CHAPTER III.
Residence at Tripoli—The governor Mustafa Aga—Lady Hester’s visit to him—Extraordinary civilities paid by her to Selim—Town and port of Tripoli—Greek bishop—Library—Paintings in the church—Unwholesome climate—The author’s journey to the convent of Dayr Hamýra—Illness of Mûly Ismael’s Khasnadár—Miraculous cures performed at the convent—The Khasnadár’s wife—The monks—Castle of El Hussn—Extensive view—Arrival of Selim at the monastery—His character—Return of the author to Tripoli—Lady Hester’s plan of an association of literary men and artists—Departure for Mar Elias.
Residence at Tripoli—The governor Mustafa Aga—Lady Hester’s visit to him—Extraordinary civilities paid by her to Selim—Town and port of Tripoli—Greek bishop—Library—Paintings in the church—Unwholesome climate—The author’s journey to the convent of Dayr Hamýra—Illness of Mûly Ismael’s Khasnadár—Miraculous cures performed at the convent—The Khasnadár’s wife—The monks—Castle of El Hussn—Extensive view—Arrival of Selim at the monastery—His character—Return of the author to Tripoli—Lady Hester’s plan of an association of literary men and artists—Departure for Mar Elias.
The Capuchin convent, an uninhabited building, was hired for Lady Hester; and for Selim, the dragoman, and myself, a spacious house, belonging to the widow of the katib of the governor. The muleteers were dismissed, and arrangements were made for a residence of some weeks. As a clue to many circumstances which occurred during the time of our stay in this city, it will be necessary to say something respecting Mustafa Aga (nicknamed Berber), the then governor, a man raised by his conduct and valour from the very dregs of the people.
Mustafa was the son of a muleteer, whose employmentconsisted in transporting goods for hire from place to place; and he himself, in his youth, followed the same occupation. He afterwards entered the service of Hassan, emir of the Drûzes, as an under-servant of the household. Here he caught the eye of the emir, and was advanced by him; but, probably, not liking to derogate from the character of a true Mussulman by associating with schismatics, he quitted his place and returned to Tripoli. Tripoli, at this time, was divided into two opposite factions, that of the janissaries and of the townspeople. Mustafa sided with the latter; and, having shown himself a man of talent and courage by his language and demeanour, ten or a dozen others formed themselves into a sort of gang under his direction. His followers by degrees increased; and at length a plan was formed among them to strike at the very root of the power of the janissaries by seizing the castle. This, according to the nature of the Turkish government, is the stronghold of the military power, and is bestowed generally on some confidential servant of the Porte as a check on the civil governor, who is chosen by the pasha of the department.
The aga of the janissaries, or governor of the castle, was so little suspicious of the possibility even of so bold an attack, that he resided in the city, and left only a few soldiers on guard in the citadel. Some of these were gained over by the artful Mustafa; and, at an appointed signal, ropes were let down at night,by which he and about twenty others were drawn up, and admitted unperceived through a window.
The few soldiers who attempted to oppose them were despatched or bound, and in the morning the news was spread that Berber had obtained possession of the castle. The townspeople declared for him immediately; and his first care was to send to Mohammed, pasha of Egypt, to request him to write to the Porte to express his allegiance to his sovereign, and to obtain for him the post of Janissary Aga, or, in other words, a confirmation of the power he had usurped. After a lapse of some weeks, during which he maintained himself in the citadel, a firman arrived, proclaiming him military governor; but so powerful was the opposite faction, that he dared never venture through the streets of Tripoli without a guard of fifty or sixty persons.
It was said that, as he rode through the streets, his piercing eyes, which were turned in every direction, watched the looks of those he met; and wo to him whose guilt was supposed to be betrayed in his countenance—that moment was his last.
Next to the governor, a very important person in every Turkish town is the katib, or government secretary. Mustafa Aga had several;[15]the two chief were Wahby Sadeka and Mamy Garyb, his son-inlaw,a young man who had already acquired in his situation much deserved reputation. M. Guys, grandson of the author of a Comparison between Ancient and Modern Greece, was French consul; Mr. Catsiflitz, English agent. These are the public authorities with whom travellers, generally speaking, have to do.
