CHAPTER VIII.
Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village of Joon—Abyssinian man and woman—Black horses—Lady Hester fixes herself at Meshmûshy—Solitary wigwam—The Author wishes to return to England—He sets out for Egypt—Destruction of Tyre, not so complete as travellers represent—A self-taught lithotomist and oculist—Seaweeds used for dyeing—Embarkation for Egypt in a vessel laden with wood—Impalement—Passengers on board—Cyprus—Revolt in Gebel Nablûs—Frequency of insurrections there—Arrival at Rosetta—Smoking during Ramazán—The Author is joined by Burckhardt, or shaykh Ibrahim—Mutiny of troops at Cairo—Departure by land for Alexandria—Lake Edko—Stay in Alexandria—Coasting voyage to Damietta—Burckhardt not considered as a Turk—Foreigners betrayed by their speech.
Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village of Joon—Abyssinian man and woman—Black horses—Lady Hester fixes herself at Meshmûshy—Solitary wigwam—The Author wishes to return to England—He sets out for Egypt—Destruction of Tyre, not so complete as travellers represent—A self-taught lithotomist and oculist—Seaweeds used for dyeing—Embarkation for Egypt in a vessel laden with wood—Impalement—Passengers on board—Cyprus—Revolt in Gebel Nablûs—Frequency of insurrections there—Arrival at Rosetta—Smoking during Ramazán—The Author is joined by Burckhardt, or shaykh Ibrahim—Mutiny of troops at Cairo—Departure by land for Alexandria—Lake Edko—Stay in Alexandria—Coasting voyage to Damietta—Burckhardt not considered as a Turk—Foreigners betrayed by their speech.
The supernumerary servants were again dismissed, and Lady Hester resumed the retired mode of life which she had adopted in the spring of last year. There was no plague, consequently nothing to interrupt those pursuits which are most interesting to a traveller. Professionally, I was about this time chiefly called upon to vaccinate the children of the neighbouring villages.
It was about this period that I rode over, one day, to pay a visit to the patriarch of Antioch at the monastery of Dayr Mkallas, near the village of Joon. I had retired to rest in one of the cells, when I was wakened, in the middle of the night, by the noise of horses fighting. I called my servant. Receiving no answer, I descended into the stableyard myself, when I was somewhat startled by seeing a black man separating the horses. He told me in bad Arabic that he was an inmate of the monastery, and, when I had seen him tie them up, I returned to my chamber.
In the morning my first inquiry was to know who this man of colour could be. The superior of the monastery told me he was an Abyssinian, who, together with his sister, had, when on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, been shipwrecked at Suez, and with difficulty escaped with their lives. Having found their way to the tomb of Jesus, they were, by the charity of a few countrymen, enabled to reach Dayr Mkallas, in which they sought an asylum, until, as they said, they could receive aid from Abyssinia.
With this story I returned to Mar Elias; and Lady Hester, on hearing it, asked me to bring them over that she might see them. On the following day I again rode over to Dayr Mkallas, and went to the cell in which the woman lived. She was of a dark colour, approaching to black, with regular features, lively intelligent eyes, and white teeth. I told her. through her brother, what the object of my visit was;and she consented to accompany me the next day. I visited her again in the afternoon, and the interest I seemed to take in their welfare induced them to be open in their conversation with me. They gave me to understand that in their own country they were people of rank,[59]and that their shipwreck had deprived them of much property in money and slaves, of which latter they pretended to have had several.
When the morning came, Mariam (that was the name she chose to go by, although it afterwards proved not to be her real one)[60]was put upon an ass; and, with her brother Elias by her side, accompanied me to Mar Elias. Lady Hester received them with much kindness, and with her accustomed humanity told them they should no longer be dependent on the priests, for she would feed and clothe them, untilthey could find means to return to their native country. They were accordingly put into one of the rooms of the house.
Having with me at this time an abridgment of Bruce’s travels in Abyssinia, I questioned the Abyssinian on all those passages in it which, as descriptive of the manners and usages of the country, admitted of affirmation or negation: and it is just to say that every allusion, or name, or description, was perfectly intelligible to him. He spoke of Mr. Salt as a person whom he had seen very frequently in Abyssinia.
Ibrahim was now raised to the post of cook, which he filled with considerable credit, and his residence in England had made him less delicate in the use of lard and other parts of hog’s flesh, which circumstance is generally a great obstacle to the employment of Turks in European houses.
It was during this summer that Lady Hester was for the first time enabled to obtain a true, thoroughbred Arabian horse. On my journey to Damascus, I had, at her desire, looked through Ahmed Bey’s stables, to ascertain whether a tall black stallion, which had caught her attention when at Damascus, was still alive. When on my return she learned that he was, and that Ahmed Bey had, from ill health, grown less fond of his steed than formerly, she resolved to endeavour to get this horse for herself. Accordingly, M. Beaudin was sent to offer a reasonable price for it: and, not many days afterwards, he returned, bringing itwith him, mounted by the Abyssinian, who had gone with M. Beaudin for the purpose. What price Lady Hester gave she would never tell me: but it was something considerable.
