CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Palmyra—Suspicions of Nasar—Encampment in a beautiful valley—Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh Mnyf—Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s tent—The women—Traits of Bedouin character—Tribe of the Beni Omar—Affray between the Bedouins—Their war-cry—Aqueducts—Salamýah—Clotted cream and sour milk—Meat of the Desert—Castle of Shumamýs—Medical assistance required by Bedouins—Entry of Lady Hester into Hamah—Sum paid to Nasar for escort—Salubrity of the air of the Desert—State of Lady Hester’s health—Professional aid of the Author in requisition—Yahyah Bey—Rigid abstinence of a Syrian Christian—The bastinado—Pilgrimage to the tomb of a shaykh—Treatment of horses in spring—Precautions against plague—Custom of supporting great personages under the arm—Schoolmasters—Doctors and their patients.
Departure from Palmyra—Suspicions of Nasar—Encampment in a beautiful valley—Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh Mnyf—Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s tent—The women—Traits of Bedouin character—Tribe of the Beni Omar—Affray between the Bedouins—Their war-cry—Aqueducts—Salamýah—Clotted cream and sour milk—Meat of the Desert—Castle of Shumamýs—Medical assistance required by Bedouins—Entry of Lady Hester into Hamah—Sum paid to Nasar for escort—Salubrity of the air of the Desert—State of Lady Hester’s health—Professional aid of the Author in requisition—Yahyah Bey—Rigid abstinence of a Syrian Christian—The bastinado—Pilgrimage to the tomb of a shaykh—Treatment of horses in spring—Precautions against plague—Custom of supporting great personages under the arm—Schoolmasters—Doctors and their patients.
We left Palmyra on the 4th of April early in the morning, and the danger of an attack from the Faydân had an excellent effect on the servants, camel-drivers, and helpers of all sorts, who, on most occasions, could not be kept together, but who now were as orderly and obedient as soldiers: for fear made them so. Our course was in the same track by whichwe had come. As my horse walked a little faster than the common pace, I diverged somewhat from the road, to the right, in order to ascend a small conical mount, which, at two hours’ distance from Palmyra, terminates the chain of hills enclosing the plain in which is the aqueduct of Abu Fewárez. I was attracted by something like fragments of a building on its top, and was rewarded for my trouble by finding a fallen pillar of the Corinthian order, and a portion of a statue in alto relievo which had stood upon it. Some future traveller, having more time to examine this piece of sculpture, may be able to discover what it was: but I do not think it had hitherto been noticed by any one. It appeared to me to represent an Apollo. We traversed the Mezzah or sandy plain, and, in five hours from the fallen pillar, reached the White Mountain; where we encamped in a bottom, in order that our lights might not be seen. At each extremity of the tents a vidette of Bedouins was placed, about one hundred paces off; whilst among the tents we ourselves and the servants patrolled armed. Much alarm prevailed. It was whispered among the servants that a plan had been laid by Nasar and his men to make us all prisoners, and exact an immense ransom from us; and others said the Palmyrenes would come upon us in the night: nothing however happened.
April the 5th, we resumed our march; and, by the anxiety Nasar showed to be gone betimes in the morning,as well as his unwillingness that Lady Hester should stop anywhere in the day for an hour, which was her custom, it was evident that he was not without apprehension. We were three hours and ten minutes in crossing the White Mountain, which here consists only of sand-hills, when we arrived at Wady el Jar. From Wady el Jar we saw the Beláz before us, where a sink in the ridge of the chain formed a landmark. We arrived, in about six hours, at a valley, so beautiful that we all with one accord burst into exclamations of admiration of it; and, as there was a low part in it where our tents were not likely to be seen, it was resolved to encamp here for the night.
In the course of a few days, vegetation had made great progress, and we found the soil in some places covered with fine grass, in others, as where we were now, thickly sprinkled with flowers, so as to resemble a parterre; the more remarkable in our eyes, because the flowers we saw are in England reared only with pains and borrowed heat.
The next morning, April 6th, Nasar gave us no respite, but obliged us with the rising sun to strike our tents, and hasten on our way. There was indeed no doubt left on our minds that he feared an enemy in the rear. This day’s march, however, carried us out of danger. In one hour after starting we came to a well, called Ma el kushka, which is at the foot of the Beláz. We ascended the mountain, reached the Fasekh el Menkûra, or valley between the two chains; againascended the other side; and, came to Menghiazy, where we quitted the mountain for the plain, and where we seemed to have left such a barrier between us and our pursuers as afforded us security from any very sudden attack. But our greatest protection was in a large encampment of the tribe of the Sebáh Bedouins, which, it will be recollected, we met with on our way to Palmyra in the valley of the Menkûra.
