The Project Gutenberg eBook of Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope, Volume 2 (of 3)
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope, Volume 2 (of 3)
Author: Charles Lewis Meryon
Release date: December 4, 2023 [eBook #72315]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Henry Colburn, 1846
Credits: Emmanuel Ackerman, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***
[Illustration:
Day & Haghe, Lith^{rs} to the Queen.
LADY HESTER STANHOPE’S ARRIVAL AT PALMYRA.
London,, Henry Colburn, G^{t.} Marlborough S^t 1846]
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE;
FORMING THE COMPLETION
OF
HER MEMOIRS.
NARRATED BY
HER PHYSICIAN.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1846.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Damascus--Ramazán--Visit to the Jews--House of the Hayms,
brothers of him of Acre--Visit to the Pasha--Compliment
of Hadj Mohammed to Lady Hester--Curiosity of the women
to see her Ladyship--Their dress--Inefficacy of personal
restraints upon women--Fanaticism of the inhabitants
of Damascus--Lepers--Amusements of Ramazán--Patients
attended by the Author--Sulymán Bey--His malady--His
cure--Rural fête--Sister of Ahmed Bey--Chief families
in Damascus--Visits to the sick--The Merge, or place of
amusement--Women at prayer 1
CHAPTER II.
Lady Hester’s intended journey to Palmyra--Objections
to it--Hanah Fakhah--Difficulties of a journey to
Palmyra--Illness of Mr. B. on his road from Aleppo to
Damascus--The Author goes to his assistance--Osman
Aga--Masûd Aga--Village of Yabrûd--Author’s reception
by Osman Aga--Carahburgh--Character of Masûd
Aga--Use of Narkyly--Aspect of the Desert--Hamlet
of Hassiah--Dûrra bread--City of Hems--River
Orontes--City of Hamah--Mûsa Koblán--Visit from
him--Arrival of Mr. Barker and Mr. B.--Description of
Hamah--Clogs--Waterwheels--Coolness and heat produced by
the same means--Costume of the female peasants--Doors of
houses--Air--Panoramic prospect--Manufactures--Christians
of Hamah--Inundations--Messrs. B. and Barker go to
Bâalbec--Description of Hems--Pyramidal sepulchre--Tomb of
Khaled--Citadel--Lake of Hems--Orontes river--Cara--March
of troops--Yabrûd--Springs of Ras el ayn--Mâlûla--Grottoes
and Sarcophagi--Michael Rasáti--Account of M. Lascaris
and of Madame Lascaris--Nebk--Dress of M. Lascaris--His
character--Return of the Author to Damascus 31
CHAPTER III.
Precautions against riots--Emir Nasar visits Lady
Hester--He dissuades her from going to Palmyra with an
escort--Description of Nasar--How entertained--Lady
Hester quits Damascus--Reports of her wealth--She takes
Monsieur and Madame Lascaris with her--Her interview
with the Emir Mahannah--She arrives at Hamah--Departure
of Mr. B. and Mr. Barker from Damascus--The Messieurs
Bertrand dismissed--Bills of exchange--The Author sets out
for Hamah--Mode of travelling--A Caravansery--Gabriel,
the poet--Kosair--Kelyfy--Nebk--Turkish
adventurer--Khan of Nebk--Mode of washing in the
East--Carah--Hassiah--Hamah--The Author lodges with
Monsieur and Madame Lascaris--Opportunity for entering
the Desert--M. Lascaris resolves to accompany the
Author--Bedouin costume--First departure from Hamah 68
CHAPTER IV.
The author enters the Desert--Hostile tribes of
Bedouins--Beni Khaled Arabs--Their tents, manners,
&c.--Arabian hospitality--Tels or Conical mounds--Aspect
of the Desert--Want of Water--Hadidyn Arabs--Mountains
of Gebel el Abyad--Bedouin horsemen--Bedouin
encampment--Mahannah, the Emir--Bedouin repasts--Character
of Mahannah--Nature of his authority--His revenue--Means
used by the Bedouins to obtain gifts--March of a Bedouin
tribe--Contrivance for mounting camels--Gentleness of the
camel--Snow--Search for Water--Detention of the author by
Mahannah--He is suffered to depart for Palmyra--Encounter
with robbers--Plain of Mezah--Disappointment at the distant
sight of Palmyra--Arrival there 92
CHAPTER V.
Reflections on the ruins of Palmyra--Wood and Dawkins’s
plates--Fountain of Ephca--Castle--Tombs--Cottage selected
for Lady Hester--Visit to a curious cave--Justinian’s
wall--Climate and diseases--Salt marshes--Causes of
fevers--Air and climate of Palmyra--Gardens, corn-fields,
and trees--Sulphureous waters--Dress of the men; and of
the women--Departure from Palmyra--Lady Hester sends
Giorgio to look for the Author--Fall of snow--The party
lose themselves, and sleep in the snow--Encampment of
Beni Omar Bedouins--Hassan’s unfeeling conduct--Pride
of the Bedouins to ride on horseback--Encampment
of Ali Bussal--False notions of the hospitality of
Bedouins--Partridges of the Desert--Emir of the Melhem--M.
Lascaris’s scheme of traffic--Arrival of Madame
Lascaris--Attack of the Sebáh--Wounded Bedouin--Giorgio
goes to Palmyra--The Author returns to Hamah--Ruins of a
triumphal arch--Snow-storm--A night in a cavern--Ruined
village--Selamyah--Ruined mosque--Hardships endured by
Bedouins--Miscellaneous observations on their character and
manners 132
CHAPTER VI.
Hamah--Inclemency of the weather--Preparations made by Lady
Hester for her journey to Palmyra--Conical cisterns--Nazyf
Pasha--Abdallah Pasha--Muly Ismael--The governor of
Hamah--Appearance of the Plague in Syria--Motives of Lady
Hester Stanhope for visiting Palmyra--Price paid to the
Bedouins for a safe conduct--Pilfering; particularly by
their chief Nasar--Order of march--Sham fights--Tribe
of the Sebáh--Arabs on their march--Rude behaviour
of Nasar--Gebel el Abiad, or the White Mountain--The
Author rides forward to Palmyra--Alarm at Lady Hester’s
encampment--Her entry into Palmyra--Inspection of the
ruins--A wedding--Dress of the women--Faydân Bedouins made
prisoners--The escape of two of them causes Lady Hester to
leave the place 166
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Palmyra--Suspicions of Nasar--Encampment in
a beautiful valley--Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh
Mnyf--Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s
tent--The women--Traits of Bedouin character--Tribe
of the Beni Omar--Affray between the Bedouins--Their
war-cry--Aqueducts--Salamýah--Clotted cream and sour
milk--Meat of the Desert--Castle of Shumamýs--Medical
assistance required by Bedouins--Entry of Lady Hester into
Hamah-- Sum paid to Nasar for escort--Salubrity of the air
of the Desert--State of Lady Hester’s health--Professional
aid of the Author in requisition--Yahyah Bey--Rigid
abstinence of a Syrian Christian--The bastinado--Pilgrimage
to the tomb of a shaykh--Treatment of horses in
spring--Precautions against plague--Custom of supporting
great personages under the arm--Schoolmasters--Doctors and
their patients 203
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Hamah--Encampment on the bank of the
Orontes--Transformation of aquatic to winged animals--Vale
of the Orontes--Calât el Medyk--Bridge and village of
Shogre--Topal Ali makes himself independent of the Pasha
of Aleppo--Singular application of a Jewess--Poverty of
the inhabitants of Shogre--Visit to Topal Ali--Gebel el
Kerád--Beautiful Scenery--Tribe of Ansáry--Lady Hester
stays behind among them--Latakia 231
CHAPTER IX.
Residence at Latakia--Remains of
Antiquity--Port--Gardens--Sycamore--Birdlime
tree--Vegetables and fruit--Tobacco--Salt tanks--Sponge
fishery--Hanah Kûby--Fanaticism of the Turks of Latakia--A
Barbary Shaykh--The Plague--Habits of the Mahometans
accordant with common sense--Epidemic illness--Impalement
of a Malefactor--Ravages of the Plague--Mr. Barker,
British Consul at Aleppo, comes to spend some time near
Latakia--Hard fate of a Christian--Experiment on a
fruit diet--Imprudence of smoking in the streets during
Ramazán--Amusements--Sporting--Departure of Mr. B. for
England--Civility of the Greek Patriarch--Illness
of Lady Hester, and of the Author--She supposes her
disease to be the Plague--Illness of servants--Scarcity
of provisions--Departure for Sayda--Turkish
Lugger--Tripoli--Aspect of Mount Lebanon--Arrival at
Sayda--Seamanship of the Turks 252
CHAPTER X.
Mode of Life of Lady Hester Stanhope--Imaginary
treasures of Gezzàr Pasha--Road to the Convent of
Mar Elias--Description of the Convent--Village of
Abra--Interior of a cottage--Poverty of the people--Change
in the character of Lady Hester--Abra purchased by a
Greek Patriarch--Revenues--Tenure of land--Occupations
of the peasantry--Herdsmen--Village overseer--Notions
of propriety in the behaviour of females--Dread of the
plague--Precautions against the infection suggested by Lady
Hester to the Emir Beshýr--Visit of the Shaykh Beshýr to
Abra--Good breeding of the Turks--Greek monasteries--The
patriarch Macarius--M. Boutin--Hanýfy, a female slave sent
to Lady Hester--Specification of her qualities--Discovery
of an ancient sepulchre--Paintings in it copied by Mr.
Bankes, and by the Author--Various forms of sepulchres 304
CHAPTER XI.
Plague at Abra--Terror occasioned by it--Peasants forsake
the village--Alarm of Lady Hester--Imaginary virtues
of bezoar and serpent stone--Funerals--Embarrassment
of the Author--Illness of his servant--Increase of the
contagion--Medical Treatment--Arrival of the Kite sloop
of war--Number of victims of the plague--Pilgrimage to
the shrine of St. Haneh--Prickly heat--Lady Hester goes
to reside at Meshmûshy--Costume of the Drûzes--Maronite
monastery--Camel’s flesh eaten--Bridge of Geser
Behannyn--Journey of the Author to Bteddyn--Sons of the
Emir Beshýr--Wedding at Abra--Moorish Conjuror--Return
of Giorgio--Vineyards--Wines--Dibs--Raisins--Olive
Harvest--Figs--Country between Abra and Meshmûshy 358
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
Τὴν Ἀσίην δὴ πλεῖστον διαφέρειν φημὶ της Ευρώπῆς ἐς τὰς φύσιας
τῶν ξύμπαντων, τῶν τὲ ἐκ τῆς γῆς φυομένων και τῶν ἄνθρωπων·
πουλὺ γαρ καλλιόνα καὶ μεῖζόνα πάντα γίγνεται ἐν τῃ Ἀσίῃ. Ἡτὲ
χώρη τῆς χώρῆς ἡμερωτέρη καὶ τὰ ἠθεα τῶν ἄνθρῶπων ἣπιωτέρα καὶ
εὐεργοτέρα. [Hippocr. 72 ¶, cap. 5. Περὶ ἀερῶν, ὑδατῶν καὶ
τοπῶν.]
CHAPTER I.
Damascus--Ramazán--Visit to the Jews--House of the Hayms,
brothers of him of Acre--Visit to the Pasha--Compliment
of Hadj Mohammed to Lady Hester--Curiosity of the women
to see her Ladyship--Their dress--Inefficacy of personal
restraints upon women--Fanaticism of the inhabitants of
Damascus--Lepers--Amusements of Ramazán--Patients attended
by the Author--Sulymán Bey--His malady--His cure--Rural
fête--Sister of Ahmed Bey--Chief families in Damascus--Visits to
the sick--The Merge, or place of amusement--Women at prayer.
Damascus is a city of the highest antiquity, and is repeatedly spoken
of in the Holy Scriptures. In the time of the Syro-Macedonian
dynasties, and of the Romans, it was the capital of Cœle-Syria. Under
the Saracen Caliphs, it was the residence of the Ommiades, beginning
forty years after the death of the Prophet; and it is still the second,
if not the principal city of Syria, and the capital of a pashalik.
Its name, among the natives, is El Sham, and Demeshk el Sham, demeshk
being the word from which we derive Damascus, the signification of
which I do not know, and el Sham (to the left) being the name of the
province, as Yemen (the right hand) is the name of another facing it.
Ali bey, p. 265, makes its population to amount to 400,000 souls,
which is probably too much by half; and we have a right to doubt his
accuracy, since the shortness of his stay (only seven days) must have
rendered it impossible for him to obtain accurate estimates. He reckons
20,000 Catholics, 5,000 Greek schismatics, and 1,000 Jews. Damascus has
many noble mosques and fine public edifices. Of the mosques we entered
none; yet a person could, as he sat in the Melon coffeehouse, look into
the court of the principal one, of which Abulfeda seems to speak, p.
172, saying that it was built by Walyd, son of Abd el Malek, and was
called Beny Omyah: although it has not externally any appearances of
Saracen architecture. Ali bey, in his character of a Mahometan, entered
it, and he describes the mosque as having “three naves of forty-four
columns, each nave being four hundred feet long: and in the middle
of the central nave four enormous pillars, supporting a large stone
cupola.” He adds that, the mosque stands in a large court, surrounded
with arcades, supported by square pillars, over which are galleries,
and that in the mosque is the sepulchre of John the Baptist, whose
head, as well as that of Hoseyn ebn Ali, was exposed here. In the
suburbs there is a mosque of dervises remarkable for numerous cupolas.
It is said to have as many as a dozen schools in it, supported by large
revenues, arising from endowments and contributions. I regret not to
have taken drawings of the ironwork of the windows of the ancient
mosques, which, from the taste and delicacy of their forms, were well
worth the trouble.
Of the khans, that which is called Khan Harûn is the most remarkable.
It is built in layers of black and white stone, like a chess-board; and
within are commodious magazines for the merchants.
The patriarch of the Greek Church, a prelate superior in rank, although
not in power and influence to the archbishop of Constantinople, resided
here. His title is patriarch of Antioch. He had under him forty-two
archbishops and bishops.
Damascus owes half of its pleasantness to the fountains which abound in
every part of the city, and in almost every house. These fountains are
supplied by running streams, which traverse the city, and which are
branches of a small river, called the Barada.[1]
Although the house assigned to Lady Hester Stanhope was a good one, she
had probably determined to find it bad, in order to shift to a better
quarter of the city; for it is customary, in Turkish cities, to lodge
Europeans, of what rank soever they may be, among the Christians; as
their habits of life and their religious observances are more easily
followed there than among the Turks, who, in their own quarter, would
suffer with impatience any violation of their own notions of decency
or religion, which Europeans, without intending it, are constantly
committing. So it is, that the Mahometans look on the Christian quarter
in the most contemptuous light, never going thither but when called to
it by urgent business.
Lady Hester knew all this; and was determined, by a strong measure,
at once to give herself a title to consequence beyond any other
European who had before visited Damascus. Accordingly, the dragoman
was despatched to state how impossible it was for her to remain in the
house assigned to her. It was attempted to overrule her objections, but
in vain; and, towards the close of the day, the pasha gave orders that
the dragoman should be conducted from house to house with permission
to choose, until one was found suitable. Lady Hester instructed M.
Bertrand as to what she should like, but raised objections to every one
that was proposed, until one, in which a Capugi Bashi, coming on some
business from the Porte, had resided, met with her approbation.
The fatigue of moving being over, the Christian whose house Lady Hester
had quitted was to be satisfied, and his expectations were raised to an
inconceivable pitch, grounded upon her supposed riches and greatness.
Some idea may be formed from one article of his bill, which was no more
than a tumbler of lemonade, “Sherbet for the queen on her arrival, 15
piasters.” His visionary prospects, however, were soon annihilated,
and he was desired to content himself with a fair price for two nights
spent in his house, being told that he should recollect how little
claim, according to the practice of Turkish grandees, he had to any
thing at all.
The house to which we were now removed was situate in the best quarter
of Damascus, not far from the palace, and near the bazars. It opened
through a narrow passage into an oblong marble paved court. In the
middle of the court was a large basin, shaded by two very lofty lemon
trees, into which two brazen serpents poured a constant supply of
fresh water. At one end of the court was a saloon with a tesselated
marble pavement; at the other an alcove or recess for a divàn or sofa,
with a small apartment on each side. A double staircase led up to a
considerable height on the outside of the left wall of the court; at
one end, to two rooms, which Lady Hester occupied for sleeping and
dressing-rooms, and at the other to a large saloon, which was destined
to receive visitors. There were consequently but six rooms in all, yet
was this considered a spacious house; for the Orientals sleep in the
same room where they sit, their beds being removed in the day-time to
large recesses formed in the walls for that purpose, and hidden by a
curtain.
Curiosity, it may be supposed, was much excited by Lady Hester’s
arrival. There are two monasteries at Damascus, one of monks of the
order of St. Francis, the other of Capuchins. The society of these
monks is generally sought after by Europeans; and, in the expectation
of the distinguished reception they fancied they should receive, the
superior of each monastery came to offer his services to her ladyship:
but she would not see them. They were told that, as the quarter of the
town she lived in was entirely Turkish, and as the sight of priests
in this neighbourhood would be looked upon as an infringement of the
rules observed by them, of seldom or never coming thither, they were
requested not to repeat their visit: but she received with civility
Mr. Chaboceau, a French doctor, seventy years of age, very deaf; for
his privileges were more extended, as all quarters of the city are
alike open to medical practitioners. This gentleman has or had a son
living in England, at Uxbridge.
These measures, purposely made public among the servants, and repeated
by the master of the house to his friends in the city, were construed
into demonstrations of her esteem for the Turks, and contributed not a
little to her popularity.
In the mean time, after resting herself a day or two, she prepared
to ride out. No sooner were the horses brought to the door, than a
crowd of women and children assembled; the gravity of the male part
of the Turkish population seldom yielding so far to curiosity, as to
allow them to join in a mob. When she came out, as she stood upon
the horse-block, (of which there generally is one at the entrance
of most houses) a smile on the people around served at once to
prepossess them in her favour. She was accompanied by no one, but
her young interpreter, Giorgio, and Mohammed, her Janissary, thus
throwing herself entirely on the discretion of the inhabitants.
Her first excursion naturally gave us some uneasiness; but it was
without foundation. A grave, yet pleasing look, an unembarrassed, yet
commanding, demeanour met the ideas of the Turks, whose manners are
of this cast. We were, however, somewhat diverted by the different
reports which were spread respecting her among them. It was generally
supposed, from her fair complexion, that she painted white: and it was
confidently affirmed, as her appearance was so little European, that,
although by birth an Englishwoman, she was of Ottoman descent, and had
Mahometan blood in her veins.
The Turkish feast of Ramazán was now celebrating, during which
Mahometans are accustomed to fast from sunrise to sunset for the space
of a whole moon. Little business, excepting what is unavoidable, is
transacted all this time. The day is beguiled as much as possible in
sleep, by which the cravings of appetite and the desire for drink
are considerably deadened. The first half of the night is devoted to
feasting and visits.
Lady Hester was anxious to be presented to the pasha as soon as
possible, and an early evening was fixed on. Previous to it, she
signified to the Jews, brothers of him of Acre, her intention to visit
them. They filled at the court of Damascus, as has been said, the
post of seràfs, which word signifies bankers or money-changers, but
embraces a more comprehensive meaning. The wealth of this family was
enormous, and the house they lived in was not inferior to any one in
the city: its exterior, however, was mean in appearance, and gave no
idea of the magnificence within. All the houses in Damascus are built
of clay, beat up with chopped straw, and made into a composition,[2]
which, when dried in the sun, becomes very tenacious. Houses so built
have, externally, a mean appearance; and as the Jews throughout Turkey
are odious to the natives, they are compelled, from policy, to give to
the quarter in which they reside a dirtiness of appearance that shall
not rouse the over-sensitive jealousy of their masters. Accordingly,
on entering the Jews’ quarter at Damascus, the organs of smell and
sight are much incommoded, and any thing but architectural beauty or
cleanliness is found in it. Haym’s street-door opened, and we went down
two or three steps into a stone entry about fifteen or twenty feet
square, to the left of which was a dirty alcove, with a carpet on the
floor, and cushions against the wall, and opposite to it a small filthy
room. A staircase led from this court to two rooms above, of the same
description. Any stranger, but particularly a Turk, enters thus far,
and, whether he comes for the business of a moment or for a few days,
it is here the master of the house sees him, and it is here that his
meals are brought to him.
Opposite to the front door was another which opened by a crooked entry
into the first grand court of the house, so that nobody from the
strangers’ court could see into this, even if the door was ajar. Here
began to be displayed the wealth of the proprietor. The court was
spacious, and in the centre was a large basin, into which water spouted
and gave coolness to the surrounding apartments, which were numerous.
A large one on the left was covered with a rich Persian carpet, and
the cushions of the sofas, which ran round the three sides, were of
Damascus satins. On the right was a smaller one, more magnificent, but
on the same plan. We entered only those two in the first court.
A passage led into a second court, the pavement of which was inlaid
with marble mosaic, and in the centre was a basin with a fountain.
Round it were numerous apartments; and these were destined for the
harým; nor should I have enjoyed the privilege of seeing them (as no
men enter here) had I not accompanied her ladyship, who, as a female,
was necessarily conducted to them. Nothing could equal the magnificence
of these rooms, two of which, at the extremity, were peculiarly
beautiful, and between them was an alcove, which is inseparable from
the houses of the Levantines, and which is no other than a saloon with
three sides to it, the fourth side, fronting the court, being entirely
open to the air, with an arch thrown over it. All these apartments had
the walls painted and gilded in arabesque, and none of the ceilings
were plain, but painted in stars, in lozenges, or in some diagram or
device.
Neither in the first nor the second court was there an upper story,
excepting over one room, where all the splendour of which the other
apartments partake is united. We ascended to it by stone stairs, from
the court, on the outside, in the open air, and, as is the case with
all the staircases throughout Syria, it was steep and inelegant. On
entering this _âléah_ (so an upper room is called, and so the
word signifies) the eye was struck with the glitter of the walls and
ceiling, resembling the descriptions of fairy palaces. Mock precious
stones, mirrors, gilding, and arabesque paintings, covered it every
where, and the floor was of elegant mosaic. The pipes with their amber
heads; the coffee-cups, with a gold stud at the bottom, on which
ambergris was stuck to perfume this beverage as it dissolved in it; the
embroidered napkins to wipe the mouth with; and the brilliant colours
and high flavour of the sherbets corresponded with the grandeur of the
house. But how shall we reconcile to all this the dishes served up on
tinned copper, and set on a table of the same metal? This anomaly will
be explained in another place.
But the interview with the Pasha himself was the ceremony most talked
of. I did not accompany her ladyship on this occasion, owing to a
temporary indisposition. Sayd Suliman Pasha had spent his life at
the court of Sultan Selim and his predecessors, and was considered
as a finished gentleman Turk. It must indeed have been a formidable
undertaking to a woman, when, after being led through antechambers by
the light of flaring candles, which threw their gleam on the arms of
numerous soldiers and attendants, who waited in still and fearful
silence, she was ushered into a long saloon, through two rows of the
pasha’s suite, where at the upper end sat--and he alone was sitting--on
a crimson sofa, in a most starched attitude, the small but dignified
man. He rose not to receive her, and by a motion of his hand signified
to her to sit. M. Bertrand, the dragoman, stood by her side, and by
the side of the pasha stood the Jew Rafäel. M. Bertrand trembled so
much that his tongue faltered when he interpreted the pasha’s first
salutations, nor was he for some time sufficiently collected to
repeat with precision what was said to him. Lady Hester was not at
all disconcerted. Her interpreter, Giorgio, whom she had ordered to
attend her to observe if her answers were correctly translated, was
prevented from entering the presence-chamber because he wore arms: it
being as ill-bred to pay visits of ceremony in Turkey with arms on,
as in England to wear boots on a similar occasion. After a reasonable
time, Lady Hester retired, having first begged the pasha to accept of a
handsome snuff-box. In return a beautiful Arabian horse was led to her
door after the visit was over; and the bearers of the presents received
from the respective parties money of about a quarter the value of the
gifts.
On her return home from this visit, her janissary, Hadj Mohammed el
Ludkány, whilst standing before her to receive her orders for the
morrow, said, “Your ladyship’s reception was very grand;” and upon her
replying, “Yes, but this is all vanity,” he remarked, “Oh! khanum” (or
my lady), “you carry the splendour of royalty on your forehead, with
the humility of a dervise at your heart.”
Lady Hester scarcely found time to write to her friends an account of
her adventures; but we may extract from a letter, already published in
a periodical work, a few anecdotes, as related in her own words.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to Lieutenant-General Oakes._
Damascus, September 30th, 1812.
My dear General,
The only letters I have received since the shipwreck are those
which you directed to the care of Colonel Misset; I was quite
happy to hear from you again, and that you were well, though so
very busy; indeed, I fear it would not be a compliment for me to
write half I have to say, even had I time.
If I was once to begin to give you my history since I left Acre,
I should fill all my paper with the honours which have been paid
me. The pasha here has given me two horses, but neither fit for
you; another, which was presented me by the Emir Beshýr, or
Prince of the Druses, would have just done; but I found he was
so vicious (a rare thing in this country), that I gave him to my
janissary, who is the best rider I have seen since I left Egypt.
I must now speak to you of the Druses, that extraordinary and
mysterious people who inhabit the Mount Lebanon. I hope, if
I ever see you again, to be able to reach Mr. North[3] in my
account of them. I will only now mention a fact, which I can
state as positive, having been eyewitness to it--it is that they
eat raw meat. I purchased of a Druse an immense sheep, the tail
weighing eleven pounds, and desired it to be taken to a village,
where I ordered the people to assemble to eat. When I arrived
the sheep was alive; the moment it was killed it was skinned,
and brought in raw upon a sort of dish made of matting, and in
less than half an hour it was all devoured. The women eat of it
as well as the men: the pieces of raw fat they swallowed were
really frightful.
I understand so well feeling my ground with savage people, that
I can ask questions no other person dares to put to them; but
it would not be proper to repeat here those I asked even the
_sages_, and still less their answers. Any one who asks
a religious question may be murdered without either the Emir
Beshýr (the Prince of the Mountain), or the Shaykh Beshýr (the
governor) being able to punish the offender.
Nothing ever equalled the honours paid me by these men; the
prince is a mild, amiable man,[4] but the governor has proved a
Lucifer, and I am the first traveller he ever allowed to walk
over his palace, which has been the scene of several massacres.
The two days I spent with him I enjoyed very much; and you will
be surprised at it when I tell you, that he judged it necessary
to make one of his chief officers taste out of my cup before I
drank, for fear of poison; but I am used to that; yet this man
upon his knees before me looked more solemn than usual.
Believe me, my dear General,
Ever most sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
* * * * *
Captain Hope came to the coast to see after me, and gave me your
kind message. He is a very worthy young man, and has been more
kind to me than I could have thought it possible for a man, who
was a stranger to me at Rhodes, could have been. A thousand
thanks for the medicine-chest.
I have just heard that all the women belonging to the sultan
have died of the plague, also his two children, and that 400
persons die a day at Constantinople. All the foreign ministers
are shut up in palaces near the mouth of the Black Sea.
To his Excellency, Lieut-General Oakes, &c., &c., &c.
Malta.
From the time of our arrival, the applications to me for medical advice
had been beyond measure numerous. Some were no more than excuses to get
into the courtyard, in the expectation of seeing Lady Hester; many were
from persons labouring under chronic and incurable maladies; and some,
which afforded me extensive opportunities of seeing the interior of
the houses in the city, were from those who were lying ill with acute
diseases, which required my visits to their bedsides. However, the
janissary, who officiated as porter, had much ado to keep the mob from
the doors, and preserve good-humour among them; and the pertinacity
of the women to gain admittance was truly laughable. This janissary
was, from a long residence in his youth at Damascus, acquainted with
the names of all the principal families of the place. When, therefore,
the harým of any great man (the term harým being used in the East to
express collectively all the women, whether wives or concubines, and
their female servants, which belong to any one grandee)--when such a
harým applied, Mohammed would signify it to me, and ask if they could
not be admitted, to obtain a sight of her ladyship. On one occasion,
thirteen in a body thus gained an entrance, and overwhelmed me with a
volubility of questions truly comic.
The dress of the Damascus women, when out of doors, consists of a long
white sheet, and over the face a muslin handkerchief, through which
they can see very well without a possibility of having their features
distinguished by others. If men are not present, this handkerchief is
often thrown up over the top of the head; and some, fairer than others,
if desirous of practising a little coquetry, and of letting their
features be seen, will suffer the gentlemen to come upon them as if
unawares, and then in haste throw down the handkerchief.
When I became better acquainted with the language and usages of the
country, I was surprised to see how ineffectual all the devices of
veils, cloaks, separate apartments, keepers, duennas, &c., are for
guarding those who are resolved to be under no restraint: and a
gentleman of the country assured me that there were few women who had
not their gallants. I half believed him; for his own gallantries were
notorious, and some circumstances that had happened to myself since our
arrival at Damascus had given me a partial insight into the subject.
When it is considered how very fanatic the inhabitants of Damascus
were,[5] and in what great abhorrence they held infidels; that native
Christians could only inhabit a particular quarter of the town; and
that no one of these, at the peril of having his bones broken by the
first angry Turk he met, could ride on horseback within the walls, or
wear as part of his dress any coloured cloth or turban that was showy,
it will be matter of surprise how completely these prejudices wore
laid aside in favour of Lady Hester, and of those persons who were
with her. She rode out every day; and, according to the custom of the
country, coffee was poured on the road before her horse by several of
the inhabitants, in order to do her honour. It was said that, in going
through a bazar, all the people in it rose up as she passed--an honour
never paid but to a pasha, or to the mufti; but, as I was not present,
I do not assert the thing positively. On no occasion was she insulted;
and, although a crowd constantly assembled at her door at the time she
was expected to appear, and awaited her return home, she was always
received by an applauding buzz of the populace; and the women, more
especially, would call out, “Long life to her! may she live to return
to her country!” with many other exclamations in use among them.
I took an early opportunity of visiting the lepers, who have an
hospital in Damascus, to which they are sent from fifty miles round.
They are never subjected to medical treatment, and are only housed
here to rot. They live on the alms of the charitable, and send out,
every summer, to a great distance, some of their body to beg. For
this purpose they plant themselves near the entrances of towns and
villages, and, suspending a platter or half a cocoa-nut shell to a
forked stick, retire a few paces off, that they may not deter the
humane from approaching by the sight of their sores or the apprehension
of contagion. The idea of the contagious nature of the disease is very
general throughout the East, and I was treated as a madman for having
once locked my hand in that of a leper’s, to convince the bystanders
that I was not of this opinion.
The rich have influence enough to evade the law which obliges lepers
to be kept apart from their fellow-citizens. Mansûr, son of Syt Habûs,
a Drûze princess, was generally said to be afflicted with leprosy,
which the peasants of Mount Lebanon call aat, or da-el-kebýr (the great
malady). His friends were very shy in saying what was the matter with
him, lest the Turkish authorities should compel him to quit his house
for the infirmary.
As it was Ramazán at this time, the whole city was illuminated every
night, and the tops of the minarets were encircled with a row of lamps.
Although, on these occasions, a Turkish city is less brilliant than the
common lighting of a London street, still as, at other parts of the
year, the streets are not lighted at all in the evening, these feeble
illuminations during Ramazán have an enlivening effect. I went several
times to the coffee-houses and shows, which form the amusement of the
people during this festival. I saw a rope-dancer who was tolerably
clever; but his loose trowsers (tight breeches being considered
unseemly) somewhat obstructed his movements.
A coffeehouse in Turkey means no more than a bench, from three to four
feet deep, running along the front of a room open to the street, and
shaded by a shed or sometimes by an orange-tree or a vine, upon which
bench is spread a clean mat. There the guests squat crosslegged, or
seat themselves on wooden or rush-bottomed stools. Small hookas, called
narkýlys, are smoked, or else the long pipe; and coffee is served out
in small cups, holding about two tablespoonfuls of liquid, at the price
then of one para each cup. Nothing else is sold at these places, and
the thirsty person trusts to the casual passing by of a sherbet-seller,
or drinks the pure element out of an earthen jug that stands ready for
those who call for water. There is one coffeehouse in Damascus where
there is a fountain which throws up water enough to dance a round melon
on the top of the jet for a long time without its falling.
It is during the evenings of Ramazán that the reciters of the Arabian
Nights’ Entertainments, of the story of Antar, and of other amusing
tales, are to be heard. The story-teller walks backward and forward,
narrating with suitable gesticulation, and in a loud voice. Sometimes
he is listened to, sometimes not, according to the fancy of the hearers
or the interest which the tale excites. Some of these men are very
clever, and will move the passions as strongly as our best actors;
which will not appear strange when it is known that, in the eloquence
of common conversation, the Arabs, both of towns and of the Desert, are
inferior to no people in the world.
The karacûz or _Ombres Chinoises_ is one of the favourite shows
of this people. A subject often treated by them was--the sickness of a
lady; her wish to have a Frank doctor; the blunders of the Frank doctor
in broken Arabic, when questioning the lady respecting the seat and
nature of her malady; the jealousy of the husband; the belabouring the
doctor; the quarrel of the husband and wife; &c., &c.
There are performers on violins with seven strings. Some of these from
time to time accompanied their instruments with the voice, and sung
plaintive airs that seemed to affect their audience even to tears.
The Ottomans in general appeared to me to be very fond of sweetmeats,
and indulged their children with them as much or more than fond mothers
do in England. In Ramazán, the shops which sold them were much in
request. There were several kinds unknown, or at least not known to
me. One sort, of which I was particularly fond, was haláwy jozy, or
blanched walnuts embedded in a composition of dibs and almond meal.
Damascus is famous for its preserved apricots, which are sent to all
parts of the Turkish empire.
The bazars of Damascus are rows of shops covered in: they are as well
furnished almost as those of Constantinople, but are particularly rich
in the stuffs which are manufactured in the place. I regret that I
did not note down the names and texture of these brocades, and of the
silks and satins, as also of the cottons. Of the taste displayed in the
colours of these latter, some idea may be formed when it is known that
all the prevailing patterns for gowns among us during the last eight or
ten years have been copied from them.
In the mean time, almost the whole of each day was taken up by the
importunate applications of the sick, many of whom, affected with
incurable diseases, would not believe that there were cases in which
all art is vain. I was requested to give to the consumptive a fresh
pair of lungs, to make the paralytic walk, to restore sight to the
blind, and to do many other things equally easy of accomplishment. Abd
el Rahmán, the proprietor of the house in which we lived, was very
instrumental in carving me out work of this sort: and when I reproached
him for it, he said--“What will you have me do? I cannot define to them
the exact limits of your abilities; and, although I am sure you do not
perform miracles, nay, although I may suppose, as you say, that you
come to seek knowledge, not to pretend to impart it, still I know that
the ardent imaginations of my fellow-countrymen will always make an
Hippocrates of a Frank doctor, and that the sight of you will do them
good, even though your medicines should not.”
Abd el Rahmán, one morning, introduced to me two black eunuchs, by
the names of Mukhtar Aga and Ambár Aga, informing me that they held
places of trust in the administration of the female department of the
family of Ahmed Bey, son of Abdullah Pasha, ex-pasha of Damascus. I
was already so far accustomed to the dignities and the titles of the
country as to understand the enumeration of these to mean--I present
you the deputies of a great man. I had also heard frequent mention made
of the ancient house of _Adam_, the family name of Ahmed Bey, and
that it was considered one of the oldest and richest in Syria.
After some prefatory discourse, these gentlemen told me that Sulymán
Bey, the eldest son of Ahmed Bey, was given over by his physicians, and
that the father, hearing of my presence in Damascus, entreated me to go
and see him. I replied, that, in every house where I had been, I had
found persons so little disposed to obey my directions as to make me
despair of ever doing any good, and that, therefore, I declined going.
Abd el Rahmán was thunderstruck on hearing me refuse to attend on such
a distinguished family, and when too the heir was ill. The messengers
went away, and in about half an hour returned, and said so much of the
father’s grief at my refusal that I then yielded to their solicitations.
I found his son on a silk mattress, placed on the sofa, in an open
alcove that looked on a marble paved court shaded by lofty orange
and lemon-trees. There were three physicians present, a Turk and
two Christians. Ahmed Bey received me very politely, and eagerly
begged me to restore his son to health. The boy was about thirteen
or fourteen--ugly, of diminutive stature, and somewhat hump-backed.
He was labouring under anasarca, consequent on a long intermittent
fever. After examining him, I said I saw no reason to doubt of the
possibility of curing him. I was then asked how I would do it, which
I declined telling: for I had no one but my servant for interpreter,
and the little Italian which he knew made it impossible to explain my
intentions clearly.
The bey told me that nothing had been left unattempted which the
faculty of the city could think of. His son had been sewed up in a
sheepskin fresh from the warm carcase. He had taken pills made of
powdered pearl; he had lived six days on nothing but goats’ flesh;
he had had pigeons’ skins put hot on his feet; but all had been
unavailing. I merely observed that these remedies might have much merit
in them, but that the practice of medicine in England was somewhat
different; and, if he wished me to prescribe, my first condition
was that I should not be controlled by anybody. After some other
conversation, I went away.
About three hours afterwards, I was summoned again, and desired to
act as I chose. Not to tire the reader, I was fortunate enough to
restore the boy to perfect health, and the father signified to me
that he would thank me in the Eastern way. On an appointed day, I was
conducted to the vestibule of the bath, where Sulimán Bey, attended
by half-a-dozen servants, awaited my coming. We undressed and entered
the bath, having each a silk apron on. About an hour was consumed in
the ceremonies of shaving the head, washing, depilation, &c.; after
which we returned to the dressing-room, where we were enveloped in
embroidered napkins, and lay down to repose. Pipes, coffee, and
sherbets, were served. When it was time to dress, the bey ordered a
page to invest me with the dress of honour which had been prepared for
me. It consisted of an entire suit of Turkish clothes, with a pelisse,
and three pieces of Damascus silks not made up. The whole might be
valued at fifty pounds. After dinner I returned home, and could
perceive, by the cheerfulness of my groom, who generally held my horse
at the door, that he too had not been forgotten.
On the morrow, I was invited to a rural fête. I accompanied Ahmed Bey
and his three sons, followed by his black and white servants, in all
about twenty-five persons, on horses richly caparisoned, to a garden
in the environs of the city. Beneath the shade of orange-trees, by the
side of a stream that ran through the garden, carpets were spread, and
a repast was served up. The bey had ordered several dishes, which,
as being rare, he thought would please me. Through an opening in the
trees, our seats commanded a view of the plain of Damascus, which,
in the cultivated part, is one of the richest in foliage I ever saw.
We sat, smoked, drank coffee and sherbet; and afterwards the pages
were matched against each other to throw the giryd or javelin. The day
passed away delightfully, and at sunset we returned to the city.
The bey expressed himself very grateful to me for having saved his son;
and hence began an acquaintance between Lady Hester and him, which
afterwards ripened into a long and durable friendship.
I cannot help mentioning an occurrence which happened in consequence of
this cure. The bey, having conceived a favourable opinion of my skill,
consulted me for himself and all his family. Among the rest was his
sister, a young lady of sixteen, and of the most dazzling beauty. Upon
that occasion, I was conducted to the harým by her brother, the bey,
the women being previously warned to keep out of sight,[6] so that I
saw no one but her. He desired her to unveil before me, which she did
without any affectation.[7] Lady Hester soon afterwards paid a visit
to the bey’s wife,[8] and was received with great ceremony.
In the same manner, she visited the lady of Hassan Pasha, of Assâd
Pasha, and of several others, persons of distinction, so that she had
an opportunity of seeing all who were most eminent for rank and beauty
throughout the city. There was an Abyssinian slave, sixteen years of
age, one of Ahmed Bey’s wife’s female attendants, whom her ladyship
described as exquisitely handsome. In the harýms of all these families
I too was admitted, but it was to see the sick. Wherever I was called
I invariably found the patient, if too ill to rise, lying on a bed
spread on the floor in the middle of the chamber, with no bedstead or
curtains, but sometimes with a silk musquito net temporarily suspended.
The females were always veiled on entering, generally by pinching a
shawl over the face, so as to leave one eye[9] only visible; but would
for a reasonable cause (as, for example, to look at their tongue)
draw the veil aside. At any house where it became necessary for me
to repeat my visits, these formalities were by degrees disused, and
always first of all by the comeliest women. The women and men always
wear a night-dress when in bed, generally consisting of a wrapping gown
and a quilted jacket; for the coverlet, being wadded with cotton, and
about one inch thick, does not, from its stiffness, keep in the warmth
sufficiently--the sheet, moreover, is sewed to it; and therefore they
wear night-clothes to prevent exposure to cold.
Mohadýn Effendy was a gentleman of the most polished manners, who had
lived much at court, and who moved in the best society of Damascus. He
was exceedingly polite and attentive to Lady Hester, and was one, among
some others, who seemed to employ himself in trying to dive into the
motives of her residence in a land so foreign in its climate, customs,
and language, to her own.
There is a class of persons in Turkey unknown at present in Europe,
but very common during the middle ages--I mean the captains of
mercenary troops, who sell their services to the prince who can pay
them best. There were, in 1812, three of them, who, living in the
heart of the pashalik of Damascus, might be said to be independent of
their legitimate masters, and to have a jurisdiction of their own. I
was acquainted professionally with all three: their names were Ozûn
Ali, Hamed Bey, and Muly Ismael. Ozûn Ali had a very fine palace in
Damascus; the bey, Hamed, who was the son of a pasha, lived like a
daring soldier, who devoted himself with equal ardour to Mars and
Venus; but Muly Ismael, now somewhat advanced in years, was a politic
chieftain, whose influence and weight had, no doubt, much sway in the
province. Hamed Bey gave a horse to Lady Hester, who, in return, sent
him a brace of pistols. These men were employed, on all occasions of
insurrection, for levying imposts and contributions, for displacing
motsellems and inferior governors; and probably occasioned as much
alarm to the pashas themselves as to those against whom they were
employed.
There is to the south of the city, just without the gate, a spacious
meadow reserved for the amusements of the inhabitants, whither horsemen
go to play at the game of giryd, idlers to sit on the turf; and where
sometimes caravans assemble previous to their departure on a distant
journey. On one side of the meadow are two or three caves, excavated
in a sandy rock. I had, in my rides through it, observed that a large
checkered sheet was often suspended before the entrance of these caves;
but it was not until I saw a soldier and a female issuing from one
of them, that I conjectured what kind of inhabitants they contained.
Generally speaking throughout Turkey, the police is extremely
severe against frail women; and here, although their meretricious
blandishments were, it seemed, more publicly displayed than elsewhere,
they were, nevertheless, obliged to live without the walls of the city.
It is not intended to say that they could not reside within them if
they chose, but they find their advantage in the privacy that these
obscure dwellings afford to their visiters. Damascus was, in those
days, the only place where I saw women of this class parading the
streets, almost unveiled, and inveigling the passers-by: but they were
compelled to confine themselves entirely to one bazar.
I was one day reading at home when a Turkish woman of the middling
rank of life came to consult me. Whilst speaking with her, the hour
of namàz, or prayer, was cried from the mosque; when she immediately
broke off the conversation, and signified that, with my permission,
she would say her prayers. She went through the show of washing as if
she had had water before her, and she repeated the _fathah_;[10]
without paying the least regard to my presence. It did not, however,
happen to me to see women pray openly, excepting in this one instance,
and once at Latakia on the seashore: for it is not considered seemly
for females to exhibit themselves to the gaze of the public under any
circumstances. Lady Hester’s slave constantly prayed before any one
indoors.
CHAPTER II.
Lady Hester’s intended journey to Palmyra--Objections to
it--Hanah Fakhah--Difficulties of a journey to Palmyra--Illness
of Mr. B. on his road from Aleppo to Damascus--The Author
goes to his assistance--Osman Aga--Masûd Aga--Village
of Yabrûd--Author’s reception by Osman Aga--Carah,
burgh--Character of Masûd Aga--Use of Narkýly--Aspect
of the Desert--Hamlet of Hassiah--Dûrra bread--City of
Hems--River Orontes--City of Hamah--Mûsa Koblán--Visit
from him--Arrival of Mr. Barker and Mr. B.--Description of
Hamah--Clogs--Waterwheels--Coolness and heat produced by
the same means--Costume of the female peasants--Doors of
houses--Air--Panoramic prospect--Manufactures--Christians
of Hamah--Inundations--Messrs. B. and Barker go to
Bâalbec--Description of Hems--Pyramidal sepulchre--Tomb of
Khaled--Citadel--Lake of Hems--Orontes river--Cara--March of
troops--Yabrûd--Springs of Ras el ayn--Mâlûla--Grottoes and
Sarcophagi--Michael Rasáti--Account of M. Lascaris and of Madame
Lascaris--Nebk--Dress of M. Lascaris--His character--Return of
the Author to Damascus.
From the time of Lady Hester’s arrival at Damascus, her mind had been
incessantly busied in the endeavour to bring to bear her intended
journey to the ruins of Palmyra. To this end, she had conferred with
every person whom she thought capable of giving information on the
subject. The pasha’s bankers, Yusef and Rafaël, endeavoured to dissuade
her from an undertaking which they considered very dangerous; but told
her that, in case of resolving upon it, the pasha would furnish her
with a body of troops for her safe conduct, and that he and they would
not be responsible for her safety, unless she went so protected. For it
was argued that, although the Arabs would do no violence to her, they
would probably make her a prisoner, and demand an exorbitant ransom.
A man named Hanah Fakhah, residing at Damascus, but said to be a
native Egyptian, speaking French, which he learned when the French
army was in Egypt, and who had accompanied Mr. Fiott[11] to Palmyra,
offered himself as capable of conducting us thither in safety, from the
friendship and connection he pretended to have with the chief shaykhs
of the Desert. For a long time, Lady Hester was inclined to rely on his
assumed importance; but subsequent information made her decline having
anything to do with him. Distracted with the various reports that were
made to her, she knew not what to do. At last she caused letters to
be written to the Emir of the Anizýs, Mohammed el Fadhel, desiring an
interview with him.
But, in order to understand the difficulties she had to contend
with, it is proper to relate in what manner they had proved almost
insuperable to other English travellers. Up to this period, the
road to Palmyra had been little frequented by Europeans: and, of
many Englishmen who had lately been in Syria, we could hear of three
only who had accomplished the journey, the rest having been deterred
through fear of the Bedouin Arabs, and by the obstacles that present
themselves in crossing twenty leagues of desert, exposed to the
chance of perishing from hunger and thirst. Of those three who went,
one was stripped and robbed, and returned to Aleppo in his shirt and
drawers, after a series of sufferings that would form a romance. One
performed the journey in the depth of winter, when the Arabs keep
their tents, and when the rains saved him from the want of water; and
both these went in the disguise of pedlars, or poor merchants. But
for Lady Hester, whose intention had been divulged, and whose sex and
rank continued to draw much attention to her movements, secrecy was
impossible.
She, therefore, seemed inclined to adopt the plan, suggested by the
pasha, of going with a formidable escort. At the same time, he gave
her to understand that the Emir Mahannah, chief of the Bedouins, was
in little or no subjection to the Porte, and that the inhabitants of
Tadmûr (as Palmyra is called in Arabic) were completely out of the
reach of the arm of justice, in case they should use any foul play
against her. The troops had already received orders to hold themselves
in readiness to march; the camels were hired, the presents intended for
the Bedouins were bought, and the day almost fixed for departure. What
Lady Hester’s reflections and plans were will be better understood from
two letters which she wrote to an intimate friend about this time.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----_
Damascus, October 10th, 1812.
My dear ----,
I am here yet, not liking to stir till I see a little what
turn things take. The pasha has offended all the cavalry (the
Delibashes commanded by the son of the famous deposed pasha,
Yousef Pasha): the infantry (the Albanians) are on the side of
the present pasha, and every day a battle is expected. A report
also has been in circulation that 50,000 Wahabees are within
four days’ journey of this city, but I do not believe it. It
takes its rise from a letter from Mecca to the pasha, saying
several thousand dromedaries mounted by Wahabees have set off
they know not where, but not improbably for this place, which
they once before attempted to take, but were driven back, after
having burnt and ransacked every village upon the road. Why
this concerns me is for this reason: the strongest tribe of
Bedouin Arabs, my friends, who do not like the present pasha,
will probably join any party against him, and there will be a
fine confusion in the desert as well as here, and the roads
in every direction will be filled with Delibashes, &c., &c.
These men are more dreaded in every part of Turkey than you can
imagine, as they stick at nothing. But luckily for me I am well
known to some of them, who have been in the habit of seeing me
with their chief looking at their horses; he has visited me
accompanied by them, and they have everywhere treated me with
the greatest civility, even when their chief has not been with
them; so I have less to fear than any one else, but yet when
such disturbances take place few are safe.
Should the worst come to the worst, I shall take fifty of them,
and set off to my friend, the Emir Beshýr, the Prince of the
Mountain, where I shall be quite safe. He has troops at his
disposal, which he can assemble at will, and nothing was ever
so kind as he has been to me; therefore, hear what you may,
believe me better off than any one else. The bey, who commands
the Delibashes, took a great fancy to me when at Cairo, and
everything he can command is at my disposal, I know; he is a
simple, honest soldier, and has no intrigue about him at all,
and is extremely beloved by the troops. It is a good thing that
old North is safe off, for he would be in a sad fright. I am not
at all, knowing my own presence of mind under all circumstances,
and that I have excellent friends in this country. Even with
the French I am upon terms of friendship and confidence; they
command everything upon the coast; for we have nobody in this
country but Mr. Barker.
I scribble in great haste, as a messenger to Acre is just going
off. Be perfectly easy about me; my good luck will not forsake
me, when any confusion takes place. All I can say about myself
sounds like conceit; but others could tell you I am the oracle
of the Arabs, and the darling of all the troops, who seem to
think that I am a deity because I can _ride_, and because
I wear arms; and the fanatics all bow before me, because the
Dervises think me a wonder, and have given me a piece of
Mahomet’s tomb, and I have won the heart of the pasha by a
letter I wrote him from Dayr el Kamar. Hope will tell you how
I got on upon the coast, and if he could make anything of the
Pasha of Acre, his ministers, or the rest of them, who were all
at my feet. I was even admitted into the library of the famous
mosque, and fumbled over the books at pleasure--books that no
Christian dare touch, or even cast his eyes upon.
Adieu, and believe me ever,
most sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
I sent you, about a fortnight ago, a large packet for England
by a respectable Damascus merchant going to Malta. Pray do not
put any women or fools into a fright about the state of things
in this country; besides, to tell the truth is here often the
greatest danger one can run.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----_
Damascus, October 12th.
My dear ----,
The Wahabees (which were the subject of my last letter) have not
been heard of near this town; it is said that a small number of
them have arrived at Palmyra, but that is of no consequence.
Whether it was the report of their being upon the road for this
place, or that the pasha was unable to settle the dispute with
his troops, which induced him to send a positive order to an old
figure, like Sir David,[12] to come here directly (the head of
everything military in Syria), I know not; but this sensible,
popular, and active old fellow appeared, and shortly after was
commanded to take a strong body of troops, and go over all the
pashalic of Damascus instead of the pasha. During the time he
was here he expressed a great wish to make my acquaintance,
and that I should visit him; “for,” said he, “I shall be very
jealous of my young chief if she does not.” Knowing the state of
things, the rebellious spirit of the troops, their exultation at
his arrival, &c., I considered this visit as an awful thing, yet
I was determined to go, as everything military seemed to have
set their heart upon it.
I first was obliged to ride through a yard full of horses, then
to walk through several hundred, perhaps a thousand Delibashes,
and then to present myself to not less than fifty officers and
grandees, the old chief in the corner, and my friend the young
bey (Yousef Pasha’s son) next to him, who rose to give me his
place. I remained there about an hour; the old fellow was so
delighted with me that he gave me his own house upon the borders
of the desert for as long a time as I chose to inhabit it; he
offered me a hundred Delibashes to escort me all over Syria; he
sent off an express to put, as he said, his most confidential
officer under my command, that nothing I asked was to be
refused. In short, nothing could equal his civility, besides,
it was accompanied with a degree of _heartiness_ which you
seldom meet with in a Turk. The next day he sent me a very fine
little two-year-old Arab horse to train up in my own way.
The chief of 40,000 Arabs, Mahanna el Fadel, arrived here about
the same time to get 4,000 camels, and several thousand sheep
released, which the pasha had seized. His sons have been my
friends ever since I came here, but as the father is reckoned
as harsh as he is cunning, I little thought to manage him as
I have done. He, his eldest son, and about twenty-five Arabs,
dined with me, and were all enchanted, and the _meleki_,
(the queen) is in the mouth of every Arab, both in Damascus and
the desert. As to the Wahabees, Mahanna assures me that, as one
of _his family_, he shall guarantee me with his life, and
whether I meet or do not meet with them it is the same thing.
To see this extraordinary people is what I wish, but not in the
town or environs of Damascus, to be confounded with the crowd of
those they wish to injure.
B. and Mr. Barker are now upon their road from Aleppo, because
they chose to take it into their heads I must go with a caravan
to Palmyra. No caravan goes the road I intended to go, and if
it had, as I told them, nothing should persuade me to join one.
This put them into a fright, so they are coming with a wire
thing, a tartavan, which Mr. Barker pronounces necessary, but
which all the consuls in the universe shall never persuade me to
get into. What an absurd idea, in case of danger, to be stuck
upon a machine, the tartavangees running away and leaving you
to the mercy of two obstinate mules! the swiftest horse one can
find is the best thing, and what the Arabs often owe their lives
to. My second messenger (saying more positively than the first,
that whether they come or not, I would have nothing to do with a
tartavan) had only left this place three days when the caravan
between Homs and Damascus (composed of several hundred persons,
and fifty armed men, I believe) was attacked by Arabs, and
sixteen men killed. Who is right, I or the consul-general?
The pasha answers for my safety, so do all the chiefs of
the Delibashes, and so do the Arabs, but they do not answer
for rich, cowardly merchants, who are left to take care of
themselves. By this time, Barker must be half-way from Aleppo,
therefore, it is right I should think about setting off to meet
them at Homs: four armed men is all I shall take, just to keep
watch about the tents at night, and to have an eye upon the
horses, that no stray robber may make off with them. As to great
tribes, &c., I am perfectly secure with them, I know.
During my residence here, I have made a great number of very
pleasant acquaintances, and have seen all the most famous
harems. I believe I am the only person who can give an account
of the manner in which a great Turk is received by his wives
and women. A particular friend of mine, who has four wives and
three mistresses, took me to see them himself. None of his wives
sat down in his presence, or even came up upon the raised part
of the room where we sat, except to serve his pipe and give him
coffee. When he invited me to a dinner, apparently for fifteen
or twenty people, I of course thought the poor women were to
eat; but not at all; they only presented him with what he
wanted from the hands of the slaves, and never spoke but when
he asked some question. Yet this is one of the most pleasant
and good-natured men I know, and with me he behaves just like
anybody else, and is full as civil and attentive as another man,
but in this instance he does not consider his dignity lowered.
The other day I was paying a visit to the wife of a very great
effendi (who, though not the most agreeable, is perhaps the
cleverest man I know here); not less than fifty women were
assembled in the harem to see me; when in came the lord and
master--all put on their veils, except his wife and his own
women, and he made a sign and all retired. He then told me
he had sent for my little dragoman, who shortly appeared. We
talked some time and then he proposed dining; he had led me into
a beautiful court paved with coloured marble, with fountains
playing amongst the orange-trees, and in a sort of alcove we
found dinner prepared, or rather supper, for it was at sunset.
Everything was served in high style by black female slaves,
and a black gentleman. Immense gilt candlesticks, with candles
nearly six feet high, were set on the ground, with a great
illumination of small elegant lamps suspended in clusters in
different parts of the court; the proud man talked a great deal,
and kept my little dragoman nearly four hours upon his knees,
having fetched a great book to talk astronomy, upon which he
asked me ten thousand questions. In short, he kept me there till
nearly ten o’clock, an hour past the time which, if any one is
found in the streets, they are to have their heads cut off; such
is the pasha’s new decree. All the gates were shut, but all
opened for me, and not a word said. The pasha cuts off a head or
two nearly every day; but yet I do not think he has added much
to his own security, for he is by no means liked, nor does he
command half so much as my friend, the old Delibash.
What surprises me so much is the extreme civility of the Turks
to a Christian; for Christians they detest much more here than
in any other part of the Sultan’s dominions. A woman in man’s
clothes, a woman on horseback--everything directly in opposition
to their strongest prejudices, and yet never even a smile of
impertinence, let me go where I will. If it was as it is in
England, it would be quite impossible to get through with it
all. Like Doctor Pangloss, I always try to think that everything
is for the best; if I had not been shipwrecked, I should have
seen nothing here; if I had been born a man instead of a woman,
I could not have entered all the harems as I have done, and got
acquainted with all the Turkish customs, and seen all that is to
be seen of most magnificent--for a Turk’s splendour is in his
harem: the rooms, the dresses, the whole air of luxury is not to
be described.
Adieu, my dear ----. I have written you a long letter, because
I thought my last might have put you in a fright. Had the
Wahabees come here, it would have been no joke, at least for the
inhabitants of this town, for they burn and destroy all before
them.
When you have read this, will you enclose it to Lord Ebrington,
who is so good as always to feel anxious about me, and I have
not time to write to him now, and I shall have no opportunity
of sending another letter for a long time, most probably. Pray
remember me most kindly to Captain Hope, and tell him I prosper.
Believe me,
Ever yours, most sincerely,
H. L. STANHOPE.
* * * * *
Things were in this position when a messenger arrived from Mr. B. to
say that he had quitted Aleppo, accompanied by Mr. Barker, the English
consul, and, on his road to Damascus, had been taken ill at an obscure
village, but was not so bad as to be incapable of travelling. This
account induced her ladyship to request me immediately to go to his
assistance. I accordingly departed, October 15th, on horseback, with a
mule carrying my bed and medicine-chest, and with Ibrahim, my groom, on
another horse.
On the road I was going there lay a village, called Yabrûd, the
Shaykh of which, Osman Aga, had sent to Damascus to obtain my advice
concerning a troublesome complaint with which he had been afflicted
for some years. He was the brother-in-law of one Masûd Aga, Shaykh of
Carah, a considerable burgh on the skirts of the Desert. In Masûd Aga
was vested whatever authority the pasha had over Palmyra. This was
little indeed; since the Bedouins, by their proximity, had considerable
influence over the movements and the conduct of the inhabitants.
However, it was proposed to Lady Hester, that, in case of her going to
Palmyra, Masûd Aga should escort her. She was therefore anxious to do
an act of civility to his relation, Osman Aga; and it was agreed that I
should stop at Yabrûd in my way. There happened to be at Damascus one
of Masûd Aga’s people, named Yahyah, who had been sent by his master to
inquire when Lady Hester proposed setting off for Palmyra. He undertook
to be my guide; and we departed from Damascus on the morning of the
15th October, and at nine in the evening arrived at Yabrûd, after
being on horseback thirteen hours. The road had been good the whole
way, excepting where we ascended Gebel Yabrûd.
[Illustration: VILLAGE OF YABRÛD.]
Yabrûd is a large village of great beauty, situate in a plain as you
emerge from a narrow pass between two ridges of rock, and having many
orchards and gardens extending as much as a mile from the village, and
watered by a stream which runs from a spring called Ras-el-Ayn.[13]
Several sepulchres, excavated in the neighbouring rocks, denoted the
antiquity of the place. The inhabitants are Mahometans, Greeks, and
Christians. There are the ruins of a church of the middle ages: and it
is the residence of a Greek bishop.
Osman Aga received me in his own house; of which however I saw nothing
but the room where I was lodged, on the floor of which he caused a bed
to be spread, his troublesome civility not allowing my own to be used.
This receiving-room for strangers is generally the nearest to the door;
and as many strangers as arrive sleep in it. A dish of rice, some soup,
or a chicken, is commonly served up for supper, with a cup of coffee
and a pipe on arriving, and the same after supper, and this makes up
the entertainment of the evening. The master of the house keeps his
guests company for an hour or two, and then leaves them to themselves.
But, as my visit had his own health for its object, the evening was
spent chiefly in conversation with him on this topic.
Next morning I left Yabrûd, accompanied still by Yahyah and by Osman
Aga, and, after a ride of five hours, reached Carah. This is a poor and
slovenly village. It seems to have formerly had very extensive gardens,
but which now lie entirely waste.[14] There is a monastery of Greek
caloyers. The situation of Carah is high, and the temperature of the
air was many degrees lower than at the place we had come from. As a
proof of this, all the houses which I entered had fireplaces, which are
not seen at Damascus. There was no public bath in the place, and the
absence of this very necessary article of cleanliness and religion is
always a proof of the meanness of a Mahometan town.
We found in Masûd Aga a laughing, plethoric, unwieldy Turk, who gave
himself airs of importance which almost imposed on my simplicity. He
desired me to tell Lady Hester that, if she would put herself under his
guidance, he would carry her safely to Palmyra; when, as we learned
afterwards from the Arabs themselves, he himself did not dare to stir
out of his own village for fear of them: and it was the assurance of
the insufficiency of any solid protection which he could give that
induced the Jews, Yusef and Rafaël, to dissuade us from going at all.