Madame Lascaris, of whom nothing had been heard for more than a year, came one day to Abra. It appeared that her husband had left her, and was gone to Constantinople; and she was now living on the liberality of her friends, more especially of the pasha of Acre; that viceroy being a fellow-countryman of hers, carried away, as she had been, in his childhood, to be sold as a slave. But fortune put him in the road to greatness; and, like many others in the East, he had no reason to regret the chance that removed him from his native soil into a strange country. Madame Lascaris obtained a small sum of money, and I afterwards heard that, on leaving Mar Elias, she embarked for Cyprus, where she put the society of Freemasons under contribution, as being of that order herself.
At the beginning of June, Lady Hester had found the weather extremely hot; for she could not live comfortably but in a temperature of from sixty to eighty degrees; and, now that it was higher, she resolved to repair to a more elevated situation, as she had done the preceding year. Meshmûshy was accordingly chosen, and three cottages were taken for the accommodation of servants, the Abyssinians, &c. On the road, a romantic spot was selected for the first day’s halt, ata hamlet overhanging the river Ewely, in the deep ravine through which it runs after quitting the vale of Bisra. The hamlet is named Musrat et Tahûn, or the mill-field. Here dwelt a miller named Abu-Tanûs, who became from this time a sort of purveyor to her ladyship; until, by making an improper use of her name at Acre, to gain preferment to the place of shaykh of the hamlet, he fell into disgrace.
On arriving at Meshmûshy, Lady Hester fixed herself quietly for the autumn, resolved to find amusement in wandering among the rocks and precipices and in beholding the beautiful and magnificent views which surrounded us. The Abyssinians also occupied much of her time; and, in the numerous anecdotes she heard of the chief men of that nation, and of the productions of the country, she found herself almost induced to undertake a journey to it, and revolved in her mind the practicability of the scheme. Her success would not have been doubtful, had she undertaken it; since her plans were generally laid, as a prudent builder raises an edifice, upon a sound foundation; but other events intervened.
Towards the end of July, to amuse myself, and relieve the sameness of our rides, I caused a sort of rural wigwam to be constructed of stakes and branches of trees, in the midst of the forest of firs which lay at the back of Meshmûshy. For, although on the side of Bisra plain the mountain seems like a sugar-loaf, it is in fact no other than a promontory belonging toa lofty ridge, which runs south, with a gradual ascent, until it reaches the province of Suffad, where it begins to decline. This ridge afforded pleasing excursions for a great distance. To this wigwam an occasional ride in the course of the morning diversified the monotony of the life we led, where, sitting for an hour or two, one might peruse a favourite author, or indulge in one’s own reflections, for which there was ample food. Meshmûshy is by nature so inaccessible, that no person, from mere idle curiosity, would think of ascending to it. There, her society was literally confined to myself; for the priests were too unmannered to gain access to her presence, and the shaykh of the village was a farmer, without any other knowledge than that required for his agricultural occupations.
That Lady Hester had no thoughts at this time of going to Europe, much less of returning to England, is pretty evident. It might be supposed that she had almost now resolved to spend the remainder of her days in the East. I therefore, with much reluctance, had communicated to her my wish, as soon as some one could be procured to supply my place, of returning to my native country, from which I had now been absent nearly six years; and it was resolved that Giorgio, the Greek, should be sent to England both for the purpose of bringing out my successor, and also to execute a variety of commissions for his mistress, which could not be accurately made known by letter.On the 30th of June, he sailed from Beyrout to Cyprus, where he found a vessel to Malta, and thence took his passage to England. He was charged with several presents, in sabres, wines of Mount Lebanon, brocades, and other productions of the manufactures and soil of the Levant.
It was about this period that a malicious paragraph found its way into the English newspapers, copied from the French, stating that Lady Hester was surrounded by children whom she educated. The fact was, that she had three servant boys of from ten to twelve years old, sons of peasants of Abra, who were useful to run on messages, where the different parts of the family were scattered in different cottages, and who took it by turns to walk by the side of her ass when she rode out, to hold it when she alighted, and to perform the duties of groom-boys in the stable.
When not animated in the pursuit of some interesting affair, Lady Hester now sunk into an extraordinary lassitude and inactivity of body, but never of mind. She had been accustomed ever since her illness at Latakia to be carried up stairs by two men-servants, and could, on no occasion, support the slightest exertion of an unusual nature.
Time passed on in this way. Her ladyship was in constant correspondence with Mâlem Haym Shâdy at Acre, to which end M. Beaudin was continually going backward and forward. The project of my journey to Egypt, so often put off, was now definitivelyarranged; and on the 1st of August I left Meshmûshy for Abra, in order to embark.