At Menghiazy are the ruins of a Turkman village: and as, wherever I saw fragments of rude walls or the vestiges of houses, the Bedouins generally told me that there had once been a Turkman village, I concluded from it that these plains were frequented and inhabited by Turkman shepherds, as the Accár, that vast plain near Tripoli, and many other plains, are still. There are the remains of a caravansery at a little distance from the ruins.
The Sebáh, close to whom we were encamped, were a portion only of that large tribe. They were commanded by Shaykh Mnyf, whose tent was a league or two off: for they occupy in their encampments a vast extent of ground, for the sake of pasture for their camels. But, as the next day was to be a halt, Mnyf seized the opportunity of being presented to Lady Hester, and with him, Mfuthy, a ragged shaykh, whom I had known on my first journey. In the afternoon, before sunset, Lady Hester received all the Bedouin women. The assembly was very numerous. The men, sitting crosslegged on the grass, formed asemicircle at the door of her tent, where she had a seat placed for herself. Shaykh Mnyf was invested with a new abah and turban: Shaykh Mfuthy had likewise a present. But the most curious part was to see the women, who at once excited and expressed curiosity. They were very brown, and some of them, from the effects of fatigue and a hot sun, were, when cursorily looked at, truly hideous; but, in all of them, the outline of beauty was perceptible, either in their frame, or in their face. Wherever, likewise, a girl or young woman was to be seen, she would very often prove to be of great beauty; and black and swimming eyes were never-failing features. Lady Hester, remarkable herself for the fairness of her complexion, served as a foil to them, and they to her. She distributed among them a few beads, some handkerchiefs, and such trifles as would serve as a memorial of her visit.
During the interval that had elapsed between our going and returning, several tribes had come up from different directions, and had encamped in the road by which we were to return. All were attracted by curiosity, and in some was added the desire of sharing in the presents which were given away with a liberal hand. It was on one of these occasions that a Bedouin, rendered somewhat enthusiastic by the scene before him, throwing off his keffiyah, cried, “Give me a hat, and I will go to England.”
These Bedouin women were tatooed on the under lip, on the arms and hands, and on the feet. The fashionfor their head-dress was to press the hair flat on the head, and to braid the ringlets at the side; a style that may be seen in many ancient statues. Some of the youths also had plaited their tresses. The first question which the Bedouins always asked was, whether we had a sultan, how old he was, how many children he had, &c. When they learned that his queen[51]had borne him fifteen, and that they formed one of the finest families in Europe in looks and person, the Bedouins would cry out, “Mashallah!” which is their exclamation of surprise at anything astonishing and pleasing.
April 8th, we proceeded on our route towards Hamah. From Menghiazy, we passed the ruined caravansery, of which I have already spoken. We continued over a tolerably level country for four hours more, when we came to Kerejat Atheab, where there are ruins of a Turkman village and some wells a little apart from each other. The country, as we advanced, became more verdant, because the soil was less stony. From Kerejat Atheab, we proceeded to Rekhym el Khanzýr, where we encamped for the night. Here we found the tents of the Beni Omar, under their chieftain, Ali Bussal, of whom mention has been made in my first journey.
The next morning, April the 9th, we struck our tents, and were waiting, as was our custom, each with his horse’s bridle in his hand, ready to mount as soonas Lady Hester should come out of her tent, which was always the last standing: Nasar was sitting on a knoll, conversing with a shaykh of the Beni Omar, and other Bedouins were standing around. I thought their discussions, whatever they might be, were rather warm; but I paid no attention to them, as their emphatic manner of speaking had more than once deceived me; but presently two Bedouins drew their sabres, down in the valley before us, and began fighting. In an instant, up rose Nasar and the Bedouins, and leaped on their mares: they rode towards the combatants, who desisted, and a crowd collected round Nasar. At this time Lady Hester came out, and Mr. B. and I told her what had happened. Immediately she mounted her horse, as we did ours, and, with great presence of mind, said, “Whatever happens, remain you still until attacked: if the quarrel is their own, we have no right to interfere.” The crowd now opened: Nasar and his party came towards us; the Beni Omar retreated to their side. The shaykhs, with Nasar, formed a circle around him, with their horses’ heads pointing inwards, and, striking their spears on the ground, sang, as they sat, a kind of chorus, of which I could make out something to this effect, “Nasar, Nasar, we fight for Nasar.” The tone of their voices and quickness of utterance by degrees were augmented, until, by a repetition of this, their war-cry, they seemed to have worked themselves into a fury.
