As we advanced towards the southward and eastward, in our way from Diarbeker towards Bagdad, I found the air became sensibly warmer, and observed that the disposition of the people grew more and more brutal. My guide’s conduct (for he knew them well) became proportionately artful, and my manners were of course to grow so much the humbler. I observed, however, that his authority continued the same, and that he seemed to exert it with greater rigour; not in severity or chastisement, but in exacting implicit obedience. Yet still he evidently acted with great caution and circumspection; for, in some districts, he either avoided the little villages by a circuitous route, or dashed through them at a very quick pace, while the gaping multitude considered us as on a dispatch of haste and importance—in others, he entered the towns without reserve, and left it to chance to decide whether we should be discovered or not. At some caravanseras he treated me with affected negligence, at others he made me eat with him and drink wine, of which, in some places, he himself drank copiously, and at others as scrupulously refrainedfrom. And sometimes we lay at night out in the open air, rather than enter a town; on which occasions I found the weather as piercing cold as it was distressfully hot in the day time. Bred, as the man was, a mixture of slave and tyrant, I can suppose some parts of this conduct to arise from caprice; but as he was naturally kind, as many of those aberrations from the usual mode of travelling were attended with hardship and inconvenience to himself, and as my servant and the other Tartar were clearly of opinion he was right, I am rather disposed to believe that he, on the whole, acted from, principles of sound sense and policy.
He frequently advised me against indulging in laughter; said it was unmanly, indecorous, inconsistent with the gravity becoming a wise man, and withal dangerous.
One evening we came to a caravansera much fatigued, the day being extremely hot, and we having rode very hard—whether it was caprice or fatigue, or the suggestion of policy that moved him, I cannot say, but he certainly was more disposed to play the tyrant than I had ever before seen him. He flogged the men who took the horses, kicked every one he met, made the house ring with his enormous voice; directed supper to be got ready, ate growling, and finding fault with every thing; and under pretence of disliking the ingredients of an excellent pillaw, handed it over to me, saying, Here, Jimmel (the name he called me), here, take this filth, and cram it down thy coarse throat, it is only fit for a Frank—I took it with thebest air of humility I could assume; and tearing the meat with my fingers, which I also used instead of a spoon to eat the rice, swallowed it eagerly; he watching me all the time attentively. When I had finished it, I gave him a hint in the Frank language, that I should like to wash it down with some wine; but he did not, or rather would not, understand me.
Supper done, he ordered a servant to attend him with some water, and directed him to wash his feet; while that operation was performing, he continued menacing every one about him. My servant, who sat next me and behind him, interpreted every thing he said. “Yes, ye slaves,” said he, as he lolled back upon his cushion, “yes, I will make the best of you wash my feet; for who shall refuse to wash the feet of him, who represents the Sultan of the World, the Son of Mahomet, the Messenger of the Lord?” The poor fellow proceeded in his humble office, and only interrupted him by saying, “Blessed be my Lord the Sultan, and glory be to the Lord our God, and Mahomet his Prophet.”—“Yes, yes,” continued my Tartar, “bless God and the Prophet, and pray for his servant our Sultan, and all who represent him like me, that slaves of your description are permitted to live: nay, thou shalt wash this Frank’s feet:” then, turning to me with an air of magisterial tenderness, “Jimmel,” said he, “hold forth thy feet, and let them be washed by this disciple of Ali—I say, hold forth thy feet.”
Scarcely able to refrain from laughter at this Bombardinian ofthe East, and his pompous manner of issuing his orders, I drew up my trowsers and took off my boots—the man brought fresh water, and fell to rubbing my feet with great good will and humility; yet evidently felt so much hurt at the humiliation, that I was sorry for it, and would rather have dispensed with the washing, though it was a luxury.
In the midst of this operation, the Tartar, who was reclining on his cushion, smoking, rose up, and stalking two or three times across the room, with the most ludicrous air of self-conceit and importance, took his tobacco pipe from his mouth, brandished it in ostentatious parade, and in the tone and manner rather of one that was raving than of a man in his sober senses, burst out with an emphatical expression of satisfaction, and said, “This it is to be protected by a great man: Mussulmen salam to him and wash his feet.”
The extravagance of this sentiment, the absurdity of its application, and the consequential solemnity of his action and countenance while he spoke, altogether rushed upon me with such impetuous force, that I could not resist it, and, in spite of every effort to restrain myself, burst into an immoderate fit of laughter.