Signor Volpi, an Italian, professing medicine at Tripoli, was sent for, and engaged by Lady Hester to attend on her until my return.
As there was a constant resort of vessels from Egypt to Tyre, for the purpose of loading with wood, I resolved not to wait at Sayda for an occasion, which was at best very uncertain, but to go to Tyre. Accordingly, on the 6th, accompanied by my man Giovanni, I departed, and arrived at Tyre in the evening. I took up my abode at the house of the Greek bishop, and, sending Giovanni to the captain of the port, desired him to inform me as to the Egyptian craft I saw lying at anchor. He soon afterwards brought to me the räis of ashekýf, burden 250 ardeps of rice, not decked, and with a crew of twelve men—the master named Mohammed el Ketàb. As he was not to sail until the 8th, I employed the whole of the 7th in examining the town, about the miraculous decadence of which so much has been said, and continues to be repeated by travellers. Yet, to an unbiassed observer, it appeared to share only in the general fate of all the cities of the coast, and could indeed claim a more prosperous fortune than Gaza, Ascalon, or Cæsarea, all famous cities in their time.
Tyre therefore, described as so ruinous by some travellers, was now a flourishing town, to which additionswere daily making in houses and inhabitants. Its population might be estimated at 2,000 souls, consisting of Metoualys, Greek Catholics, and Greeks. The quarter of the Metoualys was on the isthmus near the gate; that of the Christians to the north-west side of the town. The Greek families amounted to no more than a dozen: they had, however, a monastery, in which there was but one secular priest, who had now resided twenty years in Tyre; and there I was lodged. I had before heard of this man, who was remarkable, as I was told, for the retired life he led, and for his spare diet. On observing him, I remarked that he ate everything but fruit, sweets, and pastry, which he refrained from, not because he did not like them, but because he was a martyr to flatulence, for which he consulted me. I found him to be a complete valetudinarian, to which state he had brought himself by gross feeding, wine-drinking, and absolute inactivity. So much for worldly reputation!
The walls of Tyre, in the state in which I saw them, were a very recent and insignificant work; but in parts might be discerned the remains of a wall of older date. There was also a dilapidated palace, in a corner of which the governor still contrived to reside: this might be considered as the castle. The houses were of stone, and some of them had very handsome upper apartments, commanding an extensive prospect. At this time houses and warehouses were building on the strand to the north, facing the basin. The isthmuswas, in appearance, a heap of sand; beneath the surface, however, according to the report of the inhabitants, were hidden masses of ruins. So lately as fifty years before, this part was covered with gardens; now it was built upon. To the south and to the west, on the sea-shore, the rock, which forms the peninsula, was bared by the continued action of the sea, impelled by the western gales; but to the north, wherever workmen dug for the purpose of laying foundations, the rock was never met with.[61]
Tyre has two ports. The inner seemed to have been formed by two moles, enclosing a basin perhaps 250 yards across. The moles were now partly washed away by the sea, and the towers which flanked them were tumbling down. The basin contained at most half a fathom of water. On the outside of the mole, running West and East, were to be seen, under the surface of the sea, on a fine day, about a dozen fallen pillars, which probably formed a colonnade to some ancient edifice. To the West, likewise, were various fragments. There were men whose occupation it was to dive to the bottom of the basin, or to rake the strand for whatever they could find. They came to me, atthe instigation of the harbour-master, and produced, out of their findings, about a hundred and fifty copper coins, some agates and cornelians, pieces of lead, like the heads of arrows, or the balls of slings or of the balistæ, &c. The coins were so corroded by the salt water as to be totally defaced. Among the stones was the fragment of an intaglio of a horse, the head only and the end of the warrior’s spear remaining: but this portion was so beautifully cut, that, had it been entire, it would have been invaluable.
The outer port or road is considered as one of the best along the coast of Syria. It is formed by a broken ledge of rocks running North from the peninsula. Were the intervals between the rocks filled up, so as to make a continued breakwater, a capacious and nearly a safe port might be formed. The depth of water between the rocks varies from a fathom and a half to three fathoms. In this road the bottom is sand as far out as the ledge runs. To the South of Tyre, there is a bay which is very deep and dangerous, having at places sixty fathoms of water. The trade of Tyre was, in 1815, in corn, tobacco, wood, and charcoal, all exported to Egypt.