At this time the man, with whom Nasar had beenspeaking so vehemently before the beginning of the affray, came riding at a gallop, with the spear in its rest, his head uncovered, and his hair flying in the wind, towards Nasar and his party. Seeing this, Shaykh Hamûd, an old man, mounted on a fine gray mare, rode out to meet him, but with his spear on his shoulder. He stopped him in his career, argued with him some time, and at last persuaded him to retire. It may be conceived what our anxiety must have been during these proceedings: for it is impossible to say what would have become of us, had these two parties come to blows. By degrees, both sides seemed to grow pacified, and at last we rode off, leaving the Beni Omar in possession of the field, muttering threats and vowing revenge. We were afterwards told that the dispute began about a thorough-bred colt, which Nasar unfairly withheld from the true owner.
We passed to-day through plains more like meadows than a desert, where the grass was nearly high enough to make hay. In an hour and a half, we came to Khurbah, a Turkman village, with a tel or conical mound close to it. We passed three other tels before we reached the ruined city of Salamyah. We encamped outside the walls, near some tents of the Hadidyns.
Before arriving at Salamyah, near the last tel, are found circular openings in the ground, like the mouths of wells. Looking into them, an aqueduct of excellent masonry in hewn stones is seen to run under ground, having these vent-holes at equal distances. We lostsight of it for some time, and it then re-appeared within a short distance of Salamyah. From the vent-holes wild pigeons flew out, and, without this evidence that there was water beneath, we could observe it in places trickling along in a small stream.
Pliny and Wood agree in thinking that from Emesa to Palmyra the name of desert was always applicable, and that, from the days of Abraham up to our times, the face of it has not changed. We would not oppose our judgment to theirs, and yet a contrary opinion might surely be entertained, when ruins are found at every step, and an aqueduct that indicates the height of civilization.
April 9th, we halted at Salamyah, and took this opportunity of viewing the ruins of the city; for such it appears to have been, and of Saracen origin. Salamyah is described by Abulfeda as an agreeable place, with aqueducts conveying water to it, and with many gardens around it. It was built by Abdallah ben Salah, a descendant, in the fifth generation, from Abd el Motalleb. In the time of El Azyzy, it was on the skirts of the desert;[52]now it is fairly in it. Around it, there was a well-built wall. Over the gate by which we entered, to the south, was a long inscription in Arabic, which we did not copy for want of time. Within we found the remains of two or three mosques, with their cupolas yet upon them, and of a public bath; also the walls of houses, and some wells, whichcontained water, and from one of which we drew our supply. It did not appear to me that this place had been inhabited during the last forty or fifty years.
At Menghiazy, at Rekhym el Khanzýr, and here, the Bedouins emulated each other in the reception they gave Lady Hester. At her request, the finest mares were brought for her to look at. Several Arabs offered them as presents to her; but made it understood that they valued them at a price so enormous, that, to make a present in return as an adequate recompense, would have been paying too dear. Her ladyship, therefore, declined accepting them. Bedouins, on such occasions, are extremely mercenary, and strangely overrate their property.
Lady Hester having expressed a desire to ride on a dromedary, one of their best, which they call hejýn, and which are used for expeditious journeys, was selected, and dressed up with an ornamental saddle and housings. She rode for a short distance, and probably found the motion very unpleasant, which it must necessarily be at first to every one.
As soon as we had come to the west of the Beláz, we were supplied very constantly with clotted cream (kymàk) and sour milk, (leben), than which the dairy can produce nothing better; and it will raise the latter cooling preparation in the estimation of some, to know that it has been used, time immemorial, in these countries, and is spoken of in Xenophon as ὀξύγαλα. The finest mutton was never wanting at our table;for, although the true Bedouin scorns to pasture any animal but camels, still there are certain bastard tribes, such as the Mowâly, and a few more that we saw, which are mere graziers, and paid tribute to Emir Mahannah for the protection he afforded them.