Had I the pencil of Hogarth, the pen of Shakespeare, or the powers of a Garrick, I might attempt to give some idea of his countenance, when, turning, he beheld me convulsed with laughter. I might attempt it, I say, but I could not do it justice. Such a combination of ludicrous expression I never beheld; it was indeed anepitome of all the lower order of human passions. Fury predominated, but it was risible fury—it was fury that rather grinned than frowned; though under it were to be seen shame and mortification, sorrow and resentment, pride and degradation, silly bashfulness and decayed importance. For some time he stood transfixed to the spot, his eyes glistening like those of a rat in a trap; his pointed whiskers moving with the contortions of his lips, and his mouth every now and then opening like the beak of a wounded hawk. To utter his sensations he was unable; and he continued in this state, not only till my laughter was abated, but till I had time to reflect and be seriously concerned.
At length, without saying a sentence, he wheeled about, threw off his slippers, drew on his boots, vociferated till he brought all the people of the caravansera about him, and ordered horses to be ready instantly. As orders from such a person were not likely to be disobeyed, the horses were got ready. I saw that I must either proceed, or come to an open rupture with him; so recollecting that I was myself in fault, that a dispute might be fatal, and that at all events it was only the humour of the moment, I drew on my boots too, and was ready to go, though I was much fitter for a twelve hours’ nap than for an hour’s travelling on horseback.
We mounted immediately, and it was my good fortune to have the best horse. He set out upon the gallop, the moon shining as bright almost as day; I put forward my horse, and kept rather beforehim, which vexed him so, that he beat the poor animal he rode on most unmercifully. At length, after about eight or ten miles riding, he called a halt—dismounted, and said he would rest there all night. I saw it was all resentment: but knowing that it would be in vain to remonstrate, I dismounted too; and, judging that the best way to mortify him in return, was to comply with affected approbation, turned to my servant and told him (knowing that it would go from him to the Tartar) that I was delighted with the beauty of the night; remarking at the same time, that lying in the sweet salubrious air was far preferable to being confined in the sultry filth of a caravansera.
As soon as this was communicated to the Tartar, he remarked, that the open air was the fittest place for the beasts of the forest, and therefore suitable to a Frank; but for his part, he would much rather repose on a cushion, which he should have done, had it not been for my accursed risible faculties.
Here the conversation rested, and we fell asleep. In a few hours he awoke us, and we set forward: after some pause, he began in the following manner, which was interpreted to me, as he spoke, by my servant:
“Surely God made laughter for the derision and shame of mankind, and gave it to the Franks and the monkies; for the one ha, ha, ha’s, and the other he, he, he’s, and both are malicious,mischievous, and good for nothing but to fret and tantalize all that come across them.”
Here he paused, as waiting for something to be said: however, I remained silent. At length, he continued: “Not but that, with all their laughter, they have the wisdom to take special care of themselves; for half a dozen monkies will he, he, he, and empty a whole orchard of its fruit in the reckoning of a hundred; and a Frank will ha, ha, ha, and eat you up pillaws, and poultry like a wolf, and drink up wine with the same moderation that a camel drinks up water.”
I thought I should have choked with smothered laughter: I would not however interrupt him, and so contrived to keep it to myself: he proceeded to apothegmatise:
“But with all their he, he, he’s, and ha, ha, ha’s, it sometimes turns out that they are caught: the monkey is seized in a trap, and caged or knocked in the head, and the Frank is put in jail, and bastinadoed or hanged; and then the tune is changed, and it is Oh, ho, ho!” Here he began to mimic crying so admirably, and at the same time so ridiculously, that I burst out laughing again.
“Observe, Jimmel,” said he hastily, “observe! you can’t refrain! But by our holy Prophet,” said he seriously, “it may end as I said: so look to yourself, and avoid laughter in caravanseras, or we part; for there are places, and that was one of them last night, where suspicion would ruin you. And if you lost your life, what should I sayfor myself on my return to Aleppo? Eh, what should I say for myself? Ha, ha ha! would not do. No, no, they would not believe it, and I should lose my character.”
“Why, don’t you laugh yourself?” said I.
“Very seldom, or rather never,” returned he; “at least I would not in time of danger. No, no, none but Christians and monkies make a practice of laughing—Turks and Tartars are wiser.” I promised, him, that I would in future take more care; and, by way of appeasing him with a little flattery, said, that he played his part so admirably, it was impossible to resist the impulse. But he answered, with a grave face, that his action in that case was of too serious a nature to be made a subject of merriment—and advised me to believe it so.