For two piasters I hired a boat with four men, for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, some specimens of the Tyrian dye. The man who steered her was the harbour-master, Räis el myna, who, brought up to the trade of a fisherman, had, nevertheless, acquired considerable celebrity along the coast of Syriafor his skill in lithotomy. His name was Bûlus Abu Hanah. From the moment of my arrival at Tyre, he had hung about me, hoping to obtain from me an English penknife, that being the instrument with which he operated. He showed me a stone of seventeen drachms Turkish, or an ounce and a half English, and another a little smaller, which he had extracted. His operations amounted to twenty-five, and his average of deaths was not different from those on record by some celebrated European surgeons. He acknowledged that no previous study had led him to undertake this bold operation; but that, having observed with what facility it had been done by some itinerant lithotomists who came to Tyre, he ventured to undertake it first upon his own nephew. His success in that instance emboldened him, and he now refused no case that presented itself, where he saw a prospect of cure. It will scarcely be believed that the very delicate operation for the cataract is likewise performed in Syria by itinerant oculists.
Our search after the Tyrian dye was unsuccessful: this not being, it was said, the proper season for fishing for it. But a promise was made me that I should be supplied with some in the spring of the ensuing year; in return for which I was to send the harbour-master an English penknife. He did not execute his promise the following year, but I did mine.
As I desired him to bring to me everything that his nets caught, one of the men bethought himself that acollection of sea-weeds would interest me. He showed me thirteen sorts. Two of them are used for dyeing; of these one, calledhashýsh ed dúdy, orsindean el bahr, dyes a crimson, and is of a purple hue. Although the history of the Tyrian dye is a certain one, I would nevertheless ask whether there might not have been a crimson extracted from a sea-weed as well as a fish.[62]
On Monday, the 8th of August, I embarked, about one in the morning. At sunrise we weighed anchor, and, coasting the shore, came to the Nakûra (of which mention has been made in former passages) about four leagues South of Tyre. Here the vessel was anchored in a nook close in to the shore, for the purpose of receiving her cargo of wood, consisting of cordbats as thick as a man’s leg, and about a yard long, which were cut on the mountain close to the villages of Nakûra and Alma, and sold on the spot for from five to eight piasters the hundred.
Whilst the vessel was loading, which was done by the crew, who carried the wood on their shoulders through the surf, the passengers went on shore, and I among the number. We were about one mile to the North of the Nakûra toll-house, when, at a little distance from the sea-shore, I observed two pillars standing, the remains of some ancient building. The name the ruin goes by is Um el Hamûd; but I was surprised to find that two such objects should have hitherto escaped my notice, when I had now passedthis road three times. I have not, therefore, inserted them in our itinerary, in their proper place. On a line with the pillars, close to the sea-shore, so as to be washed by the surf, were two or three small springs of water, which from their situation are constantly brackish.
Some Metoualys, who were inhabitants of the mountain hereabouts, came down to look at us. They had muskets, the use of which Gezzàr Pasha had prohibited at the time when he laid waste their country, and put their chiefs to death. But their rough and almost insolent manner towards Moslems here argued very clearly that they had in a certain degree recovered their independence.
Gezzàr persecuted this race of people almost to extermination. The troops which he sent against them were commanded by Selim Pasha, a Mameluke, who afterwards headed the insurrection of the Mamelukes against that pasha. Upon this occasion, Faris and Nasýf, two chieftains of a Metoualy family, in which had been vested the government from time immemorial, were put to death, and others were imprisoned at Acre. Selim Pasha sent 745 heads to his master, which were piled up outside the gate of Acre.
But the greatest cruelty was exercised on those who were led to Acre as prisoners; for Gezzàr Pasha ordered them to be impaled immediately. This horrible massacre was recounted to me in the followingmanner. It was two or three hours past sunset when the prisoners were brought in. Pierre, one of our servants, whom I have often mentioned, was living at Acre at that time; and, happening to be walking towards the city gate on his own affairs, with his lantern in his hand, he was laid hold of, as were many others, by the soldiers, to stand by and guard the prisoners, whilst the others were executed. Of these there were twenty-seven. Three, bound hand and foot, were his charge: and, when he saw the horrid work that was preparing, he trembled not much less than did the prisoners themselves. Several were already impaled on rough stakes hastily sharpened, when at length a man, whom Pierre described as of great strength, feeling the first blow of the mallet which drove the stake into his body, (his legs having been untied previously to stretch them wide open,) gave a sudden spring, extricated himself from the grasp of his executioners, and ran off. He plunged into the sea, and in the darkness of the night saved himself or was drowned; for he was heard of no more. The executions continued until the night was far advanced: some of these miserable creatures lived until the next, and some until the third day.