A day or two after our arrival, Lady Hester received Malem Wahby, the public secretary, sent by Mustafa Aga to compliment her and to offer her his services.
The visit was returned to the governor a few days afterwards. He received her ladyship in the most polite manner to which his rough character could adapt itself; for his frank and hearty welcome was strongly contrasted with the generally formal courtesy of the Turks. Selim sat on the floor at the governor’s feet; for native Christians seldom obtain the privilege of a seat on the sofa in a great Turk’s presence, and are well content not to be kept standing. Lady Hester found means, in a short conversation, to impress Mustafa Aga with a favourable opinion of her talents and character; and ever afterwards he showed a strong disposition to serve her on all occasions. Everything about the Aga wore a martial appearance; and his black slave, who stood at a little distance from him, armed with pistols in his girdle, seemed, by his attitude and air, to be the faithful guardian of his master’s safety.
Mustafa Aga had several Christians among hissoldiers, destined for the service of the police. This is uncommon in Asiatic Turkey, for examples of it occurred nowhere else, that I saw.
In coming away, I had an opportunity of judging of the extreme simplicity of the Aga’s mode of living. His dinner was laid out on a mat, on the floor of a room which we passed, and consisted of six or eight messes of pilau and yakhny, which are boiled rice and a stew of small bits of meat and vegetables, and these in dishes of common queen’s-ware. There were no knives or forks, and the spoons were wooden. A man in England, living like a temperate Mahometan, would pass for a prodigy with some, and with others, for one who took not enough to support life; by all, he would be considered as a most sober liver: for the food of Mustafa Aga, like that of most of the followers of Mahomet, was generally confined to rice, boiled mutton, vegetables, honey, and fruit. Water was his only drink; and, on the very afternoon of this visit, being requested to call on him that he might consult me respecting some indisposition, when I advised him to use a tincture, which he understood from me was compounded of spirit, he totally rejected it, upon the plea that, in whatever state he might be, his abhorrence of vinous liquors was settled.
In the mean time, Mâlem Selim was treated with the most marked civility by Lady Hester. The public bath was hired for him an evening or two after our arrival. Two sumptuous repasts were preparedfor him every day, and people saw with wonder the deference that was paid him by her ladyship. But she had her ends to answer; and on such occasions it might be observed, by those in the habit of living near her, that she often would raise very humble individuals to an elevation to which they had not been accustomed, by which they were the more easily led to forget their natural prudence, and communicate more readily the information she wanted. She knew that, when these artificial props were taken away, folks could very easily be made to drop to their own level again.
In the middle ages, Tripoli was the scene of much warfare. It was taken by the crusaders after a siege of seven years, and retaken by the Saracens in 1229 by sap.
Modern Tripoli is the head of a pashalik, extending north and south from Nahr Ibrahim to Bylán, and bounded on the east by the highest chain of the mountains which run parallel to the coast. Ali, a pasha of two tails, held it, but resided at St. Jean d’Acre as kekhyah of Sulimán Pasha, whilst Mustafa Aga governed in his stead. It is the best built and cleanest town along the coast of Syria; perhaps, too, the largest, certainly, at the time we are speaking of, the most commercial; although now superseded by Beyrout. The castle is at the south-east part of the city, and is of Saracen or Frank construction. There are five or six mosques. The Greeks and Maronites have their churches, and the Franciscans and Capuchinstheir monasteries. A river runs by the city, which serves to irrigate the gardens. As it is built at some distance from the sea, (about one mile) there is a small town, called the Myna, close to the harbour, if the insecure anchorage formed by two or three rocks deserves that name. Between the city and the Myna are the orchards and gardens, which are the boast of the place, both for their productions and beauty. Oranges were now in season, which have been before mentioned as very juicy at this place. One of the chief sources of wealth to the city was the manufacture of silk turbans, sashes, bath waist-cloths, and saddle-covers, which are in request throughout Syria. The Christians here were of the Greek church; and so violent were they against schismatics, that it was dangerous for a Greek Catholic to tarry in the place for a few hours. The bishop of Tripoli was an agreeable man, who spoke often in praise of the English: for he had known many of that nation, when our army invaded Egypt the second time under General Fraser, at which period he was residing as a priest at the Greek convent of Alexandria.