As the Castle of Shumamys, built on a mountain, was distant only about a league from the encampment, I was inclined to ride over to examine it; but the direction of our march lying close to the foot of it, I executed my project on the following morning. Before the camels were loaded, Hassan and I rode forward, and, arriving in an hour, by a very steep ascent reached the summit of the mountain. At the foot of the castle walls the rock is cut into a glacis with a considerable slope, within which is a deep ditch hewn out of the solid stone. Facing the gate of the castle, a buttress or pier still left in the centre of the ditch served for the support of the drawbridge, now entirely fallen. Leaving Hassan to take care of the horses, I descended into the ditch, and climbed up on the opposite side, which was not so difficult to do as I had found it at Palmyra. The two castles resembled each other exactly, and of course may be supposed to be of the same date, either of Saracen or Frank construction.
We descended into the plain, and joined the party who had just cleared the foot of the mountains, which is one extremity of the chain called Gebel el Aâleh. This chain, taking a semicirculardirection, finishes at Gebel Abd ed dyn two leagues N. by E. of Hamah, and encloses one of the richest plains it is possible to see. At Tel el Byrûth, we encamped for the night, and found there the Emir Mahannah el Fadel, who received Lady Hester with every testimony of respect and joy for her safe return, which was now in a manner effected, as we were only three or four leagues from Hamah.
We halted the next day. An accident happened at this place, which nearly cost the loss of an eye to one of the bards who had accompanied us hitherto. Farez, second son of Mahannah, was throwing, as he would throw a javelin, the stalk of an astragalus, (with which flower the place was thickly set, and the stalks of which are firm and reedy at this season) when he struck one of the bards on the lid and brow of the eye. The man was in great pain, and the swelling was instantaneous and considerable: but a leech which I applied set all to rights; yet the bard was by no means pleased with Farez’s exploit. The astragalus and squill plants were so abundant, that their long sword-like leaves obstructed the paths in every direction. Upon their leaves I found a beautiful fly, much like the lytta.
In the afternoon Lady Hester wished to try Shaykh Hamud’s white mare, and she mounted it. In putting her into a gallop, the mare, aware of some difference in the rider’s management of her, or from some other cause, ran away with her ladyship, who, however,contrived at last to pull her up, without any mischief, to the admiration of the Bedouins who were looking on.
It must not be supposed that, during the whole of this journey, the Arabs had suffered me to remain quiet in my professional capacity. Knowing the frequent applications I should have, previous to quitting Hamah, I had put up a large stock of pills and powders, as of easiest administration; and I could have used the contents of an apothecary’s shop had I been so disposed. But a serious call was made upon me whilst in camp, by a horseman who came over from the tents of Shaykh Casem, to entreat me to make but a short journey thither, to save the son of their chief, who had been transfixed by a spear, in a skirmish with the Faydân; and Lady Hester thought it better that I should go.
His tents were due north of Tel el Byrûth. I took with me my own tent, which was a small octagonal marquee, made without a central pole, and very commodious; and, accompanied by the Bedouin, who had come to fetch me, I set off the following day, under the idea of having but a short distance to ride. But my guide had deceived me, with the intention of more easily persuading me to go; for we passed the chain of Mount Aâleh at two hours off, and still rode on for two or three hours more, until we reached, at sunset, Casem’s tents. The parents of the wounded youth were so impatient to take me to him, that Iwas scarcely permitted first to take my coffee and pipe, which on other occasions they oblige you to do before they will suffer you to attend to business.