On the 18th, I took my leave of Masûd Aga and Osman Aga, having first
taken coffee and a pipe with them. I cannot help expressing the
astonishment I felt at observing the continued use that Masûd Aga made
of the narkýly, a pipe by which the smoke is inhaled through water in
the manner of the hooka; he was never without it for a moment, and it
was the employment of one man to prepare it for him.
From Yabrûd towards Carah, the face of the country had assumed a more
lonely aspect than hitherto; and, on leaving Carah, I could plainly
perceive that we were on the skirts of the desert, if not in it.
Cultivation, and the appearance of it, had ceased altogether. To the
east of us, the eye wandered over plains bounded only by the horizon.
We met few people, and those we did meet were generally in parties:
there was a look of suspicion given and exchanged on both sides, and
the _salàm alëikûm_ was always muttered in a hollow tone, which,
from the whistling of the wind across the desert, was scarcely audible:
the ample abah, the kefféya tied over the bottom of the face, leaving,
like the vizor of a helmet, the eyes alone visible, the long spear
borne on the shoulder, all wore an air of defence and distrust, which
rendered me, in spite of myself, thoughtful and cautious. On our left
was a chain of barren mountains, which seemed to shut us out from the
habitable world. This chain was about four or five miles off, and I
conceived it to be a branch of the Antilebanon. At one place, we saw
men employed in burning kali, which grows abundantly hereabout.
About two o’clock, we arrived at Hassyah, a village enclosed by a mud
wall: it contained a large caravansery and a mosque: a hundred yards
from the wall, there was likewise a detached caravansery with a well;
but this seemed to be totally neglected. In the middle of the village,
there was a large basin, supplied with water from a spring, brought
to it in earthenware pipes from without: it was nearly dry just now,
and looked like a stagnant pond; so that the water we had to drink was
quite foul and bad tasted.
I made use of my _buyurdy_, or pasha’s order, with the shaykh of
Hassyah, to obtain a better supper than I thought I should get of the
villagers for money: but I was deceived, for I supped on treacle and
dûrra bread;--and bread from dûrra, or Indian corn, is worse than that
made from oats and barley, and is not to be eaten unless immediately
after it is made.
There was a small caravan going the same road with ourselves, and it
was thought prudent, for greater safety, to march with it. Accordingly,
we departed the next morning, the 19th October, before one o’clock, by
the light of the moon, and in the evening we reached Hems.
I was conducted to the house of Mâlem Skender, a gentleman well-known
in those days to most English travellers for his hospitality. Yahyah
had accompanied me thus far, and I rewarded him with a present of
twelve piasters and a half. Mâlem Skender sent a guard forward with me,
and about nine o’clock we reached Tel Byssy, a village on an eminence,
the houses of which were for the most part exactly in the shape of a
sugarloaf, and built of unbaked bricks.
Soon after passing the village of El Rosten, we came to the banks of
the river Orontes, called in Arabic El Aâsy, over which is a bridge,
with a large caravansery adjoining. The sight of this river, which our
earliest studies make so familiar to us by name, caused considerable
emotions of pleasure. The river is here about ten yards broad.[15]
[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE ORONTES.]
Pursuing our route, we passed Ibsarýu, a hamlet with sugarloaf houses.
Between the bridge and this hamlet there was a burying-ground, where
were many tombstones and one mausoleum. This cemetery was called Kubt
el Habázeh. At first, the road was stony, as was generally the soil
about it, but afterwards it changed to a fine blackish red mould. At
twenty-seven minutes to five, we saw another burying-place called Kubt
el Kaireen: we arrived about five in the evening at the gate of Hamah.
I paid my muleteer and dismissed him, and, giving Mâlem Skender’s man
his present, dismissed him also. He had conducted me to the house
of Mâlem Mûsa Koblan, his master’s relation, the governor’s kateb
or secretary, and consequently the chief Christian of the place. I
was lodged in a room, detached from the house, and in which it was
necessary to make a great sweeping before it could be rendered clean
enough to receive me. Some dirty mats were placed on the floor, over
these a carpet somewhat broader than a bed-carpet, and a dish of rice
was served up for my supper; but I saw nobody.
When the evening was somewhat advanced, Mâlem Mûsa, who pretended that
he was just returned from the governor’s, came to see me. He complained
of his asthma, grunted at every word he said, hoped I had supped well,
and then left me, after having begged me to await Mr. Barker and Mr. B.
at Hamah, since they must pass through on their way to Damascus.
In fact, the next day they arrived. Mr. B.’s indisposition had not
lasted, and he felt now quite well. Mr. Barker’s establishment being
equally large with Mr. B.’s, the house, from the quantity of luggage
and number of servants, became a scene of great confusion. For his
dragoman he had brought with him a young Frenchman, named Beaudin,
residing from his fifteenth year at Aleppo, and speaking Arabic almost
like a native. Mâlem Mûsa had a son, well known to Mr. Barker, named
Selûm, which name he had warped from its original sound into Selim,
this last being a Turkish appellation, which Christians are not
generally allowed to bear. For Selim was on all occasions very desirous
of assuming the garb and air of a Turk; and his situation in the employ
of the governor enabled him to take many liberties of that kind. He was
at present from home: but his name will be often mentioned hereafter.
Hamah is a large but straggling city on the Aâsy or Orontes, which may
be here from twenty to thirty yards broad. It is built in a bottom
between two hills. There is a conical mound, evidently the work of
human hands, upon which once stood a citadel, although now one stone
is not left on another. Nor could this elevation, since the invention
of cannon, have served for defence, as its highest part is only on a
level with the downs which surround the city. The streets are filthy
and stinking both in winter and summer; and, as they are not paved, the
winter rains render them almost impassable; so that here I beheld, what
I believe is not seen in any other country, men of all ranks walking
from house to house in clogs, such as brewers’ men wear in England, but
much higher.
At the corner of a private house I observed a stone let into the wall,
with figures and hieroglyphics upon it; but my interpreter had given
me to understand that much curiosity would be excited if I were seen
drawing it, with some danger to my person, and I therefore merely
mention its existence there to invite other travellers to examine it,
now that the Syrians are become more civilized than formerly.
The wheels used for raising water from the bed of the river, are among
the greatest curiosities in Hamah. They are of that kind called Persian
wheels, and are of a bold, although rude, construction. One is said
to be sixty feet in diameter. An adventurous fellow was accustomed
to make the circuit of this wheel, holding by the extremity of one
of the spokes, and to undergo the dip through the water. The 41st
question of Michaelis relates to the word [Arabic], which I believe
to mean water-wheels, such as here described. To the circumference are
fastened leathern buckets or earthenware pots, which fill from below,
and, as the wheel goes round, empty themselves at the highest point
into aqueducts raised on arcades. By these the water is carried inland,
and the grounds are irrigated, for all the purposes of gardening and
husbandry.
The houses of the poor are of mud and unbaked bricks: those of the rich
are of stone, and, for the most part, built in the form of vaulted
chambers. Many of these rooms have no windows, the light being admitted
by the door only, which it is scarcely necessary to keep shut in
the coldest season of the year: whilst, by these means, a degree of
coolness is preserved in the summer heats not attainable in any other
manner. There is one trifling inconvenience which arises from this
mode of excluding the light. In the middle of the day, when the glare
of the sun is almost intolerable, on entering these rooms, one seems
for a moment in total darkness. I cannot but suppose that this sudden
abstraction of light must in some degree enfeeble the organs of vision.
Hamah, indeed, like Damascus, abounds in one-eyed and blind people.
The dress of the poor female inhabitants may be said to consist of
four pieces; the veil, the gown, the shift, and the apron. The veil is
green, the gown blue, and the apron red. This costume, on a pretty
woman, looks well. The veil is drawn so as to form an oval outline on
the face, falling over the shoulders down to the middle.
As Hamah lies on the high road from Aleppo to Damascus, and is
constantly exposed to the passage of troops, among whom, in addition to
a very relaxed discipline, obtains the custom of quartering themselves
at will in the towns through which they march, the inhabitants have
been taught by experience that even their saloons might on such
occasions be converted into stables. Hence a usage which is very
general here, and more especially in the Christian houses, of making
the street doorway no more than from three to four feet high, so that a
horse or mule cannot enter. Indeed, it requires much stooping for even
a man to do so: and when, on my arrival at Hamah, I was led, through a
filthy lane, down a blind alley to the door of Mâlem Mûsa’s house, I
could not persuade myself that I was entering a respectable habitation.
From the low situation of the city, the air is bad, and autumnal
diseases are here often very fatal, always very common; but the climate
is mild beyond measure in the winter. Seen from the neighbouring hills,
Hamah presents one of the most beautiful prospects I ever beheld,
arising from the joint effect of the windings of the river through the
straggling streets, the noble arcades, the great wheels, and the rich
foliage of its orchards.
The chief manufacture of the place is that of sheepskin pelisses,
which are worn by the Bedouin Arabs and by the people of the villages
on the skirts of the Desert. Printed muslin handkerchiefs, felt for
saddle-covers, silk napkins for covering the waist in the bath, and
silk handkerchiefs, are likewise made here. The town is famous also for
towels and napkins, in appearance like huckaback.
There are about fifty families of the Greek church, who, with the
Syrians, comprehend all the Christians. These, generally speaking, are
subjected to more humiliations here than on the coast; for they are
always in awe of a licentious soldiery, and are never permitted to wear
any other coloured clothes than blue, black, or what we call quakers’
colours. The Greeks have a bishop, or _despotes_.
The river is liable to great inundations in the winter season, which
sometimes rise as high as the top of the parapet of the bridge which
joins the streets and suburbs on the right and left bank. It produces
fine fish. The valley in which the river runs is not wide; and, where
it is bounded on the left side by almost perpendicular ascents to the
downs overlooking the town, the poorer inhabitants have made themselves
caves, in which, to appearance at least, fifty families had taken up
their abode. Hamah would make a most beautiful panorama.
Mr B. was desirous of visiting the ruins of Bâlbec, and therefore he
and Mr. Barker departed on the following morning. I accompanied them
only as far as Hems, where they left me to return to Damascus by the
way I came. This I was obliged to do, as I had to seek out a European
gentleman, who was said to be living in obscurity at a village close
by Yabrûd, and concerning whom Lady Hester was curious to learn some
particulars. Mâlem Skender received us in his house, and the next
morning my companions set off for Bâlbec. The weather had been much
colder at Hamah than at Damascus, for I found myself obliged to buy a
lamb-skin pelisse, which proved of great comfort to me; and on this day
it rained, being the first wet we had had since the month of May.
Hems is the ancient Emesa. It is a neat, compact town,[16] with streets
paved, and wider than is customary in Turkey. It contains fourteen or
fifteen mosques, and is about a mile and a half in circumference. It is
said to contain 15,000 souls, about 300 of whom are Christians. Just
outside the town there is a ruinous piece of ancient masonry, square at
the base, which is surmounted by a pyramid. It has probably served for
a mausoleum. The pyramid was supported by pilasters, and the frieze
shows the remains of the festoons which once ornamented it. On one side
is an inscription, which was too high to be read by me. This mausoleum
contained two chambers, one over the other, with small windows. It is
built of brick, and faced with gray stones, lozenge-shaped.
Without the walls, also, is the tomb of Khaled Sayf Allah, one of
Mahomet’s first disciples, his relation, and the conqueror of Syria. In
riding out on the 26th, I was tempted to try the experiment of passing
for a Turk; and, dismounting from my horse at the door of the mosque,
I walked boldly in, and requested to see Khaled’s tomb, which is an
object of great veneration to those who perform pilgrimages to the
shrine. My bad Arabic went for nothing; for the doorkeeper had only to
suppose me to be an Albanian, or some native of the European provinces
of Turkey. I saw the tomb, which, similar to other Mahometan tombs of
ancient date, was shaped like the roof of a house. He gave me some
holy water to drink, and threw over me a veil, or scarf, during which
ceremony he pronounced a long prayer, whilst I felt somewhat alarmed
at the risk I ran in assuming a feigned character. In going out, the
unusual present which I gave him of two piasters and a half was enough
to betray me; for a devout Mussulman probably never exceeded twenty
paras, or half a piaster.
I visited the citadel of the town, which seemed to have been the work
of the Saracens, or crusaders, but was now altogether in ruins. It
stood on a truncated mound, the sides of which were faced with neat
gray stone from top to bottom. Round it was a ditch from twenty to
thirty yards broad, with a counterscarp faced also in stone. On the
table of the eminence there appeared the remains of a series of vaults
that had gone round the circumference of the citadel, and communicated
with each other by small doors. There had been towers at equal
distances. Fragments of granite and stone pillars were lying about, and
in one place some of these were let into the walls.
On approaching Hems, when coming from Damascus, the rising sun was
reflected strongly on a lake, to the left of the road, formed by the
waters of the Orontes, not far from where it takes its rise. As I
proposed remaining a day or two at Hems, I resolved to visit it, and
for the value of eighteen pence a guide conducted me thither.
After passing through Katâny, a miserable village, not unlike a nest
of hogsties in England, and about half a mile from the lake, I soon
reached the margin of the water, and beheld before me an expanse,
apparently about three miles across in its broadest part, but in most
places less, and about twelve long, or perhaps much more; for a sheet
of water is liable to deceive the eye greatly.[17] It narrows at the
Eastern extremity, where I was, and is banked in by a dyke about a
quarter of a mile long,[18] appearing not of very ancient construction,
although Abulfeda attributes it to Alexander the Great. I walked on the
dyke, and the first outlet for the waters that presented itself was a
small stream that I had crossed in my way: then came the mouth of the
aqueduct for supplying Hems. This aqueduct is of rough workmanship, and
it seems to have been constructed in the place of one now dilapidated,
but of equally indifferent construction. But, from the sight of this
aqueduct and the elevation of the embankment, it may be concluded that
the object, or the principal object, of it was to raise water to a
sufficient height to enable it to flow to Hems.
At the northern extremity of the dyke stands a ruined tower, and,
between it and the aqueduct, about half way, the lake runs over, and
falls down in cascades to form the river Orontes. A meadow beneath the
dyke, and much below the level of the lake, shows where once the waters
ran unchecked: a small mulberry plantation now occupies its place.
Wild fig trees grew out of fissures of the dyke. Close to the tower a
small aqueduct commences, by which a village two hundred yards off is
supplied with water. Under the dyke, and at the foot of the _tel_
or mount, are many loose stones, but none of them seemed to be of a
Grecian or Roman character: nor were there any fragments of pillars or
of buildings of ancient date.
I returned to Hems much pleased with my excursion, having first
followed the course of the Orontes for some distance, until I came
to a very large Persian waterwheel, and a mill; both put in motion
by the stream, which was nearly dammed across to give it a greater
impetus. This place was called El Memas, and here are the gardens of
Hems, which, for want of water for irrigation, cannot thrive close to
the town. But this, although a privation, contributes greatly to the
salubrity of the place, the air of which is much superior to that of
Hamah.
Having seen everything worthy of curiosity at Hems, I left it on the
28th of October, accompanied by the same man as guide who had before
conducted me from Hems to Hamah.
Here I staid the whole of the 30th, in consequence of the marching
of some troops. The inhabitants were apprised of the coming of these
troops, who were a corps of Deláti, mercenaries in the pay of Hamed
Bey: and, from the conversation of the villagers, I could easily
perceive that their passage was exceedingly dreaded. I therefore
requested Masûd Aga to grant me a soldier, to remain at my door and
protect me from insult. He candidly told me that his soldiers could do
nothing at such a moment, when even his own house would be scarcely
exempt from intrusion. I therefore resolved to depend on my own
scheming. I dressed myself in my smartest clothes, with a cashmere
shawl round my head and one round my waist, girded on my sabre with
its silver scabbard, and, seating myself in the corner of the cottage,
on my travelling carpet, I assumed an air of importance as great as I
could put on. My host, I had observed, had removed out of the way every
thing that could serve as fuel or food, and then went out, leaving the
soldiers to expend their fury on the bare walls; “for, if they get hold
of me,” he said, “it will be in vain to declare that I have nothing to
give them: they will beat me until I produce my all.”
About ten o’clock, I heard the noise of horses and the clamour of many
voices. Presently a soldier alighted at my door, and said--“Holloa,
rascal; come here and take my horse:” then, thrusting his head in, and
seeing me seated, he begged my pardon and moved on to the next cottage.
Another came; I kept my seat, and telling him “This is my house,
friend,” he too went away. A third and a fourth presented themselves,
and fortunately no one, in the hurry of the moment, discovered me
to be a Frank. My groom Ibrahim was of great service, who, leaning
negligently against the outer door, told every one not to enter or
shout so, as there was an Aga within.
The troops merely baited at Carah, and then went for Hassiah: and the
rest of the day was employed by the cottagers in replacing their
furniture, and lamenting the hardships to which they were subjected
from such a lawless soldiery.
On the 31st I went from Carah to Yabrûd, where I took up my lodging at
an old Christian’s house. The man was a farrier, and, being ill, had
entreated Osman Aga, if I passed through again, to billet me upon him:
so that I had an importunate patient, labouring under asthma, close at
my elbow.
I amused myself, on Sunday, Nov. 2nd, in a ride towards the springs
that supply the brook by which the gardens of Yabrûd are irrigated. At
twenty minutes’ distance from the gate of the town, there are two of
them, both gushing from the foot of a rock: and, just before reaching
them, there is a sarcophagus, hewn out of a mass of rock, and covered
by a huge lid, having had on it two circular reliefs sculptured, but
now indistinct. The valley is highly cultivated,[19] and terminates,
beyond the farthest spring, by a small meadow, where the two chains of
mountains approach to within a hundred yards of each other.
My landlord, the farrier, having said much about the curious
excavations in the rocks at a village called Mâlûla, I induced him,
the next day but one, which was the 4th, to accompany me thither. On
reaching the place, my conductor took me to a small monastery, built on
the brow of the precipice, which overhangs the bogáz or ravine in which
the village stands. On the rock where we were, and in those rocks which
to the right and left were still overtopping us, are numerous grottoes
cut out of the solid stone. In the ravine beneath is the village: and,
beyond it, we looked over the Desert as far as the eye could reach. I
was eager to enter some of these grottoes, and did then for the first
time believe in the stories of the troglodytes: for many of them had
evidently been inhabited; and some of them showed for what purposes
they had been used, as for wine-pressing, baking, sleeping, &c. Yet a
little reflection told me that they originally must have been intended
for sepulchres only: inasmuch as many of them contained sarcophagi,
like similar caverns that I had seen elsewhere: and in those that had
them not, it was not difficult to imagine that they had been disfigured
and enlarged for the purposes of pressing oil and wine, or had been
converted into magazines after they had ceased to serve as sepulchres.
We were very civilly received at the convent by Mâlem Michael Rasáti,
a native of Damascus, sent hither to collect money for Mâlem Rafaël
the Jew, to whom the village belonged: _i. e._ who, for a certain
sum, farmed it from the pasha, to make of it as much as he could by
his exactions. Persons, so sent, live on the people of the village
until they have completed the collection of the imposts. He had with
him his wife and sister, who, as being in a retired Christian village,
enjoyed themselves with nearly as much liberty in their walks and
amusements as ladies in England would do. Soon after my arrival we
dined,[20] drank our coffee, and smoked our pipes: and, whilst Mâlem
Rasáti took his afternoon nap, I revisited the excavations. In several
there were remains of mouldings and other ornaments in bas-relief, and
some appeared to have been stuccoed. About four o’clock we all walked
down into the village. A spring from the hills above, carried by a
grooved ledge down the ravine, supplied the inhabitants with water.
A large shady tree or two afforded them shelter from the rays of the
meridian sun, which, when declined from the perpendicular, are shut
out by the high precipices on either side. Upon the whole, I would
recommend the traveller in Syria to turn from his road to visit Mâlûla.
The _summag_ or _sumak_ tree, the leaves of which are used
in dyeing, is much cultivated on this spot, and some of the sepulchres
were converted into store-rooms for holding them.
Mâlem Rasáti urged me strongly to remain all night, in which my
landlord, who found his _raki_, or brandy, good, joined him: so
that, when nothing I could say would persuade them to let me go, I
stole out unperceived, bridled my horse, and rode off alone, although
not sure of the way. I had not, however, got a mile when my landlord
came galloping after me; and could not refrain, when he had overtaken
me, from muttering a great deal about the obstinacy of Franks, and of
the folly of riding after it was dark. We reached Yabrûd in safety.
Within a few miles of Yabrûd is Nebk, a small village, where resided a
person whom Lady Hester wished me to seek out. His name was Lascaris,
and his history is singular. He considered himself a descendant of
Lascaris, emperor of Trebizond: but, not to go so far back, his uncle
was Grand Master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Malta, and
of the Piedmontese family of Lascaris de Ventimiglia. He himself was
a knight, and one of those, who, after the capitulation of the Island
of Malta, followed General Buonaparte into Egypt. He then held a post
of considerable emolument as receiver of imposts; and, being an ardent
favourer of universal fraternization, he married a Georgian slave, who
had belonged to the harým of a kashef of Murad Bey. She was stolen from
Georgia at the age of fifteen, and pretended that she never had changed
her religion.
The history of her bondage, as related to me by herself, may, if
true, serve to give an idea how slaves are carried off from the
countries which supply the market of Turkey. She was walking from the
village of Warran, her native place, to an adjoining town, when, in
an unfrequented part of the road, five men sprang out from an ambush
and seized her. They stuffed her mouth with a pocket handkerchief,
and carried her to a retired cottage in the mountains near at hand. A
master of a merchant vessel awaited them, to take off whatever prey
they might make; and, her price being settled, she was conveyed to
the sea-side, and embarked. Until they reached the sea, they always
travelled by night, and by day remained concealed in unfrequented
places, at which time they tied her by the leg, but otherwise treated
her well. She was transported to Constantinople, but, the market being
dull, was re-embarked for Grand Cairo. Mohammed Kashef bought her; and
his harým being dispersed after the defeats of the Mamelukes by the
French, she fell into the hands of the Chevalier Lascaris, who married
her. She was a large masculine woman: she seemed to have been handsome,
but her beauty was now gone; for, in these climates, women at thirty
are in their wane.
On the evacuation of Egypt, M. Lascaris took his wife to Paris; but
her manners and education were so little adapted to the society of the
French capital, that, after an exhibition of her shawls, her Turkish
dress, and the few novelties she had to show, the lady found herself
out of her sphere, and, we may suppose, worried her husband to return
to a country where she could meet with people like herself. The aunt
of M. Lascaris was _dame d’atour_ to the Empress Josephine;[21]
and, for this or some other reason, he aspired to a post of importance,
which not being able to obtain (for it is said he rejected with disdain
that of sous-prefet of a department), his own dudgeon, joined with his
wife’s, induced him to depart for Constantinople. They there planned
a journey into Georgia, to her native place, where M. Lascaris, who
was extremely visionary, proposed civilizing the inhabitants and
introducing a new system of agriculture. An Armenian, who found out
that the projector had a good deal of money at his disposal, undertook
to conduct his affairs, to provide articles of barter, implements of
agriculture, &c. They embarked together on the Black Sea, landed in
the Crimea, and were proceeding on their way to Georgia, when they
were arrested as French spies, by the Russians; and, the Armenian
having plundered and deserted them, M. Lascaris and his wife were
conveyed as prisoners to Petersburg, with the loss of the greatest
part of their fortune. Their innocence being proved, they were set at
liberty. I forget what next became of them, but gradually M. Lascaris
frittered away all that he possessed, and, in 1811, became a school
and music-master at Aleppo. I recollect, however, that one of his
intermediate schemes was a copartnership with the shaykh of a village
near Latakia, where he proposed to raise double crops from the soil by
the use of European agricultural instruments, &c. He had not been long
there when some unguarded expressions on politics caused his intentions
to be suspected; and, had he not retired in haste to Latakia, he would
probably have been the victim of the suspicions of the natives. At the
time when, as will be presently related, I found him at Nebk, he had
just come from Aleppo with a bale or two of red cotton stuffs, which he
hoped to sell to the women of the neighbouring villages for petticoats
and aprons, at a great profit, and thus make his fortune.
On the 3rd of November, according to my instructions, I rode over
to the village of Nebk. On entering it, I inquired for the house of
the bishop, to which I had been directed. As I went up the street, a
girl about twelve years old, looking out at a door, stared very hard
at me. I repeated the question as to the bishop’s residence, when
she immediately begged me to stop, and called her master. It was the
servant girl of M. Lascaris himself, who, on her calling him, came
to the door in a peasant’s dress. He wore a striped black and white
woollen abah, in shape like the coats of Robin Hood’s days: beneath
it a pair of loose, blue cotton Turkish brogues, no stockings, and
peasants’ red shoes. His beard was long and very handsome, his turban
like that of the peasantry.
I made myself known to him, dismounted, and was introduced to his wife,
who, with her own hand, set about preparing some coffee. They occupied
a small cottage, with a yellow clay floor, polished until it shone like
a looking-glass: and everything in the room was arranged with great
neatness.
I spent two most agreeable days with them. M. Lascaris was a man whose
conversation was always particularly pleasing, and, as far as regarded
the fine arts, very instructive: for he had seen and read a great deal.
The consciousness of his own superior merit was perhaps the cause of
all his misfortunes, in having made him lay claim to higher offices
in the state than he could obtain: and hence, assuming the tone of an
injured man, he had irretrievably embroiled himself with the Emperor
Napoleon.[22]
At the close of the second day, I received a letter to hasten my return
to Damascus, Mr. Barker having arrived there very ill. On the 5th of
November, I quitted Nebk for Yabrûd, where I left some medicines and a
small recompense with my host, the farrier; and, on the 6th, I departed
for Damascus. I slept on the road at Marra, and arrived at Damascus on
the 7th, after an absence of twenty-five days.
CHAPTER III.
Precautions against riots--Emir Nasar visits Lady Hester--He
dissuades her from going to Palmyra with an escort--Description
of Nasar--How entertained--Lady Hester quits Damascus--Reports
of her wealth--She takes Monsieur and Madame Lascaris with
her--Her interview with the Emir Mahannah--She arrives at
Hamah--Departure of Mr. B. and Mr. Barker from Damascus--The
Messieurs Bertrand dismissed--Bills of exchange--The Author
sets out for Hamah--Mode of travelling--A Caravansery--Gabriel,
the poet--Kosair--Kelyfy--Nebk--Turkish adventurer--Khan of
Nebk--Mode of washing in the East--Carah--Hassiah--Hamah--The
Author lodges with Monsieur and Madame Lascaris--Opportunity
for entering the Desert--M. Lascaris resolves to accompany the
Author--Bedouin costume--First departure from Hamah.
Mr. Barker had been seized with a bilious remittent fever:--the danger
was over, but he was very weak and exhausted. He and Mr. B. were lodged
in the Christian quarter, in the house which Lady Hester had rejected.
As I was necessarily obliged to go frequently from one house to the
other, and sometimes late at night, I had occasion to observe the
precautions taken in Turkish cities after sunset to prevent nocturnal
disturbances. The end of every street has a gate, which is shut at the
prayer (called namàz el ashy) two hours after sunset, and a patrol is
in attendance at each. To pass these gates, I was obliged sometimes to
knock and wait from five to fifteen minutes; when a lazy soldier of the
police, rising from his mustaby[23] and putting down his pipe with the
utmost slowness and indifference, would let me through, taking care to
question me whence I came and whither I was going, and to arrest me if
without a lantern. To a medical man, no other impediment is given; but
to persons without ostensible business--to an artisan or mechanic--the
passage from street to street at an advanced hour in the night would
be difficult. After ten o’clock, I seldom have seen a living creature
out of doors, excepting dogs, whose night haunts are not disturbed with
impunity, as they follow the intruder snarling and barking from one
extremity of the street to the other.
Towards the middle of October, Lady Hester had in part made the
necessary arrangements for her journey to Palmyra; but, during my
absence, Nasar, the son of Mahamah, emir of the Anizys[24], had, in
consequence of the letter sent to his father, been to see her ladyship.
When he was introduced to her presence, he said that “he had heard of
her intention of going, under the protection of a body of troops, to
Tadmûr; and that he came from his father to warn her against such a
step; for, if she attempted to force her way thither, he considered
himself at liberty to treat her and her escort as he did all those
who presumed to cross the desert without his permission--namely, as
enemies.” He declared to her that “if so distinguished a person as
she was would place herself under the protection of the Bedouins, and
rely upon their honour, they would pledge themselves for conducting
her in safety thither and back; but that, if she chose any other
way, she would learn to her cost who was sultan in those wilds.” He
added--“soldiers of the cities know not the tracks and landmarks of
the desert;--where the wells are--what parts are infested with hostile
tribes--who is friendly and who is not; and, when they have led you
into difficulties, they will be the first to desert you.”
Many other reasons he no doubt gave, which, joined to his natural
eloquence, could not fail to convince. For he was a young man of very
fine talents, as we had afterwards many opportunities of observing;
and, when bidding Lady Hester to repose confidence in him and his
father, he knew how to inspire it. He was now about twenty-five years
of age, plain in his person, but dignified, eloquent, and of the most
engaging manners. A description of his dress will not much bespeak the
admiration of a European reader. He was clad in a sheepskin pelisse,
much in the shape of a sailor’s long sea-jacket; under this he wore a
ragged satin robe that reached to his ancles, with a sort of green and
orange silk handkerchief thrown over his head, and tied with a cord
for a fillet. He was without stockings. His attendants were in a worse
plight than himself, and stood around him.
Nasar was entertained by her ladyship with an appropriate repast
prepared for him and his people, in which there was a mixture of
Turkish and English cookery under the direction of Pierre, now become
a man of great use in Lady Hester’s establishment. The plum-puddings
excited much laughter and astonishment among them;--but they could not
be induced to eat of them.
Lady Hester presented him with a complete suit of clothes, which he
immediately distributed among his people, telling her that a Bedouin
prince was the father of his subjects, and that what he got was for his
children.
The result of Nasar’s visit was that her ladyship declined the offer of
troops from the pasha to protect her, dismissed all those whom she had
partly engaged for the journey, and, availing herself of Mr. Barker’s
illness, on whom I remained to attend, and with whom civility required
Mr. B.’s stay, she departed alone, as she said, for Hamah, on the 15th
of November.
The following letter, written by Lady Hester herself the day before her
departure, explains her own feelings at this time:--
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----._
Damascus, November 14, 1812.
My dear ----,
B. and Mr. Barker arrived here about the first; the latter has
been laid up with a fever ever since, and I have given up my
journey to the desert for the present, as the Pasha insists upon
sending 800 or 1,000 men with me, and the expense would be ruin;
but I am going off to Homs to-morrow, and in the course of the
winter shall contrive to go in some way or other.
It seems very cross to be angry at people being anxious about
you; but had B. and Mr. B. made less fuss about my safety,
and let me have had perfectly my own way, I should have been
returned by this time from Palmyra. Yet I cannot but regret
it; (for I had leave to dig and do every thing I pleased at
Palmyra): chance having put such extraordinary power in my
hands, it has been lost by mismanagement. It is not here as in
other parts of the world; if you only go a mile to the right
instead of the left, which you have not previously bargained to
do, your camels leave you, your guards won’t stir out of their
district, you must pay them four times their price to induce
them to go on, &c. Therefore, it was very fine and very natural
to write, every three days from Aleppo, “we will meet here,
then there,” and to make fifty changes, and to express fifty
fears:--from people who did not know the country it might be
expected, but those who did ought to have been aware it would
have been taken advantage of, which has been the case.
We have no plague here at present, but I suppose it will come
when goods arrive from Constantinople. I, for one, have little
apprehensions of the plague; all in this world rests with
Providence, and over-caution ever exposes persons more to danger
than remaining quiet.
I have just sent to Sayda for the things Captain Hope forwarded
me from Smyrna; I trust I shall find all my packets of letters
with them. I have sought in vain for some good thing to send
you from hence, but can find nothing; but I have ordered some
wild-boar hams to be made, which you will receive in the course
of the winter. I should feel so ungrateful were I not to think
of you constantly, even in little matters. B. ordered some of
the famous Vino d’Oro, of Mount Lebanon; when the casks are
well seasoned, and an opportunity offers, it shall be sent to
Malta. B. desires to be most kindly remembered to you; he hates
this place, as I thought he would, but must remain here till
Mr. Barker is well enough to set off. Aleppo he also thought
abominable. I knew I should dislike Aleppo if I went there,
because it is full of vulgar people: but here there are chiefly
great Turks, and, as I get on very well with them, I rather like
the place than otherwise, but think it very unwholesome from
the quantity of water and trees in and about the town; however,
it is very beautiful in its way, but it is not the way I like.
Brusa and the banks of the Bosphorus for me!--enchanting scenes
which I think upon with delight. But I must not write on for
ever, I forget all the business you have upon your hands: may
your health not suffer from it is all I pray.
Yours ever, most sincerely,
H. L. S.
I scribble sadly, but my ink is so bad, and I have no table; the
Turks always write upon their hand, and so slow--it is quite
amusing!
Previous to her going, I gave her an account of my visit to M. and
Madame Lascaris, and excited in her a great desire to see them. In the
mean time the report had spread in the Desert that an English princess,
who rode on a mare worth forty purses, with housings and stirrups of
gold, and for whom the treasurer of the English sultan told out every
day 1000 sequins, was about to pay a visit to Tadmûr; that she had in
her possession a book which instructed her where treasures were to be
found (this book was the plates of Wood and Dawkins); and that she had
a small bag of leaves of a certain herb which could transmute antique
stones into gold.
Lady Hester did certainly take the road to Hamah, but, unknown to us
all, she had arranged a meeting with Nasar’s father, and was determined
to enter the Desert alone, and thus give the Emir Mahannah a proof of
her reliance on his honour. So, as she told us afterwards, going as
far as Nebk, she there induced M. Lascaris and his wife immediately
to dispose of their goods and whatever incumbrances they had, and to
accompany her in the capacity of interpreters. She then turned off
from the high road, at Tel Bysy, a hamlet near Hems, plunged into the
Desert, under the guidance of a single Bedouin sent for that purpose,
and trusted herself, a solitary and unprotected woman, to hordes
of robbers, whose livelihood is the plunder they make, and whose
exploits are numbered by the travellers they have despoiled. Arrived
at Mahannah’s tent, her courage and demeanour struck that prince with
astonishment. “I know you are a robber,” she said, on their first
interview, “and that I am now in your power; but I fear you not; and I
have left all those behind who were offered to me as a safeguard, and
all my countrymen who could be considered as my protectors, to show you
that it is you and your people whom I have chosen as such.” Mutually
pleased with each other, after a short interview Mahannah escorted her
ladyship to within a few miles of Hamah, and, commissioning his son to
conduct her safe to the residence prepared for her in that city, they
then parted.
In the mean time, Mr. B. and Mr. Barker, who had recovered from his
indisposition, about the 24th of November, followed Lady Hester to
Hamah. I remained behind, anxious to receive some boxes and packets of
letters said to be arrived at Acre from England, and for which I had
despatched an express messenger to that place. I hired a small house
belonging to Mâlem Hanah Takhal, and divided my time between Ahmed
Bey, M. Chaboceau and the Greek archbishop, taking the opportunity of
visiting whatever I had neglected to see before in this beautiful city.
On the departure of Lady Hester from Damascus, the two Messieurs
Bertrand were dismissed. As one of them had to return to Sayda, he rode
a horse of Lady Hester’s, which was sent back by the messenger, who
brought with him the boxes and letters that were expected. Having now
nothing to detain me at Damascus, I took leave of my friends there as
of persons I might never see again.
I had received from Hamah a bill of exchange on Ibrahim Aga, a
creditable Damascus merchant, dealer in red caps, for one thousand
piasters, in order to make some purchases; but the extreme caution of
the old man, and the time he took to collect the money, delayed me yet
longer: for the Mahometan merchants are not used to negotiate bills as
persons do in England, and trade is generally carried on by barter or
by hard cash.
I made a contract with one Hossayn Shakády to carry all my luggage to
Hamah, for forty _ikliks_, or one hundred piasters. On the 7th
of December I left the city of Damascus. I was now equipped in a very
different manner from what I had been when I entered it. I had altered
my dress entirely, and had assumed that of the Syrian Mahometans, one
principal feature of which is the abah, or long cloak, made of woollen
stuff, which hangs, without sleeves, from the shoulders. Instead of my
bed, I provided myself with a small carpet of the size of a hearth-rug,
on which I proposed to sleep without undressing. I discharged my
servant Yusef, a hypocritical fellow, who, from having lived as cook in
the Franciscan convent of Damascus, was as demure, and at the same time
as great a cheat, as such an education could possibly make him.[25]
I departed in company with a caravan of about sixty mules and
camels, most of them destined for Aleppo. I was furnished with a
_buyurdy_, or government order, for my supply on my journey
with food and provender for myself, horses, and servant. I was now
therefore no longer an English traveller, but, both in garb and usages,
endeavoured to conform to the customs of the natives; and, whilst in
the East, I never afterwards quitted them. I will therefore describe
this method of travelling, that the reader may understand how wide the
difference is between Turkey and his own country.
My equipment consisted of the clothes on my back; a halter and a
corn-bag for my horse, tied behind my groom; a pair of common woollen
saddle-bags under me; my sabre by my side, and my pipe carried by
my servant. The mode of journeying was this: we mounted at sunrise,
and, proceeding always at a footpace, halted somewhere at noon, and
generally, if possible, near a spring. There the horses drank, and a
little chopped straw was put into their bags: often for myself bread
and dried figs were all that was served for a breakfast; and a little
dried dung (for in this part of the country there is not a bit of
wood), scraped together, made fire enough to boil a cup of coffee.
Remounted, we generally contrived to arrive before or soon after sunset
at a caravansery; and for the last half hour there would be some
contention between the fastest walking horses to get beforehand, in
order to secure the best corner of the stable, or to obtain the best
lodging.
Caravanseries are buildings of a quadrangular form, with no windows
outwards, and no outlet but the gate, which is made strong enough to
resist any nocturnal attack from Arabs and other robbers. The interior
presents generally a very filthy court, with perhaps a well or basin
in the middle, and around it an arcade, with the arches open, or
walled up half way. The floor is the ground, not often bare, as being
most usually covered with the dung of cattle. In a caravansery the
traveller is not certain of finding anything. The peasants, perhaps,
of some adjoining village, expose to sale barley-bread, figs, raisins,
a species of wheat-meal to make gruel, straw, and sometimes, but not
always, coffee, with tobacco and tombàk for smoking. About ninepence
buys provisions for rider and horse. He ties up his animal, gives him
his barley in the corn-bag; then, supping on fresh bread and a dish
of rice, a few dried raisins, a cup of coffee and a pipe, he lies
down, with his carpet for his bed, and his saddle-bags for a pillow.
His horse sleeps with his saddle on, as in Turkey it is never thought
safe to take it off when travelling in the winter season, excepting
at sunrise for five minutes, just to air the horse’s back, and afford
an opportunity of currying him a little. At sunrise, or before, the
caravan renews the journey as on the preceding day; the traveller has
nothing to pay for his lodging, goes through the same routine, and
finds at night another caravansery to rest in.
The reader will consider all this as very uncomfortable; but let him
recollect the difference which climate makes, and he will find that for
nine months in the year the weather invites to sleep in the open air in
preference to enclosed rooms. In the latitude I now was in, December is
often milder than the June of England.
The road which the caravan took was not the same by which I had gone
the first time, but inclined more to the eastward. As we departed late
from Damascus, a halt was made at Kosayr, where we slept, within a
very short distance of Damascus, for the purpose of awaiting and of
collecting together the different merchants and travellers who were to
make up the caravan. On the morrow we left Kosayr, and proceeded to
Ketayfy. Not choosing to avail myself of the _buyurdy_, I had caused
Ibrahim to purchase such things as were necessary for myself and the
horses; but the head _muker_, or _makairy_ (such is the name muleteers
bear in Arabic), had been on business to the shaykh of the village,
and the bare mention that I was physician to the meleky, or queen,
as he called Lady Hester, who had passed so recently, brought down a
peremptory invitation that I must go up and sup with him. Accordingly,
I went, and found a Turk (not a Syrian Mahometan, for there is a
wide distinction between them) of great breeding and civility, who
seemed highly impressed with Lady Hester’s importance; nor did he
interrupt his questions about her except to eat. His servant, a
respectable-looking young man, of about twenty-two, who stood waiting
submissively before him to serve our pipes, and who put the supper on
the table, after all were seated, sat down with us. This is one of the
patriarchal customs of the East.
On the 9th we reached Nebk. During the day, a military-looking
gentleman belonging to our caravan, well mounted and armed, who
had probably heard something of the shaykh’s civility to me on
the preceding night, showed himself very adroit in courting my
acquaintance, and constantly rode by my side, pointing out the objects
of curiosity that presented themselves. As we approached Nebk, he asked
me where I should lodge; and I told him in the caravansery. “Well, but
have you no buyurdy?” I told him I had. “Then why not use it?” he said,
“and let me accompany you to see to your lodgings: you need only say
I am your guard. You have authority to demand good entertainment, and
I will take care it shall be provided.” To this I objected, and was
unwilling to let him go with me to the shaykh’s; but, when we arrived
at Nebk, he clung to me with such an air of assurance that I did not
know how to get rid of him. On presenting myself to the shaykh, he
immediately ordered rations of barley for the horses to be given to us,
and desired one of his people to conduct us to the bishop’s, where he
said we were to lodge. He did not ask me if the Turkish officer was of
my party; but, concluding him to be so, bade him accompany me.
I was angry with my own forbearance, when, on presenting myself to the
venerable Syrian bishop, whom I had known on my former visit to Nebk,
I saw, mixed with the hearty welcome he gave me, many a side glance
of timidity and distress at my companion, who, the moment he entered,
began to put himself at his ease, like officers on a march, by throwing
off his accoutrements, asking for coffee, &c. My groom had warned me
on the road that I should not suffer this man, who, he said, looked
like an adventurer, to be too familiar with me: and I fully saw the
propriety of his warning now that it was too late. The bishop gave me
a good supper. He told me that the English princess had stopped at the
village a whole day, and that she had taken away with her Abu Hanah
and his wife: by whom he meant M. and Madame Lascaris, who having had
a son named John or Hanah, were hence called, according to the custom
of the East, he Abu Hanah or John’s father, and she Um Hanah, or John’s
mother: for the pride of parents, in the East, is their first-born,
more especially if a boy.
The khan or caravansery of Nebk is one of the most spacious and best
built between Damascus and Hamah, but of the same plain form as that
already described. Ibrahim woke me early. I had slept on the sofa in
one of the bishop’s rooms in my clothes, and to rise from bed and shake
myself was all the preparation necessary except washing. The night had
been very cold, and the maid brought me warm water. The mode of washing
in the East is quite different from that in use among us: the servant
pours water from a ewer, like an old-fashioned coffee-pot, upon the
hands, which is carried in splashes to the face and neck, and a basin
held beneath, or on the ground, receives it, as it falls.
On the 10th in the morning we resumed our journey. The air was
piercingly cold, for it now swept across the Desert. We arrived in
the afternoon at Carah, where I was known, but I did not go to my old
habitation, preferring the caravansery. On the 11th we reached Hassyah.
There was a woman in the caravan, rather pretty, whose object on the
journey appeared to be somewhat mysterious. She seemed to be a native
of some of the Arab villages, as her face and arms were tatooed. She
attached herself to the muleteer who had the care of my luggage, and
who was very officious in attending to her wants, as in spreading out
sacks and other things to render her rest during the night comfortable,
&c.
When the business of the day was over, the muleteer made up a fire on
the ground; and, seated at it with this woman, would carouse until a
late hour in the night. Coffee, however, was their only liquor, and
seldom could they afford more than two cups each. The intervals were
filled up in smoking the narkýly, which passed from mouth to mouth
between the muleteer and his dulcinea.
Prudence obliged me to sleep as near to my luggage as possible, and I
was often, when not better lodged, compelled to lie down close to where
they were. So, drawing my cloak over my face, I peeped out from time to
time to see that my goods and chattels were safe, and thus undesignedly
had occasion to observe their conduct, which was always conformable
with that reserve of character for which Mahometan women are proverbial
in the presence of strangers.
December the 12th we slept at Hems; and on the 14th in the evening I
arrived at Hamah. There I found Lady Hester settled in a small but good
house; and in another, also assigned to her, were M. Lascaris and his
wife, with whom I took up my abode.
Lady Hester told me that a Bedouin Arab, a mulatto, named Hassan el
Drymàn, had been sent to her by the Emir Mahannah, to beg the favour of
a visit from her physician, as he was very infirm and much indisposed.
This opportunity of sojourning with the Bedouins was eagerly caught at.
My departure was immediately concluded on as a matter that would ensure
a double purpose: for it would farther strengthen the friendship of
the Emir, by whose permission alone Lady Hester could get to Palmyra;
and would afford me an opportunity of judging how far there was a
possibility for her to perform a journey through wastes, which, we were
told, are without water and without vegetation. Hassan was therefore
desired to wait a few days, until I could get ready to accompany him.
Lady Hester was already grown tired of M. Lascaris, whose recollections
of the past were but little calculated to inspire him with feelings
consonant to his present situation. Misfortune had affected his mind:
and, one night, being suddenly called up by Madame Lascaris, I was
witness to an attack of phrenzy that at once terrified me and excited
my commiseration. I advised him, therefore, as a means of diverting his
mind from his sorrow, to travel again; so, having received a handsome
gratification from Lady Hester for his trouble, he was requested to
make his present lodging his home, until he had decided whither to go.
During the few days I passed at Hamah previous to my departure, the
secrecy with which the Turkish government is accustomed to execute
its measures was exemplified in the removal and imprisonment of the
motsellem. On the morning of the 19th of December, several soldiers, by
twos and threes, had entered the place unobserved; and, being dispersed
about, no notice was taken of them. On a sudden, they appeared in a
body at the front of the motsellem’s house, and, entering it, seized
his person. They then plundered his house and his stables, carrying off
everything excepting his women; and the governor was in chains, and on
his road to Damascus, almost before his disgrace was known.
M. Lascaris had long had an inclination to visit Palmyra, but never
had been able to accomplish his purpose. He determined, therefore, on
accompanying me, and relied for his security on the acquaintance he had
made with the Emir Mahannah, when with Lady Hester Stanhope. He gave me
to understand that he had formed the chimerical scheme of abandoning
the world, to plant potatoes at Palmyra, and M. de Lamartine, in his
Souvenirs du Levant, (Appendix) insists that, under these frivolous
pretences, M. Lascaris was fulfilling a mission entrusted to him by the
Emperor Napoleon to fraternize with the tribes of the Desert, and pave
the way for conquests in the East, long meditated by that victorious
monarch. I could not be otherwise than pleased that he should go
with me, because I supposed that his knowledge of the Arabic language
would be useful to me, and his society agreeable. Besides, in cases of
danger, (and I did not think this expedition altogether free from it)
it is pleasant to have a companion whose courage and experience may be
useful. As Lady Hester herself has compressed most of these details of
my narrative in a letter, I shall here annex it.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to Lieut. General Oakes._
Hamah upon the Orontes,
January 25th, 1813.
My dear General,
You will hardly believe that your kind letters of April the
5th, May the 26th, and September the 24th, 1812, only reached
me about a month ago at this place, together with the excellent
medicine-chest you were so good as to send me. All had been
detained at Smyrna, with other letters sent by Mr. Liston, till
the plague had subsided a little. I must now return you my
grateful thanks for the interest you were so good as to take
about my misfortunes, and for having done as much as you have
done to promote my comfort and convenience. If I was not afraid
of boring you, I should say fifty times as much upon the subject
of your goodness to me in every way.
I have written you three letters from Damascus--I think, indeed,
whenever I had an opportunity; knowing that merchant-vessels
went backwards and forwards from this coast to Malta, I thought
it possible that if the captains could _speak_--for they
are great newsmongers--all the reports in this country would be
taken there, and alarm you for my safety. I am now referring to
the one about the approach of the Wahabees upon Damascus, which
obliged me to write you a hasty letter, which perhaps you never
received. I wrote another after it to say the Wahabees had not
been heard of in that quarter, as was expected. Previous to both
these letters, I sent you a bag containing letters for England.
I have been obliged to give up my long intended journey to
Palmyra for the present: for the pasha _would_ send me,
and the Arabs _would_ take me, and there was such a fuss
about it altogether, that it would not have been prudent to have
undertaken it from Damascus. I _now_ can account why the
pasha’s man, into whose hands I was to be consigned, would take
1000 men, because the Arab chief had threatened to cut off his
beard, and strip all his people naked, if he took me at all; the
honour, the Arab said, should be his, as the desert was his.
In the spring, however, we mean to try it again, and hope to
succeed.
When B. was nursing Mr. Barker, who had a fever, I made an
experiment upon the good faith of the Arabs; I went with the
great chief, Mahanna El Fadel (who commands 40,000 men) into the
desert for a week, and marched three days with their encampment.
I was treated with the greatest respect and hospitality, and
it was, perhaps, altogether, the most curious sight I ever
saw: horses and mares fed upon camels’ milk, Arabs living upon
little else, except a little rice, and sometimes a sort of
bread; the space around me covered with living things, 1,000
camels coming to water from one tribe only; the old poets from
the banks of the Euphrates, singing the praises and the feats
of ancient heroes; children quite naked; women with lips dyed
light-blue, and their nails red, and hands all over flowers and
designs of different kinds; a chief who is obeyed like a great
king--starvation and pride so mixed, that I really could not
have had an idea of it: even the clothes I presented the sons
of Mahanna they could not carry, or indeed hold, but called a
black slave to take them. However, I have every reason to be
perfectly contented with their conduct towards me, and I am the
_queen_ with them all.
The Wahabees, I find, are at least 40,000 strong, and many more
when joined by other Arabs, enough to overthrow the Ottoman
empire. If Mahomet Ali drives them from Mecca, they will come
down upon Syria, and then take refuge again in the desert; and
what troops are to follow them? I thought my horse did great
things to come a long three days’ journey without water; and to
carry water for cavalry would be impossible, I should imagine.
In short, I fear we shall hear much of these Wahabees hereafter.
So you wish to be once more in a field of battle?--this is like
a true soldier, who, I believe, is never happy out of it.
We came to this place to be near the desert, and to learn a
little of what is going on there from good authority;--the
Arabs being still at war, it is necessary to be aware of their
proceedings. Last month the weather was delightful, but of late
it has snowed; and so much rain has fallen, that not a house
in the place is habitable. Every room is a pond, and there is
no communication betwixt one part of the town and the other,
from the Orontes having overflowed:--firing very scarce, and
everybody very miserable. A village a mile off has been half
destroyed, and fifty persons killed, either by the falling-in of
the houses, or drowned.
Not long ago, a body of Albanians, by order of the pasha,
entered this town, took the governor out of his bed, put him
into chains, carried him off, and seized all his property, and
also every fine horse they could lay their hands upon. A very
showy horse Suliman Pasha of Acre had given me, I had given to
the doctor, and it was waiting for him before the door of a
public bath; the Albanians were marching off with that also,
although told it belonged to a Frank, not a Turk. One, however,
asked, is the _Frank_ one of the queen’s people? Upon being
answered in the affirmative, he said, “Take the horse to the
stable, I shall not touch it, but some of our people may, not
knowing to whom it belongs.” What I have before told you about
myself, I know, my dear General, looks like _conceit_, but
it is true; and it is something to have one’s people and things
respected at a moment when no legislative power exists in a
place, and every one is in fear and trembling.
As soon as the weather mends, Mulla Ismael, the powerful
Delibash, will return from Damascus; the pasha sent him to
collect the _miri_ in Palestine, for he was afraid to go
himself. Mulla Ismael is a great friend of mine, and I shall
go out to meet him in the Turkish way: it will be a compliment
to him, and besides make me personally known to those of his
troops who have not seen me before. He is a very jolly Turk, and
has four wives here, and I believe fifty women--so many that I
cannot count them: they are all very good to me, and less shut
up than any women I ever saw in this country. No Pasha has ever
yet succeeded in cutting off this man’s head, though many have
tried; but he is too powerful, and the Arabs are too fond of
him. He has taken refuge amongst them twice, and he now feeds
every Arab who comes into Hamah, as a mark of his gratitude.
B. is in very good health, and means to write to you; the
doctor is curing Arab chiefs somewhere about Palmyra. After the
experiment I made in going alone amongst these people, I thought
I might safely send him, which I did with a single Arab, who
was to put him into the hands of my powerful friend, Mahanna El
Fadel. He went very safe, and was extremely well treated the
last time I heard: but Mahanna told him that if B. attempted to
come into the desert, unless with me, he would cut off the heads
of those who brought him before his eyes.
Adieu, my dear General, and believe me,
Ever yours most sincerely,
H. L. S.
Your Vino d’Oro is now waiting near the coast, and, as soon as
a good opportunity offers, it shall be sent. Hope was to have
taken it, but he is gone; but I trust I may hear of other good
captains upon the coast in the spring: in a Greek ship it would
be all drunk. I am trying to get some wild boar hams prepared
for you, but I am yet uncertain how I shall succeed. We want
strong dogs here very much, for the boars are very savage. I
must not forget to tell you that the Chevalier Lascaris is
become deranged. He goes about, however, but is, nor never will
be, fit for anything; but as being employed and having money
from Malta is always uppermost in his thoughts, it would be a
charity to put him out of suspense by some formal letter--that
is to say, if you think it quite proper.
It was necessary to make a total alteration in my dress previous
to setting off; for anything that could excite the cupidity of the
Bedouins was to be considered as unnecessarily smart. I therefore
purchased two very coarse cotton shirts, with long sleeves tapering
to a point; a white cotton kombaz; a pair of cotton drawers, which
were to serve as breeches; worsted socks; uncouth red boots; two
tanned sheepskin pelisses, one long and one short; a red skull cap,
to be covered with a silk handkerchief, called a keffýah, green and
orange-coloured, the corners of which, drawn across the lower part of
the face, leave only the eyes visible. As Bedouins have little to do
with the washtub, these different articles were thought abundantly
sufficient for an entire wardrobe. The cost of them was about two
pounds sterling. A second-hand abah, striped blue and white, was the
ragged covering of the whole. (See engraving.) M. Lascaris was attired
nearly in the same manner. It was on the 2nd of January, 1813, that we
left Hamah, and this accounts for the anticipation of some details in
the latter part of Lady Hester’s letter, which is dated the 25th.
The curious reader is requested to compare these dates with the
history of this same M. Lascaris, as related by M. de Lamartine in his
“Souvenirs du Levant.”
CHAPTER IV.
The author enters the Desert--Hostile tribes of Bedouins--Beni
Khaled Arabs--Their tents, manners, &c.--Arabian
hospitality--Tels or Conical mounds--Aspect of the Desert--Want
of Water--Hadidýn Arabs--Mountains of Gebel el Abyad--Bedouin
horsemen--Bedouin encampment--Mahannah, the Emir--Bedouin
repasts--Character of Mahannah--Nature of his authority--His
revenue--Means used by the Bedouins to obtain gifts--March of a
Bedouin tribe--Contrivance for mounting camels--Gentleness of
the camel--Snow--Search for Water--Detention of the author by
Mahannah--He is suffered to depart for Palmyra--Encounter with
robbers--Plain of Mezah--Disappointment at the distant sight of
Palmyra--Arrival there.
We were mounted on stallions well conditioned. Each was provided with
a wallet, containing three feeds of barley, twenty bread-cakes, three
pounds of raisins, a provision of coffee, a bag of tobacco, and with
a leathern water-bottle. We had no arms but my carbine, which Hassan
carried; M. Lascaris not choosing to be burdened with any, and I
following the advice of Lady Hester, who desired me to show no mistrust
of my guide; and Hassan received to the value of four guineas at
parting, which sum was to be doubled at my safe return.
After travelling two hours, the marks of cultivation ceased, and we
might be said to have entered the Desert. Here we passed a small
rivulet, that empties itself into the Orontes, where we watered our
horses, and, after drinking ourselves, filled our water-bottles, there
being no other running stream in the intermediate space until our
arrival at Palmyra. At a quarter to two we came to a ruined village,
where, in the year 1811, was fought a battle between the tribes of
the Anizy and the Faydân, in which the latter were completely routed,
their wives, their camels, and their tents, falling into the hands of
the victors. To the north of the field of battle, on the summit of a
conical mountain, stands a castle in ruins, called Calâat Shumamys.
Passing it at the distance of half a league, we inclined to the
north, and came abreast of Salamyah, one mile off. Salamyah, once a
populous Arab town, but now without an inhabitant, was destroyed by the
grandfather of Mahannah, the emir I was about to visit.
Our course was now due east, as far as could be judged by the sun,
for we were not furnished with a compass. On our right we observed a
conical mound, with heaps of stones on its summit, apparently relics of
an old building. As soon as the view opened beyond it, Hassan espied
some smoke, which he knew to proceed from Arab tents. We made towards
it, and reached a circular encampment of about forty tents. They were
those of the Beni Khaled, a tribe who live by their flocks.[26] Such
Arabs as these would seem to form the connecting link between the
Bedouins and the husbandmen of the villages; living under tents, and
shifting from place to place in search of pasture, like the former,
but, like the latter, paying tribute to the pasha of the district.
Their tents are more comfortable than those of the Bedouins; they are
more civilized, and, in their dress and food, are on a par with the
peasantry.
We alighted at the tent of the shaykh, or chieftain. The tent appeared
to be about forty feet long, divided by a partition which gave two
thirds to the women and one third to the men. It was made of a coarse
black stuff, which the women weave from, I believe, goat’s hair, and
which resembles in its texture horsehair sacking. The tent consisted
of a double pent roof, supported by four, six, eight, or more stakes,
extended by means of ropes pegged in the ground. To the windward side
a curtain is tacked on, that generally lets in the wind, the rain, or
the snow, through the interstices. A curtain of the same stuff formed
the division between the men and the women. The front was entirely
open. This description may serve for all the Arab tents, with this
difference, that the Bedouins, for the most part, have theirs full of
rents and holes, and that they are otherwise wanting in something to
make them weather-tight; so that to live under them is nearly the same
as living in the open air. The furniture of a tent consists of three or
four flowered carpets, about as large as bed-carpets, which they spread
to sit and sleep on. For cushions they make use of the pack-saddles
of the camels. The richer sort have occasionally a flowered cotton or
satin coverlet, generally faded and ragged; for it never happened to me
to see more than one new one. The women likewise have sometimes cane
screens, prettily worked in colours, which they set up, in order not to
be seen from without, in front of the tent; but they care so little for
these petty luxuries, that, in the season of lambing, they will oftener
pen their lambs with them than use them for themselves, although the
sheep generally drop their lambs in the depth of winter.
The few utensils they have are a small copper boiler, a coffee-pot,
and two or three coffee-cups of different sizes, a wooden pestle and
mortar to pound coffee, and an iron ladle to roast it in: this is the
apparatus for coffee-drinking, the most important business of Bedouin
housekeeping. For cooking they are provided with a large flat saucepan
without handles, a porridge-pot, and an iron dish something of the
shape of a pewter plate. There is a flat iron dish for baking the
bread, and a portable corn-mill for grinding wheat when they have any.
Spoons, knives and forks, skimmers, and all the etcetera of European
kitchens, they despise, and would not use if they had them.
We alighted from our horses, which Hassan tethered for us, and
entered the tent. Everybody rose to receive us, and the upper place
was immediately vacated for us. The shaykh’s son, untying the corner
of his shirt-sleeve, produced from it half a handful of raw coffee,
and, taking the ladle, proceeded himself to roast it, turning it over
occasionally with an iron spoon, which was chained to the ladle that it
might not be lost or stolen. The coffee, when roasted, was turned into
the mortar; and, with a deliberate and solemn air, the son commenced
pounding it. This he did in measured time, between every beat jingling
the pestle against the sides of the mortar; a sort of music never
omitted by the coffee-pounder, who gets more or less credit, according
as he beats and jingles more or less in time. The sound of the mortar
is the signal for all the idlers on every side to flock in, in order
to get a cup of coffee, and in a few minutes we were in the midst of a
dozen self-invited Bedouins. The coffee-maker then, taking out the cups
from a small basket, which the better sort have to keep them in, wiped
them with an old rag; for water is much too precious an article to be
used on such occasions. He gave his left hand a graceful turn, poured
out the coffee, drank a little himself, and then handed it to us and to
Hassan. We took it without ceremony, but Hassan insisted that he could
not drink before the master of the tent: much compliment ensued, and
Hassan was persuaded. This beverage was poured out scalding hot from
the fire; and, besides the certainty of burning the tongue, hot coffee
without sugar or milk to any one but an oriental, has but a bitter and
unsavoury taste.[27] The same cup (and sometimes they have but one) was
often filled for another person. We were then politely asked what news
there was, and who we were; for it is a rule of hospitality never to
require a guest to tell his business until he has rested himself and
drunk his coffee.
