When a priest calls at the house, then the son is all attention; none but himself is permitted to serve him; he replenishes the pipe-bowls, fetches the fire, hands him the coffee and other refreshments, and each time retires from the presence of the rev. father with fresh blessings heaped upon his head. The son is early taught to listen, but never to speak unless first spoken to, to be deferential to all old people, kind to the poor, and especially to the blind, sympathising with servants, whose faults he must correct with mildness and leniency, and above all, to abhor and hold in utter detestation all strong drinks and drunkards. You may travel fromone end of Syria to the other, and mingle with every grade of every creed, and I may safely state, that drunkards are rarely met with. None but those who have travelled in Europe, or have mixed with European society, are addicted to this vice.
The son is taught to adhere strictly to all laws of cleanliness. There are few people that are more rigid in the observance of them than the Syrian. On first rising, and on going to bed, before and after every meal, before and after every little promenade, hands and face are washed with soap and water and a few leaves of the lemon-tree; the mouth is also rinsed out, sometimes with simple water, sometimes with rose or orange-flower water, according to the opulence or poverty of the man. Tooth and hair-brushes are unknown among the Syrians. On entering a house, he is taught to leave his shoes before intruding into the visitors’ hall, and with light yellow slippers on, treads over the carpet; he advances to all the elders who happen to be present, kissing their hands and placing them on his head to intimate his respect and obedience. On entering a church in some parts of the country, he leaves his shoes outside.[242]This practice dates from the period of Moses and the burning bush, when the Lord addressed Moses, saying, “Draw not nighhither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exod. iii. 5). Likewise he also lifts the turban off his head for a while, and then replaces it. During the reading of the Gospel and Belief all the males remain uncovered.
So soon as a boy’s education is completed, and this simply consists in his being able to read and write Arabic, with a slight knowledge of arithmetic, then the father anxiously looks out for some opening which may enable his son thus early to acquire a knowledge of the world, and of the necessity of fighting one’s own battles, so as to be independent of the support of others; but though the son may earn a sufficiency to maintain himself without drawing on his father’s revenue, he still remains an inmate of the parental roof; indeed, in many instances he never quits it, and it is not uncommon to see the son a man of mature years himself, with his own children fast growing up to manhood, paying the most implicit obedience and respect to his father’s commands and wishes, just with the same deference that a child six years old would obey an austere father; indeed such is the universal reverence with which parents are treated, that (though these instances are rare) fathers have been known to chastise their sons when they had attained the mature age of thirty-five or forty; and the son, though father of a family himself, and though smarting from shame and indignation at such an exposure before the eyes of his own wife and children, has meekly borne the correction and kissed the hand that chastised him. “Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land,” is a commandment acted up to the letter in Syria, and any son transgressing this law, would meet with small sympathy from his countrymen, wouldbe shunned by all, and be an object of indignation and scorn to all Orientals of whatever creed. Even that ferocious tyrant, Djessar Pasha, who never hesitated to sacrifice human life, whose wives and concubines were all massacred by his own hands to satiate his furious jealousy and rage against one unhappy girl, who had been discovered carrying on a flirtation with an officer of his court; even he, villain though he was, respected this law and enforced others to respect it. A story is told of a young Christian, who, being newly married, took possession of the whole of his father’s house, leaving the poor old man, who was a widower and a cripple, barely sufficient rags to cover his nakedness, or food to satisfy his hunger. The Pasha, hearing of this atrocious conduct, sent for the miscreant, and when he was brought trembling into his presence, exclaimed, “Hast thou no fear of God? In an hour’s time let me hear that your father, dog that you are, is in the possession of every comfort and luxury; or, by my beard, your head shall answer for this crime.”
When the son is about twelve years of age, his parents begin to look about them to choose out from amongst the neighbours a suitable wife for their first-born. This is an arduous undertaking, and the son is often consulted as to whether he has any particular choice amongst his playmates and companions. Sometimes he has, sometimes he leaves all to the good judgment of his mother, always, however, stipulating, that the girl must be young, pretty, and good-tempered. Old women who go from house to house with trinkets and other articles to sell are sometimes commissioned by the mothers to look out for such eligible objects. If they know any party likely to suit, they acquaint the mother. They next find out when the maiden attendsthe bath, and inform their employer, who goes there at the same time, and if, upon seeing the girl, she thinks her likely to suit her son, she contrives to make her acquaintance. The old woman also, on her part, mentions the youth to the maiden and her family with the greatest possible praise, and the affair may be considered accomplished. The choice having thus fallen upon some one or other, and the preliminaries arranged, the dower to be paid for her settled, handkerchiefs bought, rings ordered, and a choice party of intimate friends invited, who, accompanied by the priest, repair to the house of the intended bride’s father. Sometimes the girl is brought into the room closely veiled, the young lad being present also—vows, and rings, and presents, are exchanged—the priest pronounces his blessing—the pair are betrothed, and from that day till the wedding takes place, become utter strangers to each other. They may have been bosom companions only the day before, romping with each other from early childhood, but the moment that the betrothal had taken place, there is an inseparable barrier to their meeting or conversing again till the church shall have pronounced them man and wife. This generally lasts six months, but sometimes mere children are engaged, and then they have to wait till both have arrived at years of maturity before they can get married. It seldom, if ever, happens, excepting, of course, in cases of death, that these betrothals are put aside or broken, the church considering the vows then pledged as binding on either side as the marriage vow itself.
In order to give my readers some idea of an Oriental courtship, I will quote the account which my friend, the well known Assaad Kajah gives of his own:—“I went to my friend H. Khooja Hahib Giammal, a liberal andenlightened gentleman. He allowed his beautiful eldest daughter to hand me the sherbet, and the moment I saw her, as we say in our Eastern language, ‘a thousand of my vertebræ got broken,’ and she took my heart with her when she left the room. I knew I was a favourite with her father, and I returned home resolved not to delay making my proposals.
“I told my father the state of my heart, and requested him to take a diamond ring and a fine white handkerchief, the emblem of betrothment, to the father of the damsel, and entreat him to allow me the joy of being betrothed to his daughter Martha. With a view to shew that I acted on the impulse of my own heart, and not merely by the guidance of my parents, I followed the example of our Patriarch ‘Isaac’ in the case of his beloved ‘Rebekah’ (Genesis xxiv. 22). I therefore sent to my own beloved ‘a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold.’ Thus, the ancient custom of upwards of three thousand years old is retained by the people; and a Syrian does not inquire what a purse his bride is to have, but whether his Rebekah is such a one as was brought up like Nahor’s Milcah; their popular proverb is this: ‘Khud alasseil walanah alhassir,’ ‘Take the one of good root (i.e., of good parents), though she may be on a mat’ (that is, though her parents may have no more furniture in their dwelling than a mat).