I had an opportunity of seeing, in the bishop’s house, the library belonging to the see. The books had been thrown into a lumber room, and left there to be devoured by the rats, or more slowly consumed by moths and damp. There were some Greek manuscripts. The church was undergoing a thorough repair, and, to embellish the altar screen, a Candiotepainter had been sent for, whose skill in his art seemed to me far from despicable. He showed me some copies from Italian engravings, which were very well executed: and, when I asked him if he did not prefer them to the gilded daubs of Virgins and Saints of his own church, he showed himself perfectly aware of the faults of his countrymen’s manner, but said he must paint to please, or he could not live.
The climate of Tripoli is reputed to be the worst in Syria, and the cadaverous looks of the inhabitants bore evidence to the truth of the assertion; for, although the season was far advanced, it was grievous to behold and hear of the number of the sick. The prevailing disease was a bilious remittent fever: this, if not fatal, generally left an ague, which, ending in obstructions, brought on dropsy and death. I was witness here to a fatal mortification from the application of leeches by a French doctor to the foot; to the only case of gout that came under my observation in Syria; to the worst case of epilepsy I ever saw; and to hysterical fits, with lunar recurrences, from seven to fifteen times in the twenty-four hours, which had now lasted two years. These latter I cured, and may cite that cure as having led to one of those ingenious subterfuges, which were not rare in the Levant, to avoid the weight of an obligation. When the young lady, who had been thus afflicted, was found to be relieved by my treatment of her, she was hurried off to the convent of Mar AntaniûsKuziyah (famed, as I have already mentioned, for miraculous cures) from which, in a few days, she returned, and her parents and friends were loud in their admiration of the Saint, who took no fees, and dumb on the merits of the doctor, who they were afraid would.
We had not been long at Tripoli,[16]when a letter reached Lady Hester from her old friend Mûly Ismael of Hamah, requesting she would allow me to go to a monastery, eight or ten leagues from Tripoli, where his khasnadár or treasurer, a man whom he greatly esteemed, was lying grievously afflicted with a stroke of the palsy. Accordingly, I set off a day or two afterwards, on the 20th of December, and was fortunate enough to hire one of the muleteers, who had accompanied us on the Bâlbec journey, to carry my luggage. I was mounted on a mule, and placed my man, Giovanni, with a few necessaries on another, whilst the muleteer, named Michael, walked.
As we went out of Tripoli, about noon, the rain fell in torrents, and we were soon wet through. Our route lay about east-north-east; and, after passing a stony and rugged road, we came upon an extensiveplain, named el Accà r. The day closed in very early, and, from the continued rain and darkness, the beaten track was by no means clearly visible. We reached a river, which appeared so swollen that we dared not ford it, and were puzzled what to do. A light on our right attracted us, and, after following the course of the stream for about two miles, it disappeared, and we resolved to return down again. We accordingly arrived at the point whence we had turned off, but still hesitated to ride into the stream, as we could discern no appearances of a path or of footsteps down the bank, as of a ford. A light on our left was now seen: we rode towards it, and after a little time came to some tents. Huge mastiff dogs rushed out upon us, and the muleteer had much ado to keep them at bay with a club stick, until two or three ill-looking men issued from the tents to discover the reason of their barking. They were Turkmans, who were pasturing their flocks and herds on these plains, and, when they saw we were benighted travellers, they very strongly pressed me to go no farther, and to spend the night with them: but I hesitated to do so on account of my ignorance of their habits of life, and resolved, on hearing that the river was fordable, to pursue my journey. One of the Turkmans accordingly led us back to the same place where we had been twice before, and bade us ride through boldly. When we were safe over he wished us good night. As he had previously told us that we could reach a caravanserya few miles farther on, we took fresh courage, and for a time I forgot the rain in musing on the Turkman dogs and the shepherd’s civility; but, at last, cold and weariness made me anxious to get housed. There was no light before us, and the plain was every where covered with large pools of water which embarrassed us exceedingly. The mules were fatigued, and could with difficulty be driven on. The muleteer finally declared that the servant’s mule could go no further, and that we must sleep in the plain.