At night our cargo was completed, and the shekýf (so the little craft was called) was hauled off into deep water. After midnight, as soon as the land breeze was felt, we set sail for Rosetta, our course being West South West. A shekýf resembles somewhat,in size and construction, a smuggler’s lugger, being without a deck. The wood filled her up to the very gunwale; and, upon this hard and uneven material, twelve passengers, with a crew of the same number, were to find berths. The small boat, which was lifted in, was awarded to me by the captain, against the pretensions of a Turk, who, however, did not yield so advantageous a situation without much grumbling. There was a soldier with one hand, with a military voice and very haughty demeanour, but whom the räis smoothed into a most obliging person by frequently applying to him the title of aga: although his pride never could submit to be civil to two Jews, who were driven from side to side until the rest of the passengers had accommodated themselves: yet one of these was a rabbin, a man of learning, and whose conversation afterwards was my greatest comfort on the passage. There was, likewise, an Egyptian shaykh, whose neck was ornamented by three rows of large Mecca beads: and with him were his wife and daughter, both dreadfully sea-sick, with an old man servant, seventy years of age, infirm and helpless. Two Alexandrian pedlars, and two poor creatures of no trade or craft whatever, with Giovanni, who was like a corpse from the moment he got on board, completed our heterogeneous party.
During the whole of Monday, our course was nearly the same, with a capful of wind. In the night it fell calm. The land breeze was then felt, andwith that we advanced a little. But, on Tuesday, the 9th, a West wind, the prevailing one of the season, sprung up, and obliged us to alter our course to North and by West, upon which rhumb we kept the whole of the day and the following night. The wind freshened considerably, and we furled our mizen. Giovanni was very ill, and incapable of doing anything for me; and, in the usual strain of the sea-sick, recommended himself to the Virgin, and considered his case as desperate.
On the 10th, about ten in the morning, we got sight of Cyprus, bearing North. Through the day we had a fresh breeze, and went, as I suppose, at the rate of five knots. Our vessel was leaky, and the crew baled her twice (for there was no pump) before noon. Every passenger was sick but the soldier, the Egyptian shaykh, and myself. A little before sunset, we anchored in a nook to the East of the island. After sunset the wind freshened; but we were in perfectly smooth water.
On the 12th we weighed, and coasted the island towards the south. We doubled a small cape, and came in sight of the bay of Limasol, into which a gentle breeze brought us after sunset. Smooth water and the sight of the lamps in Limasol (for it was Ramazán) had revived the passengers, and Giovanni begged to be permitted to go on shore with the boat which was hoisted out to fetch water. When he returned, he brought me a supply of grapes, honey, freshbread, eggs, and other articles, which made the rest of the passage very tolerable: but the water we took in here was extremely bad.
The island of Cyprus looks from the sea very picturesque and of varied scenery. Its grand features are a chain of mountains which runs through its whole length, and which is rendered remarkable by a sugar-loaf elevation in one part, and a lofty long summit in another. These large mountains detach themselves into smaller ones, and these into hills, of conical and other shapes, which come down to the sea-coast. The point, that forms the bay of Limasol, is a cape of flat land, running into the sea to a considerable length. As we coasted the island, the face of it appeared variegated with trees and pastures, and rising in fair slopes. Half a league from the shore, near our first anchoring place, we saw a village, which resembled those I had left in Syria.
About midnight, a light breeze sprung up: and, taking advantage of it, we set sail for Egypt. It may be remarked that, at this season of the year, when the west winds prevail[63]very constantly, the country vessels seldom attempt to beat down by short tacks: but they make a long tack to Cyprus, and a second brings them to Egypt.
Saturday, the 13th, was a cloudy day. Sunday,Monday, and Tuesday we kept close-hauled, our course being S.W. and S.W. and by W. At sunrise there was generally a calm, and a sea as smooth as a mirror: about ten a breeze would come on, which would freshen until about sunset, when it usually became as strong as the vessel could well bear. The captain, one morning, frightened me somewhat by leaping into the sea: but I found that his intention was only to bathe, and, after swimming about the vessel, he returned on board. I was not tempted to follow his example, although very fond of swimming.
As my provisions failed me somewhat, I was surprised to find that the Jew produced from his store many excellent things, such as sweet biscuits, cakes, dried fruit, &c. He was a native of Tiberias, and was now on his way to Gibraltar, and perhaps to England, to beg for the Holy City. I found some relief to the tiresomeness of the passage in his conversation. His name was Yudy (Judas?). Among other things, he gave me the details of a revolt which took place in Gebel Nablûs during the preceding year, at which he was present in the capacity of secretary to Málem Sulymàn, who was seràf to the forces on the occasion: which I thought it worth while to write down, as descriptive of the petty wars which often take place in the Turkish provinces.
In the autumn of each year, Mûly Ismael and his mercenaries were generally hired by the pasha of Damascus for the purpose of marching through thesouthern districts of the pashalik, where there had been for many years past a refractory spirit, and a disposition to throw off allegiance to the reigning pasha. This had more particularly manifested itself on Gebel Nablûs, the ancient Samaria. The Mûly proceeded on his march, as was customary; but, on approaching Suffýn, a village that could raise 400 muskets, he was told to retire, or he should be received as an enemy, as they would no longer submit to the oppressions of the government. The Mûly accordingly halted and encamped. He did not attack the village, but sent a courier to acquaint the pasha with the resistance which was opposed to him, and to demand fresh troops. In the mean time, it was whispered that Mûly Ismael had received a bribe to induce him to remain passive. Fresh troops, however, were sent from Damascus; and, lest these should not be enough, aid was required from the pasha of Acre and afforded. With these latter troops, Sulymàn, the banker, went, and with him his secretary, Yudy. Thus the forces of two pashas were united against one village.
