the
flesh was being torn from her bone. It is only the best things that can be
perverted to worst ends. Many pious souls [to-day]50Crossed out in typescript text. hate the Negro, while
they profess to love the Lord. Even in our day we have seen men sold to
build churches and women sold to support the gospel. A difference of
religion in the days of this old palace was sufficient to justify the utmost
cruelty, and a difference of color to-day is, in some quarters, about the
same thing.
Light has dawned however upon the papal palace of Avignon. A
change has come over its cold gray walls. It is no longer the home of saints,
but the home of soldiers. It is no longer a strong hold of the church, but a
stronghold of the Government and is used as barracks.51The Palace of the Popes at Avignon had been a permanent military barracks since 1822 and the French government renovated it in 1883 to accommodate its Corps of Engineers. Thomas Okey, (London, 1926), 294. The roll of the
drum has taken the place of the bell for prayer. Martial law has taken the
place of ecclesiastical law, and there is no doubt as to which law is the more
merciful of the two.
Though Avignon awakened in us a train of gloomy thoughts, we still
think it a charming old city. We went there with curiosity; we left it with
reluctance, and would revisit it with pleasure. No tourist should go through
the south of France without tarrying a few days inside of its walls and fully
inspecting its old papal palace.
The next point of interest visited by us was the ancient Greek-settled
city of Arles. This is one of the oldest and most fascinating towns to be met
with in a trip from Paris to Marseilles. Its streets are the narrowest,
queerest, and crookedest of any yet seen in our journey. It has upon it the
image and superscription of both Greece and Rome, as plainly as the
ancient Roman coin had that of the Caesars. Like its Roman prototype. it
has its [Coliseum]52Crossed out in typescript text. amphitheater, where men have fought with the wild
beasts amidst the applauding shouts of the ladies and gentlemen of the
period.53The most famous artifact of the history of Arles as the principal city of southern France in the time of the Roman Empire is an imposing oval-shaped amphitheatre, two stories high and measuring 459 feet by 341 feet, built during the reign of Emperor Titus in the first century A.D. , 155-59. This structure is still in good condition, though no longer used for
its old time purposes. We were taken through it and shown the various
apartments where the lions were kept. and their way out of their dens to the
arena, where they were lashed to fury for their fierce and bloody contests
with men. Looking upon this old [Coliseum]54Crossed out in typescript text. [amphitheater]55Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. structure.
with its memory of the terrible strifes for which it was built, and the
amusement it once strangely afforded to thousands of men and women, one
cannot help feeling thankful that we live in a more enlightened age. There
is, however, enough of the wild beast [to be seen]56Crossed out in typescript text. still left in our modern
human life to remind us of our kinship with the people who built this
[Coliseum]57Crossed out in typescript text. amphitheater; and who found pleasure in the brutal encoun-
ters of men and beasts in its arena. The newspapers of the day tell a sad
story in this respect. They would not be filled with the details of prize fights
and discussions of the brutal perfections of prize fighters as they now are, if
such matters did not please the [taste for brutality]58Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. brutal taste of a large
class of their readers.
One of the interesting things of Arles is a long line of granite coffins,
recently unearthed by excavations [made]59Crossed out in typescript text. for a railway just outside-the
town.60Immediately outside the Roman wall on the eastern border of Arles lies a large cemetery called Aliscamp which dates back to the first century A.D. It contains sarcophagi, gravestones, and chapels from both the pagan and Christian eras. , 159. These houses of the dead are well-preserved, while the dust and
ashes, once their tenants, are scattered to the winds.
An hour or two after leaving this quaint and sinuous old town we were
brought to Marseilles and were confronted by the blue and tideless waters
of the Mediterranean. Charming in itself, this sea has been made more
charming and interesting by the poetry and eloquence it has inspired. Its
deep blue waters, sparkling under a summer sky and an almost tropical
sun, fanned by balmy breezes away from Afric’s golden sand, made a fine
contrast with snow-covered mountains and plains left behind, and filled us
with delightful sensations. A few hours before reaching Marseilles we
were in mid-winter, but now we were all at once greeted with the lemon and
the orange, the olive and the oleander, all flourishing under the open sky.
The transition was so sudden and the contrast so complete, as to seem more
like magic than reality. Not only was the climate different, but the people
seemed different. A certain blending of the Orient with the Occident was
plainly visible. The sails and rigging of the vessels in the harbor began here
to resemble marine pictures of the East. Gib-like mainsails [side-and]61Crossed out in typescript text.
loosely attached to the mast by a single rope are to an American eye, quite
picturesque and attractive. Our stay in Marseilles was much too short to
accomplish a large amount of sight-seeing. It was easy[,] however[,] to see
at a glance, the results of large wealth and active commerce in [the]62Crossed out in typescript text. its
far-reaching streets, ware-houses and fine residences [of that fine city].63Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. I
confess, however, that I cared less for all these, than for the old prison [I
saw]64Crossed out in typescript text. anchored far out in the sea. Dumas had thrown over Chateau Dif65Douglass refers to the mulatto French novelist and dramatist Alexandre Dumas (1802-70). Edmond Dantes, the hero of Dumas's novel , is portrayed as imprisoned in the real-life Chateau d‘If prison off the coast of Marseilles. , 165.
such a network of enchantment as made the temptation to visit it irresist-
ible; so, on the first morning after our arrival, we hired one of the numerous
boats in the harbor and an old man of seventy to row us out to the scene of
Dumas’ [bewitching]66Crossed out in typescript text. weird story. It was a long row and the old man
seemed quite willing to have me lend him a hand at the oars. After a long
pull and a strong pull, as the sailors say, we landed upon the enchanted
rock. After having viewed the old prison, I confess to having had a slight
feeling of disappointment. It was not so much to actual and personal
inspection as it had been made when seen in the glow of imagination.
Genius as well as Distance had lent [its]67Crossed out in typescript text. The words “Genius as well as" at the beginning of the sentence are Douglass's interlineation. enchantment to the view.68Douglass paraphrases Thomas Campbell's poem , Part 1, line 7. Hill, , 1. The
truth, in this case, was not so strange or so interesting as the fiction, still, it
fully repaid the cost and the toil of the row to see it. Anchored in the sea
standing lone and desolate & bold and high against the horizon, with the
blue waves of the Mediterranean coming from afar and dashing themselves
against the sharp and flinty rocks, the old prison made a picture not soon to
be forgotten by any [one who may have read]69Crossed out in typescript text. The word “one” is a crossed out interlineation. reader [of] the .
Our next [great]70Crossed out in typescript text. objective point, after Marseilles, [on our way to
Rome,]71Crossed out in typescript text. was Genoa, once the city of sea-kings and merchant-princes, and
still a place of large commercial importance. In going there we tarried a
whilet in Nice, [ a celebrated winter-watering-place,]72Crossed out in typescript text. beautiful for situa-
tion and a favorite resort of Northern health and pleasure seekers. It is a
place, however, which a man with a large family at home and a lean purse
abroad should escape from as soon as possible. It is the most expensive
place we found abroad.
Just a little way from Nice is Monti Carlo, the great gambling pan-
demonium, where gamblers from all parts of the world are attracted and
congregate. It is a beautiful place and has about it all the fascinating
witchery that art and wealth can produce. It is said that it is [often]73Crossed out in typescript text.
sometimes the scene of two suicides in a week. Young men go there, play
against the Bank, empty their pockets of money, and then, consistently,
empty their heads of the little brains they had in them.
