DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0278
AN EXCESS OF WELCOME.
263
could not have received me with a more cordial
greeting. Glad as I was, after a ten days' jour-
ney, to be received with such warmth by these
recluses of the mountains, I could have spared
the kissing. The custom is one of the detestable
things of the East. It would not be so bad if it
were universal, and the traveller might sometimes
receive his welcome from rosy lips ; but, unhappily,
the women hide their faces and run away from a
stranger, while the men rub him with their bristly
beards. At first I went at it with a stout heart,
flattering myself that I could give as well as take ;
but I soon flinched and gave up. Their beards
were the growth of years ; while mine had only
a few months to boast of, and its downward aspi-
rations must continue many a long day before it
would attain the respectable longitude of theirs.
During the kissing scene, a Bedouin servant
came from the other end of the terrace, with an
armful of burning brush, and threw it in a blaze
upon the stony floor. The monks were gathered
around, talking to me and uttering assurances of
welcome, as I knew them to be, although I could
not understand them ; and, confused and almost
stunned with their clamorous greeting, I threw my-
self on the floor, thrust my feet in the fire, and
called out for Paul. Twice the rope descended
and brought up my tent, baggage, &c.; and the
third time it brought up Paul, hung round with
guns, pistols, and swords, like a travelling battery.
The rope was wound up by a windlass, half a
dozen monks, in long black frocks with white
263
could not have received me with a more cordial
greeting. Glad as I was, after a ten days' jour-
ney, to be received with such warmth by these
recluses of the mountains, I could have spared
the kissing. The custom is one of the detestable
things of the East. It would not be so bad if it
were universal, and the traveller might sometimes
receive his welcome from rosy lips ; but, unhappily,
the women hide their faces and run away from a
stranger, while the men rub him with their bristly
beards. At first I went at it with a stout heart,
flattering myself that I could give as well as take ;
but I soon flinched and gave up. Their beards
were the growth of years ; while mine had only
a few months to boast of, and its downward aspi-
rations must continue many a long day before it
would attain the respectable longitude of theirs.
During the kissing scene, a Bedouin servant
came from the other end of the terrace, with an
armful of burning brush, and threw it in a blaze
upon the stony floor. The monks were gathered
around, talking to me and uttering assurances of
welcome, as I knew them to be, although I could
not understand them ; and, confused and almost
stunned with their clamorous greeting, I threw my-
self on the floor, thrust my feet in the fire, and
called out for Paul. Twice the rope descended
and brought up my tent, baggage, &c.; and the
third time it brought up Paul, hung round with
guns, pistols, and swords, like a travelling battery.
The rope was wound up by a windlass, half a
dozen monks, in long black frocks with white