Casem’s son was about sixteen years old, with a fine air, which would have been fierce, had it not been softened down by his sufferings from his wound. A spear had entered his back under the blade-bone, and had deeply penetrated into the lungs. Instead of being a fresh wound, it proved to be now of some time standing. I did what I judged better for him than the dressings he was using; gave him some medicines to be taken as occasion might require, and passed three days with him to see what effect they would have. The first day there was a certainty of a speedy and miraculous cure; the second day his friends were less sanguine; and on the third, they observed that my remedies had not effected any very extraordinary change for the better. This was the tone of mind in which it was proper to leave them. They were thankful for the pains I had taken, and a Bedouin escorted me to Hamah, where Lady Hester and Mr. B. already were since the 13th. Crowds of people had gone out to welcome them on their return, considering her as a true heroine, who could perform in triumph what not a pasha in all Turkey durst venture to do with all his troops at his heels. It was given out at Hamah afterwards that two hundred horsemen, on the report of the two fugitives from Palmyra, had come in pursuit of us to the Beláz, but were a day too late to overtakeus: that, however, they would have followed us farther, but were stopped by a party of the Sebáh, who had a skirmish with them, in which the Faydân were so much worsted as to find it necessary to retire.[53]
On her arrival at Hamah, Lady Hester rode strait to Muly Ismaël’s house, where a great dinner was prepared. The remainder of the money due to Nasar was paid, and the dangers and adventures of the journey talked over. There has crept into a publication (called Journal of a Tour in the Levant) an assertion that it cost Lady Hester 30,000 piasters to get to Palmyra. I think it necessary to state that this assertion is entirely erroneous, as may be proved from documents now in my hands, which must be considered as decisive authority on that head.[54]
No better proof can be adduced of the salubrity of the air of the Desert, than the excellent condition in which the horses were on our return, and the compliments paid on the improved good looks of all the party. I believe I have neglected to mention that, previous to quitting Damascus, and from the moment that the journey to Palmyra was talked about, Mr. B. and myself had let our beards grow, having been informed that much respect was universally paid to this supposed emblem of wisdom and manhood by the Bedouins, which we found to be the case.
During the journey, an Arab brought me a jerboa alive. Wishing to preserve it, and having no box or cage fit for such a purpose, I put it into a boot sewed up at the top, and carried it slung to my horse’s side for one day, but on the second I found that it had eaten a hole through the leather, and escaped.
I omitted to mention, in my first journey to Palmyra, that, when with the Bedouins, I drank for three mornings camels’ milk, to see if its reputed qualities were exaggerated or not. On me it had no sensible effect; yet I could not be deceived in the trial I made, for, fasting from my pillow, I drank a pint the firstmorning, a pint and a half the second, and half a pint the third. On this journey I was determined to try its effects on the servants, and here its operation was instantaneous and remarkable, causing a diarrhœa, which lasted the whole day.
It will hardly be believed, by those who may peruse this narrative, that Lady Hester, at this period, by no means enjoyed a good state of health; yet such was really the case, and her spirit, rather than her physical powers, helped her to surmount so much fatigue and to endure so many privations. Her pursuit was indeed health, but the phantom fled before her. Always a valetudinarian, she always flattered herself that some untried spot remained where she might find what she sought. Happy consolation of the sick, whom Hope never gives up to Despair!
Lady Hester brought with her to Hamah two Bedouins, with an intention of carrying them to England as a curiosity: but a city life, the want of the open country, loss of appetite and health, were things so little congenial to their feelings, that they could not be induced to stop.
I had taken up my abode this time in a small unfurnished house, which I hired of a Turk. My return to Hamah was again the signal for being besieged by the sick. I shall mention one or two of my patients, whose cases may have something curious for the general reader. Yahyah Bey, whose deposition and removal to Hamah I have already spoken of,had contrived to make his peace there by the sacrifice of large sums of money, and was now come back to Hamah to live as a private person. One of his concubines was ill, and he asked me to see her. She had had an ague for eight months, with little loss of strength, sleep, or appetite. I was introduced to an inner room, and she was sent for to come to me. She entered, covered with the yzzár,[55]a large white veil reaching to the ground, which she kept on during the whole time I was with her. Yahyah Bey watched her actions like an Argus, and, the moment I had done questioning her, sent her out of the room.
Another patient, whom I saw April 20th, was an old man of the sect of the Syrians, very ill of a fever. It was then Lent, and the rules of his religion, with respect to fasting, were, it would appear, more rigid than those of either the Greek or Catholic church; for he could not, according to them, eat anything but bread, oil, and herbs. I desired him to relax somewhat from this severe abstinence, if he wished to save his life. He would on no account consent to do so; and, as his age and malady required nourishment of a different kind, he died a martyr to his scruples.
Bilious remittent fevers were at this time prevalent in Hamah, and they seemed, in some instances, to be contagious. I was called in to the khodja of Nasýf pasha. The term khodja means an old and confidential servant of the house, who teaches the children their letters: out of a family, it implies a schoolmaster, or is an appellation given to an old respectable merchant or shopkeeper: whence I think is derived our word Codger. The pasha showed great anxiety about him. The mode of treatment they had adopted for him was simple and sensible, and he would have recovered without my interference.