But here we are in Genoa, the birth-place of Christo Columbo, the first
European who saw America by an eye of faith and then made his faith the
substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.74The navigator and explorer, Cristoforo Colombo (1451-1506) was the son of a weaver from a village near Genoa. , Murray's Foreign Handbooks, 15th ed. (London, 1883), 88. It is a
grand old city, with fine churches, narrow streets. and splendid palaces.
Looking out upon the sea, from its heights, I thought of one of the finest
pieces of word-painting I ever heard from the lips of the late Wendell
Phillips. He was then a young man. He had referred to a proposed treaty to
suppress the slave-trade, and described the unwillingness of the United
States, then under the dominion of the slave power, to unite with England
and France in their effort to suppress that trade.
This was in 1840. In this very city and standing on the heights from
which we looked off to the sea; he said, with a face expressive of indigna-
tion, horror and scorn:
“As I stood upon the shores of Genoa and saw floating upon the placid
waters of the Mediterranean our beautiful American ship, the Ohio, with
masts tapering proportionately aloft and an eastern sun reflecting her
graceful form upon the sparkling waters. attracting the attention of the
multitude from the shore, it was enough to pride any American heart to
think himself an American; but when I thought that in all probability the
first time that gallant ship would gird on her gorgeous apparel and wake
from her sides her dormant thunders it would be in defence of the African
slave trade, I could but blush and hang my head to think myself an Ameri-
can."75Douglass makes minor errors in quoting the speech of Wendell Phillips on 10 May 1842 at the annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. , 20 May 1842.
This fine passage in the speech of Wendell Phillips was an element in
my desire to see Genoa and to look out from the same[.]76There is a gap of several lines in the typescript text following the word "same."
Like most Italian cities, Genoa upholds the reputation of its country in
respect of Art. The old masters in painting and sculpture are largely repre-
sented in all the palaces of her merchant-princes, and they are legion. A
singular feature of the old city is the abundance of its fresco work. It is
seen, in some instances, even on the outside of buildings. The power of the
Roman Catholic Church manifests itself here in the multitude of shrines,
pictures of apostles, saints, and of the Virgin Mother and the Infant Jesus.
These may be seen to satiety, alike in churches and palaces. One of the most
interesting objects I saw in Genoa was an old violin. There was nothing in
itself disclosing any marked difference between it and other violins. It was
kept in a glass case beyond the touch of spectators—a thing to be seen and
not handled. There are some things and places made sacred by their uses
and events associated with them. Great events, coupled with places or
things which have sensibly changed the current of human thought and life,
or which have revealed new powers or new triumphs of the human soul,
receive a special character, separate and distinct from all about them. Thus
the pen with which Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation; the
sword worn by Washington; though of the same material and form as other
pens and swords, have an individual character and excite, on seeing them,
a peculiar interest, and bring to our minds their historic surroundings. So
this old violin, made after the pattern of others and perhaps not more
perfect in its construction than hundreds seen elsewhere, was able to hold
me longer than any one of the beautiful objects around me in the Museum at
Genoa. Emerson says, “It is not the thing said, but the man behind it that is
important.”77Ralph Waldo Emerson. So it was not this old violin, but the man who had owned it;
the man who had played on it, and played on the hearts of thousands with it
as never man played before, which made it a precious object in my eyes. I
would have given more for that old mechanism of wood, horse-hair and
cat-gut, than for any one of the long line of pictures in that gallery; for it
was the violin of Paganini78The internationally renowned violinist and composer Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) bequeathed his favorite instrument, a Guameri del Gesu of 1742, to his native Genoa where it was exhibited at the Palazzo del Municipio. Sadie, , 14: 86-91.—the man who revealed powers and pos-
sibilities in that instrument, never discerned by the most gifted of his
musical predecessors. This old violin, the favorite instrument of the most
famous musical genius of his time; the solace of his private hours; the
sharer of his public triumphs; the minister to delighted thousands; though
silent and motionless now, could once, under the wonderful touch and skill
of its master, fill the largest halls of Europe with a concord of sweet sounds,
and cause even the dull hearts of courts—kings and princes—to own their
kinship to common mortals.
[We must now stop a moment in]79Crossed out in typescript text. The ancient and interesting city of
Pisa-once renowned for its power on sea and land; though still a fine old
city with many imposing buildings, [like many others,]80Crossed out in typescript text. reveals at every
step that its glory has departed. Its week days resemble our Sundays, so
silent & dead are its streets, [the most it now has of interest to the tourist
is]81Douglass apparently intended to cross out this passage in the typescript text when he inserted the handwritten interlineation “from which the interest of the tourist is likely to be drawn to." from which the interest of the tourist is likely to be drawn to its far-
famed leaning Tower,82The most famous landmark of Pisa, the Leaning Tower is a 179-foot-high bell tower constructed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which started to tilt during its construction on account of ground subsidence. Janet Ross and Nelly Erichsen, (London, 1909), 189-96. its grand old cathedral,83Pisans largely rebuilt their cathedral, or Duomo, after a fire in 1595 but retained the building's original eleventh-century Romanesque design. Ross and Erichsen, , 155-81. its Campo Santo,84A long rectangular cemetery enclosed with a low marble wall, the Campo Santo, or Holy Field, of Pisa dates back to the twelfth century and is the site of many chapels containing renowned religious art. Ross and Erichsen, , 197-240. and
its Baptistry.85Construction of the bell-shaped Baptistery of Pisa began in 1153 and continued intermittently for more than two centuries. It is located on the same square as the city's cathedral, Campo Santo, and Leaning Tower. Ross and Erichsen, , 25, 107-08, 181-89. In this last [building]86Crossed out in typescript text. the most wonderful accoustic effects
are produced, and the human voice has imparted to it the richest notes of the
organ, and goes on repeating and prolonging itself, ranging higher and
higher in its ascent till lost in [sweet]87Crossed out in typescript text. whispers almost divinely away up in
the dome.
[But]88Crossed out in typescript text. No American tourist, sensitive and responsive to what is old,
grand and historic, with his face towards [the east and]89Crossed out in typescript text. the ancient city of
Rome only a few hours journey away, can tarry long, even in the fine old
city of Pisa. Like the mysterious lodestone in its relation to steel, the
invisible attractive power of the Eternal city increases the nearer it is
approached. All that we have ever heard, read, felt, thought, or imagined,
comes thronging upon the mind and heart and fires the soul with impatient
eagerness to see it for ourselves. Unfortunately, however, for our eager
curiosity, we reached Rome in the night,90The Douglasses arrived in Rome on 19 January 1887. FD Diary, Family Papers File, reel 1, frame 16, FD Papers, DLC. and our first glimpse of it was in
the light of moon and stars. This would have been very delightful if we had
seen it in the light of other days. Worse still, we were landed in the new part
of the city in which there was no suggestion of the Rome of our dreams. To
all appearances, we might as well have been dropped down at a railroad
station in London, New York or Chicago, or in front of some of the grand
hotels at Saratoga or Coney Island.91The site of health spas since the early nineteenth century, Saratoga Springs, New York, attracted thousands of visitors each summer even before railroads connected the rural community to the major eastern cities in the 1830s. Saratoga Springs was famed for the lavish accommodations found at such establishments as the United States Hotel, the Grand Union, and Congress Hall. The first hotel at Coney Island at the southemmost end of Brooklyn, New York, opened in 1829. The construction of a railroad from Manhattan in the 1870s allowed Coney Island to draw a wealthy clientele to expensive resort hotels at Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach as well as a multitude of middleand workingclass visitors to its many other amusements. Hugh Bradley, (New York, 1940), 54-66, 89-91, 115-62; John F. Kasson, (New York, 1978), 29-33. [At this station]92Crossed out in typescript text. There were long
rows of carriages, coaches, omnibuses and other vehicles, with their usual
accompaniments of drivers, porters and runners, clamorous for passengers
to their several hotels. All was more like an American town of the latest
pattern than a city whose foundation was laid nearly a thousand years
before the flight of Joseph and Mary into Egypt.93Matt. 2: 13-14. We were disappointed
by this intensely modern aspect. It was not the Rome we came to see. But
the disappointment was temporary and happily enough only heightened the
effect of the subsequent realization of [our dream] what we expected.94The words “our dream" are crossed out in the typescript text. The handwritten interlineation “what we expected" might also have been crossed out.
