SYRIA AND HER INHABITANTS.
In this chapter I shall endeavour to take a brief review of the country
and people—the drawback to the advancement and welfare of the latter—and
the inducements held out by the former for colonisation by emigrants—with
the mutual benefits accruing therefrom.
That portion of the Turkish dominions which lies to the southward of
Tyre, and includes all the country comprised within the boundary limits
of Gaza and Hebron to the south, and Tyre to the north, is with very few
exceptions, an uncultivated waste, owing, not to the want of fertility of
soil, but to the indolence of its inhabitants. The sea-ports, or
roadsteads, are at all seasons of the year open and exposed, and in the
winter months dangerous in the extreme for shipping; in proof of this, I
have only to cite the many shipwrecks which have occurred within the last
few years at Jaffa and Caipha. Gaza has only, during the present year,
risen into notice, few English schooners having arrived at Belfast direct
from that port, deeply laden with grain. But the roadstead of Gaza is
perilous for vessels at all seasons of the year, as the wind blows in
shore; the holding ground is bad; the inducements held out to commerce
very small; the inhabitants lazy and impoverished; little or no
consumption for seaport goods and British manufactures (the natives of
the villages in the interior restricting themselves to clothing which is
made of coarse stuffs manufactured by themselves or imported from Egypt);
the desert no field for speculations; and such little European produce as
finds its way into the interior being carried thither by petty retail
merchants, natives, who supply themselves with an annual stock from the
ofttimes glutted market of Beyrout. With respect to the export trade,
the south of Palestine supplies abundance of wheat, sessame, and other
grain; but the quality of much of this grain is superior to that produced
in Asia Minor.
The people inhabiting these southern parts of Palestine are almost a
distinct race from their brethren farther north; in manners and customs,
and even in complexion and stature, differing materially from the
northern Syrian: the great heat of the climate and the general scarcity
of water rendering them an indolent and careless people, sadly lacking in
cleanliness, and without spirit or energy to make any exertions for the
amelioration of their wretched condition. After leaving Tyre, and as we
proceeded south, mulberry-plantations quickly disappear; thus the one
grand staple commodity is wanting, and the occupation of rearing the
silkworm, at once a healthy and amusing pastime and a lucrative labour,
is denied the inhabitants of Southern Palestine. With hard manual
labour, privation, and exposure to intense heat, and all the evils of
comparative serfdom, they have no pleasurable recreations to lighten the
arduous pursuits of their every-day avocations: the plough and the
spade—the spade and the plough—incessant toil and small
recompense—unwillingess to work, yet goaded to it by dire necessity, the
pangs of starvation, or the chastisements inflicted by unrelenting
landlords and landowners. Such is their unhappy lot.
Their huts are miserable, their children squalid and unhealthy; they toil
through a life of troubles and sorrows, and have the poor satisfaction of
knowing that they are possessed of no benefits which might, in
after-years, accrue to their children’s advantage. From generation to
generation they live and die, are born and given in marriage, but the
tenure of their serfdom is still the same. They are nominally free
subjects of an enlightened government, but virtually the slaves of
circumstances, groaning under the petty chiefs and subordinate
understrappers of government, who have yet to learn submission to the
will and mandates of the present excellent Sultan, Abdul Medjid Khan,
whose reign has already been distinguished by many great improvements in
the condition of the Christian population. Many of the firmans issued of
late years have not as yet come into force in the interior of Turkey, and
in those possessions of the Ottoman empire situated farthest from the
sea-ports. In the course of some years it is, however, to be hoped, that
the most remote villages will be benefited by the improvements made in
Western Europe.
The disposition of the natives of Southern Palestine has a tinge of
sullen moroseness in it, which has doubtless been ingrafted in it from
generation to generation; there is nothing _couleur-de-rose_ in their
sphere of life and action; and the superstition they inherit from their
ancestors is not that pure and lovely religion of Christ which can cast a
halo around, whilst it strengthens, encourages, and supports in the
darkest hours of affliction and woe. It may be, that, under better
auspices—could the people be brought to have a common interest in their
own and each other’s welfare, were there less animosity and party feeling
existing between the various creeds, could they be brought to nurture
less of deadly malice and hatred towards each other, all combining in one
common cause with a mutual good understanding—the fate of Southern
Palestine and its prevailing feature of sterile barrenness might be
changed. The country, people, and climate, might yield to the
introduction of agriculture and other improvements, and be materially
bettered—if land were meted out in portions with a sure guarantee to the
cultivator that his toil and labour would eventually be recompensed by
his reaping some fruits for himself from the sweat of his brow to benefit
his children—were the lower classes of the Moslems less avaricious, the
Jews less despised, the Christians less exposed to the grinding system of
the land-owners and admitted to reap fair profits from the fields they
plough and the gardens they cultivate for their wealthier and more
powerful masters; then, peradventure, the sea-coast and the cities near
and round about Jerusalem would gradually re-assume a right to that
blessed title which ascribed to its countries the appellation of a land
rich indeed, and flowing with milk and honey. But alas for the land of
Canaan! the portion of the tribe of Judah is become an unsightly
wilderness; and of Zion it may be truly said, “Thy house is left unto
thee desolate.”
