Eastern Pilgrims: The Travels of Three Ladies

by Agnes Smith Lewis

In 1868 the wealthy Smith sisters, Agnes and Margaret, set out with a companion across Europe to fulfil their dream of visiting the Holy Land. Despite discomforts and being cheated in Egypt, their passion for travel was not extinguished, and later they became famous for their expeditions to Mount Sinai. A pleasantly written record of Eastern Travels in Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece. Written by a lady, and narrating the pilgrimage of ladies, it has an Interest of its own. The tone is devout, and altogether the book deserves our warm commendation. Agnes and Margaret Smith were not your typical Victorian scholars or adventurers. The twin sisters later would make one of the most important scriptural discoveries of their the earliest known copy of the Gospels in ancient Syriac, the language that Jesus spoke. In an era when most Westerners—male or female—feared to tread in the Middle East, they slept in tents and endured temperamental camels, unscrupulous dragomen, and suspicious monks to become unsung heroines in the continuing effort to discover the Bible as originally written.

I. LONDON TO MUNICH
II. MUNICH TO CONSTANTINOPLE
III. CONSTANTINOPLE
IV. CONSTANTINOPLE TO CYPRUS
V. CYPRUS TO ALEXANDRIA .
VI. ALEXANDRIA TO ASOUAN
VII. ASOUAN TO WADEE HALFEH AND BACK TO CAIRO
VIII. JAFFA TO HEBRON AND JERUSALEM
IX. A SUNDAY IN JERUSALEM
X. RAMBLES ABOUT JERUSALEM
XI. A RODE TO BETHANY
XII. A VISIT TO THE CAVE OF ADULLAM
XIII. THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMS
XIV. PALM SUNDAY, AND MIZPEH
XV. THE JORDAN AND THE DEAD SEA
XVI THE HOLY FIRE
XVII. THE HARAM AND THE HAREEM
XVIII. JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS
XIX. DAMASCUS TO THE CEDARS AND TO GREECE


This book published in 1870 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2015

Reviews

[Hella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik ben echt dol op oude reisverslagen, maar dit was wel een klein beetje zaai
in plaats van alle plekken die ze bezoeken uitgebreid te beschrijven, vertelt ze vooral welke bijbelse gebeurtenis daar heeft plaatsgevonden

[Marie Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was interesting as a glimpse into real life at the time, including the shameless and blatant racism embedded in colonialism. Reading it was, for the same reasons, not much of a pleasure.