“My beloved father, in his kind way, took my message, and with a beating heart I waited for the answer. In about an hour he returned, and said, smiling, ‘Assaad, all thy affairs seem to go smoothly.’”
I am continually asked by my fair friends the number of wives I have left in Syria; my reply is, that I amnot married, though I fervently hope some bright day to crown my earthly bliss with an English wife; the ladies seemed quite incredulous on my informing them, that only one is permitted by our law. The Mahommedan religion, it is true, admits of four lawful wives, besides concubines; but I can confidently assert, that the majority even of Mussulmans have but one wife. Possibly, in default of issue, another may be taken—this, however, is theexception, not therule; and though polygamy has existed to a greater or less extent in the East since the days of the Psalmist David, and his son, the wise King Solomon, still where it is mostly practised now-a-days is amongst the wild Arab tribes, south of Gaza and the Nosairiyeh. Of these latter I have known an instance of a man marrying two wives on the same day, both young maidens, from different villages. But amongst the Turks the practice is anything but prevalent; in proof of which I may quote as instances, the late Grand Vizier Aali Pasha, the former one, Reschid Pasha, and Cabuli Effendi, the present talented Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and most of the leading Turkish gentlemen who have resided in Christian countries, have but one wife. As a proof of this I will relate an amusing story current in the East:—
A certain Mahomedan had two wives, one of these occupied the lower, the other the upper, chamber of the house in which he lived. To prevent as much as possible all appearance of undue preference, he made it his rule to visit them alternately. The communication between the upper story and the ground floor was by a short ladder. One evening as he proceeded to mount this precarious staircase, in order to visit his beloved above, his down stairs wife immediately vociferated, that his memory had failed him, and that, in the due courseof things, he had to remain with her. This the husband denied, and continued to mount the steps of the ladder. In despair, and still protesting loudly her right, the lady flew to the ladder, and the moment his head emerged into the floor of the upper chamber, seized her husband by the legs and arrested his further progress. The lady up-stairs, however, who had now got an inkling of the contest, and fearful on her part of being outwitted, rushed to the top of the ladder, and while the lady beneath was partly succeeding in pulling the unfortunate man down by the legs, suddenly seized him by that tuft of hair which is left on the head of every true believer, pulled as vigorously as her rival though in an opposite direction. While they tugged at their victim alternately, and doubt seemed to hang over victory, and it even appeared possible that the contested property might be rent in sunder between them, accompanied with all those noisy vociferations with which the fair sex are accustomed to conduct their combats, especially in the East, a thief introduced himself into the house, and was an unperceived spectator of the scene.
Some time afterwards, the thief was apprehended and carried before the Cadi, to whom he related the circumstance of which he had been witness. “Well,” said the magistrate, “your punishment shall be either to lose your head, or like the man you have robbed, immediately possess yourself of two wives—you shall have the option.” “After what I have seen,” replied the criminal, “I have no hesitation; better to lose my head and go at once to Paradise than live to be torn in half between two jealous wives.”
Although it is most true, that in Europe polygamy is disallowed, I need not say how often the marriage vow is broken, and how many are the delinquents.Often old men even have mistresses in addition to their own lawful wife. Much of this corruption evidently arises from the iniquitous practice ofmariage de convenance, so often speculated in by most match-making mothers, in the two greatest capitals of Europe. Men and women, who have not a single idea in common, and no sympathy with each other, are inveigled into marriages because the one has wealth and the other titles, or what is worse, beauty is bartered for gold. I am quite at a loss to account for the utter want of feeling in those parents who can ruthlessly sacrifice the happiness and peace of mind of their own child, by marrying a girl, perhaps of sixteen, to a half-idiotic or toothless man, in infirmity or age, thus ill calculating either for the happiness or protection of inexperienced youth. (I know of such instances). It is not in nature that such a couple should be happy; for a young man cannot be fascinated by the charms of a haggish old woman, neither is it possible, where such disparities exist, for a young girl to nourish one spark of that warm affection which should ever exist between man and wife.
Now, in Syria, such marriages never occur. A man takes a wife for ahelpmatenot for a puppet—for a companion in health—a consolation in sickness, to help him in enjoying the bounteous gifts of nature, or to soothe when the cloud of affliction rests over his pathway. This was why marriage was constituted, and this is why people get married in the East. It is true that an Oriental wife cannot paint, or play the piano or harp, but she can sing in her own quiet way, and that sweetly, too—never sweeter than when she is hushing her first-born to slumber; and she can dance on any very festive occasion, not the giddy flaunting waltz or polka, but a quiet measured tread, graceful andbecoming without being indecorous. It may be that a man does sometimes marry a girl possessed of a wealthy dower; but these instances are rare, and when they do occur, the dower is, for the most part, invested in jewels or in lands. If in the latter, the husband enjoys a life-interest in them—he is indeed lord and master of the property, and can make any improvements he sees fit: the former generally decorate the wife’s turban on festive occasions; but in case of misfortune, then these are pledged or sold off one by one to meet the emergency. I trust many of my fair readers will, after perusing this, feel convinced of the binding and solemn nature of the marriage tie amongst Christians in Syria. Far be it from me by these observations, to throw any slur upon the married life of the people of Western Europe; I merely wish to show to those who imagine that polygamy is universal in the East, that the same thing, but in a different form, is as prevalent in their own country. The English, indeed, are, upon the whole, freer from this vice than most other civilised nations, and their domestic felicity far exceeds that of any other people.
But to return to the immediate subject. The son, as soon as he is married, is fairly embarked in life, and if his father be a widower, then the whole of the household arrangements devolve upon the young wife. The son is generally master of the house, and the old man retires from business and the bustle of life, passing the rest of his days as a guest or sort of pensioner in his own house, and seldom meddling with its domestic economy. Should the mother, however, still survive, she devotes her time to instructing her daughter-in-law in domestic matters, and also accompanies her when she goes out.