From Gaza to Tyre the whole line of sea-coast is inhabited by people who,
with the exception of Jaffa, Caipha, and Acre, are professionally
goatherds and farmers—a simple people that subsist chiefly upon milk and
cheese, with fruit and vegetables, and who are merely the hirelings of
the owners of the large flocks committed to their charge. These goats
furnish the surrounding country with the only palatable meat to be
procured in these hot regions. Mutton is scarce, and beef seldom heard
of; hence poultry and goats are the staple commodity of the meat-market.
A young kid of a year’s growth is up to this very day often chosen as a
choice delicacy. Who does not call to mind the crafty art of Rebecca in
seasoning the well-flavoured dish so as to make it vie with the tenderest
venison? A kid, seasoned with spice and stuffed with sweet herbs, rice,
and the kernel of the fine fruit (at the very recollection of which I
hunger), is the festive dish of every house in Palestine on seasons of
mirth and great rejoicings. The father of the newly-married bridegroom,
tottering from extreme old age, will issue forth from the festive board
after having partaken of this delicacy, with a face radiant with smiles
and contentment, pouring forth blessings on him that prepared the savoury
meat.
It is seldom now-a-days that men die of extreme old age and debility in
the countries round about Jerusalem; but where such instances occur, and
where the faculties are retained to the last, and the human functions are
in full operation, then rest assured, that the tent scene in Isaac’s last
closing moments—so beautifully portrayed in the Holy Scriptures—is still
vividly re-acted up to this very day, with the sole exception perhaps of
the deceit practised by Jacob and his mother, which omission may solely
arise from the fact that the children of this world have now become wiser
in their generation, and are no longer to be imposed upon by such simple
and rude artifices.
But in their poverty and misery, the children of Southern Syria must bow
the neck meekly to the yoke till a brighter day dawns from above upon
their affliction, and till the curse is removed and the blessing of the
Almighty shall descend, like the rich dew of Hermon, upon their country
and themselves, and more than amply recompense them for centuries of
suffering and woe. They must remember the words spoken by the prophet
Isaiah—“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is
mine indignation.”
With Sidon the whole face of the country changes, and here commences that
luxuriant and verdant pasturage and foliage, which continue increasing as
we progress to the northward and may be said to reach a climax of beauty
and profuse richness in the districts of Lebanon, Tripoli, Lattakia, and
Antioch. Vast mulberry plantations, orchards of delicious fruits, and
vineyards covered with an endless variety of grapes, everywhere delight
the eye. At those spots where the soil is untilled, and up the lofty
sides of the mountains, grow the cypress, the majestic oak, the stately
fir, and the lofty pine; every inch of ground being thickly covered with
wild flowers, blackberry bushes, the white rose, and the training
honey-suckle, all which, with the fresh odours of the country, recall
forcibly to the mind the words of the prophet Hosea, “his smell is as
Lebanon.”
“—Through the grass
The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the trills
Of summer birds sing welcome as ye pass;
Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their dyes,
Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;
The sweetness of the violet’s deep-blue eyes,
Kissed by the breath of heaven, seems colour’d by its skies.”
In the neighbourhood of Sidon, even the rare exotic banana has now been
reared with success, its large and handsome leaves and clustering golden
fruit being a source of wonder and admiration to the Syrian who is a
stranger to that neighbourhood. Here also commences that plentiful
supply of clear, crystal water which so materially adds to the beauty of
the scenery, makes cleanliness and comfort a cheap luxury to the
inhabitants, and as a natural consequence, proportionably benefits the
health of the natives. Children grow up surrounded by the choicest gifts
of a bountiful Providence, and their young and tender hearts are moulded
in a meeker and more gentle frame; their labour is more congenial to
their constitution and habits, and the smallest exertion is quickly
recompensed by a grateful and fruitful return. The shade of many trees
affords them a welcome shelter; the waters of many cool streams are at
hand to quench their slightest thirst; and the choice fruits of a hundred
orchards, maturing to ripeness, afford them a luxurious repast. Besides
these, the cattle and poultry are more plentiful, and of a better sort,
and the pasturages are thickly dotted with flocks of fine healthy sheep,
and milch cows in abundance. The result of all these blessings is, that
the inhabitants are a healthier, wealthier, and a more cheerful race than
the people of Southern Palestine; and the vast supply of honey gathered
from the wild honey-combs in the neighbouring mountains, and the
excessive cheapness and excellence of milk renders this portion of Syria
the land “flowing with milk and honey” of the present day.