My most troublesome patient was the lady of Selim Koblán, of whom mention has been made above. She had never borne any children, and was exceedingly anxious to be able to hold up her head among her acquaintance: for it is a source of much sorrow and shame both to man and wife in the East, but more especially to the woman, when the union is not productive of offspring.
On the 22d, whilst sitting with Muly Ismael in the saloon where he was accustomed to receive his visitors and despatch the business of the day, one of his soldiers, accused of frequenting women of the town, was brought before him, and, the case being heard, the Muly, in a summary way, ordered him to be bastinadoed. He was lifted from the ground by two or three of his comrades in the middle of the room where we were,held up horizontally, and three or four others with switches kept striking the soles of his feet as fast as they could, until the Muly told them to stop.[56]The man cried out very much, but seemed to obtain no commiseration. As soon as he was let down, Mahannah, the emir, who was there, rose from his seat, kissed Muly Ismäel’s hand, and thanked him for this public example made for repressing libertinism. Now the Muly, at this time, was notorious for his sensual indulgences. One of his people told me that he was rubbed in the bath, where he entered every day, by his women, whilst others of them danced before him in the state of nature. But this is the story that is told of every Turk who is known to be a sensualist: and generally signifies no more than what the narrator would do if he were in the same place.[57]Mahannah,although he confined himself to wives only, yet was pleased with a variety of them. In the night there was a thunder-storm.
It was a matter of wonder to me to observe how generally every kind of vegetable was eaten raw by the people of Syria. Cucumbers and carrots they pare and eat as we do apples: and, besides lettuce and cress, they would devour raw peas and beans almost as swine do. About this time died M. Guys, French consul at Tripoli. He left behind him a most valuable collection of Greek and Roman coins, which his residence in the Levant, for many years, had enabled him to collect.
On the summit of a mountain to the north of Hamah, distant about one league and a half, is the tomb of Shaykh Abd ed Dyn, a man held in veneration among the Moslems: and, on the 24th of April,there is annually a pilgrimage to his shrine. Observing that numbers of people flocked upon the road, I took my ride that way in the afternoon. No one would have said that the Turkish women were deprived of liberty, had he seen them on a holyday like this. From Hamah to the very top of the mountain, parties of women and girls were going and coming, and their volubility of tongue, and remarks to the men passing and repassing them, were the less repressed, because the faces of those uttering them could not be seen.
Spring had now clothed the country in all its verdure, and the occupations of the year might be said to be commencing. One of the most important, and which forms as great an epoch in the annals of a gentleman in the East, as the shooting season does among our gentry in England, is the sending their steeds to grass. Each man deprives himself one month out of the year of his game at giryd, and of his exercise on horseback, for the purpose of cleansing his animals: nor does he disdain to use means not much unlike these for purifying his own system. As soon as spring sets in, he loses blood from the arm by the lancet, or by cupping, from the leg or between the shoulders; with a view to prevent inflammatory diseases created by the effervescence of the blood in the first heats of the year. Such is the mode of reasoning prevalent among them, and, on a particular day, which is decided by the wane of the moon,twenty persons might be seen, on the benches at the doors of each barber’s shop, in different stages of phlebotomy. Cupping is performed by scarifying with a razor, and then applying over the cuts a horn, with a small hole at the narrow end, through which the air is abstracted by suction of the mouth, and is then plugged up. This has the same effect as rarefying the air by heat, and the blood flows copiously.
There was some alarm created in the house on the Saturday preceding, by the sudden and violent illness of M. Beaudin; who, having received from St. Jean d’Acre, where the plague was raging, a packet of letters, which he had handled and opened without the necessary precaution of fumigation, was supposed to have been infected: but the prevalence of fevers at Hamah better accounted for his indisposition. Yet he was possessed so strongly with the idea of having been infected by the pestiferous effluvia from his letters, that he was rendered very wretched in his mind. However, in a day or two, he found himself so much better as to recover his courage. The precautions which Franks and Christians use, when this malady reigns in the country, have been so often described, that I throw them rather into a note, than into the body of my narrative: and I would leave them out altogether, if I could do so consistent with the influence they have on the mode of living in the Levant.[58]
I pronounced the khodja out of danger on the 27th. He had constantly desired I should see him, but I never altered his treatment.