The sun being set, we were witnesses to the return of the herds of
camels and goats and of the flocks of sheep from pasture. This, in a
desert, is the most cheerful sight that can be imagined. The musical
call of the herdsmen, joined with the bleating and lowing of such vast
numbers of animals, covering, as they approached the tents, a circle
of a league, formed a pastoral scene that can nowhere be witnessed but
with the Arabs. The women milked the ewes and the goats, and folded
the lambs and kids; whilst the flocks and herds, assembled within the
circle of the tents, were guarded by the dogs, who patrole round the
outside, and render the approach of wolves and hyenas with which the
Desert is infested almost impossible. The shepherds themselves, wrapped
in their pelisses of sheepskin, sleep in the midst of them.
The women now prepared the supper. Opening a sack of flour, they
kneaded a certain quantity with water; and, without the aid of
rolling-pins, by a rotatory motion of the left arm, they flattened
the paste into a thin circular shape, about one foot and a half in
diameter. They then laid it on an iron plate, placed over a fire made
in a hole in the ground, and in three minutes it was baked. Lastly,
they threw it on the ashes to keep it warm, until a sufficient number
of these cakes were prepared: and, this done, supper was served up.
It consisted, on the present occasion, of a dish of scraps of mutton
chopped up with onions, and fried with butter, and a dish of boiled
rice with melted butter poured over it. A circular rush mat, about
three feet in diameter, was thrown on the bare ground; and, round it,
before each guest, were likewise thrown (as the Arabs did not seem
to make a practice of stooping) two or three of the above mentioned
bread-cakes; for it is considered as the highest dereliction of
hospitality among them not to put bread more than enough. As many
persons as could find room round the table placed themselves at it.
They doubled the left leg under them, and, sitting with their haunches
on their left heel, their right leg crooked with the knee towards
the chin, they rested their right arm, bared up to the elbow, upon
it. Without spoons, with nothing else but their fingers, each thrust
his right hand into the dish; and, grasping a handful, tossed it up
as a brickmaker does his clay, until he had cooled it and squeezed
out the superfluous butter, which, falling again into the dish, was
taken up in the next handful, to be again served in the same way.
This extraordinary mode of eating is the effect of necessity. Every
thing is served up in the same saucepan in which it is cooked, and, as
haste in eating (for they cannot be said to be voracious) is a marked
feature among them, were any one to wait until the dish cooled to his
liking, he would probably find nothing left. As, therefore, he grasps
a handful too hot to hold, he jerks it up and down, until, by exposing
it to the air, it is somewhat cooler. He then passes his thumb, from
below upwards, across the palm of his hand, and thus conveys the huge
pellet into his mouth. As soon as any one has finished, he rises, and
is succeeded by another, this one by a third, and so on in succession,
until either the guests are all satisfied, or, which more frequently
happens, until the dish is cleared.
Instead of washing their hands after eating (as is universally
practised in towns throughout the East) they drew them through the
dust on the ground to remove the grease, and then wiped them on their
cloaks. This excess of filth no doubt has its origin in the constant
want of water: yet it has been observed that, when encamped near a
stream, they will do the same thing. Coffee was again served with the
same formalities as before, and a conversation of about two hours
concluded the evening.
Gathering our little effects together, for fear of losing them during
the night, and tethering our horses within a few feet of the tent
from the like apprehension, we placed our wallets under our heads for
pillows, and, covering ourselves with our pelisses, took turns to watch
and sleep during the night; the ground our bed and the heavens our
covering. But, although the season of the year was winter, the weather
was mild, and we flattered ourselves that it would continue so.
On the third of January, before sunrise, we untied our horses, and,
without inquiring for our host or he for us, departed. The hospitality
of the Orientals has been much praised by many authors; but it seems
to be a duty which they perform ceremoniously and coldly, unless they
foresee some advantage from it.
We proceeded in an easterly direction. The plain now showed no signs
of ruined habitations, as on the preceding day. We passed several
mounds, generally called in Arabic _Tel_, like that observed
near the field of battle of the Anizy and Faydân tribes. It cannot be
doubted that these mounds are artificial, and served as the sites of
watch-towers or of fortresses to protect villages built at the foot of
them. This is probable from the similarity of shape in all of them,
it being conical: and also because they are observed only through the
champaign part of the Desert, where a small elevation could command
the neighbouring country, and give an extent of prospect necessary
for military observation. What further confirms this opinion is that,
beyond the ruins of Salamyah, there are four mounds in a strait line,
an exactitude not often observable in the works of nature.[28]
Immense flights of birds, known by the name of partridges of the
Desert, were seen in every direction: occasionally also some eagles and
cranes. It is curious to mark how the size of objects is increased when
seen on the edge of the horizon in these wastes. The eagles appeared
like men: and there now seemed to me to be nothing ludicrous in the
misconception of General Dessaix, who, when in Egypt, took a flock of
ostriches for a troop of horse, and arranged his men in order of battle
for their reception.
Towards noon, the look of the country, from having been like the
Sussex Downs, changed to a rocky appearance. And here we may correct
an erroneous idea as to the nature of these Deserts: that name does
not (as is generally imagined) imply always a sandy barrenness and
unfitness for culture, but rather the absence of towns and villages,
and the want of water and cultivation; many portions of the Syrian
desert being, as in the present instance, as productive under tillage
as other places are. The Arabs make use of a word _beréah_, which,
literally translated, means “_waste_;” and the term Desert can
only be applied with precision to the sands of Africa. The want of
water is the effect of the policy of the Bedouins; who choke up what
springs and wells they can, in order to render the lodgment of troops
impossible, and thus to maintain their own independence; trusting
for themselves to a knowledge of remote springs, and to a precarious
supply from holes in the rocks; or drinking the milk of their camels.
Nor would the possession of the Desert be a matter of difficulty to
troops furnished with the means of digging wells, which Ottoman troops
never are: for water, I understood, was to be found at twelve feet deep
nearly throughout the whole tract which we passed. And it is remarkable
that, at the entrance on the vast plain to the East of Palmyra, which
Wood and Dawkins pronounced to have been eternally desert, water is
found at a depth of three feet only, according to an experiment made
under my own eyes, during our second journey. The Desert, then, of
Syria is to be figured in the mind as a country of hills, mountains,
and plains: in the spring covered with verdure, in the autumn burnt up
with heat. But to return from this digression.
We here found rain-water lodged in holes, and, alighting, drank, and
unbridled the horses, that they might do the same. It was an affecting
sight to observe the poor animals, after twenty four hours’ thirst,
eagerly attempting to get at the puddles, which, being sunk in holes,
were difficult to come at. One gave it up; the other fell on his
knees, and contrived to moisten his mouth, but could not succeed
in slaking his thirst. Hassan, in the mean time, observed all this
with indifference, whilst we, commiserating our poor animals, could
have almost wept at the sight. The former knew, that, if we were not
unusually fortunate, we might have to endure hunger and thirst for
double that period: whilst we, new to the scene, saw every thing with
the eyes of persons used to the comforts of civilized life. Our wallets
were now examined, and we made a very humble dinner on dry bread,
raisins, and water, and some fragments which Hassan had secured.
Remounting, we continued our journey. Our route was very zigzag, as we
crossed in every direction where Hassan thought we might fall in with
the tribes we were in search of. The soil was still rocky. At two
o’clock we passed over the foundations of a ruined town, once inhabited
(as Hassan told us) by Turkmans. The remains of an aqueduct and a
cistern were visible. A short distance farther, we came to the foot
of a chain of low mountains, running north and south, where we found
abundance of water lodged in holes as before, but easy to get at. Here
the horses drank abundantly, and appeared to acquire fresh spirits and
vigour. On the left, about two miles off, Hassan pointed to the ruins
of a town, where he said there existed a reservoir of water in good
preservation. The mountains were covered with a scattered forest of
the turpentine tree, and these were the first trees we had seen since
leaving Hamah.
We ascended a circuitous path through a defile, and came to the summit.
Passing by a way seemingly cut by the hand of man at some early period
through the rock, the view, on a sudden, opening before us, we espied,
about a league off, a herd of goats browsing: an indication that
there were tents not far off. We descended into a valley, wanting,
apparently, nothing but the assistance of the husbandman to render it
as fertile as the vale of the Bkâ, or any of the celebrated plains of
Syria. Crossing it, and reascending the opposite mountain, we came to
an elevated tract of downs. Here was encamped a party of the tribe of
the Hadýdy, whom Hassan immediately recognized by the number of asses
grazing round the tents. They were Bedouins, paying no tribute. They
rode on asses, and used firearms, then chiefly matchlocks. Their riches
consisted principally in sheep and goats; having few camels: and on
this account they were considered as a degenerated tribe; the true
Bedouin despising all animals but horses and camels.
Hassan deliberated whether it would be proper to pass the night with
them or not: for he gave us to understand that they were inhospitable
and of a thievish disposition. Night, however, was coming on; and
learning, upon inquiry, that the Melhem, the tribe to which we were
going, was some leagues off, he led the way to the tent of the shaykh
or chieftain, where we alighted.
Hassan had underrated their civility on this occasion; for the shaykh,
when he knew who we were, showed us much attention. This was owing
to a circumstance which contributed greatly to the kind treatment we
received throughout the Desert, and which it is worth while to mention.
When Lady Hester, during the month of December, had paid a visit
to the Emir of the Anizys, at that time encamped near the ruins of
Salamyah, she had made him several presents: and the reputation of her
generosity being spread about, ensured a kind reception to any one who
now came in her name, from the hopes of a participation in her future
favours on her proposed journey to Palmyra; for the Arabs are poor and
covetous, and never neglect any channel that may lead to gain, however
circuitous it may appear to be.
A dish of melted butter, with bread soaked in it, was served for
supper, and we slept as on the preceding night. On the 4th, soon after
sunrise, we bridled our horses, and proceeded on our way. People who
have no fixed habitation are not always immediately to be found. It
is indeed a wild-goose chase to go in search of an Arab’s tents;
and, though inquiry had been made of every person that could afford
information, all that could be learned was that Mahannah was encamped
somewhere at the foot of Gebel el Abyad, a chain of mountains of some
leagues, which extends east and west, wide of Palmyra. The White
Mountain (so Gebel el Abyad means) was in sight, and Hassan took the
lead towards it in an east-south-east direction, as I guessed the point
of the compass to be from the sun. The weather was clear and mild,
having favoured us thus far from the day of our departure. We had
proceeded but a short distance before we crossed a drove of camels,
led by a Bedouin girl mounted on the bell camel, whilst the herdsman,
mounted also, brought up the rear. Hassan recognized him as one of his
own tribe, and, salutations having passed, inquired where the Emir
Mahannah was. The herdsman informed him that the emir was that day
moving his tents to fresh pastures.
Inclining to the south-east, we encountered other herds and several
Bedouin horsemen. The plain now wore a barren appearance, being
gravelly, with patches of moss that seemed to destroy vegetation. The
horsemen, however distant they might be from us, never failed to ride
up and ascertain who we were; and, when Hassan made himself and us
known, still they would unceremoniously fumble our wallets with the
points of their spears to feel what they contained, as if lamenting
that the protection of our conductor prevented them from appropriating
the contents to themselves. Some, with gloomy insolence, demanded
a pipe of tobacco; which, as we had been previously instructed to
do, we always refused or denied having: for it is the maxim of the
Bedouins to try a person’s fears by a small demand, with which, if he
complies, they proceed to a greater, and finish, if they think it safe,
by stripping him of all he has. Their scowling looks, rendered more
suspicious by the vizor of their handkerchiefs, made their questions
very unpleasant, and we felt uneasy, although we knew, or at least
felt assured, that nothing could happen to us, protected as we were by
Hassan, the Emir Mahannah’s officer.
Obtaining fresh information as we proceeded, we continued inclining to
the right, and, at the close of the day, had made nearly a semicircle,
finishing in the west. The whole of the way this day we met with
no water, and our only repast was dry bread and the remains of the
supply in the water-bottles. About four o’clock we found ourselves
in the midst of several droves of camels, and a quarter of an hour
more brought us to the encampment. Some tents were already pitched
without order either as to precedence or regularity; and, on subsequent
occasions, it was observable that every Bedouin chose the spot he
liked best, with this exception, that the relations and slaves of the
emir generally occupied the ground immediately about him. We advanced
towards the emir, and alighted. Whilst his tent was pitching, he had
seated himself on the ground; and his slaves, having lighted a blazing
fire, were preparing coffee. He rose to receive us, being apprised of
our coming by certain Bedouins, who had passed us. Nasar, the eldest
son of the emir, whom I had known at Hamah, saluted me with a kiss on
each cheek, the common salutation between friends among them. Being
seated, coffee was served, and a moment was given for observing the
physiognomy and dress of the emir, prince at that time of all the
desert tract of country which extends, in the rear of Syria, from
Aleppo down to Damascus and as far back as the Euphrates.
He seemed to be about fifty-five years old, with a piercing eye, which
amply made up for the defect of hearing under which he laboured. His
beard was ragged and shaggy, as were his eyebrows. His face and hands,
apparently strangers to the use of water, were begrimed with dirt. On
his head he wore a shawl of stuff, coarse as a towel, put on with the
superlative carelessness of a Bedouin toilet. In other respects his
dress resembled that described above as the costume of this people,
excepting that he had no breeches or drawers, and no boots or shoes;
his feet having for their only covering a pair of worsted socks. His
body vest or frock, however, was of fine striped satin of Damascus, red
and yellow, originally perhaps the plunder of some traveller, but now
exhibiting all the magnificence of Rag-fair.[29]
After coffee, a platter of what the Arabs call _dibs_ was set
on the ground, with about a dozen bread-cakes like those before
described. This dibs is the scum of boiled juice of grapes, in French
_raisiné_, and has much the taste and appearance of treacle: it
is a favourite dish with all the Arabs. We were invited to eat by
ourselves; the emir having probably eaten before our arrival.
In the mean time, the princess, wife of Mahannah, with her daughter
and her black slaves, were employed in unloading the cooking-utensils,
carpets, &c., from the camels. This done, the daughter took a pickaxe
in her hand, and went in search of roots for firing, the plain
producing no other fuel. In about half an hour she returned, bearing
an enormous load bound up in her woollen cloak, which would have
fatigued the shoulders of an English porter. She was a girl of about
seventeen, with tolerably good features, a muddy brown complexion, and
teeth as white as snow.
Preparations were now made for supper. As the tent of the emir is the
resort of all strangers who arrive from different quarters, there were
seldom fewer than a dozen persons to be fed besides his own family,
which was also very numerous. An immense flat boiler, containing not
less than twelve gallons, was placed on the fire, and half filled with
rice, water, and butter. The water collected from holes in the rock,
and from puddles, and brought in goat-skins, was as muddy as that of
a horsepond. The mixture was boiled until the water was evaporated,
and consequently the mud incorporated. When cooked, it was served up
reeking in the same boiler. It was eaten in the same manner that has
been already described, a second and a third set succeeding the first:
whilst the boys stood round, like so many dogs, to catch a pellet,
occasionally given them by their fathers.
To conclude what may be said on the repasts of the Bedouins, it cannot
be denied that they approach nearer to beasts in their manner of eating
than any other people. To give an example: a horseman, on a showery
day, arrives, and alights at the tent; and his first care is to dry
his feet at the fire, and wipe them with his hands. Dinner or supper
happens to be served at the same instant, and he seats himself to
handle his food with the same fingers that have just served so nasty a
purpose: it being understood that he seldom can, and never does, wash
them. Is a stranger at table? Politeness demands that the host should
heap up the rice in the dish before him, or, if it be meat, should tear
it from the bones and hand it to him; which it would be an affront in
the stranger to refuse. Does the repast consist (which is often the
case) of bread and melted butter? he breaks the bread and works it up
for his guest with the butter: all which operations are executed with
the hands. In fine, those who have seen the Drûzes of Mount Lebanon
devour raw meat, or the chimney-sweepers of London swallow black
pudding, still have never witnessed such a meal as the repasts of the
Bedouins.
Coffee was served, pipes were lighted, and, as we were just arrived
from Hamah, whence we were supposed to have brought tobacco with us,
we had much ado to withstand the bold and frequent requests to fill
the pipes of our neighbours. A conversation on the politics of the
plain concluded the evening. The prince retired to his wife, while the
rest of the party betook themselves, each on the spot where he sat, to
sleep; merely drawing his cloak over his face, and putting his wallet
under his head, both to serve as a pillow, and to prevent its being
pilfered.
An Arab never undresses but to clean himself from vermin. The clothes
he has he wears until they either fall off his back in rags, or fresh
plunder, or a present from his chief, supplies him with a better suit.
Few of them have more than a shirt and a sheepskin pelisse--going
without frock, stockings, and boots. These three latter articles,
indeed, not many can afford, and many care not for. Their sheepskin is
of the greatest use to them, serving instead of a bed to sleep on, and
as a covering from wet and cold at all seasons.
It may not be improper to say a few words in order that it may be
better understood by the reader what the title Emir implies. Mahannah
el Fadel might be said to command that tract of country which extends
from Hamah down to Damascus, and backwards as far as Palmyra, perhaps
beyond; but it is impossible for a stranger to learn or mark out any
precise boundaries for a people, the nature of whose possessions, and
even of whose existence, is so uncertain, both from the vicissitudes
of their fortune, and from their wandering habits. He was chieftain of
the tribe of the Melhem, and had in subjection to him other tribes,
all of which go by the general name of Anizy Arabs. What the nature
of his authority over them was I could not ascertain; such as it was,
he succeeded to it at his father’s death, not as an hereditary right,
but from the preponderance that his family had had the art to secure
to itself. This preponderance seems to be owing to several causes; for
the family was very numerous, and succeeding emirs had the means, by
various intermarriages with the rich shaykhs of the tribe, to combine
a vast extent of interests in the chief of it.
But, although a prince, Mahannah did not seem to be a single jot more
polished than his meanest herdsman. Perhaps any excess of urbanity,
any appearance of dignity, would only tend, among a rude people, to
weaken his power instead of strengthening it: on common occasions he
was, therefore, but one of the herd. His tent was larger but had not
more splendour; his mare was not more richly caparisoned than that
of others, nor did he seem to me to be distinguished by his external
appearance from that of the commonest Bedouins round him. Equality,
no doubt, does not reign among them; but how far the assumption of
much authority would be followed by the desertion of such as thought
themselves oppressed by it, I will not venture to say. The security
which laws afford the weak against the strong certainly does not exist
here in the same extent as in cities, and all the boasted advantages
of their seeming equality only enable the aggrieved to retire from the
aggressor.
Neither did the dignity we may attribute to the person of a chieftain
seem better protected. Had a Bedouin presumed to insult Mahannah, had
he dared to dispute his commands, where was the remedy? He might,
indeed, as he was often said to do, in the fury of passion, inflict
the chastisement which the culprit merited with his own hand, or he
might brood over the insult until an opportunity occurred of revenging
it. There was no protection against theft but watchfulness, no surety
against murder but that worst of all laws, the law of retaliation.
Mahannah levied a toll of about the value of eighteen-pence a head, and
two dollars for each camel-load on all caravans that passed through or
by his territory. I was told that he annually received a present of six
shillings a head from all the merchants of Damascus, Aleppo, and the
towns between them. He levied contributions of corn, of provisions, of
dress, upon the villages of the desert, such as Palmyra (which is said
to pay him one thousand five hundred piasters in money, and to the same
amount in clothes), Carietayn, Sedad, and others. Hamah paid him 150
camel-loads of wheat, which he generally distributed among his friends.
Besides this, he scrupled not, when his necessities were pressing, to
demand of the governors or rich individuals with whom he was friendly,
articles of dress, horses, and the like: nor did he fail, generally, to
weary the liberality of his most generous friends.
But there was another mode of enriching himself which must not be
passed over in silence. Whoever, as a stranger, ventured to trust
himself in the power of the Bedouins, had reason to perceive that, as
robbery is their profession, they are dexterous enough to have more
ways than one in committing it; and that he who receives hospitality
from them, however much vaunted by travellers the sacredness of that
hospitality may be, is doomed to pay for it in some way or other.
Business, the oppression of the government, and sometimes curiosity,
but never pleasure, brings every now and then a Syrian of consideration
among them, and the tent of the prince is the place where he is sure
of a welcome. Scarcely has he passed a night under it, when the prince
politely admires the beauty of his shawl, and by obvious hints asks
him for it. There is no alternative for the visitor but to beg his
acceptance of it; for he recollects that he is in his power, and that
what is so politely asked for may be forcibly taken. Supposing he opens
his saddle-bags or his box, and some curious eye discovers that he has
a provision of coffee, or a change of linen? the prince is informed of
it, and begs to see it, and, as it is something not actually on the
person of his guest, he fairly asks him for it. Our visitor, as is the
custom in the East, slips off his boots when he enters the tent: the
prince observes that they are better than his own, and unceremoniously
when he goes out makes an exchange with him. But, not to leave him
the satisfaction of knowing, at least, that he has contributed to the
comfort or finery of his host, he sees the very articles given away,
after a few days’ wear, to some strange shaykh, who, were he to meet
the original proprietor alone in the desert, would make no scruple of
stripping him entirely.
All these were formerly the secondary sources of revenue to the Anizys,
whilst the pilgrimage to Mecca, before the tomb of the Prophet fell
into the hands of the Wahabees, was an annual harvest to them; for it
was the Anizys who escorted it across the desert, and furnished the
pilgrims with camels. This honourable employment was granted to the
ancestors of Mahannah by an imperial firman.[30]
Mahannah was said to be of a very choleric disposition. He was active,
though now far advanced in life, and was esteemed a brave man. He had
been married three times; one wife only survived. Domestic disputes
were extremely frequent in his tent, and were managed on both sides
with all the eloquence that generally accompanies them in Europe.
On Tuesday morning, at dawn, the party in the tent arose, and,
adjusting themselves, assembled in a ring round the fire. Coffee
was served, and orders were given for striking the tents, and for
proceeding towards a spring in the south-west, in order to water
the cattle. The extraordinary time during which it is asserted a
camel can support thirst, has been often mentioned by travellers.
The Bedouins in the winter let them go for one hundred and forty
hours, and, on the present occasion, it was the fifth day that they
had not drunk. But they appear to me in this respect to differ very
little from other animals; for, during winter and spring, it is the
moisture in the herbage which renders drink unnecessary, as happens
to sheep, which, I am inclined to think, get no water for an equally
long interval. But, in the dry season, a camel must drink as often as
an ass; and I consider what has been advanced of the camel’s carrying
water in its stomach to be a legend, and of its marvellous property
of enduring thirst to be much exaggerated. As to the horses of the
Bedouins, they too are accustomed, at this season, to an abstinence of
from forty-eight to sixty hours, which latter period, however, is the
greatest. They are generally watered from holes in rocks, or puddles,
which are sometimes not to be found short of one or two leagues from
the tents; and, these failing, from the water-skins, or, as a last
resort, from the udder of the camel, although I was not an eyewitness
to this.
The order of march observed by the Bedouins is nearly as follows; the
shaykhs, and such as are masters of a tent, retire to a small distance
from it, and, squatting on the ground, with their mares standing
by them, and their spears planted, smoke their pipes, whilst their
women strike the tent. In Mahannah’s family there were slaves also,
who assisted in the hand labour. These are the descendants of blacks
purchased during the flourishing state of the tribe, in the days of
the Mecca pilgrimage. They differ in nothing from other Bedouins,
excepting, as it is said, that they cannot marry a white Bedouin; for
the offspring of slaves, I was told, are free among the Bedouins,
although not among the Turks.
The women, then, having rolled up their carpets, packed their kitchen
utensils, and struck their tents, load the pack-camels, and prepare
those intended for mounting. For this purpose, the rich families are
provided with a machine, rude in its construction but not altogether
devoid of beauty in its appearance. It consists of two short ladders,
each about a yard in length, curved outwardly, narrow below and wide
above, and attached to each other by transverse staves; these are bound
to the pack-saddle, and this saddle is fixed on the camel’s hump, and
is girthed on by old rope and hide-thongs. Worsted web ribbons, with
gaudy tassels, dangle from the top. On the ceremony of a marriage, this
machine is highly decorated; but, not having witnessed such an event,
I am unable to describe exactly how. The strongest camels are always
chosen to carry it. Those who are unprovided with this machine roll a
carpet in the shape of a bird’s-nest, which they tie on the camel’s
back, and look, when seated in it, not unlike a sitting hen.
The camels are without bridles or halters; but, accustomed to the call
of the herdsman, they march along with a docility that leaves no cause
for fear to those who are mounted on them. The herdsman himself rides
on a species of pack-saddle, something like the tree of an hussar
saddle, and sometimes guides his camel by means of a rope passed
through the cartilage of the nose. All being ready, each family marches
separately, and the desert becomes a moving scene for some miles round.
The horsemen proceed at a foot pace, from which they never vary, except
when occasional races take place to gain a spot where water is known
to lodge, or when the youths tilt with each other for amusement. The
Bedouin girls are seen dropping from the backs of the camels to drive
in those that stray, and then, seizing the animal’s tail, remount with
an agility quite astonishing.
Sweet and graceful was thy form, black and full, like the antelope’s,
were thine eyes, lovely Raby (for thy father called thee by name), as
thou didst vault from the ground, and, placing thy naked foot on the
projecting bone of the camel’s leg, didst bound on his rump again. Hard
seemed such a seat for thy delicate limbs; and the undulating motion,
communicated to thy body by the lengthened steps of the unwearied beast
whose back thou didst bestride, had a strange moving look through the
clear atmosphere of the desert which thy sylphlike form intercepted.
Diana’s nymphs were gross peasants to thee, light aërial vision!
And was it a natural feeling of goodness, or the coquetry which wicked
man too readily attributes to all thy sex, that made thee turn thy
winning look on the stranger? How could a single smile of thine leave
so lasting an impression, that he forgets it not after a lapse of
full thirty years? Did it not seem to say--Why gazest thou on me so
earnestly, gentle cavalier? I know I am pretty, for many chieftains
of my tribe have already (albeit I am but fourteen years old) asked
me in marriage: but my father demands fifty camels and a mare of pure
breed for my dowry, and he that would have me must pay the price of
my charms. And I murmured to myself, Raby, why dost thou expose those
beautiful features, those nascent beauties which thy youthful neck
betrays, to the rays of the hot sun? Be more niggardly of thy charms,
for few can boast such as thine.--A stumble of my horse recalled me to
myself; but Raby was still before me, and from time to time occupied my
thoughts.
And here, I reflected, is a brown creature, full of life and activity,
whose utmost accomplishments amount to gathering fuel, fetching water,
pitching a tent, baking, cooking, and tending herds of camels, or
feeding her father’s mare. Yet she is esteemed valuable, and must
be bought at a high price: whilst, in my own country, fair maidens,
with complexions white as the driven snow, versed in literature and
the fine arts, can find no market for their persons, and go down to
the grave deploring their single wretchedness! Whence can such an
anomaly proceed? if it is not that, in the one case the wife repays the
purchase by her services, so useful to the comfort of her husband, and
in the other a partner often becomes dear to him that weds her, by the
expenses she entails on him, without any remunerating qualities which
can contribute to his welfare, or a knowledge of domestic duties to
ameliorate his condition. An English maiden must be dressed in a robe
of Bank-stock receipts and India-bonds before she is taken as a gift; a
Bedouin girl, even _en chemise_, must be bought.
We passed a ruined village on the way, the name of which we could
not learn. It was situate on a hill, and contained the remains of
a fortress. On alighting, dibs and bread were served. Supper, on a
large dish of rice as on the preceding day, coffee, and conversation
concluded the evening. The wind was north, and, blowing through the
crevices of the tent left us little benefit from the blazing fire in
the middle. The Arabs, shivering from the unusual cold which prevailed,
seemed to make no scruple of exhibiting those parts of the body which
decency teaches us to conceal, and unceremoniously raised their
garments to warm themselves.
In the morning the tents were struck, and the march was continued in
a south-west direction for five hours. At the close of it, a flock
of sheep belonging to the Beni-Khaled Arabs, whose tents were at no
great distance, passed us. This was one of the tribes in subjection
to Mahannah. Nasar, the son of the emir, ordered a Bedouin who was
near him to seize a sheep. The man immediately launched his bludgeon
at the poor animal,[31] and broke one of its hind-legs. Thus lamed, it
was pricked on by the point of the lance, until, after about a quarter
of an hour, we came to our encampment. It was killed and skinned in
an instant, and a sparerib being cut off was thrown on the embers. It
was turned occasionally with the hands, and, when half roasted, it was
removed and placed on the bare ground, where, without bread or any
single appurtenance of the table, each person tore off his portion and
devoured it with canine greediness.[32]
We had now arrived within two leagues of the spring which the Bedouins
were in search of. The village of Caryetayn was four miles off in a
southerly direction. At daybreak on the 7th, the greater part of the
camels were driven off to water, whilst a few, under the conduct of
Nasar, Mezyad, and Hassan, sons of the emir, were sent to the village
to get a supply of provisions; for the stock was now so low that
nothing but dry bread had been served out, and there was not even water
to make coffee. M. Lascaris accompanied Nasar, being desirous of seeing
the village. At nightfall the camels arrived from the spring, but not
those from the village. The day having, by me at least, been passed in
fasting, I was now made sensible of the relish that hunger can give
to fare however homely, and played my part on the hot bread-cakes at
supper with an avidity little inferior to what I had remarked in the
Bedouins.
At sunset there was a fall of snow, which continued all night, and,
exposed as we were to the severity of the weather, rendered us very
uncomfortable. The horses, as usual, were tethered in the open air, and
suffered much from the cold.
Next morning, the snow covered the ground about six inches. We slept
and warmed ourselves alternately through the day. The camels from
Caryetayn had not yet returned; for, as the Bedouin has no other guide
but landmarks,[33] when the atmosphere is obscured, he cannot travel.
There was literally nothing to eat in the emir’s tent, and the kindness
of one of his relations, named Casem, supplied me with a supper.
The unusual fall of snow argued the severity of the winter; for, in the
Desert of Syria, it is an exceedingly rare thing to see snow at all. A
Bedouin boy, nevertheless, ran, stark naked, in the open air through it.
On the 9th, the weather cleared up a little, and the wind changed
to the East, with snow occasionally. We were absolutely without
provisions, and Nasar and M. Lascaris were looked for by me with
the utmost anxiety, whilst the Bedouins seemed as indifferent as
men who had all the luxuries they could desire about them. At noon,
Nasar and his party returned, but brought back little with them; the
villagers having refused to produce any provisions unless for money;
for Caryetayn is a populous village, and could brave the anger of the
Arabs. A few raisins were all the addition that could be made to dry
bread. Nasar, Mezyad, and Hassan, had each something new upon them,
which they had procured from the inhabitants of Caryetayn, half by
threats and half by presents.
On the 13th, the tents were struck, and in the evening they were
replanted on the ground occupied on the 7th. Our horses had not drunk
on the preceding day, and the whole care of myself and Hassan was to
precede the tribe, in hopes of falling in with a puddle of water. But
we were not fortunate enough to meet with one, and the poor animals
would have again fasted, when, just as we halted for the night, a
shower of rain fell, which we patiently endured with our backs turned
to it, and, when it was over, galloped to an eminence about a mile
off, upon which Hassan knew there was a hole in the rock where water
generally lodged. We there slaked the thirst of the horses, and filled
our water-bottles; but the water was so thick that a scullion-maid in
England would have not thought it clean enough to wash her kitchen
floor. However, necessity and delicacy are not akin, and we considered
ourselves very fortunate.
It will be recollected that the ostensible purpose for which I had
visited the Emir Mahannah was to cure him of a chronic complaint. The
emir had now kept me eleven days, and had derived no great benefit
from the remedies he had used: still, whenever mention was made of
departing, he grew out of humour, and signified that he expected
to be first cured; for an Arab has a firm idea that everything is
possible to medicine. His sons tormented me in another shape. They
would frequently tell me, half joking and half serious, that I was
among a pack of robbers; that, as Franks visited Palmyra only to find
treasures, I must not expect to get off without making them a present,
with other expressions to the like effect. I was therefore somewhat
alarmed, and began to be apprehensive for my safety; the more as
the march had always been from, instead of towards, my destination.
Resolved, however, to make a bold push, and anxious to visit Palmyra,
I determined to be amused no longer with excuses, and, at all events,
to steal off; so, imparting my design to Hassan, I desired him to
hold himself in readiness. But he knew it would be more dangerous to
offend his master, than to disoblige me, and told Mahannah what I had
resolved on. Thus thwarted, it was necessary to try another scheme,
and I represented to Mahannah that it would disoblige Lady Hester if I
were any longer delayed in executing my mission to Palmyra. The fear
of losing the presents which he expected from that quarter operated on
his avarice, and I obtained permission to depart. M. Lascaris, during
this my dilemma, had been of little service to me, fearing to embroil
himself with Mahannah, whose friendship he was desirous of securing, in
case of fixing his residence at Palmyra. He would not accompany me, as
he had sent for his wife to join him, and he was obliged to wait for
her before setting off. I therefore left him at the tents.
On the morning of the 14th, accompanied by Hassan only, I mounted my
horse before six. We were furnished with two leather bottles of water
and some raisins; and Hassan, as before, carried my carbine. For an
hour, we proceeded north-east by east, until we crossed into the path
of the salt caravans, which constantly trade between Palmyra, Hems,
and Hamah. We then took an easterly direction. About ten, it began to
rain.
About noon, as we were proceeding at a smart footpace, Hassan observed
on the ground some fresh camels’ dung. This seemed to attract his
attention; and presently other indications of the same kind rendered
it evident that somebody was travelling in the same direction before
us. Hassan occasionally preceded me a few paces to reconnoitre. In
this way we rode on for about an hour. On a sudden, he pulled up his
horse, and, following the direction of his eyes, I espied something
like the heads of men. He made me observe them, and said, “Perhaps they
are robbers--be ready for a gallop.” As we came nearer, we made out
the supposed men to be two Bedouins and a camel partially concealed
in a hollow. “Do as I do,” was all he said; and putting his gun as in
a posture ready for defence, although the rain that had poured all
the morning rendered it absolutely useless, he advanced until we came
abreast of them; they being about thirty yards out of the path. He
then challenged them, and observing their motions, cried, “Push on,”
and immediately put his horse into a full gallop. I did the same. At
that moment the camel rose upon his legs, with a man mounted on him,
who pursued us, whilst the other robber levelled his gun at us, which,
probably from the wet, snapped--for it did not go off. The mounted
robber followed us about half a mile, when, finding that he lost
ground, and that his companion was far behind, he slackened his pace,
and at last turned back.
About one o’clock, we came to some sand-hills, at which time we were
abreast of the White Mountain, (Gebel el Abyad) two leagues off, in
a northerly direction. These sand-hills continued for a league or
more. We here saw some camels grazing, guarded by a Bedouin. Hassan
spoke to him, and learned that he was of the Beni Omar Arabs, a
tribe in subjection to Mahannah. We dismounted, ate a few raisins,
and deliberated about passing the night with them, their tents not
being above a league off: but at last it was determined to go on for
Palmyra. We then entered a vast plain called El Mezah, bounded on the
left by the White Mountain, and, on the right, by Mount Ayán. Vast
as it was, its extreme evenness deceived the eye, and contracted its
boundaries to the appearance of a valley. It seemed as if we almost
touched the foot of the mountain which overhangs Palmyra, and which
Hassan pointed to. “We have not above a league and a half to go,” said
I. “_Inshallah_,” was his reply, in the Arabian manner; “if it
please God;” and, taught by experience how equivocal an expression
this was, I made up my mind for a double distance. Hassan’s horse was
nearly knocked up, and it was necessary to remove his wallet upon
mine. The plain, for the first league, has some patches of turf, but
afterwards presents a dry, cracked, barren surface, totally destitute
of vegetation. It appears that the soil is impregnated with salt,
as is the plain which I afterwards saw to the east of Palmyra. At
sunset we reached its termination, and entered between two hills into
a valley, where were to be seen the remains of a reservoir enclosing
the fountain-head, from which water was once conveyed by an aqueduct
to Palmyra. It is called Abu el Fawáres, and is mentioned by Wood
and Dawkins, in their splendid work on the remains of Palmyra. This
aqueduct runs for a league, and terminates in the Valley of Tombs, at
which we soon arrived. This valley is shut in on both sides by low
mountains.
The moon had now risen, and threw a gloomy solemnity over these
ancient monuments of the dead, which continued for about a mile. As
we approached the angle, where the vast mass of ruins (as I supposed)
would burst on my sight, my bosom thrilled with expectation. We turned
it, when, straining my eyes, I looked in vain for the grand objects
which I had expected; for the straggling columns of the colonnade,
sunk in a low disadvantageous spot, were hardly to be discerned. Other
feelings, which hope had for a moment drowned, again took possession of
me. I recollected that I had been twelve hours on horseback, that I was
hungry and thirsty. Following my guide among huge masses of stone, and
pillars and fragments of buildings, towards the Temple of the Sun, we
came to the gate, which we found shut; nor was it opened until Hassan
had made himself known. Then, turning down a dirty lane, we reached the
mud cottage which was to be my residence at Palmyra.
The lintel of the cottage door was part of a sculptured entablature,
and an elegant Corinthian capital, turned upside down, formed the
horse-block. The cottage itself consisted of a small chamber, twenty
feet by twelve. In it was Hassan’s wife, her father, four children,
two camels, and a donkey. We received a friendly welcome, and found a
warm fire, although the smoke, having no chimney to escape by, almost
blinded me. I seated myself on the bare ground, and, whilst a cup of
coffee was preparing, reflected on the miserable state of the present
inhabitants of this once celebrated city. It was soon known that a
Frank had arrived, and the house, in a few minutes, was crowded with
people. A large mess of rice was put on the fire, and a message came
from the shaykh of the village, to say that, if I stood in need of
anything, what he could command was mine. I requested a little firewood
(as Hassan’s wife had nothing but camels’ dung for fuel) and a rush
mat to put under me. By degrees my curious visitors left me. I ate a
good supper, and went to bed in my clothes, surrounded by the camels,
my hostess, and the family, there being only a partition breast-high
between us. In the night, hearing the door creak, I raised my head, and
saw one of the girls, about twelve years old, stark naked, who, having
occasion to breathe the fresh air, did not think it necessary to put
on any of her clothes, which, according, I suppose, to Bedouin custom,
she had stripped off at bed-time. This appeared to be matter of no
surprise to anybody but myself: yet decency is one of the features of
the female character in these countries.
CHAPTER V.
Reflections on the ruins of Palmyra--Wood and Dawkins’s
plates--Fountain of Ephca--Castle--Tombs--Cottage selected
for Lady Hester--Visit to a curious cave--Justinian’s
wall--Climate and diseases--Salt marshes--Causes of
fevers--Air and climate of Palmyra--Gardens, corn-fields,
and trees--Sulphureous waters--Dress of the men; and of the
women--Departure from Palmyra--Lady Hester sends Giorgio
to look for the Author--Fall of snow--The party lose
themselves, and sleep in the snow--Encampment of Beni Omar
Bedouins--Hassan’s unfeeling conduct--Pride of the Bedouins to
ride on horseback--Encampment of Ali Bussal--False notions of
the hospitality of Bedouins--Partridges of the Desert--Emir
of the Melhem--M. Lascaris’s scheme of traffic--Arrival of
Madame Lascaris--Attack of the Sebáh--Wounded Bedouin--Giorgio
goes to Palmyra--The Author returns to Hamah--Ruins of a
triumphal arch--Snow-storm--A night in a cavern--Ruined
village--Selamyah--Ruined mosque--Hardships endured by
Bedouins--Miscellaneous observations on their character and
manners.
I rose with the sun, and, eager to correct the unfavourable impression
which the view of the ruins had made in the dusk of the evening, I
begged of Hassan to reconduct me to them. I sat down, still, as
before, deceived in my expectations. As far as my memory served me,
I found the engravings of Wood and Dawkins faithful; and I began to
consider how it happened that, correct as to delineation, they conveyed
an idea of the remains of Palmyra so much more favourable than the
reality. It has already been stated that the ground on which they stand
is disadvantageous. Edifices require elevation to set them off; and
perhaps it may have struck some travellers, that, of all the vestiges
of antiquity to be seen throughout modern Turkey, the Parthenon at
Athens, and the Temple of Theseus at Sunium, have the most imposing
appearance, owing to their position, each on the summit of a hill. It
is not so with Palmyra. Situate, on the contrary, at the foot of lofty
mountains, whose height renders all the works of art diminutive, its
columns, if seen at the distance of a few hundred yards, dwindle to the
size of tapers. Indistinct from the neighbouring mountains, they are
still more so from the colour of the stone of which they are made: for
it is of a yellow ochrish appearance, and the face of the surrounding
soil is precisely of the same hue. Tints must be opposed to set each
other off; so that, for want of this contrast, these celebrated ruins,
so conspicuous on paper, are scarcely visible where they stand. And
although the two artists had a right to give them as high relief as
they could, yet have they been guilty of that species of deception
which exhibits objects under a false colouring, by representing them
with an appearance of freshness to which they have long since lost
their claim. Yet, when we reflect on the vastness of the materials
which have been collected, as it were, in the midst of a desert, we are
lost in astonishment. There are pillars of granite of a single block,
which (say those who have made researches on these subjects their
study) must have been transported from Upper Egypt. All the buildings
were composed of stones of an enormous size; and there are ceilings yet
remaining of a single slab. Fragments of pillars and their entablatures
strew the ground, and are so numerous that we might imagine all
the inhabitants to have lived in palaces. The building, called by
travellers the Temple of the Sun, alone contains within its walls more
than space enough for the present Palmyrenes.
Passing through the triumphal arch, which terminates the long colonnade
under which I had seated myself, I slowly walked down it, and,
inclining to the left, came, at the distance of about a mile, to the
sulphureous spring, called the fountain of Ephca. There were formerly
five springs at Palmyra; at present this alone remains of them all.
A magnificent edifice might once have adorned its entrance; and the
remains of an altar, as also the broken shaft of a pillar which lies
close to it, lead to that supposition. But at this day the stream,
which is about two feet and a half deep, issues from the mouth of a
rough arched grotto, from five to six feet broad and four feet high;--a
man must stoop to enter it. The banks of the channel near the grotto
are above ten feet high, seeming to be elevated by the accumulation of
rubbish; for, after the stream has run about thirty yards, they sink to
a level with its water.
Although it was the month of January, I stripped off my clothes, and
entered the grotto. It widens from the mouth, and, about five yards in,
is lofty enough for a tall man to stand upright. The smell of sulphur
is faint; the taste of it not perceptible. The heat of the water might
be about 80° of Fahrenheit, communicating the least possible impression
of cold on immersing the body into it. Advancing, the water deepens to
more than the height of six feet, and the roof of the vault lowers; but
there is no increase of heat. My conductor was forward in recounting
all the properties of the water; the chief one was that of imparting
an extraordinary appetite to those who drink of it; but there were
in his enumeration none medicinal, if this be not of that class. I
brought away with me two fragments of the roof; but, learning that they
made the whole conversation of the village, and that it was believed
I had the power of converting them into gold, I threw them away; for
the extraordinary price which some rich travellers have incautiously
paid for fragments of ancient sculpture, intaglios, and the like, has
given rise to the supposition among the Arabs that Franks never would
purchase so dearly mere stones, unless for the purpose of transmuting
them into more valuable materials.
On the 16th, I visited the Saracen fortress to the west of the ruins.
When it was known where I was gone, I was followed by about thirty or
forty women and children, who pointed out the best path to me, and
climbed up the pointed rocks with an activity that made me tremble for
their safety. The castle is moated, and the bridge which formed the
communication of the opposite sides being broken down, it required
much pains to clamber up to one of the windows, the only entrance
now practicable.--The chief advantage of toiling up the mountain on
which it stands is to enjoy the fine view of the surrounding country.
To the east are seen the ruins; beyond them the salt marshes; and
beyond these a plain, bounded by the horizon, and to which fancy lent
an immeasurable extent: to the north, on the same chain on which the
castle stands, is Mount Ebn Ali--so called from a small chapel erected
on its summit in memory of some Mahometan santon of that name: to the
west is the valley of Abu El Fewáres, and to the south, the end of
Mount Ayûn, a chain which runs almost to Damascus. Descending from the
castle, I entered some of the tombs, which are described so accurately
by Wood and Dawkins. I brought away from them some few pieces of
embalming silk, which showed clearly to what a degree of perfection
the manufacture of that article had reached in ancient times.
The process of embalming has something congenial to filial piety, and
abates the horror which a worm-eaten corpse inspires. Those embalmed,
after preservation for centuries, are sometimes found to have become a
mass of odoriferous gum, and can be handled without disgust.
On the 17th, it rained the whole day. Confined within the walls of the
Temple of the Sun, this opportunity was taken for examining such of the
cottages as might be best adapted for the residence of Lady Hester.
There were three that stood in the north-west angle of the temple, and
these were chosen as the most commodious. The seven pillars are those
delineated in one of the plates of Wood and Dawkins, as occupying the
angle where we still found them.
The people of the village had talked a great deal to me about a cavern
three leagues from the ruins, which contained, they said, several
curious natural productions: accordingly, on the 18th, I joined a party
who were going thither to bring away alum, sulphur, and vitriol. The
company was composed of thirty-nine persons, the greater part armed
with muskets and matchlocks, to defend themselves from the Bedouin
Arabs, should they meet any. They were mounted on asses, and carried
empty sacks. The shaykh accompanied us, purely out of civility, as he
said to me (who had been strongly recommended to his care by Mahannah),
but, in reality, to secure his share of the profits. The cave had been
represented to me as extremely curious; the road to it is due north
from the ruins, parallel with the chain of mountains which runs north
and south from the castle until it unites at right angles with the
White Mountain, at the foot of which the cave in question is situate.
On the highest part of the ridge of this chain, there is a Mahometan
shrine, already alluded to, called Ebn Ali. Upon these mountains are
found hyenas and stags, whose antlers, of which Lady Hester some
months afterwards obtained a pair, show them to be of a prodigious
size. Under the santon’s tomb is, as I was told, another cavern worthy
the examination of the traveller. Nearly abreast of it, and about a
mile distant in the plain, is the _mkatáa_, or quarry, where the
Palmyrenes obtained their stone for building. The rock is quarried with
great regularity: several masses lie hewn as if ready for removal; and
such is their size that they would exceed the power of common machines
of the present day:--they were of a pink-tinted carbonate of lime.
Arrived at the cave, every one pulled off all his clothes, excepting
his shirt and drawers. The mouth of it was perhaps thirty feet in
breadth, and ten or twelve in height: it continued of these dimensions
for a short distance, when two shafts went off in opposite directions:
one of these we entered by a hole, through which we crept on our
stomachs; for it appeared at this point to be choked up by rubbish
from the falling in of the rock. We had with us rudely-made torches
and bees-wax candles, brought for the purpose. The main shaft had been
worked nearly strait, and was rudely arched; the depth of it might
be from thirty to fifty yards. From it issued occasionally lateral
excavations, but apparently of subsequent date to the principal one,
and in some places the matrix of the rock was strongly sulphureous, for
it took fire on holding the candle awhile to it. Beautiful efflorescent
crystals of plumose alum, resembling tufts of snow-white silk, hung
from the roof in certain places, or jutted from the sides, but were
too perishable to bring away. In parts a yellow clay, wet and plastic,
was found. Portions of both the sulphur and the alum were collected
by the Arabs, who sell them in the manufacturing towns for the use of
dyers. In some places, the walls of the cave were nearly pure argil.
Thus the production of alum is constantly taking place in the cave from
the presence of the principles necessary to its formation; viz. sulphur
and alumine. I likewise found some pieces of selenite. The heat was so
suffocating that I could not remain in long. We next visited the shaft
running in an opposite direction to the first two: it was less deep and
more irregular. In this the roof caught fire, wherever a taper was
applied; an experiment I did not choose to see repeated a third time,
for fear of suffocation from sulphureous fumes. The cave is of high
antiquity, according to the tradition of the inhabitants, and probably
coeval with Palmyra. It is well worth examination, and will repay the
curiosity of the general traveller. The asses being all loaded, we
returned in the same order in which we came.
The 19th and 20th were spent in walking over the ruins. In the plan of
Palmyra, so accurately taken by Wood, as far as it goes, the remains of
the wall of Justinian, to the east and south-east, are not inserted.
They are, however, very distinctly visible, running north and south,
distant a little more than a quarter of a mile from the Temple of the
Sun. This seems to be the quarter of the private residences, as there
are few fragments of columns hereabouts.
Having now gratified my curiosity, though not satisfied it,
circumstances obliged me to think of departing. The ample accounts we
possess of the ruins of Palmyra render it unnecessary to say anything
on that head. The few observations I had time to make on its climate
and present productions, on the manners and dress of the inhabitants,
as well as on their diseases, may be comprehended in a very brief
space, and they can apply only to that season of the year in which I
made them.
Palmyra stands in latitude 30° 20′ north. To the west and north it
is sheltered by mountains. Towards the other two cardinal points it
looks over plains bounded by the horizon. The salt marshes lie to the
east, about one league off, and their extent varies according to the
winter rains. The mountains and plain are bare of trees. To the south
of the Temple there were a few orchards; and a few acres of land were
sown with maize and corn. These are irrigated by the waters of the
sulphureous spring.
As far as my observation went, those places in the Levant are healthy
which are not surrounded with gardens and orchards, whilst such as are
encompassed by them demonstrate in the looks of the inhabitants the
diseases to which they give rise. Thus, at Damascus, at Tripoli, at
Hamah, and such towns as are celebrated for their gardens, the season
is marked by the prevalence of intermittent and remittent fevers,
which are always obstinate, and sometimes, from bad treatment and
other circumstances, assume a malignant character. For, as the manner
of irrigating grounds consists in laying them under water by trenches
dug in a variety of directions, an artificial marsh is thus created,
the evaporation of which, in the great heats of autumn, gives rise to
noxious effluvia and to evening damps which check perspiration. On the
contrary, such places as are built on mountains or at the foot of them,
or in bare plains, enjoy a fine air; and this because the close of the
day brings with it no sudden change of temperature, and no unwholesome
vapours.[34]
Of this latter class is Palmyra: hence it is renowned among the Arabs
for its fine climate. During a residence of six days, from the 14th
to the 20th of January, in the very depth of winter, I found that it
was agreeable to undress and bathe in the open air, and that a few
showers, always succeeded by sunshine, and once a slight fall of snow,
constituted the utmost severity of the season, in the severest winter
that had been known for half a century; whilst, on the same days, the
snow at Hamah, in the same parallel of latitude, was six inches deep,
and covered the ground for some time: nay, the inhabitants of Tadmûr
went so far as to say that the very appearance of snow was a miracle
among them. It is mentioned by Wood that, in the month of March, the
heats were very great: it is therefore likely that in autumn they are
scarcely less intense than those of Egypt.
The few orchards and corn-fields which the inhabitants had, and which
were no more than scraps of ground scooped out among the ruins, served
to show that, with little care, all the plants of Syria might be reared
on this spot. Wood mentions having seen fig-trees there; at this time
there were perhaps a hundred. Palm-trees are numerous, and ripen their
fruit, which they will not do at Damascus; I ate of their dates. To
olive-trees the climate seems peculiarly congenial, as they have a
richness of foliage not observable elsewhere. Pomegranates, sweet
melons, water melons, almond trees, with apples and apricots and some
other fruits, were also to be found.
From these observations it will be concluded that the inhabitants of
Tadmûr are subject to few or no diseases; and this would be the case,
generally speaking, were it not that great filth and great poverty
sometimes engender them. From the latter cause arises the habit of
sleeping on the bare ground, and hence rheumatism is very common. From
the former it happens that ophthalmia, once established, is almost sure
to terminate in blindness; for a constant irritation is kept up (as has
been mentioned elsewhere) from the dust of the streets, as also by the
application of dirty cotton rags and handkerchiefs.
A trial was made by me of the effects of the sulphureous water on the
human body from a constant use of no other beverage; but it produced
no sensible change. That my appetite was unusually good, as it is in
general with all travellers at Palmyra, arose without doubt from the
air of an open country; and the same was the case under the tents of
the Bedouins. Whether the vicinity of the salt marshes has any share in
producing this effect, requires a longer experience than that of six
days to determine. Certain it is that they do not seem to communicate
any bad properties to the air, although so extensive an evaporation is
going on from them.
The inhabitants of Tadmûr are to be considered as natives rather of the
Desert than of the towns. They are the offspring of Bedouins; their
dress is the same; but I thought the Palmyrenes were of a stouter make.
With both, open violence or craft are considered as legitimate means
for effecting their purposes. The men and women occasionally bathe in
the warm spring. The women are celebrated for their comeliness; and it
is not unusual for the chiefs of the Bedouin tribes to give a very rich
dowry of camels and sheep for a Palmyrene maiden. It was remarkable
that the women, in the month of January, wore only a shift, covered in
a few instances with the woollen cloak, or abah: it is likely therefore
that in summer they almost dispense with this slight covering. Their
shifts are of coarse cotton, coquelicot-coloured, like Indian-silk
handkerchiefs with white spots. They are fond of beads, and pride
themselves on an enormous gold or silver ring (representing a coiled
serpent) which is passed through the cartilage of the right nostril,
and which, from its exposed situation, is often torn out. Some of these
rings are three inches in diameter. They wear rings also on all the
five fingers; likewise glass and silver bracelets and jamblets.[35] The
lips, the cheeks, the fore-arms, the hands, and sometimes the feet,
perhaps too the chest, and even the abdomen, are tatooed.
They feed very grossly, but less so than the Bedouins: husked wheat,
raisins, dibs, eggs, and sometimes rice, are their common dishes. They
set pounded wheat to stew in a small-mouthed pipkin, or in a covered
jar, all night, and then eat of it: this they call bûrma. They make
_kubby_ by pounding together husked wheat and minced mutton, or
goats’ flesh, in a mortar: this they mould into hollow spheres, and
boil or fry.[36] Whilst I was at Palmyra, Mfáthy, one of Mahannah’s
shaykhs, came after me, furnished with a letter from Mahannah, in which
I was enjoined to cure Mfáthy of a chronic complaint as speedily as
possible. The letter was a curiosity, since few persons, I believe,
have seen the handwriting of a Bedouin chieftain: and his style was not
very courtly.
Having made such examination as I thought necessary at Palmyra, Hassan
and I, accompanied by four Bedouins of the tribe of the Beni Omar, who
were going to the same point of the compass as ourselves, left Palmyra
on the 21st of January. The sky was cloudy, and it was unusually cold.
We watered our horses at the spring of Ephca, and, taking a north-west
direction, crossed the vale where is seen the reservoir of Abu el
Fawáres. About noon we reached the small chain of mountains which
bounds the valley, and entered upon the Mezah, that extensive plain
which has been already mentioned in the road to Palmyra. Crossing
the north-east angle of it, we arrived in one hour at the foot of
Gebel-el-Abiad.
Here it is necessary to carry the reader back a little, that we may see
what Lady Hester had been doing during my absence from Hamah. I had
promised her to write whenever an occasion presented itself; but the
season of the year had prevented any one from going to Hamah, and I had
had no opportunity. She therefore began to grow uneasy about me, and
resolved to despatch Giorgio, in order to ascertain what had become of
me. An Arab or two of Mahannah’s tribe, then at Hamah, were hired to
conduct him, and it was given out that the object of his journey was
to carry me some medicines, which I stood in need of for Mahannah’s
cure. His guides accordingly brought him safely to the tents of that
chieftain, who informed him whither I was gone. Giorgio’s instructions
being to find me out, and to go on to Palmyra, he was furnished by
Mahannah with another guide, a black, named Selûm, who rode before him
on the same camel, with a horseman by his side.
I had scarcely begun to ascend the mountain with my party, when Hassan
and his companions descried, at some distance, descending in the
direction we were going, what appeared to be two or three horsemen. In
a quarter of an hour we were come so near to each other that I could
distinguish two men mounted on a camel, who presently stopped the
camel and got off, whilst the beast remained kneeling. With them was
a horseman, who kept his seat. We were more numerous than they, yet
Hassan and the Beni Omar Arabs advanced very cautiously. When within
hailing distance, the Bedouin with the camel called out to us, and
at the same time posted himself behind the camel, with his matchlock
lighted, and taking aim at us. Hassan knew his voice, and halloed to
him by name:--it was Selûm, the black; and immediately both parties
recognized each other. But what was my surprise to find Lady Hester’s
servant, Giorgio, there, dressed in the Bedouin costume, and as much
metamorphosed as myself.
He explained to me, in a very few words, the object of his journey,
and showed me the box, containing medicines and other articles for
me, which was fastened on the camel’s back. But, when I told him he
must return with me, Selûm, his guide, and the horseman with him,
said that they were bearers of a letter from Emir Mahannah to Tadmûr,
and that they could not turn back until they had delivered it. What
was to be done? there was no time left for deliberation; for our four
companions, the Beni Omar Arabs, had kept on their way, and it was
absolutely necessary not to let them get out of sight, as the track we
were going was infested by robbers, and parties of a hostile tribe,
it was reported, were abroad. I resolved, therefore, that the lad,
Giorgio, should mount behind me, as Hassan’s horse was weaker than mine
and could not carry double, and that Hassan should take the box; nor
did it cost little pains, deprived as we were of cords or straps, to
fasten the box on: indeed, it could not be done without transferring to
my horse our barley and tethering pins. Selûm then informed us in what
direction Mahannah was encamped; and, wishing him good by, we hastened
after our companions.
Just at this time it began to snow. Our road wound through the
mountain, in the dry bed of a torrent. A forest of scattered
turpentine trees grew in and about it. As we ascended, the cold and
snow increased; and, the atmosphere being obscured, our Bedouins,
having no longer their landmarks to guide them, were considerably
embarrassed. We still kept in the torrent bed, and at last reached the
summit of the mountain, whence we proceeded to descend, by a rapid
declivity, into the plain on the other side.
The sun had now set. The servants’ luggage chafed the horse of my
conductor so much, that he refused to advance; whilst my own, burdened
with two riders, three pecks of barley, tethering irons, a small
medicine-chest, and the little linen I had, seemed to support himself
with difficulty. At last Hassan’s horse made a dead stand, and neither
words nor beating could urge him on; so he dismounted and carried the
luggage on his shoulder, whilst Giorgio got off from behind me, and
led the horse. As it grew dark, the glare from the snow, which now
covered the ground, served but to confuse the appearance of surrounding
objects. Hassan and Giorgio again mounted. For a time a faint path
served to guide us, until, losing this, we gave ourselves up to the
guidance of chance. Our troubles increased. Watercourses, steep
acclivities, and burrows of the jerboa, which cover all the Desert,
continually obstructed us. Cold and wretched, I feared that every trip
my horse made would throw one of us off, and knew not how we should
remount, benumbed as our joints had now become.
Hassan’s horse was quite exhausted, and we deliberated on what was
to be done. The other Bedouins, seeing no chance of bettering their
situation, pulled up, and it was concluded that we must make our beds
on the snow. The prospect was dismal. We had no water, no firewood,
and only a few cakes of dry bread to eat. We had nothing to sleep on,
nothing to cover us; no cave, no hole to creep into; no bush to lie
under. These are moments when the imagination pictures nothing but
dismal things. We were perhaps surrounded by enemies, perhaps removed
leagues and leagues from any human being. The very Bedouins who had
accompanied us were by trade mere robbers; and, whatever may be said of
the protection they afford to such as have once put themselves under
their care, I must confess I was not sure in my own mind that they
would not be tempted to plunder us during the night. We gave our horses
their feed of corn. I made Giorgio take his seat on one end of the deal
box, with his back to me, placing myself on the other end, that from
leaning against each other we might derive some mutual support and
warmth. Hassan sat down by us, with the corn-bags under him. He and
Giorgio soon fell into a doze, from which I occasionally awoke them, to
prevent the danger of freezing to death. For my part, I could not get
a wink of sleep; and the want of rest gave me a feverish heat, which
saved me, in some measure, from the effects of the inclemency of the
weather.
The morning of the 22nd was looked for with an impatience that can only
be known to those who have found themselves in similar situations: it
came at last. We resolved to diminish our luggage as much as possible.
To this end we unpacked the deal box, threw the case away, and put its
contents into the corn-bags; and, to relieve Hassan’s horse, which
seemed hardly capable of standing on his legs, these were added to
the burden of mine. We now mounted, the servant being behind me, as
before. The snow had ceased, but a thick fog darkened the atmosphere.
Our Bedouins, however, had found out where they were, and could, in a
manner, judge what their course should be. They hurried on, as on the
preceding day, whilst we did our utmost to keep up with them: but the
animals, exhausted by such continued suffering, were no longer equal to
the task. The Bedouins continued to gain on us, and at length we lost
sight of them, and saw them no more.
At this distressing moment, the fog cleared up, and our delight may be
conceived, when, on a neighbouring hill, we saw a drove of camels. We
made towards it, and were informed by the herdsman, that the Beni Omar
Bedouins were encamped in a bottom hard by. Our spirits cheered up. We
met other herds; and at last saw a woman grubbing roots for fuel, a
certain sign that we were close to the tents. In a few minutes we came
to the edge of a glen, where was a large encampment. In the spirit of
Eastern hospitality, we alighted at the first tent we came to, which
was that of Shaykh Hamed, where we were civilly received. We warmed
ourselves over a blazing fire: and, whilst we recounted the history of
our night’s sufferings, the shaykh listened to the tale with all the
unconcern imaginable; these being, with the exception of the snow, the
everyday adventures of this hardy people.