There is one thing very praiseworthy amongst the Syrians, and a trait in our character which many civilised nations would do well to take for an example. I allude to untiring love and charity between not only members of one household, but all relations or connexions, however distantly connected. One seldom or ever hears of a father and his children being on bad terms, or of quarrels and broils between sisters and brothers. Of course they are not exempt from angry passions; high words may rise between them, and even ill feeling rancour in their hearts, but they never allow “the sun to set on their wrath;” and if only for appearance’ sake, they make it up again speedily, and converse and chat as freely as ever. In this respect they act up to a wise, if not elegant, French proverb—“Le linge sale doit être lavé en famille.” No strangers are permitted to rejoice at their discords, or mock at their infirmities.
Then, again, so long as one member of a family is well off, he will never suffer his poor relations to feel want. If he can find them employment, well and good; if not, they have the shelter of his own house, and food from his own table; and in return, all he expects is, that they will lend a hand at being useful. Every want is supplied them: and if even clothes be necessary, these are provided. When two or more relations of a poor man are well to do, they join together to assist him; and this in a great measure accounts for the scarcity of street-beggars in most parts of Syria. A Syrian would consider it a disgrace to his name, that any member of his family should be suffered to want whilst he had a crumb to spare, and it would be looked upon as a heinous sin in a religious point of view. In England,perhaps, it would not be fashionable to have a poor relation out at elbows, tarnishing the splendidly furnished drawing-room of a wealthy relative; or it would not be convenient to curtail the luxury and voluptuous display of every-day wealth, to contribute a pittance for the maintenance of a starving nephew or a crippled brother. This may not be fashionable, but it would be Christian-like; and rest assured, O slave of the world, so full of all “the pomps and vanities of this wicked world,” that when He comes, who gave even His life for your salvation, then the poor uneducated Syrian—the man who has received little—will have a far lighter account to balance with the Great Author of eternal life, than you who have possessed and have withheld.
Public prostitution was a thing entirely unknown in Syria until intercourse with Europeans introduced it first into the sea-ports; from thence it gradually spread inland. Formerly the most severe punishments were inflicted for this crime, and where the authorities failed to interfere, the relatives took the law into their own hands, and very summarily disposed of an offender against their honour. Even now-a-days, such poor creatures are rare; and if by chance one meets with one, she is invariably under the protection of some European—of itself a sufficient guarantee from punishment. I remember a most shocking instance of the punishment inflicted upon a woman of this class some eighteen years ago, at Beyrout. Her family were neighbours of mine. She was several times warned to be on her guard, but totally disregarded these warnings, till at length, some of the men connected with her family, entered (with the father’s knowledge and consent) the house of her paramour at night, andafter hewing her to pieces, threw her remains into a well attached to a house belonging to my uncle, the Rev. Kouri Georgius Risk Allah.
The girls in Syria are principally educated in housewifery, such as baking, washing, cooking, etc. Starching and ironing are as yet unknown, except to a few aspiring geniuses at Beyrout, who, from this knowledge, derive no small emolument. The girls are also instructed in the management of all household affairs, the care of poultry, and even of making cream-cheese, bread, pastry andleban, and also in household superstitions. Amongst these last, they are taught—
Never to rock a cradle when it is empty, because evil spirits are very fond, so say old crones in Syria, of being rocked.
Never to sweep the house after sunset, as this is only practised when there has been a death in the family and after the body has been carried out.
Never to look into a mirror after sunset, for anafreetis sure to be peeping over their shoulder, and he may shew himself to them in such a very unpleasant manner as might frighten them to death instanter. Only think of this, ye opera-going and ball-frequenting young ladies! What a hard case it would be if you were forbidden to look into a mirror after candles have been rung for.
Never to cut their finger or toe-nails near a basin of water; for if the nail should chance to fall into the water, they have nothing left to them but to make their will and go to bed, for, according to the logic of all old women, die they must.
And last and not least—Never to interrupt or harm the black snake of the house—Hye il sauda. In almost every house in Syria there is a peculiar black serpent,large but very harmless, which takes up its abode in the cellar of the house, and will never afterwards quit its nook or corner till killed, or till the house falls, or the snake dies. No Syrian would ever intentionally kill these snakes, for, besides keeping mice and rats away, they are held in such deep veneration, that endless are the absurd superstitions and tales told about them, all of which I myself once firmly believed in. Amongst other things, it is said, that if you destroy one of these snakes, the mate will be sure to seek for and obtain vengeance. They pretend, further, that these snakes are doatingly fond of milk, and that the smell of it will immediately attract them. It is commonly believed, that a young mother may be sure, if she is not on the watch, that the black snake will come in the night and feed off her breasts, till it has drained them so dry that there is nothing left for the infant; and again, with regard to the child, should the snake be disappointed in getting its supply of milk from the fountain-head, that it will then resort to the artifice of inserting its tail into the infant’s mouth, and so tickling its throat as to cause it to be sick, and thus supply itself with food. But the most ludicrous story told is about the conscientiousness of one of these snakes, a story which is firmly believed by most Orientals. It runs thus: “In Syria, it is the custom of every family to lay up a year’s provisions of all the necessaries of life, in store-rooms attached to the house; these provisions consist of melted butter in jars for cooking rice, wheat, burghal, etc. Now, as the story goes, one of these black snakes once deposited her eggs in one of these store-rooms, a hole in the corner of which led to a serpent’s nest. The young ones had been hatched, and were all assembled together gambolling about, when some of thechildren, happening to surprise these young snakes at their frolics, seeing that they were very small, whipped them up in their handkerchiefs, and ran off with them to the other end of the house. Now think what might have been the serious results of this frolic. Mother snake coming home could not find her young ones, and made a pretty to do about it. At last she discovered that the children had stolen them, and in her rage and vexation determined to be revenged on the whole family. Accordingly, with the assistance of her tail, she removed the cover of the butter-jar, and inserting her fangs into the butter, succeeded in poisoning the whole mass. Bye and bye, home came the lady of the house from the bath, and no sooner did she see what the children had been about, than, with many screams and exclamations, she insisted on the young snakes being carried back again. No sooner said than done; and now mother snake began to regret deeply what she had done. How to remedy the evil was the question—speak she could not, nor had she any other method of warning the family not to use the butter. Well, now what do you think she did? She called the male snake to her assistance, and these two, coiling themselves round the thin jar, squeezed with all their might and main, till the jar broke into a hundred pieces, the melted butter ran out on the ground, and was lost, and the family were saved from being poisoned.”