With the light of day, the Eternal City seated on its throne of seven hills,95The famed seven hills of ancient Rome are: Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, Coelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal. , Murray’s Foreign Handbooks, 13th ed. (London, 1881), 64-66.
fully [realized]96Crossed out in typescript text. gave us all [its promises]97Crossed out in typescript text. it had promised; banished
every feeling of disappointment, and filled our minds with ever-increasing
wonder and amazement. The sunlight disclosed in all directions indica-
tions of her ancient greatness and her fitness to be the seat of the most
powerful empire the world had ever seen—the Mistress of the known
world, and, for a thousand years, the recognized metropolis of the Chris-
tian faith, and still, the head of the largest organized Christian church in the
world. Here you see both Christian and pagan Rome; the temples of
discarded gods and the temples of the Son of the Virgin Mary—the ac-
cepted Saviour of the world. Empires, principalities, powers and domin-
ions have perished; altars and their gods have mingled with the dust; a
religion which made men virtuous in peace and invincible in war has
perished or been supplanted; yet the Eternal City remains. A new church
has been built on the ruins of an old one, and even beneath that old one.
there is another deeper down and still older than either.
Here we see the spacious Forum, yet studded with its graceful but
broken and time-worn columns,98The principal site for administrative, judicial, and religious activities in ancient Rome, the Forum was lined with temples, courts, statues, and commemorative arches. The Italian government began systematic excavation and preservation efforts of the ruins of the Roman Forum in the 1870s. , 80-89. where Cicero poured out his burning
eloquence against Cataline and against Anthony, and for which latter, he
lost his head.99Statesman, orator, and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) delivered a series of speeches in the Roman Senate in 63 B.C. against the insurrectionary conspiracy of the disgruntled patrician Lucius Sergius Cataline (108-62 B.C.) who died in battle the following year. Cicero's orations against the Roman soldier and statesman Marcus Antonius (82-30 B.C.) led to his murder by the latter. Yonah and Shatzman, , 47, 114, 120-22. [Here]100Crossed out in typescript text. We see what remains of the palaces of the
C[a]esars,101The first Roman emperor, Augustus, constructed a palace on the Palatine Hill near the Forum. His successors also built residences on that hill until it eventually became a crowded complex of imperial residences, gardens, and temples. , 104-05. over-looking a large part of the ancient city; the Pan-
theon102A particularly well-preserved temple dedicated to the worship of all the gods, the Roman Pantheon dates back to the third consulate of Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C. , 151-55. —grand, grave and severe, a temple of the gods built twenty-
seven years before the songs of the angels were heard on the plains of
Bethlehem.103Luke 2: 8-14. Though two thousand years have rolled over it, and though
the beautiful marble which once adorned and protected its exterior, has
been torn off and made to serve other and inferior purposes, there it stands
erect and strong. and may yet stand a thousand years longer. Its walls are
twenty feet thick and give little sign of decay. It, more than any building I
saw in Rome, tells of the thoroughness of the Roman in everything he
thought it worth while to undertake to be or to do.
Here, too, we have the ruins of the Baths, of Titus, of Diocletian, and
of Carracalla.104Among the largest and best preserved buildings of ancient Rome are its baths or thermae. In particular, the Baths of Diocletian, Caracalla, and Titus impressed nineteenth-century tourists because of the ruins' massive columns, statues of athletes, and accommodations for thousands of bathers at one time. , 128-35. The baths of ancient Rome with their spacious apart-
ments, designed to fulfill every conceivable condition of ease and luxury.
are simply stupendous and amazing. They far transcend any example of the
kind that modern taste and skill have yet produced. With these vast conditions
of luxury and enervation before us, we have no need to consult
Gibbon for the causes of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.105Edward Gibbon, , 6 vols. (London, 1776-88). The
lap of pleasure, the pursuit of ease and luxury, are death to manly courage,
energy, will, and enterprise. No tourist visiting Rome should fail to see
these vast and wonderful ruins. Many others there are, some entirely
uncovered, and some only partly so, for there is a Rome under ground, as
great or greater, than the Rome above ground.
One of the finest old arches, in this city of arches, is that of Titus—an
object which must forever be painful to every Jew, since it reminds him of
the loss of his beloved Jerusalem. It was long the custom at Rome[—no
longer the custom I am glad to say—]106Crossed out in typescript text. to make the Jewish inhabitants
march under this hateful arch with a view to their further humiliation.107Built to commemorate the conquest of Judea by the Emperor Titus, the Arch of Titus has a bas-relief depiction of the triumphal procession of the emperor and his army bearing spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem. William Knight, (London, 1867), 57; , 99.
Among other objects calling up ancient events in the history of Rome,
is the [Coliseum]108Crossed out in typescript text. Column of Trajan, after which Napoleon’s monument
in Paris was modelled.109Erected in 114 A.D. to honor the military triumphs of the Emperor Trajan in the Balkans, the Column of Trajan measured over 94 feet and served in classical times as a base for a massive statue of the emperor. Napoleon I erected a 143-foot column at Vendome Place in Paris in imitation of the Column of Trajan. , 92-95; , 313-14. It tells of the many battles fought and won by
Trajan and is a beautiful column, and though now slowly yielding to the
touch of Time, we may still say of it as was once said by the great Daniel
Webster of Bunker Hill Monument, “It looks, it speaks, it acts."110Douglass slightly misquotes remarks made by Daniel Webster during ceremonies at the Bunker Hill Monument on 17 June 1843. , 1: 262.
certainly is a memorial of the past, a monitor of the present, though it may
not be a hope of the future. In sight of the palaces of the C[a]esars and the
Temple of the Vestal Virgins,111In a circular temple on the Roman Forum, an order of priestesses, popularly known as the Vestal Virgins, maintained an eternal fire to honor Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. , 81-82, 155-56; Yonah and Shatzman, , 477. and the Capitoline Hill,112The original fortified citadel of Rome, the Capitoline Hill is the site of ruins dating mainly to the city's early history as a republic. , 100-04. darkening the
horizon with its sombre and time-defying walls, rises the immense and
towering Coliseum113Constructed in the first century A.D., the Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre housed gladiatorial and other sporting events for as many as fifty thousand Roman spectators. , 113-20.—an ancient hell of human horrors, where the elite
of Rome enjoyed the sport of seeing men torn to pieces by hungry and
infuriated lions and tigers and by each other. No building more elaborate,
vast and wonderful than this, has risen since the Tower of Babe].114Gen. 11: 1-6.