Our horses, too, more to be pitied than ourselves, met with as little
compassion. As they had not drunk since leaving Palmyra, I urged the
necessity of melting some snow for them: but Hassan forgot, over the
fire, the misery of his beast, who, tethered in the front of the tent,
stood shivering with the cold, and was so enfeebled that he could
scarcely stand. “The horse is done for,” was his expression,--“Yedebber
Allah, the Lord will provide for him.” This trait of inhumanity may
serve as an example (among many others that I could quote) of the
false notions that travellers propagate of the tenderness of Arabs
for animals. “God is bountiful,” they cry, and, tying the halter to
the hind-leg of their mares, they turn them loose to find pasture and
water where they can. Thus, the exhausted horse, tied close to us,
came and almost licked our faces in token of thirst. The sight was too
affecting; and I declared I would have some snow water, if no other was
to be had. A boiler at length was produced, and enough snow was melted
to assuage the most pressing calls of the poor animal.
To do me honour, a lamb was killed and served up at sunset, cut in
pieces, and boiled with bread. The shaykh, to mark his respect still
more, would not sit down till we had eaten, but, placing Hassan and
Giorgio with me, insisted on waiting upon us: and Hassan, that he might
not be outdone in politeness, raked over the dish with his hand, to
find a tit-bit to present to him as he stood by, whilst I did the same
to his son: and thus they amused themselves until we rose, when they
sat down to devour the remainder.
The next morning was snowy. The Beni Omar found no pasture for their
flocks, and gave us to understand that they were about to decamp.
Their course was contrary to ours, and we were at a loss how to act.
I stated my difficulties, that our horses were no longer serviceable;
our baggage heavy; and begged for a camel to carry it, offering to pay
for the hire: but there was none to be had, and we set off in the same
order as we had arrived on the preceding day. Consideration for the
state of the horses induced me to walk, and to order Giorgio to do the
same. Hassan, it will be allowed, had double cause for doing so too:
but the pride of a Bedouin is to be on horseback; and, in order that
the answer to the question, so often put from one to another among
them, “Are you mounted, or on foot?” might be in the affirmative,
nothing could ever persuade him to walk, though the groans of his
suffering horse reproached him at every step.
We were, however, unusually fortunate this day; for in half an hour
we reached another encampment of the Beni Omar, and alighted at the
tent of the shaykh himself. He was called Ali Bussal; and I was
pleased that an opportunity presented itself of seeing a chieftain so
renowned among the Bedouins for his prowess, and so dreaded in the
neighbouring provinces, as the most formidable enemy to caravans that
the Desert could produce. We passed the night with him. He was of a
grave character in conversation; and his long white beard, joined with
the solemnity of his manner, gave him the appearance of a saint more
than of a robber. To compensate for his crimes, he was very religious,
and was polite enough to insinuate to me that he esteemed Christians
no better than dogs. Moslems are so accustomed to insult the followers
of Christ, that it is always an effort when they condescend to put
themselves on an equality with them.
Whenever Mahannah was at variance with the Turks of the towns bordering
on the Desert, he sent Ali Bussal to plunder the caravans. Ali Bussal
was caught on one occasion, and soundly bastinadoed by the governor of
Hems: this, it may be supposed, had not increased his liking for the
Osmanlis.
We had now obtained instructions where to find Mahannah; and, though
the snow was deep, and the wounds on the back of Hassan’s horse were so
fetid as to infect the air around him, it was necessary to proceed; for
a Bedouin extends his hospitality through the night, but not willingly
longer. Hospitality is a virtue of poor nations; a sort of convention
for one party, where there are no inns, no houses, no towns, to offer
what they would expect in return, should their own affairs lead them
from home: otherwise, the stranger must starve. On these conditions,
they share their mess with him; and it is a received usage, now strong
as a law, that whoever presents himself during a meal, is invited to
partake of it. Still it is often likely that him whom they feed they
will finish by plundering--not openly; but they will continue to beg
from him; or, operating on his fears, to induce him to give more than
the value of what he has cost them.
We travelled about a league, and found some other tents, where we
stopped for the night.
On the 25th, we quitted our host; and, after an hour’s ride, reached
the advanced tents of the Melhem. We continued in a south-west
direction for two hours more, when we alighted at Mahannah’s tent. On
the way, Giorgio, who had a gun, killed two partridges of the Desert.
They are seen in flights that may almost be mistaken for clouds: they
are birds of passage; but I did not learn at what season they quit this
country: they fly somewhat like plovers, and have pointed wings.
I was met by the emir with many kind expressions of the anxiety he
had felt for my safe return. He was so far sincere, that, as he knew
the case brought by the servant contained some trifling presents
for himself, he was indeed anxious to have them in his possession.
For when Giorgio, in his presence, on first reaching his tent, had
inadvertently said as much, he did all in his power to induce him
to open the box, although addressed to me. In a quarter of an hour
after our arrival, he begged to be gratified with a sight of them:
and when the sack was emptied, he grasped at them as a child would at
sweetmeats. The cupidity of the Bedouins knows no bounds: and, during
my absence, M. Lascaris had experienced the truth of this observation.
He had conceived a plan of carrying on a traffic in goods useful to the
Bedouins, by establishing himself at Palmyra. Other views of a more
extended nature also may be attributed to him, if we may believe M. de
Lamartine. Be this as it may, in sending for his wife, he had desired
her to bring with her a supply of such articles as were saleable
in the Desert, and to be accompanied by an Aleppo Christian, named
Fathallah,[37] whose knowledge of the language and of pedlary was to be
useful, whilst his presence was to be a protection for her on the road
from Hamah to the tents.
Madame Lascaris and this Fathallah happened to arrive a few hours after
my return to the tents, on one of the most wet and windy days that I
had ever seen. An interesting young creature of thirteen years, named
Katinko, or Catherine, (who passed as Madame L.’s servant, but whose
genteel look and resemblance to M. L. raised a suspicion that she was
his daughter) was likewise with her. Cold and drenched with rain, after
having passed two nights on the wet ground with no tent to cover them,
they were overjoyed at last to find themselves among friends.
To win Mahannah’s favour, Madame Lascaris had brought with her presents
for him in dress to a considerable amount. These were formally given to
him, and in a moment the prince was equipped in his new habiliments.
His sons likewise came in for their share, and it was evident that M.
Lascaris had gone to the extent of his means to satisfy them all.
The weather, as I have observed, was very wet when Madame Lascaris
arrived. Next day being fine, the travellers hung their wet clothes to
dry. The emir, in the evening, finding himself warm by the fireside,
threw off his pelisse, and, according to the usage common among
Bedouins, gave it as a present to one of his people. He soon felt cold
again, and, observing a pelisse which was hanging up to dry, he took
it, and, putting it on, made it his own property. There was no remedy
but to secure as quick as possible what remained.
It rained in the afternoon of the 27th. As there was no pasture for
the camels, Mahannah was obliged to change his ground. We advanced in
a north-east direction, about one league; having, before the tents
were struck, eaten some dry bread: and we had nothing but dry bread and
treacle for supper.
The day was more uncomfortable than the preceding, and the rain
penetrated the tent in every direction. Soon after sunset, an alarm
was given that an enemy’s party had suddenly appeared, and had already
seized a drove of camels. In about five minutes, near fifty horsemen
were mounted, and galloped off at full speed. Hassan, unobserved by
me, had untied my horse, mounted him, and was galloping off too, when,
catching sight of him, I told Mahannah, that if he did not order him
immediately back, I would not fail to complain of his conduct. This
menace had the desired effect, and the horse and Hassan returned.
Fatigued as my horse was with his late sufferings, such an exertion
would have killed him outright.
It seems that Mahannah had been apprised of the approach of this party,
as the tents this day had been planted close to each other: whereas,
on the preceding occasions, they had been scattered over a space of
a square league. Half an hour had not passed when news was brought
that the two parties were engaged. Sundry reports stated the number
of wounded, how many mares were lost and taken, &c. The night was
dark, and it rained incessantly. The Emir’s son had started as he was,
without even boots on his feet, and others without their pelisses. All
the night we remained in suspense; and M. Lascaris and I figured to
ourselves the inconvenience we should experience, (to say no worse of
it), if the hostile party should prove victorious.
In the morning, Nasar returned, and by degrees the other horsemen
dropped in: we thus received a more correct account of what had
happened. The Bedouin tribe of the Sebáhs were at war with some Arabs
of the district of Horán. These latter had made an incursion on the
Sebáhs, whose tents adjoined ours; and, although the Anizys were not
implicated in the feud, several persons had been wounded on both
sides, before an explanation could take place. The Arabs of the Horán
had seized some camels of the Sebáh; but, by the intercession of the
Anizys, they were given up.
I visited one Bedouin who had received a wound in the calf of his leg
from a lance. Alum, powdered with crumbs of bread, was his remedy. He
refused to suffer me to handle the wound at all, and said he should
soon get well. In fact, the extreme temperance and spare diet of the
Bedouins render their wounds less dangerous than the same would be to a
European.
The mare of one of the emir’s sons could scarcely stand from fatigue.
He wrapped her body in a piece of carpeting, with which he generally
covered himself when he slept. Nasar caught a most severe rheumatism
from head to foot, and I observed that this was one of the commonest
maladies among them.
The inclemency of the weather, beyond what had been known for many
years, obliged me to remain a day longer with them. It was arranged
that Giorgio should make another attempt to reach Palmyra in company
with M. Lascaris;[38] and I, accompanied by my former guide, Hassan,
set off on the 28th of January, to return to Hamah.
The weather was very cold, and sleet fell occasionally. We rode all
day, and here a chasm in my journal obliges me to trust to my memory:
for my fingers were so benumbed that I could not make notes. I
recollect, that, while we were crossing that chain of mountains which I
have called the Beláz, we passed the ruins of an edifice which looked
something like a triumphal arch, and of Roman architecture. That part
which I particularly observed was the portico, the pillars of which lay
on the ground in the same order in which they had stood. There was an
inscription, in very large letters, but of which I could only make out
the letters IMP....[39]
Hassan was not willing that I should loiter, and I was too benumbed and
fatigued even to feel the curiosity natural to me on such occasions.
Hassan had moreover told me several stories of the ferocity of hyenas
and tigers in seasons so inclement as this; so that I expected to
see one rush out upon us from every bush. Towards the afternoon, the
severity of the cold augmented. We were still in the mountains, among
a scattered forest of turpentine trees; but the sleet and snow, which
drove directly in our faces, made it impossible to advance quickly.
About four or five o’clock, we came to the mouth of a cavern, where we
dismounted, and led our horses into it. They could just stand upright,
but the water oozed through the roof upon them; and, for ourselves, we
could hardly find a place free from wet whereon to sit. We had with us
no provisions but unleavened bread and raisins. My pipe, which, under
all difficulties, had been my greatest solace, served to beguile many
hours of this night. Hassan would not light a fire, much as we stood
in need of it; assuring me that there were too many robbers about to
be able to do it with safety, as the blaze would betray us. It may be
supposed what comfortless hours we passed in this situation.
Several times in the night Hassan peeped out of our den to see what
turn the weather would take. As soon as the morning star was up, he
told me we must start, as we had far to go. We tied on our wallets
behind the saddles, which had not been taken off, and, on emerging from
the cavern, I found that the sky promised a fine day, and that the
morning star was shining brilliantly. We rode along through scattered
turpentine trees. The sun rose, and yesterday’s snow, now thawed into
drops of water, shone like diamonds on the branches. On a sudden we
came on a low Bedouin tent, and, before Hassan could decide whether we
were to advance towards it, or to shun it, a Bedouin, who knew Hassan,
immediately made his appearance. They saluted each other, and talked
together about ten minutes, when we continued our journey. A little
farther on we saw a ruined village of comparatively modern date.
We soon quitted the forest and mountains, and entered on an almost
level country. The day proved mild, and we travelled on briskly. Soon
after mid-day, we saw, about a league distant, some camels, mounted by
Bedouins. We inclined towards them, and I suspected that Hassan had
been informed of their march by the Bedouin we spoke to in the morning,
as he showed no suspicions respecting them. We joined them in half an
hour. They were four Bedouins going to Hamah; and, accommodating our
pace to theirs, we marched with them the rest of the day. We soon came
in sight of the ruins of Salamyah, which we passed, leaving them six
miles to the south of us: then the Castle of Shumamys, which we left
behind us; and after sunset, reached a ruined mosque, where, amidst the
dung of animals, that had, no doubt, under circumstances like our own,
sought shelter here, we seated ourselves, supped on figs, which the
Bedouins gave us, and, wrapped in our abahs and sheep-skins, slept out
the night.
The next day, about two or three in the afternoon, we reached Hamah.
The Orontes had overflowed its banks, and on the bridge of Hamah the
water reached up to our horses’ hocks.
Thus, during the twenty-eight days which I passed in the Desert, for
fifteen I never washed my hands, never changed my clothes, and slept
in a tent open on one side to the snow, the rain, and the wind: often
did I awake with my feet soaked in wet. Excepting the six days I passed
at Palmyra, it was seldom I ate anything but unleavened bread, figs,
raisins, treacle, and rice. People may marvel at the extraordinary
hardships of the Bedouin Arabs, who support life with a pinch of flour
and a few dates, and at the hundred other wonders related of them. That
which is most difficult to bear is the want of water, which, even when
it abounds, being collected from holes in rocks and puddles, is quite
muddy; yet, in my case, novelty and hunger made me tolerate, if not
relish, everything. These are the sources of the liberty of the Arab.
Brought up from his birth to bear privations, to which the inhabitants
of towns and villages would not submit, he reigns the lord of a
territory which nobody envies him: and, whilst he plants his tent at
pleasure over a measureless waste, enjoys a freedom bought at a price
that few are willing to pay for it.
I felt proud to have contemplated the Bedouins, not as most travellers
do by a cursory sight of some stragglers whom chance throws in their
way on the high road, or in the market-towns to which they resort; but
in their own homes, in their most numerous encampments, and under the
roof of the Emir, Mahannah el Fadel.
A few observations, which presented themselves in the course of my
stay among them, and which would have interrupted the thread of the
narrative, will not be altogether misplaced here. The Bedouins are very
ceremonious. Whoever joins a party generally makes three salutations,
to which every person replies, “Salám Alëikûm, peace be unto you: Allah
messekûmbel khyr, the Lord give you a good night--strength to you.” To
which the answers are, “Unto you be peace: A hundred good nights to
you: God strengthen you also.” When a person of consequence enters, all
rise; and as, from the nature of a tent where the entry and exit is
but a step, this takes place very frequently, the repetition of this
ceremony becomes extremely tiresome. Whenever any one drinks, he says,
“In the name of God;” and, as he removes the cup from his lips, he is
saluted on all sides by “_Hannean_” (much good may it do you), He
puts it down with “El hamd lillah--Praise to God.”[40]
I have seen an Arab, in selling a measure of barley, take God to
witness in every shape in which an oath can be worded of his being a
loser by the bargain; adding, as he measured it out, “In the name of
God the merciful:”--yet, to the certain knowledge of the bystanders,
he was making fifty per cent. by his goods. Their thieving disposition
allows not a moment’s peace to the traveller who is among them. His
saddle-bags must always be with him, or they will be rifled: and,
though he may sleep upon them, sit by them, and leave them only on
pressing occasions for a moment, he may expect to find something
missing. A plated curb to my bridle disappeared on the second night: my
provision of barley for my horse soon followed, and I was obliged to
content myself with the scanty pittance allowed me by the emir.
CHAPTER VI.
Hamah--Inclemency of the weather--Preparations made by Lady
Hester for her journey to Palmyra--Conical cisterns--Nazýf
Pasha--Abdallah Pasha--Muly Ismael--The governor of
Hamah--Appearance of the Plague in Syria--Motives of Lady Hester
Stanhope for visiting Palmyra--Price paid to the Bedouins
for a safe conduct--Pilfering; particularly by their chief
Nasar--Order of march--Sham fights--Tribe of the Sebáh--Arabs
on their march--Rude behaviour of Nasar--Gebel el Abiad, or the
White Mountain--The Author rides forward to Palmyra--Alarm at
Lady Hester’s encampment--Her entry into Palmyra--Inspection of
the ruins--A wedding--Dress of the women--Faydán Bedouins made
prisoners--The escape of two of them causes Lady Hester to leave
the place.
I paid Hassan the remainder of the sum agreed upon for conducting me,
namely, 182 piasters. The whole cost of the journey, including every
expense, was no more than 215 piasters, being equal to about £10. I
had been absent twenty-eight days. The horse which Hassan had ridden
died, from fatigue and the wound on his back, three days after our
return. I found that the general theme of conversation in Hamah was the
extraordinary weather. It had rained and snowed alternately from the
2nd of January up to the present time, and the snow had remained on
the ground three inches deep. Soon after my return, water, in exposed
situations, when still, froze a quarter of an inch thick, yet at
mid-day the weather was beautiful and even hot.
As M. and Madame Lascaris were no longer at Hamah, I now occupied an
apartment in a building that had formerly been the harým or private
dwelling of Yahyah Bey, the governor of the place, who had been
spirited away so suddenly, and where Mr. B. was already living.
Having satisfied Lady Hester on the practicability of her journey to
Palmyra, she now busied herself very seriously in preparations for her
departure, which she fixed for the ensuing month, when we expected that
the weather would be settled. Her health, however, was not very robust
at that time; and few persons in my situation would have pronounced
her equal to such an undertaking. But I had had occasion to observe so
frequently the great resources which she had derived from her personal
courage and animal spirits against fatigue; and how often on a journey,
her state was better than when halting; that I thought myself perfectly
justified in consenting to the attempt. On the 10th of February I hired
a boy, named Antonio, for my servant. Even then it froze very hard in
the night, although the days proved fine and clear. About this time I
observed in the markets a species of bulbous root, with a grassy leaf,
which the inhabitants bought up with great avidity. I desired Ibrahim
to procure me some, and, according to the manner of the country, I ate
them boiled in milk, and found them exceedingly good. They are called
in Arabic (at Hamah) khabbûs, and at Damascus hardyl; but I know not
their botanical name.
February 12.--I rode to the west of Hamah one league, where I saw
several reservoirs or cisterns of the shape of a sugarloaf, with
openings at the apex large enough to admit a man. These, from
numberless observations made at different places, I now supposed to
indicate the former sites of houses and villages. They are always found
on dry elevated ground, and served as repositories for grain;[41] they
are always well coated with cement. Upon the hill, likewise, to the
west and south-west of the city, on my return, I saw others; and, at
the same spot, there were evident traces of a foss, or ditch: by which
I was led to conclude that the city originally occupied this eminence,
and was not, as at present, confined to the valley beneath.
Lady Hester had already received visits from most of the first
families of Hamah. Among these was that of Nasýf Pasha, who had once
been governor of Damascus, and, from dread of the Porte, had been
obliged to fly into Europe, as we have already mentioned when speaking
of Hadj Ali, (v. i., p. 298.) Nasýf Pasha was one of the most comely
men I ever saw. Having expressed a wish to consult me, I went, on
the 13th of February, to see him. His conversation turned chiefly on
vaccination, concerning which he was anxious to arrive at a certainty
as to its alleged preventive powers. He spoke a few words of Italian:
and although he had resided at Rome, Naples, Genoa, and Marseilles, he
said, (will it be believed?) that he had seen nothing to induce him to
alter, in a single instance, his mode of living, his mode of educating
his children, his dress, his furniture, his sentiments, or even his
agricultural or horticultural pursuits, if we except that he had raised
in his garden a few strawberries, before unknown in that neighbourhood.
Another of the great families of Hamah was that of Abdallah Pasha, of
the house of Adam, father of Ahmed Bey: but he lived a very retired
life. There was the chieftain of the _delibash_, or _deláty_,
(a kind of cavalry, who wear high cylindrical felt caps, and are known
throughout Turkey by this distinction) named Muly Ismaël,[42] who
proved, from his rank and influence, of the greatest service to Lady
Hester, for whom he conceived a great friendship. He had a corps of
delibash in his pay, whom he hired out to the neighbouring pashas
as mercenaries. His ordinary residence was at Hamah, where he had a
large mansion. Besides the number of wives allowed by the Mahometan
law, he had several concubines: and these latter it was his custom to
marry to those officers of his household whom he distinguished by his
particular favour, imitating, in this, his sovereign and the grandees
of the country. He was a very fat man. As he was independent of the
magistrates appointed by government, he exercised even the power of
life and death over his own people. I was consulted by him several
times, and he readily made use of all external applications; but I
never could induce him to take any medicine; and even though, upon one
occasion, I made the experiment of obliging Giorgio first to swallow a
pill before him, (being one out of three I held in a box, and of which
the other two were intended for him) his distrust of mankind was not to
be overcome, and he refused to take them.
The governor, or motsellem, of Hamah, was a certain Abdallah Bey, the
son of a pasha: for Hamah is a city of the third rank, and generally
has a distinguished person to rule over it. His predecessor was named
Yahyah Bey, who had been carried off prisoner to Damascus, upon a
suspicion of malversation, a few days before.[43] He was said to be
one of the most artful men in Syria. Relying on his spies and his own
acuteness, he had for a long time, without being in open rebellion, set
the Porte and the pasha at defiance. Thus, he had detected seven plots
in succession to entrap him: but this time the pasha of Damascus was
more clever than he. Abdallah Bey never showed more civility to Lady
Hester, Mr. B., or myself than was required by the firmáns of which we
were bearers.
On the 15th, I went to the hamlet of Menäýn, about six miles from
Hamah, where the inhabitants use the conical reservoirs, spoken of
above, as reservoirs for corn. To the south-west of the city, two
leagues off, is Kefferbûah, a Christian village. Mr. B. this day came
back from an excursion to Museaf.
February 17th, Mahannah, the Emir of the Bedouins, came to Hamah. We
were thrown into some alarm this day by an accident which befel M.
Beaudin, the interpreter, who tumbled from his horse on his head, and
returned home with his face much disfigured by the fall. Mrs. Fry, Lady
Hester’s maid, was also dangerously ill of a pleurisy.
There were epidemic fevers, at this time prevailing throughout the
city, of which I make no mention here, because foreign to the object
of the general reader. I was called in to the wife of the governor,
Abdallah Bey, whom I found dying of a consumption: and it may not
be useless to observe that I saw almost as many consumptions in the
Levant as in England, although it cannot be denied that this disease is
peculiarly fatal to our own country.
Selim, the son of Musa, the governor’s secretary, was just recovered
from a bilious remittent fever, and we rode out into the country
together. We took a south-south-west direction, and at the distance of
two miles we came to some grottoes, in and near to which were several
females loitering about. These, he told me, were loose women, who (as
we have already seen to be the case at Damascus) were required, from
their bad morals, to live out of public view.
On the 25th of February the weather changed, and the nightly frosts
ceased. There were occasionally some violent squalls of wind, but the
sun was very warm.
On the 26th, Monsieur Narsiat, a French traveller who had filled some
post in the suite of General Gardanne when on a mission in Persia, this
day passed through Hamah, and dined with us. Lady Hester received from
Constantinople fresh firmáns to replace those lost in the shipwreck.
This evening it rained a little; and, until the 5th of March, there was
cloudy or showery weather, with intervals of clear sky and hot sun.
It will be recollected that on the 10th of February I hired a Christian
boy, named Antonio, to wait on me. I caught him, one day, filching
some dollars out of a money-bag which lay at the top of a chest, the
lid of which I had left open. He had secreted two in his girdle; and,
when discovered, fell down, kissed my feet, and uttered such pitiable
lamentations, that I merely turned him away, considering myself
somewhat to blame for putting temptation in the way of a youth by
neglecting to lock the chest. In his stead I was resolved to try a
Turkish servant, and I hired one, named Mohammed, for ten paras a day
and his food, which was at about the rate of four guineas a year.
On the 7th of March there were great rejoicings to celebrate the
recovery of Mecca from the Wahábys. The people of Syria, but more
especially at Damascus, and on the high road to it, might naturally
feel exhilarated at the prospect of the re-establishment of the
pilgrimage to Mecca, by which their interests would be so much
benefitted.
On the 9th there was a tremendous hurricane of wind. Istefán and Hadj
Ali, two servants, were seized with remittent fevers. On the 11th
there was alternate rain and sunshine, and by the 14th the weather
seemed settled, fine, and hot. On the 18th we had the burning wind, or
sirocco, when the heat was very oppressive.
It was at this period that we heard of the reappearance of the plague
in Syria, after a suspension of ten years, or thereabouts. Its
introduction was said to be as follows: in the spring it had broken
out at Constantinople; about the 1st of February of the next year, a
Tartar, arriving at St. Jean d’Acre from Constantinople, died of it
there, and a Jew, buying his clothes, communicated the infection to his
whole family. This was its first appearance in Syria; but, as the pasha
and the inhabitants took the alarm, several shops were shut up and
some families quitted the town. Other precautions, such as placing a
sentinel at the Jew’s door, and preventing communication from without,
stopped the disease in its birth. At Beyrout, a vessel came to anchor
in the roads, having the plague on board. A barber went on board to
shave the people, and subsequently died; but, as his house was put
under quarantine, and as no goods were permitted to be landed from
the vessel, the evil spread no further. Exclusive of these insulated
attacks of plague, a malignant fever was raging at Tripoli, Beyrout,
Sayda, and St. Jean d’Acre: and, although no diseases of a malignant
character had shown themselves where we had been, still there was so
much sickness prevailing, that every person of our party, with the
exception of myself, had been ill in one way or another.
The time had now come, when, from the settled state of the weather,
and from the completion of the necessary arrangements, Lady Hester
resolved on departing for Palmyra. The arrangements, whilst actually
going on, may be said to have lasted six weeks. Never had an excursion
of pleasure a finer object: we were going to contemplate the most
finished productions of art. Seldom, too, was witnessed a caravan of a
few individuals on a more magnificent scale. Twenty-two camels were to
bear the tents, luggage, firewood, rice, flour, tobacco, coffee, sugar,
soap, saucepans, spare horse-shoes, and other provisions; eight carried
water, and nine corn for the horses. We were to be escorted by a tribe
of Bedouins, headed by a prince’s son; and our own cavalcade amounted
to twenty-five horsemen. The most trifling want of the meanest servant
was provided for, and the best equipped military expedition could not
be more complete in all its parts than this. Although Lady Hester might
be satisfied, from what she had herself seen, and from the report I
had made her of the practicability of the journey, she nevertheless
could not doubt that the risk of it would be great, as she carried with
her things of value in the eyes of the Arabs, and went totally at the
mercy of her conductors.[44] It was known that the Honourable F. North,
afterwards Lord Guildford, Mr. Fazakerley, and Mr. Gally Knight had not
thought it safe to venture across the Desert to which we were going,
and others in the same way had been deterred by the picture that had
been drawn of the dangers they would have to encounter. Even those who
effected their purpose had experienced many hardships.
But, besides the wish of beholding broken columns and dilapidated
temples, Lady Hester may be supposed to have had other motives peculiar
to herself, and which could not actuate travellers in general. These
columns and temples owed the greatest part of their magnificence to
one of her own sex, whose talents and whose fate, remotely akin to her
own, no doubt might move her sympathy so far as to prompt her to visit
the spot which a celebrated woman had governed. She sought the remains
of Zenobia’s greatness, as well as the remains of Palmyra.
I must interrupt the narrative for a moment to insert two letters
written by Mr. B. and Lady Hester to one of their friends, that the
reader may gather from other hands some particulars of the nature of
the journey we were about to undertake.
_To Lieut.-General Oakes, &c., Malta._
Hamah, March 13, 1813.
My dear General,
In the month of October last I wrote you a letter from Aleppo,
in which I stated that I was then on the eve of my departure
to join Lady Hester at Hems, and that we proposed going from
thence to Palmyra. Many unforeseen circumstances occurred which
rendered it impossible to carry the plan into execution at
that moment. From Hems, I went to Damascus, and, after having
remained there near a month, I came to this place, where we have
passed the winter. As Lady Hester was unwilling to relinquish
the journey to Palmyra, we have been occupying ourselves in
making the necessary preparations. We do not intend, as at
first, taking an escort to guard us against the Arabs, but to
put ourselves under their protection. By so doing, we shall gain
a double advantage: we shall not only see the ruins of Palmyra,
but shall have an opportunity of acquiring some knowledge of
the manners and customs of the very curious inhabitants of
the Desert. Perhaps you will not think it very prudent that
we should trust ourselves into their power. I am aware that
no reliance can be placed on the honour or good faith of so
uncivilized a people; but I do not think it is to their interest
to be guilty of any act of treachery towards us. We have besides
taken every manner of precaution against such an event.
Lady Hester has gained the friendship of Ishmael Aga, a great
Delibash chief, who has guaranteed our safety. He is one of
the most powerful men in Syria, and the Arabs stand in great
awe of him. I think, therefore, that you need be under no
apprehension of our being detained prisoners in the Desert.
Mahannah el Fadel, the chief of all the tribes known by the
name of Anizi, comes here to-morrow, in order to escort us.
If Lady Hester succeeds in this undertaking, she will at
least have the merit of being the first European female who
has ever visited this once celebrated city. Who knows but she
may prove another Zenobia, and be destined to restore it to
its ancient splendour?--perhaps she may form a matrimonial
connection with Ebn Seood, the great chief of the Wahabees. He
is not represented as a very loveable object; but, making love
subservient to ambition, they may unite their arms together,
bring about a great revolution both in religion and politics,
and shake the throne of the Sultan to its very centre. I wish
you would come and assist them with your military counsel.
How proud I should feel to learn the art of war under so
accomplished a general! I only hope that Lady Hester’s health
will be able to resist the fatigue which she will unavoidably
be exposed to. It will require, too, great management to keep
the Arabs in good order; for, from the specimen that we have
already had of them, I am afraid that we shall find them very
troublesome. The greater the difficulties, the greater will be
our merit in overcoming them. We have spent a most disagreeable
winter here: the weather has been extremely severe for this
climate. Almost all the fruit-trees in the gardens of Damascus
have been destroyed, and a tribe of Arabs, who inhabited the
plain, have been overwhelmed, with their wives, children, and
flocks, by the snow. The oldest men never recollect so severe
a winter. To increase our misfortunes, the plague has come to
this country. From the most correct information which we have
received, it appears that it has broke out in Acre, Tyre, and
Sayda. As there is constant communication, by means of caravans,
between the coast and the interior, it will, I am afraid, soon
be carried to Damascus, and from thence spread itself over the
whole of the country.
The Turks take no measures to stop its progress: they are
predestinarians, and say, that, as it is the will of God, they
must submit to it with patience. I certainly do not admire this
resignation; for it never can be the will of God that man should
not endeavour to avert an impending evil. Such resignation is
the effect of ignorance, and not of piety.
Mr. Pisani writes me word that it has made great havoc at
Constantinople: upwards of twenty thousand souls have been
carried off by it--a most dreadful mortality indeed! I lament
the fate of this unhappy country, which suffers enough from
the vexatious tyranny of its government, without having this
additional scourge from Heaven.
As soon as we return from the Desert, we purpose taking refuge
at Latakia, as being the most convenient situation in every
respect: but if, unfortunately, the plague should come there
before we can arrive, in that case we shall only have the
alternative of retiring into the mountain, or of shutting
ourselves up in Aleppo. Lady Hester dislikes the latter
place.[45] She seems to have the same horror against the Franks
as against the butter.[46] We must, however, hope for the best,
and, like the Turks, submit with patience to the will of God.
In a letter which I wrote to you last November from Damascus,
I begged that you would do me the honour of accepting half a
barrel of wine, which came from the Dardanelles. I had hopes of
being able to procure some of the celebrated Vino d’Oro, which
is made at Zook, a village in the Keserwan. I gave a commission
to a man to prepare a good quantity for me last summer when I
passed through that place; but I have heard nothing more of it
since that time, and I am afraid that he has forgotten me: I
will, however, endeavour to get some before I leave the country.
By the last news which we received from Cairo, it appears that
Mahomet Ali has been very successful against the Wahabees. He
overcame them in a great battle, and has retaken the two holy
cities of Mecca and Medina. I wish I had an opportunity of
gaining some knowledge of the Wahabees. They are a very curious
people, and I am inclined to think that, unless the Porte makes
some very vigorous efforts to crush them at once, they are
destined to bring about a great revolution, both in politics
and religion, in the East. They have already extended their
conquests with great rapidity over the Nedj country and Yemen.
We know, too, that a nation of shepherds have always been looked
upon as formidable. With them every man is a soldier; and their
very amusements are the images of war. When they take the field,
they move about with the whole of the nation. Their force is
not diminished by being obliged to leave any of their people
behind to cultivate their fields, or to take charge of the women
or children. In ancient times, the Scythians and Tartars were
feared by the Romans in the very zenith of their glory, and
sometimes even overcame their legions.
The Turkish empire, which is in so weak and disorganized a
state, and which has no regular or disciplined army to oppose
them, may at some future period fall an easy prey to these
numerous hordes, and the ancient Caliphate may be restored
over Egypt, Syria, and Arabia. But I find that I am travelling
out of my depth, and I am afraid that your patience is already
exhausted. I will, therefore, conclude my letter by requesting
that you will believe me,
My dear General,
Your most sincere friend,
M. B.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to Lieut.-General Oakes._
Hamma, March 15th, 1813.
My dear General,
Just as I was about to despatch the letters which accompany
this, a report of the plague being in different towns in Syria
decided us to send expressly to ascertain the fact, which
is exactly this, that it is spread all along the coast from
Alexandria to Tripoli; Latakia is the only port which is
free from it at this moment, and it is making its way towards
Damascus into the interior. I have so often talked of setting
off that I must be actually mounted before I tell you so again.
The Arab chief is now upon his road, and I expect him here in
three days.
Respecting the plague, I feel no personal apprehension, but it
is an anxious moment, as I am not alone. The desert has again
been all confusion, but at this moment things are pretty quiet.
I have great confidence in the Arab chief; the pasha sent an
express for him almost at the same moment when mine arrived, and
his answer was, “The Queen must be served first.”
Mahanna waits my orders, just as Lord Paget with his cavalry
would do yours were you to command a great army. Upon receiving
them, he was to dispose of the different tribes under his
command, in the way he thought most advantageous in case of an
enemy; that is to say, not to leave a space, in a straight line,
of more than a few hours, without tents. This settled, he was to
set off and repair here with my second messenger.
The weather now is delightful, but I have suffered much from the
cold this winter; it has been so severe as to have killed the
camels and cattle which are not used to it, and for thirty years
such weather was never known in this country.
March 19th.--To-morrow, my dear General, I mount my horse with
seventy Arabs, and am off for Palmyra at last. I am so hurried I
cannot write all I wish, but the Sir D. Dundas of Syria I have
made a conquest of, and he insisted upon speaking to the Arab
chiefs, and said he would cut off all their heads if they did
not bring me back safe. I owe much to the kindness of this old
fellow, who, since I have resided here, has thought of nothing
but how he could serve me. He tells me every day I must not
leave off my Turkish clothes.
I have heard a few days ago from Captain Hope; he expects to
come out again to the Mediterranean, and wishes to fetch me away
from Syria if he can. His letter pray enclose to Admiral Hope
at the Admiralty, unless you should have heard Hope has sailed;
then send it to the fleet with Sir Sydney’s letter. God bless
you, my dear General; I hope on my return from the seat of my
empire to find letters from England.
Yours most sincerely,
H. L. S.
Some days before this, Mahannah, as was said above, arrived at Hamah.
Muly Ismael had warned Lady Hester of the danger there might be in
having no check whatever on the Bedouins, who, in spite of their
promises, might be led by their natural habits to plunder her. He told
her that it was common for them, when they got strangers among them,
to beg for every thing they saw, and piece by piece to reduce them to
the same state of nakedness as themselves: for, in the early part of
his life, having incurred the displeasure of the Porte, he had taken
refuge among them, and could speak as to their habits from experience.
A conference therefore was held with Mahannah in the presence of the
Muly; and, as a price for the escort he was to afford Lady Hester
across the Desert, it was settled that he was to receive a sum of
money, which was to be deposited in the hands of Muly Ismael; and the
deposit was made in Mahannah’s presence. The sum agreed on was 3000
piasters, equal to about £150, of which 1000 piasters were advanced at
starting, and the remainder was to be paid on our safe return.
The 20th March was fixed for our departure. Each of the party was well
mounted, furnished with a leather water-bottle, and a small pair of
saddle-wallets to contain provisions. Every one of us carried, secreted
about his person, a few sequins, in case of losing company, or of
otherwise being separated from the caravan. All were in the costume of
the Bedouins, and Mrs. Fry, Lady Hester’s maid, was, like her mistress,
dressed in man’s clothes.
About ten in the morning we set off. Spectators lined the road for
half a league out of the town; and some janissaries, whom the governor
had sent to clear the way, had much ado to keep off the crowd. Of
the reflecting part we had commiseration for our supposed folly and
prayers for our safe return; many considering that we were going
to the certainty of being plundered, if not to our destruction.
By degrees we left them behind, and entered upon plains where the
solitude that prevailed formed a striking contrast with the scene we
had just quitted. Lady Hester was followed by the Bedouin chieftains,
who composed her body-guard. Their long lances, plumed with ostrich
feathers; their curling hair hanging in ringlets over their cheeks
and neck; their gay-coloured keffiyahs, drawn over their mouths like
vizors; their lean mares; every thing about them was novel and
calculated to set the fancy of all of us to work, as to where we were
going, and what would be the issue of our journey--excepting myself,
who had already trod the same ground. As we entered the Desert, those
who before had not seen so vast a waste behind them looked as people
may be observed to do, embarking on the sea for the first time in their
lives, and losing sight of land.
We continued along the right bank of the Orontes for about two hours
and a half, until we arrived at a hamlet called Genàn. Here we halted
for the night, and were lodged in the cottages. I had scarcely
dismounted, when I was led to one of them, where, on a rug, lay a dying
man. The bystanders expected I should give him some restorative that
would reprieve him from the hands of death; but, whilst endeavouring to
make them understand that the case was desperate, the man expired, and
I was suffered to depart. In about an hour, four or five women, with
their faces whitened, their hair dishevelled, and with sabres in their
hands, began, in an open space in the centre of the hamlet, a funereal
dance accompanied by occasional howls. The men did not join in it, and
seemed very indifferent about it.[47] The corpse was soon afterwards
interred, but I did not see it put into the ground.
There were so many rats in the cottage where Lady Hester slept, that
her maid became exceedingly terrified, and, quitting the room, sat in
the open air during the greater part of the night.
We resumed our march on the morrow, the twenty-first, and followed,
through a rich meadow, the course of a rivulet which empties itself
into the Orontes at Genàn. In about seven hours we arrived at an
encampment of the small tribe of Beni Hez, where also were a few tents
of the Melhem, Mahannah’s family tribe. These had been ordered here for
the purpose of affording a station for us.
The next day we filled our skins with good water from the rivulet,
and departed. The ruins of Salamyah[48] were on our left, and we were
near to the ground where M. Lascaris and I had passed the first night
on my former journey. The escort was now augmented by some Arabs from
the Beni Hez. Nasar was unremitting in his attention to Lady Hester’s
commands; but, in all the rest of the caravan, wherever he appeared,
much disputing prevailed. In defiance of all interference and of all
contracts, the Bedouins had begun to pilfer from the moment of quitting
Genàn. Most of the servants were in clothes quite new; and, if one of
them happened to throw off a cloak, Nasar would lay hold of it, and
put it on his own shoulders. In vain the owner would beg for it back
again. Nasar would pretend to be angry, and ask who dared refuse him
anything? In an hour’s time he would make a present of the same cloak
to one of his own people: and then, in a few hours more, by fair or
foul means, would obtain something from somebody else; not to keep it
himself, but to give it away to some one of his people who had none.
This day’s journey brought us to the wells of Keffiyah, four or five
in number, where Mahannah, with his household tents, was encamped.
These wells, which, from the days of Abraham, seem to have existed in
the Desert, supply a brackish water, which necessity alone can render
palatable. We gave it to our horses, in order to preserve the sweet
water for our own drinking.
We rested here one day. Lady Hester received the visits and, we may
say, the homage of the chief shaykhs, who came in from all quarters.
To all of these presents were made, generally of articles of dress.
Her ladyship took for the sentry of her tent a tall black slave, named
Guntar, a fellow of reputed courage and daring, and whose scowling
looks and tremendous battle-axe (his only weapon) almost excited terror
in those whom he was destined to protect.
The Anizy were at this time at war with the Faydân; a tribe that
generally pastured on the borders of the Euphrates. The Faydân were
known to have some strong parties abroad, and it was probable, that,
if they received information of our route, they would attack us. Much
attention was therefore paid to the order of our march with the view
of avoiding a surprise. Soon after daybreak, on the 24th, the tents
being struck and the camels loaded, Lady Hester and her guard, with
Nasar, took the lead, whilst Mr. B. and myself and the armed servants
covered the rear of the caravan. Scouts were sent out ahead of us to
reconnoitre; and, although sometimes we lost sight of them for hours,
and there were no beaten paths, they were still sure to rejoin us.
To beguile the way, the Bedouin horsemen performed sham fights.
Throwing off the keffiyas, which covered their heads, they let their
long hair fly in the wind, which gave them a very wild appearance;
then, resting their lances, and setting up a war-whoop, they would
select an opponent and ride furiously at him. He would avoid the
attack, get the upper hand by a short turn, and then become the
assailant: and this I believe to be generally the way in which Arabs
fight. When they had tired themselves, two bards, who were of the
party, recited pieces of poetry; which, though not understood by us,
evidently had a great effect on the Bedouins.
Having passed some wells, close by the ruins of a village, called
Jarryat Theap,[49] we halted at Menghiazy, a ruined village, at the
edge of the Beláz, a mountainous chain, and just where a forest of
turpentine trees begins. We found an encampment of Bedouins, whose
shaykh, named Mnyf, was introduced to us as a brave chieftain: and here
we passed the night.
The following morning we resumed our journey. The Beláz seems to
consist of two parallel chains of low mountains, with deep valleys
between them, separated here and there by a transverse chain. We had
surmounted the first chain, and, through the Menkûra, or ravine, were
descending into the valley, when we were gratified with the sight of
an entire tribe of Arabs on their march in search of pasture. This is
one of the most pleasing spectacles that we met with in the Desert. The
line of march might consist of one thousand camels, some of which were
winding down the slope of the opposite mountain, and the rest filing in
different directions along the valley, loaded with tents, women, and
utensils: whilst the whole valley was absolutely covered with the young
or unloaded camels, which followed their respective masters.
These Bedouins were called the Sebàh, and were tributaries of
Mahannah’s. The men were very meagre, and unlike any race of beings
I had ever seen; and their dress was as ragged as that of gipsies.
They wore their hair long, and in curls. The women rode in a species
of saddle, shaped like the scull of a ram with the horns on, which I
have described before. To the horns were appended gaudy ornaments in
coloured worsted. The faces of the women were tatooed. Most of the
mares were without saddles, and were ridden with nothing but a hair
rope put on as a halter. They stared in astonishment at our cavalcade,
and, when they had learned who Lady Hester was, they necessarily
thought it still more wonderful.
Her ladyship chose this moment for resting herself, and a small tent
was fixed for her on a rising ground that commanded a view of the whole
valley, where she reposed for about an hour. Having quitted the Beláz
mountain, we entered an open country, and, at a considerable distance
before us, we beheld two conical mounts with flattened tops close to
each other, at the foot of which we encamped.
It was Lady Hester’s custom, as soon as the bustle of encamping was
over, and things were a little quiet, to go to the tent which was set
apart for meals, conversation, &c.; where, when we were together,
she would summon to her those of the Arabs with whom she wished to
converse. Hitherto, Nasar had always obeyed this summons with great
alacrity: but to-day, in answer, he sent back word “that Lady Hester
might be the daughter of a vizir, but he, too, was the son of a prince,
and was not disposed at that moment to quit his tent: if she wanted
him, she, or her interpreter, might come to him.” It was in vain to
be angry where anger could avail nothing. The Bedouins now began to
buz about that Nasar was very moody; that they hoped this boded no
mischief; that it would be a sad thing if he should order us back;
and a hundred expressions calculated to breed alarm among us. As far
as regarded the servants, it had its effect: but that was not Nasar’s
object. Either as a frolic, or as an experiment to ascertain whether,
by false alarms, Lady Hester would be induced to offer him an increased
price to secure her safety, his aim was against her; but he failed
altogether; for she showed no symptom of fear: and, although she could
not make the reply which would have been so natural in a European’s
mouth, but which in a Mahometan’s, by whom respect to females is not
held as a duty, has no sense, namely, that his rudeness towards a woman
was inexcusable; still she treated him with complete indifference
all that evening; and orders were given that all persons should be
on the alert against anything that might happen in the night. Nasar,
however, remained quiet, but prepared another stratagem for the ensuing
encampment, which did not leave us quite so tranquil.
We departed early in the morning, over an undulating country, stony
and with scanty herbage. After three hours, we arrived at Gebel el
Abiad, or the White Mountain, but at the south-west extremity, where
the chain, from lofty mountains, had dwindled into hills only. As we
entered upon them, we found some wells, and a neat burying-ground, with
ruins of a building. This place is called Wady el Jar. Three hours
more brought us to the edge of the hills on the other side, where it
was resolved to encamp for the night. Fearing the cottage destined for
Lady Hester at Palmyra had not been emptied of its tenants, or would
not be ready for her, I resolved to ride on to that place immediately,
accompanied by Hassan, my former guide, and another Bedouin, an officer
of Mahannah’s, whose duty it would be to put everything in order:
but, as it was now four o’clock in the afternoon, and we had a plain
of five leagues to pass, having already come seven, no time was to
be lost; and, without baiting our horses, we started. I have, in my
former journey, described this plain, called the Mezah, as destitute of
vegetation, barren, and frightful. Upon it there was a solitary tree
only, about five miles from the spot where we quitted our party: this,
and the stems of a few bulbous plants, were the only objects on it.
I was mounted on the white horse which the pasha of Acre had given to
Lady Hester, and which she subsequently presented to me. He was a noble
animal, and had been much admired by the Bedouins. There was now an
occasion of trying him, and of comparing his strength with that of
the mare on which the Bedouin was mounted: which poor animal seemed
entirely skin and bone, with her hoofs grown to an enormous length, so
that the point of them turned up.
We had not passed half the plain when night came on, and my companions
began to quicken their pace. I was obliged to follow. By degrees they
got into a gallop and pressed onward. I kept up with them for some
time, until I found that my horse grew sluggish. The night was so dark
that sometimes I thought I had lost sight of them, and I feared they
would outride me, and leave me to find my way on a plain where there
was a certainty of going astray. I hallooed to them, but they would
not pull up, and I found that I had no resource but in the use of
my stirrups, whose sharp corners I drove repeatedly into my horse’s
sides: yet I am certain, had I been alone, no force of blows could have
compelled him to go on: it was only the noise of the horses before
him, or the sight of them, which induced him to proceed. In the Valley
of the Tombs they pulled up, and there told me they could not pay
attention to my calls: for our safety depended on our swiftness over
those dreary wilds, where we might have been stopped and plundered. We
arrived at last at the ruins, and, traversing them to the Temple, went
strait to the house where I had lodged before.
Immediately the shaykh was sent for, and I informed him of Lady
Hester’s approach. On the following morning, the cottages, being three
in number, at the north-west angle of the Temple, built against the
seven pillars still standing, were cleared out, swept, and left with
their bare walls. They were very rudely constructed of unshapen stones,
cemented by mud: the floors were of yellow clay, and the walls within
of the same. A flight of steps went up to the first story, where was
an airy room that looked over the ruins, and this I set apart for Lady
Hester’s chamber. I sat and smoked my pipe throughout the morning, in
company with the shaykh, explaining to him what things we should stand
in need of; but I observed that there was a vast bustle through the
village of men, women, and girls, running in all directions; and it was
not until afterwards that I learned what all this meant.
When I had left Lady Hester, in whom Nasar’s conduct on the preceding
evening had caused some diminution in the confidence which had
previously been reposed in him, the conversation after dinner naturally
turned upon what should be done in case he was guilty of any treachery.
In the midst of the conference, Pierre came in to say that some of the
Bedouin mares had been stolen, and that it was supposed there were some
of the Faydân Arabs lurking about the encampment. Soon after, other
servants came running to say that enemies had been seen; and that all
the Bedouins, whose mares were yet safe, were mounting, and going to
reconnoitre; and, in fact, much noise of horses and much bustle were
heard.
It is necessary to observe that, when encamped, each Bedouin usually
ties the halter of his mare to her hind-leg, and then turns her loose
to graze, excepting when an enemy is supposed to be near. To have a
mare stray in the night was therefore no extraordinary thing; and at
first it was conjectured that this was another of Nasar’s tricks to
breed alarm. But when it was evident that he and his people had armed
and mounted, and had ridden off, Mr. B. and Lady Hester knew not what
to think of it. They immediately gave orders that every person should
take his pistols and musket, with which all were provided; and they
stationed them at different points; she herself, as I was afterwards
assured by Mr. B., remaining as calm as if in a ball-room. Some readers
will say, “And what was there to frighten her?” But let them rest
assured that the stoutest heart might tremble under the conjoined
circumstances of being in a Desert, among freebooters, treble in number
to one’s own people, and charged with luggage most tempting in their
eyes. In about twenty minutes the horsemen returned, and Nasar among
them. They pretended that there had been a small party of the enemy,
which had fled.
It was afterwards conjectured that Nasar had only withdrawn a few
hundred yards from the encampment, and there waited to discover what
effect the alarm would have on Lady Hester, in order to act as he
might think expedient; but, finding that he should have some trouble to
do mischief, he probably judged it better to leave it alone.
About twelve o’clock, I rode by myself out of Palmyra to meet Lady
Hester. I traversed the Valley of the Tombs, and, at the extremity, I
ascended to the summit of a small mountain on the south side of the
valley, overlooking the plain, some miles in length, through which
runs the aqueduct of Abu el Fewàrez. The day was hot and fine. I was
surprised, on casting my eyes in the direction in which Lady Hester was
to come, to see an appearance of a great cloud of dust. It was at first
too far for me to distinguish objects, but, after waiting about an
hour, I could plainly observe horsemen riding to and fro, and the smoke
of firearms, of which sometimes I could hear the report. I knew not
what to imagine; but my mind misgave me, and I thought that Lady Hester
and her party were attacked by the enemy. As they approached nearer, I
could distinguish more plainly the same skirmishing, but I thought I
could descry pretty clearly that they advanced steadily, and that no
dead or wounded were left by the way. I descended into the plain to
meet them, and my apprehensions did not subside until I joined them;
I then understood the reason of the skirmishing and of all the bustle
that had taken place at Palmyra in the morning.
The inhabitants had resolved on welcoming Lady Hester in the best
manner they could, and had gone out in a body to meet her. There might
be altogether fifty men on foot, who, naked down to the waist, without
shoes or stockings, and covered with a sort of antique petticoat, ran
by the side of as many horsemen, galloping in all directions, with rude
kettle-drums beating and colours flying. The tanned skins of the men on
foot formed a curious contrast with the cowry shells, or blackamoor’s
teeth, studded on the two belts which crossed their shoulders, and to
which were suspended their powder-flasks and cartouch-boxes. These
Palmyrenes carry matchlocks, slung across their backs, and are very
skilful in the use of them. They are huntsmen by profession, and
they are often engaged in petty warfare with the Bedouins, for the
protection of their caravans.
For the amusement of Lady Hester and Mr. B., they displayed before
them a mock attack and defence of a caravan. Each party, anxious to
distinguish itself in the eyes of the English lady, fought with a
pretended fury that once or twice might almost have been thought real.
The men on foot exhibited on the person of a horseman the mode of
stripping for plunder, and no valet de chambre could undress his master
more expeditiously.
On entering the Valley of the Tombs, Lady Hester’s attention was
absorbed in viewing the wonders around her, and the combatants
desisted. But another sight, prepared by the Palmyrenes, here awaited
her. In order to increase the effect which ruins cause on those who
enter them for the first time, the guides led us up through the long
colonnade, which extends four thousand feet in length from north-west
to south-east, in a line with the gate of the temple. This colonnade
is terminated by a triumphal arch. The shaft of each pillar, to the
right and left, at about the height of six feet from the ground, has a
projecting pedestal, called in architecture a console, under several
of which is a Greek or Palmyrene inscription; and upon each there once
stood a statue, of which at present no vestige remains excepting the
marks of the cramp-iron for the feet. What was our surprise to see, as
we rode up the avenue, and just as the triumphal arch came in sight,
that several beautiful girls (selected, as we afterwards learned, from
the age of twelve to sixteen) had been placed on these very pedestals,
in the most graceful postures, and with garlands in their hands; their
elegant shapes being but slightly concealed by a single loose robe,
girded at the waist with a zone, and a white crape veil covering their
heads. On each side of the arch other girls, no less lovely, stood by
threes, whilst a row of six was ranged across the gate of the arch,
with thyrsi in their hands. Whilst Lady Hester advanced, these living
statues remained immoveable on their pedestals; but when she had passed
they leaped on the ground, and joined in a dance by her side. On
reaching the triumphal arch, the whole in groups, together with men and
girls intermixed, danced around her. Here some bearded elders chanted
verses in her praise, and all the spectators joined in chorus. The
sight was truly interesting, and I have seldom seen one that moved my
feelings more. Lady Hester herself seemed to partake of the emotions
to which her presence in this remote spot had given rise. Nor was the
wonder of the Palmyrenes less than our own. They beheld with amazement
a woman, who had ventured thousands of miles from her own country, and
had now crossed a waste where hunger and thirst were only a part of the
evils to be dreaded. The procession advanced, after a pause, to the
gate of the Temple, being by this time increased by the addition of
every man, woman, and child, in the village. At length she reached the
cottage which had been prepared for her.
The next day her ladyship gave to repose, but Mr. B. devoted it to
walking over the ruins. He had brought with him Wood and Dawkins’s
plates. Fifty years had made little difference in Palmyra, excepting
that a column or two, then standing, were now fallen down. The keystone
of the triumphal arch likewise was loose, and seemed as if it would
fall. In looking about among the fragments which lie towards the
north-west extremity of the colonnade, I found a portion of a statue,
in alto relievo, represented as sitting in a chair. With the exception
of this, of the heads on a ceiling in the sanctuary and on some of the
sepulchres, and of a small bas-relief of a naked woman reclining on a
sofa, which is on one of the walls of an old mosque about five hundred
feet from the Temple, and which is not mentioned by Wood and Dawkins, I
know of no other figures that have been discovered in or about Palmyra.
March the 29th, Lady Hester mounted her horse, and went to see the
ruins. She knew the report that was current of her being in search
after treasures, and took an ingenious mode of curing the shaykh of the
village of such a belief. She told him she would have him go with her;
and she, being on horseback, led him, who was on foot, such a round,
that the poor man, little curious about places in which he had lived
all his life, begged her at last to excuse him, as he could walk no
farther.
To examine the interior of the sanctuaries which compose the centre
building of the Temple, and where are two beautiful ceilings of the
zodiac, and several bas-reliefs, torches were made; and by the help of
these we were enabled to see them with a stronger light than I suppose
any other travellers had done; for there is no window whatever to let
in the day, and only a low hole to crawl in by.
On the 30th of March, as there was to be a wedding on the morrow, and
it is customary for a Mahometan bride to go to the bath the day before
her marriage, the hot spring of Ephca was used for that purpose. Lady
Hester went to see the washing: but, of course, gentlemen could not be
present. More than a dozen women, together with the bride, stripped
and entered the grotto, and then came swimming and floundering out
in a string. It cost them but little trouble to strip; for they wore
only one covering, which was a shift of coquelicot coloured silk, with
white diamond spots like India handkerchiefs; for this, as being next
the skin, may as well be called a shift as a robe. It is confined by
a girdle, fastened by large silver clasps. It was said, in the former
journey, that women generally wore rings through the cartilage of the
nose: but we now discovered that it was an ornament affected by married
women only.
How long we should have remained at Palmyra I cannot tell, had not
an unforeseen event somewhat hurried our departure. Four Bedouins of
the tribe of the Faydân had come, for some sinister purpose, into
the environs of Palmyra, where they lay concealed. The want of water
obliged them to leave their hiding-place to drink at the spring. It
happened that four of our Bedouins had strayed that way upon the
look-out, and, spying the men, pursued and took them. In what way four
of one tribe were better than four of another I did not learn. It was
discovered that they were Faydân,[50] and Nasar ordered them into
confinement. In the night two of them eluded the vigilance of their
guard, and escaped. When Nasar heard of it, he raved like a madman,
and could with difficulty be prevented from taking the life of the
shaykh of Palmyra who had suffered them to escape. Nasar then told
Lady Hester what had happened. He said that these men, no doubt, would
hasten back to their tribe, and give information of her presence in
Palmyra, and of the rich booty that was to be made. He therefore begged
of her to consent to return to Hamah immediately, signifying that if a
party stronger than their own should, by forced marches, overtake us,
we must inevitably fall into their hands. Lady Hester, in consequence
of this representation, fixed on the following day: but I shrewdly
suspected the whole to be a trick invented by Nasar for the purpose of
getting her away. She saw deeper into it, perhaps, than I could do, but
did not tell her thoughts: perhaps Nasar did not think the deposit in
Muly Ismaël’s hands quite safe, and felt uneasy until he had it in his
own possession.
Lady Hester was curious to see the Faydân whilst they were yet in
custody. They said to her, “Be not alarmed lest our people should come
against you. Your name has already reached the ears of the Emir of the
Faydân; and, wherever his subjects meet you, you will be respected.
It is our enemies, the Anizys, we seek; but you we set upon our
heads”--(an expression much used among the Arabs to denote an absolute
devotion to the service of another). We did not, however, think it
proper to risk the safety of Nasar and his people, even though our
own was not in danger, and therefore continued in the resolution of
departing.
Lady Hester’s name was cut out in a conspicuous place as a memorial
of her visit to future travellers. At night there was much merriment
among the servants. They had selected an open space in the ruins of the
Temple, where, seated round a blazing fire, they amused themselves with
dancing to the kettle-drum, smoking, and telling stories--and, having
as much coffee as they could drink, they remained until the night was
far advanced. All the men in the village assembled with them; but the
women stood aloof, never daring to mix promiscuously with the other sex.
In order to obtain antiquities in coins and intaglios, I gave out
that every engraved stone or coin that was brought to me, of whatever
description it might be, should be paid at the rate of 10 paras, about
2d.; and in this way I spent several piasters, but without any success.
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Palmyra--Suspicions of Nasar--Encampment in
a beautiful valley--Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh
Mnyf--Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s
tent--The women--Traits of Bedouin character--Tribe
of the Beni Omar--Affray between the Bedouins--Their
war-cry--Aqueducts--Salamýah--Clotted cream and sour milk--Meat
of the Desert--Castle of Shumamýs--Medical assistance required
by Bedouins--Entry of Lady Hester into Hamah--Sum paid to
Nasar for escort--Salubrity of the air of the Desert--State
of Lady Hester’s health--Professional aid of the Author
in requisition--Yahyah Bey--Rigid abstinence of a Syrian
Christian--The bastinado--Pilgrimage to the tomb of a
shaykh--Treatment of horses in spring--Precautions against
plague--Custom of supporting great personages under the
arm--Schoolmasters--Doctors and their patients.
We left Palmyra on the 4th of April early in the morning, and the
danger of an attack from the Faydân had an excellent effect on the
servants, camel-drivers, and helpers of all sorts, who, on most
occasions, could not be kept together, but who now were as orderly and
obedient as soldiers: for fear made them so. Our course was in the same
track by which we had come. As my horse walked a little faster than
the common pace, I diverged somewhat from the road, to the right, in
order to ascend a small conical mount, which, at two hours’ distance
from Palmyra, terminates the chain of hills enclosing the plain in
which is the aqueduct of Abu Fewárez. I was attracted by something like
fragments of a building on its top, and was rewarded for my trouble by
finding a fallen pillar of the Corinthian order, and a portion of a
statue in alto relievo which had stood upon it. Some future traveller,
having more time to examine this piece of sculpture, may be able to
discover what it was: but I do not think it had hitherto been noticed
by any one. It appeared to me to represent an Apollo. We traversed
the Mezzah or sandy plain, and, in five hours from the fallen pillar,
reached the White Mountain; where we encamped in a bottom, in order
that our lights might not be seen. At each extremity of the tents a
vidette of Bedouins was placed, about one hundred paces off; whilst
among the tents we ourselves and the servants patrolled armed. Much
alarm prevailed. It was whispered among the servants that a plan had
been laid by Nasar and his men to make us all prisoners, and exact an
immense ransom from us; and others said the Palmyrenes would come upon
us in the night: nothing however happened.