The solicitude of my guide for my safety was the earnestness of a man of business zealous to discharge with the utmost punctuality the duty he had undertaken; and I must observe to you, that the whole of his conduct evinced a precision and punctualityof dealing rarely found in our intercourse with mankind. Previous, to leaving Aleppo, he had undertaken to convey me safe—he was, as you may already perceive, indefatigable and unremitting in his endeavours to do so; he had promised to supply me with food—so he did, in the most ample manner; he promised to go as I pleased, fast or slow—so he did; he promised to change horses with me, as often as I thought proper to desire—he did so. But beyond this, he seemed to carry his care of me no farther than to any bale of goods he might have in his charge. He was bound to deliver me safe, in good order and condition, at Bagdad: so much he was determined to do, and no more did he think of. I had got letters to the Bashaws of some of the towns through which we were to pass: but as the delivery of a letter is, according to the custom of that country, always accompanied with a present, I thought it better to decline delivering them, except when necessity compelled—though the state of the country was so unsettled, that we often had occasion for a guard.
As soon as the remembrance of the laughing affair was a little decayed, the Tartar began to relax into good humour, and to talk with his usual vehemence; for he was always, according to the flow of his spirits, either sullenly silent or extravagantly loquacious. His tongue might be considered as a thermometer, by which the warmth or coldness of his temper might be calculated, and the extremes of garrulity and taciturnity were the indices. His conversation, however,was very circumscribed, and consisted chiefly of stories of himself and his horse, the amazing journeys he made, and the feats of manhood he performed. One circumstance I must in justice mention, as I think it marks strongly the habitual delicacy and modesty of this people. Although he frequently lamented my banishment from my family, and although we were for eighteen days continually conversing on a variety of occasions that might lead to the subject, he never once talked of women; never, in all his pity for my situation, glanced even remotely at the possibility of my getting a substitute in that way; never hinted that he thought of them himself. On seeing women coming to the wells, they reminded me of some of the stories in the Old Testament. I mentioned it, but it went no farther; for whenever the subject was started, he threw cold water on it.
That he conceived me to be in some respects a parcel of property, I have good reason to believe: for I observed that, at some caravanseras the people collected round me, and regarded me with strong symptoms of surprise and pity; some viewed me with commiseration, some with contempt; but not one creature, however wretched or abject, seemed to envy my situation.
I was the more confirmed in this opinion by an incident that happened between Diarbeker and Mosul. One morning I was unusually overcome with the fatigues of the preceding day: the Tartar called me, summoned me to horse; and finding that I gave no answer,nor shewed any token of awaking, he lifted me in his arms bodily from my couch (such was his strength that he did it without any difficulty), carried me out without the least ceremony, and, before I was so completely awake as to be sensible of my situation, had me fixed upon a horse ready to depart.
A transaction so very singular, you may well conclude, surprised me at the time, and would not readily be forgotten: such a crowd of strange, confused, and incongruous thoughts and sensations as occurred to me, I never before experienced: they were painful, they were surprising—but I was in such a state that I could not afterwards analyse them. The chief reflection that arose from it was, that human sentiment must be in a deplorable state of degradation indeed, when such a circumstance could occur from the notion that a man was as much an asset or piece of property, could be transferred by the same means, and moved in the same unfeeling manner, as any portion of inert matter that makes up a bale of merchandize. Of the truth of this position I had soon after a melancholy proof, in an incident which, though lamentable, was attended with such ludicrous circumstances, that even now I never think of it without smiling—smiling, as I did then, with a heart bleeding with pity.
One morning I was awakened before day-break with a bustle in the caravansera where we lodged. I conjectured that the Tartar was preparing to get forward, and rose in order to lose no time. I was so far right in my conjectures: the horses were ready, and I cameout to mount, and was very much surprised to perceive several horses before me loaded with something which stood erect from their backs, and which I had barely light to discern were not men. I concluded that they were bales of merchandize packed in a particular form, and asked no questions till full day-light disclosed to me that they were human creatures tied up in sacks, and fastened astride on the horses’ backs. There was a strange union of horror and oddity in the conception, that struck me at once with a mixed emotion of indignation, pity, and mirth.—The former however got the better, and I asked my servant with some warmth what it meant.—He said that the sacks contained some young women whom the Tartar had bought.—“GoodGod!” said I, “is it possible that he can have bought wretched females to treat them with so little tenderness?” “He has bought them,” returned my servant, “in the way of traffic, not for pleasure.”