While the old part of Rome has antiquities of its own, the new part has
antiquities from abroad. There are in Rome [fourteen]115Crossed out in typescript text. l l obelisks im-
ported from Egypt, one of the finest of which adorns the front of St.
Peter’s.116Douglass refers to the red granite obelisk originally brought from Egypt to Rome during the reign of the Emperor Caligula in the first century A.D. This obelisk stood in the circus of Nero but by order of Pope Sixtus V was removed to the Piazza of St. Peter in 1586. , 137, 139-40.
The older streets of Rome are generally very narrow, and the houses on
either side of them being very high, there is much more shade than sun-
shine in them, and hence the remarkably chilly atmosphere of the city of
which strangers complain. Yet the city is not without redeeming and com-
pensating features. It has many open spaces and public squares supplied
with large flowing fountains and adorned with various attractive devices.
where the people have abundant, pure water, fresh air, and bright, health-
giving sunlight.
Of the street life in Rome I must not stop to speak, except to say there is
one feature of it which overtops all the others, and that is the Church. All
that we see and hear impresses us with the gigantic and all-prevading[,|
complicated[,] accumulated and mysterious power of this great[?] re-
ligious and political organization. Wherever else the Roman Church may
practise a modest reserve, here she is open, self asserting, and bold in her
largest assumptions. She writes indulgenees over her gateway as boldly to-
day as if Luther117Martin Luther. had never lived, and she jingles the keys of heaven and
hell as confidently as if her right to do so had never been called in question.
About every fifth man you meet in the street holds some official relation to
this stupendous & far reaching organization, and is at work to maintain its
power[,] ascendency and glory. Religion seems to be the chief business by
which men live in Rome. Throngs of young students of all lands and
languages march through the streets at all hours of the day but never
unattended. Rome looks well to these lambs of her flock. Experienced,
well-dressed, discreet and dignified ecclesiastics attend them everywhere.
On the surface, these dear young people, so pure and in the full [flush]118Crossed out in typescript text.
fresh bloom of youth, are a beautiful sight; but when you reflect that they
are being trained to defend dogmas and superstitions contrary to the prog-
ress and enlightment of the age, the sight becomes sad indeed.
But these are not the only of religion met with in the streets
of Rome. You will see there a class which is neither pleasant to the eye, to
the touch, nor to the thought. They are the vacant-faced, bare-legged,
grimy monks, who have taken a vow neither to marry, work, nor wash, and
who live by prayer;—who beg, and pay for what they get, by praying for
the donors. It is strange that such fanaticism is encouraged by a church so
worldly-wise as that of Rome, and yet in this I may be less wise than the
Church. She may have a use for them too occult for my dim vision.
The two best points from which to view the exterior of Rome are the
Pincician hill and the Janiculum.119Douglass refers to two hills outside the walls of ancient Rome but within the borders of the modern city. The Janiculum lies immediately west of the Tiber River and the Pincian lies on the northern side of the modern city. , 64-65. They tower grandly above the seven
hills and take in the full magnificence of the Eternal City. A view of it from
these points you will never forget and it is a view you will certainly never
want to forget. It will be a picture in your mind forever. You then take in at a
glance all the great features of the [place]120Crossed out in typescript text. city, with its grand & im-
pressive surroundings. You see [here]121Crossed out in typescript text. something of the far-reaching and
much dreaded Campagna, and survey at your feet a whole [wilderness]122Crossed out in typescript text.
forest of grand historic churches, with their domes, towers, and turrets
rising Skyward, and. listening to their various toned, sonorous bells,—you
have a combination of sight and sound to be seen and heard no where in the
world outside of Rome. From one of these points you have the [best]123Crossed out in typescript text.
finest view of the far-famed dome of St. Peter’s.124The original basilica of St. Peter's was constructed at the order of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century. The building received major renovation during the 16th and 17th centuries, including the construction of its massive dome designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. , 194-210. It is hard to imagine any
structure built by human hands more grand and imposing than this dome as
seen from the Pincic[i]an Hill, especially near the sunset hour. Towering
high above the [great]125Crossed out in typescript text. ample body of the great Cathedral and the Vat-
ican, [its dome]126Crossed out in typescript text. it is bathed in a sea of ethereal glory. [The]127Crossed out in typescript text. Its
magnificence and impressiveness [of this feature gains]128Crossed out in typescript text. gain by dis-
tance. When you move away from it, it seems to follow you, and though
you [must]129Crossed out in typescript text. travel fast and far [if]130Crossed out in typescript text. when you look back [and]131Crossed out in typescript text. it [is
not]132Crossed out in typescript text. will [be] there. and more impressive than ever.
But this is only the outside of Rome. The outside of St. Peter’s and her
three hundred other [grand]133Crossed out in typescript text. sister churches and the many storied Vatican
give no hint of the wealth and grandeur within them. As pagan Rome drew
tribute in its day from all the known world, so the Church of Rome to-day
receives gifts from all the Christian world—our own Republican country
included—and the end is not yet. Even the President of the United States
sends his presents to his holiness. the Pope.134 In 1887 President Grover Cleveland sent Pope Leo XIII a bound copy of the U.S. Constitution as a present to recognize the latter's fiftieth anniversary as a priest. ACC, 1888, 716. A look into some of these
Romish churches will show you that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these.135Matt. 6: 29 and Luke 12: 27. All that [paint.] architecture, sculpture,136After crossing out “paint” in typescript text, Douglass wrote directions to change the order of the words “sculpture” and “architecture” that follow.
and fine colors can do; all that silver and gold and precious stones can do:
all that art and skill can do. to render them beautiful and imposing, has been
done in these magnificent Roman churches. St. Peter’s by its vastness.
wealth, splendor and architectural perfections, acts upon us like some great
and overpowering natural wonder. It awes us into [silent,]137Crossed out in typescript text. speechless
admiration. One is at a loss to know how the amplitudinous and multi-
[tu]dinous whole that is there seen, has been brought together. The more
you see of it the more impressive and wonderful it becomes. There are
several other churches very little inferior to St. Peter’s in [the]138Crossed out in typescript text. wealth
and splendor [of their ornamentation].139Crossed out in typescript text. For one, however, I was much
more interested in the Rome of the past than in the Rome of the present; in
the banks of the Tiber with their history, than in the images and pictures on
the walls of its splendid churches; in the preaching of Paul eighteen hun-
dred years ago, than in the preaching of the priests and the popes of to-day.
The [splendid]140Crossed out in typescript text. fine silks and costly jewels and vestments of the priests
of to-day could hardly have been dreamed of by the first great preacher of
Christianity at Rome. who lived in his own hired house, and whose hands
ministered to his own necessities. It was something to feel myself standing
where this brave man stood looking on the place where he is said to have
lived and walking on the same Appian Way141Originally constructed in 312 B.C., the Via Appia extended from Rome to Capua. The Romans later extended this road through to the Adriatic coast at the present day city of Brindisi. Yonah and Shatzman, , 477, where [the great apostle]142Crossed out in typescript text.
he walked when, having appealed to Caesar, he was bravely on his way to
this same Rome to meet his fate whether that should be, life or death. This
was more to me than being shown, as l was shown under the dome of St.