This is one amongst the many fabulous tales about the black household snake of Syria; but such like superstitions need not startle educated people in England, when they remember the endless fables that pass current in their own land about many animals, plants, and things—even to coffins darting out of fires, winding-sheets in candles, and lover-like apparitions in tea-cups.
It must not be supposed that the higher classes of Syrians are not scrupulous with regard to the laws of etiquette; on the contrary, they strictly enforce them. If Kowagar Bustros and his family called to see Kowagar Saba and his family on this Tuesday, Kowagar Saba will return the visit next Tuesday. If Kowagar Domian invite Kowagar Michali and family to dinner, Kowagar Michali and family give a return party to Kowagar Domian. But the grand day for receiving visits in every house is theEed, or festival of the master of the house, which is annually celebrated on that saint’s day whose name he has taken, and whose patronage he acknowledges. Thus all those of the name of Michali remain at home on St. Michael’s day, and all their acquaintances call to see them, and to wish them health, luck, and prosperity; some bring fruits, some sweetmeats, and few come empty-handed. If this usage is productive of no very beneficial effects, it at least serves to promote a kindly feeling betwixt neighbours and friends; and this, after all, is a grand point to observe if one wishes to be comfortable and happy in this world.
When a Syrian dies, after a few hours the hired mourners are sent for, according to a custom which has apparently prevailed from the most remote antiquity, as we find it referred to in Amos v. 16. The cries raised by these women are peculiarly mournful and affecting when they are first heard announcing to the immediate neighbourhood that one of their number has departed, or reaching the ear of the passing stranger with their intelligence of death and sorrow. Wax-tapers are then sent round to his friends as a notice that they are invited to the funeral, which always takes place within twenty-four hours after death. When theyare assembled in the church, the tapers are lit, the corpse is placed in the centre, and the service is read; then the candles are extinguished, the body is carried to the grave by his friends, is buried, and “his place knows him no more” (Job vii. 9–10).
I am tempted to close this chapter with the following lament of a lover over the grave of his mistress, literally translated from the Arabic.
Alas! and ah well a-day, that my rose-faced love, my intimate, my soul’s companion, should be enveloped in her shroud! That tongue, once familiar, with so many languages, gives utterance now to none. I listen vainly and am astonished not to hear thy once-loved voice.
Tell me, O Grave, tell me, is her incomparable beauty gone? Has she, too, faded, as the petals fall from the sweetest flower, and her lovely face changed—changed and gone! Thou art not a garden, O Grave; nor yet heaven; still all the fairest flowers and the brightest plants are culled by thee.
O black, mysterious Ground, tell me how or wherefore have we sinned, that thou art prone to hug the beautiful, the chaste, the rare—and yet so cold thy love. Stones alone hast thou for pillows for the tender, the loved, the fair.
O Ground—confusion to thy face!—think not the treasure that is withering in thy grasp is thine. O no! Thank God, her soul, her immortality, is far beyond thy reach.
Earth, unfeeling Earth, thy heart is adamant; nor hope nor pity find a place in thee. Yet seeds sown inthy bosom spring up as flowers beautiful and rare. Without thee, a solitary soul—a blank is the world to me—nor merry laugh nor cheerful glance has now a charm.
Sometimes I weep alone to think that I have lost thy love for ever—and then, oh! bitterly weep to see thy mother’s furrowed brow—full well she feels the treasure lost—the young child and the beautiful. I marvel not, angel, that thou art gone—for heaven were better fitted for thy home than earth; but I marvel that we can live yet awhile on earth—live without thy smile.
And thou who couldst barely resist the cold—thy fate is hard—nor friend to whisper comfort, nor careful eye to watch—in thy cold, solitary, mysterious grave—none can give comfort. But how foolish! I speak to dust. Thy soul, thank God! is far beyond the hurt of man or evil spirit.
In this chapter I shall endeavour to take a brief review of the country and people—the drawback to the advancement and welfare of the latter—and the inducements held out by the former for colonisation by emigrants—with the mutual benefits accruing therefrom.
That portion of the Turkish dominions which lies to the southward of Tyre, and includes all the country comprised within the boundary limits of Gaza and Hebron to the south, and Tyre to the north, is with very few exceptions, an uncultivated waste, owing, not to the want of fertility of soil, but to the indolence of its inhabitants. The sea-ports, or roadsteads, are at all seasons of the year open and exposed, and in the winter months dangerous in the extreme for shipping; in proof of this, I have only to cite the many shipwrecks which have occurred within the last few years at Jaffa and Caipha. Gaza has only, during the present year, risen into notice, few English schooners having arrived at Belfast direct from that port, deeply laden with grain. But the roadstead of Gaza is perilous for vessels at all seasons of the year, as the wind blows in shore; the holding ground is bad; the inducements held out tocommerce very small; the inhabitants lazy and impoverished; little or no consumption for seaport goods and British manufactures (the natives of the villages in the interior restricting themselves to clothing which is made of coarse stuffs manufactured by themselves or imported from Egypt); the desert no field for speculations; and such little European produce as finds its way into the interior being carried thither by petty retail merchants, natives, who supply themselves with an annual stock from the ofttimes glutted market of Beyrout. With respect to the export trade, the south of Palestine supplies abundance of wheat, sessame, and other grain; but the quality of much of this grain is superior to that produced in Asia Minor.
The people inhabiting these southern parts of Palestine are almost a distinct race from their brethren farther north; in manners and customs, and even in complexion and stature, differing materially from the northern Syrian: the great heat of the climate and the general scarcity of water rendering them an indolent and careless people, sadly lacking in cleanliness, and without spirit or energy to make any exertions for the amelioration of their wretched condition. After leaving Tyre, and as we proceeded south, mulberry-plantations quickly disappear; thus the one grand staple commodity is wanting, and the occupation of rearing the silkworm, at once a healthy and amusing pastime and a lucrative labour, is denied the inhabitants of Southern Palestine. With hard manual labour, privation, and exposure to intense heat, and all the evils of comparative serfdom, they have no pleasurable recreations to lighten the arduous pursuits of their every-day avocations: the plough and the spade—the spade and the plough—incessant toil and small recompense—unwillingessto work, yet goaded to it by dire necessity, the pangs of starvation, or the chastisements inflicted by unrelenting landlords and landowners. Such is their unhappy lot.