“Suppose he has,” said I, “suppose even they were men, not to mention young women, how can he imagine that they will survive this? Tied up and sweltered in a sack—fastened cross-legs on a horse, and driven at such an amazing rate (for by this time we had set forward, and another Tartar was whipping the horses up all the time, and driving them on)—how is it possible they can survive? They must be smothered—they must be shattered to pieces—they must be stripped, excoriated, and tortured to death!”
“If I might presume to advise,” said he, “I would say thatyou had better make no remarks upon it: it would only get them perhaps worse treated, and raise his anger against you.”
To conclude, I took his advice, and kept my mind to myself. The unfortunate women were in this manner carried fifty miles, at the end of which their tender-hearted purchaser disposed of them in some way of keeping till his return; when I suppose they were to be carried back in sacks astride upon horses, all the way to Aleppo, there to be sold to the highest bidder.
To us, myFrederick, who live in a country where an hour’s detention in a house against our will is punished as unlawful imprisonment, and who feel and value the rich treasure of liberty above all earthly blessings, the bare idea of slavery appears horrible; when the miseries of slavery are sharpened by cruelty, our indignation burns at the offence: but such a complicated piece of enormity as that I have mentioned, almost transcends belief, and indignation is lost in amazement. There are but few men, even in our bracing climate, whom fifty miles riding would not shake to pieces, and torture almost to death. No woman would think of it. But when to that is superadded, first the compulsion—then the sorry and at best painful equipage of the horses—the tender persons, unaccustomed to riding, of the women—the smothering heat of the sack—and above all the horrid climate, burning with an almost vertical heat (vertical at least compared with our oblique sun)—it will be allowed to be a wonder, almost approaching to a miracle, that theysurvived one half of their journey. The wonder-working hand of Omnipotence alone could bring them through it; and when I asked in the evening whether they were dying or dead, and was told that they were not only alive but in perfect health, I could not help repeating that most beautiful expression put into the mouth of Maria by the inimitable Sterne, “God tempers the wind to the side of the shorn lamb.”
This affair tended to prejudice me strongly against my Tartar guide, andititwas for some time that I could not look upon him without horror: but at length my resentment abated; and reason, resuming her seat of cool decision, told me, that though it was a crime and a grievous one, he was not so responsible for it as those who, knowing better, authorised it by their concurrence, gave it the sanction of law, and made it familiarly practised; he only did that which he had been even from his mother’s breast instructed to do, and should therefore not be judged by those rules which a Briton would lay down for the government of such cases.
A Briton!—Hold! Have I not now been uttering a most severe satire upon the British Nation? Yes! imputing to men a virtue which they want, is the worst kind of satire—I meant it not at the time, but will not retract what I have written—Britons deserve the lash of satire! They deserve a worse lash: for the traffic in human bodies still stands a bloody brand of infamy on her great National Councils. Their brothers’ blood! the blood of millions of murdered Africans,like that of Abel, cries to Heaven against them, and will not, I fear, cry in vain.
Great God!—What a horrible thought!—what an indelible stigma! that a Legislator shall, in the cold blood of commerce, make a calculation of the probable profit upon human lives—put commercial expediency in the balance against murder—and make convenience the excuse for crime!—Why, the robber may do so!—But shall Britons, generous Britons, who boastful claim precedence of the world in freedom, humanity, and justice—shall they look on and see inferior nations spurning from them with horror the debasing traffic; and stimulated by avarice, or misled by wicked policy, retain the blot that other States have wiped away, and live at once the curse of one part, and the scorn of the rest of mankind?—Forbid it Mercy! Forbid it Heaven!—And oh! may that virtuous man, who, disdaining the malignant taunts of the base and interested, boldly steps forth the advocate of man and of his country, and session after session springs from the couch of repose which opulence presents him, to break the fetters and the scourges which improbity and avarice have forged for our fellow creatures—may he succeed and bear down all his opposers! and may the justice of his country make his triumph and his glory as certain and complete here, as the justice of that Being, under whose direction he acts, will doubtless make them hereafter!