April the 5th, we resumed our march; and, by the anxiety Nasar showed
to be gone betimes in the morning, as well as his unwillingness that
Lady Hester should stop anywhere in the day for an hour, which was her
custom, it was evident that he was not without apprehension. We were
three hours and ten minutes in crossing the White Mountain, which here
consists only of sand-hills, when we arrived at Wady el Jar. From Wady
el Jar we saw the Beláz before us, where a sink in the ridge of the
chain formed a landmark. We arrived, in about six hours, at a valley,
so beautiful that we all with one accord burst into exclamations of
admiration of it; and, as there was a low part in it where our tents
were not likely to be seen, it was resolved to encamp here for the
night.
In the course of a few days, vegetation had made great progress, and we
found the soil in some places covered with fine grass, in others, as
where we were now, thickly sprinkled with flowers, so as to resemble a
parterre; the more remarkable in our eyes, because the flowers we saw
are in England reared only with pains and borrowed heat.
The next morning, April 6th, Nasar gave us no respite, but obliged us
with the rising sun to strike our tents, and hasten on our way. There
was indeed no doubt left on our minds that he feared an enemy in the
rear. This day’s march, however, carried us out of danger. In one hour
after starting we came to a well, called Ma el kushka, which is at the
foot of the Beláz. We ascended the mountain, reached the Fasekh el
Menkûra, or valley between the two chains; again ascended the other
side; and, came to Menghiazy, where we quitted the mountain for the
plain, and where we seemed to have left such a barrier between us and
our pursuers as afforded us security from any very sudden attack. But
our greatest protection was in a large encampment of the tribe of the
Sebáh Bedouins, which, it will be recollected, we met with on our way
to Palmyra in the valley of the Menkûra.
At Menghiazy are the ruins of a Turkman village: and as, wherever I
saw fragments of rude walls or the vestiges of houses, the Bedouins
generally told me that there had once been a Turkman village, I
concluded from it that these plains were frequented and inhabited by
Turkman shepherds, as the Accár, that vast plain near Tripoli, and many
other plains, are still. There are the remains of a caravansery at a
little distance from the ruins.
The Sebáh, close to whom we were encamped, were a portion only of that
large tribe. They were commanded by Shaykh Mnyf, whose tent was a
league or two off: for they occupy in their encampments a vast extent
of ground, for the sake of pasture for their camels. But, as the next
day was to be a halt, Mnyf seized the opportunity of being presented to
Lady Hester, and with him, Mfuthy, a ragged shaykh, whom I had known on
my first journey. In the afternoon, before sunset, Lady Hester received
all the Bedouin women. The assembly was very numerous. The men, sitting
crosslegged on the grass, formed a semicircle at the door of her tent,
where she had a seat placed for herself. Shaykh Mnyf was invested
with a new abah and turban: Shaykh Mfuthy had likewise a present. But
the most curious part was to see the women, who at once excited and
expressed curiosity. They were very brown, and some of them, from the
effects of fatigue and a hot sun, were, when cursorily looked at, truly
hideous; but, in all of them, the outline of beauty was perceptible,
either in their frame, or in their face. Wherever, likewise, a girl
or young woman was to be seen, she would very often prove to be of
great beauty; and black and swimming eyes were never-failing features.
Lady Hester, remarkable herself for the fairness of her complexion,
served as a foil to them, and they to her. She distributed among them
a few beads, some handkerchiefs, and such trifles as would serve as a
memorial of her visit.
During the interval that had elapsed between our going and returning,
several tribes had come up from different directions, and had encamped
in the road by which we were to return. All were attracted by
curiosity, and in some was added the desire of sharing in the presents
which were given away with a liberal hand. It was on one of these
occasions that a Bedouin, rendered somewhat enthusiastic by the scene
before him, throwing off his keffiyah, cried, “Give me a hat, and I
will go to England.”
These Bedouin women were tatooed on the under lip, on the arms and
hands, and on the feet. The fashion for their head-dress was to press
the hair flat on the head, and to braid the ringlets at the side; a
style that may be seen in many ancient statues. Some of the youths also
had plaited their tresses. The first question which the Bedouins always
asked was, whether we had a sultan, how old he was, how many children
he had, &c. When they learned that his queen[51] had borne him fifteen,
and that they formed one of the finest families in Europe in looks
and person, the Bedouins would cry out, “Mashallah!” which is their
exclamation of surprise at anything astonishing and pleasing.
April 8th, we proceeded on our route towards Hamah. From Menghiazy,
we passed the ruined caravansery, of which I have already spoken. We
continued over a tolerably level country for four hours more, when we
came to Kerejat Atheab, where there are ruins of a Turkman village and
some wells a little apart from each other. The country, as we advanced,
became more verdant, because the soil was less stony. From Kerejat
Atheab, we proceeded to Rekhym el Khanzýr, where we encamped for the
night. Here we found the tents of the Beni Omar, under their chieftain,
Ali Bussal, of whom mention has been made in my first journey.
The next morning, April the 9th, we struck our tents, and were waiting,
as was our custom, each with his horse’s bridle in his hand, ready to
mount as soon as Lady Hester should come out of her tent, which was
always the last standing: Nasar was sitting on a knoll, conversing with
a shaykh of the Beni Omar, and other Bedouins were standing around. I
thought their discussions, whatever they might be, were rather warm;
but I paid no attention to them, as their emphatic manner of speaking
had more than once deceived me; but presently two Bedouins drew their
sabres, down in the valley before us, and began fighting. In an
instant, up rose Nasar and the Bedouins, and leaped on their mares:
they rode towards the combatants, who desisted, and a crowd collected
round Nasar. At this time Lady Hester came out, and Mr. B. and I told
her what had happened. Immediately she mounted her horse, as we did
ours, and, with great presence of mind, said, “Whatever happens, remain
you still until attacked: if the quarrel is their own, we have no right
to interfere.” The crowd now opened: Nasar and his party came towards
us; the Beni Omar retreated to their side. The shaykhs, with Nasar,
formed a circle around him, with their horses’ heads pointing inwards,
and, striking their spears on the ground, sang, as they sat, a kind of
chorus, of which I could make out something to this effect, “Nasar,
Nasar, we fight for Nasar.” The tone of their voices and quickness of
utterance by degrees were augmented, until, by a repetition of this,
their war-cry, they seemed to have worked themselves into a fury.
At this time the man, with whom Nasar had been speaking so vehemently
before the beginning of the affray, came riding at a gallop, with the
spear in its rest, his head uncovered, and his hair flying in the wind,
towards Nasar and his party. Seeing this, Shaykh Hamûd, an old man,
mounted on a fine gray mare, rode out to meet him, but with his spear
on his shoulder. He stopped him in his career, argued with him some
time, and at last persuaded him to retire. It may be conceived what our
anxiety must have been during these proceedings: for it is impossible
to say what would have become of us, had these two parties come to
blows. By degrees, both sides seemed to grow pacified, and at last we
rode off, leaving the Beni Omar in possession of the field, muttering
threats and vowing revenge. We were afterwards told that the dispute
began about a thorough-bred colt, which Nasar unfairly withheld from
the true owner.
We passed to-day through plains more like meadows than a desert, where
the grass was nearly high enough to make hay. In an hour and a half,
we came to Khurbah, a Turkman village, with a tel or conical mound
close to it. We passed three other tels before we reached the ruined
city of Salamyah. We encamped outside the walls, near some tents of the
Hadidyns.
Before arriving at Salamyah, near the last tel, are found circular
openings in the ground, like the mouths of wells. Looking into them,
an aqueduct of excellent masonry in hewn stones is seen to run under
ground, having these vent-holes at equal distances. We lost sight of
it for some time, and it then re-appeared within a short distance of
Salamyah. From the vent-holes wild pigeons flew out, and, without this
evidence that there was water beneath, we could observe it in places
trickling along in a small stream.
Pliny and Wood agree in thinking that from Emesa to Palmyra the name
of desert was always applicable, and that, from the days of Abraham
up to our times, the face of it has not changed. We would not oppose
our judgment to theirs, and yet a contrary opinion might surely be
entertained, when ruins are found at every step, and an aqueduct that
indicates the height of civilization.
April 9th, we halted at Salamyah, and took this opportunity of viewing
the ruins of the city; for such it appears to have been, and of Saracen
origin. Salamyah is described by Abulfeda as an agreeable place, with
aqueducts conveying water to it, and with many gardens around it. It
was built by Abdallah ben Salah, a descendant, in the fifth generation,
from Abd el Motalleb. In the time of El Azyzy, it was on the skirts
of the desert;[52] now it is fairly in it. Around it, there was a
well-built wall. Over the gate by which we entered, to the south, was
a long inscription in Arabic, which we did not copy for want of time.
Within we found the remains of two or three mosques, with their cupolas
yet upon them, and of a public bath; also the walls of houses, and
some wells, which contained water, and from one of which we drew our
supply. It did not appear to me that this place had been inhabited
during the last forty or fifty years.
At Menghiazy, at Rekhym el Khanzýr, and here, the Bedouins emulated
each other in the reception they gave Lady Hester. At her request, the
finest mares were brought for her to look at. Several Arabs offered
them as presents to her; but made it understood that they valued
them at a price so enormous, that, to make a present in return as an
adequate recompense, would have been paying too dear. Her ladyship,
therefore, declined accepting them. Bedouins, on such occasions, are
extremely mercenary, and strangely overrate their property.
Lady Hester having expressed a desire to ride on a dromedary, one of
their best, which they call hejýn, and which are used for expeditious
journeys, was selected, and dressed up with an ornamental saddle and
housings. She rode for a short distance, and probably found the motion
very unpleasant, which it must necessarily be at first to every one.
As soon as we had come to the west of the Beláz, we were supplied very
constantly with clotted cream (kymàk) and sour milk, (leben), than
which the dairy can produce nothing better; and it will raise the
latter cooling preparation in the estimation of some, to know that it
has been used, time immemorial, in these countries, and is spoken of in
Xenophon as ὀξύγαλα. The finest mutton was never wanting at our table;
for, although the true Bedouin scorns to pasture any animal but camels,
still there are certain bastard tribes, such as the Mowâly, and a few
more that we saw, which are mere graziers, and paid tribute to Emir
Mahannah for the protection he afforded them.
As the Castle of Shumamys, built on a mountain, was distant only about
a league from the encampment, I was inclined to ride over to examine
it; but the direction of our march lying close to the foot of it, I
executed my project on the following morning. Before the camels were
loaded, Hassan and I rode forward, and, arriving in an hour, by a very
steep ascent reached the summit of the mountain. At the foot of the
castle walls the rock is cut into a glacis with a considerable slope,
within which is a deep ditch hewn out of the solid stone. Facing the
gate of the castle, a buttress or pier still left in the centre of the
ditch served for the support of the drawbridge, now entirely fallen.
Leaving Hassan to take care of the horses, I descended into the ditch,
and climbed up on the opposite side, which was not so difficult to do
as I had found it at Palmyra. The two castles resembled each other
exactly, and of course may be supposed to be of the same date, either
of Saracen or Frank construction.
We descended into the plain, and joined the party who had just cleared
the foot of the mountains, which is one extremity of the chain called
Gebel el Aâleh. This chain, taking a semicircular direction, finishes
at Gebel Abd ed dyn two leagues N. by E. of Hamah, and encloses one of
the richest plains it is possible to see. At Tel el Byrûth, we encamped
for the night, and found there the Emir Mahannah el Fadel, who received
Lady Hester with every testimony of respect and joy for her safe
return, which was now in a manner effected, as we were only three or
four leagues from Hamah.
We halted the next day. An accident happened at this place, which
nearly cost the loss of an eye to one of the bards who had accompanied
us hitherto. Farez, second son of Mahannah, was throwing, as he would
throw a javelin, the stalk of an astragalus, (with which flower the
place was thickly set, and the stalks of which are firm and reedy at
this season) when he struck one of the bards on the lid and brow of
the eye. The man was in great pain, and the swelling was instantaneous
and considerable: but a leech which I applied set all to rights; yet
the bard was by no means pleased with Farez’s exploit. The astragalus
and squill plants were so abundant, that their long sword-like leaves
obstructed the paths in every direction. Upon their leaves I found a
beautiful fly, much like the lytta.
In the afternoon Lady Hester wished to try Shaykh Hamud’s white mare,
and she mounted it. In putting her into a gallop, the mare, aware of
some difference in the rider’s management of her, or from some other
cause, ran away with her ladyship, who, however, contrived at last to
pull her up, without any mischief, to the admiration of the Bedouins
who were looking on.
It must not be supposed that, during the whole of this journey, the
Arabs had suffered me to remain quiet in my professional capacity.
Knowing the frequent applications I should have, previous to quitting
Hamah, I had put up a large stock of pills and powders, as of easiest
administration; and I could have used the contents of an apothecary’s
shop had I been so disposed. But a serious call was made upon me whilst
in camp, by a horseman who came over from the tents of Shaykh Casem,
to entreat me to make but a short journey thither, to save the son of
their chief, who had been transfixed by a spear, in a skirmish with the
Faydân; and Lady Hester thought it better that I should go.
His tents were due north of Tel el Byrûth. I took with me my own tent,
which was a small octagonal marquee, made without a central pole, and
very commodious; and, accompanied by the Bedouin, who had come to fetch
me, I set off the following day, under the idea of having but a short
distance to ride. But my guide had deceived me, with the intention of
more easily persuading me to go; for we passed the chain of Mount Aâleh
at two hours off, and still rode on for two or three hours more, until
we reached, at sunset, Casem’s tents. The parents of the wounded youth
were so impatient to take me to him, that I was scarcely permitted
first to take my coffee and pipe, which on other occasions they oblige
you to do before they will suffer you to attend to business.
Casem’s son was about sixteen years old, with a fine air, which would
have been fierce, had it not been softened down by his sufferings from
his wound. A spear had entered his back under the blade-bone, and had
deeply penetrated into the lungs. Instead of being a fresh wound, it
proved to be now of some time standing. I did what I judged better
for him than the dressings he was using; gave him some medicines to
be taken as occasion might require, and passed three days with him to
see what effect they would have. The first day there was a certainty
of a speedy and miraculous cure; the second day his friends were less
sanguine; and on the third, they observed that my remedies had not
effected any very extraordinary change for the better. This was the
tone of mind in which it was proper to leave them. They were thankful
for the pains I had taken, and a Bedouin escorted me to Hamah, where
Lady Hester and Mr. B. already were since the 13th. Crowds of people
had gone out to welcome them on their return, considering her as a true
heroine, who could perform in triumph what not a pasha in all Turkey
durst venture to do with all his troops at his heels. It was given out
at Hamah afterwards that two hundred horsemen, on the report of the two
fugitives from Palmyra, had come in pursuit of us to the Beláz, but
were a day too late to overtake us: that, however, they would have
followed us farther, but were stopped by a party of the Sebáh, who had
a skirmish with them, in which the Faydân were so much worsted as to
find it necessary to retire.[53]
On her arrival at Hamah, Lady Hester rode strait to Muly Ismaël’s
house, where a great dinner was prepared. The remainder of the money
due to Nasar was paid, and the dangers and adventures of the journey
talked over. There has crept into a publication (called Journal of
a Tour in the Levant) an assertion that it cost Lady Hester 30,000
piasters to get to Palmyra. I think it necessary to state that this
assertion is entirely erroneous, as may be proved from documents now
in my hands, which must be considered as decisive authority on that
head.[54]
No better proof can be adduced of the salubrity of the air of the
Desert, than the excellent condition in which the horses were on our
return, and the compliments paid on the improved good looks of all the
party. I believe I have neglected to mention that, previous to quitting
Damascus, and from the moment that the journey to Palmyra was talked
about, Mr. B. and myself had let our beards grow, having been informed
that much respect was universally paid to this supposed emblem of
wisdom and manhood by the Bedouins, which we found to be the case.
During the journey, an Arab brought me a jerboa alive. Wishing to
preserve it, and having no box or cage fit for such a purpose, I put
it into a boot sewed up at the top, and carried it slung to my horse’s
side for one day, but on the second I found that it had eaten a hole
through the leather, and escaped.
I omitted to mention, in my first journey to Palmyra, that, when
with the Bedouins, I drank for three mornings camels’ milk, to see
if its reputed qualities were exaggerated or not. On me it had no
sensible effect; yet I could not be deceived in the trial I made, for,
fasting from my pillow, I drank a pint the first morning, a pint and
a half the second, and half a pint the third. On this journey I was
determined to try its effects on the servants, and here its operation
was instantaneous and remarkable, causing a diarrhœa, which lasted the
whole day.
It will hardly be believed, by those who may peruse this narrative,
that Lady Hester, at this period, by no means enjoyed a good state of
health; yet such was really the case, and her spirit, rather than her
physical powers, helped her to surmount so much fatigue and to endure
so many privations. Her pursuit was indeed health, but the phantom fled
before her. Always a valetudinarian, she always flattered herself that
some untried spot remained where she might find what she sought. Happy
consolation of the sick, whom Hope never gives up to Despair!
Lady Hester brought with her to Hamah two Bedouins, with an intention
of carrying them to England as a curiosity: but a city life, the want
of the open country, loss of appetite and health, were things so little
congenial to their feelings, that they could not be induced to stop.
I had taken up my abode this time in a small unfurnished house, which
I hired of a Turk. My return to Hamah was again the signal for being
besieged by the sick. I shall mention one or two of my patients, whose
cases may have something curious for the general reader. Yahyah Bey,
whose deposition and removal to Hamah I have already spoken of, had
contrived to make his peace there by the sacrifice of large sums of
money, and was now come back to Hamah to live as a private person.
One of his concubines was ill, and he asked me to see her. She had
had an ague for eight months, with little loss of strength, sleep, or
appetite. I was introduced to an inner room, and she was sent for to
come to me. She entered, covered with the yzzár,[55] a large white veil
reaching to the ground, which she kept on during the whole time I was
with her. Yahyah Bey watched her actions like an Argus, and, the moment
I had done questioning her, sent her out of the room.
Another patient, whom I saw April 20th, was an old man of the sect of
the Syrians, very ill of a fever. It was then Lent, and the rules of
his religion, with respect to fasting, were, it would appear, more
rigid than those of either the Greek or Catholic church; for he could
not, according to them, eat anything but bread, oil, and herbs. I
desired him to relax somewhat from this severe abstinence, if he wished
to save his life. He would on no account consent to do so; and, as his
age and malady required nourishment of a different kind, he died a
martyr to his scruples.
Bilious remittent fevers were at this time prevalent in Hamah, and they
seemed, in some instances, to be contagious. I was called in to the
khodja of Nasýf pasha. The term khodja means an old and confidential
servant of the house, who teaches the children their letters: out of a
family, it implies a schoolmaster, or is an appellation given to an old
respectable merchant or shopkeeper: whence I think is derived our word
Codger. The pasha showed great anxiety about him. The mode of treatment
they had adopted for him was simple and sensible, and he would have
recovered without my interference.
My most troublesome patient was the lady of Selim Koblán, of whom
mention has been made above. She had never borne any children, and
was exceedingly anxious to be able to hold up her head among her
acquaintance: for it is a source of much sorrow and shame both to man
and wife in the East, but more especially to the woman, when the union
is not productive of offspring.
On the 22d, whilst sitting with Muly Ismael in the saloon where he
was accustomed to receive his visitors and despatch the business of
the day, one of his soldiers, accused of frequenting women of the
town, was brought before him, and, the case being heard, the Muly, in
a summary way, ordered him to be bastinadoed. He was lifted from the
ground by two or three of his comrades in the middle of the room where
we were, held up horizontally, and three or four others with switches
kept striking the soles of his feet as fast as they could, until the
Muly told them to stop.[56] The man cried out very much, but seemed
to obtain no commiseration. As soon as he was let down, Mahannah, the
emir, who was there, rose from his seat, kissed Muly Ismäel’s hand, and
thanked him for this public example made for repressing libertinism.
Now the Muly, at this time, was notorious for his sensual indulgences.
One of his people told me that he was rubbed in the bath, where he
entered every day, by his women, whilst others of them danced before
him in the state of nature. But this is the story that is told of
every Turk who is known to be a sensualist: and generally signifies no
more than what the narrator would do if he were in the same place.[57]
Mahannah, although he confined himself to wives only, yet was pleased
with a variety of them. In the night there was a thunder-storm.
It was a matter of wonder to me to observe how generally every kind of
vegetable was eaten raw by the people of Syria. Cucumbers and carrots
they pare and eat as we do apples: and, besides lettuce and cress,
they would devour raw peas and beans almost as swine do. About this
time died M. Guys, French consul at Tripoli. He left behind him a most
valuable collection of Greek and Roman coins, which his residence in
the Levant, for many years, had enabled him to collect.
On the summit of a mountain to the north of Hamah, distant about one
league and a half, is the tomb of Shaykh Abd ed Dyn, a man held in
veneration among the Moslems: and, on the 24th of April, there is
annually a pilgrimage to his shrine. Observing that numbers of people
flocked upon the road, I took my ride that way in the afternoon. No one
would have said that the Turkish women were deprived of liberty, had
he seen them on a holyday like this. From Hamah to the very top of the
mountain, parties of women and girls were going and coming, and their
volubility of tongue, and remarks to the men passing and repassing
them, were the less repressed, because the faces of those uttering them
could not be seen.
Spring had now clothed the country in all its verdure, and the
occupations of the year might be said to be commencing. One of the
most important, and which forms as great an epoch in the annals of a
gentleman in the East, as the shooting season does among our gentry
in England, is the sending their steeds to grass. Each man deprives
himself one month out of the year of his game at giryd, and of his
exercise on horseback, for the purpose of cleansing his animals: nor
does he disdain to use means not much unlike these for purifying his
own system. As soon as spring sets in, he loses blood from the arm by
the lancet, or by cupping, from the leg or between the shoulders; with
a view to prevent inflammatory diseases created by the effervescence of
the blood in the first heats of the year. Such is the mode of reasoning
prevalent among them, and, on a particular day, which is decided by the
wane of the moon, twenty persons might be seen, on the benches at the
doors of each barber’s shop, in different stages of phlebotomy. Cupping
is performed by scarifying with a razor, and then applying over the
cuts a horn, with a small hole at the narrow end, through which the air
is abstracted by suction of the mouth, and is then plugged up. This
has the same effect as rarefying the air by heat, and the blood flows
copiously.
There was some alarm created in the house on the Saturday preceding,
by the sudden and violent illness of M. Beaudin; who, having received
from St. Jean d’Acre, where the plague was raging, a packet of letters,
which he had handled and opened without the necessary precaution of
fumigation, was supposed to have been infected: but the prevalence
of fevers at Hamah better accounted for his indisposition. Yet he
was possessed so strongly with the idea of having been infected by
the pestiferous effluvia from his letters, that he was rendered very
wretched in his mind. However, in a day or two, he found himself so
much better as to recover his courage. The precautions which Franks and
Christians use, when this malady reigns in the country, have been so
often described, that I throw them rather into a note, than into the
body of my narrative: and I would leave them out altogether, if I could
do so consistent with the influence they have on the mode of living in
the Levant.[58]
I pronounced the khodja out of danger on the 27th. He had constantly
desired I should see him, but I never altered his treatment.
I received a visit from a Turk named Abd ed Dyn Aga, who had fought
at the battle of Fuley, and been wounded in six places. He passed high
encomiums on the bravery of the French.
Lady Hester, having now fulfilled the great object for which she had
come to Hamah, namely, the journey to Palmyra, and having enjoyed
sufficiently the scenery and novelties of the place and its environs,
resolved to set off for Latakia, on the sea-coast. Previous to our
departure, the horses were bled and new shod. We had no groom that
could bleed a horse in the jugular vein, nor do the Turkish farriers
bleed in that place; but, as Nasýf Pasha had expressed a wish to see it
done, I undertook it, and he accordingly attended.
And here I cannot help introducing some remarks on a most gross and
unfounded calumny against the Turks, which has been copied from one
book of travels into another, touching the origin of a custom which
prevails throughout Turkey, but which has been principally commented
upon at the audiences of European ambassadors at the Porte. I allude to
the ceremony of being supported under the arm by two attendants when
introduced into the Imperial presence. This has been construed into a
measure of precaution against any attack, by such as are introduced,
on the person of the Sultan or his ministers. But, setting aside the
absurdity of supposing that every embassy was a band of assassins, it
is notorious to all those acquainted with the usages of Turkey that
persons high in rank, or to be greatly honoured upon any occasion, are
supported on either side by two attendants. Thus it was that Nasýf
Pasha, obliged to come on foot into the field where our horses were
tethered, was led, as an infirm man would be, by two of his servants;
and, although a fresh-looking, handsome, and strong man, he leaned
on them as though he was helpless.[59] Again at Brusa, where, on one
occasion, a deposed pasha came to pay a visit to the governor whilst
Mr. B. and I were with him, the latter rose and advanced to the door
of the room to receive him, and supported him to the upper seat by
placing his arm under the pasha’s arm-pit. Ahmed Bey, at Damascus, was
always led thus from sofa to sofa. Yet these very personages, when
on horseback, would throw the javelin with a degree of force little
compatible with physical debility. We therefore can have no doubt that
this mode of introduction into the presence of the Grand Signor is
intended to do honour to the members of the embassy, and we must hold
as ill informed those writers who assert the contrary; nor can such
persons, who, being admitted to a presentation, have rejected the
proffered assistance of the servants, be considered otherwise than as
petulant and ill-bred.
As to the question whether that French ambassador was justified in what
he did, who refused to enter the Imperial presence at Constantinople
unless with his sword on, it is for masters of court etiquette to
determine. Only thus much is to be said, that in Turkey, in (what we
should call in familiar language) dress parties, it is the height of
vulgarity to go armed with a sabre, which is the Mahometan’s sword;
and if, at a levee of the King of England, a foreign ambassador at his
court would look ridiculous without his sword, then there, where custom
requires exactly the reverse, the reverse becomes the best breeding.
When Lady Hester’s dragoman at Damascus was shut out from the audience
chamber because he was armed, it was not because they feared that a
stripling, and he a Greek, could do mischief, but because a high-bred
courtier from Constantinople chose to retain, even in the provinces,
the usages of the metropolis.
Whilst I was in this place, I took lessons in Arabic, in writing and
reading, of an old schoolmaster, named Basili, of the Greek church.
With respect to the education of children in Syria, there are
day-schools in every town and village, the same as in England; with
this difference, however, that children are taught not at so much per
week, per month, or per annum; but an agreement is entered into, that,
for a certain sum, a boy shall be made to read--for as much more to
write, and so on. It does not matter how long or how short a time is
expended; but the money is not paid until the boy’s progress amounts
to a completion of the agreement. Thus it becomes the interest of the
teacher to perfect his scholar as fast as possible. It would seem that
rods for the chastisement of children are not used in Turkey, as,
though I was in the habit of entering many people’s houses, I never saw
any.
In the same way doctors agree with their patients, in almost all
chronic maladies, to cure them for so much; and to this end a written
agreement is drawn up, the basis of which is, “No cure, no pay.” In
acute diseases, where experience has taught that attention and skill
may sometimes prove unavailing, the practitioner claims a greater
latitude for himself, and receives half his gratuity for medicines
supplied, and the other half if the patient recovers.
Hamah is full of Mahometans who wear green turbans; that is, those
who are the reputed descendants of their Prophet; so that every third
person you address has the title of Säyd prefixed to his name.
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Hamah--Encampment on the bank of the
Orontes--Transformation of aquatic to winged animals--Vale of
the Orontes--Calât el Medýk--Bridge and village of Shogre--Topal
Ali makes himself independent of the Pasha of Aleppo--Singular
application of a Jewess--Poverty of the inhabitants of
Shogre--Visit to Topal Ali--Gebel el Kerád--Beautiful
Scenery--Tribe of Ansáry--Lady Hester stays behind among
them--Latakia.
On the 10th of May, Lady Hester and Mr. B. left Hamah. A sick servant,
the Emir el Akhûr, who was dismissed from his place, but to whom I was
willing to render service as long as I could to put him out of danger,
kept me one day after the rest had departed. On the 11th I quitted
the suburbs at noon. The road seemed to lead aslant to the chain of
mountains which is seen west of Hamah, and which, by a pocket compass,
as well as the distance would allow, I found to run north by east, and
south by west. The country was cultivated and the soil rich, like that
to the south of Hamah. I was accompanied by a servant and a muleteer,
with his mule to carry my luggage. At three o’clock we came abreast of
Shayzer, where is a castle, which, from the distance I saw it, seemed
to have been a place of great strength. This place is the ancient
Larissa, built at the confluence of some stream with the Orontes, which
is described in Abulfeda as falling from a mound fourteen cubits high.
This mound is called El Kherteleh. Here we turned short to the right,
and arrived at a bridge over the Orontes or Aâsy. We crossed it, and in
a few minutes reached the spot where Lady Hester was encamped, on the
right bank of the river, and whence, at the moment, the baggage-mules
were setting off for the next station.
Her ladyship was not yet on horseback, nor was her tent struck, and Mr.
B. was asleep on a bank by the river-side; so I dismounted, sending
my servant and muleteer forward with the rest, and I sat down by the
side of the Orontes, at an elbow of the stream, which formed an eddy,
where hundreds of small fish of the size of shrimps were playing on the
surface of the water. They attracted my attention: over them numbers
of a kind of butterfly were skimming about.[60] A shoal of large fish
was mixed with the small fry, not seeming to devour or harm them; but
whenever any of the butterflies incautiously touched the surface of
the water, they were immediately swallowed up by them. Observing more
closely, I saw that the business of these butterflies was to fasten
themselves, by means of two long trailing feelers which grew from their
tails, to the head of the little fish swimming in the water; then,
exerting all the force their wings gave them, they pulled and pulled
until by degrees they extricated another animal like themselves from
the filmy skin which had just now covered it. No sooner was it at
liberty than, flying to and fro, the newly metamorphosed one, now a
butterfly, seemed to seek to perform the same office for another fish.
Many were eaten by the large fish in the very act of shedding their
skin, and as many escaped to be devoured afterwards.
I caught one of the butterflies. Its body was an inch long, covered
with circular scales one line in breadth and of a golden colour; the
wings were of a blackish dove-colour; the head, which was small and
black, was furnished with two curved horny antennæ, seemingly for
defence; the tail, besides the two trailing feelers, which were two
inches long and jointed, and which, as it flew, draggled in the water,
had a double-horned and curved forceps like those on the head.
Near the bridge of Shayzer were several Arab encampments, but I did not
learn the name of the tribe. They were shepherds, and paid tribute.
Their huts were made of reeds, which they, however, principally occupy
in winter, quitting them in summer for tents.
We did not leave this place until six o’clock, when the sun had lost
its power, and the air was somewhat cooled. It soon grew dark, so
that I saw nothing of the country through which we passed. At nine
we arrived at Calât el Medýk; and, descending a hill into the valley
below the village, we reached our station in about half an hour. As
it was late, and the tents were already fixed, we dined immediately
and retired to rest: but the musquitoes were exceedingly troublesome,
owing to the low marshy ground which the tent-men had chosen for the
encampment, and which made me dread, moreover, the worst consequences
for the health of the party. The grooms, in the morning, said that the
horses had been much bitten by the flies during the night.
Daylight enabled us to examine the spot where we were. About six or
seven hundred yards to the north of us, and at the very extremity of
the ridge of a jutting hill, stood Calât el Medýk, a village enclosed
in a ruinous fortress. This hill is the termination of a chain of
some loftier ones which seemed to run to the north: but the view was
so bounded, that their direction and extent were uncertain. Between
the encampment and the castle, at the foot of the hill, stood a large
quadrangular caravansery, handsomely built, but falling, from neglect,
into ruins. To the north and by west, and to the west, extended a
spacious vale, bounded on the west by lofty mountains, which seemed
about two leagues distant from us, and are inhabited, as we shall
afterwards see, by the Ansárys. On the east the vale is shut in by the
hills abovementioned. The valley near us, and as far as the eye could
see, had now the appearance of a fenny marsh, full of small lakes,
formed by the inundation of the Orontes.[61]
The Orontes could be seen at first running north-west, and then winding
along the foot of the Ansáry mountains. The vale, where not overflowed,
was highly verdant.[62] I walked up the road by which we had descended
the preceding evening, and found it to be through a steep defile. At
the top of the hill, I turned off to the left towards the castle. Calât
el Medýk is a piece of indifferent masonry of no great antiquity,
though built probably anterior to the use of cannon: it has been
repaired at different times, and there are only patches of the original
structure. By these it seems to have consisted of a vaulted rampart,
surmounted by battlements, enclosing a space of sufficient size to
contain, as it does at present, several habitations.
[Illustration: CALAT EL MEDYK.]
On the north-east side of the castle I was fortunate enough to discover
what I conjectured to be the ruins of the ancient city of Apamea.[63]
The walls are in part still standing, and their extent might easily
be measured. There are the remains of a long colonnade running nearly
north and south, which must have been extremely grand. The pillars are
of the Corinthian order, all fallen, but in several places lying in
ranges as they stood. The stones of which the edifices were composed
are of very large dimensions, but less so than those of Palmyra, and of
an inferior quality of stone, seemingly quarried from the hills in the
environs; for the effects of the atmosphere were strongly marked upon
them, showing them to want hardness. There are several _spiral_
fluted columns, which seem to have belonged to a temple. Within the
walls are two small eminences, but too diminutive to have been the
sites of fortresses. What buildings stood on them, or what purposes
they served, I could only conjecture. Apamea was built by Seleucus
Nicator, and named after his wife.
There are many bee-hives at Calât el Medýk, which resemble in shape our
earthenware chimney-tops; they are made of clay, baked in the sun. I
tasted the honey, but it was not particularly good.
We left Calât el Medýk at half-past two in the afternoon. On quitting
Hamah, Muly Ismäel had assigned us a guard of two Delibashes.
The road now lay at the foot of the hills to the east of the vale;[64]
for it would have been impossible to keep a north-west direction, the
point of the compass towards which Latakia lay, owing to the many lakes
there are in the vale; and, had not that obstacle existed, prudence
forbade, at any time, the crossing the Ansáry mountains, unless by the
usual road, as no security is afforded for the traveller out of it.[65]
A few minutes after three we came to a fine spring of water, issuing
from the foot of the hill, which fed a number of pools to the left
of us. The name of this spot is the Shreah Water. A short distance
before arriving at it were two stone uprights, parts of a gateway of
some large building, of the same style of architecture as the ruins
of Apamea. Due west of the Shreah Water, about two miles, is Gemmyah,
a hamlet of Arab huts, the inhabitants of which live by fishing. They
spear the fish; and one of our soldiers informed us that so abundant
are fish in the Orontes, and in the small lakes, that it is sufficient,
after dark, to thrust a barbed spear into the water, to bring out one
every time.
We pursued our way, and at every little distance encountered a rivulet
crossing the road, issuing as before from the foot of the hills, which
were now terminated by a low precipice. These springs were so copious
as to form pools, and the waters of all of them were very clear. Some,
we were told, were tepid, but those we tasted were not so; we did not,
however, try them all.
Towards sunset we passed a Tel or conical mound, differing in nothing
from those seen in the desert; our guides called it Tel el Amjyk. I
had quickened my pace for the last two hours, in order to superintend
the encampment myself, and to avoid the torment of the musquitoes by
placing it on high ground: but when I had chosen it, the cook grumbled
at being far removed from running water, so that, at half-past seven,
we halted at another spot, Tel Kely-ed-dýn, close to a fine spring.
During the whole of the day the flies had rendered the horses almost
unmanageable; and we were half inclined to believe the assertion we had
often heard made, that, during autumn, cattle were sometimes stung to
death by them in this vale.[66] The grass hereabouts was so luxuriant,
that a horse could not in twenty-four hours consume more than what he
covered as he stood. During these first days none of the animals had
any corn. Clover and sweet herbs were mixed with the grass. We thought
it strange that hay was never made of it, considering how abundant the
grass grew; and we easily conceived how Seleucus fed here so large a
number of elephants and mares--if indeed elephants eat grass.
In the course of this day’s journey we observed several patches of
an ancient paved road. The country, we were told, had no robbers
hereabouts, and we slept in perfect security. We indeed saw, at every
little distance, small encampments of Arabs, but these are stationary,
and live by their flocks. They make rush mats, which are in request for
fifty miles round.
It was near two o’clock when we left Tel Kely-ed-dýn; for Lady Hester
found the heat so intolerable that she would not stir earlier. This
used to vex much the two guards, who, thinking themselves qualified
to instruct us how to travel in their own country, were constantly
enforcing the necessity of rising early and of travelling in the
cool of the morning, so as to reach betimes our evening station, and
thus to enable the tent-men to pitch by daylight, as their work was
exceedingly difficult to do in the dark. This counsel was very good but
very useless, as Lady Hester would not change her hours for anybody;
excepting on our return from Palmyra, when prudence perhaps got the
better of her habits.
It was near four when we came to Tel Ketýn, from the top of which I
observed, by compass, that our course, during the morning, had been
S.S.W. ½ S.: looking onward it was N. From Tel-Kely-ed-Dýn the hills
on the right had receded considerably, forming a half-moon, the centre
of the curve being due E. of Tel-Ketýn. After quitting this Tel, the
appearances of a paved road were very manifest for half a league,
during which we continued on it; until, inclining to the left, we
struck across a most fertile plain, nearly covered with corn-fields,
and abounding, where uncultivated, with grass four feet high,
intermixed with clover. About seven, we ascended a small eminence, from
which the Orontes again became visible, winding at the foot of finely
wooded mountains. We descended once more, and arrived in half an hour
at the bridge called Geser el Shogr, where we pitched our tents on a
green plat of ground close by the river.
The Orontes here is not broader than at Hamah. In its broadest parts,
thus far, it scarcely exceeds the Isis at Oxford, and does not seem
deeper, but is much more rapid. There are numerous islets in and about
it, but fewer gardens than at Hamah, owing to the height of its banks,
which renders it impossible to make a wheel with a diameter sufficient
to dip. The town of Shogr is miserable and poor; yet its situation,
commanding the bridge of communication across the Orontes and the
great caravan road from Aleppo and Hamah to the coast, makes it a
place of considerable importance. It is a dependency of the pashalik
of Aleppo: but Topal Ali, an officer of the Deláti, appointed to
the government of it, having turned rebel, set himself up as a petty
chieftain, and had contrived to become master of a considerable tract
of the mountains, with so much of the plain as lies between the river
and Tel-Kelyeen. Rageb, pasha of Aleppo, on one occasion, endeavoured
to reduce him to obedience, and for that purpose assembled an army
of three or four thousand men. But Topal Ali, although with fewer
soldiers, had so little fear, that, instead of shutting himself up in
his fortress, or fleeing to the inaccessible parts of the mountains,
he marched out to meet him; and, the pasha’s army being principally
composed of Deláti, would not fight against their old comrade and
officer, and remained neuter. The other mercenaries, seeing themselves
deserted, fled, and were pillaged by Topal Ali’s troops. Not wishing,
however, to irritate the pasha, Topal Ali afterwards restored his
artillery, camp equipage, &c. At this time, by means of bribes, he
had obtained permission to hold his government as the apanage of some
person in the Seraglio: but it was evident that he thought himself
insecure, as he was obliged to keep in his pay more troops than his
means could afford. He was lame (hence his appellation of Topal), and
seemed about forty years old.
We had not been long encamped when a rather ludicrous circumstance
occurred. Lady Hester had, on more than one occasion, related the
prophecy of the fortuneteller respecting her--that she should one day
be queen of the Jews. It appeared that this had been retold, with, as
is usual, some exaggerations, one of which we will suppose was that she
was herself a Jewess: for a woman of the people of Israel really came
from the town to the tents, and asked to see her ladyship; when, being
referred to me, she gravely asked me whether she might be employed to
kill her meat. I did not at first comprehend her: and told her that the
Aga had sent us lambs, which the cook would kill. “What! he is a Jew
then?” said she. (It is known to most persons that Jews may eat only of
what has been killed by people of their own religion.)--“Why, what if
he is not?”--“What, if he is not?” cried she: “is not the meleky [the
queen] one of us, and how can she eat from other hands than ours?” I
now comprehended the woman’s drift; for I had so often heard Turks say
they were sure she was a daughter of the Grand Signor by some English
lady, and the Jews convert prophecies from holy writ to her person,
that I was no longer astonished at any thing of this kind. I related
the story to Lady Hester, who sent the woman a small present. Topal Ali
in the mean time had sent a couple of lambs, rice, fowls, sugar, and
whatever could be wanted for eating--the customary way, as has been
more than once said, of welcoming distinguished strangers.
A messenger had been sent to Laodicea or Latakia, to ascertain whether
the plague raged there or not; and it was resolved to await his return
before proceeding any farther.
Close to our encampment was the gibbet on which malefactors were
executed. It consisted of two rough forked stakes with a cross piece,
scarcely trimmed with a hatchet. When a felon is caught, he is
forthwith taken before the governor, and, if the evidence of his guilt
is clear, he is, in the same instant, conveyed to the gallows, and
hanged without any formality; or he is tied hand and foot and thrown
over the bridge.
I walked into the town, and was shocked at the misery that displayed
itself. A large mosque, the governor’s house,[67] and a bath, formed,
as it were, the whole of it: for the houses of the inhabitants were so
mean that wretchedness itself could not be lodged worse. The clothes of
the artisans and mechanics at work in their shops indicated either real
or affected misery: for the garb of poverty is generally so common in
Turkey, wherever the law cannot control the oppression of the ruler and
his deputies, that no argument can be drawn from it of the real state
of people’s pockets. Nor is a province always accounted the poorer
because apparently groaning under oppressive management--nay, it often
happens that, under a licentious soldiery, the profits of manual labour
and goods are greater: witness the desire so often expressed in Cairo
for the return of the Mamelukes, under whose reign there was so little
security for property, and so much rapacity on the part of the Beys:
yet were large fortunes often amassed, and much more speedily than now.
In the bazar lazy soldiers were sitting, smoking and drinking iced
water; for the weather was become exceedingly hot: others were at the
doors of barbers’ shops. A few squalid and poorly dressed Christians
were moving about on their business. Wishing to hear the news of the
day, I entered a barber’s shop. As is customary, a round looking-glass
with a handle to it (such as mermaids are represented as holding,) was
handed to me to see my face in. This is the usual compliment to such
as merely enter to gossip, and they place a para or two upon it when
presented to them.
Surgery forms part of a barber’s education in the East. Whilst sitting
there, a man came in to have blood taken from his ears, which was very
expeditiously and neatly done in the following manner. The patient held
a handkerchief round his neck, which he was desired to draw as tight as
he could bear, and this he did so effectually that he soon became black
in the face: scarifications were then made on the upper edge of the
ear by scoring it with a razor. Not much blood came away; although, on
other occasions, I have seen it flow very freely.
Mr. B. paid a visit to Topal Ali, and on his return to the tents a
horse was sent to him as a present. Topal Ali desired his katib (or
secretary) to seek me out, and ask me to call on him, which I did. He
assumed more importance than I had observed in several of the first men
of the empire, and seemed a vain-glorious man. He asked me for remedies
to render him more amiable in the eyes of his harým: but I told him I
was unable to afford him the assistance he required.
In the evening, we were disquieted by an officious peasant, who came
to inform us, with much mystery, that twelve soldiers had been seen
lurking at a short distance from the encampment, and that, as the gates
of the town were shut, these men could not be there with any good
intention. This information created some alarm, and we were somewhat on
the alert throughout the night; but nobody molested us.
To-day the messenger returned from Laodicea, and brought letters which
denied the existence of the plague there: we accordingly set off the
next day at eight o’clock. On quitting Shogr, the road begins to ascend
into the mountains. These, unlike Mount Lebanon, were clothed with
trees and covered with verdure. Their ascent was more gentle, and their
breaks were less precipitous: there were slopes for corn fields, and
levels capable of irrigation. We continued to mount, and passed a large
village called Damat. We then came to a small river, near which is
Castel el Frange, which is the extent of Topal Ali’s district in this
direction, and may be about three hours and a half from Geser. At three
o’clock we came to another river, Ayn-el-Zerky, and encamped there for
the night.
At half-past seven in the morning, we left Ayn-el-Zerky. Soon after
eight, we crossed a small bridge, built over a cleft in the rock thirty
feet deep, at the bottom of which ran a small river. It is called
Shaykh-el-Agûf. It is not more than six feet over, but, when looked
into, had so much the appearance of a horrible chasm as to make us
shudder.
About noon we reached the foot of Mount Sekûn. The tract we had passed,
which begins at Damat and ends here, is called Gebel-el-Kerád. The road
this day had presented some of the most beautiful scenery that nature
can boast of. Our course, as it wound among the mountains, led us
sometimes through groves of plum, fig, and pomegranate trees; sometimes
over a wild of myrtles, arbutuses, and other flowering shrubs: again
it conducted us along the banks of a river, which, taking its source
from the spring where we had encamped over night, had now increased
to a large stream, and, as it meandered in the valley, or rushed
down some descent, gave an admirable finish to the landscape. Oaks
and firs covered the highest mountains; corn-fields and agricultural
produce the valley. Scattered cottages, here and there, wore the
appearance of English farms, and recalled the idea of my country, with
embellishments in which a colder climate cannot be dressed. Altogether,
the valley of Sekûn was a most rich and luxuriant scene.
On our way, the remains of an aqueduct, made of finely cemented
brick-work, were to be seen in one or two small patches. It is probable
that the water of the river, or a portion of it, was anciently carried
to some town,[68] and there were certain indications that a road had
once run along by its side.
When our tents were pitched, several inhabitants of the neighbouring
hamlets came to stare at us. We were now in the midst of the Ansáry,
a tribe of mountaineers, of whom we had heard many strange stories.
Gebel Sekûn,[69] which overhung our encampment, is said to contain many
impregnable fortresses, to which, when attacked by a superior force,
the inhabitants flee for refuge. It is one of the highest of that chain
of mountains which runs parallel to the sea-coast, north and south,
from the termination of Mount Lebanon, a few miles to the north of
Tripoli, up to Antioch; and seems to be one of the strongholds which
secure the independence of this warlike race; for all those who dwell
upon and about it are comparatively free, whilst those between it and
the sea pay tribute to the governor of Latakia.
Our guards, who were now two of Topal Ali’s soldiers, beheld the
Ansárys with distrust, and endeavoured to inspire us with it too: but
their demeanour was peaceable; and, although there was nothing like
timidity in their manner, their address was not rude. As I was seated
at the door of my tent smoking, they came and placed themselves close
by me. Soon after arrived others; and then those already seated rose,
and, with most prolonged ceremoniousness, gave place to the new comers,
or preserved their precedence. The Drûzes likewise are reproached with
being much given to useless ceremony and complimentary speech. The
Ansárys were all armed, some with a brace of pistols in their girdle,
and all with khanjárs.
Lady Hester thought their appearance and air so military that she
resolved to encamp a day longer among them. I have no doubt, too,
that she was anxious to learn something of a people of whom such
extraordinary things are reported; and when she was intent on any plan
which required much penetration and great conduct, she generally chose
to be alone. Under pretence, therefore, of staying behind until a house
was prepared for her, she requested us to depart next day for Latakia.
Next morning accordingly Mr. B. and I, with the principal part of the
luggage, set off at seven in the morning. We had to ascend until we
reached the summit of the mountain, from which the descent is gradual,
and leads almost imperceptibly, on a level with the sea, to the city
of Laodicea, now called in Arabic el-Ladkýah. But the river which we
had seen on the preceding day winds, by a circuitous course, round the
foot of Mount Sekûn, and reappears on the other side, emptying itself
afterwards, under the name of Nahr-el-Kebýr, at a short distance from
the city.
The season of the year was calculated to produce a favourable
impression of the beauty of the country. There was no similarity
whatever between the coast here and at Sayda. Round Latakia all was
verdure, and the climate seemed to be just at that point at which the
sun’s rays are insufficient to burn up the soil, but still capable of
producing the fruits that are generally thought to require considerable
heat. Here the date, it is true, does not bear; but there are melons,
grapes, and figs, in the greatest abundance. Such were our first
impressions, as we traversed the environs of Latakia. A residence
of seven months, the latter part of which was a continued scene of
suffering, caused me to view the same picture with such different
feelings, that I quitted it at last with more pleasure than I ever did
any place in my life.
Lady Hester did not arrive until two days afterwards, and it was said
that she had completely gained the hearts of the mountaineers among
whom she had been encamped. This may be readily believed, for there
never was a person who could, like her, when she thought it worth
while, on all occasions, and with all classes, engage and secure
admiration and attachment.
CHAPTER IX.
Residence at Latakia--Remains of
Antiquity--Port--Gardens--Sycamore--Birdlime tree--Vegetables
and fruit--Tobacco--Salt tanks--Sponge fishery--Hanah
Kûby--Fanaticism of the Turks of Latakia--A Barbary Shaykh--The
Plague--Habits of the Mahometans accordant with common
sense--Epidemic illness--Impalement of a Malefactor--Ravages of
the Plague--Mr. Barker, British Consul at Aleppo, comes to spend
some time near Latakia--Hard fate of a Christian--Experiment
on a fruit diet--Imprudence of smoking in the streets during
Ramazán--Amusements--Sporting--Departure of Mr. B. for
England--Civility of the Greek Patriarch--Illness of Lady
Hester, and of the Author--She supposes her disease to be the
Plague--Illness of servants--Scarcity of provisions--Departure
for Sayda--Turkish Lugger--Tripoli--Aspect of Mount
Lebanon--Arrival at Sayda--Seamanship of the Turks.
There was a spacious mansion in Latakia, which, from its size and the
expense required to keep it up, had been for some time empty. This was
hired, unfurnished, for three months, at the rate of 500 piasters per
month; whereas it would have been well paid for at 150. Here Lady
Hester and Mr. B. took up their residence, whilst, with the view of
seeing patients, I hired a house for myself, which I occupied, with two
servants, Tanûs, whom I engaged on my arrival at Latakia, and my groom,
Ibrahim. In the courtyard were tethered my two horses, night and day in
the open air, but, as the yard was small, and they could almost snuff
each other’s breath, they were constantly breaking loose and fighting.
Lady Hester was hardly well housed when she wrote a long letter to
the Marquis of Sligo, a great portion of which, as descriptive of her
journey into the Desert, I shall be excused for inserting.
_Extract of a Letter from Lady Hester Stanhope to the
Marquis of Sligo._
Latakia, 1813.
* * * * *
**** I must first mention my entry at Damascus, which was one
of the most singular and not one of my least exploits, as it
was reckoned so dangerous, from the fanaticism of the Turks in
that town. However, we made a triumphal entry, and were lodged
in what was reckoned a very fine house in the Christian quarter,
which I did not at all approve of. I said to the doctor, I
must “take the bull by the horns,” and stick myself under the
minaret of the great mosque. This was accomplished, and we
found ourselves, for three months, in the most distinguished
part of the Turkish quarter. I went out in a variety of dresses
every day, to the great astonishment of the Turks, but no harm
happened. A visit to the pasha on the night of the Ramazán
was magnificent indeed: 2,000 attendants and guards lined the
staircase, antechambers, &c. The streets were all illuminated,
and there were festivities at all the coffee-houses. The message
of invitation was accompanied by two fine Arab horses, one of
which I mounted, and I am sorry to say they are both since dead
of the glanders. But this is enough for Damascus. I must now go
to the Arabs, only just mentioning that constant dinners and
fêtes were given to the great Turks and their harýms during my
long stay.
I did not delay long in making my arrangement with an Arab
chief to go to Palmyra, which the pasha, hearing of, greatly
disapproved, and said he should send me there himself in
security. But, when this business was examined into, I found
that at a place about three days’ journey from Damascus we
were to be joined by nearly 1000 men to escort us. The expense
and trouble of such an escort and the difficulty of managing
such a body of troops put it entirely out of the question: so
I affected to give up the plan entirely, and set off to Hamah,
not to do anything palpably rude towards the pasha. I cannot
enter into the detail of the second negociation with the Arabs,
nor of the dreadful stories that were told us of the danger
we were running into: but all that did not deter me from my
purpose. In March, we set off with the two sons of the King of
the Desert, forty camels loaded with provisions, and water, and
presents, twenty horsemen, the Doctor, Mr. B., myself, and an
Arab dragoman, a second dragoman, and a mameluke, two cooks, a
caffagi, four Cairo säyses, the Emir el akoar, or stud-groom,
Mr. B.’s valet, and Madame Fry, two sakas or water-carriers, my
slave, two ferráses or tent-pitchers, with an escort of Arabs.
On the second day we arrived at the tents of the King of the
Arabs, who had advanced to the borders, on purpose to meet us.
We remained there a day, and were very much entertained with
Arab stories and civility. I then requested the emir to move his
camp to the northward. We proceeded, and passed through some
other tribes, and encamped at night among the Beni Hez. The
next day we passed through the Beni Kaleds, and encamped in a
very desolate place, but sent for a guard from the tribe of the
Sebáh, who were not very far off.
Having visited the tribes of the Melhem, the Beni Hez, the Beni
something else, and the Sebáhs, we arrived on the eighth day at
Palmyra. We met 2000 of the Sebáhs upon their march, descending
into the plain where we were reposing from the Beláz, a mountain
pass, with all their fine mares, little colts, little camels,
little children, and hideous women, with the most extraordinary
head-dresses, and extraordinary rings at their noses, and
preposterously tatooed in flowers and frightful figures.
You must not understand Palmyra to be a desolate place, but
one in which there are 1500 inhabitants. The chief and about
300 people came out about two hours’ distance to meet us. He
and a few of the grandees were upon Arab mares, and dressed
rather more to imitate Turks than Arabs, with silk shawls and
large silk turbans. The men, at least many of them, had their
whole bodies naked, except a pestimal or petticoat studded
or ornamented with leather, blackamoor’s teeth, beads, and
strange sorts of things that you see on the stage. They were
armed with matchlocks, and guns, all surrounding me, and firing
in my face, with most dreadful shouts and savage music and
dances. They played all sorts of antics, till we arrived at the
triumphal arch at Palmyra. The inhabitants were arranged in the
most picturesque manner on the different columns leading to
the Temple of the Sun. The space before the arch was occupied
with dancing girls, most fancifully and elegantly dressed,
and beautiful children placed upon the projecting parts of
the pillars with garlands of flowers. One, suspended over the
arch, held a wreath over my head. After having stopped a few
minutes, the procession continued: the dancing girls immediately
surrounded me. The lancemen took the lead, followed by the
poets from the banks of the Euphrates, singing complimentary
odes, and playing upon various Arabian instruments. A tribe
of hale Palmyrenes brought up the rear, when we took up our
habitation in the Temple of the Sun, and remained there a week.
I must tell you that the difficulty of this enterprise was
that the King of the Desert was at war with some very powerful
Arabs, and it was from them we were in dread of being surprised,
particularly as it was known that they had said that they
could sell me for 25,000 piasters, or 300 purses, and which
they certainly thought they could get for my ransom at home.
This was the most alarming part of the business. Our people,
nevertheless, went out robbing every day, and came home with a
fine khanjár, and some visible spoil. We heard of nothing but
the advance of the enemy to the east of Palmyra, and we believed
it, as we had taken five of their scouts prisoners, which we
thought well secured at Palmyra; but, unfortunately, one night
one got out, and, fearing that he would give the intelligence
of what day we were to begin our journey back again, we set
off before our intended time. We were, nevertheless, pursued
by 300 horses a few hours off, which fell upon the tribe of
the Sebáhs, and killed a chief, and took some tents, and the
Sebáhs, on their side, carried off twenty-two mares. We returned
a different way, having made acquaintance with the tribe of the
Amoors, the Hadideens, the Wahabas, and another battalion of
Sebáhs, including Wahabees, and a party of hunting Arabs, that
are dressed in the skins of wild beasts. We arrived in safety
at the tents of the Grand Emir, Mahannah el Fadel, who gave us
a fine Arab feast, and killed a camel, of which we partook. At
two hours from Hamah, we were met by a corps of Delibashes, who
were sent as a complimentary escort by Moli Ismael, a man of
great note in Syria, who conducted us to his house, where dinner
was prepared for 300 people, and corn provided for all the Arab
mares. Within a mile of Hamah, full 10,000 people were assembled
out of curiosity, half of which were women, and many women of
distinction, with Nasif Pasha’s children carried by slaves.
_Mashallah_ echoed from every mouth. Selámet-ya meleky,
seláme, ya syt (welcome, queen--welcome, madam); El hamd Lillah
(thank God); Allah kerym (the Lord is gracious); and this very
interesting scene proved my ladyship’s popularity in Hamah.
Nothing in the world could have been so well managed, which
proves me an élève of Colonel Gordon’s, for I was at once
quarter-master, adjutant, and commissary-general. We were as
comfortable upon our road as if we were at home, and the Duke of
Kent could not have given out more minute orders, or have been
more particular in their being executed, which, in fact, is the
only way of performing a thing of that sort with any degree of
comfort.
We were excessively entertained with the different conversations
of these people, and the extravagant though elegant compliments
they paid me. They have got it into their heads that the only
power which can affect them is Russia. They were always thanking
God that I was not Empress of Russia, otherwise their freedom
would be lost. I am now getting translated into Arabic all the
real achievements of the Emperor Alexander, on purpose to send
to my friends in the Desert. They are the most singular and
wonderfully clever people I ever saw, but require a great deal
of management, for they are more desperate and more deep than
you can possibly have an idea of. It would have very much amused
you to see me riding like a Bedouin woman in a bird’s-nest made
of carpeting upon a camel, and upon one of the fleet dromedaries
like a Wahabee. I am enrolled as an Anisy Arab in the tribe of
the Melhem, and have now the rights of the Desert, particularly
that of recommending my friends who may wish to visit them.
After my return to Hamah, the immense number of Arabs that
waited on me from all quarters was quite surprising. You think
we have been losing our time in Syria, but certainly we have
seen in great perfection what nobody else has, not even your
friend Shaykh Ibrahim, who, going under consular protection, was
stripped stark naked in coming from Palmyra, and, after having
marched some days in this happy state, got a pair of shalwars
(trousers) at a village, and, in this figure, entered Damascus.
As for Mr. W****, he certainly crept there like a thief in the
dark, when the Arabs were several days’ journey to the eastward.
The Palmyrenes are the best mimics in the world; and, one day,
when I was looking over Zenobia’s pleasure house, a very clever
Palmyrene bubbled and blustered just like him, and he said Mr.
W**** complained bitterly of the cold. Then (rubbing the two
palms of his hands together to imitate him) he added, “He says
he is the son of a vizir.” “Oh! then,” rejoined one of the Arabs
who accompanied us, “it cannot be a vizir of the true race:
the man is a booby;” he spread out his hands too, and exposed
them to the cold, when he ought to have wrapped them up in his
abah. “Pooh!” added he, blowing his fingers, and making a sign
of contempt, “he is good for nothing.” I only saw one mare, a
Wahabee, that I thought perfection. The owner said he would not
part with her for less than one hundred purses. The generality
of their horses and mares is by no means so beautiful as you
would imagine, but beyond anything excellent for swiftness and
fatigue. I could write volumes upon different circumstances
that took place on this interesting journey, which I certainly
recommend to no traveller to undertake without being well aware
of the _carte du pays_, and having considerable abilities
to plan, and great energy to go through with it. When you are
once in the scrape, nobody can get you out of it, for no pasha
has sufficient authority over them to be the least depended
upon. They no sooner heard of our intention of going with the
pasha’s people than they said they should cut off all their
beards and send them naked about their business. For my part,
I believe they would have been as good as their word. The idea
of telling them cock-and-bull stories, and treating them like
fools, is perfectly incorrect: they are much more difficult to
manage than any Europeans I have ever seen.
I always went dressed like a Bedouin Arab, and rode with
provisions under a sort of red rug upon my horse, and a
water-bottle and a chief’s lance. Mr. B. and the doctor had
beards and were dressed in the same style, with sheepskin
pelisses, some tanned, some covered with Bagdad flowered
cottons, and over that abahs, which are a sort of woollen
cloaks, some white with great gold flourishes woven in upon
the back and shoulders, others with plain and large stripes of
black and white, a quarter of a yard wide. There was a chief
there that Lord Petersham would die of envy before, as he was as
_éveillé_ as a Frenchman, and presented himself with the
air of Lord Rivers or the Duke of Grafton. Respecting etiquette
and politeness, these people certainly far exceed even the
Turks; but for eloquence and beauty of ideas (though one can
hardly be a judge of it), they undoubtedly are beyond any other
people in the world.
To expect a frigate upon this coast till the plague is quite
gone is out of the question, and to pop into a nasty infected
ship would be folly. As far as country and a good house goes, we
are very comfortable; as well off now as ill off last winter.
Believe me,
Dear Lord Sligo,
Yours sincerely,
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
In these distant countries the arrival of strangers was in those times
an event of importance among the few Europeans of the place, and “Have
you seen the mylady who is just come from Hamah?” was the question of
the day.