Their huts are miserable, their children squalid and unhealthy; they toil through a life of troubles and sorrows, and have the poor satisfaction of knowing that they are possessed of no benefits which might, in after-years, accrue to their children’s advantage. From generation to generation they live and die, are born and given in marriage, but the tenure of their serfdom is still the same. They are nominally free subjects of an enlightened government, but virtually the slaves of circumstances, groaning under the petty chiefs and subordinate understrappers of government, who have yet to learn submission to the will and mandates of the present excellent Sultan, Abdul Medjid Khan, whose reign has already been distinguished by many great improvements in the condition of the Christian population. Many of the firmans issued of late years have not as yet come into force in the interior of Turkey, and in those possessions of the Ottoman empire situated farthest from the sea-ports. In the course of some years it is, however, to be hoped, that the most remote villages will be benefited by the improvements made in Western Europe.
The disposition of the natives of Southern Palestine has a tinge of sullen moroseness in it, which has doubtless been ingrafted in it from generation to generation; there is nothingcouleur-de-rosein their sphere of life and action; and the superstition they inherit from their ancestors is not that pure and lovely religion of Christ which can cast a halo around, whilst it strengthens, encourages, and supports in the darkest hours of afflictionand woe. It may be, that, under better auspices—could the people be brought to have a common interest in their own and each other’s welfare, were there less animosity and party feeling existing between the various creeds, could they be brought to nurture less of deadly malice and hatred towards each other, all combining in one common cause with a mutual good understanding—the fate of Southern Palestine and its prevailing feature of sterile barrenness might be changed. The country, people, and climate, might yield to the introduction of agriculture and other improvements, and be materially bettered—if land were meted out in portions with a sure guarantee to the cultivator that his toil and labour would eventually be recompensed by his reaping some fruits for himself from the sweat of his brow to benefit his children—were the lower classes of the Moslems less avaricious, the Jews less despised, the Christians less exposed to the grinding system of the land-owners and admitted to reap fair profits from the fields they plough and the gardens they cultivate for their wealthier and more powerful masters; then, peradventure, the sea-coast and the cities near and round about Jerusalem would gradually re-assume a right to that blessed title which ascribed to its countries the appellation of a land rich indeed, and flowing with milk and honey. But alas for the land of Canaan! the portion of the tribe of Judah is become an unsightly wilderness; and of Zion it may be truly said, “Thy house is left unto thee desolate.”
From Gaza to Tyre the whole line of sea-coast is inhabited by people who, with the exception of Jaffa, Caipha, and Acre, are professionally goatherds and farmers—a simple people that subsist chiefly upon milk and cheese, with fruit and vegetables, and who aremerely the hirelings of the owners of the large flocks committed to their charge. These goats furnish the surrounding country with the only palatable meat to be procured in these hot regions. Mutton is scarce, and beef seldom heard of; hence poultry and goats are the staple commodity of the meat-market. A young kid of a year’s growth is up to this very day often chosen as a choice delicacy. Who does not call to mind the crafty art of Rebecca in seasoning the well-flavoured dish so as to make it vie with the tenderest venison? A kid, seasoned with spice and stuffed with sweet herbs, rice, and the kernel of the fine fruit (at the very recollection of which I hunger), is the festive dish of every house in Palestine on seasons of mirth and great rejoicings. The father of the newly-married bridegroom, tottering from extreme old age, will issue forth from the festive board after having partaken of this delicacy, with a face radiant with smiles and contentment, pouring forth blessings on him that prepared the savoury meat.
It is seldom now-a-days that men die of extreme old age and debility in the countries round about Jerusalem; but where such instances occur, and where the faculties are retained to the last, and the human functions are in full operation, then rest assured, that the tent scene in Isaac’s last closing moments—so beautifully portrayed in the Holy Scriptures—is still vividly re-acted up to this very day, with the sole exception perhaps of the deceit practised by Jacob and his mother, which omission may solely arise from the fact that the children of this world have now become wiser in their generation, and are no longer to be imposed upon by such simple and rude artifices.
But in their poverty and misery, the children of Southern Syria must bow the neck meekly to the yoketill a brighter day dawns from above upon their affliction, and till the curse is removed and the blessing of the Almighty shall descend, like the rich dew of Hermon, upon their country and themselves, and more than amply recompense them for centuries of suffering and woe. They must remember the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah—“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”
With Sidon the whole face of the country changes, and here commences that luxuriant and verdant pasturage and foliage, which continue increasing as we progress to the northward and may be said to reach a climax of beauty and profuse richness in the districts of Lebanon, Tripoli, Lattakia, and Antioch. Vast mulberry plantations, orchards of delicious fruits, and vineyards covered with an endless variety of grapes, everywhere delight the eye. At those spots where the soil is untilled, and up the lofty sides of the mountains, grow the cypress, the majestic oak, the stately fir, and the lofty pine; every inch of ground being thickly covered with wild flowers, blackberry bushes, the white rose, and the training honey-suckle, all which, with the fresh odours of the country, recall forcibly to the mind the words of the prophet Hosea, “his smell is as Lebanon.”
“—Through the grassThe quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the trillsOf summer birds sing welcome as ye pass;Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their dyes,Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;The sweetness of the violet’s deep-blue eyes,Kissed by the breath of heaven, seems colour’d by its skies.”
“—Through the grassThe quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the trillsOf summer birds sing welcome as ye pass;Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their dyes,Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;The sweetness of the violet’s deep-blue eyes,Kissed by the breath of heaven, seems colour’d by its skies.”
In the neighbourhood of Sidon, even the rare exoticbanana has now been reared with success, its large and handsome leaves and clustering golden fruit being a source of wonder and admiration to the Syrian who is a stranger to that neighbourhood. Here also commences that plentiful supply of clear, crystal water which so materially adds to the beauty of the scenery, makes cleanliness and comfort a cheap luxury to the inhabitants, and as a natural consequence, proportionably benefits the health of the natives. Children grow up surrounded by the choicest gifts of a bountiful Providence, and their young and tender hearts are moulded in a meeker and more gentle frame; their labour is more congenial to their constitution and habits, and the smallest exertion is quickly recompensed by a grateful and fruitful return. The shade of many trees affords them a welcome shelter; the waters of many cool streams are at hand to quench their slightest thirst; and the choice fruits of a hundred orchards, maturing to ripeness, afford them a luxurious repast. Besides these, the cattle and poultry are more plentiful, and of a better sort, and the pasturages are thickly dotted with flocks of fine healthy sheep, and milch cows in abundance. The result of all these blessings is, that the inhabitants are a healthier, wealthier, and a more cheerful race than the people of Southern Palestine; and the vast supply of honey gathered from the wild honey-combs in the neighbouring mountains, and the excessive cheapness and excellence of milk renders this portion of Syria the land “flowing with milk and honey” of the present day.