Oh that I were possessed of sufficient eloquence to prove to that great
mass of people who are emigrating from the British isles to the far
distant shores of Australia and North America, the fallacy of the
opinion, so universally entertained by some English, with regard to the
risk and danger incurred by those possessed of lands within the limits of
the Turkish dominions! Would that I could divest them of the idea
usually run away with by Englishmen, that they would be exposing their
lives and property to the will and pleasure of ferocious three-tailed
pashas, such as they have read of in books of travels, dated nearly half
a century back, and whose detestable names and memory are now handed down
to posterity in tales and Eastern ballads.
The real state of the Turkish empire is quite the reverse to what these
good people imagine, and of late years any European, particularly since
the siege of Acre, and an Englishman especially, commands universal
respect from all the inhabitants of Syria, rich or poor, Christian or
Jew. There may be, perhaps, a few of the more bigoted beys and nobles,
who, wishing to remain in undisturbed possession of their wealth, and the
monopoly of land and labour, would regard the advent of enlightened
strangers as likely to be an infringement on their position, dignity, and
independence; but their rage and jealousy would prove as impotent as it
would be contemptible.
It is, moreover, difficult to satisfy Europeans, especially Englishmen,
that they can make safe investments in the Turkish dominions; but it is
only requisite to enquire into the tenure of all sorts of property as
held by Europeans in every part of Turkey for many years, to shew that
their vested rights have never been questioned, and that when any injury
or loss was proved to have been sustained to any such property, the
official representative of the owner had only to submit his claim, and in
every instance full and satisfactory redress was instantly afforded; and
I may refer, in proof of this, to an instance which occurred some years
ago of losses sustained by the French Factory, on Mount Lebanon, owing to
irregularities and outrages on the part of the petty local authorities,
and others, for which ample indemnification was given.
I may state, as an additional confirmation, the case of the Rev. Goodall,
the American Missionary, who was plundered by the soldiers during the
Greek piratical invasion of Beyrout, to which I have before alluded. As
soon as quiet was re-established, the Consul applied to the Pasha for a
restitution of the stolen property, or a tantamount value. A list was
made out, and so punctilious was the Pasha, that even a fowl, that had
been ready trussed for roasting, was included amongst the missing
articles, and every farthing was paid down out of the Government
treasury. And this is the case in most instances where a European is the
aggrieved party; the Governor of the district will be sure to see justice
done him and the Treasury is entitled to collect the sum disbursed from
the heads of the villages in the immediate neighbourhood where the theft
was committed. This answers a double end; it satisfies the injured
party, and ensures almost to a certainty the capture of the felon, for
all the villagers are on the watch to discover the rogue that has brought
on them such a taxation.
Europeans hold property after this manner, viz., they authorise a friend
who is a subject of the Sultan, in whom they can place implicit
confidence, to buy or purchase such and such a house or landed property
in his own name; then he makes a transfer of the titles to such property
to the European in lieu of some imaginary debt, usually a sum far
exceeding the value of the property itself. This transfer is made in the
Cadi’s, or Chief Judge’s Court; and being registered, becomes valid in
Turkish law, and is legally recognised as such. It is thus that the
oldest vested European interests in Turkey are secured and possessed, and
handed down to the lawful heirs of the European proprietors.
In respect both to the character of the Turks, and their kindly
disposition towards strangers, I cannot do better than give a quotation
from an interesting work by J. C. Monk, Esq., who has very recently
visited the country, in order to illustrate their friendliness and
amiability. He says—
“For my own part I look back with unmixed pleasure and gratification to
the brief period of my sojourn among the Turks. Their hospitality to
strangers, as well as their charity to the poor, and to each other in
distress, has never been questioned. From the Pasha in his palace, and
from the peasant in his hut, I have received kindness and hospitality.
They are not inquisitive in demanding the business or occasion which
brings a stranger to their doors, as such he is welcome; as he came, so
may he depart; no present is required, and rarely is it expected; no
questions are asked; attentive to the wants and comforts of his guests,
the Turk seems to forget his natural _insouciance_ until the departure of
the stranger, when in return for his salutation he wishes him “God
speed.”
