THE East has always attracted certain types of Western travelers. They had different reasons and objectives for visiting the region. Some came on pilgrimage while others came only for plunder. Some of course came in pursuit of knowledge or power. A number of Western travelers visited Egypt and the Near East during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their writings, though frequently illustrating their obsession, preoccupation, religious fanaticism and even distorted ideas of Islam, often provide a fascinating picture of the societies they visited.
“Interpreting the Orient” by Paul and Janet Starkey is a collection of 16 papers read at the conference, “Travelers to Egypt and the Near East” at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, in July 1997. The papers shed light on the mindset and priorities of travelers who visited this part of world and recorded their observations and experiments in diaries, letters, photos, paintings, poems, essays, reports and books. The travelers have preserved a valuable record of people, events, places and their own feelings — their likes and dislikes. Their records contain coherent narratives, insights and their own strong feelings. The first essay is “About Face: Sir David Wilkie’s Portrait of ‘Mehmet Ali.” In 1841, the Scottish artist, Sir David Wilkie, painted his last picture that was a portrait in oils of Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt. Muhammad Ali had been ruling Egypt at that time for more than 30 years and had given Egypt a unique identity. In an early version, Wilkie painted the Pasha’s hand upon the hilt of his sword. Muhammad Ali, however, declared that this “menacing gesture” was inappropriate, for the British had “deprived (him) of (his) sword” at the recent Battle of St. Jean d’Acre.” Wilkie then altered the position, moving the hand to the more acceptable, ‘peaceful’ position seen today.” Muhammad Ali’s “repositioning of his hand from his sword, his Egyptian dress, and the chair in the portrait have a great deal of political meaning.”
There is an essay about the German-born British citizen Carl Haag. As a painter, he provided us with a valuable visual record of the Middle East in the mid-19th century. He was the first Christian painter to paint the Dome of the Rock in 1859; this was done at the request of Queen Victoria and with the permission of Muhammad Ali Pasha. He went “north to Samaria and Galilee, living among the local Bedouin tribes and studying their daily lives and costumes.” He paints realistic details of local costumes, saddles and other things related to life in the desert. The architecture, the flora and fauna, landscape and other details are strikingly realistic.
There are also articles on two well-known British painters, John Frederick Lewis who was a Royal Academician. He lived in Cairo and visited Suez and Sinai frequently in the 1840s. Upon his return to England in 1851, he was given a special place among Western painters who were able to keep the East’s spirit alive in their paintings.
The other well-known British painter William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) was one of the founders of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He traveled to the East in order to collect topographical and ethnographical material. He reached Cairo in early 1854 and according to Judith Bronkhurst, “Fantasy was indeed an essential component of Hunt’s response to the East.” About Cairo, Hunt in a letter wrote, “This country would suit me much better than another in the world and I think if I could have a few friends with me, I should stop in the East altogether.”
In Aviva Klein-Franke’s article “J. Wolff and H. Stern: Missionaries in Yemen,” we encounter 19th century Christian missionaries in Yemen.
According to the foundation document of the organization, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) was created, “to help the Jews fight against anti-Semitism by bringing them redemption through Christianisation.” The society changed its name in 1815, becoming the sole representative of the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews (SPCJ).
The SPCJ sent missionaries to Christianize Jews living under Islam and it published the Jewish Intelligence newspaper to highlight its activities. The society sent Joseph Wolff (1796) and H.A. Stern (1820) to Yemen where their jobs were full of risks. Wolff and Stern began their mission at a time when Yemen was facing political instability.
“Economic collapse and messianic expectations occupied the minds of Yemeni Muslims and Jews alike... During civil war one Yemeni tribe fought another to gain the upper hand and rule the country.” In Wolff’s writings we find a great many details of “institutions and social structure of the Jewish communities” and the “battle between Ottoman forces and Yemenis in Mocha. Wolff was gathering information about the ancient civilization of Yemen and the settlement of the Jews in that country. He collected information about the “tribes in southern and northern Yemen who, according to their tradition, were the children of the Jews of Khaibar who had embraced Islam at the time of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Sterns was successful in spreading the New Testament among the Jews of rural regions but his teachings resulted in confusion for Yemeni Jews. “In Sana’a, Stern’s books were rejected by the Jews because the qadi (judge) ordered a two-hundred dollar tax on them.” Stern complained to Sana’a’s governor “that the Jews rejected him.” The governor tried to convince the Jews but they had become so hostile that Stern had to flee.
Later Jacob Saphir, a traveler from Jerusalem, visited that area and according to his accounts, the Jews complained that the books given them by Stern were not helping them and they burned the books before him. Stern’s accounts of the Jews in Yemen were published in English, German and Hebrew newspapers.
Azza Kararah’s “On Translating the English Woman in Egypt into Arabic,” takes a look at Sophia Lane’s impressions and observations regarding women’s lives in Egypt. She accepts that Sophia’s “little book” gives more valuable information “on the grand mystery of Oriental homes than we have ever been able to draw from other sources.” Yet she also laments the deficiency of the information. She says it was not difficult to get information regarding middle-class women because their husbands usually talked freely about them. The women of the lower classes were generally unveiled and amenable to talk and observation. Those of the higher classes, however, who stirred the fancies of foreign male travelers, were far less easy to reach.
“This domain would certainly have to remain a mystery, were it not for the women travelers who could gain access to it and recount what they saw and experienced there.” Female Christian dragomen who had access to the harems of the upper classes for a limited time were unable to give a clear picture of what really went on there. Most Western women travelers, due to the lack of direct communication, gave negative assessments of the real situation.
Sophia, who lived in Cairo for 7 years from 1842 to 1849, tried to observe the women of the upper classes and according to her, Turkish was the language usually spoken in the harem but the inmates generally also understood Arabic. Since she was able to see things for herself, her experiences were very different from other Western women travelers. Sophia paints the inhabitants of the harem as well-informed women who were able to give their opinions regarding “liberty of conscience on religious subjects.” Being an English woman she was well received there and had a sort of superiority complex regarding her position.
She writes, “as an Englishwoman, I am entertained by the most distinguished, not only as an equal, but generally as a superior.” Muhammad Ali Pasha gave a special status to England and the English. So it is not strange if the upper classes in Egypt gave the same importance to them. Sophia’s letters reflect her dual personality as a British woman with some sympathy with the culture and citizens of the country she was living in.
According to the Starkeys, “The various essays in the collection provide a fascinating array of perspectives on historical, literary and cultural relationships about which lively debate is certain to continue well into the 21st century.” Since the essays range over a wide variety of topics, we have chosen to concentrate on only a few; all of them, however, are interesting and contain information that will fascinate, entertain and, occasionally, even shock the reader.
Interpreting the Orient, Ithaca Press is an imprint of Garnet Publishing, UK.