Oh that I were possessed of sufficient eloquence to prove to that great mass of people who are emigrating from the British isles to the far distant shores of Australia and North America, the fallacy of the opinion,so universally entertained by some English, with regard to the risk and danger incurred by those possessed of lands within the limits of the Turkish dominions! Would that I could divest them of the idea usually run away with by Englishmen, that they would be exposing their lives and property to the will and pleasure of ferocious three-tailed pashas, such as they have read of in books of travels, dated nearly half a century back, and whose detestable names and memory are now handed down to posterity in tales and Eastern ballads.
The real state of the Turkish empire is quite the reverse to what these good people imagine, and of late years any European, particularly since the siege of Acre, and an Englishman especially, commands universal respect from all the inhabitants of Syria, rich or poor, Christian or Jew. There may be, perhaps, a few of the more bigoted beys and nobles, who, wishing to remain in undisturbed possession of their wealth, and the monopoly of land and labour, would regard the advent of enlightened strangers as likely to be an infringement on their position, dignity, and independence; but their rage and jealousy would prove as impotent as it would be contemptible.
It is, moreover, difficult to satisfy Europeans, especially Englishmen, that they can make safe investments in the Turkish dominions; but it is only requisite to enquire into the tenure of all sorts of property as held by Europeans in every part of Turkey for many years, to shew that their vested rights have never been questioned, and that when any injury or loss was proved to have been sustained to any such property, the official representative of the owner had only to submit his claim, and in every instance full and satisfactory redresswas instantly afforded; and I may refer, in proof of this, to an instance which occurred some years ago of losses sustained by the French Factory, on Mount Lebanon, owing to irregularities and outrages on the part of the petty local authorities, and others, for which ample indemnification was given.
I may state, as an additional confirmation, the case of the Rev. Goodall, the American Missionary, who was plundered by the soldiers during the Greek piratical invasion of Beyrout, to which I have before alluded. As soon as quiet was re-established, the Consul applied to the Pasha for a restitution of the stolen property, or a tantamount value. A list was made out, and so punctilious was the Pasha, that even a fowl, that had been ready trussed for roasting, was included amongst the missing articles, and every farthing was paid down out of the Government treasury. And this is the case in most instances where a European is the aggrieved party; the Governor of the district will be sure to see justice done him and the Treasury is entitled to collect the sum disbursed from the heads of the villages in the immediate neighbourhood where the theft was committed. This answers a double end; it satisfies the injured party, and ensures almost to a certainty the capture of the felon, for all the villagers are on the watch to discover the rogue that has brought on them such a taxation.
Europeans hold property after this manner, viz., they authorise a friend who is a subject of the Sultan, in whom they can place implicit confidence, to buy or purchase such and such a house or landed property in his own name; then he makes a transfer of the titles to such property to the European in lieu of some imaginary debt, usually a sum far exceeding the value of the property itself. This transfer is made in the Cadi’s, orChief Judge’s Court; and being registered, becomes valid in Turkish law, and is legally recognised as such. It is thus that the oldest vested European interests in Turkey are secured and possessed, and handed down to the lawful heirs of the European proprietors.
In respect both to the character of the Turks, and their kindly disposition towards strangers, I cannot do better than give a quotation from an interesting work by J. C. Monk, Esq., who has very recently visited the country, in order to illustrate their friendliness and amiability. He says—
“For my own part I look back with unmixed pleasure and gratification to the brief period of my sojourn among the Turks. Their hospitality to strangers, as well as their charity to the poor, and to each other in distress, has never been questioned. From the Pasha in his palace, and from the peasant in his hut, I have received kindness and hospitality. They are not inquisitive in demanding the business or occasion which brings a stranger to their doors, as such he is welcome; as he came, so may he depart; no present is required, and rarely is it expected; no questions are asked; attentive to the wants and comforts of his guests, the Turk seems to forget his naturalinsoucianceuntil the departure of the stranger, when in return for his salutation he wishes him “God speed.”
Of one thing I am certain, and that is, that the middling and poorer classes would hail the arrival of English emigrants with rapturous delight; and in stating this, I am not without antecedents to prove what I assert. I might instance the case of the late lamented and excellent Mr. John Barker, who, for many years, lived amongst the wildest and most bigoted portion of the natives of Northern Syria (atleast, they were so when he first went amongst them); go now and ask whomsoever you will—the richest or the poorest—their opinion of the English, and, as if with one voice, they will reply—that, taking Mr. Barker as a standard, they consider them the best, most charitable, and most enlightened people that inhabit the earth—the best friends and staunchest supporters of the Sultan—and a people that they would gladly see settled around them.
Let us quietly argue both sides of the question; and perhaps as an objection to start with, the reader may urge, that, in the instance above quoted, the gentleman who thus settled in Syria was a wealthy retired Consul-General, possessing,for that country, an income equal to, if not exceeding, that of the most important Pasha in Syria, and that, therefore, apart from his wealth, the high official position he had occupied in Egypt and Aleppo, was a sufficient reason to command esteem and respect among the natives; also in the cases of Col. Churchill, who possesses large estates in the mountains, and is most active in his exertions for the spiritual enlightenment and temporal improvement of the people, that of Lady Hester Stanhope, and other Europeans. This may be correct to a certain extent, but is false in the main. Of that unfortunate lady, who once ruled with almost absolute power, the wild Arabs of the desert, the only traces that remain, are the few crumbling ruins of her humble abode at Djouni; her very name is almost forgotten, and her sun of life sunk behind the cloud of obscurity. But why was this? Simply because she lavished her money, when she had any, in vain paraphernalia, and gave large sums, asbackshish, to unprincipled men, who had no sooner spent the money, than they forgot the patroness. Had sheemployed her time and means in buying land and cultivating it, introducing useful arts, etc., then her memento would have been lasting, and the boon conferred handed down from generation to generation. Mr. Barker’s and Col. Churchill’s estates flourish, and will continue to flourish through many years to come.