By what I could learn from the mention of visits of this sort made by
former travellers, there was no one, however distinguished his rank,
who had not sought with avidity the society of these Europeans as
his only resource among barbarians: for so the Turks are called by
most persons who travel among them. Such was not the practice of Lady
Hester. Unless a European, from situation or talents, had some claim
to her acquaintance, she always refused to see him: and the wife of
a factor, in the town where we now were, in vain solicited, during
six months, the honour of being presented to her, although the only
European-born woman in the place. I however was soon acquainted with
them all: and, as there was an epidemic fever raging on our arrival, my
professional aid was called for on all sides; the more especially as I
gave it gratuitously.[70]
When we were settled, and time was allowed for examining the town and
environs, I observed several remains of ancient edifices, which once
adorned Laodicea, lying about in different directions, of some of which
I took sketches. Going from the town to the port, (which two places
are distant half a mile from each other) a single granite column was
to be seen upright, but buried half its length among the graves of a
cemetery. The soil was overgrown with flowers and weeds at this time.
Close to it were five palm trees of different heights.
Two hundred paces to the north and east of this was a singular remnant
of antiquity in an octagonal piece of marble, giving support to the
main beam of a Persian waterwheel, one end of which rested upon it, as
the other did upon the fluted shaft of a column. It was placed upside
down, and had, on three of the eight faces, a long inscription in Greek
capitals. The copying of it, from the unpleasant posture in which I was
obliged to do it, took me up two mornings. Large blocks of stone and
patches of a wall attested the former existence of some building on
this spot.
There are several granite pillars scattered in and about the town.
Thus, to the north of the citadel is one, and by the sea-side a piece
of another. In one of the streets are no fewer than ten granite
pillars, still upright, but without capitals. The intervals between
them have been blocked up with masonry, and the whole forms the wall
of a house. There are seven more incorporated in another wall; these
and the ten above mentioned are scarcely half their length out of the
ground, proving how great must be the heaps of ruins which now cover
their bases.
On the road from the town to the port there are four other granite
columns lying flat and half buried in the soil, the capitals and
pedestals of which are wanting.
In one of the streets of the city there were the remains of an ancient
edifice, supposed to have been a temple. Four pillars, parts of two
of the sides, were still upright, the shafts not being of a single
stone, as is most frequently the case, but of four pieces. They are
of the Corinthian order, and the blocks which form the architrave are
very large. Within the court where they stood was the tomb of a holy
Mahometan, named Shaykh Mohammed. Many devout persons visited the tomb,
and hence mats were spread on the ground for the convenience of praying.
But the most perfect specimen of antiquity yet to be seen in Latakia is
a square building, said to have been a triumphal arch. This supposed
triumphal arch is now converted into a mosque, called Jamâ el Mezyad.
It is in the street called Hart el Ashar, a small distance from the
foot of the elevated spot of ground which commands Latakia from the
east, and upon which once stood a castle or citadel. When the building
was entire, the arch between the two pillars was open, but has been
since blocked up with rude masonry. The pillars of the Corinthian order
and the materials of the building are of a hard stone, quarried in
the neighbourhood; on the entablature are figures in bas-relief. Among
them may be distinguished rams’ heads with a collar round their necks,
and bucklers: the second and fourth compartment (counting from the
left) seemed to bear something like robes: the seventh and tenth have
the appearance of helmets. But the troublesome curiosity of a crowd of
Turks, who collected round me whilst I was drawing, prevented me from
making such accurate observations as I could wish to have done.
Within, the dome is supported by eight pilasters, two at each angle of
the square; they are Corinthian. Those of the two opposite faces are
different, two sets being lower than the other two. The darkness of
the inside prevented me from making out the bas-reliefs: for the light
cannot enter except by the doorway. No inscription was found within or
without. In this mosque the howling dervises perform their religious
ceremonies.
I endeavoured to procure a ladder to mount up and examine the
bas-reliefs on the outside: but the bystanders, having talked the
matter over, said it could not be permitted, as I should thus
be enabled to overlook the terraces of several houses in the
neighbourhood, where possibly the harýms might be unsuspectingly
diverting themselves unveiled.
Numbers of tombs and sarcophagi are to be seen in the environs of
the city, but principally to the north of it. The tombs are square
chambers, with cells hewn in the sides. Some are cut out singly in the
rock. One yet remains where there are three figures sculptured in high
relief on the façade; but the figures are unfortunately much mutilated.
The entrance to one tomb (four minutes’ walk from the town) had two
Ionic pillars: some had pilasters. On the sarcophagi, which are to
be found hewn from single blocks of stone or marble, rams’ heads are
sculptured with wreaths of flowers; and these seem to have been the
most common ornaments. It is not clear whether, in such cases, the
block was not originally an altar, and had been subsequently hollowed
out, not for the reception of a corpse, but for the purposes of a
water-trough.
I observed, with respect to the sepulchres, that no rule is adhered to
as to the direction of the head and feet.
There are, likewise, on the seashore, some caves, or chambers, hewn out
of the solid rock, on a level with the sea, and which have openings to
give the waves a free passage in and out. These are shown as baths, and
are of the same construction with those which are to be seen in the
neighbourhood of Alexandria, and which are named Cleopatra’s baths.
The site of the ancient city appears to have extended much more to the
north-east than the modern town, running between the castle hill and
the promontory.
These are all the remains of what this city once was.[71] Its
revolutions may be comprehended in a few words. It is one of those
cities whose name is pure Greek; for the idiom of the Arabic tongue
has transformed the Greek name of Laodicea, which by Europeans is
generally called Latakia, into Ladkýah. The city contained 3,000 to
4,000 inhabitants, consisting of Mahometans, Christians, and a few
European families. The Greeks had five or six churches, eight curates,
and a bishop. There was a monastery for the Franciscans, a solid piece
of masonry;[72] but there were no friars: and it was then occupied by
the French consul, who let out the lower part as a caravansery. The few
catholics who lived here were French and Italian. There was an English
agent. Latakia is a dirty town. It was governed by a motsellem. There
was a wall round the city, but of no strength, said to have been built
by a Christian, one Hanah Kûby, who, in the time of the invasion of
Egypt by the French, as I was told, governed the place.
The harbour of Latakia is distinct from the town. It is about two
cables’ length in breadth and width, with a very narrow entrance,
formed by two jetties of stone-work in ruins. On the north jetty
stands an old fort or castle, which is suffered to go to decay: upon
it, on Fridays, a ragged Turkish flag was hoisted, scarcely visible
above the parapet. The port seemed to have been anciently walled round,
as there were patches of masonry still remaining on the south side:
now, it would not admit vessels of above one hundred tons burthen. It
was governed by the collector of the customs, who was at this time
named Hosayn Aga. He was one of the few surviving of those Mamelukes
bought and brought up by Gezzàr Pasha: and was said to retain something
of the ferocity of his old master. His power was almost as great as
that of the governor. There were several granite columns to be seen
just under water, near the wharf, indicating that some ancient edifice
had been thrown down by an earthquake.
Out of the town there were fine orchards and olive grounds. Of these
the two best cultivated were Bostán el Bende and Bostán el Frangy, or
the Franks’ garden, one mile and a quarter from the town. And it is
observable, in spite of all the lamentations that the European priests
living in the Levant make over their privations and sufferings, that
their houses and gardens are generally better than even those of the
rich natives. We saw here olive trees much larger than any where else
in our travels, and some of them that would have greatly pleased the
lovers of rural scenery by their grotesque and knotted trunks, and by
the strange windings which the grape vines planted at their roots made
among their branches. Nothing can be more beautiful than the face of
the country around the city, combining every requisite for agriculture,
for prospect, or for embellishment. Much oil is made here.
There were some sycamore-trees in the environs of the city, but their
leaves and appearance were unlike the tree to which we give that
name in England. The sycamore of the Levant and of Egypt somewhat
resembles a large walnut-tree, but with a smaller leaf. It is most
remarkable in its fruit, which is in shape like a fig, and in size as
big as a medlar. Instead of growing on the sides and extremities of
the minute or smaller branches, it springs upon little twigs which
surround the trunk and the lower and thick part of the stoutest
branches, where there are no leaves. It first ripens in August, and
this crop is succeeded by another in October. It is eaten by the poor
principally.[73]
The jujube-tree is common here. The henna plant is reared in pots.
The environs of Latakia produce a tree with a fruit the size of
a gooseberry, and, when ripe, of a straw-colour, containing a
viscid matter which serves for bird-lime. It is called in Arabic
_dubbuk_; it grows to the height of an apple-tree, and has a leaf
like a peach-tree. Birdlime is prepared from it in the following
manner by the gardeners of Latakia. Any number of ripe berries (say
200) being gathered, the person bites them in two, one by one, as fast
as he can, and lets fall the husk, keeping the viscid matter (which
adheres to a kernel) in his mouth, until he has extracted the produce
of about twenty. He then spits the clot into his hand, which has been
previously dipped in water, and throws it with a jerk, that it may not
stick, into a large earthenware platter. This process he repeats, until
he has bitten them all asunder; each time holding a little water in his
mouth, and wetting his hand. He now beats this quantity with his two
hands in a cross-fashion, like the shutting and opening of the blades
of a pair of shears; adding, by degrees, about a breakfast cupful of
water, a spoonful at a time. He then moves his hands round one another,
until the viscid pulp has assumed the colour and appearance of whipped
cream. About two table spoonfuls of honey are then added, and he beats
it again with a rotatory motion and with the flat part of his hand
downwards, until it becomes quite gluey, that is, for about a quarter
of an hour. Twigs are then limed with this, and put in the sun. The
same process is repeated the next day with fresh berries, and again a
third time: after which the twigs are fit for use.
Scammony is said to be brought from this neighbourhood. The plants
growing in the hedges hereabouts are however but few; as there was
much difficulty in finding even one.
Vegetables are very abundant and of great variety. Those of which the
names were familiar to us were spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes,
of a very large size, beet-root, and a kind of turnip which grows on
the summit of the stalk among the leaves just like a cauliflower. There
is also a vegetable with long leaves like lettuce, called beet: also
calabashes, gourds, cucumbers, Jews’ mallows, kusas, long kusas, and
some others to which we were unable to assign an English name: such as
crunb, curnabýt, &c.
The vicinity of Cyprus afforded us some things which are not always
attainable in Mahometan countries, such as lard, hams, &c.; but it is
never worth while for a traveller in Turkey to make a parade of eating
pork, so abominable in the eyes of the followers of Mahomet.
Fruits are numerous: figs, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, grapes,
pomegranates, quinces, myrtle-berries, dates (which do not ripen here),
sweet and water melons, olives which grow to a great size, sumág (a
subacid berry, used in sauces), and others.
The tobacco, which forms a great article of home trade and exportation
at Latakia, is not the growth of the immediate environs, but of the
mountainous district of the Ansárys. It is known in the Levant by the
name of Abu Ryah, and obtains its peculiar odour from the process of
smoke-drying not unlike that used in drying herrings in England.
Water was scanty, and the inhabitants were either obliged to drink from
wells or from springs at a distance. That of the village of Besnada was
considered the best.
To the south of the city, the river, which was seen on our last day’s
journey from Sekûn to Latakia, empties itself into the sea. About half
a mile from the sea it was crossed by a bridge, over which passes the
great coast road. The river, which here is almost navigable, goes by
the name of Nahr-el-Kebyr, or Great River.
There is a rock which projects into the sea south of the harbour, and
to which the natives of Latakia give the name of Seyd Lexis. It has
several marks of either having been quarried or else of having served
for baths, tanks, &c. There are still some salt tanks on it, which
are used for the evaporation of the sea-water. Two or three poor men
gain a livelihood by them, in conjunction with the occasional gains of
angling, in which they employ their hours of watching.
A great sponge trade is carried on by Greeks of the Archipelago, who
come annually, in smacks, about June, and remain until September. They
seek them in a north-west or westerly direction, nearly out of sight
of the shore. The time the divers remain under water is considerable,
and instances of the rupture of a blood-vessel, and of returning to the
surface in an expiring state, sometimes occur. They bear in their hands
a knife, to cut through the root of the sponge; in which, if they fail,
their strength is insufficient to tear it up.
We have said above that the walls of Latakia were built by a Christian
named Kûby, and that he governed the town. Some of his descendants
still live at Leghorn. Examples of power, ceded to Nazarenes to such
an extent as the magistracy, are very rare: nor was that of Mâlem Kûby
sufficiently happy in its close to present temptations to others to
imitate him. How Kûby obtained his elevated situation we did not learn:
but it was probably by farming the taxes of the town at a higher price
than any Moslem would give. He was assassinated by a Mahometan soldier,
one of his own men. His government was in nothing distinguished from
the ordinary routine of motsellems.
Kûby’s family were, whilst we were at Latakia, in absolute poverty.
Indeed such a thing as a Christian family of long standing scarcely
exists in Turkey: for the aggrandizement of an individual is generally
the prelude to his ruin. The secretaries of governors of towns,
appointed by letters patent from the Porte, are those only who can hope
to retain their situations for any number of years: for, as they do not
owe their appointment to the caprice of each succeeding governor, so
they are not removed with him.
The district of Latakia, as being a portion of the pashalik of Tripoli,
was now in the hands of Mustafa Aga Barbar, governor of Tripoli under
Ali Pasha. This man, raised by his conduct and valour from the very
dregs of the people, had, for the last three or four years, preserved
entire tranquillity.
The Mahometans of Latakia seemed to me to be more devout and more
religious, as far as external observances went, than those we had
met with in other cities. Every night several individuals might be
seen parading the streets, bawling in a dissonant tone,--“There is no
other God but the Lord.” Others, assembled together in rooms, formed
themselves into a ring, and imitated the cries and impassioned gestures
of the howling dervises, to the sound of the tabor. Whatever merit the
religion of Mahomet may have, it certainly has no attractions from its
liturgy: and, whether from the minaret or in the mosque, their chant
is far from pleasant to the ear. We were able afterwards to account
for this seemingly extraordinary devotion, which was owing to the late
arrival of a Moorish shaykh, who, being a missionary and zealot in the
cause of Islamism, had insinuated among the leading men of the place
how great their remissness was in the exercise of their religious
duties. His reproofs had operated so far upon them that they met to
celebrate the noisy ceremonies above mentioned.
This zealot was a robust and comely man. He occasionally used to ride
out on a handsome Arabian colt. He never would salute either a European
or a Levantine Christian, but entertained a still stronger hatred
against the sectaries of his own religion. Hence, it is said, he taught
that the goods and lives of the Ansárys need not be respected by the
followers of Abubekr. He lived in a costly way, and at other people’s
expense: for he was a stranger, and on his arrival had nothing. He was
given to abominations: and it was his eloquence, not his actions, that
obtained for him the reputation of sanctity. In the bath, one of his
disciples was accustomed to depilate for him his whole body.
The customary marks of attention and respect were shown by the
Motsellem and Kumrukgi[74] to Lady Hester on her arrival, by sending
officers to say that she had only to make known her wants in order to
their being immediately supplied.
The removal to the sea-coast had been considered as a measure
preparatory to our embarkation either for Malta or Russia. But there
was now much uncertainty as to the practicability of such an event, on
account of the general prevalence of plague along the coast, which made
it hazardous to employ vessels of the country, whilst European ships
kept aloof until the danger of infection should be over.
The existence of the plague at Latakia was not yet dearly established,
but strong suspicions were entertained that some recent deaths had
been owing to it. The difficulty of ascertaining its commencement in
Mahometan countries would seem to be, from what we experienced, very
great. The Mahometans, who esteem it impious to withdraw themselves
from the danger of infection, look with an evil eye on the precautions
which Christians take to that effect: nor will they readily tell, in
suspected cases, of what disease a person died, lest they should seem
accessory to such impiety. They take a pride in making comparisons
between their resignation to the will of Heaven and the want of it
manifested in the conduct of the infidel Christians. Christians, on the
other hand, are unwilling to assert of rich Turks that they died of the
plague, because they might give umbrage to families powerful enough
to do them harm. Again, as all medical practitioners in Turkey refuse
to visit the sick suspected of having the plague, no sure reports
can be obtained from that quarter. Still, an attentive watchfulness
from day to day over the diseases and deaths which occur, will leave
little doubt on a person’s mind, as may be judged from a perusal of the
journal of occurrences during our residence at Latakia.
It was some time before Lady Hester could arrange herself to her liking
in the house which she occupied; yet, had it been in thorough repair,
no residence that had hitherto been allotted to her, excepting the
palace at Dayr el Kamar, was so good. The whole of the ground-floor
consisted of vaulted apartments, which, for their warmth, are preferred
by the natives during the winter months, and for their coolness during
the summer. There was stabling for fifty horses: we at this time had
nineteen. These rooms and offices surrounded a large, oblong court,
two sides of which only were surmounted by a first story. On one of
these there was breadth and length sufficient for a stuccoed court,
surrounded by eight or ten rooms, with the doors and windows opening
upon it. This upper story was the dwelling intended for the women, or
the harým.
Mr. Barker had, at my request, hired me an Armenian servant at Aleppo,
who arrived at Latakia on the 28th of May; and, my little establishment
being now complete, I was careless whether we embarked for Europe or
remained some time longer in this pleasant climate. The Armenians who
live towards the Euphrates generally emigrate in their youth with a
view to serve in the large cities. There they earn and lay by a little
money, with which they return to their native villages. Carabit, the
man whom Mr. B. had sent, was past fifty, and had been less economical
or less lucky than his countrymen; for he was still, as he said, very
poor, but he was an honest and serviceable old man.
During the two summers which I had passed in Turkey, I had suffered
much from the heat during the night: for, yet new to the country, I
had listened to the advice of European residents, who described it
as dangerous to expose one’s-self to the night air. But I had found,
when I could converse with the natives, and more especially with the
Mahometans, that they were a people who lived more after the dictates
of common sense, and were less slaves to theories and doctrines than
Franks. Thus, for example, they take acid drinks and eat ripe fruits
in fevers, because they find them beneficial and agreeable; they sleep
in the open air, because, during great heats, the confinement of walls
and of a roof is intolerable; they reject the use of fermented liquors,
not only because their Koran forbids them, but because the refreshing
sensation arising from a draught of cold water is not to be equalled,
in hot climates, by the most delicious wines; they are slow in speech
and action, because haste is no argument of judgment; in fact, they
lead the lives of reasonable beings, and consequently appeared to me,
in many respects, not unworthy of imitation. I accordingly henceforward
suspended my musquito-net from four poles erected on the terrace of
the house, and, like the natives, slept beneath it, under the canopy
of heaven, the thermometer standing, at sunrise, at 71° F., and in
the morning I caused cold water to be poured upon my shaved head (for
all those who wear turbans are constrained to have the head shaved),
thereby procuring for myself a most refreshing coolness, and preserving
myself from catarrhal affections.
One evening, on opening the door of my chamber, I found a serpent
coiled up on the stone floor. I started back, and caught up a
walking-stick, which lay in my room, in time to give him, as he was
crawling up a perpendicular wall, a smart cut across the neck, which
brought him to the ground, and a few more blows rendered him harmless.
I took him up on the end of the stick, and, with a jerk, intended to
throw him from the terrace into the street; but, from applying too much
force, the serpent passed the street (not more than twelve feet wide)
and fell on my neighbour’s terrace, in the midst of a family party
sitting there smoking. Their fright was ludicrous, until the serpent
was observed to be nearly motionless, when, of course, tranquillity was
restored, and the groundless terror created much laughter.
The town was seized with some alarm by the arrival of a ship from
Tarsûs, which had thrown overboard seven bodies dead of the plague: she
was not permitted to enter, and again put to sea. The Christians here,
being tolerably rich, had influence enough to effect this, under the
hope of excluding the disease at least for this year: but it was soon
after known that the malady was now prevailing even within the walls;
for a man, supposed to be ill of a fever only, avowed, on his recovery,
that he had two plague-buboes actually suppurating; and, as he had been
visited and touched by several of his friends, their consternation was
very great.
It was not extraordinary that the plague should be in the town, but
only that its presence could have been for a moment doubted. Coasting
craft were every day entering the harbour of Latakia from infected
places, and fifteen persons had, at different times, been buried out of
them. Some warehousemen had also died where goods had been lodged from
them. Still the inhabitants flattered themselves that the infection
was confined to the port: and, as all the Christians had shut up their
counting-houses and suspended business, the little communication there
was with the port lulled them for some time into a dangerous security.
A Damietta merchant, settled in Latakia, died on the 4th of June of
the plague, having caught it, as it now was first ascertained, from
his partner, who had died a few days before. I had reason to reflect
with myself how much custom renders danger familiar. Two months before,
whilst we were at Hamah, the mere report that the plague was so close
to us as Damascus set all the house in a trepidation: but the subject,
constantly talked over, by degrees lost its horrors. We could now
hear of a neighbour’s death even with tolerable indifference; and, in
the evening of this day, the sudden attack of Mr. B.’s servant, with
symptoms like those of the plague, frightened nobody very much. I saw
him first at eight o’clock. His spirits were depressed, under the
persuasion that he had caught the infection at the governor’s house,
whither he had accompanied his master on a visit. He was removed to
an airy cottage. Active remedies so far restored him by the evening
of next day that I was not apprehensive for his safety, and he soon
recovered.
June 8.--For the last three days there had been no deaths in the town.
It was impossible to account for the continued sickness which prevailed
at Latakia during the greater part of the year, excepting on the
grounds of an influence depending on the particular constitution of
the atmosphere, unconnected with local circumstances; for Latakia has,
from its situation, a claim to be styled a healthy place. There are
no marshes, no stagnant pools, near; there is no extensive artificial
irrigation of the soil to beget damps; neither is the town, nor are the
environs, overhung by mountains or precipices to exclude the warmth of
the sun or the free access of the winds. On the contrary, to the north
and south is a dry and somewhat sandy wild, over which were scattered
myrtle bushes and odoriferous herbs; to the east sloping mountains; to
the west the sea. Yet, independent of all this, besides the deaths by
plague, well ascertained, there were others from malignant fevers; and
there were also many persons who fell sick and recovered. It will be
seen that, before we quitted this place, not one escaped illness of all
those with Lady Hester; and my inquiries led me to conclude, that there
was or had been, upon an average, one or two persons sick in every
house throughout the place.
On the 9th of June, Giorgio, the dragoman, was attacked with pleurisy,
which yielded to the common remedies.
Lady Hester was now becoming impatient to quit Latakia; and she was
somewhat puzzled how to dispose of the many horses she had with her.
As the first step towards my own preparations, I offered my two for
sale: but, when it was understood that we were making ready for our
departure, advantage was taken of that circumstance to bid a very
low price, which I was necessitated to accept. I likewise dismissed
Ibrahim, my groom, who, with Pierre, dismissed also, departed for
Dayr-el-Kamar, the place where they had been hired, not quite a year
before.
Although removed so far from the Bedouins, Lady Hester had not
altogether lost sight of them. Indeed, whilst openly declaring her
intention of going to Europe, she contradicted her assertion by
endeavouring to establish a correspondence with Saûd, the chief of
the Wahabys, to whom, she told me about this time, she had written.
Credulity, which seems ever to be the fault of lively imaginations, was
hers; and the account given of the Wahabite chief, with his dromedaries
that outstripped the fleetest horses, with his spacious palaces, his
eight hundred wives, and his superb vestments, had entirely possessed
her mind. Sometimes she would plan a journey across the Desert to
Deráyah, his capital; but what object her writing to him had I could
not clearly understand.
Her supposed influence at Constantinople caused frequent applications
to be made to her, to interfere on matters of dispute between the
agents of our government and the officers of the Porte in the provinces.
July 12th was a holiday in the Greek calendar, and was celebrated by
the inhabitants of that persuasion, according to annual custom, by
bathing in the sea. There was a particular efficacy attached to this
sea-bathing (at Latakia, at least) for the cure of sore eyes.
On the 19th of July, I was walking out of one of the gates of the town,
about eight in the morning, when I came suddenly on a man who had been
impaled an hour or two before, and was now dead, but still transfixed
by the stake, which, as I saw on approaching him, came out about the
sixth rib on the right side; but I was so shocked at this unexpected
sight, that it was some minutes before I could recover myself
sufficiently to go up to him. The stake was planted upright, seemed
to be scarcely sharp, and was somewhat thicker than a hop-pole. I was
told that it was forced up the body by repeated blows of a mallet, the
malefactor having been bound on his face to a heavy pack-saddle, and
an incision being made with a razor to facilitate the entrance of the
stake. The body, yet alive, was set upright in a rude manner; for the
Turks preserve no decorum in executions: from pity for his sufferings,
after being a short time in this position, he was shot. His shirt,
which was afterwards set on fire, in burning singed the whole of his
body black; and thus he was left for two days. His crime was said to
be the stealing of a bullock and the murder of one of his pursuers.
Jewish, Christian, Drûze, and Ansáry criminals are alone subjected to
this horrible punishment: Turks are beheaded.[75]
I will now detail the other accidents of the plague which occurred up
to this time, the beginning of August. On Thursday, June 9th, a lad
had died; on the 17th, two Turks at the strand or port, and a child
five years old. On the 21st, I was led to the house of a woman whose
daughter, nine years old, had died in the morning. The mother had been
ill six days. She was still on her legs, and came into the courtyard
for me to see her; but she appeared more like a corpse than a living
person, and her face was the picture of anxiety and despair. Among her
other feelings, she was exceedingly sensible to the wind. There was a
swelling under her left arm very visible. On the following day I saw
her again. The swelling was enlarged, but caused no discolourment. I
could have wished to administer some remedies to her, but her friends
opposed it. I do not know whether I have mentioned a prejudice which
the Christians of Syria have, that the linen which people have on when
they fall ill should be worn until their convalescence. There is a
still more pernicious custom prevalent among them, that of assembling
at the houses of their friends or relations who are sick; considering,
on these occasions, that condolence is more peculiarly a mark of
affection. But the complaisance of the Christians is only shown where
no danger is incurred; Turks exert it on all occasions; and, as at
these visits they are officious in little services around the sick-bed,
if the disorder be contagious, they cannot well escape it.
Before the 30th of the month, a Jew, two children, a black woman, and a
Turk, had died infected.
By the end of July, all appearances of plague had ceased in the town;
and the infection was supposed to be diminished in its force, because
the mother and sisters of a young man, who had died about the 20th, and
on whom they had attended, had not caught it.
The month of August was ushered in by quotidian and tertian agues,
which prevailed very generally. Ophthalmia was also very common, but
yielded to antiphlogistic treatment and common collyria.
It was on the 10th of August that news reached Lady Hester, by
letter from Tripoli, of the death of Mr. Cotter, one of two English
gentlemen, who, shortly after landing in Syria from the Archipelago,
had, with the other, Mr. Davison, been seized with a malignant fever
at the monastery of Dayr Natûr, near Tripoli, which city they had been
unable to enter, owing to the plague. Her ladyship hastened to offer an
asylum to Mr. Davison, should he be disposed to avail himself of it;
but it was said that he had departed for Jerusalem.
August 20.--Mr. Barker, the British consul at Aleppo, had resolved on
spending part of the autumn with his family at Latakia; they arrived
about this time, and their society was a great acquisition. There is a
village on the first rise of the mountains to the north-east, called
Besnáda, celebrated for the view which it affords, for its air, and for
its water; there Mr. Barker fitted up a cottage, and, with the addition
of a tent or two, found room enough for his large establishment.
A melancholy event occurred at the end of this month to a young
Christian, who fell a victim to his indiscretion. He was the brother
of Abdallah, katib of the Collector of the Customs, and ranking, from
his situation, as one of the most respectable of the Christians.
This gentleman, who was about twenty-five years old, and of a fair
complexion (forming a strong contrast with the browner faces of his
nation), was seen one morning to come out of the harým of a Turkish
Effendi, just before sunrise. A Mussulman, who suspected that he was
carrying on an intrigue with a Turkish lady, had watched him, and,
information being laid against him, he was seized and imprisoned.
His imprisonment made a great noise; and Abdallah, fearing that his
brother’s life might be in danger, despatched a courier to Acre, to
intercede for him with the pasha.
The Moslems will not easily pardon any man for an illicit intercourse
with their women, but a Christian never. As there existed much hatred
between the Motsellem and the Kumrukgi, the latter could obtain no
mitigation of punishment by his intercessions.
The next morning, the prisoner was reported to have been cruelly
bastinadoed: and the third morning he was said to have died. In fact,
he was despatched hastily, lest the return of the courier should
prevent the revenge which the Turks will ever take on Christians for an
affront not to be wiped out but with their blood.
Various are the opinions entertained as to the effects of fruit on
the human frame. The question is of too general a nature to make it
necessary to apologize for inserting in this place the results of
a fruit diet, persisted in from the 1st of July to the 20th, and
renewed from the 4th of August to the 27th. In Syria, there is not a
Christian or a Frank, who, in speaking of his own or his neighbour’s
maladies, does not ascribe them to fruit, either from its qualities,
or from the time of day, or the season of the year, in which it was
eaten. At Damascus, this notion was carried so far by the Christians,
as to attribute to fruit the numberless sore eyes that afflict the
inhabitants. Not so the Turks: they eat fruit abundantly at all times,
and give it unrestrictedly to their children and to their sick, as the
most palatable and cooling diet, especially in fever.
Pringle and Tissot, two authors who recommend fruit in health and in
sickness, had greatly weakened my belief in its supposed pernicious
effects: and I was resolved to ascertain, on my own person, what the
actual result might be in this hot climate. Accordingly, about the 1st
of July, I entered upon a diet, almost entirely composed of fruit. I
was enabled to adhere strictly to it; because, since our arrival at
Latakia, I kept my own table, and was not, therefore, compelled, from
the necessity of doing like others, and from deference to opinion and
custom, to violate the rules I had laid down for myself; and the little
communication which I had with the inhabitants of the place, owing to
the danger of plague, prevented all interruption from invitations to
the meals of other people.
It is to be premised that, although I consider the air of Latakia
excellent, yet the constitution of the atmosphere this year was by
no means healthy, and little favourable to dietetic experiments. The
thermometer stood, upon an average at noon, at 84° F. This degree of
heat rendered fruit highly agreeable. I slept during the night in the
open air, with a mosquito net. I breakfasted on coffee and milk, with
bread and honey. At noon, I generally ate an entire sweet melon, and
drank a pint of cold well-water, the place affording no other. My
dinner invariably consisted of about a dozen fresh figs, a portion of
a sweet, or water melon, and a pint of cold water. At ten o’clock at
night, I again ate part of a sweet or water-melon, drank another pint
of water, and retired to sleep.
This regimen was continued for twenty days. My digestion experienced
no alteration whatever; my sleep was delicious; and, during the whole
time, I knew not what it was to have a foul mouth in the morning,
dreams in the night, or the slightest symptom of disorder in my health.
The exercise that I took was, with the exception of swimming, a brisk
trot on horseback of a mile or two every day.
The same diet was renewed from the 4th of August to the 27th, and on
the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, I lived entirely on fruit and water, without
even bread; grapes being added to what I have above enumerated.
I was walking one morning during Ramazán, which began this year on the
27th of August, to Mr. Barker’s house, when I stopped in my way at the
bazàr to buy something, and lighted my pipe, as I sat dealing with
the merchant, to beguile the time. After making my purchase, I walked
on with my long pipe in my hand, smoking as I went, which is not very
genteel, even in Turkey, where few above the trading classes smoke,
except when seated. A Christian of the country, who was with me, told
me with great trepidation that the Turks would not suffer me to smoke
openly in the day time during Ramazán, and that I should get insulted
if I continued to do so. He had scarcely said it (I sillily declaring
that I would smoke if I chose) when I was addressed by several
shopkeepers and people standing about, who called on their prophet to
witness how the Ramazán was violated by a Nazarene. They told me to
extinguish my pipe, and that if I were seen another time insulting
their most sacred observances, they would break it about my head.[76]
After much altercation, I walked on without extinguishing it; but my
reflections afterwards told me I had done wrong, and I never, on any
future occasion, wilfully opposed the minutest prejudice of their law.
During Ramazán, the Turks do not discontinue working: and in no
religion with which I am acquainted are so many days in the year given
to labour as in the Mahometan; for, if I may judge from what I heard in
conversation, and from what I saw, they think that honest labour can
have nothing unholy in it at any time, and they hold the same opinion
as to innocent recreation. But, in the Greek church, the too frequent
recurrence of holydays, and the strong injunctions of the priests not
to work on those days, is destructive of industry, and serves to render
the mechanic and artisan drunken and idle.[77]
The month of September passed over without any material accident,
excepting the sickness of almost all the servants, which gave me
much anxiety: for no sooner did one or two get well than others fell
ill. The prevailing maladies were bilious remittent, terminating in
intermittent fevers.
Madame Lascaris, shut up in Damascus, in the midst of a raging plague,
lost her young companion. The Greek patriarch, a worthy prelate, known
to almost all English travellers in this country, likewise fell a
victim to it.
As Lady Hester had declared her intention of embarking here, I had
disposed of my horses, as I have already related. About this time, the
glanders appeared among hers, and carried off two in a short time:
a third was led to the seashore and shot, which action was greatly
blamed by the lower order of Turks: a fourth was made over to the town
farrier, and died; and the disease bade fair to exterminate the whole
stud.
In the mean time, amusements were not wanting to make the time pass
very agreeably. To the north of Latakia is a bay formed by the receding
of the land. Here vessels destined for Latakia can ride out severe
gales from the south-west, the point from which they generally blow.
Upon the shore of this bay stood a mosque and sanctuary, built over
the tomb of a santon. The place is called Ebn Hani,[78] and Mr. Barker
and his family used occasionally to go and spend three or four days
there, at which times a ride by land, or a trip by sea, to visit them,
was one source of recreation. In like manner, there was at all times
wild boar hunting: with francolins, partridges, gazelles, and hares,
to shoot at, as well as that delicious bird, the beccafico, when figs
were in season. I never saw a place where a sportsman might have more
diversion.
When we went to shoot beccaficos, the party separated in the gardens,
about a mile from the town, and met at a given place, at eleven or
twelve, to breakfast on what had been killed. It was on one of these
occasions that we were sitting after this breakfast, (or dinner, as it
is called there,) upon the brink of a garden-reservoir, into which,
by a creaking Persian wheel, water was thrown from a well beneath;
when, on observing a stramonium shrub close by, Mr. Barker remarked
how amusing were the effects produced by putting the seeds of it into
the pipe of a person smoking, whom it intoxicated, and caused to play
various antics. A French gentleman, M. Narsiat, was of the party, and
expressed a wish to observe these effects on some person: accordingly,
a peasant, who, among others, had been looking on at our repast in the
open air, was offered a sum of money if he would suffer himself to be
made intoxicated; but he was not to receive it until such an effect
had manifested itself. The fellow inquired what that effect would be,
and it was described to him. He then allowed the quantity of seeds
supposed necessary to be put, fresh from the plant, into his pipe, and
began to smoke. Whether it was his knavery which made him sham the
symptoms, or whether they were real, I cannot say; but he beat and
knocked about some of his comrades, and then leaped into the reservoir
of water: after which he came, in a perfectly sensible manner, up to
us, and demanded the money.
Some of these peasants kept falcons for hawking, and would, for a
trifle, go out and kill a partridge or two.
At the beginning of October, Mr. B. received letters which obliged him
to return immediately to England. He, therefore, reluctantly prepared
to quit a lady, in whose society he had so long travelled, and from
whose conversation and experience of the world so much useful knowledge
was to be acquired. He departed on the 7th of October for Aleppo,
accompanied by his dragoman, M. Beaudin, with a cook, valet, and groom.
I accompanied him a league or two on his road, and then returned to
Latakia.
Lady Hester had now abandoned the idea of going to Europe. Sometimes
she thought of taking a journey overland to Bussora, and to embark
there in an English ship for India, but finally determined on remaining
some months longer in Syria. She told me that she had bethought
herself of a small retired building, a short distance from Sayda,
which, as being only an occasional residence of the proprietor, the
patriarch of the Greek catholics, could, for a trifling sum, be hired
for her use. She had seen this when at Sayda the preceding year, and
she now wrote to M. Bertrand, desiring him to secure it for her.[79]
The patriarch Athanasius was at this time residing at the monastery
of Mar Elias, so his house was called; but, on learning Lady Hester’s
wishes, he sent a polite message to signify that she was welcome to
occupy it whenever and as long as she chose.
Soon after the arrival of the answer, all the luggage that could be
well spared was shipped off for Sayda under the care of Hanah, or as
he was usually called Giovanni, formerly Mr. B.’s servant, but now
returned from Aleppo and become mine. It was intended that we should
follow in the course of a few days: when a series of melancholy events
succeeded each other so rapidly, that the new year had begun before we
departed!
Two young children of Mr. Barker’s, named Harissa and Zabetta, were
taken ill of a malignant fever. I attended them, and, observing the
symptoms to be highly virulent, I insisted on separating the parents
from them. Mr. and Mrs. Barker in consequence left Besnáda for
Latakia, and the sole care of nursing the little patients devolved
on their grandmother, Mrs. Abbott. On the 31st both died within five
hours of each other. Shortly before this the janissary in attendance
on Lady Hester had been taken off very suddenly, and also the child
of a merchant, the partner of Mâlem Mûsa Elias, the British agent: so
that there was some doubt whether the plague had not again got footing
in the town. We were aware that it still raged with unabated violence
in Hems, Damascus, and at a village near Antioch, not very far from
Latakia, and through which places caravans were continually coming
to Latakia. The summer and autumn were considered by the natives as
peculiarly fine: for the weather had remained so settled that, for five
months, there had been only two showers of rain.
On the 15th of November, just as we were on the point of setting out
for Sayda, Lady Hester was attacked with a fever, and on the evening of
the same day I fell ill also.[80]
I continued to get out for an hour or two in the course of the day,
till the 18th; but my debility had then become so great, and the
symptoms of low fever so aggravated, that I took to my bed, where I
became occasionally delirious; and it was not until the twelfth day
that I was able to quit my chamber, when I was carried to attend on
Lady Hester, whose situation was so dangerous, that, in addition to
a French doctor, who happened to come to Latakia at this time, an
Italian surgeon, settled in the place, had also been called in. But Mr.
Barker urged the necessity of my seeing her, although I much feared
that my weak state would wholly incapacitate me from yet resuming my
professional duties. For fifteen days after this I did not quit her day
or night, never undressing the whole of that time: and, during this
period, for twelve hours, I despaired of her life, and a communication
was made to her by Mr. Barker to that effect. At last it pleased God,
by the aid of a constitution naturally vigorous, to relieve her so far
that I could pronounce her out of danger; nevertheless she was not able
to stand till the 1st of January, the day of our departure from Latakia.
It was Lady Hester’s firm persuasion that her disorder was the plague,
and some reasons induced me to believe so. For if there be (as the
native physicians say) a sporadic disease constantly remarked at the
beginning and close of the first year in which plague appears, but
which, alike in most of its symptoms, loses for a time its infectious
powers, and is not equally disposed to affect the glandular system,
then had Lady Hester indeed the plague. Besides, on the 15th of
November, four persons had died; on the 16th three: and there might
have been as many deaths on the subsequent days for aught I know:
which are so many proofs of the occasional reappearance of a modified
disease, dependent on the peculiar constitution of the year.
In consequence of this grievous sickness which befel Lady Hester and
myself, as well as of the many melancholy events that we had witnessed
here, we became so disgusted with Latakia as to feel very anxious to
leave the place. We had experienced great inconvenience from the want
of many articles of comfort which had been sent off to Sayda with the
luggage: and hence it was that our privations were of a rather serious
kind. The weather, which had remained tolerably warm up to December
10th, on a sudden became windy, boisterous, and exceedingly wet; so
that it was necessary to hire and borrow bed-coverings: and, as the
house happened not to be weather-proof, Lady Hester’s chamber was often
inundated, and a cope of felt was suspended beneath the ceiling to
carry off the water: nay, it will hardly be believed that, in mine, I
was occasionally obliged to rise two or three times to shift my bed
from place to place, in the ineffectual attempt to find a dry corner.
Captain Macdonald,[81] a gentleman in the service of the East India
Company, arrived at Latakia a day or two after the commencement of
Lady Hester’s illness. He remained in Mr. Barker’s house until the
departure of that gentleman and his family (December the 5th) for
Aleppo, and his presence was a pleasing addition to our small society.
Invited by M. Guys, the French consul, he afterwards took up his abode
with him for a few days; until, on the 10th of December, he sailed, on
a most tempestuous night, and, in an open boat, for Cyprus; but the
boat could not keep the sea, and returned on the 12th. A day or two
afterwards he finally succeeded in getting across; but not without
considerable risk.
To add to the serious inconveniencies under which Lady Hester laboured,
her maid, Mrs. Fry, fell ill of a nervous fever, brought on by
unremitting attendance on her mistress and excessive fatigue. There
were, it is true, at this period, as servants in the house, two women
of the place, both useful in their way, if Lady Hester had but been
able to speak to them: one an old woman, called Hadjy[82] (for she had
been to Jerusalem,) who proved an excellent nurse; and the other, named
Mariam, a young and handsome creature, who officiated as bathwoman
and laundress. Mariam was a widow, and had two daughters, twelve and
fourteen years old, who for loveliness might have vied with the two
beauties of Athens, so much spoken of by Lord Byron and travellers:
but all three had been attacked with bilious remittent fevers, and
required, rather than rendered, assistance in the family.
Mr. Pearce, of whom mention has been made in the former part of this
Journal, had now, after a complete ramble through Syria, reached
Aleppo. Hearing of Lady Hester’s illness, he politely wrote to offer
her whatever assistance he could render to her, requesting that she
would command his services, even at Latakia, if necessary.
December 15th, Lady Hester was seized with an ague, just at the time
that she had regained strength enough to meditate anew her departure
for Sayda, and when a vessel had been hired for the purpose. The voyage
was of course deferred for some time longer. To add to the sufferings
we had within doors, it was discovered, as winter advanced, that
provisions were very scanty at Latakia, and that there was by no means
the variety which is met with in the European markets. Beef and veal
were never on sale--mutton rarely: goats’ flesh, which the majority
of the inhabitants lived on, we could not fancy. Geese, turkeys, and
ducks, were only to be had by sending to Cyprus; fowls were poor. Game,
as has been observed, was plentiful; but to have it at table it was
necessary to be a sportsman, or to have a neighbour like Mr. Barker,
whose skill in shooting was remarkable: for the Turks seldom indulge in
the sports of the field, and the Christians dare not carry firearms.
Fresh butter was rare, and, when obtained, generally liquid, looking
like melted hogs’ lard; so that we were almost deprived of all the
dishes, and they are not a few, in which that article is introduced.
As our voyage was again deferred, M. Beaudin, the interpreter, who
had remained some time at Tripoli, in expectation of Lady Hester’s
arrival on her way to Sayda, was now recalled. He had joined us only
a few days, when, one morning, he was suddenly attacked with symptoms
of an inflammatory fever, and, in bleeding, he was seized with strong
convulsions, which threw the house anew into disorder. He shortly
afterwards recovered, but his convalescence was slow, and, when we
departed for Sayda, he was sent by land by short journeys.
At length, on the 6th of January, 1814, Lady Hester was with difficulty
placed on an ass, and, supported on either side by Stefano and Pierre,
who had been recalled, she was conveyed to the water-side. As she
had not been out of doors before for forty-eight days, a vast crowd
collected to see her, and we were much annoyed by a buffoon, who, to
gain money, played on a squeaking pipe, and danced before her on the
way to the harbour. When assured that he would not be rewarded for the
trouble he was giving himself, he went away. At the quay the secretary
of the governor waited to see us on board. Presents were distributed
to all such as had experienced trouble on Lady Hester’s account, or
rendered services to her, and we quitted the place with the good wishes
of the greater part of the inhabitants.
We embarked on board a shaktûr, a lateen-sailed, decked vessel like
a lugger, very roomy and commodious. The vessel had been previously
fitted up for our reception, and, by means of mats and boards, the
whole of the hold was set apart for the occupation of Lady Hester and
her three women. These vessels have but small cabins, where a person
can creep out of the wet and sleep. I preferred sleeping on deck; and
the weather was fortunately so mild, although it was the month of
January, that I experienced no inconvenience from it; nay, at noon the
sun was even troublesome.
We could observe, from the sea, that the mountains running from
Gebel-el-Akerah, the ancient Cassius,[83] behind Latakia, are
continued, in an even ridge, to where Mount Lebanon begins, at the back
of Tripoli. They were covered with snow at this season of the year.
We sailed along with a leading north wind, and passed, in our way,
Gebala, twelve miles from Latakia, and Tortûsa, a small town, with a
creek which serves to admit boats only. Opposite to it, at about the
distance of a league, is the island of Aradus, now called Arad, a rock
about a league in circumference, covered completely with houses. It
has a well and cisterns for rain water. Most of the inhabitants lived
by sailmaking, and there was no other place in Syria, we were told,
where sail-cloth was manufactured. Their insulated and barren situation
exempted them in a great measure from the visits of the Turks, a
circumstance that proved favourable to their prosperity.
We put into Tripoli (Tarablus), and passed one night there, but did not
go on shore. The road, for it is not a harbour, is formed by six or
eight rocks, just above the water, which break the impetuosity of the
sea: but it is by no means a safe haven.
Mount Lebanon begins a few miles to the north of Tripoli, to appearance
in a gradual ascent, and arrives to its greatest height behind the
town. It is there only, throughout its whole length, that the snow
remains all the year. Two small mountains, standing separate, are
interposed between the sea and the great chain. One is called Gebel
Tarbal, the other El Kûry: and this latter produces some of the best
tobacco in Syria. Handsome presents, in provisions, were sent off to
Lady Hester, by the governor of Tripoli, Mustafa Aga Berber, and also
by the English agent, Signor Catsiflitz, a Greek. Among them were
baskets of Tripoli oranges, which are deservedly held in high esteem.
But it is not too much to assert that the heaviest tax on travellers
of note in the East consists in the presents which they receive. It
appears at first sight extremely hospitable to welcome the arrival
of a stranger, by anticipating all his wants, and by sending him
provisions of immediate necessity; and so it would be, were it not
that those who deliver these presents beg for, or insinuate that they
expect in return, as much or more than their value; whilst the giver
can scarcely be forgotten on such occasions, if the stranger would not
appear ungrateful.
We arrived at Sayda on the 11th, just in time to escape a storm, which
came on in the evening of our landing; indeed, the swell of the sea
had announced it some time before: and as the vessel rolled greatly
in Sayda harbour, before we could prepare the things necessary for
Lady Hester’s landing, she began to grow fearful, sickness having bent
that courage which I had never yet seen yield to the commotions of the
elements or to anything else.
At length an ass was brought to the water-edge; her ladyship landed in
the same way that she had embarked. Signor Damiani, a person who had
been employed by the English during Sir Sydney Smith’s expedition to
Acre, let his house for our occupation, in consideration of a present
to be left at her discretion; for, although the same French consul
lived here that had lodged us in the year 1812, and this was the same
Damiani who had then in vain solicited that honour, still Lady Hester
considered she should enjoy more liberty in a hired house of her own
than in that of another, only lent to her.
Before dismissing the subject of this voyage, it will not be amiss to
note the remarks which we made concerning the crew. On their knowledge
of navigation I cannot decide, knowing little of the matter myself;
but they appear to be practical, although not theoretical, sailors.
Nothing can exceed their activity in going aloft; although they pay
little attention to nicety in trimming their sails and yards, and have
no discipline. As to the vessel, her rigging was defective, her decks
dirty. The crew lived well enough, on rice, cheese, onions, and good
biscuit; with sometimes the addition of figs, raisins, &c.
How far animal food is necessary for the support of seamen, persons
more experienced in these things must decide. But if an humble opinion
may be ventured, I profess I cannot see why salt meat, juiceless,
and saturated with brine even to loathing, should be made the main
nourishment of a crew on a long voyage, to the great injury of their
health, when farinaceous food of all sorts is so plentiful and so
salutary, which would form, with the addition of dry fruits, and the
many other articles now allowed in his Majesty’s navy, a species of
sustenance much better adapted to long voyages, and diminishing not a
jot the strength of a man, as is generally supposed. For whence is it
that the Egyptian, so lusty and muscular, derives his great strength,
but from rice and cold water; or the Irishman, but from potatoes and
buttermilk? Oh! that this truth could be forcibly impressed on those
persons who fancy that strength lies only in animal food, and in
spirits, wine, and beer; for let them be assured that all fermented
liquors are destructive of it.
In this trip I learned to box the compass in Arabic, which is less
difficult than in English. The card is divided into sixteen rhumbs,
not as with us into thirty-two; and the alternate rhumbs have no names,
but are indifferently called joze or halves, with the addition of the
point next adjoining. Thus it must necessarily be wanting in accuracy
to designate the wind and the course.
CHAPTER X.
Mode of Life of Lady Hester Stanhope--Imaginary treasures of
Gezzàr Pasha--Road to the Convent of Mar Elias--Description of
the Convent--Village of Abra--Interior of a cottage--Poverty
of the people--Change in the character of Lady Hester--Abra
purchased by a Greek Patriarch--Revenues--Tenure of
land--Occupations of the peasantry--Herdsmen--Village
overseer--Notions of propriety in the behaviour of
females--Dread of the plague--Precautions against the infection
suggested by Lady Hester to the Emir Beshýr--Visit of the
Shaykh Beshýr to Abra--Good breeding of the Turks--Greek
monasteries--The patriarch Macarius--M. Boutin--Hanýfy,
a female slave sent to Lady Hester--Specification of her
qualities--Discovery of an ancient sepulchre--Paintings in
it copied by Mr. Bankes, and by the Author--Various forms of
sepulchres.
We are now arrived at a new period in Lady Hester’s peregrinations, in
which, from a traveller, she becomes a sojourner in a strange land;
and, abandoning Europe and its customs altogether, conforms herself
entirely to the modes of life of the Orientals. Not that it is clear
whether she was fixed in such a determination at first; but, unwilling
to return to England, with which country she had become, for several
reasons, disgusted, and, finding no other on the Continent sufficiently
quiet to insure a permanent asylum, she thought she would remain
some time longer in Syria, where, looking down on the world from the
top of Mount Lebanon, she might calmly contemplate its follies and
vicissitudes, neither mixed up with the one, nor harassed by the other.
The state of retirement in which we now lived gave me time to turn my
attention more particularly to a consideration of the geographical
conformation of the country. A traveller, newly arrived in Syria, or
passing hastily through it, will find much difficulty in doing this:
for, although there are many prominent features to guide him, he will
necessarily have few books, and perhaps only a bad map or two to
refer to;[84] and he will sometimes seek in vain for the divisions of
provinces, for the precise termination of mountains, for the course of
rivers occasionally dried up, or for the sites of cities now overgrown
with grass, which are placed on paper so distinctly; besides which his
inquiries will always be impeded or stopped by the ignorance of those
through or to whom he is necessarily obliged to direct them.
A general notion of Syria can be obtained from no author better than
from Abulfeda, an impartial writer, dwelling in it, and distinguished
for his knowledge on the subject. His words are, “Syria is a
magnificent country, rich in its productions, blessed with fertility,
adorned with gardens, woods, meadows, valleys, and mountains, watered
by rivers, abundant in vegetables, game, flocks, and domestic animals.
It is seasonably refreshed and fertilized by annual rains, and bears on
its mountains perpetual snows.”
Strabo divides Syria into four provinces--Seleucia, Phœnicia, Palestine
(subdivided into Galilee, Samaria, and Judea), and Cœle-Syria.
Cœle-Syria was either Proper, or Common. Proper Cœle-Syria seems (for
there is some confusion in the account) to have comprehended those
extensive vales, embosomed between Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon,
and the best demarcation of which is by following the course of the
river Leontes, or the modern Casmya, up between the modern provinces
of Shkyf and Bsharra, and the valley of the Bkâ, and by continuing on
with the course of the Orontes down to Antioch; then the country to
the right and left of these two rivers included between the mountains
will be Cœle-Syria Proper. Common Cœle-Syria consisted of the plains
spreading out towards Hems and Hamah to the north, and towards Damascus
to the south, cut off from the sea-coast by the intervention of
great mountains: whilst that slip of land between the mountains and
sea-coast, running the whole length of Syria, from Antioch down to
the river Eleutherus, or the modern Nahr el Kebýr,[85] is Seleucia;
Phœnicia, thence to the Promontorium Album, or modern Ras el Nakûra;
and Palestine from the Nakûra, down to the sandy Desert, which divides
it from Egypt: or by another division, Strabo makes Phœnicia to extend
from the river Eleutherus down to Damietta, and Palestine to be a
district of it.
It was also probable that there was another motive which induced Lady
Hester to delay yet awhile her departure. Among the many stories which
were related of the celebrated Pasha el Gezzàr, one was, that he had
amassed immense wealth, and, having in his lifetime hid it under
ground, had disappointed the Porte at his death in the acquisition of
it. She was possessed with the idea that she had obtained a clue to the
discovery of some of his treasures, and she had applied to the Turkish
government (as it was afterwards known) for permission to dig for them.
This I conceive to have been one main reason for her stay.
In the mean time, as for myself, my thoughts would often involuntarily
turn towards England, and then the prospect of a long residence in the
Levant somewhat disquieted me. But I banished these anticipations;
determined that no trivial cause should make me leave her ladyship
alone and unprotected in so distant a country. Not that my presence
could add materially to her safety; for there never was a person
who relied more on his own resources than she did; besides, gloomy
reflections could take no hold of an individual in this fine climate;
for they were forgotten as soon as he emerged from the house into the
air, where the inspiration of the balmy atmosphere and the scenes which
surrounded him always begat cheerful sensations.
The day after our arrival at Sayda, I rode up to the monastery, in
which we were to reside. I had never seen it before, not having
been with Lady Hester and Mr. B. when the French consul had led
them to it, during their former visit to Sayda. On quitting the
city gate, we passed through several hedged lanes, between orchards
and gardens filled with trees which shrink from the cold blasts of
northern climates. Oranges were as thick on the branches as apples
are accustomed to grow; and the broad leaf of the banana tree, which
flourishes in great vigour hereabout, was an object singularly
striking. The hedges were in most places rendered almost impenetrable
by the prickly leaf of the cactus indicus.
At the distance of half a mile we came to the skirts of the gardens, at
the foot of Mount Lebanon. It was not very steep, and about a quarter
of a mile brought us to the top of the first hill, where we looked
down before us into a deep valley; then, carrying our eyes up on the
opposite mountain, we descried a low building, which I was told was
the monastery. The descent was rugged, but the asses are accustomed to
mountains. The soil was bare, rocky, and apparently sterile; and here
and there an olive or a fig-tree was the only thing which it seemed
capable of nourishing. In ascending on the opposite side, the path,
over a loamy soil, was so slippery from recent rains, that I dismounted
and walked up, as the ass could not make good his footing.
[Illustration: CONVENT OF MAR ELIAS.]
On arriving at the monastery, I found it to be a quadrangular stone
building, of one story, with flat roofs or terraces, according to the
custom of the country, enclosing a small square paved court, which
had a little mould in the centre, with a few flowers, and two small
orange trees. The rooms were as neat as whitewashed walls could make
them, but without chairs or tables; and in one or two was a long sofa
bench of solid masonry against the wall on one side only. There was a
small chapel attached to the south-east corner, with an altar in it.
A discolouration in one of the walls, in which a staircase ran up to
the roof, led me to inquire what it was; when the servant told me that
the late patriarch was buried there, seated in an arm-chair. Although
his body was said to have been embalmed, it smelt most offensively;
and I anticipated that this unusual burial would give rise to many
ghost-stories. This chapel is dedicated to St. Elias, whose name the
building bears, being called Dayr Mar Elias, or the Monastery of St.
Elias, although I could not learn that, within the memory of any one,
it had served for anything but the residence of the patriarch of the
Greek schismatics, or of the bishop of Sayda: nor were the rooms in any
respect adapted for the cells of friars.
The situation is picturesque, but lonely and barren, on the top of
a mountain without verdure, surrounded on every side with mountains
equally sterile; excepting a few olive and mulberry trees on a shelving
bank at the back of the building, which were not to be come at but
by a circuitous path, or by leaping down a perpendicular rock of
twenty feet. Though now on Mount Lebanon, where the imagination of the
reader will supply him with umbrageous cedars at every step, fiction
alone could throw their shade over Dayr Mar Elias. From its elevated
situation, the monastery commands a most extensive view of the sea,
from which it is distant in a straight line about two miles. But the
sea, on the Syrian coast, is only a vast waste, where small craft are
seen coasting before the wind, and now and then a three-masted vessel
in the distance. The magnificent spectacle of a passing fleet, so
common in the British Channel, is here unknown.
I found that, during the late rains, the roofs had leaked, and some of
our baggage had been damaged. This was an unpromising prospect for the
new residence; and several repairs, which were absolutely requisite
to render the rooms habitable, must necessarily retard Lady Hester’s
removal from Sayda some weeks. The four sides of the quadrangle were
not equally commodious. On the west were three good rooms, convertible
into saloons or bed-rooms; so that one as a drawing-room, one as her
ladyship’s bed-room, and one for her maid, occupied the whole of that
side. The north side was made up of a kitchen, a kelár or store-room,
and a corner room, in which the patriarch had died. The east side had
three small rooms, and an oil and wine cellar; and, as it had already
been decided that two of these were to be converted into a vapour
bath, the dwelling became reduced to five rooms. This confined space
rendered it necessary for me to look out for a cottage for myself in
the village, which was a quarter of a mile off, on somewhat higher
ground than the monastery: I therefore rode to it. Its name is Abrah,
or Abra. I little thought, on first beholding it, that I was destined
to spend there nearly three years of my life.
Abra consisted of forty cottages, each of one story, and of the rudest
construction. The cement for the unhewn stones, of which they were
built, was mud from the road. Rough trunks of poplars or other slight
trees formed the beams for the roofs, which were flat, and made in the
following manner. Over the trunks were laid rough stakes for rafters,
over these brushwood, and the coating was common loam, rolled and
trodden down, until it resisted in some degree the passage of wet: but
there were few roofs that appeared to be waterproof. Within, the walls
were covered with a rough plaster of mould and water without lime, and
this was whitewashed.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A SYRIAN COTTAGE: WOMEN GRINDING CORN.]
I entered the best cottage in the village. It consisted of a single
room. One end of it was occupied by two cows and an ass, the other
end, somewhat raised, by the family. The floor was of yellow clay,
beaten down to hardness. In the middle of the room was a small plaster
fireplace, about the size of a chafing-dish; the door and windows
served for chimneys. Three or four unbaked earthen jars, as big as
tubs, stood in a corner to contain wheat, barley, rice, figs, &c.;
a jar for water; a spinning-wheel; a wheel for winding off cotton;
a couple of copper saucepans; a handmill, to grind corn; with a mat
spread on the ground to sit on, formed the furniture and utensils of
the family, which consisted of a stout man, a pretty woman, her mother
with two children, and the grandmother. The walls of the rooms had
holes through them, high up, to let in the air; and, on a level with
the waist, were small recesses which served for putting away a dish, a
saucepan, or a drinking jug. Cupboards there were none; one chest alone
seemed to be sacred from the examination of any one. There was a bed
rolled up, but I discovered afterwards that the peasantry very seldom
had more than a cotton quilted coverlet, sleeping in their clothes.
Few have a change of their outward dress, although I had occasion
afterwards to observe that they were more particular than English
peasants in changing the linen next their skin.
The inhabitants of Abra were Greek Catholics. The village perhaps is
more pleasantly situate than the monastery. It had several plantations
of mulberry trees for silkworms, and of fig-trees. It is in the
division called Aklým-el-Tafâh, in the district of Gebâa, where one Ali
Aga resided at this time, as motsellem or governor. Though close to the
coast, and belonging, as a part of Ali Aga’s district, to the pashalik
of Acre, the peasants rather clung to the Emir of the Drûzes.
The patriarch owned two-thirds of the village. The villagers seemed
very poor. They had not even coffee to offer, which I never yet had
found wanting anywhere. Tobacco, from an old pipe and a still older
bag, seemed their only indulgence. When I told the owner of the cottage
that I was under the necessity of turning him out of his home, he
said he was willing to comply, if I would bring him an order from the
patriarch, his master, to that effect, and that he would soon build
himself another.
As I returned to Sayda, in descending the steep hill close under the
monastery or dayr, I observed a spring of clear water, running from a
stone lip in a stream not larger than my thumb; and this, I was told,
supplied the village and monastery. Close by was a cave, formerly a
sepulchre, as the recesses in the bottom and sides, still visible,
denoted. In it were several naked female peasants, who were washing
themselves with water from the spring. Though the path was within forty
yards of them, they did nothing but turn their backs, and squat on
their haunches until I had passed by.
The masons were sent up to Mar Elias, and the repairs were begun
immediately: but it was the middle of February before the house was
ready for Lady Hester’s reception; the building of a bath having more
especially occupied a great deal of time. Masons, carpenters, and
workmen of that class in these countries give infinitely more trouble
than they do in England. There it is necessary for their employer
himself to purchase every article they stand in need of. The mason, for
example, says he wants so much lime, so much powdered pottery, so many
tiles, &c.; all these are to be sought out and bargained for by the
employer. The mason, indeed, would take the trouble off your hands, but
he requires money in advance, and cheats besides.
