Eothen | Page 7

A.W. Kinglake
bound to look out for
demons, and take proper means for keeping them off: forthwith he
determined that the duty of frightening away our ghostly enemies (like
every other troublesome work) should fall upon the poor Suridgees,
who accordingly lifted up their voices, and burst upon the dreadful
stillness of the forest with shrieks and dismal howls. These precautions
were kept up incessantly, and were followed by the most complete
success, for not one demon came near us.
Long before midnight we reached the hamlet in which we were to rest
for the night; it was made up of about a dozen clay huts, standing upon
a small tract of ground hardly won from the forest. The peasants that
lived there spoke a Slavonic dialect, and Mysseri's knowledge of the
Russian tongue enabled him to talk with them freely. We took up our
quarters in a square room with white walls and an earthen floor, quite
bare of furniture, and utterly void of women. They told us, however,
that these Servian villagers lived in happy abundance, but that they
were careful to conceal their riches, as well as their wives.
The burthens unstrapped from the pack-saddles very quickly furnished
our den: a couple of quilts spread upon the floor, with a carpet-bag at
the head of each, became capital sofas-- portmanteaus, and hat-boxes,
and writing-cases, and books, and maps, and gleaming arms soon lay
strewed around us in pleasant confusion. Mysseri's canteen too began

to yield up its treasures, but we relied upon finding some provisions in
the village. At first the natives declared that their hens were mere old
maids and all their cows unmarried, but our Tatar swore such a grand
sonorous oath, and fingered the hilt of his yataghan with such
persuasive touch, that the land soon flowed with milk, and mountains
of eggs arose.
And soon there was tea before us, with all its unspeakable fragrance,
and as we reclined on the floor, we found that a portmanteau was just
the right height for a table; the duty of candlesticks was ably performed
by a couple of intelligent natives; the rest of the villagers stood by the
open doorway at the lower end of the room, and watched our
banqueting with grave and devout attention.
The first night of your first campaign (though you be but a mere
peaceful campaigner) is a glorious time in your life. It is so sweet to
find one's self free from the stale civilisation of Europe! Oh my dear
ally, when first you spread your carpet in the midst of these Eastern
scenes, do think for a moment of those your fellow-creatures, that dwell
in squares, and streets, and even (for such is the fate of many!) in actual
country houses; think of the people that are "presenting their
compliments," and "requesting the honour," and "much regretting,"--of
those that are pinioned at dinner-tables; or stuck up in ballrooms, or
cruelly planted in pews--ay, think of these, and so remembering how
many poor devils are living in a state of utter respectability, you will
glory the more in your own delightful escape.
I am bound to confess, however, that with all its charms a mud floor
(like a mercenary match) does certainly promote early rising. Long
before daybreak we were up, and had breakfasted; after this there was
nearly a whole tedious hour to endure whilst the horses were laden by
torch-light; but this had an end, and at last we went on once more.
Cloaked, and sombre, at first we made our sullen way through the
darkness, with scarcely one barter of words, but soon the genial morn
burst down from heaven, and stirred the blood so gladly through our
veins, that the very Suridgees, with all their troubles, could now look
up for an instant, and almost seem to believe in the temporary goodness
of God.
The actual movement from one place to another, in Europeanised
countries, is a process so temporary--it occupies, I mean, so small a

proportion of the traveller's entire time--that his mind remains unsettled,
so long as the wheels are going; he may be alive enough to external
objects of interest, and to the crowding ideas which are often invited by
the excitement of a changing scene, but he is still conscious of being in
a provisional state, and his mind is constantly recurring to the expected
end of his journey; his ordinary ways of thought have been interrupted,
and before any new mental habits can be formed he is quietly fixed in
his hotel. It will be otherwise with you when you journey in the East.
Day after day, perhaps week after week and month after month, your
foot is in the stirrup. To taste the cold breath of the earliest morn, and
to lead, or
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