From the considerations I have already pretty fully mentioned, my mind was by no means at ease. The incessant travelling for so many days, at the rate of seventy-five miles a day, to be continued I knew not how long, increased my anxiety: and the apprehensions of accident, interruption, and above all sickness, intercepting me on my way, haunted my imagination with all its terrors. I was besides approaching fast to that region where the winds strike all living things that draw them in instantly dead: and conceiving that the more expeditious I was in getting over the journey, the greater chance I had of escaping those mischiefs; I pushed heartily forward, and urged the Tartar till he at last expressed his astonishment and approbation; paid me the compliment to say, that I was almost equal to himself for enduring fatigue; and concluded with a very sagacious surmise, that in all probability I had been myself a carrier of dispatches among the Frank Governments.
One day after we had rode about four miles from a caravansera, at which we had changed our cattle, I found that a most execrablybad horse had fallen to my lot: he was stiff, feeble, and foundered; in consequence of which he stumbled very much, and I every minute expected that he would fall and roll over me. I therefore proposed to the guide to exchange with me; a favour he had hitherto never refused, and for which I was the more anxious, as the beast he rode was of the very best kind. To my utter astonishment he peremptorily refused: and as this had been a day of unusual taciturnity on his part, I attributed his refusal to peevishness and ill temper, and was resolved not to let the matter rest there. I therefore desired the interpreter to inform him, that as he had at Aleppo agreed to change horses with me as often as I pleased, I should consider our agreement infringed upon if he did not comply, and would write to the Consul at Aleppo to that effect.
As soon as this was conveyed to him, he seemed strongly agitated by anger; yet endeavoured to conceal his emotions under affected contempt and derision, which produced from him one of the most singular grins that ever yet marred the human physiognomy. At length he broke forth:
“You will write to Aleppo, will you? Foolish Frank! they will not believe you! By Mahomet, it would be well done to hear the complaint of a wandering Frank against Hassan Artaz—Hassan the faithful and the just, who for ten years and more has been the messenger of an Emperor, and the friend and confidant of Cadis, Bashaws, and Viceroys, and never yet was called so much as liar! Who, thinkyou, poor misguided one! who, think you, would believe that I broke my promise?”
“Why do you not then,” said I, interrupting him, “why do you not perform it by changing horses, when you are convinced in your conscience (if you have any) that it was part of your agreement?”—“Once for all I tell you,” interrupted he, “I will not give up this horse. There is not,” said he gasconadingly, “there is not a Mussulman that ever wore a beard, not to talk of a wretched Frank, that should get this horse from under me; I would not yield him to the Commander of the Faithful this minute, were he in your place: I would not, I tell you, Frank—and I have my own reasons for it.”
“I dare say you have,” returned I; “love of your ease, and fear of your bones.”
At hearing this, he grew quite outrageous—calledMahometandAllato witness that he did not know what it was to fear any thing—declared that he was convinced some infernal spirit had that day got possession of me—and indeed seemed well disposed to go to logger-heads. At length observing that I looked at him with sneering contemptuous defiance, he rode up along side of me—I thought it was to strike, and prepared to defend myself. I was however mistaken; he snatched the reins out of my hand, and caught hold of them collected close at the horse’s jaw; then fell flogging my horse and spurring his own, till he got them both into full speed; nor did he stop there, but continued to belabour mine with his whip,and to spur his own, driving headlong over every impediment that came in our way, till I really thought he had run mad, or designed to kill me. Several times I was on the point of striking him with my whip, in order to knock him off his horse—but as often patience providentially came in to my assistance, and whispered to me to forbear and see it out. Mean time I considered myself as being in some danger; and yet such was the power he had over the cattle, that I found it impossible to stop him: so resigning the event to the direction of Providence, I suffered him without a further effort to proceed; I calling him every opprobrious name I could think of in lingua Franca, and he grinning, and calling me Dumus, Jihash, Burhl (i. e. hog, ass, mule), in rapid and impetuous vehemence of tone and utterance.
He continued this for a length of I dare say some miles, over an uncultivated tract, here and there intersected with channels formed by rills of water in the periodical rains; thickly set with low furze, ferns, and other dwarf bushes, and broken up and down into little hills. His horse carried him clean over all: and though mine was every minute stumbling and nearly down, yet with a dexterity inexpressible, and a vigour altogether amazing, he kept him up by the bridle, and I may saycarriedhim gallantly over every thing. I was astonished very much at all this, and towards the end as much pleased as astonished; which he perceiving, cried out frequently and triumphantly, “O, la Frangi! Heli! Heli! Frangi!” andatatlast drawing in the horses, stopping short, and looking me full in the face, exclaimed in lingua Franca,“Que dice, Frangi—Que dice?”
