DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0199
166 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBIA,
village, arrived at the convent; where the precautions I had
taken to avoid contact with the inhabitants, whose village
was infected strongly with the plague, were rendered useless.
A crowd of peasantry was assembled to celebrate a marriage.
At any other time it would have been amusing to have ob-
served the gala dresses and rejoicings of the party : I felt I
could now have dispensed with them. The females were
chiefly girls, dressed in a profusion of coloured garments,
with uncovered faces, displaying great beauty, and features
not entirely Syrian : scandal accounts for this by the nume-
rous strangers who visit Bethlehem during the holy week.
They ceased their concert of voices, accompanied with clap-
ping of hands and quick motion of their bodies, on my
arrival. I was immediately surrounded by the men, and it
was with difficulty I could prevail on them to keep their di-
stance. Several of them addressed me in Italian. Their chief
made himself known to me, when I requested his interfe-
rence, which he exerted in my favour. He prepared to ac-
company me in a further excursion into the country. I
entered the convent. It was necessary to proceed with cau-
tion in a place within whose walls a monk had died of the
plague only a few days before; but I found this impossible.
The church, forming part of it, and containing the supposed
manger, was filled with people, and matted. I was a Frank
and a stranger, was followed and surrounded. Having pro-
village, arrived at the convent; where the precautions I had
taken to avoid contact with the inhabitants, whose village
was infected strongly with the plague, were rendered useless.
A crowd of peasantry was assembled to celebrate a marriage.
At any other time it would have been amusing to have ob-
served the gala dresses and rejoicings of the party : I felt I
could now have dispensed with them. The females were
chiefly girls, dressed in a profusion of coloured garments,
with uncovered faces, displaying great beauty, and features
not entirely Syrian : scandal accounts for this by the nume-
rous strangers who visit Bethlehem during the holy week.
They ceased their concert of voices, accompanied with clap-
ping of hands and quick motion of their bodies, on my
arrival. I was immediately surrounded by the men, and it
was with difficulty I could prevail on them to keep their di-
stance. Several of them addressed me in Italian. Their chief
made himself known to me, when I requested his interfe-
rence, which he exerted in my favour. He prepared to ac-
company me in a further excursion into the country. I
entered the convent. It was necessary to proceed with cau-
tion in a place within whose walls a monk had died of the
plague only a few days before; but I found this impossible.
The church, forming part of it, and containing the supposed
manger, was filled with people, and matted. I was a Frank
and a stranger, was followed and surrounded. Having pro-