Although the rain fell in torrents, as there was no alternative, I got off; and the best arrangement that circumstances would admit of was made for the night. I found a knoll of ground, somewhat drier than the rest of the soil; and a small rug, which I carried with me in travelling, was opened on it, upon which I seated myself with my legs doubled under me: and, with my hood[17]drawn over my head, I leaned against my-medicine-chest, and went supperless to sleep. The muleteer and Giovanni made the best of their situation.
In the morning, when daylight came, we found, to our surprise, that a quarter of a mile more would have brought us to the caravansery which we had been told of. The mules were re-loaded, and, just at this moment, a caravan, on its road to Tripoli, passedus. A dozen tongues addressed us at once to inquire why we had stopped short of the caravansery, and many jokes were cracked upon our miserable appearance. In twenty minutes we reached Nahr el Kebýr, a river, on the banks of which was a large, but dilapidated caravansery, where we found a man, who, for a small recompense, stripped and walked before us through the ford. The stream was rapid and deep, so that for a moment I feared we should have been carried away by it: which, encumbered with dress as we were, would have been to our inevitable destruction.
We now advanced with as much expedition as possible, and at last came to the end of the plain. A gentle ascent brought us among some low hills, covered with stunted shrubs, and shortly afterwards we came to the monastery. The building was of stone, and seemed of great solidity. I dismounted, and was made to enter by a door, the lowest, bearing that name, I had ever seen in my life. For, as this monastery stands quite away from any town, and is in the high road from Tripoli to Hems and Hamah, by which road troops are frequently passing, a difficult entrance is a necessary precaution to prevent the refectory from being converted into a stable: which troopers, not liking to lose sight of their horses, would often unceremoniously do.
I was put into a neat room, and immediately presented with a pipe and coffee, followed by a breakfast;whilst two garrulous priests told me why I was come, which they seemed to know better than myself, and questioned me on the news of Tripoli. With respect to the khasnadár, my patient, I gathered some particulars of his life. It appeared that he had been, as a youth, afavouriteof Mûly Ismael, who, when he arrived at manhood, created him his khasnadár, and gave him in marriage to one of his concubines, of whom he himself was tired. Soon after their union, the khasnadár had a stroke of the palsy, which deprived him of the use of his limbs and utterance. Every known means had been tried for his recovery; and, as a last resource, it was resolved to send him to Dayr Hamýra, this monastery, which was dedicated to Saint George, and renowned far and wide for miraculous cures, effected in the following manner. The afflicted person was made to sleep in the chapel, his bed being placed there for that purpose, and round his neck was put an iron collar, jointed behind, and shutting over a staple before, in which sometimes a pin was inserted. He slept; and, if the cure was within the reach or the will of the Saint, the collar was found open in the morning; if otherwise, shut. Offerings, or vows in case of success, were made to propitiate the Dragon-killer, and it was said that from a rich man a trifle would not content him. The khasnadár had made the trial two or three times without success: when his wife, who accompanied him, having heard of our arrival at Tripoli, thought that the request of MûlyIsmaël would be sufficient to bring me over to the monastery to see him: and a horse soldier, as has been said, was accordingly despatched with a letter to that effect.
After my breakfast I went to see my patient, whom I found with his wife in an adjoining room. A best carpet was spread for me; coffee and pipes were served. The khasnadár was a plethoric young man about twenty-five; and, but for sickness, must have been very handsome. His wife was veiled at first by a shawl over her head, and pinched together by her hand so as to show one eye only; but by degrees she let it fall open, and I beheld a masculine woman of thirty or thereabouts. She was a Georgian, and had been a slave. I immediately took my patient in hand, and, as it is always necessary in the East, enacted, in the course of an hour, the parts of physician, surgeon, and apothecary. I then left him, and went to look over the monastery.
It was inhabited by three caloyers only, who, according to the rules of this Greek monastic order, are permitted, except on fast-days, to indulge in coffee, smoking, drinking, and eating, to what extent they please, with the exception of meat, which is allowed only twice a year. Hence I was requested to administer medicines for the corpulence of the one, the indigestion of the other, the pimples of a third. There were three or four good rooms on the story which they inhabited, and beneath were storehouses wellstocked with wine, oil, wheat, and eatables. There were two or three servants, and a mule or two; and thus this small community lived. As the extreme lowness of the entrance was still strongly present to my thoughts, I asked them concerning it. They assigned the reason I have above given, and added that the mule of the convent had been taught to crawl through on his knees, of which I was afterwards an eyewitness, in consequence of my previous incredulity.