No sooner did these reinforcements reach the encampment, than, on a sudden, their leaders also became pusillanimous, and declared it impossible to attack the village. An interrupted cannonade was carried on from a great distance, but no demonstration of resistance was made by the village, unless when the troops approached too near, on which occasions they were warmly received. The peasants had no otherprotection than a trench carried round their village: but the place itself was on an elevated situation, and presented natural difficulties. This warfare continued several days. Despatches from the pashas cried shame on their conduct, saying that they would be loaded with infamy if they suffered themselves to be baffled by so few men, and those not soldiers.
During this suspense, the regular forces were more than once on the point of running away. On one occasion a report was industriously circulated that the peasants intended to attack the camp by night. Accordingly, the horses were kept bridled, the troops lay on their arms, and the seràf Sulymàn was seized with a diarrhœa from fright, and had taken his measures to escape with the gold, intending to drop some silver about on the road, as a trap to stop the pursuit.[64]
It will be recollected that, in relating the occurrences at Damascus, a certain Hamed Bey, son of Yusef Pasha, was mentioned, as commanding a corps of mercenaries. This man had now been sent by the pasha of Damascus, and, not having shared in the bribes given to the other leaders, resolved on distinguishing himself by a spirited attack on the village. He was joined by an aga, who was also aware of the treachery of Mûly Ismael and his colleagues. These two, then, forming a body of horse and foot, advanced to thetrench. The peasants received them by a general discharge along their whole line, which threw Hamed Bey’s cavalry into disorder: but, whilst they were reloading, the infantry rushed forward sword in hand, passed the trench, and mixed pell-mell among the peasantry. It being harvest time, there was a great quantity of straw lying near the spot where the attack was made; and, the wind being high, the Turks got to windward, set fire to it, and, following the smoke which blinded their adversaries, they discomfited them completely. Thirty-one heads were cut off; for which a reward of 100 piasters each was given, and, as is customary, a stamped piece of tin, which the gainers wear afterwards in their caps or somewhere about them, as a sign of their prowess. Two shaykhs and several peasants were made prisoners, and for them 150 piasters each was awarded.[65]The Albanians directed their attention chiefly to the women, whom they violated wherever they caught them: thedelátyplundered for effects.[66]The prisoners were conductedto the camp, and, on as many as chains could be found for, chains were put. The rest were tied with their hands behind them, and made to lie on their backs: from which position, if they dared to stir, a soldier with a whip lashed them cruelly. Others were bound together with a long cord in nooses round their necks: so that if one attempted to stir he tightened the noose round the neck of the man next to him, and might eventually strangle him. The women, who were not comely, or who were somewhat old, were sold back to the old men for five, ten, or fifteen piasters: and thus the affair terminated.
There was not a year, during our stay in Syria, that some part of Gebel Nablûs was not in insurrection. This spirit of resistance to the lawful authorities we may suppose to be often fomented by persons attached to the government. The rabbin Yudy told me an anecdote in confirmation of this, which was as follows. When Abdallah Pasha was governor of Damascus, an attack was made by one of his officers on a village of about twenty houses in the district of Nablûs, which was unsuccessful. Enraged at this repulse, the pasha in person assaulted the place at the head of seventeen men and took it. He found init one of his own ammunition chests which had been sold by his gunners to the enemy, whilst encamped before the village. Such treachery the rabbin said was common in Turkish warfare.
On the 15th of August, at sunset, our räis suspected we were approaching the land, and hove the lead to see what bottom it was: by it, and by the freshness of the water, he knew that we were near the Egyptian shore. He accordingly shortened sail, stood cautiously in, and anchored late in the evening in sight of land, which he distinguished, no doubt, easily enough: but my eyes, less used to reconnoitring a flat coast, more especially in the dark, beheld nothing but a heavy sky and a gloomy sea.
In the morning of the 16th, I was turned out of the small boat, which was my berth, just as we were coming upon the bar of Rosetta, and, to lighten the vessel, it was lifted out, and loaded with wood: but, in going over the bar, it swamped, and the painter was cut in an instant to prevent the hindrance it caused to the progress of the shekýf. We touched several times in crossing the bar; and signs were made to us by vessels within that our course was too far south: but the räis appeared to rely on his own skill, and we finally got into smooth water.