The better sorts of peaches and grapes, besides a variety of rare Indian and American fruits, which have been introduced by English philanthropists, all serve to remind the Syrians of the kind friends who brought them to the country; and many who have risen from obscurity into comparative independence, hourly bless the good men whose hands showered these benefits upon them. It would be in the power, more or less, of every Englishman emigrating to Syria, to confer a lasting benefit upon the natives through the introduction of a better method than they possess of cultivating the ground, etc.; while a blacksmith, a skilful carpenter, and a good mason, would prove invaluable acquisitions; and an industrious farmer might initiate them into the art of making wholesome cheese, in lieu of the hard, unpalatable stuff that now bears that name. These would be the greatest of boons to the Syrians; and though naturally a slow people, unwilling to deviate from old customs and habits which have been handed down to them from generation to generation, still the successful working of any newly introduced system, affording them incontrovertible proofs of its yielding a better profit, would very soon induce the natives to follow the example of their more civilised neighbours.
The advantages to be derived from emigrating to Syria are manifold; but first amongst these let me class, what to a patriotic Englishman must be a pleasant thought, the comparative vicinity of this country to hisnative land. Thousands of people are content to be cooped up for months in a close confined vessel, exposed to all the hardships and sufferings of a long sea-voyage, and subjected to the expenses of passage-money and outfit, with the almost certainty before them, even if they succeed beyond their most sanguine wishes, of being exiled from their country for ten or a dozen years. I do not now allude to those shoals that are flocking over to Australia, tempted from home by the immense wealth of the Gold-diggings; nor to the possibility of these Gold-diggings being very speedily inundated with people who may, when too late, bitterly lament the rashness of their proceedings; neither will I advert to the possibility of mines being discovered even in so neglected a country as Syria. Some are already known; and even copper and iron also exist. In Arabia, mountains of turquoise exist, specimens of which were exhibited at the Exhibition, and gained a prize, by Major C. R. Macdonald, who had also the honour of presenting the Queen with a pair of magnificent bracelets. I am arguing with that class of men who emigrate simply because they can find no occupation for their professional labours at home. Yet not one out of these thousands has moral courage to emigrate to Syria, where, if they proceed by a steamer, their outfit and passage-money would amount to about one-half the expense incurred in going to Australia,—the passage barely exceeding a fortnight, and that passage, if the season is well chosen, performed in the height of summer, with hardly a squall to ruffle the placid waters of the Mediterranean. Here, then, at the very outset, is a saving of at least one-half of the expense which must be incurred in going to Australia.
We will now suppose our emigrant arrived in Syria,with some surplus cash in his pocket; he here converts each golden sovereign into more than one hundred piastres, and he must be a spendthrift indeed if he cannot live well and comfortably for ten piastres per day, or at the rate of four sovereigns a month. In this interval he has had enough time to look about him, and determine upon the town or position in which he intends fixing his abode; and he has had also, during this short period, the satisfaction of writing to his friends at home, and of receiving their answers and congratulations on his safe arrival. Listen to this, O ye that would still persist in emigrating to Australia, and remember how many months must elapse ere the happy tidings of your safe arrival and its reply can reach you.
If the emigrant be a farmer he is not long in fixing upon a fit site for the establishment of his farm-house. The immediate neighbourhood of Tripoli, Beyrout, Tyre, Sidon, and Jaffa are best adapted for his purpose, the shipping there and the towns themselves affording an ample market for the consumption of live stock. He will have cheapness to contend against in the sale of cattle and poultry, but the superior quality of what would be produced by a careful farmer, his stall-fed oxen and sheep, and well-fattened poultry, would, amongst Europeans and the wealthiest natives, command eventually a ready and profitable sale. Cyprus would supply him with young turkeys at an average value of about a shilling a head, and with every other species of poultry. If he wished to experimentalise in improving the breed of cattle, he might do so advantageously, not to mention the profits from wool and hides. The one article of cheese alone, in exchange, would be to him a source of certain gain. One half of the inhabitantssubsist for a great portion of the year almost entirely upon this food, wretchedly as it is made by my countrymen.
Should the emigrant be a lover of a cold climate, he can easily fix his abode on the snow-capped pinnacles of Lebanon, where he may enjoy perpetual frost. If another should prefer a milder climate, he can calculate his temperature almost to a nicety, and by carrying a pocket thermometer about with him, go higher or descend lower, as fancy or inclination might prompt. Should he love to luxuriate in heat, he has only to descend to the sea-side, and there he will revel in all the glory of sunshine, glare, and warm land-breezes. Mechanics, etc., would find ready occupation in the very heart of the busiest towns in Syria, and what is more, such is the high repute of English mechanics and artizans amongst the natives of Syria, that even old grey-bearded Mahomedans would gladly apprentice themselves, giving in return their manual labour.
It may be urged, with regard to climate, that the heat of all parts of Syria is too intense to admit of English labourers being employed in the cultivation of the immense tracts of waste land that so abound in various districts. My reply to this is, that both food and labour being extremely cheap in that country, and the produce, whether grain or silk, disposable at an enormous profit in the English markets, the proceeds of such sales would enable the small capitalist to employ sufficient labourers under him; so that, in short, he would be simply a teacher and overseer, managing his own property, and could, in a very few years, afford to have an official in his pay, whilst he himself perhaps might be, with his family, enjoying a cheap jaunt to his own country.