Peter’s, the head of St. Luke in a casket; a piece of the true cross; a lock of
Mary’s hair, and the leg bone of Lazarus, or any of the wonderful things in
that line palmed off on a credulous and superstitious people. In one of these
churches I was shown a great doll, covered with silk and jewels and all
manner of strange devices, and this rag baby was solemnly credited with
miraculous power in healing the sick and averting many of the evils to
which flesh is heir.143Douglass paraphrases Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, lines 62-63. In the same church I was shown with equal solemnity
a print of the devil’s cloven foot in the hard stone. I could but ask myself
what the devil could a devil be doing in such a holy place, but I suppose he
got there all the same. I had some curiosity in seeing devout people going
up to the black statue of St. Peter144Douglass probably refers to the bronze statue of St. Peter which stands to the right of the nave of St. Peter's basilica. Devotees would first kiss the toe of the statue and then press their heads against the digit. , 201.—I have no prejudice against his
color—and kissing [his]145Crossed out in typescript text. the old fellow’s big toe, one side of which has
been nearly worn away by the devout and tender kisses to which it has been
[subjected]146Crossed out in typescript text. the cold subject. In seeing these things one may well ask
himself, What will not men believe? Crowds of men and women going up a
stairway on their knees: monks making ornaments of dead men’s bones,
and refusing to wash their skins in order to secure the favor of God, give a
degrading idea of man’s relation to the Infinite Author of the Universe. But
there is no reasoning with faith. It is doubtless a great comfort to these
people after all to have kissed the great toe of the black image of the apostle
Peter, and in having bruised their knees in substituting them for feet in
ascending a long stairway, called the Santa Scala.147According to tradition, the Scala Santa in the Basilica of the Lateran in Rome consists of 28 marble stairs from the house of Pontius Pilate, where Jesus walked upon them after his judgment. Penitents ascended the marble stairs on their knees. , 219-20. I felt, in looking upon
these religious shows in Rome, as the late Benjamin Wade said he felt at a
large negro camp-meeting, where there was much howling and shouting
and jumping, [and more loud shouting],148Crossed out in typescript text. Douglass inserted the words “howling and shouting and" as a handwritten interlineation. “This is nothing to me, but it
surely must be something to them.”
With this brief and imperfect reference to [what]149Crossed out in typescript text. some things which
may be seen, heard, and felt in the Eternal City, we [must now] press on to
Naples and its neighborhood, embracing Pompeii, Herculaneum,150Pompeii was a prosperous Roman port city about five miles from Mount Vesuvius. An eruption of Vesuvius destroyed the nearby resort town of Herculaneum in 63 A.D. Pompeii suffered the same fate from an eruption 16 years later. The rediscovery and excavation of these two communities beginning in the 17th century spurred serious historical study of classical art and architecture. , Murray's Foreign Handbooks (London. 1862). 207-50; Yonah and Shatzman, , 231, 367-68. Is-
chia[,]151A volcanic island of twenty-six square miles located six miles off the Italian coast west of Naples. , 328-37. Amalfi,152A coastal city about thirty miles south of Naples, Amalfi was an independent republic for several centuries until absorbed by the Norman kingdom of Sicily. , 269-76. Pouteoli,153Located seven miles southwest of Naples, the town of Pozzuoli with only 12,000 inhabitants in the late nineteenth century had been a major port and resort city in Roman times under the name Puteoli. It also was the site where the Apostle Paul landed in Italy on his journey to Rome for trial by Imperial officials. , 298-99. Capri154The site of many health resorts in Douglass's day, the Isle of Capri twenty miles south of Naples became famous as the scene of the debaucheries of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. , 263-69. and other historical places sur-
rounding the far—famed, beautiful Bay of Naples. Leaving Rome by rail.
through the Campagna, we have a splendid view of miles of Roman arches
over which water was formerly brought to the city.155As early as the fourth century B.C., the burgeoning population of Rome required the construction of aqueducts to carry drinking water to the city from the surrounding countryside of Campagna. , 120, 544-61; Yonah and Shatzman, , 56-57. Few works better
illustrate the spirit and power of the Roman people than these miles of
masonry. Humanly speaking there was nothing requiring thought, skill,
energy, and determination which these people could not and did not do.
The ride from Rome to Naples in winter is delightful, a beautiful valley
with diversified mountain peaks on either side, capped with snow, which
are a perpetual entertainment. Only a few hours['] ride, and you behold a
scene of startling sublimity. It is a broad column of white smoke and vapor
slowly and majestically rising against the blue Italian sky and before a
gentle land & Northern breeze is grandly moving off to sea. This is Vesu-
vius. For more than seventeen hundred years this smoke and vapor, some-
times mingled with the lurid light of red hot lava, has been rising thus from
the open mouth of [Mt. Vesuvius]156Crossed out in typescript text. this mountain, and its fires are still
burning and its smoke and vapor are still ascending and no man can tell
when they will cease. or when they will burst forth in [fires]157Crossed out in typescript text. burning
floods [of burning lava]158Douglass crossed out the word “fires” in the typescript text and first wrote the interlineation “flood of burning lava." He then altered the interlineation to read “burning floods." and whelm unsuspecting thousands in the fate of
Pompeii and Herculaneum. [cities]159Crossed out in typescript text. so long buried from the world by its
ashes. It is a grand [sight to see]160Crossed out in typescript text. spectacle [of]. this smoke and harmless
vapor silently and peacefully rolling up the sky and moving off to sea, but
[one must]161Crossed out in typescript text. we shudder at the thought of what may befall the populous
towns and villages that still hover so daringly about [the base of the fiery
mountain]162Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. its base.
Of Naples and its beautiful bay and the historic places about it, I must
not stop [here]163Crossed out in typescript text. to say anything. [It is a great city and its bay is]164Crossed out in typescript text. They
are all that [its] their fame has taught us to expect. The city and its surround-
ings would be well worth a whole [lecture]165Crossed out in typescript text. volume for there are Pom-
peii, Herculaneum, Pouteouli, the latter being where St. Paul landed on
his perilous voyage to Rome, the tomb of Virgil,166Located at the western outskirts of late nineteenth-century Naples, the small tomb of Virgil had attracted reverential visits by admirers of the poet since late Roman times. , 173-76. one of the villas of
Cicero,167Cicero had been born in Isola near Naples and at various times in his life resided at villas near modem-day Mola, Pozzuoli, and Monteleone, all in that locale. , 15, 59, 304, 398. Capri, Ischia, and a thousand other objects full of interest and
worthy of full discourse, but [the]168Crossed out in typescript text. time will not permit me even a passing
notice of any of them, [as]169Crossed out in typescript text. I must now be off to Egypt, the land of all
others about which I wish to speak.170There is a gap of several lines in the typescript text following the word "speak."