The Delta was now flooded, as the Nile was at its height, so that the houses and villages seemed to be inaccessible but to boats. There were, however, children, who kept up with us by the river side,sometimes on a dry knoll, sometimes up to their knees in water, and sometimes wading and swimming over canals, eagerly following us, to catch the bread and other refuse provisions which were thrown to them from the vessel. A cap was handed round to collect coffee-money for the crew, in consideration of our safe passage over the bar.
On arriving at the quay of Rosetta, the busy scene, though not novel to me, had lost none of its attractions. I had seen the Nile before when empty: I now beheld it brim-full, and enlivened with an increased degree of activity from the number of vessels and from the animation that commerce excites.
It was Ramazán time, and I sat on the quarter, smoking, and viewing the scenes around me. But, had the vessel not been from the sea, and of course the passengers considered as persons travelling, I could not thus, in the face of everybody, have presumed to smoke. For travellers and for the sick there is an exemption in the Koràn.[67]
I had sent a letter on shore to the English agent, Signor Lenzi, requesting him to provide me a lodging. His dragoman came instantly down to inform me that the plague was in the town, otherwise Signor Lenzi would have accommodated me at his own house, but that he had secured apartments for me atthe Terra Santa monastery, where Padre Luigi would entertain me. To prevent the danger of contagion, the dragoman had provided some rush mats, in which the whole of my baggage was wrapped, and then carried by porters to the monastery, where they put down their burdens at the door and took away the mats. Thus, they having touched nothing that remained, all danger of infection was prevented.
I retired to a gloomy cell, where I was devoured by fleas; and resolved to escape as speedily as possible to Alexandria. So I went to rest, deliberating how this was to be managed; as both land and sea conveyances would expose me to the contact of the infected. In this mood I fell asleep, and was wakened next morning by a violent knocking at my door; when who should enter but shaykh Ibrahim, better known as Mr. Burckhardt, who was on his way from Cairo to Alexandria. We renewed our acquaintance, (which had been but momentary at Nazareth) and agreed to go thither in company. He was glad, I believe, to have me for a companion, as his health was far from re-established since a dangerous fever that had attacked him at Mecca: and, in return, I was pleased to study the character of a man who was reputed to be an adventurous and enterprising traveller, and, moreover, highly gifted with the talents necessary for rendering his researches useful to the world.
As we could not depart immediately, we were compelledto be very careful in our walks and visits about Rosetta.
On the 18th of August, in the evening, we departed for Alexandria by land, mounted on asses. Shaykh Ibrahim had with him a black slave[68]named Fadl Allah, and Giovanni and he, both accustomed to travelling, left us nothing to do but to smoke, eat, converse, and sleep. Arrived at Lake Edko, we hired a boat to cross it, and here I was determined to leave the whole conduct of the passage to the shaykh, who knew so much more of Egypt than I did. But he could not be a match for the cunning of an Egyptian. The director of the ferry deceived him both as to price and as to the nature of our passage. He had bargained for a boat to be occupied by ourselves only; yet, we found, on getting on board, that it was already full of passengers; and, whilst he was charging the director with duplicity and cheating, the boatmen were setting the sail and seemed not to heed us. For, it must be observed, these lakes are very shallow, and a boat that draws only three feet water cannot approach within fifty yards of the shore. Hence it is customary for men to ply at the landing places, to carry passengers and luggage to and fro on their shoulders. They wear nothing but a blue smock frock, and this they tuck up, even if there are females on board, as high as the waist.
We crossed Lake Edko and the isthmus, and then re-embarked in another boat of a similar build. We were finally landed at the block-house, on the dyke between Lake Madia and Lake Mœris, where, three years before, I passed, in company with Mr. Henry Pearce, so disagreeable a night. We here hired asses, which were waiting on the shore for the arrival of boats, and proceeded strait to Alexandria, which we reached at sunset. Colonel Missett, the British Resident, received us both into his house, and expressed his obligations to me for coming so far on his account.
The plague had committed some ravages in Alexandria this year, but they were now over, and, in the language of the Levant, people had opened their houses; that is, those who had shut themselves up in rigid quarantine had now resumed their accustomed occupations and intercourse.[69]
Shaykh Ibrahim showed a strong disposition to revisit Syria at this time, and expressed himself as half inclined to accompany me when I should go back. My time passed away most delightfully in Alexandria. Banished so long as I had been from European society of all sorts, I entered again, with infinite relish, into the parties and eveningconversazioni, which were both gay and instructive. Colonel Missett’s urbanity drew to his house whatever was respectable in talent or rank. So great was the esteem in which the British Resident was held, that the greatest titleto consideration and gratitude, from all ranks at Alexandria, for me would have been in restoring to the Colonel that health of which he had been long deprived. But some dietetic rules, with a few remedies as palliatives in the most distressing symptoms, were all the relief that a confirmed paralysis of the lower extremities, now of seven years’ standing, would admit of.