There was an annual festival celebrated at this place, upon which occasion persons come from Hamah, Hems, Tripoli, and other towns in great numbers. At midnight, the image of St. George on horseback is seen against the wall of the convent, at which vision the people set up a shout, and rejoicings continue until morning.
As this road is much frequented, not a night passed in which travellers or caravans did not stop. A sort of shed sheltered the horses and mules, and the people, if respectable, were received into the interior. The monks supplied them with food, which was good or bad in proportion to the recompence expected, and this employment was so lucrative that the monastery was supported by it. Their funds had been enough at one period to enable them to build a caravansery, which they had begun, but were prevented from proceeding in by an order from the government. This happened during the rule of Yusef Pasha: and the half-built caravansery adjoined the monastery.
I expressed my wonder how a strict Mahometan could have resorted to the shrine of a Christian saint; but the caloyers told me that this was by no means a rare occurrence, and that, if I stopped a few days among them, I should see many Ansárys, who had recourse to them in all their difficulties, and especially when their wives wished for children; and, in fact, there did afterwards come a party of ten or twelve on account of sickness.
The evening was passed with the khasnadár’s wife in talking over the news of Hamah. On the following day I had a visit from the katib of the district (if so he may be called), the person who was the accredited agent[18]in all transactions between government and the people. He too was in want of a doctor; for it is to be observed, that, although in the East no traveller has such advantages as a medical man, because he is well received everywhere, yet no one is so much harassed: and I sometimes thought the people pretended to have maladies either to get English medicines given to them, which they prized greatly; or to learn what mode of cure was to be pursued in case such a disease really affected them; for at no place was I secure from interruption from morning to night.
On the 15th I rode up to a castle, which stands onthe highest part of the hills through which the road passes from the sea-coast to Cæle-Syria. From its position it commands the passage, in a certain degree; it is distant from the monastery about one mile and a half, as the crow flies. The road was of no difficult steepness, and lay through small brushwood. A long, dark, covered way, filthy with cow-dung and mire, led to the gate, which appeared to have had a portcullis and all the apparatus of early fortifications. I entered through it into a spacious court, in which were living several Turkish families. The castle was composed of a keep and outer works, flanked with round towers; but the whole was in a dilapidated state.
I was taken to a smoky stone room under the gateway, where a man, in a tawdry yellow silk pelisse, the shaykh of the village, received me with an air which brought to my recollection Juvenal’s description of the magistrate of Cumæ. It may be observed of the Turks and Christians, that the former are often more gaily dressed than their means warrant; whilst the latter, in spite of the humility of garb to which they are condemned, swell sometimes with the pride which a full purse gives, and excite the envy of their better-dressed masters. The name of the castle was El Hussn, which signifies a walled fortification.[19]
From the top of the keep I enjoyed a most extensiveview, which is to be recommended to travellers as favourable for obtaining a correct notion of the natural geographical divisions of this part of Syria. This keep bears from Tripoli north-east and by east-half-north. I saw from it the wide plains towards Hamah and Hems narrowing into the vale of the Bkâ, the Cæle-Syria Proper of the ancients; whilst the whole tract of level country to the north and east of the Bkâ was called Cæle-Syria in general. As I was now on the highest spot within the pass, I saw the error into which the generality of maps lead, when they mark a continuous chain of mountains from one end of Syria to the other; for, from the castle, I could behold the north extremity of Mount Lebanon reach its greatest height, and descend suddenly into low hills down to the foot of the castle, upon which I stood; whilst, from the monastery, a new chain may be said to begin, extending, if my information be just, as far as the river Syr, and forming the ancient Mount Bargylus, mentioned by Pliny.—(Hist, v., 17.) I cannot express my sensations as I looked from the place on which I stood over the Desert. A haze, raised by the heat of the sun over the surface of the country, dimmed the sight of objects so as to give the distant plains a look more boundless and desolate than usual. I obtained here a few copper coins of no value.The shaykh spoke with pleasure of an Englishman, who had passed a night there some years before, and who was dressed in scarlet, and slept under a tent. These Mahometans were in an exposed position, in case of warfare, as they were surrounded by Ansárys and Christians.