I received a visit from a Turk named Abd ed DynAga, who had fought at the battle of Fuley, and been wounded in six places. He passed high encomiums on the bravery of the French.
Lady Hester, having now fulfilled the great object for which she had come to Hamah, namely, the journey to Palmyra, and having enjoyed sufficiently the scenery and novelties of the place and its environs, resolved to set off for Latakia, on the sea-coast. Previous to our departure, the horses were bled and new shod. We had no groom that could bleed a horse in the jugular vein, nor do the Turkish farriers bleed in that place; but, as Nasýf Pasha had expressed a wish to see it done, I undertook it, and he accordingly attended.
And here I cannot help introducing some remarks on a most gross and unfounded calumny against the Turks, which has been copied from one book of travels into another, touching the origin of a custom which prevails throughout Turkey, but which has beenprincipally commented upon at the audiences of European ambassadors at the Porte. I allude to the ceremony of being supported under the arm by two attendants when introduced into the Imperial presence. This has been construed into a measure of precaution against any attack, by such as are introduced, on the person of the Sultan or his ministers. But, setting aside the absurdity of supposing that every embassy was a band of assassins, it is notorious to all those acquainted with the usages of Turkey that persons high in rank, or to be greatly honoured upon any occasion, are supported on either side by two attendants. Thus it was that Nasýf Pasha, obliged to come on foot into the field where our horses were tethered, was led, as an infirm man would be, by two of his servants; and, although a fresh-looking, handsome, and strong man, he leaned on them as though he was helpless.[59]Again at Brusa, where, on one occasion, a deposed pasha came to pay a visit to the governor whilst Mr. B. and I were with him, the latter rose and advanced to the door of the room to receive him, and supported him to the upper seat by placing his arm under the pasha’s arm-pit. Ahmed Bey, at Damascus, was always led thus from sofa to sofa. Yet these very personages, when on horseback, would throw the javelin with a degree of force little compatible with physical debility. We therefore can have no doubt that this mode of introduction into thepresence of the Grand Signor is intended to do honour to the members of the embassy, and we must hold as ill informed those writers who assert the contrary; nor can such persons, who, being admitted to a presentation, have rejected the proffered assistance of the servants, be considered otherwise than as petulant and ill-bred.
As to the question whether that French ambassador was justified in what he did, who refused to enter the Imperial presence at Constantinople unless with his sword on, it is for masters of court etiquette to determine. Only thus much is to be said, that in Turkey, in (what we should call in familiar language) dress parties, it is the height of vulgarity to go armed with a sabre, which is the Mahometan’s sword; and if, at a levee of the King of England, a foreign ambassador at his court would look ridiculous without his sword, then there, where custom requires exactly the reverse, the reverse becomes the best breeding. When Lady Hester’s dragoman at Damascus was shut out from the audience chamber because he was armed, it was not because they feared that a stripling, and he a Greek, could do mischief, but because a high-bred courtier from Constantinople chose to retain, even in the provinces, the usages of the metropolis.
Whilst I was in this place, I took lessons in Arabic, in writing and reading, of an old schoolmaster, named Basili, of the Greek church. With respect to theeducation of children in Syria, there are day-schools in every town and village, the same as in England; with this difference, however, that children are taught not at so much per week, per month, or per annum; but an agreement is entered into, that, for a certain sum, a boy shall be made to read—for as much more to write, and so on. It does not matter how long or how short a time is expended; but the money is not paid until the boy’s progress amounts to a completion of the agreement. Thus it becomes the interest of the teacher to perfect his scholar as fast as possible. It would seem that rods for the chastisement of children are not used in Turkey, as, though I was in the habit of entering many people’s houses, I never saw any.
In the same way doctors agree with their patients, in almost all chronic maladies, to cure them for so much; and to this end a written agreement is drawn up, the basis of which is, “No cure, no pay.” In acute diseases, where experience has taught that attention and skill may sometimes prove unavailing, the practitioner claims a greater latitude for himself, and receives half his gratuity for medicines supplied, and the other half if the patient recovers.
Hamah is full of Mahometans who wear green turbans; that is, those who are the reputed descendants of their Prophet; so that every third person you address has the title of Säyd prefixed to his name.