For some time I was incapable of making him any answer, but continued surveying him from head to foot as the most extraordinary savage I had ever beheld; while he stroked his whiskers with great self-complacency and composure, and nodded his head every now and then, as much as to say, Ay, ay, it is so! look at me! am not I a very capital fellow?—“A capital fellow indeed you are,” said I, “but I wish I was well out of your confounded clutches.”
We alighted of the brow of a small hill, whence was to be seen a full and uninterrupted prospect of the country all round. The interpreter coming up, he called to him and desired him to explain to me carefully the meaning of what he was about to say; which I will give you as nearly as I can in his own words, as they were translated by the Linguist:
“You see those mountains yonder,” said he, pointing to the East; “those are in the province ofKurdestan, inhabited by a vile race of robbers called Jesides, who pay homage to a God of their own called Jesid (Jesus), and worship the Devil from fear. They live by plunder, and often descend from those mountains, cross the Tigris which runs between them and us, and plunder and ravage this country in bands of great number and formidable strength, carrying away into slavery all they can catch, and killing all who resist them. Thiscountry therefore, for some distance round us, is very dangerous to travellers, whose only safety lies in flight. Now it was our misfortune this morning to get a very bad horse, for which, pleaseAlla(stroking his whiskers), some one shall receive the bastinado. Should we meet with a band of those Curds, what could we do but fly? And if you, Frangi, rode this horse, and I that, we could never escape: for I doubt you could not keep him up from falling under me, as I did under you: I should therefore come down and be taken—you would lose your guide, and miss your way, and all of us be undone. Besides,” continued he, “there are many villages here where people live, who, if they only suspected you were a Frank, would follow and sacrifice you if they could toMahomet, and where of course you must run for it.”
As soon as the interpreter had explained this to me, “Well,” continued the Tartar, “what does he say now to it?” Then turning to me, and tossing up his head—“Que dice, Frangi?”
“Why, I say,” returned I, “that you have spoken good sense and sound reason; and I am obliged to you.”
This, when interpreted fully, operated most pleasingly upon him; his features relaxed into a broad look of satisfaction, and he said:—“I will do every thing I can to make you easy and contented: and when I am obstinate, don’t resist—for be assured I have reason for it; and above all things avoid laughing in my presence. But we shall reach Mosul by and by, and probably then we may have nomore rides.” For I expected to get down the river Tigris from Mosul to Bagdad, and had told him so, and he encouraged me with the expectation.
That night we came to a caravansera which lay at some distance from a village. Here the Tartar, pleased with himself for the conduct of the day, and pleased with me for my approbation of it, ordered a most admirable supper; and not only, as was very common with him, rejected the best dish in order to present it to me, but also selected for me the choicest bits of those upon the table. He then ordered wine, observing that the fatigue of a Government Messenger demanded indulgence; and using a salvo of my suggestion on a former occasion, viz. that the Prophet would not be offended with travellers more than with the sick for taking it as it weremedicinally.
We accordingly had wine, and admirable it was, though by no means equal to that we drank at the city of Diarbeker. I took little however, and the Tartar was much surprised at my abstemiousness; remarking, that he never saw a Frank before that was not a downright hog when he got the cup to his lips. My taking it in small portions, while he drank it as we do table beer, particularly astonished him. Before he lay down on his couch, he gave orders for horses, threatening the people with severe castigation if they gave bad ones; holding up as an example the person that gave us the stumbling horse that day, who he declared should be bastinadoed as soon as hereturned, if there was a Cadi within ten leagues of him; and I dare to say that he kept his word most religiously.
The next morning we had excellent cattle; fear produced wonders among them, and we set forward just as the sun rose. As we entered the first village, I was somewhat alarmed by perceiving my guide draw up his horse—deliberate—mutter to himself—and seem rather uneasy while he viewed a crowd that was up the street before us; some of whom I perceived to be agitated with some extraordinary motions of the body, while one man stood in the middle, rolling his body into a variety of strange contortions.—The Tartar, for a minute or two, seemed to be debating within himself whether he should proceed or turn about: at length putting me on his left hand, he set forward at full speed, leaving the crowd on his right, who, seeing the rapidity of our pace, flew on one side, and let us pass. We soon however heard shouting behind us, and could hear plainly the words “Ghiaour! Frangi Cucu!” and looking back, perceived several ragged men like savages pursuing us, lifting stones occasionally, and casting them after us with all their might. The speed of our horses at last got us out of both sight and hearing; and I plainly perceived, and was for the first time convinced, that my guide’s conduct was directed by sound sense, spirit, good faith, and integrity.