I returned to the monastery much pleased with my excursion. Selim and Sulimán had now judged their visit to Lady Hester to have been long enough, and left her during my absence. Their road lay past the monastery, and they made it their station on their way home, arriving here on the 17th at night. Sulimán showed a pretty watch-chain, with other presents which Lady Hester made him. The khasnadár and his wife were well known to Selim; and Selim’s wife was a native of a village in this neighbourhood; so that the monastery was a scene of festivity on his arrival, and several cavaliers, whom I had not before suspected to be in the neighbourhood, came from different directions to visit him.
But my patient, amidst all this, grew no better, and I could do no more than draw out a line of cure, and beg the wife to adhere strictly to it, which she promised to do; for Lady Hester had written to me to request me to return; and on the 19th, in the morning, I departed, leaving Selim still there; and in him I bade adieu to a man, the strangest compound of talent, frivolity, liberality, and libertinism, that I ever met with. He was the most wayward of mortals.He was ever writing sonnets to his mistress’s eyebrow, and carried about with him small bags of silk, stuffed with ribbon-ends, locks of hair, and scraps of love-letters. Often would he cut up portions of a lock of hair, and deliberately eat them, which, I found from him, is a favourite way in the East of marking a lover’s devotion. It was told me, upon creditable authority, that he lay a whole night on the grave of one of his mistresses who had died. He would recite amatory poetry stanza after stanza, and his own compositions were admired by such as pretended to be judges. Upon one occasion, at the commencement of our acquaintance, dining with Mr. B. and myself, he tried a little while to make use of a knife and fork, but, not managing them well, he threw them away with vehemence, and declared, if he must not eat but with them, he would even go without his dinner. He was an excellent horseman;[20]and one of his feats on horseback was to throw a stick, of the thickness of a broom-handle and half its length, on the ground in a full gallop, and to make it rebound so as to catch it in his hand again. This is certainly difficult, as any horseman may prove by experiment, and requires much force and expertness, but has no use that I knowof, excepting to teach how to exercise the arm with violence without losing one’s seat. Of his cleverness there was ample testimony from all quarters; and of his intriguing disposition there could be no doubt; for he was ever toiling to exalt himself, and pull down somebody.[21]
My journey back to Tripoli was more fortunate than the one out had been. Near the city I observed a pretty spot by the road side, the name of which I forget, where I saw certain fish in a pond which were as tame as gold fish kept in a vase, and would eat out of one’s hand.
One day (January 12) Lady Hester spoke to me of a plan, which she had been turning over in her mind, of forming an association of literary men and artists, whom she proposed inviting from Europe, for the purpose of prosecuting discoveries in every branch of knowledge, and of journeying over different parts of the Ottoman empire. In fact, she aimed at creating another Institute, like that which Buonaparte led with him to Egypt, and of which she was to bethe head. Chimerical as such an undertaking would be for an individual, unless of great wealth, it must be allowed that a society so made up can alone combine all the requisites for thoroughly investigating the arts, sciences, statistics, geography, and antiquities of a country imperfectly known, like Syria.
For a time her mind was entirely engrossed in this new scheme; and she even drew up memorials to be presented to different persons whom she wished to enlist and engage in the undertaking. Wonderful was the facility with which she would square every word to the different tempers and situations of different persons, anticipate their different objections, and (which was no immaterial part,) show how contributions were to be levied on the rich; for she proposed to do it by subscription. The experiments, likewise, which she intended to prosecute on the plague, and on the bites of venemous animals, by means of the bezoar and serpent stones, were now a favourite hobby with her; and she particularly charged me to write about them to certain persons only, lest some one should get hints enough to anticipate her discoveries, and thus rob her of a part of her renown!
As there was nothing to detain us longer at Tripoli, our departure for Mar Elias was resolved on; and, on the 16th of January, fresh muleteers having been hired at three piasters and a half per day, we proceededon our journey. We were accompanied, during the first stage, by Mâlem Yanny, the brother-in-law of Mr. Catsiflitz, a gentleman who, on several occasions, had been very attentive to us during our residence at Tripoli, officiating for Mr. Catsiflitz, the consul, who was too old to be any longer active.