Looking Back: An AutobiographyRichardson, Merrick Abner
History
Looking Back: An Autobiography
Richardson, Merrick Abner
Richardson, Merrick Abner, 1841-
While gliding down the fourth Bible river, the Euphrates, the moon
came up and seemed to turn its soft face upon the silence and as I
began singing "Old Black Joe," the jackals along the shore joined in,
possibly thinking by my voice that we were all descendants from one
father. All were soon asleep but the oarsmen and myself, and I became
lonesome as I thought of the days of the Aecadian priesthood, the
Babylonian kings, Ezekiel and his people, Alexander the Great, who died
here, all felled by the sickle of the reaper, Time, and here in silence
I seemed to ask, "Where have they gone?"
We arrived at Babylon at three o'clock in the morning, when I was given
the bed of Mr. Nelson, the hospitable German explorer, and the next
morning we took in the ruins, and slept in Hille the next night. The
following day we rode on donkeys to Burr's Nimrod, a wonderful ruins
built of pot-shaped bricks, each weighing several tons. The tower
or temple Ziggurat must have been built at the top of an artificial
mountain on the plain, about seven or eight miles from the ruins of
Babylon. Many think that the ancient city like Nineveh extended beyond
Burr's Nimrod. From Burr's Nimrod on camels we rode to Chuffel, a
village on the Chebar River, where we entered Ezekiel's tomb, of which
the Mohammedons allow no Jew to enter. Still around the open space
there were several tents occupied by orthodox Jews, who had come from
afar to worship at the shrine of their beloved ancestors.
ON THE SHAT-EL-CHEBAR
At Chuffel our trouble began. The Sheik would not let us stay over
night in the town, we had no tent, even if we had dared to sleep in
the open, and the next city, Koofa, was open only to Mohammedans, on
their way to Nazzip with their dead. I began to laugh, which provoked
even Moses, but we soon found relief in a man with one wall eye, minus
a hat, shoes or pants, who with his helpers was accustomed to conduct
funeral parties down the Chebar River to Koofa. He held us up for the
enormous sum of one silver dollar for the ride, and for another dollar
would venture to land us in the corpse room at Koofa, that is if it was
not already occupied by other corpses. Again I smiled as I thought what
would my son Arthur say if he could step into this boat just now and
learn of the encouraging prospects. Moses and his helpers now became a
trifle alarmed at the situation, and while we were eating our chicken,
fried in camel's tallow, I kept laughing, which made Alkar mad, and he
remarked to Moses that he believed I was a fool, traveling on borrowed
money.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account