When once an American tourist has quitted the chilly atmosphere of
Rome and has felt the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean, has seen the
beautiful Bay of Naples, revelled in the wonders of its neighborhood, stood
at the base of Vesuvius, surveyed the narrow streets, majestic halls, and
luxurious houses of the long-buried Pompeii, stood upon the spot where the
great apostle Paul first landed at Pouteoli, after his eventful and perilous
voyage on his way to Rome, he is generally seized with an ardent desire to
extend his travels still further eastward and southward. Sicily will tempt
him, and, once there, and his face turned towards the rising sun, he will
want to see Egypt. He will want to see the Suez Canal,171Opened in 1869 after a decade of construction by a Franco-Egyptian company headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the 100-mile-long Suez Canal allowed ocean-going ships direct passage from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. The British government purchased the controlling interest in the canal company from the Egyptian Khedive in 1875 and by the timeof the Douglass tour had established a protectorate over the entire Egyptian nation. D. A. Farnie, (Oxford, Eng., 1969), 55-80, 229-46, 282-324; , Murray's Foreign Handbooks (London, 1873), 231-47. the Lybian
desert,172Douglass perhaps refers to the Libyan Desert, the eastern portion of the Sahara Desert, which extends into Egypt. and the wondrous Nile. He will want to behold the land of
obelisks and hieroglyphs. which men are just now learning to read, the land
of sphinxes and of mummies many thousand years old, the land of great
pyramids and colossal ruins that speak to us of a civilization which extends
back into the misty shadows of the past, far beyond the reach and grasp of
authentic history. The more he has seen of modern civilization in En-
gland[,] France and Italy, the more he will want to see the traces of that
civilization which existed when these countries of Europe were inhabited
by barbarians. When once so near to this more renowned and ancient abode
of civilization, the scene of so many Bible events and wonders, the desire
to see it becomes almost irresistible.
I confess, however, that my desire to visit Egypt did not rest entirely
upon the bases thus foreshadowed. I had a motive far less enthusiastic and
sentimental. It was an ethnological object. I hoped to turn my visit to some
account in combatting American prejudice against the darker colored races
of mankind, and at the same time raise colored people somewhat in their
own estimation, and thus stimulate them to higher endeavors. I had a
theory, for which I wanted the support of facts in the range of my own
knowledge,—but more of this in another place.
The voyage from Naples to Port Said on a good steamer is accom-
plished in four days, and in fine weather it is a very delightful voyage.173The Douglasses departed Naples on 12 February 1887 on board the steamer Ormuz and arrived at Port Said on 16 February. The Egyptian seaport of Port Said lies at the Mediterranean Sea entrance to the Suez Canal and had a population of approximately ten thousand at the time of the visit of the Douglasses. French architect Ferdinand de Lesseps selected the site for Port Said in 1859 and had breakwaters constructed to make it a safe harbor for ocean-going ships. FD Diary, reel 1, frames 26-27, FD Papers, DLC; , 244-46. In
our case, air, sea, and sky assumed their most amiable behavior. [We
pass]174Crossed out in typescript text. On our way from Naples to Sicily, Stromboli175Part of the Lipari island group, Stromboli lies about forty-five miles north of Sicily in the Tuscan Sea and contains an active volcano on its western coast. Augustus J. C. Hare and St. Clair Baddelcy, (New York, 1905), 62, 91.—[a famous
mountain in]176Crossed out in typescript text. rises from the Mediterranean. From its cone-shaped sum-
mit volcanic fire and smoke once proceeded, but no sign of eruption is now
seen. We pass the straights of Messina,177Separating Sicily from the Italian mainland, the Strait of Messina is about 20 miles in length and varies in width from 2 to 11 miles. Hare and Baddelcy, , 63-70. and leave behind us the smoke
and vapor of Mt. Etna,178An active volcano near the northeastern coast of the island of Sicily, the snow-covered summit of Mount Etna at a height of over 10,800 feet is visible from the Italian mainland. Hare and Baddelcy, , 1, 86-92. and in three days from here, we are safely
anchored in front of Port Said—the west end of the Suez Canal—a stupen-
dous work which has brought the occident face to face with the orient, and
changed the route taken by the commerce of the world. It has brought
Australia within forty days of England,179In 1877 the steamer of the British Orient Line used the Suez Canal route to sail from London to Adelaide in forty days for each direction, cutting the previous average sailing time around the Cape of Good Hope in half. Famie, , 345. and saved the men who go down
to the sea in ships much of the time and danger [which were]180Crossed out in typescript text. once their
lot in finding their way to the east around the Cape of Good Hope.
Port Said, where we enter the Suez Canal, is not much of a place,
though a great deal of sea-port, for the vessels of all nations halt there. The
few houses that make up the town look white, new and temporary, remind-
ing one of some of the hastily built wooden towns of the American frontier,
where there is much space outside and little within. Here our good ship, the
,181Built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1886, for the Orient Steam Navigation Company, the screw-driven steamer was 465.5 feet long and 52.1 feet wide. American Shipmasters' Association, (New York, 1888), 673; Farnie, , 346-59. the largest vessel that had then ever floated through the Suez
Canal, stopped to take in a large supply of coal, prior to proceeding on her
long voyage to Australia. Great barges loaded with coal stored there from
England for the purpose of coaling her eastern bound ships, were brought
alongside of our [great]182Crossed out in typescript text. steamer and their contents soon put on board by
a small army of Arabs. It was something to see these men of the desert at
work. As I looked at them and listened to their fun and frolic while bearing
their heavy burdens, 1 said to myself, you fellows are at least in your
disposition, half brothers to the negro. The negro works best and hardest
when it is no longer work, but becomes play with joyous singing. These
children of the desert performed their task in like manner, amid shouts of
laughter and tricks of fun, as if their hard work were the veriest sport. 1n
color these Arabs are something between that of two riding saddles, the one
old, and the other new. [The old dark and the light.]183Crossed out interlineation in typescript text. They are a little
lighter than the one and a little darker than the other. 1 did not see a single
fat man among them. They were erect and strong, lean and sinewy. Their
strengths and fleetness were truly remarkable. They tossed the heavy bags
of coal on their shoulders as quick as light, and trotted on board our ship
with them for hours without halt or weariness. Lank in body, slender of
limb, full of spirit, they reminded one of blooded [race-]184Crossed out in typescript text. horses. It was
the month of February when we were there*In his diary of his tour of Europe and the Near East, Douglass describes this event as185occurring on 16 February 1887. FD Diary, reel 1, frames 28-29, FD Papers, DLC. and the water was by no
means warm, but these people seemed about as much at home in the water
as on the land. They gave us some fine specimens of their swimming and
diving ability. Some of our passengers would throw small coins in the water
just for the fun of seeing them dive for them, and this they did with almost
fish-like swiftness and never failed to bring from the bottom the coveted
sixpence or franc, as the case might be, and show it between their teeth as
they came to the surface.
[But now]186Crossed out in typescript text. We have finished taking in our coal and are off, smoothly
gliding through the Suez Canal—and here [I must say]187Crossed out in typescript text. an impressive
scene was presented. I can remember nothing in my experience in America
that gave me such a deep sense of unearthly silence—such a sense of vast,
profound, unbroken sameness and solitude, as did this [trip]188Crossed out in typescript text. voyage
through the Suez Canal. You move here noiselessly between two spade-
built banks of yellow sand, on an artificial stream of blue water—a man-
made river, watched over by the jealous care of England and France, two
rival powers each jealous of the other. We find here the motive and main-
spring of the English Egyptian occupation and of English policy. On either
side of [it you have]189Crossed out in typescript text. the canal stretches the sandy desert, to which the
eye, even with the aid of the strongest field-glass, can find no limit; where
no vegetation, tree, shrub, or human habitation breaks the view. All is flat,
broad, silent; a dreamy and unending solitude. There appears occasionally
away off in the distance a white line of life which only makes the silence
and solitude more pronounced. It is a line of flamingoes—the only bird to
be seen in the desert—making us wonder what they can find upon which to
subsist. [But here, too, ]190Crossed out in typescript text. Suddenly there is revealed another sign of life,
wholly unlooked for and for which it is hard to account. It is the half-naked,
hungry form of a human being, who seems to have started up out of the
dark, yellow sand under his feet, for no town, village or house, shanty or
shelter is seen from which he can have [come]191Crossed out in typescript text. emerged; but here he is
and is as lively as a cricket, running by the side of our ship for miles and for
hours with the speed of a horse and the endurance of a hound, plaintively
shouting as he runs, “Backshish! backshish! backshish![”] only stopping
to pick up the pieces of bread and meat thrown to him from the ship.