But there is also another large class of emigrants, towhose means and occupations Syria is even better suited than to all the foregoing. I mean persons of a certain fixed moderate income; those in receipt of an annual rent or interest, varying in amount from £50 to £300. A man in London, especially if he have a wife and family to support, is comparatively a pauper if he can earn no more than £50 per annum. Take that man to Syria; plant him in any part of Lebanon, or in any other district of that country, and he has no longer pounds and shillings to mete out carefully, so as to cover the annual outlay for household expenses; but he has now to deal with piastres and paras. For one piastre he can get four ordinary penny loaves; for half a piastre he can get five eggs; for another half, as much fresh butter and milk as will serve his purpose for the day, and unless he be an extraordinary eater, leave an abundant surplus. Thus for two piastres we have seen him provided with milk, butter, and bread—three staple commodities—and the additional luxury of fresh-laid eggs. Anoak, or 2¾ lbs. of mutton, would cost him about two and a half piastres, and he spends a piastre in vegetables and fruit; thus the raw articles of consumption cost him daily five and a half piastres, or just one shilling sterling. With sixpence additional, he can have fish and wine and coffee, an ample supply of each, enough indeed to satisfy the cravings of three moderate men; so that his annual item for food, wine, and coffee, would amount to 547 shillings and sixpence, or £27 17s. 6d. Of his original income of £50 per annum, he would thus still have a surplus of £22 2s. 6d. His rent and the hire of three servants, their keep included, may consume £10 of this balance, and with the remaining £12 2s. 6d. he could buy and keep for the whole first year a very serviceable steed, whosecost would be more than recompensed by the benefit and pleasure of horse-exercise every day in the week.
Having now mounted my comparatively English “beggar on horseback”—even if he be the most indolent of indolent men—he must go on thriving better and better. Most Englishmen, however, have too much good sense now-a-days to suffer precious hours to flit lazily by. It is evident also, that our emigrant will he put to less expense the second year of his sojourn, at least to the amount of the value of cost of his horse, which will then only become an item of keep, as grass is plentiful and barley (on which our horses are fed) cheap. His exchequer would thus be increased by £10 at the end of the second year. Now, even in England, a sharp-witted fellow might, by unremitting perseverance and indefatigable zeal, turn ten pounds into twenty; but in Syria, this sum is 1100 piastres, and for 1100 piastres there is many a bit of ground to be purchased equal in size to the largest square in London. This he could lay out, if he fancied, part in a kitchen-garden, part in a farm-yard, and part in a nursery for young mulberry shoots, to be transplanted the ensuing year, by which time also the extent of ground could be doubled by the purchase of a fresh lot for £10 more—both planted with mulberries, the proprietor supplying his own table with poultry and vegetables, making his own wine, and pressing his own oil. In five years after his first settlement, he would have a mulberry plantation five times as extensive as Eaton Square, with that portion of the property first planted already yielding a return; for the mulberry-tree, after three years, is ready to rear the worm upon, and the quantity reared goes on increasing as the trees become larger and yield a more abundant supply ofleaves. At the end of these five years our landed proprietor, whose greatest horror in London was quarter-day, and rent and taxes, now finds himself in receipt of about £80 per annum instead of £50, with every prospect of a rapid augmentation, for he may have been adding ground to ground each successive year, and every successive piece of land purchased may have been larger than the preceding, till about the seventh year of his residence, when he may have made an outlay of about £200, and have a promising plantation, yielding him, conjointly with his income, somewhere about £120 per annum, with every prospect of this income rapidly increasing. The best part of the pleasant tableau, too, would consist in the fact that there had been no pinching and screwing up of one’s means, no direful privations to meet the emergency, no sleepless nights, and worrying busy days, racking one’s brains and detracting from health and happiness; but on the contrary, the emigrant’s life will have been one perpetual scene of pleasurable and healthful occupation and diversion.
He will be an early riser, because he has had his little flower-garden to weed, or the planting out of his fruit-trees and vegetables to superintend: his farm-yard will then claim his attention; the cows milking and sending forth to grass; the sheep, the turkeys, the geese, ducks, fowls, guinea-hens, etc., all to be attended to; terminating by a pleasant ride round his own plantation (how his heart throbs at the thought,his own plantation!), and in seeing that his people are at their various labours for the day. This ride gives him a keen relish for his breakfast; and the forenoon is agreeably occupied in making notes of when such and such a hen first sat on her eggs, and when such a batch of chickenswere hatched, etc. At noon he has lunch, and takes hissiesta; whilst the afternoon is devoted to study, or to correspondence; or, if the fancy take him, and the season be propitious, to a shooting party. There is no game-law to check his ambition, or to limit his range of ground: no preserves, no man-traps, no “All dogs found trespassing will be shot.” He may climb up one hill and go down another; spring a covey of partridges, knock over a couple or more, and then quietly re-load his gun for another shot. The only thing that seem inquisitive about, or will take any interest in, such proceedings are, not game-keepers, but game-destroyers—jackals and sparrowhawks; the one will track the blood of the wounded partridge more surely even than the dogs, the other soars high over head, and equally robs the sportsman of his game unless numbered amongst his victims.
In the cool of the evening, the emigrant will enjoy his wholesome, abundant, and luxurious dinner, and perhaps, entering into the spirit of Oriental life, take afinganof coffee, and, may be, smoke a pipe of deliciousLattakia; and at ten, at the latest, he takes himself to bed, glad, after the many occupations of the day, to seek that healthful and refreshing sleep, which is sure to be the natural result of so regular a course of life.
Such is the picture of life I have drawn out for a man possessed at the outset of only £50 per annum. Many in the receipt of even more than this sum annually, are now on the threshold of the poorhouse. Surely, if such should peruse these pages, they cannot longer hesitate as to what to do or how to proceed.
Men with families who wish to luxuriate in theenjoyments of life, but whose limited means of from £200 to £300 per annum restrict them, should emigrate to Lebanon and to Syria. There they might build themselves palaces, have parks stocked with gazelles and deer, the choicest orchard of fruit, a stable not to be surpassed by potentates of Europe, summer-houses, and dogs, and guns, and other requisites for shooting and coursing parties; a summer residence near the seaside, and a yacht to pleasure in whithersoever they might choose, or whither the whim of the moment might lead them.
Finally, if Englishmen would only emigrate to Syria, and establish a small colony there, then the uninitiated natives would be enabled to form some estimate of their character as a nation; and, above all, would discover, that they, like themselves, are Church-goers, strictly observant of the sabbath, possessing ordained bishops, priests, and deacons,—acknowledging the efficacy of the Sacraments, and a people really good, and believers in the Gospel, in lieu of being what they now suppose them to be, a people that mount upon house-tops to pray, because the higher the elevation the nearer they think themselves to God.
If consumptive patients, in the early stage of that most direful malady, were to resort to the milder climate of Syria, there is every hope that, under God’s blessing, they would eventually recover, for, apart from the excellency of the climate, they are there exposed to no sudden changes of heat and cold, no coming out of stifling opera-houses into the chilling night air, no pernicious excitements, nor exhausting late hours.