The extraordinary occurrence which I mentioned in my last letter required explanation, and my Tartar friend was not backward in giving it; for he loved exceedingly to hear himself talk, and, on any subject within the compass of his knowledge, was shrewd, perspicuous, and even naturally eloquent: he had moreover on that occasion acted the part of a skilful general; and as I applauded his prudence and address, he was extremely kind and communicative, and gave me a full account of that affair, his motives, his deliberations, and the urgency of the case; and, in short, every thing that could elucidate the circumstance, or aggrandize his own importance. It would be a pity to take it out of his own words: I shall therefore relate them to you, as I had them through the medium of our Linguist, for they made an impression on my memory not easily to be erased.
“You must know,” said he, “that there are spread over the face of this great and glorious empire a number of dervises of different kinds—holymen, who renounce the enjoyments and pleasuresof the world, to converse with Mahomet and worship Alla. Some of those are very good men, indeed saints, and never do any thing bad; preaching and praying, without hurting any thing, even a rat or a snake; nay, they would not hurt a Christian. There are others again, of whom I have heard our Bashaws and Effendis, and even the Maazeen, declare that they are forbid by the Koran; and yet the common people (the lower sort you know have no sense) reverence and worship them—they are calledSantons; live by themselves, sometimes under ground like rabbits, and sometimes in the thickets and woods. They go where they please, take the best seat in any man’s house, cram themselves with meat and drink, and yet none resist them; for some will not, and others dare not. Nay, they often pollute women in the open streets—and they never set their eyes on a Christian or a Frank, that they will not kill, if possible. For my part, I think that they ought to be hanged, every one of them that had a head to be hanged by—or rather staked—for no punishment is too great for them; but I dare not say so in that town—if I did, I should be stoned to death by the rabble.
“As soon as I perceived the crowd, and the rascals dancing, I knew that they were santons, and was sure that they would stop us in order to extract money from us; in which case they would most probably have discovered you—for they have the eyes of the devil. Nothing then could save your life; the crowd would join them, and your brains would have been beat out with stones. I had a mindto turn back and go round the town, but that might have caused suspicion, and got us perhaps intercepted; so I determined to push by them boldly, which I did, you can testify, like a brave man. You saw enough yourself, to convince you of the danger you have escaped, and of my wisdom and valour; let me therefore entreat you to be entirely guided by me, and above all things avoid that accursed propensity to laughter.”
Since I first formed the resolution of writing this account of my journey, I have been at some pains to dip into the best histories of that country, and I find that in every instance my Tartar guide’s information was correct. Those santons, as well as other classes of dervises and sheihs, travel about the country and levy contributions on the inhabitants: some are really what they pretend to be, and are as pure and as pious as the monks of the primitive Christian church; but the santons are monsters, who exist only by the barbarous credulity and more than savage ignorance of the lower order of the people—though reprobated, and indeed execrated, by the better sort of Turks. They affect to be dementated (which with the Mahomedans is the greatest mark of sanctity), and under cover of that madness commit every excess and enormity, not merely with impunity, but with applause. Such is the melancholy state of degradation, to which the weight of superstition’s chains bends the mind of man! It is not long since I had a very pleasing discussion of this extraordinary subject, with a gentleman of my acquaintance, for whoseveracity I have great respect. Superstition and credulity very naturally led to a consideration of the Turkish religion, and I expressed my satisfaction, that the worst excrescences of the Christian schisms could not be compared with the Turkish faith in their dervises. He said, that he agreed it did not go quite the length of the santons; but he related to me a conversation between him and a Roman catholic, not more than twenty-four miles from the enlightened city of Dublin, which surprised me much.
“I was,” said he, “when a youth, very free in censuring all religions, and chiefly Popery; for, being bred among Roman catholics, I had the greater opportunity of seeing their absurdities, which I treasured up as so much gain, without ever taking into account their many virtues, of which they have their share. One day I was on a party of pleasure, at a place called ——-, and in presence of a poor country fellow ridiculed the priesthood, attributing to them many vices, and particularly fornication and adultery. The man resisted me, and declared it was impossible. Then I suppose, said I, if a priest and a woman were locked up in a room together for a year, and the woman in a week after coming forth was brought to bed of a child, you would not believe it to be the priest’s. No, said he, I would not. Then how came the child? I don’t know, replied he—any way but by him. In short, he would believe it self-impregnation, or preternatural visitation, rather than allow a priest to be capable of fornication.”