As it was Ramazán, Shaykh Ibrahim, in the character of a Moslem, was bound to fast from sunrise to sunset: but, when he got to Colonel Missett’s, he thought he might resume his Frank habits without the risk of being detected. We were seated one morning at one of those sumptuous breakfasts for which the Colonel’s table was celebrated, when a young Turk, named Sadiz Effendi, and well known to Shaykh Ibrahim, suddenly entered, and caught the shaykh with his mouth full. Evasion or denial was useless: and this discovery, no doubt, did the shaykh great harm among those Moslems who had almost made up their minds to identify him with themselves.
Much amusement was afforded us about this time by the facility with which some French gentlemen, presuming on the restoration of the old nobility by the return of Louis XVIII., assumed pretended dormant titles in their families; so that Cairo and Alexandria had on a sudden many noble names to boast of.
M. Drovetti, ex-consul of France, was residing atAlexandria, and gratified us with a sight of his collection of antiquities, which he hoped one day to sell in Europe. He estimated it at three thousand guineas, probably somewhat more than its value.[70]
The commerce of Alexandria had revived since Buonaparte’s downfall. There were more than a hundred European ships in the west harbour during my stay. Of these, a few came fully laden with European commodities; but as yet there was not a market for them.
Signor Belzoni, who afterwards rendered himself so celebrated for his discoveries in Egypt, was, at this epoch, just arrived there in search of employment. But the person who excited most conversation among the Franks was Mr. J. Silk Buckingham, who to considerable natural abilities united much activity and research, which, not being well seconded in Egypt, obliged him subsequently to repair to India, where he found his talents better appreciated. There was also a Scotchman here, who was left after the affair of Rosetta, and from a soldier had made a doctor of himself. He secretly told me that he wanted to abandon Egypt and his religion; but Shaykh Ibrahim dissuaded him from doing so.
Towards the end of September, after a stay of five weeks, I quitted Alexandria. As Shaykh Ibrahim had never seen Damietta, he resolved to accompanyme thither; and we jointly hired a coasting boat to convey us to that city, for which we were to pay 100 piasters.
We embarked in the evening of the 25th, but the wind was fresh, and we could not quit the port until the next day. Our boat was roomy, and we had it entirely to ourselves, such being the agreement. Both our servants became so ill the moment they were embarked, that we were obliged to dress our dinner for ourselves. The passage was favourable. Shaykh Ibrahim performed his prayers on board, but the räis never could make up his mind to address him as a Turk, and through the whole passage persisted in calling him Khawágy[71]Shaykh Ibrahim, ludicrously mixing the Christian appellation with his Mahometan designation.
Shaykh Ibrahim, it is generally believed, passed everywhere, unsuspected, as a Mahometan. That is possible. All Turkey is full of Italian and French renegadoes, who, of course, speak but indifferently a language which they generally attempt to acquire when the organs of speech have no longer the pliability of childhood; and, exclusive of these, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, abound with Albanians and othernatives of European Turkey, who have, of course, nearly the same difficulties to encounter in learning Arabic as a Swiss or an Englishman. It was, therefore, no cause of suspicion that he had an accent, or that he could not pronounce certain letters, and overcome those (we may call them) insurmountable difficulties for grown persons in speaking in Arabic. But, that he ever passed as a native is not true; and, although he spoke Arabic better than any European traveller upon record, still he was incapable of opening his mouth for ten sentences without being detected as a foreigner.
Mr. Burckhardt himself often related an anecdote, which went to prove the belief of the pasha of Cairo that his character of a Moslem was an assumed one; but this anecdote rather regards the purpose of his disguise. It was, that, on having obtained permission of the pasha to go to Mecca, the pasha sent a message to him by his hakým bashi or chief physician, (Hanah Bozaro) desiring him to keep his own counsel, and not to go and say he had made a fool of the pasha.
After quitting Alexandria, and before reaching Aboukir bay, we passed an eminence called Tel Agûl; and farther on is Nelson’s Island, as it has been named by the English, but which the native sailors called Gezýra Ghoro.
We arrived at that mouth of the Nile, marked, on d’Anville’s map,Ostium Taniticum, crossed the bar, and reached the custom-house, where a party of Albanian soldiers was put on board to be conveyed gratis toDamietta. The shaykh, as well as myself, had enough experience of this sort of gentry to know that, if they discovered us to be Franks, they would probably usurp our places, and send us to the forecastle. We therefore seated ourselves in a sort of authoritative manner, smoked our pipes, spoke little, and carried on the farce of Turkish gentlemen (to which, so long as our tongues betrayed us not, our costumes lent every assurance) so well, that when we arrived opposite to the quay of the town, and were inquired after by the dragoman of the English agent, who was apprized of our coming by letter, the Albanians were furious to think how they had been imposed upon.