Lady Hester was but indifferently lodged in the French caravansery,
where Damiani’s house was. Her spirits seemed lately to have been
somewhat depressed by her protracted illnesses. She had a relapse
of her ague, and was again confined to her room. To increase her
sufferings, her maid Mrs. Fry was attacked with a most violent
dysentery, which threatened her life: she, however, recovered slowly
under my hands. All communication with the French consul was dropped,
as also with every person in Sayda. Just at this time, M. Beaudin was
attacked with a paralytic affection, which deprived him of the use of
his limbs and speech. My troubles were now at their height. However, by
the end of January, Lady Hester felt strength enough to ride out into
the gardens; and never shall I forget this, as it were, her new return
to life. From that time her character changed deeply. She became simple
in her habits, almost to cynicism. She showed, in her actions and her
conversation, a mind severe indeed, but powerfully vigorous. Scanning
men and things with a wonderful intelligence, she commented upon
them as if the motives of human actions were open to her inspection.
Sometimes she looked into futurity like the sybil of old; and, as she
reasoned on the great changes which were taking place in Europe, she
scattered her prophetic leaves, which, as subsequent events have shown,
may almost be supposed to be the effect of inspiration.[86]
I endeavoured to collect such information respecting the taxes and
revenue of the village of Abra as might illustrate the general nature
of property in Mount Lebanon. It was not so easy to do this as might at
first be imagined: for the peasants and more particularly the bailiff
of the village (or Kûly, as he is called in Arabic) fancied that Lady
Hester had an intention of purchasing it of the patriarch. And, as the
thing was desirable for them, on account of the increased opportunities
which must necessarily occur for cheating, they were apt to answer my
inquiries as best suited their purpose of inducing her to buy. The
population amounted to about forty families, most of them descendants
of peasants who had for generations inhabited the same spot. The man
who for twenty years only had been settled in the village was still
looked on, when disputes called forth the expression of any spiteful
remarks, as an alien. I have heard a woman, with scarcely a rag on her
back, when quarrelling with another, cite the respectability of her
descent from ancestors established time immemorial in Abra.
The village of Abra was bought by a patriarch of the Greek Catholics,
not many years before our arrival in Syria, from a Drûze family, whose
property it was. As far as I could gather, it cost him eighteen purses,
£450 sterling. I could not learn its extent in acres; but the whole
of the land belonging to it produced eighteen gararas of corn, a
garara being equal to seventy-two mids, each mid equal to a gallon or
thereabouts.
Abra, being a limitrophe village, bordering on the Metûaly district
to the south, on the Drûze district to the east and north, and on the
parish of Sayda to the west, seemed to share in the vexations of all
three governments. To the motsellem of Gebâa it paid two hundred and
forty-five piasters a year, which was the miri of the land: to the Emir
Beshýr two hundred piasters a-year, the miri of the houses: to the
governor of Sayda one hundred and fifty piasters a-year. These sums
were collected by the kûly or shaykh at stated periods, and delivered
to the persons respectively claiming them.
The patriarch received, as yearly rent of the houses, from five to ten
piasters each. Thus, when I threw two cottages into one, I paid for
two as though not consolidated. The tenant made all repairs, excepting
when the main beam of the ceiling broke, which was supplied by the
proprietor.
The proprietor received of whatever grew from the leaf a half: as, of
tobacco, figs, oil, mulberry leaves for feeding silkworms (which last
two were commuted for a certain portion of the products, viz., silk
and oil) and a quarter of all kinds of corn. Besides these certain
receipts, he had incidental ones on particular occasions, and certain
perquisites: all which may be put down as follows:
piasters.
Corn, eight gararas, 800
Each time the patriarch had a festival, as at Easter
and Christmas, the peasants presented him with
eggs and fowls, valued at 40
Work done for the patriarch by the peasants gratis
always on Sundays 50
Green corn or other pasture allowed him for his
cattle 15
Oil, one quintal (worth three hundred piasters)
half the produce 150
Tobacco 100
Silk, five rotolos from the leaves growing in the
village, and eight rotolos from leaves bought
in the gardens of Sayda, at eighty piasters the
rotolo, makes one thousand and forty piasters--half
of which is 520
Rent for houses, forty one families at seven and
a half piasters each house, 300
----
1975
The patriarch therefore had here a gain of thirteen hundred and
eighty-nine piasters, or about £68 per annum. There were of course
other sources of gain, with which I was not acquainted, and I may have
even underrated the different products which I have enumerated.
I could never clearly understand the nature of the tenure of the land
and other property. Thus the patriarch was the proprietor of the houses
and could build or pull them down, or eject a tenant from them, when he
liked. All trees, not bearing fruit, seemed to be his: for, whenever
the peasants were in want of a rafter or joist, it was necessary to
apply to the kûly for permission to cut. Yet, in those bearing fruit,
as olive or mulberry trees, the peasants had a right of possession, and
of transmission to their children; of which I saw repeated examples.
With regard to the soil, that, too, was not the patriarch’s; for each
family would speak of certain pieces of land as belonging to them.
Still it was odd that, when Lady Hester wanted a field any where for
sowing or for any other use, it was always given to her, let her have
cast her eye on what piece she would. I concluded therefore that the
purchaser of a village became the proprietor of the tithe, rather
than the possessor of the soil, which was partitioned into smaller or
greater farms or estates, as prosperity and adversity appropriated or
alienated it, by purchase or sale, from man to man.[87]
A small village like Abra, away from any high road, was seldom visited
by strangers. Occasionally, a pedlar selling soap, kadámy, or parched
peas, and a little halàwy or sweetmeat, would pass through, crying his
wares: for the purchase of which he would receive money, or, in default
of it, eggs, or chickens, which he resold, in the towns, to advantage.
Sometimes a pauper, after begging from house to house, would sleep
through the night in the village tanûr or oven, a favourite lodging
both in towns and villages for the wretched.[88]
The life which these peasants lead is simple enough. At sunrise the
husband goes to his field to plough, or sow, or reap, or plant his
tobacco, or to cut leaves for his silkworms. The women wash, bake,
grind at the handmill, feed the silkworms, gather the figs, the
olives, and, if _fathy_, as they call it, or having nothing to
do, they spin. Were I desired to describe a peasant woman in her most
customary occupation, I should represent her as seated at the door of
her cottage, spinning with a hand-spindle, and having a long cane lying
by her side to drive away the chickens, which she talks to and scolds
as if they were children, giving to each a name. When at the tanûr,
baking, she gossips. She generally cooks once in the twenty-four hours,
for the evening repast, to which her husband returns when his day’s
work is over.
Midwifery at Abra was entirely in the hands of women.[89] A woman
lay-in of her first child soon after I came to the village. She
was half an hour in labour. All the married females of the village
assembled on the occasion, and they instructed her how to act in her
new situation. She was placed in the chair used on these occasions,
a sketch of which I have annexed, having caused it to be brought to
me for that purpose, and having thought it sufficiently curious to
interest the Scriptural reader, who might find in it the explanation of
a passage otherwise not quite intelligible.[90]
[Illustration: MIDWIFERY CHAIR.]
A rope was made fast to the ceiling, by which the woman held, and
hauled on it during her travail: at the same time the bystanders
supported her under her armpits.[91]
It has occurred to all travellers, among people styled uncivilized, to
observe with how much less pain and trouble the process of gestation
and parturition goes on than among ourselves and other so called
polished nations: as also how little care is bestowed on women during
the days succeeding childbirth in comparison with the nursing they are
said to require with us. But, what is more extraordinary still, such
women, so neglected, seem to be less liable to bad accidents than those
over whose welfare, physicians, midwives, nurses, and fond and foolish
husbands, have watched with tender and unremitting anxiety. Does not
this, or ought it not at least, to awake some doubts in our mind, as to
which party pursues the right method; and whether over-officious zeal
in some and mercenary motives in others have not tended to make of a
natural act a very complicated and artificial one? for otherwise it
would imply a defect of wisdom in our Creator to have left the great
work of peopling the earth subject to the control and help of man.
There are daily examples occurring of parturient women, whether with a
view to hide their shame arising from a guilty connection, or whether
from accident of warfare, or navigation, who are left without aid from
their own sex or obstetrical assistance from the other: yet they bring
their offspring into the world in safety, and are often observed to
recover from this (certainly) painful act, quicker than if delivered
by the rules of art. But these are partial and individual instances,
and are nothing in the account with whole nations, where the office of
accoucheur or midwife is hardly known, and where women think no more
of bringing a child into the world, than of the maturation of a boil,
which, when ripened, will heal and discharge its contents as a matter
of course.
In a cold climate, and among a disgusting people, Dr. Clarke in
his travels in Scandinavia (p. 403) says--“The journeys with raids
(sledges) are of course liable to danger and to the utmost degree of
fatigue: yet women, far advanced in pregnancy, are often the drivers;
and such is their easy labour in parturition, that childbirth hardly
occasions any interruption to the progress of the raid.”
In England, the causes of unfavourable gestation and parturition,
together with the subsequent danger to which women are supposed to be
liable, I consider to be, first, stays; secondly, neglect of exercise
and its consequences in impeded functions of the bowels; thirdly,
the medicating of sickness; fourthly, unnecessary interference of
accoucheurs; fifthly, heated rooms and the want of fresh air; sixthly,
hurried and forced delivery; seventhly, hot beds; eighthly, unnecessary
and prolonged confinement.
As there were no enclosed fields in the country, cattle turned out
to graze were tended by a herdsman. Hence the place of herdsman to a
village was of some importance in the eyes of the peasants, and was
annually assigned to a man of approved vigilance. For this service
he received by the year, from each owner of a pair of oxen, one mid
and a half of wheat; for sheep and asses something less; and thus
in proportion for all animals that graze. Every day, when daylight
appeared, he walked through the village, and each cottager drove out
of his cottage-stable his ass, goats, or oxen, which he purposed
to send to pasture that day. The herd was thus assembled, and the
herdsman, called in Arabic _râay_, conducts them afield, taking
care to prevent them from straying into corn-fields, vineyards, and
the like. For such trespasses he was fined according to the decision
of the _natûr_ (or overseer) of the village. The natûr was always
known by a stout stick, which he carried about with him; and his chief
employ was to patrole day and night through the corn fields, orchards,
vineyards, &c., to see that no damage was done.
Women seldom mixed in public diversions. On one occasion, after I had
resided some time in the village, and was in some degree looked up to,
Butrûs, a peasant, came running into my cottage, with a stick in his
hand, and out of breath. “For God’s sake,” (cried he) “there is my
niece, Mariam, in the street, among a parcel of strange men, skipping
about to a fellow who is beating a drum;--do interpose, sir, and send
her away. The village will get a bad name, and they will say of her
that Bint Sulyba (the daughter of Sulyba) is a street-walker.” This
anecdote will serve to show the kind of demeanour which was expected in
women, even of the lowest class, and in a small village. In France, an
itinerant piper, in a similar place, would have all the lads and lasses
dancing around him, and the old folks looking on.
It was about the 20th of February, 1814, that Lady Hester took
possession of the monastery of Mar Elias, and I of my cottage at
Abra. I had added to it a second cottage for a servants’ room, opened
a larger door, and endeavoured to make it habitable. Lady Hester’s
establishment was now very much reduced. As Beaudin recovered but
slowly, she hired for a time, as interpreter, the same Damiani whose
house we had inhabited.[92] Pierre was gone home to Dayr el Kamar, and
had sent down as cook in his place a woman named Um Risk, who remained,
as it will afterwards be seen, three years with her ladyship. Mariam
had gone back to Latakia, and Stefano, who was in love with her, had
followed her. I might be accused of inserting very frivolous details,
were it not that the domestic incidents which, in travelling in Europe,
would be but a counterpart of what occurs in every man’s family every
day, are here often novel, and always serve to render the picture of
Turkish manners more complete. Lady Hester had no horses and no grooms:
she rode out daily on a small ass, and was now fast recovering from the
debility which successive illnesses had brought upon her.
In the mean time, people were busy in their conjectures as to the
reappearance of plague. It had not discontinued raging at Damascus,
and St. Jean d’Acre was said to be newly infected. Every reason led
to suppose that it would reappear at Sayda this year: we accordingly
prepared for it in the manner usual in the country. In times of
insecurity, whether from plague or insurrection, or any other cause,
the markets were in part or entirely shut up, and he who had not had
the precaution to provide against such contingencies found himself
sorely straitened. It is with this view that annually a store is
made, sufficient for the year’s consumption, by every family that can
afford it. About two hundred head of poultry were bought, with some
sheep and lambs; rice, flour, wheat, figs, raisins, in fact everything
that could be called dry stores, was laid in, enough for six or eight
months, with oil, butter, candles, soap, &c. Thus provided, it was
considered that, in a spot so retired, and so out of everybody’s way,
we could not very easily be exposed to danger. We were precisely like
the crew of a well-victualled ship at sea: we had everything necessary
within the walls; with this advantage, that instead of salt beef and
hard biscuit we had abundance of fresh provisions. Individually, I
must confess I did not look forward to this confinement with much
satisfaction. Solitude is no disagreeable thing with a good library:
rather otherwise; but books were not to be procured; Lady Hester never
had any, and I had lost mine in the shipwreck.
Endowed with a very active mind, and convinced that neglect alone of
many common precautions against the introduction of the plague caused
the loss of a great number of lives, her ladyship bethought herself
of writing to the Emir Beshýr, to advise him how to guard against its
encroachments. She considered that the establishment of a patrole,
which should watch all the outlets of the mountain, would be sufficient
to keep out persons suspected of infection; and she suggested that
a post should be established, as in Europe, by which all letters
should be transmitted to and from the mountain, subject, in every
direction where danger lay, to be fumigated or immersed in vinegar.
Some correspondence passed on this subject, and M. Beaudin was sent
to explain what was not clearly understood; but nothing was adopted
otherwise than had been customary in former cases. It is not unusual
for Europeans, impressed with the notion that the Turks are an ignorant
people, to offer them advice on many subjects, which, after all, are
connected with a country with whose government, manners, usages, and
climate they are unacquainted, and in which they arrive as strangers.
A month passed away at the monastery without any particular occurrence.
I built a wall round my cottage, as a farther protection against danger
from the plague, in imitation of Lady Hester, who had built one round
her residence. The rains had occasionally been very violent, and the
roofs of two cottages fell in from the additional weight given by a
thorough soaking to the mould with which they were covered. There was
not a roof in the village that was not leaky.
It will be recollected that, two years before, Lady Hester paid a visit
to the Shaykh Beshýr, the chief of the Drûzes, at Mukhtâra. It was a
custom with him to make a circuit annually through the Drûze villages,
to administer justice, correct abuses, and collect his rents. For
though, as the supreme power was vested in the emir, he could not,
properly, arrogate to himself more than the rights of a landlord, still
it would seem that, acknowledged as the second person of the mountain,
he was in fact the equal of the emir, and, acting accordingly, what he
dared not do himself, he caused to be done by his influence. For his
domains in villages, farms, orchards, vineyards, and plantations, were
always equal to those of the emir himself, and, being by religion a
Drûze, he was looked up to by that people as their lawful master.
In his tour he combined pleasure and business. He was accompanied by
about fifty attendants, on foot and on horseback, some with guns, some
with hawks and dogs, and he sported from village to village. This was
his manner: his footmen scoured the neighbouring hills, and drove the
game (chiefly red-legged partridges and antelopes) into the valleys,
through which he rode in the midst of his falconers and dogs. In the
mean time those on foot made the mountains re-echo with shouts; whilst
the horsemen occupied the sides of the hills, between the ridges where
the footmen were, and drove down the game that was started into the
valleys in which the shaykh rode, where it was hawked, or shot, or
run down by the dogs. In this way he arrived at Abra on the 20th of
March, some servants having preceded him to prepare a cottage for his
reception. A few carpets were spread over the mud floor, a cushion or
two placed against the wall for his sofa, and this was all that was
thought necessary to make him comfortable; nor had he at night a bed
to sleep on. When the shaykh was accommodated, his katibs and chief
attendants laid their hands on the next best cottages; nor did the
peasantry dare on such occasions to do otherwise than yield them up
immediately. There was, however, no confusion, and a stranger passing
through the village would not have perceived any stir more than usual.
Immediately on his arrival, the peasantry hastened to ask permission
to be admitted to tell their grievances; but, on the circuit of this
year, he confessed his dread of the plague by dispensing with the usual
custom of having the hem of his robe, or his hand, kissed by all those
who entered.
In the evening Lady Hester sent the dragoman to the shaykh with a
message, expressing her regret at not being able to see him, from
indisposition: the shaykh, in return, signified the pleasure he felt
that she had finally fixed her abode among his people. It cannot be
denied that the Orientals are well bred. His conduct on this occasion
was very delicate. Fearful that Lady Hester would think it necessary
to send him provisions for the night (as is customary on the arrival
of any great person who is travelling) he had previously ordered them
to be prepared. He was likewise exceedingly strict in commanding that,
for the accommodation of himself or his people, not the slightest
disturbance should be given to any person or thing appertaining to
Lady Hester. He left Abra on the morrow.
I occasionally rode out in the neighbourhood; and, among other places,
went to a large monastery, distant about two hours, called St.
Saviour’s, or Dayr Mkhallas. The monasteries in the mountain, of which
there are several, are generally very respectable but plain structures.
They are, for the most part, quadrangular, with vaulted cells opening
into the court, but which are arranged with little regard to symmetry.
St. Saviour’s was of the first rank, having a fraternity of fifty
friars; and, from its situation on the very top of a mountain, wears
an imposing appearance. The road to it was a rugged mule path, which
wound and turned in a way unknown in England. Within a short distance,
but with the intervention of a deep valley, was the village of Jôon,
inhabited by Christians and Metoualis.
The monasteries of the Greek Catholics are as follow:--Dayr Mkhallas
(Our Saviour’s, near Jôon), with seventy friars; Dayr Sayda (our
Lord’s) with twelve friars; Dayr el Mezairy, near Gezýn, with six
friars; Dayr Arnêk, above Dayr el Kamar, with six friars; Dayr
Aishmayeh, with five friars; Dayr Ayn el Joze (or the walnut-spring,)
in the Bkâa, with twelve friars; Dayr el Benât, (the maids’) for women,
near Dayr Mkhallas, with thirty to thirty-five nuns.
The Greek Catholics are called, indifferently, _malky_, or
_kuwetly_, of the meaning of which words I must confess myself
ignorant. They have bishops at all the cities along the coast, also at
Bâalbek, at Carah, at Nebk, &c. There is a sect of the _kuwetly_,
which goes by the name of the _Shuwarya_. The Greek Catholic monks
adopt the order of St. Basilius, and they smoke tobacco, drink wine,
and eat flesh.
[Illustration: A GREEK MONK.]
These Greek schismatics retain the dress peculiar to the monks of
the Greek Church--a felt hat without a brim, the hair of the head
unshorn, and a black woollen gown, girded with a black leather belt.
They have blue cotton drawers, and, in the winter, are allowed to
wear a coarse jacket over their gown. Their shoes are black, which,
in a country where everybody but a priest wears them yellow or red,
becomes a singularity also. There are several monasteries of these
monks in Mount Lebanon. Of these, the largest is that of St. Saviour,
near to the village of Jôon, where reside the superior-general and
the patriarch. The Maronites, with whom they are intermingled over
the mountain, and who likewise own the supremacy of the pope, hold
them nevertheless in aversion, principally, perhaps, because the Greek
Catholics are permitted by their rules to smoke, drink coffee, and
eat meat, (when not in seasons of fasting) whilst the Maronites are
interdicted from every one of these indulgences throughout the year.
There are to be found among the Malkys men of great acuteness, and
who are well versed in church learning; but the major part of them
are no better than peasants, being employed in rearing silkworms, in
ploughing land, and other works of husbandry. Such, indeed, are always
their occupations during their noviciate; and, in case they exhibit no
striking talents, for the rest of their lives also. It must be observed
that every article of food and raiment is manufactured by their own
body.
At Dayr Mkhallas resided the patriarch of the Greek Catholics,
proprietor of Dayr Mar Elias, and successor of him who died there
just before our arrival. His name was Macarius, which he had assumed
on his elevation to the patriarchal dignity. He was a man of little
conversation, and rather awkwardly professed his hope that Lady Hester
would long continue to occupy his humble residence. These dignitaries
of the Eastern church are accessible to the lowest person, and are not
those of old, who could make an emperor tremble on his throne: the most
they can now do is to tamper in the intrigues of the mountain, a field
too small to give scope to the ambition of a churchman; but even now
they are approached with the greatest respect, and persons of their own
sect kiss the ground before a patriarch, and then his robe.[93] He is
waited upon by priests and deacons, who light his pipe, and do other
menial offices about his person. In the East, all distinctions of rank
are lost in the presence of a superior, if he be a great man, whether
Christian or Moslem. Before a pasha, his vizir, or kekhyah, stands, nor
dares sit, unless told to do so. In the same manner, a patriarch keeps
his bishop on his legs; but, let the pasha or the patriarch disappear,
the kekhyah and bishop will play the same farce with those next
inferior to themselves. As the Porte acknowledges but one legitimate
Christian church, which is the Greek, the Catholic patriarch cannot be
seen in public in his robes, or, indeed, reside anywhere comfortably,
but in Mount Lebanon.
On the 28th of March, M. Boutin, a French gentleman, arrived at Sayda,
and lodged at his consul’s. Lady Hester had known him at Cairo, where,
on occasion of a dinner at the house of the French consul, she had
turned into ridicule the mysterious air which he assumed, and had
laughingly denounced him as a spy of Buonaparte’s, as, in fact, he was:
for he had served as colonel of engineers, and was now on a mission
connected with his department. He was said to have been a great friend
of Moreau’s. He was much urged to remain at Sayda until the plague,
which now began to reappear everywhere, should have subsided: but, not
being willing to do so, he departed about the 5th or 6th of April,
taking with him a servant of Lady Hester’s, whom she ceded to him as
likely to be useful on the journey; and so he would have been, but
they were destined never to return. The servant was carried off by the
plague, and M. Boutin was assassinated by his own Turkish domestics in
an unfrequented part of the Ansáry mountains! His story will be related
in another place.
It was now the time of Lent, which was kept with much strictness by the
Greek Catholics: but their rigid observance of fasts savoured strongly
of pride; and, even in my own little family, between Giovanni, who was
a Roman Catholic, and the kitchen girl, who was a Greek Catholic, I
was often made very angry. Whatever I left at dinner was thrown to the
dogs. What was cooked for me would neither do for man nor maid: and
what was cooked for the man would not do for the maid, because their
fasts fell at different times, according to the old and new style.
Yet would they drink drams, lie, cheat, or do anything morally wrong,
and then look me in the face, and justify their conduct, because,
forsooth, they had not broken the fast.
The rains this year had continued somewhat later than usual; but
the weather was now become very fine and warm, and the breeding of
silkworms had begun to busy the whole of the peasantry. On the first
days of April, the worms were hatched from their eggs, by being carried
for a day or two in the bosoms of the women; that kind of warmth, or
that degree of it, being found to be most fit for the purpose.
Nasýfa, widow of Murad Bey, once the ruler of Egypt, whose acquaintance
Lady Hester had made whilst she was at Cairo, sent her about this
time a black slave, named Hanýfy. She was thirteen years old, and
exceedingly well made. Much pains were taken to render her a good
servant; and, as she had been bred a Mahometan, her ladyship never
would allow any attempts to be used to convert her to Christianity,
but caused an old imàm of Sayda to come, day by day, to give her
instructions in her religion, and to teach her the forms of prayer.
Many pious persons may be disposed to blame Lady Hester, who thus shut
out from a young mind the light of the Gospel; but she was accustomed
to say, “I am a philosopher and not a missionary, and, between millions
of Mahometans and millions of Christians, who dispute which is the
right way to Heaven, I never pretend to set myself up as a judge which
is the best.”
When Hanýfy came from Egypt to Syria, a letter was sent with her,
describing her merits by negatives; there being, in a new bought slave,
few positive qualities ascertainable, until he or she has been some
time in the possession of a purchaser. This letter was written by the
person at Cairo into whose trust Hanýfy had been delivered, and by
whose wife all proper examination had been made of her fitness for
her new station. The slave-sellers are accustomed to give three days’
trial, and the result was that, Hanýfy did not snore, did not talk or
walk in her sleep, had a pleasant voice, seemed docile; that her back
was not crooked; and that she had no bodily deformity. Such was the
character she brought with her; and whether she was virtuous and good
never seemed to have troubled the inquirer’s mind.
Just at this time, I was exceedingly delighted by an unexpected
discovery of an ancient sepulchre, made not far from my residence.
As I now spoke Arabic, the news of the day often formed a subject of
conversation between me and the villagers, my neighbours. One evening,
a peasant, who was sufficiently aware of the curiosity which European
travellers feel upon matters connected with the ancient history of
these countries, informed me, that a cavern, full of painted figures,
had been discovered, the preceding evening, within a short distance of
Sayda. He added other circumstances sufficient to excite in me a desire
to see it. Having, therefore, acquainted myself with the situation of
the place, I went to it on the following morning.
The spot to which I had been directed was about half a mile to the
north-east of Sayda, close to a deep glen, named Wady Abu Ghyás, and
within a hundred yards of one of the gardens to the east. A camel,
whilst grazing here, sunk into a hole knee-deep, where it remained
without being able to extricate itself. The driver, having relieved it
from its distressing situation, was naturally induced to look down, and
examine the hole; and, as it appeared to go to some depth, the constant
notion which prevails (as has been before said) among all classes of
people in the East, of hidden treasures, led him to fancy that it might
be an opening to something of this kind; so he proceeded to enlarge
it. The soil readily yielded, and presented the appearance of an
underground chamber. Eager to realize the good fortune which awaited
him, as he now supposed, he procured a light, and, letting himself
down into the opening, found himself in a spacious vault, the walls
of which were covered with painted figures almost as large as life.
He cautiously proceeded to examine the place, when, having convinced
himself that his search would turn to no profitable end, he ascended
to the open day, and went and communicated his discovery to the people
of a caravansery, the resort, as in the inns of other countries, of
many idlers. Some of these returned with him to the cavern: and the
superstition of a part of them immediately converted the figures into
a representation of Christian mysteries, a circumstance not worth
mentioning, if it were not that this notion was afterwards the cause of
their being defaced by the Turks.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A GREEK SEPULCHRE.]
It was on the morning succeeding the discovery that I went to the spot.
The chamber was crowded with people, brought thither by the report
which had been circulated the preceding evening in Sayda respecting
it. The Turks had already picked out the eyes of one of the most
beautiful figures, and otherwise defaced it. Being known in the
neighbourhood, my interference had some effect in stopping them from
proceeding farther, and I succeeded in convincing such as were then
present that the paintings had no Christian symbol, and consequently
could not be, as they imagined, any representation of the Holy Supper,
or of the Virgin Mary, &c. as they thought them. But party succeeded
party, and the task of reasoning with them all was impossible; for,
to portraits of the human figure, whether Christian or pagan, the
Turks are always enemies. Having no drawing materials, I could only
take a hasty sort of outline in ink, which sketch, however, afterwards
served me somewhat in the restoration of parts of some of the figures,
subsequently destroyed. I again visited the cavern on the following
day. Just at this time the plague broke out, and, raging terribly,
spread consternation in the village of Abra, and in the town of Sayda.
Called away by my medical duties towards others, and by the feeling of
self-preservation, which forbade me to risk the danger resulting in
pestiferous times from the contact of strange persons, so inevitable in
a confined place, the sepulchre was abandoned. I will here anticipate
the order of my journal, and relate how I afterwards made copies of
these paintings, a rough sketch of which is here given.
The plague ceased in the month of July. I then bethought myself again
of the sepulchre, and revisited it. Much injury had been done to
the paintings. The only chance which remained of rescuing them from
oblivion was the arrival of some traveller in these parts who could
draw. This hope was not realized until the year 1816, when, in the
month of March, Mr. William Bankes, the late Member of Parliament
for Cambridge University, came to Mar Elias; and, having convinced
me, by several drawings which he showed me, that he was an excellent
draftsman, I conducted him to the sepulchre. This gentleman compared
the paintings in it to those at Herculaneum.
During the lapse of a few months, considerable damage had been caused
by the alluvion of mould driven in by the rains. The figures nearest
the entrance were covered by it up to the shoulders, and the floor
was sodden with wet. Mr. Bankes, nevertheless, executed in two days
a perspective view of the interior, in colours. But he carried his
projects yet farther: for he formed the design of removing some of
these fresco-paintings from their places, and, accordingly, employed a
mason to cut them out from the piers of the walls; which was effected
in two instances.
Soon after this he departed, and, just at the time, a supply of drawing
materials reached me from England. In watching the delineations I
had seen made by him, I had conceived them to be inadequate to the
purpose of giving a complete representation of the sepulchral chamber,
more especially as the ceiling had been entirely left out, and some
other omissions made, which seemed to me material. I accordingly set
diligently to work, and copied them as well as I could.[94]
For the better elucidation of our subject, it will be proper to say a
few words on the different kinds of tombs and sepulchres common to the
country of which we are now speaking.
The traveller, who visits the Levant, cannot fail to be struck with
the numerous excavations which are found near the site of almost every
ancient city. These are readily understood from their form to have been
sepulchres. They occur in a variety of shapes: some are simple oblong
sarcophagi, hewn out of the rock, and only capacious enough to hold
one human body; others are spacious grottoes several yards in length
and width, in the sides of which recesses or cells were hollowed out
as receptacles of the dead; whilst, intermediate to these two, is a
multitude of others, the size of which, and the more or less labour
bestowed in making them, depended, it may be conjectured, on the means
of those who caused them to be excavated.
Through the whole length of the coast of Syria, from Laodicea to Jaffa,
we had remarked these sepulchres, and had observed them, likewise, in
the interior of the country: as at Heliopolis or Bâlbec, at Malûla, a
village on the road from Damascus to Emesa, at Jerusalem, at Damascus,
and at other places: but, in every instance, they were open; always
in a state of decay, from the effects of time and the weather, and
seemed long to have been the haunts of jackalls, or the pens of sheep
and goats. In all of them little remained beside the bare rock, out of
which they had been chiselled.
A concise description of the various forms observable in these
sepulchres may not be unnecessary, as introductory to our particular
subject.
The rudest sarcophagi, and such as we may suppose served for the tombs
of the common people, were oblong parallelograms (_fig. 3_), large
enough to receive (besides the corpse) a case or coffin enclosing
it: these were hewn out on the surface of any convenient rock.[95]
Such seem to have been covered with a double pent lid (_fig. 1 and
4_), which had within a concavity corresponding to the exterior, and
in them perhaps were placed _terra cotta_ coffins; a conjecture
rendered probable by the discovery made in 1805 of a coffin[96] of
this material, found entire in one of these sarcophagi near the city of
Sidon.
There was a second sort of sarcophagus (_fig. 6_), of the same
shape, as to the interior, with the first mentioned, and hewn likewise
out of the rock; but the rock was chiselled away externally, so as to
leave it entirely in relief and insulated.[97] The lids and sides of
this sort were plain in some, and in others sculptured into ornaments,
mostly consisting of bulls’ heads and festoons of flowers.[98] Of
the plain kind several are still remaining on the road from Sayda to
Beyrout, near what is called the Guffer or toll-house. This spot has
obtained the name of the Jews’ Sepulchres (Kabûr el Yahûd). Numberless
fragments of this kind of sarcophagus are to be seen in and near every
town in Syria, often of marble, and sculptured in the most finished
manner.
[Illustration: VARIOUS SARCOPHAGI HEWN OUT OF ROCKS.]
A third kind of sarcophagus is that hewn horizontally, like an oven,
in the sides of rocks. In these were placed earthenware coffins, like
that described in the preceding page. The whole length of the cavity
was, in one instance which I measured, somewhat more than that of the
human body. At the mouth, or at the bottom, or somewhere near it, there
was placed a tablet or a stele (_fig. 5_), with the name of the
deceased on it.[99]
Another kind consisted of an arched alcove, excavated in the side of
a rock, the base in its whole length being a sarcophagus. Sometimes
these were single; at other times they were triple, and then occupied
the three sides of a subterraneous chamber; the doorway filling up the
fourth. (_Fig. 7_)
After these come the sepulchres on a larger scale, containing several
recesses (_fig. 8_), in which the sarcophagi are perpendicular to
the sides, and not, as just seen, parallel. In some instances these
sarcophagi are excavated breast high from the ground, and are of a
length and height just sufficient for the sliding in of a coffin. Of
these there is one in a garden near Sayda, in tolerable preservation.
The chamber is subterranean; and although the inscriptions[100] over
the mouth of each sarcophagus are still legible, yet the stucco which
coated the walls is, from the moisture which oozes through the ceiling,
quite discoloured, and, in many places, crumbled away. In the immediate
vicinity of the same city are perhaps a hundred sepulchral chambers,
the general conformation of which varies only in the greater or less
number of the cells.
These form a sixth class, wherein the cells are squares or
parallelograms, having their sarcophagi sunk from the level of the
floor. (_Fig. 9_) Most of them have an arched entrance, where
once hung a door. In one or two only can be discovered some indistinct
remains of the sculpture which adorned the entrance or the interior. In
a few of them some bones are found, but all seem to have been rifled,
and marks of the pickaxe are often visible in the sides and in the
floors, proceeding, no doubt, from the attempts which have been made to
find treasures, supposed to have been concealed in them.
In some places two or more sepulchres are connected with each other
by a door of communication, although examples of this are fewer along
the coast than in the interior. Near the sea, throughout the whole
length of Mount Lebanon and the mountainous chain northward of it,
an argillaceous rock, easy to work and easy of access, afforded great
facilities for these excavations, and probably induced each separate
family to choose its own tomb apart from that of another: in the
interior of the country other causes seem to have operated. Thus, in
the modern village of Malûla, on the road from Damascus to Emesa, the
modern Hems, where a solitary projecting rock seems to have confined
these excavations within a narrow compass, we find innumerable chambers
hewn into a variety of forms, close to and above each other, and in
many cases communicating. The outer one, by which entrance is obtained
to the others, in some instances has its door several yards from the
ground, and is accessible only by a ladder, or by steps cut out of the
rock, probably to prevent sacrilegious profanation.[101]
Before we come to the sepulchral chamber with the paintings, I will
first say a few words of another of the same kind, discovered posterior
to that above mentioned. Its existence was made known to me by one of
the boys, who assisted in holding the candles during the time I was
employed in drawing. A description of it will serve as a useful step to
the gradations which we have been trying to establish in tracing these
sepulchres from their simple to their most perfect shape.
It is situate, like the other, on the first rise of Mount Lebanon,
within a mile and a half of Sayda, and almost due east of it, above
and near to the small village of Heleléyah, and close to the footpath
leading from that village to Dayr Mar Elias. The entrance was almost
choked up with mould, washed in (as in the foregoing instance) by the
winter rains. Being provided with candles, I entered, and found it to
be a low vaulted chamber. In the sides and extremity of it were cells,
having in their floors sarcophagi, which sarcophagi had evidently
been rifled many generations ago. On the ceiling was painted, towards
the four corners, a something not unlike a carpenter’s square. The
south-east side was totally defaced, and the bottom nearly so. The
chamber was hewn out of an argillaceous rock: but it seemed to have
been executed with no great care, as the sides and arches of the
recesses had many inequalities.
I now proceed to the description of the cavern at Abu Ghyás; this
being, as we have already observed, the name given to the sepulchral
chamber, near the glen so called.
The ground plan (_see fig. 9, p. 346, and p. 340_) represents an
oblong chamber, 27 feet long by 10 feet wide. On each side were four
recesses or cells; and at the bottom, facing the entrance, two. Each
recess contained two sarcophagi, two of which were free from rubbish;
but, in the remaining cells, the mould covered them so completely as to
render it impossible to come at them.
The ceiling was slightly arched, and, from the centre of it to the
floor, the height was nine feet. The whole was hewn out of a rock, and
worked with much exactitude.[102] It is probable that the descent into
it was by steps; but these were now entirely hid by the mould washed
in through the aperture, and which, accumulated near the entrance,
threatened to choke up the vault altogether. The four sarcophagi not
covered with mould were in length about 6 feet 8 inches by two feet
wide. In them I found a few human bones. They had no coating, nor any
remains to show of what materials the coffins, once deposited in them,
had been. The lids of the sarcophagi in the left hand corner were still
lying on them in broken fragments, and appeared to have been each
composed of one single block of stone, without any sculptured ornaments
on it. These sarcophagi, like those we have before described, bore
evident marks of having been opened forcibly; for the sake, probably,
of the gold ornaments usually left on the persons of the dead; or
possibly from fanaticism.
The cells were painted, and each in a different pattern, but always in
plain or flowered stripes parallel to each other. It will be observed
that one of the recesses or cells was longer than the rest. Was it that
the heads of a family, or the founders of a sepulchre, laid claim to
this distinction?
Between every two cells was a pier, so that each side consisted of
four cells with intermediate piers, and the bottom of two, with one
intermediate pier. These were surmounted by a cornice, comprehended in
a double border, between which were painted festoons of red roses, tied
at each end, and hung on a light blue ground. The piers, which measured
57 inches in height, but varied in breadth from 27 to 40 inches, were
ornamented with figures in fresco, 4½ feet in length, painted on a
fawn or stone-coloured ground. In three of them the colouring admitted
of being examined very closely: but the other six were done in a bold
manner, and would not bear the eye too near to them. Seven of the nine
figures were represented carrying a dish, as if for a repast. Over
the first was the word ΓΛΥΚΩΝ; on the second pier was a female with
a scroll in her hand, apparently a priestess; on the third a female
resting on an urn. There was a peculiarity observable in this and two
other figures, that lines seemed to have been drawn by the artist for
his guidance as to the proportions of the body. The next figure had the
word ΚΟΛΟΚΕΡΟϹ: the next ΕΛΙΚΩΝ: the next ΠΕΤΗΝΟϹ: one was without a
name: and the last had ΝΗΡΕΥϹ.
The ceiling was not the least curious part of the sepulchre. It has
been said that it was arched. On a slate-coloured or light blue ground,
scattered roses, with here and there some single flowers of a different
kind, were painted in red. Among these were mingled, without any regard
to order, wreaths of roses, knotted at the end, which, at first sight,
seemed like so many centipedes. Birds of various kinds, with their
wings shut, and winged boys in the act of flying, were interspersed.
Thus, then, I have endeavoured to describe, more minutely perhaps
than was necessary, the interior of this tomb. But to some persons,
lovers of antiquity, such details may not be uninteresting; and I shall
perhaps be excused, if, in explanation of the figures and ornaments
painted on the walls, I add an ancient inscription, which seems
illustrative of them. It is as follows:--
Tib: Claudius Drusi F. Cæs. Aug. Germ. Pont. Max. Trib. Pot.
ii Con. Desig. iii Imp. iii P. P. Dec. vij Collegii Fabri M.
R. H. S. M. et libertate donavit sub conditione ut quotannis
rosas ad monumentum ejus deferant, et ibi epulentur dumtaxat in
v. Id. Jul. Quod si negligerint, tunc ad viij ejusdem Collegii
pertinere debebit conditione supradictâ.--
Tiberius Claudius, son of Drusus, Cæsar, Augustus, Germanicus,
High Pontiff, twice Tribune, thrice Consul Elect, thrice
Imperator, Father of his country--hereby hath given to seven
decurions of the Faber (smith’s?) College of the municipality
of Ravenna a thousand Sestertii (£8 1s. 5½d.) and their
liberty, on condition that, every year, they carry to his
tomb roses, and make one repast in it on the 5th of the ides
of July only. But, should they neglect to do this, then will
it belong to eight others of the same College upon the above
conditions.--_Inscription on the tomb of Drusus_: vid.
_Lives of Suetonius, by_ Henri Ophellot de la Pause, p.
100, vol. iii. 8vo.
This inscription throws light on our subject in two ways--first, from
it we learn that it was customary for the living to make feasts in
the sepulchres of their deceased relations and friends; and next, to
scatter roses over their graves. It is not unlikely, therefore, that
the sum appropriated to this purpose might, in the course of years,
cease to be paid; and, instead, a representation of that which was
before substantially done be substituted: when, as in this case,
we should have, painted on the walls, servants carrying dishes, a
priestess reading, and another making libations. The ceiling would be
sprinkled with roses; and, in a word, we should have the same picture
which we actually find here.
But, that such was the custom, we have farther proof in a dissertation
on this very subject inserted in the _Thes: Antiq: Rom:_ vol.
xii., p. 1074, fol. _Lug: Bat:_ 1699: for, in a description of the
ancient sepulchres of the family of the Nasones, by J. P. Bellorius,
(after having spoken of the several rites customary on the death of
great persons,) he goes on in the following words, which are here a
translation, the original text being subjoined.[103]
We will only add a few words more touching the flowers, wreaths,
and different kinds of garlands, which are found, either
_painted_ or sculptured, in many sepulchres. This, indeed,
appertains to a custom of the old Romans, by them borrowed from
the Greeks, of not only binding a wreath round the temples of
the dead, but also of honouring their tombs by annually strewing
flowers and roses, and by sprinkling odours [in them]; for
they had a notion that this was grateful to the defunct. And
such usages were so prevalent, that many, on the approach of
death, tied down their heirs, by clauses in their wills, to
the performance of this duty; a large sum of money being set
apart for the purpose. This we learn, not only from ancient
authors, both Greek and Latin, but likewise from sepulchral
inscriptions and decorations: which last, as we gather from
ancient tombs still remaining, consisted of wreaths, garlands,
foliage, and flowers. Nor did they merely enjoin that these
annual obsequies should be celebrated by roses and odours;
but, moreover, with this very view, they purchased gardens [or
orchards] adjoining their sepulchres, and appropriated the
rents of them to their obsequies: which may be inferred from
the following inscription.--Long: Patrollus, influenced by the
religious observances of his order, did, during his lifetime,
make a donation of a hundred fruit orchards, with the building
adjoining this sepulchre, in order that, from their rents, an
abundant supply of roses and herbs might be appropriated to his
patron’s obsequies [might adorn his patron’s grave,] and, some
day, his own.
The formula most used in ancient inscriptions is--‘That roses be
brought annually to his monument:’ because roses were considered
more costly than other flowers.
These remarks are quite in point, and make sufficiently clear the
purpose of the ornaments painted in this sepulchre. For, when the
survivors of a dead person were unable, for want of funds set apart
for that purpose, to bring fresh roses, garlands, &c., and to give
banquets in his honour, we may suppose that they then caused, as being
next to the reality, a representation of such funereal ceremonies to be
depicted on the walls of his sepulchre.
But what is somewhat in confirmation of this ancient custom is a usage
which still obtains among the Christians and Mahometans of Egypt.
Every year they perform funereal rites at the tombs of their deceased
relations. These consist in going to the cemetery, a whole family
together; and there, under a tent, or, if rich people, in a small
structure raised for that purpose over the tomb, they pass several
days, moaning and howling at certain intervals, and then quietly
amusing themselves in eating, smoking, conversation, or whatever else
they please to do.
Of the antiquity of tombs hollowed out in rocks we have the testimony
of the Holy Scriptures, as used by the Jews, and of Herodotus, as
common among the Egyptians. The Greeks originally burned their dead:
and it was, probably, at the time of the invasion of the Persian empire
by Alexander, that the custom of using stone coffins was first adopted
by them.
CHAPTER XI.
Plague at Abra--Terror occasioned by it--Peasants forsake the
village--Alarm of Lady Hester--Imaginary virtues of bezoar and
serpent stone--Funerals--Embarrassment of the Author--Illness
of his servant--Increase of the contagion--Medical
Treatment--Arrival of the Kite sloop of war--Number of victims
of the plague--Pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Haneh--Prickly
heat--Lady Hester goes to reside at Meshmûshy--Costume of
the Drûzes--Maronite monastery--Camel’s flesh eaten--Bridge
of Geser Behannýn--Journey of the Author to Bteddyn--Sons of
the Emir Beshýr--Wedding at Abra--Moorish Conjuror--Return
of Giorgio--Vineyards--Wines--Dibs--Raisins--Olive
Harvest--Figs--Country between Abra and Meshmûshy.
From the end of March the plague had been reported to have shown itself
in Sayda: still, up to the middle of April, no sure information could
be obtained. At last, however, the number of deaths put the matter
beyond doubt, and the more prudent part of the inhabitants began to
prepare for shutting up their houses: and in the village of Abra,
the peasants consulted me on the propriety of forbidding any person
to go to Sayda under any pretext whatever.[104] The order was easy of
execution as far as regarded Sayda, but it was not so in respect to the
gardens. Many of the peasants bred silkworms by mulberry leaves brought
thence, which they fetched night and morning; and, as these poor
people calculated on the profits of their silk, as those of Kent do on
hop-picking, they conceived any risk preferable to such a loss.
On the 26th the repairs of the convent being concluded, Lady Hester
desired a cask of wine to be given away among the workmen and the
villagers. This was done at the door of my cottage, and both men and
women drank with such avidity that one woman fell drunk in the road,
and others were inebriated. A dance was performed by some of the young
men, accompanied by singing in dialogue, which was very amusing. A
group represents a party of Arabs, who, by a description of the charms
of a damsel of their tribe, invite a youth to take her for his bride.
In proportion as the youth’s imagination is warmed by their eulogy,
they increase their demands for her price: at last, they work upon him
so greatly, that, after having given his camel, mare, tent, and all he
is possessed of, piece by piece, he strips off every article of dress
from his person, and offers them also.[105]
On the 29th one of the peasants, named Constantine, who had been
present at this ceremony, died; and his death, which was immediately
attributed to plague, excited great consternation; as every body had
mixed in the crowd before my door where he was. No suspicion was
entertained even that he was ill, until the day of his death, when, of
his own accord, he expressed a wish to confess himself; and the curate
immediately afterwards gave notice that he was dying. The circumstances
of his death were remarkable. He was about sixty years old, and had
not, for many years, been to the hot bath; when, in an unlucky hour,
the fancy took him to go to one at Sayda, wherein, or at which time,
he caught the plague. It was not certainly known how many days he had
been ill, but it was generally supposed seven or eight: although every
body averred that he had been walking about, or at his accustomed
labour of ploughing, up to the day preceding his death. Even on the
morning of the day on which he died, he went with some other peasants
to Dayr Makhallas, on business with his landlord, the patriarch. He saw
the prelate, obtained his answer to his demands, and returned, as he
went, on foot. At two he took to his bed; about three said he wished to
confess; and at eight was a corpse. I afterwards witnessed some other
remarkable instances of the sturdy resistance which these mountaineers
made to sickness.
No sooner was the cause of the death of Constantine ascertained than
the peasants took the necessary steps for their security. Application
was made to Lady Hester for an order to turn the family of the
deceased, and those who were known to have been near him in his
illness, out of the village: which was immediately granted, and the
performance of it was fixed for the ensuing morning. I made use of
what arguments I could to persuade them of the necessity of burying
the corpse; but nobody was found willing to carry it to the grave. At
length, filial duty and the ties of kindred induced his son and a young
man betrothed to his daughter to perform this last office for him:
and, about nine o’clock at night, without any of the customary funeral
ceremonies, the body was borne to the churchyard, on an opposite hill
a quarter of a mile off, and thrown into a cave. The next morning at
daylight the family retired from their cottages to a valley under the
village, where was a spring of water and a grotto in the rock, which
afforded them a tolerable habitation and a cover from the sun.
It is not to be imagined that, in Syria, in the month of May, there is
any hardship in being compelled to live in the fields. A fine climate
renders the shade of a tree more agreeable than the most commodious
apartment. The natives, indeed, profess that they would often reside
from choice in the fields, were it not that the security of their
persons and property against robbery, as well as against soldiers,
obliges them to live within doors.
In a day or two the consternation and prudence of the peasants
subsided, so that they again resorted to the gardens as before. But on
Sunday, May the 8th, their terror was renewed by the certainty that
four of Constantine’s family had fallen ill at once, nine days from his
death. This marked interval between infection and the manifestation
of the disease will show that, such persons as magnify the powers of
contagion by statements that the plague can communicate and declare
itself within twenty-four hours, nay, within one hour, are probably
deceived; for, in this case and some others which I observed, an
interval of eight, eleven, or more days, elapsed. Thus it was, that, on
the 4th of May, a man died of the plague at the village of Salhyah, one
mile from Abra: and, a fortnight after, his father, mother, and sister,
were attacked and died in three days.
The next day three children in the village were found to be infected;
and, on the 10th, Constantine’s son, a youth of twenty, who was taken
ill on the 8th, died. The children were immediately expelled from the
village, and betook themselves to the same place as the others, now a
sort of lazaretto. On the 11th, six more fell ill. The panic became
general. Each family in the village packed up bed and baggage, and
fled to the neighbouring fields, where, constructing huts of stakes,
canes, and leafy boughs, sufficient for themselves and their silkworms,
which they took with them, they mutually avoided each other. I and my
servants, with four families besides, alone remained. Giovanni was so
alarmed, that, had he known where to seek refuge, he would have left me
also.
During this time everybody in the Convent was in good health: so that,
when the cases of infection multiplied in the village, Lady Hester
became frightened, and thought it better, surrounded as I had been
with the infected, that I should converse with her in the outer court
of the convent, without entering any of the rooms: and during the
remainder of this plague I continued to do so. When at Latakia, she
had purchased some bezoar and serpent stones, in which Orientals have
great faith; and she was now desirous of trying their efficacy on those
infected with the plague. The results were, as might be expected, not
satisfactory. She next went in person to the spot where Constantine’s
family was, and gave them Dr. James’s powders to take, and money to buy
themselves provisions; but her humanity and courage could not save them.
From the 11th to the 17th persons were daily taken ill, and deaths
daily happened; so that, from the 8th to the 17th, I reckoned thirty
cases of infection and thirteen deaths. On the event of a death in a
village, it was customary before the plague for everybody to join the
funeral, and mourn and howl over the corpse; the women beating their
breasts, whilst the men loosened their shawls from their heads, and
used other tokens of despair. On such occasions, too, the peasants from
the neighbouring villages would assemble and join in the ceremony. The
corpse was carried on a bier, dressed; as coffins are not in use among
the Christians of Mount Lebanon. But when Nicôla, son of Constantine,
died, it was impossible to find any one to bury him; and men were sent
for from Sayda, who devoted themselves, for the sake of a trifling
gain, to almost certain destruction; since, for three piasters a head,
they came a distance of three miles, and carried a pestiferous corpse
to a charnel-house.
The burying-ground of Abra was near the church, on a hill facing the
village. The cries of his intended brother-in-law (who alone followed
him to the grave) were heard very distinctly in the stillness of
noon-day, the hour that he was carried to his last home. It was a
mournful scene, and the young man’s moans haunted me in my sleep for
some nights afterwards. Nor by day was my mind free from trouble
on my own account: for it will readily be conceived that, in cases
like the present, every one must labour under many apprehensions and
difficulties. The spring from which water was brought was half a mile
off; and, whilst my maid servant was gone to fetch it, for I durst not
employ any one else, I was in a state of constant apprehension lest
her imprudence should expose her to infection. Nor could I be sure,
when from home myself, that she or the man would not have communication
with dangerous persons. I durst not send out my linen, which, in
consequence, she was obliged to wash. On the 17th of May, Giovanni
was suddenly seized with vomiting and giddiness, both symptoms of
the plague. I immediately hired two men to build a hut in a retired
spot under some olive-trees, and sent for a Turk from Sayda to come
and nurse him: then, communicating to Lady Hester my apprehensions
that Giovanni had caught the infection, which from him would almost
certainly be caught by me, I returned to my cottage. My maid servant
fled, and I remained alone, with the agreeable reflection that I must
now cook and wash for myself; for I was become a dangerous person to
approach. I could not hire a Turkish servant for myself also; for a
Turk may have touched an infected person before coming to you, and,
when shut up, may be found himself to be infected. I fumigated my
cottage throughout, in which, too, I was somewhat unfortunate; for,
after the plague was over, a peasant woman laid claim to compensation
from me, because, she said, I had caused all her silkworms to die by
the smell of my drugs.
The weather, on the 1st of May, had set in with great heats, and the
14th and 20th were intolerably oppressive, augmenting, as it would
seem, the violence of the contagion; for the deaths and new cases of
infection continued to increase. In Sayda, likewise, the deaths now
amounted to ten a day. On the 21st, Giovanni’s indisposition having
turned out to be nothing but a bilious fever, and having yielded to the
remedies I had given him, I took him back again to my cottage, to his
and my own great satisfaction.
The difficulty of finding persons to bury the dead was greater than
ever. The same men, who before had risked their lives for three
piasters a head, now obtained nine, and a chicken besides, for burying
an interesting young girl, named Berjût, the daughter of a peasant,
whose beauty was of no common cast. Those of Constantine’s family who
continued to die were buried in holes close to the cave where they had
lived, and became a prey to the jackalls.
On the 17th, a villager named Shahûd buried his own son. He was a poor
peasant, whose only means of maintenance were derived from an ass,
which he hired out to carry persons and burdens. Poor as he was, he
loved his boy beyond measure. The body of Constantine had been thrown
into a charnel pit, which was the common receptacle of the dead, where
corpses were heaped one on another; the entrance being merely blocked
up with a large stone and mud cement. When Shahûd reopened it, to place
his child there, the sight of the corpse of the man whose imprudence
had first brought the malady into the village so enraged him, that
he endeavoured to drag it out, that he might vent his rage upon it,
by leaving it to the jackalls: but it was too corrupt; and the limb
by which he seized it separated (as he told me) from the trunk, and
remained in his hand.
I now felt more comfortable, and renewed my visits, which, during
Giovanni’s illness, I had discontinued, to the infected around me. My
plan was each day at two o’clock to ride out on an ass. I approached
them within ten or twelve feet, and saw only those who could come out
of their tents or grottoes to me. The mode of cure (I mean theirs) was
confined to a bleeding, if they had strength enough to go down to Sayda
to a Turkish barber, who for twenty paras, or fourpence, immediately
opened a vein in the arm: but, if too weak for that, nothing was done.
For, although to many I gave pills, powders, and potions, and they
accepted them, I have reason to think they were seldom used. Plasters
on their swellings they would readily apply, and would show them, to
convince me they had done so; but I never was aware that this or any
other remedy changed much the event of the malady; nor did I find any
preventive of use but keeping out of its way.[106]
Besides the preceding instance of manly resistance to disease, I had
an opportunity of seeing another, as remarkable, in the case of a girl
nine years old. I went to her on the fourth day of her illness, and, as
she had many times when in health received paras from me in charity,
I called her to me from the hut in which she was, with her father,
mother, two brothers and sister, her mother and brother being as ill
as herself. She tottered out, and presented a most aggravated example
of affliction by the hand of the Almighty. She had a carbuncle, which
occupied the right corner of her mouth, another over the jugular vein,
and a third on her right instep, which made her hobble in her gait;
and, added to all this, she stood under a burning sun of perhaps 130°
Fahrenheit, parched with fever, whilst her head, she said, ran round,
her limbs failed her, and, as she expressed it, she wished to eat, but
could not. Her mother told me she had been delirious all the preceding
night; and the husband added that his wife was suffering herself from
two femoral swellings.
It will be recollected that, when the plague showed itself, the
peasants were busied in the feeding of silkworms preparatory to their
spinning; and that, when they were driven out of the village, they did
not, on that account, abandon their worms. The family of Constantine,
even in the midst of their calamities, made a hut near their cave, and
fed and nourished the worms as usual, from their own mulberry trees,
which were close by.[107]
Up to the first of June, there were every day fresh cases, after which
they suddenly ceased; and, with the exception of a few deaths of those
who had fallen ill in May, the daily reports were more consolatory.
Lady Hester’s fears were by this time somewhat abated, and I again
re-entered the convent, from which I had now been excluded since the
beginning of May.
If there were anything capable of relieving the irksomeness of such a
confinement as that which we now suffered, it was the lively interest
excited in us by the events which had recently occurred in Europe. On
the 12th of June, the news of Buonaparte’s exile to the island of Elba
reached the monastery, and extinguished, as it was then thought, the
prodigious splendour of his career. It was remarkable that the first
account of this decision of the belligerent sovereigns was communicated
to us, not from our consuls on the sea-coast, but from Dayr el Kamar,
through a priest of the country, who had received his information
from his correspondent at Rome; and there were many circumstances
which occurred, demonstrating that these Eastern countries maintained
a constant and sure correspondence with the western world, and were
early informed of the changes in it. The common people did not fail to
picture the downfall of a usurper in the colouring borrowed from their
own customs, and he was said to have been carried about Paris in an
iron cage, like Bajazet.
On the 14th of June, arrived in the port of Sayda H.M. sloop of war
the Kite, commanded by Captain T. Forster, who came up to the convent,
and had a long and private conversation with Lady Hester. He almost
immediately sailed again to the south, and on the 22nd returned.
It appeared afterwards that her ladyship had required the assistance
of a ship of war from Sir Robert Liston, to be enabled to ascertain
the state of the ruins of Ascalon, preparatory to certain excavations
proposed to be there made, by authority from the Porte, in search of
hidden treasures; and that Sir Robert Liston had despatched Captain
Forster with orders to act according to Lady Hester’s instructions.
When Captain Forster quitted Sayda the first time, he went thither,
reconnoitred the shore, and found it unfit for landing.
Although there was no wind, whilst moored behind the reef of rocks,
which forms the haven of Sayda, the sloop rolled her gunwales under
water. The presence of Captain Forster and the officers of the Kite was
a source of enjoyment scarcely to be conceived by those who have not,
like us, suffered for so long a period a total privation of the society
of their countrymen. After stopping a week, they left us. On the 20th
of June, a slight shock of an earthquake was felt.
On St. John’s day, the 24th of June, the Franks of Sayda opened their
houses, and no fresh cases of plague happened afterwards. From a list
of deaths, kept by M. Bertrand, to whom the whole population of the
place was known, it appeared that 360 persons had fallen victims to
it. How little are those reports, inserted in the European journals,
to be relied on, by which a city, like Cairo or Damascus, is made to
lose 2000 or 3000 a day; so that, in one month, in which the virulence
of the disease is at the highest, the total loss would amount to more
than the total population. It would be a fair average to reckon, in a
most severe plague, the proportion of deaths at one to one thousand
inhabitants per day. Thus, in Malta, the maximum was sixty a day: and
60,000 may be calculated as the population of La Valetta. So, for
Sayda, where the maximum was eleven a day, the same ratio would perhaps
hold just. In Abra, twenty persons died in forty days, and the number
of families being forty, with five persons belonging to each family,
gives a population of two hundred.
My servant had obtained permission to go to the shrine of St. Haneh,
(St. Joan) at the village of Kurka, on the 6th of July, to celebrate
the festival of that saint. A small church stood there to her honour,
on the side of a mountain, commanding a fine view of the wild and
romantic scenery through which the river Ewely runs. A crowd of people
annually assembles on this day from Sayda, and from the neighbouring
villages. They go, on the vigil of the saint’s day, and, mixing
together promiscuously, pass the night in the open air round the
walls of the chapel. Many cures are attributed to the leaves of an
oak tree, which overshadows the chapel, and to the water of a spring
which trickles from the rock beneath the altar within it. Setting aside
any supposed medicinal virtues in trees and stones, the place may no
doubt be very healthy. I rode to the spot, and saw a motley assemblage
of Christians. Two Mahometans were likewise there, induced, from the
reported miracles of the place, to try them in their own cases, being
sorely afflicted with chronic diseases. These pilgrimages to Christian
shrines by Mahometans are not unusual, and bring no scandal on the
pilgrim.
July the 9th, Lady Hester was seized with the prickly heat. This is a
miliary eruption, alternately disappearing and returning, which excites
the most intolerable itching. The heat oppressed her so much that I
thought it advisable to remove her to a cool situation on some elevated
part of the mountain. Pierre, who had been recalled since Captain
Forster’s arrival, had mentioned a house above Beyrout as extremely
commodious and airy; upon which he had been immediately despatched to
request it of the emir. The emir returned for answer that the house in
question was inhabited by a branch of his own family, whom he could not
turn out. Meshmûshy, a village upon a very high part of the mountain,
enjoying a fine air and excellent water, distant about five hours’
journey from the monastery, was then fixed on, and a second application
was made.
On the 20th of July, an answer arrived from the Emir Beshýr to Lady
Hester’s application for the house at Meshmûshy. He did not say
positively she could not have it: his expressions were equivocal
and shuffling; but, as she could not bear the least appearance of
opposition to her will, or a show of disrespect, she wrote back, in
very strong terms, that, “whether he gave her a house or not, she
should set off next day, and would pitch her tents on the mountain, if
she found nothing better.”
Accordingly, on the 25th, we set off: Lady Hester rode on an ass, which
the emir had given her some time before. In order to enjoy the fine
scenery of Mount Lebanon, the journey was divided into four days. The
first day, passing Salhyah, a clean village, we went no farther than
Ayn el Hager, a spring of water distant one league from the convent,
where the tents were fixed. The second day we reached Libâ, a village
of Christians and Metoualis, which is about three miles farther. Libâ
is a village of forty-four houses. The shaykh, or bailiff, was a Drûze
named Sumyn. The weather was so hot that I would not have my tent up,
and slept under some fig-trees upon a small carpet. A fat little man,
who was the curate, amused me much by his curiosity and talkativeness.
The third day brought us to Isfarýn, a hamlet celebrated for its
tobacco. The next morning, we passed Iktány, and on the 4th, encamped
at Bisra, close to Ayn Bisra,[108] a small spring of excellent water.