Away off in the distance through the quivering air and sunlight a
mirage rises. Now it is a splendid forest, and now a refreshing lake. The
illusion is perfect. It is a forest without trees and a lake without water. You
travel on and the mirage travels before, but the distance between you and it
remains ever the same.
After more than a day and a night on this weird, silent and dreamy Suez
Canal, under a cloudless sky, almost unconscious of motion, yet moving
on and on, without pause or haste, through a noiseless, treeless, houseless
and seemingly, an endless wilderness of sand, where not even the crowing
of a [chicken]192Crossed out in typescript text. cock or the barking of a dog is heard. we were taken from
our ship by a smart little French steamer and landed at Ismalia,193The site of the administrative headquarters for the Suez Canal. Ismailia was an Egyptian town of around three thousand inhabitants in the 1880s, situated on Lake Timsah where the Sweet Water Canal and a railroad line from Cairo intersected the Suez Canal. , 222, 240-41; Famie, , 125-27. where,
since leaving the new and shambling town of Port Said, we see the first sign
of civilization and begin to realize that we are in the land of the Pharaohs.
Here the Khedive194The rulers of the Muhammed Ali dynasty in Egypt after 1867 took the title Khedive. When the Douglasses visited Egypt, the Khedive was Muhammed Tewfick Pasha (1852-92) who acceeded to the throne after the forced deposition of his father Ismail Pasha in 1879. Arthur E. P. Brome Weigall, (Edinburgh, 1915), 117; New York , 8 January 1898. has one of his many palaces and here there are a
few moderately comfortable dwellings with two or three hotels and a
railroad station. How and by what means the people live in this place is a
mystery [we did not stay long enough to solve].195Crossed out in typescript text. For miles around there
is no sign of grain, or grass. or of vegetation of any kind. Here we first
caught sight of that living locomotive of the east, that marvelous embodi-
ment of strength[,] docility and obedience, of patient endurance of hunger
and thirst—the camel. I have large sympathy with all burden-bearers,
whether they be men or beasts, and having read of the gentle submission of
the camel to hardships and abuse, how he will knee] to receive his heavy
burden and groan to have it made lighter, l was glad right here in the edge of
Egypt, to have an illustration of these qualities of the animal. I saw him
kneel and the heavy load of sand put on his back; I saw him try to rise under
it and heard his sad moan. I had much the same feeling which I at first had
in seeing a gang of slaves chained together and shipped for a foreign
market. Here, too, we caught sight of what we often see in pictures,—[that
is]196Crossed out in typescript text. a long line of camels attended by three or four Arabs, slowly moving
over the desert. This spectacle, more than the language or the costumes of
the people, gave me a vivid impression of eastern life, as it was in the days
of Abraham & Moses. In this wide waste, under this cloudless sky—star-
lighted by night and under a blazing sun by day—where even the wind
seems voiceless—it was natural for men to look up to sky and stars and
contemplate the [infinite]197Crossed out in typescript text. universe and infinity above and around them,
to see signs and wonders in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. In
such loneliness, silence, expansiveness, imagination is unchained, and
man naturally has a sense of the infinite presence, not to be felt in the noise
and bustle of towns and cities. Religious ideas come to us from the wilder-
ness, from mountain tops, from dens[?] and caves. [Like the]198Crossed out in typescript text. They
come as comes the mirage and other shadowy illusions which create rivers,
lakes, and forests where there are none. The songs of angels could be better
heard by shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem. than by the jostling crowds
in the busy streets of Jerusalem. John the Baptist could preach better in the
wilderness than in the busy marts of men.199Douglass alludes to the ministry of John the Baptist, described in Matt. 3: 1-12, Mark 1: 2-8, Luke 3: 2-20, and John 1: 19-36. Moses learned more of the
laws of God in the mountains than down among the people.200An allusion to the biblical account of the laws and judgments given by God to Moses on the summit of Mount Sinai. Exod, 19-30, 34. The Hebrew
prophets frequented dens and caves and desert places. John saw his won-
derful vision in the Isle of Patmos.201Douglass refers to the Book of Revelation written by the apostle John while banished to Patmos, an island of the Dodecanese group in the Aegean Sea, about 95 A.D. J. D. Douglas et al., (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1973), 939, 1094. It was in a lonely place where Jacob
wrestled with the angel.202Gen. 32: 24-29. The transfiguration was on the mountain.203The scriptural accounts record the transfiguration occurring on a high mountain in Galilee. Matt. 17: 1-9, Mark 9: 2-9, and Luke 9: 28-37. No
wonder that Moses wandering in the vast and silent desert after killing an
Egyptian, and brooding over the oppressed condition of his people, should
hear the voice of Jehovah saying, “I have seen the affliction of my
people.”204Douglass recalls events described in Exod. 2: 11-12, 15. 3: 1-22. Paul was not in Damascus but on his lonely way thither when
he heard a voice from heaven.205Acts 9: 3-8. The heart beats louder and the soul hears
quicker in silence and solitude. It was from the vastness and silence of the
desert that Mahomet learned his religion, and once he thought he had
discovered man’s true relation to the Infinite, he proclaimed himself a
prophet and began to preach with that sort of authority and power which
never failed to make converts.
But here all at once we are brought back to the modern world. We are at
the railroad station and within sound of the rushing train and the startling
whistle of the locomotive—things which put an end to religious reveries
and fix attention upon the things of this busy world. We shall now linger no
longer in the borders of Egypt. We have taken the train and are on our way
to Cairo. After two hours’ ride we are passing through the land of Go-
shen.206Douglass alludes to the section of Egypt where the Bible records that the Israelites settled during the lifetime of Joseph and remained until the time of the Exodus. Modern scholars believe it might lie immediately to the west of the modern city of Ismailia. Gen. 45: 9-11, 46: 31, 47: 6 and Exod. 8: 22, 9: 26; Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., , (1979-88), 2: 528-29. I confess to experiencing a thrill of satisfaction when viewing the
scenes of one of the most affecting stories ever written—the story of
Jacob;207Gen. 37-50.—how his sons were compelled by famine to go into Egypt to buy
corn; how, [while there,]208Crossed out in typescript text. they sold their young brother Joseph into
slavery; how they came home with a lie on their lips to hide their treachery
and cruelty; how the slave boy Joseph gained favor in the eyes of Pharaoh;
how these brothers who had sold him were again by famine brought face to
face with Joseph who stipulated that the only condition upon which he
would see them again was that they bring their brother Benjamin with
them; how plaintively Jacob appealed against this arrangement by which
his gray hair might be brought down in sorrow to the grave; and finally,
through the good offices of Joseph, the happy settlement of the whole
family in this fertile land of Goshen. Than this simple tale nothing has been
written, nothing can be found in modern literature more pathetic and
touching. Well, here is the land of Goshen, with fields yet green, its camels
still grazing and its corn still growing as when Jacob and his sons with their
flocks and herds were settled here three thousand years ago.