“But,” said I, “you supposed a case—if the fellow was shrewd enough to say, no such case could at all happen, he would have put you down; that was what he meant, though he knew not how to go about expressing it.”
The difficulties and hazards of the journey, which seemed to thicken upon us as we advanced, made me pant for a speedy conclusion to it; and the adventure of the last day opened more clearly to my view the dangers we had to encounter, which were still likely to increase as we got to the eastward and southward, where the fury of bigotry raged without remorse; where the greater distance from the seat of government made the populace more lawless, and the magistrate more corrupt and tyrannical; where the total seclusion from all well ordered society rendered the manners barbarous; where strangers were seldom seen, and when seen fleeced and persecuted; and where particularly, I had reason to believe, scarcely any Englishman had ever set his foot; and above all, where the very winds that blew were charged with destruction, and carried instant death upon their wings. I therefore earnestly longed to reach Mosul, where the probability was, I should get at least the more comfortable and commodious conveyance of water carriage, and where I might refresh myself completely, after the fatigues of so many days journey; and, if there was occasion, claim a guard and protection, having along with me a letter to the Bashaw, which Imight withhold or deliver, just as best suited my inclination or convenience.
I could not help viewing with a sad and melancholy eye my present state; wandering, I may say alone, unaccommodated and wretched, through an inhospitable region, and more inhospitable people; where danger beset me in a thousand forms, and every step I took, I took in hazard of my life; and comparing it with those scenes of opulence and comfort which I had once experienced, where every lawful wish met with its accomplishment; where every necessity was supplied, and every difficulty obviated; where tender love and attachment anticipated every desire, and soothed every care; where the mutual endearments and reciprocal accommodations of tender relatives, wife, children, faithful friends, and kindly intimates gave a zest to life, made me feel that my existence was of interest to others as well as to myself, and communicated a conscious importance which the isolated, solitary, selfish man can never feel: I could not help looking back with grief and mortification, to think that I once possessed those blessings, and should perhaps possess them no more; but, on the contrary, might perish unknown, unheeded, and unlamented, in an unknown corner of the wilds of an unknown hostile country, without one friend to solace or to cheer me, or tell to those who loved or took share in my concerns, the place where I lay, or the particulars of my fate.
Nor in this dismal train of reflections was Aleppo forgotten. It made the great connecting link between my former happiness and present misery; it was, as it were, the door through which I passed when I took my last farewell of comfort: when it closed and shut me out, the prospect was indeed gloomy; nor did I after feel one happy sensation, unless the convulsive transports of a laugh, and the boisterous fleeting mirth arising from the regularities of my guide, which, as the surge raised by the tempest above its proper height lifts up the shattered bark only to cast it on the beach and leave it shipwrecked, elevated my spirits for the moment beyond their proper pitch, to retire quickly, and leave them in the horrors of ten times deeper melancholy.
Perceiving how much cast down I was, my friendly Tartar began to rally me: “Jimmel,” said he, “the Santons have frightened you:—but don’t be afraid—Hassan Artazis no boy: he can bring you through greater difficulties than those, should they befall us.”
“But how comes it,” said I, “Hassan, that you, who have so much power at the caravanseras, have not power to resist those rascally Santons, or the mobs of a village?”
“Why, as to the mob,” said he, “if I was by myself, or had only a true Believer with me, I would make them fly before me like the dust before the wind. As to the Santons, no one can resist them: the Great, who hate them, are obliged to shew them respect: and theBashaw of Aleppo, nay the Commander of the Faithful himself, could not save you, if one of them called on the mob to stone you, or tear you to pieces. However, be of good cheer; for, please Alla, I will deliver you safe and sound to the Coja at Bagdad: besides, we shall very soon be at Mosul, from whence we will go down by water, which will be very pleasant: and the chief danger then will be in fair fighting, which is better than being cut off by Santons.—Should there be occasion,” said he, looking most ferociously and brandishing his whip—“should we be attacked by Curds or Robbers, you shall see—you shall see, Jimmel—Oh! holy Prophet, how I’ll fight!”