On the 28th, we ascended half way the steep mountain on which Meshmûshy
stands, and on the 29th, in the morning, arrived there.
The situation of Meshmûshy is commanding and romantic. The house was
small; it was, therefore, resolved to get rid of all unnecessary
servants. Lady Hester’s maid had been left behind at Mar Elias: Pierre
was dismissed: there remained only a mountain lass, who understood
nothing but Arabic; Um Risk, an old woman, who was in the same
predicament; and an out-door man, named Ayd. Ten weeks were passed in
this retirement; and Lady Hester several times said that she never had
been more comfortable since she left Malta than she was then.
[Illustration: MESHMÛSHY.]
Meshmûshy is a hamlet of twelve or fourteen families,[109] situate
nearly at the summit of a mountain, forming, as it were, the
promontory of a chain: so that, towards the valley of Bisra, it is
almost perpendicular, making a very difficult ascent. The air is good;
but fogs every evening were seen to hang on the summit and around us,
giving an excessive chilliness to the atmosphere. Dysenteries and
hooping-coughs were prevalent at our first coming.
I have endeavoured to give a representation of the costume of the
natives of this village, which will serve for that of all the Maronite
population.
Of the two figures, that on the left was the chief of the village of
Meshmûshy. His companion was a less considerable person; but still was
a sort of squire, as he kept a horse, which is the test of gentility
throughout Syria. Yellow shawls are very much worn by the Christians
of respectability. The blue striped close abah of the other figure is
affected chiefly by the Drûzes themselves, who use much simplicity in
their garment, and mostly dress alike. All such as are above the level
of labouring peasants carry khanjàrs, or daggers, in their girdles.
The long red skull cap (tarbûsh), seen pending from the head of the
right hand figure, was at this time peculiar to Syria, and more
especially to Mount Lebanon. In the towns and cities it is only
partially worn.
[Illustration: COSTUME OF THE DRÛZES.]
About five hundred yards from the hamlet, and on the same level, was
a large monastery of Maronite friars, called Dayr el Sayda, peopled
with seventy or eighty monks and lay brothers. As their rules never
allowed them to eat meat, their whole maintenance consisted of cheese,
milk, leben, (curds and whey), dibs, (grape-juice concentrated) and
vegetables. They were, for the most part, very ignorant; but there
were two who were ingenious as artificers,[110] and two or three
who passed among them for scholars; their scholarship consisting in
being able to read Syriac, (in which the service of their church is
performed) in Syriac characters; whilst the greatest number read
Syriac in Arabic characters, into which it is transferred for the use
of the uninformed. These two friars spoke a little Syriac likewise.
They had a painter among them, who would not have ranked higher than
a dauber in any other country. Their chapel was considered as one of
the finest on the mountain. The building was of rough stones, found on
the spot: their cells had nothing superfluous in them, having only a
raised bench on one side, on which was a mattress, and upon it a wadded
coverlet; sheets being considered as unnecessary luxuries. The windows
had no casements nor shutters; and, when the elevation of the spot is
considered, and that snow falls frequently, they must have suffered
much from the cold. Women were not admitted within the monastery; but,
by an evasion of an easy nature, there was a small chapel, separated by
a wall, through which was a door from the monastery into it, where the
women heard mass, prayed, and confessed.
The Maronites are not found more to the south than Meshmûshy. Maronites
and their monasteries abound most in the northern districts of the
mountain. They distinguish themselves by the name of belledýah
(indigenous,) from those of Aleppo, who are called Aleppine Maronites.
The Maronites are of the order of St. Anthony, the Egyptian.
A great deal of tobacco was cultivated at Meshmûshy, and with great
success. This sort, when lighted, sparkles and hisses slightly, as
if impregnated with saltpetre, which salt, in fact, gave it that
property, and is derived from the goats’ dung, with which the ground is
manured.
There were many fine springs at Meshmûshy, the water of which was
delicious and cool; but not in sufficient quantity for the purposes of
irrigation.
On the very pinnacle of the mountain is a small level of an acre’s
breadth. Here was the tomb of Nebby Meshwah, covered with a small
cupola, which could be seen at a great many miles’ distance. This tomb
was held in reverence by Moslems and Drûzes. It was surrounded by old
oak trees, less large, however, than the English oak. Below Meshmûshy
was a Turkish village, called Benywaty. Some one of these villages kept
the sepulchre clean, and lighted a lamp in it every night.
One day, whilst standing at the gateway of the house, I observed
several peasants in succession pass by with pieces of meat, on wooden
skewers, in their hands. I asked them what meat it was, and they told
me camel’s flesh, upon which I bought a piece of about half a pound
from one of them, and ordered it to be dressed. The cook turned up her
nose, and expressed much wonder at my taste, by which I understood that
camels’ flesh was no dainty in her eyes; and, although many travellers
have affirmed that it is considered so in the Desert by the Bedouins,
yet I never saw any eaten there but once. The peasants whom I spoke
to were inhabitants of the village of Benywaty, and Mahometans. The
Christians pretended to hold the camels’ flesh as unclean; but whether
because their priests told them so, or because they love to do contrary
to what Mahometans practise, which is a common motive with them for
many of their actions, I could not learn.
Ayd, the man-servant, was dismissed, without his wages, on the 19th,
for refusing to go a journey on foot to fetch articles wanted for the
house. He betook himself to Dayr el Kamar, and complained to the emir;
upon which the dragoman, M. Beaudin, was summoned to Bteddýn, the
emir’s residence, to answer the charge, and I accompanied him. In the
afternoon of the 20th, we descended the north-east side of the mountain
into the valley of Bisra. The side of the mountain was covered with
aromatic herbs, especially lavender. Half way down, there is a small
river, which, rushing over a precipice at Gezýn, a village about one
mile to the right, in a cascade of a single sheet of water, tumbles
from rock to rock through a deep descending glen, until it reaches the
vale of Bisra, and joins the river Ewely. This glen is overtopped, to
the south, facing Meshmûshy, by a chain of lofty precipitous rocks,
upon which were seen the ruins of an old castle, rendered memorable
by the stout resistance which Fakhr ed Dyn,[111] emir of the Drûzes,
made in it to the forces of the sultan for the space of seven years.
At our feet was a small bridge crossing the torrent, and close to it
a water-mill, to grind the corn of the neighbouring villages. Leaving
this on the right hand, and below us, and, inclining to the left, we
descended into the vale, which we traversed.
About one mile from the foot of the mountain, we crossed a small stream
which sometimes becomes a torrent, on a single arched bridge, made in
steps, close to which, four granite pillars were still standing, the
remains of some ancient building. This bridge was called Geser Behannýn.
[Illustration: GESER BEHANNÝN.]
Close below the bridge, the stream emptied itself into the river
Ewely, which we forded. The scenery hereabout is magnificent. This
spot answers to the situation assigned by Abulfeda to a city, called
Mashgara; but the inhabitants have a tradition that these pillars are
the remains of the edifice which Sampson pulled down on the heads of
the Philistines.
We mounted against the course of the stream for about an hour; and
then, turning short to the left, ascended a path cut in a rock almost
perpendicular, which was the steepest road I had ever seen for
four-footed animals. On the top, we found ourselves on a spacious and
almost level ridge of the mountains; and, passing through some fine
olive plantations, we arrived at nightfall at the village of Muzrât
el Shûf, whose inhabitants are Drûzes and Christians. We repaired to
the centre of the village, where was a square plot of ground shaded
by a noble tree, under whose branches was a stone platform, where we
spread our carpets, having tied up our asses close to us. We had some
difficulty in getting a little bread and treacle, with a small dish of
eggs fried in oil, for supper; after which we slept under the tree.
On the following morning we pursued our journey, and for an hour or two
travelled over a most stony soil upon a tolerably level path, until we
reached Bteddýn, the emir’s residence. He was from home, being gone
to superintend the construction of an aqueduct to bring water from a
distance of several miles, to his palace: for the Orientals think no
house or place enviable that has not running water in it, or near it.
We tied up our asses, and spread our carpets under some olive trees,
and then presented ourselves at the door, saying who we were. Orders
were immediately given for providing us with a room in the palace,
and we were conducted to the emir’s sons, Khalyl and Emyn Casem, who
received us with much politeness. The elder had on a quilted robe like
a bedgown; the younger a white ermine pelisse covered with white satin.
No Englishman appeared at this place, without being questioned on the
health of Sir Sydney Smith, and they asked if Mr. B., whom they had
seen in our former journey, was royally born.
M. Beaudin went to seek the emir, and I remained and breakfasted with
Selûm, the chief katib of the emir, reputed to be a very shrewd old
man, but fat and bloated, and looking like a glutton; and, indeed,
he ate and drank like one. With him was a priest, named Abûna Shâby,
exercising the profession of physician, and now in attendance on the
emir, by whom he was said to be pensioned. As usual with such persons,
they questioned me on many strange things, but generally with some
object in view, either for their own or for their employer’s purposes.
As M. Beaudin did not come back when I expected him, at 11 o’clock
I mounted my ass to return home alone. I lost my way, and, but for
the civility of a Drûze gentleman, who found me wandering among the
mountains, and who set me right, himself conducting me for a whole
league, I might have been exposed to danger; although I began now to
look upon travelling in these countries as perfectly secure, and to see
no reason to doubt my safety in Mahometan lands any more than I did in
Christendom.
I passed the village of Ayn Bàt, consisting of Drûzes and Christians;
and, proceeding down a deep valley, through which was the bed of a
torrent now dry, I arrived at the village of Guffûra (or some such
name) then at Zahûr, where I descended into the vale of Bisra by a
steep path, and came to a hamlet called Mûsa kellem allah. I crossed
the river, ascended the opposite mountain: and, after seven hours’
riding, reached Meshmûshy. M. Beaudin returned the following day, and
Ayd was sent by the emir to beg her ladyship’s pardon.
The 26th of August, I rode down to Abra. It happened that, on the
28th, three weddings were to be celebrated in the village, and I took
the opportunity of being present at them. The parties were peasants.
The weddings lasted two days. On the first evening the bridegrooms,
dressed in their best clothes, with daggers in their girdles, and with
other marks of finery, which native Christian peasants are commonly
forbidden to wear, seated themselves on the bare ground, in an open
place in the middle of the village. The villagers were assembled around
them. Each, as he entered the circle, saluted the bridegrooms, and
invoked a blessing upon them; whilst they rose up and returned the
compliment. With this exception, they were obliged to remain quiet,
preserving a very sober and grave demeanour. The party smoked their
pipes, each person from his own tobacco-bag. A pipe and tabor, with a
long drum, kept up incessantly a noisy music, discordant to me, but
very pleasing to the people of the country. In the middle of the ring,
those who chose stood up, one by one, and danced a slow dance. A few of
the young men danced in couples, with swords in their hands, and acted
a sham combat. To these succeeded hired dancers, the buffooneries of a
Jack-pudding, a man dressed in woman’s clothes, and some other mummery.
These diversions were kept up until a late hour.
In the mean time, the brides, each in her separate cottage, were seated
on a mat or carpet, closely veiled, and preserving unbroken silence. As
a doctor, I was permitted to enter the rooms where they were. I found
the first, a girl of twelve or thirteen, in a long white veil, with a
crowd of women round her. To gratify me, as a stranger, they bade her
show herself a little. She was dressed in a silk kombáz or gown. Round
her arms and legs she had bracelets; gold ornaments encircled her neck;
and pieces of tinsel were stuck on her dress here and there. Her look
was downcast, and she was not permitted to utter more than a single
salutation, almost in a whisper. I found the other eating her supper:
both looked very like the women that go about with morris-dancers
or chimney-sweepers, on May-day. Although I knew the girl by sight
extremely well, yet now she was obliged to use the same reserve as if
she had never set eyes on me. The women also had a pipe and tabor, and
dancing boys, with castanets, to amuse them.
Thus the first evening passed. On the second day the ceremony of
visiting continued. In the evening, the parties went to church. The
priest performed the marriage ceremony, which I did not see. They then
were led, bride and bridegroom, in procession to their houses. Here it
was optional whether they would retire and consummate the marriage, or
join the company, where music and dancing still went on as before, with
the firing of small arms; for the lower classes in Turkey never feel
their joy complete, unless a great deal of powder is wasted. As one of
the bridegrooms, who was to marry the maid of fifteen, was himself not
thirteen, he seemed disposed to enjoy the music a little longer. He was
the son of that Constantine who died of the plague. His brother, twenty
years old, had been betrothed to Mariam, the bride; but, he dying, it
devolved on the next brother, according to the usage of the mountain,
to espouse her. Hence the disparity of years on the wrong side.[112]
The other bridegroom was a fine young man, and retired immediately.
When the evening was far advanced, the drummer went round to collect
his presents. Each person dealt out small money piece by piece, naming
to each piece, as he gave it, a toast. The drummer then bawled out the
toast, with the name of him who proposed it, and the number of paras he
had received for it, and an eulogium on the person in honour of whose
name the gift was made. During the whole of the ceremony, the loo loo
of the women was incessant.
Persons before marriage are affianced, and this ceremony precedes the
wedding sometimes a year, sometimes several, more or less. Thus, I was
once present, when Rufka bint Yusef Kobryn was affianced to Michael,
the mason of Medjdelëûn; and it was done in the following way. The
curate of the village came to Rufka’s father’s house at sunset, and
Rufka was desired to go out to one of her neighbour’s. The young mason
came with his friends, and the curate said a prayer over him. He gave
to the father, as a present for Rufka, two handkerchiefs, a pair of red
shoes, one white veil of English muslin, nine rubbias, (about £1) all
which was to be forfeited if he refused afterwards to marry her. Brandy
was then introduced; pipes were lighted; singing took place; and all
the party vociferated, in set phrases in rhyme, long life and happiness
to the future bride and bridegroom.
Generally the bridegroom’s friends go to fetch the bride on a mare in
fantastic housings. When she enters the village of the bridegroom, he
receives her with a gentle tap on the head with his pipe, his hand, or
something, whilst she bows submissively in token of future obedience
to his will. At a second marriage, which I witnessed at Salhiyah, one
mile from the Convent, the young men, his companions, conducted the
bridegroom on horseback to the village of the bride, they being on
foot, singing in turns with the women who followed in the rear. The
song of the men was more like hallooing than music. The women always
finished with a loo loo.
This son of Constantine, of whose marriage we have just been speaking,
supposed that his father had concealed a considerable sum of money
somewhere in or about his cottage: and, in conjunction with his
sisters, he hired a Moor from Sayda to show the spot. I have already
said how great the reputation of the Moors, or men of the West
(Mogrebyns) is, as fortune-tellers, discoverers of stolen goods, and
conjurors. The Moor, when brought to the cottage, read certain forms
of charms, during which, the bystanders, two women, the lad, and three
other peasants, relations of the deceased, fancied they heard the
voices of spirits under ground. The Moor pretended to address them in
these words--“Show me the treasure--show me the treasure.” “We will,”
answered the spirits; “but first fumigate us.” The Moor then pretended
that spirits would not be contented with common incense, and demanded
three _metcals_ of ambergris, or money to buy it. Ambergris is
nearly a crown a metcal. The poor peasants declared they had not so
much money in the world; the Moor said he could not go on with the
incantation without it, and went away with a few piasters he had first
obtained as earnest money.
This man, as being at hand, was employed by the côoly or bailiff of the
village, one Nassr Allah, to find a purse of money which he had lost.
The Moor promised to do it, if Nassr Allah would give him forty paras.
“So I will,” said Nassr Allah, “if you will first tell me what sum was
in the purse lost.” The Moor would not venture upon this, happening
to have no clue. The parties, therefore, were at issue; and here the
matter ended.
When this anecdote was related to me, I was led to inquire what the
nature of inheritance was in the village. I was told that Constantine’s
son would take equal to the two daughters; and, if there had been no
surviving son, then the male first cousin or cousins take equal to the
two daughters. This law of inheritance is founded on the maxim that
females pay no miri.
Giorgio, the young Greek who was hired at Constantinople, had departed,
it will be recollected, with Mr. B., from Latakia, in November of last
year, and had obtained permission before returning, to go to his native
place, the island of Syra, to see his friends. He returned the 25th
of September. At Constantinople, he had purchased several curious
articles of dress for Lady Hester. And indeed the monastery, by little
and little, became almost too small to contain her collection of
costumes, in which were many things whereof any one, opportunely worn
in England by a lady of fashion, would have created both admiration and
jealousy among the fair sex.
Her ladyship now began collecting fresh people about her, intending to
make a journey to the ruins of Heliopolis, or, as it is called, Bâlbec.
Pierre had sent for a young woman from Acre, whom he recommended as a
useful servant. Her name was Werdy (Rose.)[113]
There is an occupation unknown in England, but which employs a great
many persons in Syria, where no such things as letter-mails exist: it
is that of foot-messenger to carry letters. These foot-messengers will,
for a stated sum, half generally paid in advance, and half on their
return with an answer, go to any distance. They travel with a good
thick stick, light trowsers and a jacket, bare-legged, and sometimes
without shoes. Their food on the road is often bread and water only,
sometimes with the addition of fruit, if in season, or of leben, if to
be had. They thus escape being plundered by carrying nothing to excite
cupidity; for a simple letter is not an object to tempt robbers.
I have said above that the village of Meshmûshy was surrounded with
vineyards. The grapes ripened under our eye, and we could eat to
satiety: so could the meanest peasant; and in this respect it must
be allowed that the lot of the poor in hot climates is preferable to
that of the like class of people in cold ones. I counted no fewer than
twenty-one sorts of grapes.
The vineyards at Meshmûshy, and elsewhere on the mountain, were planted
in rows; and the inequality of the ground, from the preference that
was always given to the sides of the hills, rendered it necessary to
support the soil at the foot of each row by a stone wall; and thus a
vineyard became a succession of steps or terraces, rising one above
another. The vines were planted among the stones of the walls, which
were not cemented.[114] They were carefully manured and pruned every
year.
Great quantities of wine were annually made at the monastery of
Meshmûshy by the monks; and, as the vintage happened this year whilst
we were there, I had an opportunity of being present at it. They
exposed the grapes, principally white ones, and for the most part of
a small white sort called _muksaysy_, seven or eight days to the
sun, with the stalks of the bunches turned upwards; as, the more the
stalks are dried, the better is the juice. At the end of eight days
they squeezed out the juice, by the naked feet, in a basket, through
the bottom of which it ran, or sometimes on a stone pavement on an
inclined plane, into a receiver, which is either a pan, or oftentimes
a hole sunk in the pavement. Those, who wished to have a dry wine, put
the juice, thus expressed, into large earthenware jars, which hold from
9 to 18 gallons or more, where it remained to ferment. At the end of
forty days the mouth of the jar was covered with a board fitted to it,
which was carefully luted round the edges. When wanted for drinking,
which is generally within the year, or, at the most, within two years,
the luting is broken, the lid taken off, and a portion every day laded
out for use.[115] Those who are desirous of having a sweet wine, put
the juice on the fire in a cauldron, and heat it short of boiling,
until a scum forms on the surface, which they take off. They then put
it in the same kind of jars for fermentation.
It was impossible, on seeing wine made, not to be shocked at the
dirtiness of the process, particularly in what regards the feet of the
persons who tread it, generally peasants. Were it done by Mahometans,
even of the lowest class, there would be nothing offensive in it;
because they use so many ablutions, that they are as clean in their
feet as their hands. But the Christians of the East partake with the
poor of European countries in the filth of their lower extremities.
This was indeed a busy season of the year for the mountaineers. At
the same time with the wine was made likewise _dibs_, called in
French raisiné, which in taste and appearance resembled treacle, and
formed an important article of food throughout Syria, more especially
among the middle and lower classes. On a pavement, either of stone or
hewn out of the rock, and on an inclined plane, surrounded by a ledge
about a foot high, vast heaps of grapes are thrown. These are trodden
by men with their naked feet, and the juice runs off through one or
more scupper-holes, perforated in the ledge, into pits or cisterns.
These pits are square, four or five feet deep, and plastered on the
inside so as not to leak. The husks of the grapes, thus trodden, are
afterwards submitted to a second operation. They are raked together
in a heap, and, being covered with a broad stone, a rude press is
contrived by means of a large trunk of a tree, one end of which is
thrust into a hole in the wall (raised for this purpose at the back of
the pavement), whilst to the other is fastened a heavy block of stone:
and the trunk or beam, being let down on the broad flag-stone, acts as
a powerful lever. The pressure, continued thus for some time, forces
out what juice remains; and the process is completed by one or two
washings, which they give to the husks, by means of water poured upon
them.[116] The juice, first being allowed to settle, is laded from the
pits into a large copper cauldron, placed over a furnace. It is there
boiled very quickly; and the scum, which rises abundantly, is taken off
by a man whose business this is, whilst the watery parts of the juice
are carried off in vapour. In a few hours the whole assumes a brownish
yellow colour, and, after a farther continuance of the boiling, becomes
of the consistence of oil or liquid honey, when it is put into the
receiver, where it cools, and is carried off to the houses in jars.
To these operations succeeded another, less laborious, which was the
curing of raisins. Such grapes as were considered most fit for the
purpose were gathered when quite ripe: these were the _muksaysy_
for the small yellow raisins, and the _cury_ for the black raisin.
A spot of ground was swept clean, and the grapes were spread out in the
sun, but were dipped previously in a mixture of ley with a little soap
and oil. On the second, third, and fourth days of exposure, they were
sprinkled (by means of a rod made of the herb _tyûn_) with the
same ley, but not soaked. After this they were suffered to lie night
and day until the drying was completed. This was the manner generally
practised on Mount Lebanon, and was performed by the wives of the
peasants; whilst the men made the wine dibs.
In the first days of November comes on the olive harvest. The first
part of the harvest consisted in collecting the windfalls. From these
olives an inferior oil was pressed. Then a second crop was beaten
down[117] from the trees with long sticks, and carried to the mills.
It was a pleasing sight, early in the morning, to see a whole village
deserted: men, women, and children, hastening with their asses and
baskets of provisions to pass the day in their olive grounds; although
the year was far advanced, and the weather, especially in elevated
situations like Meshmûshy, by no means warm.
With respect to olive grounds, some have trees of their own: others
hire, at a given sum, so many trees, and take their chance in the
harvest. That oil is best which is made by the process of boiling
the olives, when the oil separates and floats on the surface, and is
skimmed off by the hands.
The oil was pressed out in the following manner. The olives, collected
as we have above described, were thrown into a cylindrical hole, called
the tanûr, where the olives were completely smashed; certain iron
crosses were turned round rapidly by means of a waterwheel, whilst a
man, seated by the tanûr, with his hand dexterously introduced between
two arms of the cross, was continually employed in drawing out the
pounded olives. So prepared, this paste was put into the hollow of a
straw bowl, roughly braided into shape, until fifteen or twenty bowls
were filled. There was prepared a trunk of a tree (for the whole
apparatus is rough,) hollowed out like a tube, whose bore was exactly
the size of the straw bowls, but whose circumference was incomplete,
so much being left as was necessary for a lever to pass up and down.
One end of the lever had a piston, whilst the other was fixed, and
to the intermediate part a vast stone was suspended. The piston end
being unpinned, and let down on the pile of straw bowls, these were
compressed, and the oil oozing out, was received into the cistern
below. Thus, in twenty-four hours, a hundred weight of oil may be
obtained.
Nor did the fig harvest cause less bustle. Figs were gathered in the
morning, and laid to dry in the sun on stalks of _shumar_ and _fekua_,
plants like tansy. Each parcel required to be exposed five or six
days, and was then heaped into the general lump on the terrace, on the
house-top, where they were accumulated until the whole crop had been
dried. The women then boiled _zata_ (pennyroyal), _shûmar_ (tansy), and
_gaut_ or _gat_, and dipped the figs in the decoction, after which they
were again exposed to the sun; and, when dry, were put into jars of
sunburnt clay, where they were kept for use.
In some journeys, which I made backward and forward from Meshmûshy to
Abra, I had an opportunity of observing more attentively the valleys
through which I passed, and the soil of the country. From Abra to
Salhiah the road is level, the soil white and unproductive. Salhiah had
fifty houses, and a parish priest, who is also a weaver. Three steep
hills bring you to Ayn el Hager, opposite to which is the village of
Keffergerra, upon a hill. After a level of a mile you reach Libbâ, when
the road descends with considerable steepness into a valley, where is
a trickling rivulet, and a fountain with a basin for cattle to drink
out of. By a very steep ascent you come to Kefferfelûs, a village of
twenty-five houses, standing in the midst of a grove of olive and
fig-trees. From the left of the road you look down into a deep valley,
descending into which the colour of the soil changes from white to
red. Ascending through a low wood, by a path peculiarly difficult, you
come to Isfaryn, a hamlet of thirty houses without water. Here much
tobacco is grown, of a very superior quality, and greatly sought after
at Acre, Sayda, and Beyrout.
The road winds round to the left, through a wood of arbutus,
turpentine-trees, shumac, stunted oaks, &c., when, on a sudden,
it comes directly on the edge of a precipice, down which, to a
considerable depth beneath, you look on the river Ewely, here rushing
over a rocky bed in noisy and foaming cascades. Across the valley, on
the opposite mountain, are seen, in addition to the natural scenery,
the three large white convents, Dayr Mkhallas, Dayr el Benát, and Dayr
Saida, distant a mile or two from each other. Of Dayr Mkhallas some
mention has been made. Dayr el Benát is a convent for women, of which
there are two more on Mount Lebanon. The nuns are generally taken from
the lowest classes. They lead a laborious life, and, when not busied in
their sacred duties, are employed in spinning, weaving, trimming vines,
and the most menial occupations.
The road takes a direction, on a descent, to a level with the river.
Half way down is Iktály, a hamlet perched on a projecting rock. To the
left of it is Musrat el Tahûn, also a hamlet. Here, upon three or four
different occasions tempted by the beauty of the view, we pitched our
tents, until it was discovered that the miller, who owned the spot, had
made a clandestine use of Lady Hester’s name to obtain favours from
the Pasha of Acre, when she abandoned him. The rocks hereabout, which
are black and bare, look as if they had just emerged from the deluge.
The scenery, which succeeds to Musrat el Tahûn, is beautiful, when,
quitting the mountain, you traverse the vale of Bisra. The village
on the side of the vale is a striking feature in it, being built in
ascending terraces, which diminish as they rise, and are crowned by a
church. About half way through the vale there is a path by which the
mountain whereon Meshmûshy stands is to be ascended. Few places, which
are at all accessible to beasts of burden, can be more rugged and steep
than this. About half-way up begins a forest of firs, which bear cones
or apples, from which excellent kernels are extracted, and much used in
pastry and confectionary. They are called, in Arabic, _snobar_.
For the first quarter of an hour the appearance of the mountain is so
wild that one scarcely believes it possible to find habitations higher
up. You are however agreeably undeceived, when, quitting the forest
of firs, you come upon a small hamlet beset with vineyards, tobacco
fields, fig and walnut-trees. You now see above you the monastery with
its steeple, and your ears perhaps are saluted with the tolling of a
bell, always a pleasing sound among rocks and woods. One quarter of an
hour more brings you to a second flat, where stands the monastery: and
some friars were generally seen basking in the sun, and, for a moment,
forgetting their listless habits to stare at the passing traveller,
whose business they often unceremoniously inquired into, as necessarily
connected with nobody but themselves in this retired spot. A level path
through highly cultivated mulberry grounds, and occasionally under
large shady walnut-trees, leads to the hamlet of Meshmûshy; where,
close by the fountain, stood the house we lived in, so deeply shaded
by plane and walnut-trees that the weary pedlar or tired peasant was
invited to rest his limbs and to drink of the refreshing stream.
END OF VOL. II.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Abulfeda’s description of it runs thus:--“The river, which flows to
Damascus, takes its rise beneath a Christian church, called El Faÿgeh,
and becomes at once a rivulet, which is increased in its course by many
other small springs. It then unites with a stream, called the Barada,
and forms one river, which, at its entrance into the plain of Damascus,
divides itself into six or seven branches running to the different
quarters of the town.” At this division there is a cascade, and an
inscription on the rock in Cufic characters, which Mr. Burckhardt told
me he had copied.
[2] These walls were known to the ancients, and called parietes
formacei. The same composition is still used at and near Lyons in
France, and called pisé: as also in Cornwall.
[3] The late Lord Guildford.
[4] How different from the opinion Lady Hester Stanhope afterwards
formed of him, when she knew him better!
[5] The fanaticism of the people of Damascus surpasses that of the
inhabitants of Egypt, since a European cannot, without danger, show
himself in the streets in the dress of his country, but is obliged
to assume the costume of the East. A Christian or Jew cannot ride on
horseback in the town: they are not permitted even to have an ass to
ride upon.--_Ali Bey’s Travels_, vol. ii., p. 273.
[6] This warning is generally made by the word _testûr_, which is
bawled out by a eunuch who precedes you as you enter the harým.
[7] She was without colour on her cheeks, and it would seem that rosy
cheeks do not form part of Eastern beauty. Lady Hester used often to
repeat a compliment which was paid to her own pale looks in Egypt.
“My white face,” she would say, “in this country pleases the people
amazingly, and the Turks consider the red faces of the English women
odious. Witness the story told of those who were left behind by the
English army after the expedition to Egypt in 1805, and were taken by
the Turks. Their new masters washed them and washed them, hoping to get
the brick-dust out of their cheeks; and, when they found it impossible,
they sent them about their business. Black women, the Turks said, they
knew and liked, and white ones; but red women they never heard of till
then.”
[8] In the plague of 1814, the bey’s wife and twenty of his household
died. Suliman Bey had the plague, but got over it. About a year
afterwards, he fell from the terrace of the house and was killed. Ahmed
Bey never recovered his spirits after these accumulated misfortunes.
[9] To this custom of looking out of one eye allusion is made in
Solomon’s Song, c. iv., v. 9. “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister,
my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes.”
[10] Fathah, the opening chapter of the Koran.
[11] Dr. John Fiott Lee, F.R.S., of Hartwell House.
[12] Sir David Dundas.
[13] A term always used wherever the source of a rivulet is.
[14] Abulfeda speaks of Carah in the following terms:--“Among the noted
places is Carah. It is a large village between Damascus and Hems,
and serves as a station for caravans. Most of the inhabitants are
Christians.”
[15] Ali Bey says the mean breadth is fifty feet (vid. p. 209, vol. ii.)
[16] Abulfeda quotes Ebn Hokal, who says that “Hems is placed in a
most fertile plain, and that it is more healthy than any part of the
district of Damascus: he adds that neither serpents nor scorpions are
found there.... Not quite a mile from the town runs the river Maklûb,
or Oront, and upon its banks are orchards and vineyards.”
[17] “The lake Cades is from north to south almost the third part of a
day’s journey: and its breadth is that of the mound, which was built,
to the north, (as is reported) by Alexander, and which is 1287 cubits
long, and 18 in thickness. Were this mound destroyed, the lake would
cease to be. There are fish in the lake.”--(Abulfeda, p. 157.) Ebn Abd
el Hak gives a breadth of four miles.
[18] Abulfeda says 965 yards, or more than half a mile long.
[19] Ali Bey, (p. 275) speaking of the neighbourhood of Damascus, says,
“The labourers or villagers in general are in easy circumstances ...
if, under these burthens, this class of people are rich, what would
they be under a just and liberal government?”
[20] Of the dishes was one for which, whilst in Syria, I always
retained a great liking. It is sour milk curdled, called leben, into
which cucumber is cut, with grated mint leaves sprinkled on the surface.
[21] Mention is made of this lady in the Memoirs of Buonaparte,
published by Las Cases, vol. 3, part v., p. 148.
“The Emperor said that he renewed at Turin, in the person of Madame
de Lascaris, the gracious gallantry exercised at Troyes; and that,
in both instances, he had reason to be gratified with the fruits of
his liberality. The two families gave every proof of attachment and
gratitude.”
[22] For farther information respecting this extraordinary man, the
reader is referred to the “Souvenirs de l’Orient,” of M. de Lamartine.
What Lady Hester first thought of him may be gathered from an extract
of a letter she wrote to a friend.
“I have met with an extraordinary character here, Monsieur Lascaris de
Vintimille. He is certainly flighty, but has considerable talents, and
a perfect knowledge of the Arabic language; he is extremely poor, and
very active. Should he fall into the hands of the French, we might in
future have reason to repent it; at present he is quite English, and it
might be worth while to keep him so. In the _Chancellerie de l’ordre
de Malte_, and likewise in the hands of l’avocat Torrigiani, are all
the papers which refer to his family and to his _humble claims_,
which are merely a little pension that he may have bread to eat--he
does not look to more. Now you are settling the affairs of this kind,
it might be worth while to consider and represent this subject to
government, as it would ensure them an agent in parts where few persons
could live--I mean upon the borders of the desert; and I can assure
you, this in future would be of great importance; for the Arabs are now
so strong, as hardly to be managed by the pashas; besides, it would be
a great act of humanity to a once great man. The French are sending
agents in all directions (at an immense expense) into the desert, and
why do not we do the same?”
[23] A mustaby is a piece of solid masonry, about as high as, and twice
the breadth of, a bench, built generally at the street-doors of houses
for men to sit on and smoke, or wait, or sleep.
[24] So the tribes of the Bedouins are collectively called which range
the desert in the rear of the midland part of Syria, leading to Palmyra.
[25] It may be worth mentioning that a servant, whom I employed for a
few days at Damascus, was a poet, and had written many verses, some of
which Shaykh Ibrahim (Mr. Burckhardt) bought as specimens of modern
Arabic poetry. There are no Mecænases at Damascus, or it may be he was
no Horace, for he was in great poverty.
[26] This tribe is spoken of in Niebuhr’s travels, as pasturing in his
time on the shores of the Persian Gulph at Sehat el Arab; unless there
are more tribes than one of the same name.
[27] It is to be observed that this journal is given as written
from day to day, with recent impressions upon me; but, as I became
acquainted, with the country and the people, many of these impressions
on maturer reflection were considered as erroneous. I ought likewise to
observe, that I have considerable doubt of the accuracy of the names
of places in this journey to Palmyra, because I wrote them down by the
sound, and had no one to give them to me in writing, a method I always
pursued, for the sake of correctness, wherever it was possible.
[28] M. Lascaris thought they had been Roman camps; but that these
tels had once fortresses upon them may be collected from a passage in
Abulfeda, (Tab. Syr. p. 24) who, speaking of Tel Basher near Aleppo,
styles it “The fortress Tel Basher.”
[29] I extract a description of Nasar and his father from the Travels
(I think, for I have lost the reference,) of Captains Mangles and Irby.
“Mahannah, his father, was a short, crooked-backed, mean-looking, old
man, between 70 and 80 years of age, dressed in a common sort of robe:
his son, Narsah, (Nasar) to whom he had in consequence of his age
resigned the reins of government, was a good-looking man about 30 years
of age, with very dignified and engaging manners.”--P. 261.
[30] Subsequently, the Wahabees, having been defeated by the son of the
Pasha of Egypt, were compelled to quit the holy cities of Mecca and
Medina, and the pilgrimage was again performed. The camels that were
furnished by the Bedouins were as follow, according to a memorandum I
took from the mouth of one of Mahannah’s people at the close of our
journey:--Nasar’s tribe, 1,000; Dookhy Weled Aaly, 1,000; El Hawáreh,
2,500; Ismaar Shaykh Gerud, 400: Tuláa, Chief of Suchay, 1050; Regeb,
Selim, and Abas, shaykhs of the villages of Caryetayn and Hems, a
proportionate quota.
[31] These bludgeons are what an Irishman would term a shilalee, with a
round knob at the end: they are called Nabût.
[32] I was on one occasion witness, whilst in the Desert, to the
setting of the leg of a sheep, which had been accidentally broken.
This was effected by means of two splints of rough wood. To save
the animal from injury in walking, a network, consisting of ropes
passed lozenge-fashion, as is sometimes seen on jars in England, was
contrived, so as to go round the sheep’s body, and the sheep was then
slung on one side of a camel, where it was carried in a state of great
suffering. Whether it recovered or not I could not learn.
[33] It is affirmed by many travellers that the Bedouins travel by
the stars by night, and they are all made out to be astronomers; but,
by night, they can obtain a general notion of their direction, as any
common person will do in any country, and by day they rely on landmarks
only. They know the use of the compass, and were only surprised at the
one I showed them, in our second journey, on account of its smallness,
being one of those which are of the size of a crown piece.
[34] This observation is not to be taken in its full extent as far as
regards places on mountains; for there the sudden chill of the air,
after the sun’s rays are withdrawn, condenses the moisture elevated
from the plains, and as suddenly checks the perspiration. Hence it
has happened to me, in Syria, to find intermittents prevalent in very
elevated spots, where not even a pool or a level spot was to be found
for leagues around; arising (certainly not from marsh miasmata, but)
from the sudden effect of cold on open pores, which, after all, is
probably the cause of intermittent fevers in marshy situations, owing
to the damp cold which they generate, rather than to any specific
quality in decayed vegetable matter.
[35] Rings of silver, worn just above the ancle in the manner that
bracelets are worn above the wrist. The bracelets and jamblets are
generally one solid ring, not tight, but moveable up and down. They are
passed on the arm or legs, generally in youth, by soaping the extremity
of the limbs, and by repeatedly rubbing them upwards until the rings
slide over, where they remain until death or until they are filed off;
for they scarcely can be removed in any other way.
[36] I learned here the composition of an excellent sweet sauce for
hare, which was made by pounding stoned raisins in a mortar and boiling
or stewing them in chopped onions and butter, putting in the raisins
when the butter and onions are first stewed. It is then kept over
the fire for a few minutes, and is scarcely to be distinguished from
currant jelly.
[37] This Fathallah afterwards assumed the quality of a dragoman, and,
from a MS. furnished by him, M. de Lamartine drew up his narrative of
M. Lascaris’s adventures.
[38] M. Lascaris remained but a very short time in Palmyra. After a
variety of reverses, he died of a fever in Egypt five or six years
afterwards.
[39] I have in vain made researches on different maps after some place
to which these ruins might belong. Mr. Burkhardt had told me that there
was a temple in ruins on Gebel el Abiad; but I was now far away from
that mountain.
[40] In the fourth chapter of Ruth--“Boaz said unto the reapers--The
Lord be with you: and they answered him the Lord bless you.” This is
exactly the salutation of the Christians to this day: Allah mâkûm:
Barak Allah. The salutation of the Mahometans is different: that
is Salám alëikûm, Peace be unto you--and the reply is Alëikûm el
salám--unto you be peace. The observance of this rule is so strict that
if, in entering a room where Mahometans alone are seated, a Christian
should presume to make use of the Mahometan salutation, they would not
reply to him. We may infer that, when Mahomet first established his
new religion, he endeavoured to draw a line between his proselytes
and the Jews and Christians. Thus their day of worship was neither
instituted on Saturday nor Sunday, but on Friday: so he appears to have
appropriated a mode of salutation to them. Circumcision he did not get
rid of, because he claimed to be a descendant of the patriarchs who had
instituted or adopted it.
[41] They are used for this purpose in some places even now. If the
reader happens to have in his library Dr. Clarke’s Travels in Syria, he
may amuse himself by reading the Doctor’s lucubrations on these holes,
which are (as much of his conjectural learning is) somewhat ridiculous;
yet, as such, they were more read than the dictates of common sense
would have been.
[42] Mûly is explained by prince, captain, lord, or patron.
[43] Yahyah Bey, of the house of Adam; the principal people of the
place were branches of this family.
[44] Besides, she had to fear the attacks of the Faydân, a powerful
Bedouin tribe, at war with the Anizys, and whose superiority had been
established in a recent battle, of which mention has been already made.
[45] Her ladyship’s real motive for not going to Aleppo was the fear of
the Aleppo tetter, which attacks strangers, and often disfigures the
face.--See Russell’s Aleppo.
[46] The butter generally used throughout Syria is made by the Bedouin
women in the spring, and brought in skins, on camels, for sale to the
principal villages and towns on the confines of the Desert, whence it
is carried to all the inhabited country, and every good housewife lays
in a store for the year. To do this, the butter must have, of course, a
great deal of salt in it; and, as butter is only used in cookery, its
salt flavour does not deteriorate it. But the great difficulty Lady
Hester had to contend with was to procure fresh butter for breakfast,
and she consequently had to teach her maids to make it, without a
churn, and without all the requisites for such a purpose. This was a
fatiguing business with servants, who never showed any anxiety to learn.
[47] This dance was just such as is represented in the plates to Mr.
Belzoni’s work on Egypt, published 1820; and I think he has mistaken a
funereal ceremony for a dance of recreation.
[48] The ancient Salaminias.
[49] I should conjecture Jarryat Theap, were it somewhat more south,
to be the _Centum Putei_. It is proper to observe, that little
reliance can be placed on the names of places in this journey. They
are spelt as they sounded to my ears when pronounced by the Bedouins,
and were written down at the time. But, when it is considered that the
Bedouins give entirely different sounds to the letters of the alphabet
from what is customary in the towns, it is impossible not to have
committed many errors where the words in Arabic were unknown to me.
[50] The Faydân were said to have 2,000 tents.
[51] Charlotte, wife of George III.
[52] Abulfeda, p. 105.
[53] Our sufferings on the journey were, after all, not very severe.
Oxley, in his Researches in the interior of Australasia, underwent
more; for, as he relates, about June the 1st, he found no water for
thirty-six hours either for his people or horses, with a want of
herbage likewise; but then he had no great heat to contend with.
[54] See pp. 215 to 222 of Mr. Salt’s Travels, for a comparison of
the sum paid by Lady Hester to go to Palmyra, with that paid by Mr.
Salt at Arhecko, to get to Gondar, where, after all, he never arrived.
Chateaubriand pretended that it cost him 5,000 piasters to go to the
Dead Sea.
In another book of Travels, published about 1829, I find the following
passage; the author is speaking of Mahannah and his son:--“After much
prevarication, during which they endeavoured to make us pay for the
camels extra, they at length consented to our terms, as they said, for
the love of the Malaka or queen, for such they were pleased to call
Lady Hester, who gave £500 for this trip. Had we paid them as much
money, no doubt, they would have called us two kings; for, like the
Nubians, flûs, (money) is their idol.”
[55] The yzzár is a covering of white calico or cambric muslin,
precisely of the form of a sheet when spread out, which is so put
on as to envelop the whole body, and is worn by every female of any
respectability throughout Syria. It is called likewise setarah and
melaêah.
[56] Generally the legs of the culprit are passed through two nooses on
a bar, which bar is held up at the two ends, the sufferer being on his
back. This bar is called falak. Mr. B. on one occasion, being justly
offended at the neglect of his groom, sent him to the governor, with a
request that he might be punished: but the governor refused to do it,
unless paid for it.
[57] In confirmation of this position, let us see what an English
gentleman says, who, in relating what he saw in Egypt, was evidently
not aware that Turkish women of any degree above paupers never bathe in
_cold_ water, and always use the hot baths of their own houses,
if they have them, or of the city in which they reside. “At the end
of the garden farthest from the palace, the pasha is amusing himself
in erecting, round a large artificial sheet of water, an enclosed
colonnade, with several apartments connected with it. In the centre
of the colonnade, is a chamber with a large balcony for the use of
the great man himself, from which he will enjoy the singular, and in
Turkey alone not indelicate pleasure, of seeing his ladies bathe,
and frequently, when he orders it, splash each other with water, and
play various other pranks for his amusement.” Diary of a Tour through
South India, Egypt, and Palestine, by a Field Officer of Cavalry, p.
238. Hatchard, 1823. Now, without having seen the sheet of water in
question, I will venture to say, that, so long as there continues to be
water in the basin, not a woman will ever bathe in it. The balcony is a
place intended to sit and smoke in, and the water to contribute to the
coolness always so eagerly sought after in such climates.
[58] As soon then as it is known that danger of infection threatens,
people shut themselves up in their houses, lay in a stock of provisions
of every kind, admit nobody to enter, and suffer nobody to go out:
for which purpose the master of the house keeps the key of the street
door. A Turk, (and some one is always to be found among the poor) for
a small gratuity, purchases and brings every day meat, vegetables,
and such things as form no part of the dry stock. All letters are
received in vinegar, or over the fumes of nitre and sulphuric acid, or
of assafetida, or of burnt feathers and the like. All cats are killed.
Bread is aired for a day before being used: meat and vegetables are put
in water to soak, and the hairs, &c. are carefully picked off by small
tongs. Where a family is large, and has a spacious house or garden,
there are no great hardships: as there is only the confinement and the
interruption of business to complain of. But they fall very heavily on
the poor, whose labour is suspended for so long a period, sometimes six
months or more, and who are thus reduced to the miserable alternative
of dying of the plague or of hunger. There is one great disadvantage
resulting from the strictness of these regulations. No doctor can visit
such as are infected; for, if he do, all other patients will refuse
him admittance to their houses. If he be a stranger, and consequently
a lodger, even the door of his own house would be shut against him.
Hence no researches can be made on the disease, no experiments tried:
and, excepting what light the French expedition in Egypt may have
thrown on it, and the experiments of a few devoted men in the hospitals
at Constantinople--mankind is no wiser than it was an age ago. In
a word, the plague makes about as much impression in Turkey as a
malignant epidemic in England. Its ravages are generally confined to
the Mahometans, whose system of fatalism allows them to make use of few
or no precautions against it; although there are many who do not hold
so strong to their principles but they would willingly shut themselves
up if they dared. But the zealots of the Mahometan religion immediately
cry shame upon them, and thus compel them to submit to their destiny.
Such however have a strong struggle between their fears of death and
the dread of imputed dereliction of the tenets of their holy prophet.
[59] When he leaneth on my hand.--ii Kings, v. xviii.
[60] History of Insects, order _Trichoptera_.
[61] Abulfeda, who lived not far from Calât el Medýk, and most likely
had often been there, describes these inundations as permanent. His
words are--“The lake of Apamea (Calât el Medýk) consists of innumerable
small pools and reed banks: but of these two are most remarkable, one
to the south and one to the north. That to the south is more peculiarly
called the Apamean lake, and is nearly half a league broad, but nowhere
deeper than the height of a man. The soil is boggy, the banks are
hedged with reeds and osiers. The papyrus is found here. The other lake
is called the lake of the Christians, because the fishermen who live on
it are chiefly of that religion. It is four times as large as the first
mentioned.”
[62] The grass near our tents was rich to rankness, and of the height
of a man. This vale once fed 500 elephants and 30,000 mares. (See
Strabo, l. xvi.)
[63] In the preface to the second volume of Burckhardt’s Travels in
Syria, the discovery of the site of Apamea is attributed to that
gentleman, who was not, however, active enough to go in search of
the ruins, which are not difficult to find. I, unluckily, was not
aware that these ruins had not been seen or described by any modern
traveller, and therefore did not make so correct an account of them as
I otherwise should have done. The situation does not accord entirely
with Strabo’s description. He says (l. xvi.)--“Apamea stands in a level
hollow, as it were on an island, made by the Orontes and two adjoining
lakes.” Strabo argues that it was once a very great city, because it
was called by the Macedonians Pella, and Pella was their capital. For
Apamea, see also Sozomeni Hist. vii. 15. Pococke says (because he did
not chance to hit on these ruins)--“Upon the whole, it is not certain
where Apamea was situated.”
[64] These hills extend from Calât el Medýk to Ryah.
[65] Colonel Boutin, a Frenchman, was assassinated soon afterwards, in
these very mountains, in consequence of quitting the high road.
[66] “In summer the inundation subsides, but the lakes remain, and to
the quantity of stagnant water thus formed is owing the pest of flies
and gnats above mentioned.” Burckhardt’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 135.
[67] It appears that at the distance of bow-shot from Shogr there was
another castle.
[68] Laodicea, as I conceive. Josep. de Bel. Jud., i. xxi., relates
that Herod built an aqueduct near this spot.
[69] Or Sehyûn (Abulfeda, p. 122). This is called by him an impregnable
fortress, and one of the most celebrated in Syria. In the neighbourhood
is a valley where grows an abundance of fruits.
[70] “The news that a foreign hakým or doctor was passing through the
country was very soon spread abroad, and at every halt our camp was
thronged with the sick, not only of the village near to which we were
encamped, but of all the surrounding villages.” Morier’s Second Journey
through Persia, p. 52.
[71] It was built by Seleucus Nicator, and named after his mother
(Strab. i. xvi). Formerly it was famous for its vineyards, which
occupied the hills behind the city.
[72] Abulfeda speaks of this building (p. 113). “In it (_i. e._
Ladakyah) is a monastery ... called El Farûs, a beautiful structure.”
[73] “Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither
was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore
fruit.”--Amos, vii. 14.
[74] Kumrukgi, the collector of the customs and captain of the port.
[75] I observe, in a recent publication, however, that an Egyptian
pasha caused several Arabian chiefs at Sennāar to be impaled. These
were Mahometans, and therefore my assertion is not quite correct.
[76] It was remarkable that these words were said to me by a man who
was so like me in person, that I once had been spoken to for him, even
by the fanatic shaykh, who, finding his mistake, went away repeating
“Istagfar Allah--deliver me, Lord:” _i. e._ forgive me for having
given the selàm to a Christian instead of a Mussulman.
[77] Vide Gibbon, vol. x., p. 103, 8vo.
[78] Ebn Hani is probably the site of the ancient Heraclia.
[79] One motive for going to Sayda was to prosecute a search for hidden
treasures at Sayda and Ascalon, of which an account will be given in
its proper place.
[80] We had been out shooting francolins two days before, and, after
being much heated with walking, I had seated myself on the edge of the
river to wait for Mr. Barker, whom I saw coming up. I there received a
check of perspiration, to which I attributed my illness.
[81] This gentleman afterwards changed his name to Kinneir, and is
author of a volume of travels in Asia.
[82] _Hadj_, a pilgrim; _hadjy_, feminine.
[83] Mount Cassius, near to Seleucia.--Str. l. xvi.
[84] Of all the maps of Syria which I have yet seen, that of
d’Anville, or more particularly that portion of it which he calls
the map of Phœnicia, is the one chiefly to be relied on. Recent maps
have generally been drawn up, with supposed corrections after late
travellers; d’Anville seems to have drawn up his from a comparison of
both modern and ancient authorities, and no subsequent geographer has
equalled him.
[85] There is another Nahr el Kebýr close to Laodicea, which must not
be mistaken for this, situated a little to the north of Tripoli.
[86] For the truth of this, I appeal to those letters written by her to
Mr. Coutts, the banker, at this period; to his grace the late Duke of
Buckingham; to the Honourable General R. Grenville; and to others.
[87] Upon some occasions, where land was newly appropriated for
tillage, it was customary for the peasants to draw lots for particular
parcels, these having been first staked out by the head men of the
village.
[88] Tanûr, in Arabic, means a large earthenware jar, as big as a
barrel, but deeper, which, let into the ground up to the rim, is
heated within by brushwood or brambles, and serves to bake bread. It
is generally covered with a shed, and serves for the use of all or a
portion of the village, according as there is one or more. It is in
this way I conceive that the passage “or ever your pots be made hot
with thorns” is to be explained, by brambles thrown into the tanûr.
[89] C’est une chose terrible, que, depuis que les femmes se mêlent
de faire des enfans, elles ne savent pas encore accoucher toutes
seules.--_Mem. et Corresp. de Madame d’Epinay_, p. 272.
[90] “And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, and he said,
when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them
upon the stools,” &c.
[91] Funem umbilicalem nunquam ligant, nisi retardetur secundarum
disjunctio; quo in casu, funem, cultello divisum, parturientis femori
nodo annectunt: nec memini, per tres annos, quibus hoc pago commoratus
sum, ullam feminam hæmorrhagiâ mortuam esse.
[92] Extract from Let. xxiii. of a work entitled “Letters of a Prussian
Traveller;” Sayda, Sept. 1814.
“The day before our departure, the French Consul introduced us to a
Christian in the Levantine costume,” (Damiani) “who, during the late
war, acted as interpreter to Sir Sydney Smith, and is now major-domo to
Lady Hester Stanhope, who, for several years past, has been travelling
in the Levant. He informed us she was in a convent near the Drûze
mountains, where she had been confined by indisposition, from which,
however, she was fast recovering. When this lady visited Sayda, she
wore a Turkish dress, and rode an Arabian charger, to the astonishment
and admiration of the Turks, who hold her in the highest estimation;
and we heard, in many places, that she was actually imagined to be an
English princess.”
[93] Franks, of course, decline performing this ceremony.
[94] I was generally in the sepulchre, from ten in the morning until
four in the afternoon, and was obliged to have three assistants, two
holding candles, whilst a third sponged the paintings, as I copied
them, in order to bring out the colours, which method I learned from
Mr. Bankes. Every thing was begun and completed on the spot, nothing
being worked up at home; a custom too common with some persons, whose
recollection is made to supply the place of reality.
[95] The sepulchre shown as that of Our Saviour at Jerusalem, as well
as that of Nicodemus at Bethlehem, is of this kind.
[96] It was found near the spring which supplies the village of Abra
with water. A French gentleman, at that time residing near the village,
heard of the circumstance as a matter of gossip among the servants of
his house, but too late to save it. It had been broken to pieces by the
peasant boys, who attached no more value to it than to a common piece
of useless pottery. A gold ring and a pair of ear-rings of the same
metal were in it, and were sold to the goldsmiths of Sayda, who melted
them down to make more modern trinkets.
[97] “Near it there are many sepulchres cut in the rock; some of them
like stone coffins above ground: others are cut into the rocks like
graves, having stone covers over them.”--_Maundrell._
[98] “The chests were carved on the outside with ox heads, and
wreaths hanging between them, after the manner of adorning heathen
altars.”--_Maundrell_, p. 11, f. ed.
[99] A flat tablet, once in my possession, was found, together with
the earthenware coffin, near Abra spring. I could not gain correct
information as to the position which it occupied.
[100] I have found among my papers the copy of an inscription which I
believe to have been taken from one of them. It is as follows:
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥΦΙΛΙΟΣ
ΛΕΟΝΙΔΟΥΑΛΥΠΟΙΧΑΙΡΕΤΕ.
[101] Maundrell seems to have thought that they were calculated for
places of security, for he says (page 117, Oxford, 1732, 8vo.)--“We
were carried ... to see a place ... which very well deserves a
traveller’s attention. At about the distance of a mile from the sea
there runs along a high rocky mountain, in the side of which are hewn
a multitude of grots, all very little differing from each other. They
have entrances of about two feet three quarters. On the inside you find
in most of them a room of about four yards square, on the one side
of which is the door, on the other there are as many little cells,
elevated about two feet above the floor.... The great doubt concerning
them is whether they were made for the dead or for the living.”
[102] Maundrell bears testimony to the neat workmanship of places of
this description in Syria. He says, “But, within, you arrive in a large
and fair room about seven or eight yards square, cut out of the natural
rock. Its sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and its angles so
just, that no architect, with lead and plummet, could build a room more
regular, and the whole is so firm and entire that it may be called a
chamber hollowed out of one piece of marble.”
[103] Pauca adhuc dicenda restant de floribus, coronis, et sertis
variis, quæ in hoc multisq: aliis sepulchris picta et sculpta
reperiuntur. Nimirum pertinet ad morem veterum Romanorum, à Græcis
derivatum, non solum coronandi mortuos suos, sed etiam sepulchra
eorum quotannis honorandi sparsione florum, rosarum, et unguentorum;
quoniam existimabant hæc defunctis esse gratissima. Mos hic adeo erat
receptus, ut quidam, moribundus, hæredes suos, in tabulis testamenti,
officii hujus præstandi necessitate adstringeret; ingenti pecuniæ
summâ huic fini destinatâ. Quod testantur, non solum auctores Græci
et Latini, sed etiam--inscriptiones et ornamenta sepulchralia, quæ,
ut hodieque ex antiquis monumentis apparet, ex coronis, sertis,
frondibus, et floribus, constabant. Neque solum præcipiebant ut sibi
quotannis rosis et odoribus parentaretur, sed etiam, eum in finem, sibi
comparabant hortos, sepulchris suis vicinos, ut ex illorum reditibus
parentalia ille fierent: quod ex sequenti inscriptione colligitur.
Long: Patrollus, secutus pietatem col: centum hortos cum ædificio huic
sepul. juncto vivus donavit, ut ex reditu eorum largius rosæ et escæ
patrono suo et quandoque sibi parentaretur.--Forma usitata est in
antiq: inscrip.--Ut quotannis rosas ad monumentum ejus deferant. Rosæ,
minirum, præ omnibus aliis floribus in maximo habebantur pretio. Sed,
&c.--Vid. eod. vol. _De jure manium_ à Jacobo Gutheri, lib. 2.
cap. xxviii.
Again,--Porro solenne fuit antiquis Græcis et Romanis cænas ferales
apparare statis et anniversariis sæpe temporibus, cùm in honorem ac
memoriam defuncti, tùm ut per vini cibique lenimen ejus desiderium
levaretur. Petebat autem stulta gentilitas mortuorum animas ab inferis
reduces iis vesci et delectari.
[104] The provisions for the monastery were:--4 kilos of borgûl; 75
rotolos of oil; 2 cwt. of figs; butter, dibs, raisins, wood, and
charcoal in proportion: also flour, rice, &c.
[105] I chanced afterwards to hear the same ballad sung on other
occasions, but I remarked that those who sung it always arranged
themselves in file, and assumed an attitude such as is seen on Egyptian
monuments, where all the arms and legs have the same position.
[106] “And here we may remark that, in our minds, the notion is
altogether ill-founded, which attributes a preventive efficacy
in cases of fever to certain drugs; such as camphor, aromatic
oils, and perfumes, which are probably all of them worse than
nothing.”--_Quarterly Review_, No 54, for Oct. 1822, p. 527.
The names in Arabic for the plague are webá, the plague; cubbeh,
a cupola, as marking the shape of the swelling; (Koubeh and webá,
or vebi, are terms now used to designate the plague.--_Brown’s
Travels_;) also el derebeh el tâaûn, which was the term most in use;
el fená.
[107] Sir James Porter, in his _Letters from the Levant_, speaking
of the importation of silk during the time of plague (page 446), says:
“We may safely affirm that the plague scarce ever rages in those parts
of the country where silk is--namely, at and about Antioch, at Tripoli,
and Latakia. An accident may indeed appear once in fifteen or twenty
years.” Is it possible that an ambassador, residing in the capital
of the empire, and enabled by his situation to procure every kind of
information he might desire, should yet have taken up with notions so
diametrically opposite to the truth! although it must be confessed,
that those who can afford it do build themselves huts of canes and
branches of trees, in which they rear their worms; and the reason of
this is, that the smells arising from cooking, and other offensive
odours, may not, as was the case in my fumigation, kill the worms.
[108] Ayn means spring, and Ayn Bisra means Bisra spring. Who would
think that Maundrell contrives, out of these two words, to make
_Ambuslee_, which he gives as the name of the village?
[109] These families are all descendants of four brothers, who fixed
their residence here about a century ago, promising to till the
neighbouring slopes, upon condition of being exempted from all taxes.
The head of the family, named Jahjáh Abu Yusef, and who had given
up his house for us, pretended that he still retained the firman,
or grant, although the emirs of the Drûzes had encroached on the
privileges granted by it. Hence they were now compelled to pay the
miri, or tax for sown land; but their houses were still free from
land-tax.
[110] I bought of one, for three shillings, a powder-horn, made
with his own hand.
[111] Fakhr-ed-dyn flourished in the reign of Sultan Murad. He was
fourth emir of the Drûzes. In March, 1816, I visited this castle, in
company with Mr. W. Bankes.
[112] I believe there was an Athenian law of the same nature, on
which the incidents of one of Terence’s comedies are founded.
[113] Service in Syria is the last resource of the wretched, but not
all kinds of service; for that of a great family is often considered as
very desirable for youth of both sexes. There was also a peasant lad
hired, named Elias, concerning whom I learned the following anecdote.
His mother, when in childbirth, fearing her situation to be dangerous,
had made a vow to St. Athanasius on the Mountain, that, if she
survived, not a razor should touch the head of her offspring until she
had made a pilgrimage to his shrine, distant about five days’ journey
from Meshmûshy, where she lived. Poverty prevented her from fulfilling
her vow; and the boy arrived at the age of 7 or 8 years, a period at
which it is considered as disgraceful not to have the head shaved: for
it is the custom in the East at that age to leave only a small lock on
the forehead, in the same way as the head of old Time is represented
by painters. So, to get over the difficulty, she made use of scissors,
affirming that she had sacredly kept her vow; for scissors were not a
razor. “Avec le ciel il y a des accommodements.”
[114] The appearance of vineyards in Syria and in the Pays de Vaud
in Switzerland is precisely alike. The manner of cultivation likewise
seemed to be the same.
[115] For lading, a calabash is generally used, which is a species
of pumpkin, which, when dried, has had its pulp and seeds scooped out,
and becomes fit for the purposes of a ladle.
[116] Three quintals of grapes are necessary to make one quintal of
dibs, which sells at one pound per quintal.--_Burckhardt_, p. 156.
[117] “When thou beatest thine olive trees, thou shalt not go over
the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and
for the widow.”
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
5. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
