Skip to Content
Indiana University

Search Options




View Options

[Hide Table of Contents]
Yusef, or, The journey of the Frangi. Browne, J. Ross (1821–1875).
Requires cookie*[Print]
no previous
next
page: (TitlePage) [View Page (TitlePage) ]

YUSEF; OR THE JOURNEY OF THE FRANGI. A CRUSADE IN THE EAST.

BY

J. ROSS BROWNE,

AUTHOR OF "ETCHINGS OF A WHALING-CRUISE," "REPORT OF THE DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF CALIFORNIA," AND "CRUSOE LIFE: A NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURES IN JUAN FERNANDEZ."With Illustrations.

NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1853.
page: i[View Page i]

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, by HARPER & BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

TO THE
HON. ROBERT J. WALKER,
AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS AS A STATESMAN,
ESTEEM FOR HIS VIRTUES IN PRIVATE LIFE, AND GRATITUDE
FOR HIS MANY ACTS OF KINDNESS TO THE AUTHOR,
THIS VOLUME
Is respectfully Inscribed.

page: ii-iii[View Page ii-iii]

PREFACE.

AN essayist in the Reflector tells us that "Columbus can not be more famous than a man who describes the Temple of Jerusalem." Now, although I have a great desire to be as famous as Columbus, it is due to the reader to state at the outset that he will find very little about temples in this volume. The only ground upon which I can aspire to such a distinction is, in having avoided, as far as practicable, every thing that has given fame to those who have preceded me. If there be any important fact, therefore, in scriptural or classical history, that the reader is disappointed in not finding in these pages, I beg that he will adopt the suggestion of my friend and fellow-traveler, Dr. Mendoza, and "remain tranquil for the present." There is no telling what the future may bring forth, or to what extremes of research a man may be driven by the force of circumstances.

Part of this narrative was originally written in the form of letters to the "National Intelligencer," chiefly for the amusement of my friends in Washington. The style was rather more familiar than the usual contributions to that journal, and certainly more so than I would have chosen to adopt, had I thought seriously at page: iv-v[View Page iv-v] the time of publishing the letters in book form. That I considered it probable I might make use of the material at some future period, I frankly admit; but in looking over my notes and the mass of sketches thus brought together, the task of re-writing, and making any thing of them in the way of a serious work on Palestine, seemed too formidable to be undertaken by one who has scarcely yet commenced his travels.

Such as the sketches are, I have chosen to put them together in the form of a connected narrative; and they are now presented to the public, with such illustrations from my own portfolio, drawn on wood by competent artists, as I thought would give them any additional value.

It will be seen that I have not felt it to be my duty to make a desponding pilgrimage through the Holy Land; for upon a careful perusal of the Scriptures, I can find nothing said against a cheerful frame of mind. If there be any person, however, who may think that a traveler has no right to be lively in that part of the world, I beg that he will suspend his judgment till I visit Jerusalem again; in which event he may depend upon it I shall use every exertion to be depressed in spirits, and produce something uncommonly heavy and substantial.

In regard to the apparent egotism of writing so much about one's self, I can not do better than quote the words of Thomas de Quincey: "It is not offered as deriving any part of what interest it may have from myself as the person concerned in it. If the particular experience selected is really interesting, in virtue of its own circumstances, then it matters not to whom it happened. Let him [the reader] read the sketch as belonging to one who wishes to be profoundly anonymous." In this view, should there be any thing that strikes the reader as very good in the volume, he can not do better than to look at the title-page, and give credit accordingly; but where it appears to him that there is any thing very bad in it, he will greatly oblige me by regarding it as the production of the gentleman who figures in the conversations with Yusef.

Written without any other purpose than that of describing faithfully what fell under my own observation, it may be that the design is not sufficiently apparent; yet if, on the whole, from the general tenor, a more liberal feeling should be encouraged respecting the customs and prejudices of the uncivilized world, and a clearer sense of our own weaknesses, the book will not have been written in vain. There may be a moral also in the circumstances under which the journey was performed.