I noticed several peculiar features in travelling through this country to
Cairo. The fertilizing power of the Nile, wherever the land is overflowed
by it, is very marked, especially in contrast with the sandy desert through
which it flows. It is seen in the deep black and glossy soil, in the thick and
full growth of vegetation, and in its deep green color. [In passing]209Crossed out in typescript text. You
see no fences, dividing field from field and defining the possessions of
different proprietors. For all that you see the land might belong to one man
alone. The overflow of the Nile [explains this feature of the country]210Crossed out in typescript text. in
its mighty flood would sweep away all such barriers. Another feature
peculiar to Egypt is the mode of grazing. The cattle, donkeys, horses and
camels are not allowed to roam over the fields as with us, but are tethered to
stakes driven down in the ground, eating all before them and leaving the
[sand]211Crossed out in typescript text. land behind them as though it had been mowed with the sickle or
scythe. They present a pleasant picture standing in rows like soldiers with
their heads toward the tall vegetation and seemingly as orderly as civilized
people at their dining tables.
Every effort is made here to get as much of the Nile water as possible.
For this purpose ditches are cut, ponds are made, and men are engaged day
and night in dipping it up and having it placed where it is most needed. Two
processes are adopted to raise this water—one is the Shadoof and the other
the Sakiyah.212Two machines used in Egypt to draw water for irrigation are the shadoff which employs a lever mechanism and the sakiyeh which is a vertical wheel with pots attached that is set in motion by the movement of a horizontal wheel pulled by cows or bulls. E[dward] W. Lane, (1908; London, 1944), 334-36. Long lines of women are seen with heavy earthen jars on
their heads distributing this precious fertilizing water over the thirsty land.
Seeing the value of this water, how completely the life of man and beast is
dependent upon it, one cannot wonder at the deep solicitude with which
[the]213Crossed out in typescript text. its rise [of the Nile]214Crossed out in typescript text. is looked for, watched and measured.
Egypt may have indeed invented the plow, but it has not improved upon
the invention. The kind used there is perhaps as old as the time of Moses. It
consists of two or three pieces of wood so arranged that the end of one piece
turns no furrow, but simply [corrugates or]215Crossed out in typescript text. scratches the soil. Still, in the
distance, the man who holds this contrivance, and the beast that draws it,
look very much as if they were plowing. I am told[,] however, that this kind
of plow does better service for the peculiar soil of Egypt than ours would
do; that the experiment of tilling the ground with our plow has been tried in
Egypt and has failed; so that the cultivation of the soil, like many other things,
is best where it answers its purposes best and produces the best results.
But here we are in sight of Cairo with its towers, minarets and mosques
in full view, and better still away off in the distance, rising between the
yellow desert and the soft blue and cloudless sky, we discern the unmistak-
able form of those mysterious piles of masonry, [known as]216Crossed out in typescript text. the Pyra-
mids. Who built them and for what purpose [they were built] 217Crossed out in typescript text. are questions
which no man has yet been able to satisfactorily answer. There are
differing theories about them. Some way they were built for sepulcheral
purposes and others say that they were built for a standard of measurement,
but neither theory has set aside the other, and both may be wrong. There
they stand, however, grandly, in sight of Cairo, just in the edge of the
Lybyan desert, overlooking the valley of the Nile, as they have stood
during more than three thousand years and are likely to stand for as many
thousand years longer, for nothing grows old here but time and that lives on
forever.
One of the first exploits a tourist is tempted to perform here is to ascend
to the top of the highest Pyramid. The task is by no means an easy one, nor
is it entirely free from danger. It is clearly dangerous if undertaken without
the [experience]218Crossed out in typescript text. assistance of two or more experienced guides. You
need them, not only to show you where to put your feet, but to lift you over
the huge blocks of stone of which the Pyramids are built, for some of these
stones are as [much]219Crossed out in typescript text. many as [three]220Crossed out in typescript text. four feet in thickness and height.
Neither in ascending or descending is it safe to look down. One misstep and
all is over. I went to the top of the highest Pyramid,221According to his travel diary, Douglass climbed the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu on 22 February 1887. FD Diary, reel 1, frame 31, FD Papers, DLC. but nothing in the
world would tempt me to try the experiment again. I had two Arabs before
me pulling, and two at my back pushing, but the main work I had to do
myself. I did not recover from the terrible strain in less than two weeks. I
paid dear for the venture. Still it was worth something to stand for once
[nearly five hundred feet]222Crossed out in typescript text. on such a height above the world below.
Taking the view altogether—the character of the surroundings; the great
unexplained and inexplicable Sphinx; the Pyramids and other wonders of
Sakkara;223Located fifteen miles south of Cairo, the plateau of Sakkarah with a village of the same name was one of the principal sites of the pyramids and other burial memorials of the ancient Egyptian rulers of Memphis. The famous Egyptian Sphinx, however, is located on the plateau of Geezeh about three miles southwest of Cairo. , 173, 177-79, 193-96, 201-02. the winding river and valley of the Nile; the silent, solemn and
measureless desert; the seats of ancient Memphis224The ancient capital city of Lower Egypt, Memphis lies about ten miles south of modern Cairo along the Nile River. , 202-05. and Heliopolis;225Near the site of the nineteenth-century village of Matareeah about ten miles northeast of Cairo, the ancient Egyptian town of Ei-Re, or “Abode of the Sun," was called Heliopolis by the Greeks. In Douglass's time, tourists visited the site of Heliopolis to view its obelisks, a sphinx, and a temple of the sun. , 157-61. the
distant mosques, minarets and stately palaces; the ages and events that have
swept over the scene, and the millions on millions that have lived,
wrought, and died there; these stir in the man who beholds it for the first
time, thoughts and feelings never thought and felt before. While nothing
could tempt me to climb the rugged, jagged, steep and perilous sides of the
great Pyramid again, yet I am very glad to have had that experience once,
and once is enough for a life time.
I have spoken of the prevalence and power of the Christian Church and
religion at Rome and of the strange things that are believed and practised
there in the way of religious rites and ceremonies. The religion and church
of Egypt, though denounced as a fraud and their author branded throughout
Christendom as an imposter, are not less believed in [and] followed in
Egypt, than are the Church and Christianity believed in and followed at
Rome. Two hundred millions of people follow Mahomet to-day and the
number is increasing. Twelve thousand students study the Koran annually
in Cairo, with a view to preaching its doctrines in Africa and elsewhere. So
sacred do these people hold their mosques that a Christian is not allowed to
enter them without putting off his shoes and putting on Mahometan slip-
pers. If Rome has its unwashed monks, Cairo has its howling and dancing
dervishes,226Dervishes are members of fraternities of Islamic mystics who are distinguished for their ecstatic dancing ceremonies called zikrs. Lane, , 465-68. and both seem equally deaf to the dictates of reason. The
dancing and howling dervishes often spin around in their transport till their
heads lose control and they fall to the floor sighing, groaning, and foaming
at the mouth like madmen, reminding one of scenes that sometimes occur
at an old-fashioned camp-meeting.
In the East as in the West; in Egypt as in America; in all the world
human nature is the same. Conditions vary, but the nature of man is
permanent.