Ten years ago, after having rambled all over the United States—six hundred miles of the distance on foot, and sixteen hundred in a flat-boat—I set out from Washington with fifteen dollars, to make a tour of the East. I got as far east as New York, where the last dollar and the prospect of reaching Jerusalem came to a conclusion at the same time. Sooner than return home, after having made so good a beginning, I shipped before the mast in a whaler, and did some service, during a voyage to the Indian Ocean, in the way of scrubbing decks and catching whales. A mutiny occurred at the island of Zanzibar, where I sold myself out of the vessel for thirty dollars and a chest of old clothes; and spent three months very pleasantly at the consular residence, in the vicinity of page: vi-vii[View Page vi-vii] his Highness the Imaum of Muscat. On my return to Washington, I labored hard for four years on Bank statistics and Treasury reports, by which time, in order to take the new administration by the fore-lock, I determined to start for the East again. The only chance I had of getting there was, to accept of an appointment as third lieutenant in the Revenue service, and go to California, and thence to Oregon, where I was to report for duty. On the voyage to Rio, a difficulty occurred between the captain and the passengers of the vessel, and we were detained there nearly a month. I took part with the rebels, because I believed them to be right. The captain was deposed by the American consul, and the command of the vessel was offered to me; but having taken an active part against the late captain, I could not with propriety accept the offer. A whaling captain, who had lost his vessel near Buenos Ayres, was placed in the command, and we proceeded on our voyage round Cape Horn. After a long and dreary passage we made the island of Juan Fernandez. In company with ten of the passengers, I left the ship seventy miles out at sea, and went ashore in a small boat, for the purpose of gathering up some tidings in regard to my old friend Robinson Crusoe. What befell us on that memorable expedition is fully set forth in a narrative recently published in "Harper's Magazine." Subsequently we spent some time in Lima, "the City of the Kings." It was my fortune to arrive penniless in California, and to find, by way of consolation, that a reduction had been made by Congress in the number of revenue vessels, and that my services in that branch of public business were no longer required. While thinking seriously of taking in washing at six dollars a dozen, or devoting the remainder of my days to mule-driving as a profession, I was unexpectedly elevated to the position of post-office agent; and went about the country for the purpose of making postmasters. I only made one—the post-master of San Jose. After that, the Convention called by General Riley met at Monterey, and I was appointed to report the debates on the formation of the State Constitution. For this I received a sum that enabled me to return to Washington, and start for the East again. There was luck in the third attempt, for, as may be seen, I got there at last, having thus visited the four continents, and traveled by sea and land a distance of a hundred thousand miles, or more than four times round the world, on the scanty earnings of my own head and hands.

If there be any moral in the book, therefore, it is this: that there is no great difficulty in traveling all over the world, when one sets about it with a determination to do it, and keeps trying till he succeeds; that there is no position in life disreputable or degrading while self-respect remains; and nothing impossible that has ever been done by man. Let him who thirsts for knowledge go out upon the broad face of the earth, and he will find that it is not out of books alone that he can get it; let him make use of the eyes that God has given him, and he will see more in the world's unwritten revelations than the mind of man hath conceived.
  • "Our doubts are traitors,
  • And make us lose the good we oft might win
  • By fearing to attempt."

J. R. B.

WASHINGTON, D.C., February, 1853.
page: viii (Illustration) -ix (Table of Contents) [View Page viii (Illustration) -ix (Table of Contents) ]

[View Figure]

EASTERN RUINS.

CONTENTS.

A CRUSADE IN THE EAST.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

[FROM SKETCHERS BY THE AUTHOR.]

  • EASTERN RUINS. Frontispiece.
  • THE MUMMIES. 21
  • CATACOMBS OF PALERMO. 24
  • SICILIAN MONK. 33
  • CASA DEGL' INGLESA. 44
  • DESCENT OF MOUNT ETNA. 51
  • SICILIAN POSTILLION. 62
  • SICILIAN GENDARMES. 64
  • SICILIAN BEGGARS. 68
  • COUNSEL FOR THE ACCUSED. 75
  • AMPHITHEATRE OF TAORMINA. 78
  • CONVENT NEAR ATHENS. 97
  • SMYRNA FROM THE ANCHORAGE. 107
  • PILGRIMS ON SHIPBOARD. 116
  • A BUSINESS TRANSACTION. 127
  • THE HAMIL. 131
  • SHOPKEEPERS. 138
  • TURKISH BEAUTY. 143
  • GENERAL VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 152
  • THE DANCING DERVISHES. 155
  • THE HOWLING DERVISHES. 158
  • ENGLISH TRAVELER RECOGNIZING A VENUS AND HERCULES. 168
  • TOWN OF RHODES. 171
  • VIEW IN LARNICA. 172
  • YUSEF. 178
  • SALADIN. 185
  • SALADIN IN ACTION. 188
  • BEN-HOZAIN. 192
  • CASTLE OF DJBEL. 201
  • COLUMN IN THE DESERT. 210
  • YUSEF DANCING THE RAAS. 223
  • page: xii (List of Illustrations) -13[View Page xii (List of Illustrations) -13]
  • THE ARAB MULETEER. 240
  • A GENTLEMAN OF ELEGANT LEISURE. 243
  • ANCIENT ARCH IN DAMASCUS. 260
  • IBRAHIM. 261
  • BATHS OF DAMASCUS. 268
  • TAKING IT EASY. 285
  • THE MILL OF MALAHA. 303
  • TOKINA. 318
  • BATHS OF TIBERIAS. 325
  • JERUSALEM. 359
  • MOHAMMEDAN SEPULCHRE. 363
  • PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM. 367
  • THE ARAB GUARD. 370
  • CROSSING A RIVER. 391
  • GREEK BISHOP. 39
  • VILLAGE OF EL MUKHALID. 394
  • KAISARIYEH. 397
  • RUINS NEAR TANTURA. 403
  • THE END OF YUSEF. 421
no previous
next