Of one thing I am certain, and that is, that the middling and poorer
classes would hail the arrival of English emigrants with rapturous
delight; and in stating this, I am not without antecedents to prove what
I assert. I might instance the case of the late lamented and excellent
Mr. John Barker, who, for many years, lived amongst the wildest and most
bigoted portion of the natives of Northern Syria (at least, they were so
when he first went amongst them); go now and ask whomsoever you will—the
richest or the poorest—their opinion of the English, and, as if with one
voice, they will reply—that, taking Mr. Barker as a standard, they
consider them the best, most charitable, and most enlightened people that
inhabit the earth—the best friends and staunchest supporters of the
Sultan—and a people that they would gladly see settled around them.
Let us quietly argue both sides of the question; and perhaps as an
objection to start with, the reader may urge, that, in the instance above
quoted, the gentleman who thus settled in Syria was a wealthy retired
Consul-General, possessing, _for that country_, an income equal to, if
not exceeding, that of the most important Pasha in Syria, and that,
therefore, apart from his wealth, the high official position he had
occupied in Egypt and Aleppo, was a sufficient reason to command esteem
and respect among the natives; also in the cases of Col. Churchill, who
possesses large estates in the mountains, and is most active in his
exertions for the spiritual enlightenment and temporal improvement of the
people, that of Lady Hester Stanhope, and other Europeans. This may be
correct to a certain extent, but is false in the main. Of that
unfortunate lady, who once ruled with almost absolute power, the wild
Arabs of the desert, the only traces that remain, are the few crumbling
ruins of her humble abode at Djouni; her very name is almost forgotten,
and her sun of life sunk behind the cloud of obscurity. But why was
this? Simply because she lavished her money, when she had any, in vain
paraphernalia, and gave large sums, as _backshish_, to unprincipled men,
who had no sooner spent the money, than they forgot the patroness. Had
she employed her time and means in buying land and cultivating it,
introducing useful arts, etc., then her memento would have been lasting,
and the boon conferred handed down from generation to generation. Mr.
Barker’s and Col. Churchill’s estates flourish, and will continue to
flourish through many years to come.
The better sorts of peaches and grapes, besides a variety of rare Indian
and American fruits, which have been introduced by English
philanthropists, all serve to remind the Syrians of the kind friends who
brought them to the country; and many who have risen from obscurity into
comparative independence, hourly bless the good men whose hands showered
these benefits upon them. It would be in the power, more or less, of
every Englishman emigrating to Syria, to confer a lasting benefit upon
the natives through the introduction of a better method than they possess
of cultivating the ground, etc.; while a blacksmith, a skilful carpenter,
and a good mason, would prove invaluable acquisitions; and an industrious
farmer might initiate them into the art of making wholesome cheese, in
lieu of the hard, unpalatable stuff that now bears that name. These
would be the greatest of boons to the Syrians; and though naturally a
slow people, unwilling to deviate from old customs and habits which have
been handed down to them from generation to generation, still the
successful working of any newly introduced system, affording them
incontrovertible proofs of its yielding a better profit, would very soon
induce the natives to follow the example of their more civilised
neighbours.
The advantages to be derived from emigrating to Syria are manifold; but
first amongst these let me class, what to a patriotic Englishman must be
a pleasant thought, the comparative vicinity of this country to his
native land. Thousands of people are content to be cooped up for months
in a close confined vessel, exposed to all the hardships and sufferings
of a long sea-voyage, and subjected to the expenses of passage-money and
outfit, with the almost certainty before them, even if they succeed
beyond their most sanguine wishes, of being exiled from their country for
ten or a dozen years. I do not now allude to those shoals that are
flocking over to Australia, tempted from home by the immense wealth of
the Gold-diggings; nor to the possibility of these Gold-diggings being
very speedily inundated with people who may, when too late, bitterly
lament the rashness of their proceedings; neither will I advert to the
possibility of mines being discovered even in so neglected a country as
Syria. Some are already known; and even copper and iron also exist. In
Arabia, mountains of turquoise exist, specimens of which were exhibited
at the Exhibition, and gained a prize, by Major C. R. Macdonald, who had
also the honour of presenting the Queen with a pair of magnificent
bracelets. I am arguing with that class of men who emigrate simply
because they can find no occupation for their professional labours at
home. Yet not one out of these thousands has moral courage to emigrate
to Syria, where, if they proceed by a steamer, their outfit and
passage-money would amount to about one-half the expense incurred in
going to Australia,—the passage barely exceeding a fortnight, and that
passage, if the season is well chosen, performed in the height of summer,
with hardly a squall to ruffle the placid waters of the Mediterranean.
Here, then, at the very outset, is a saving of at least one-half of the
expense which must be incurred in going to Australia.
We will now suppose our emigrant arrived in Syria, with some surplus cash
in his pocket; he here converts each golden sovereign into more than one
hundred piastres, and he must be a spendthrift indeed if he cannot live
well and comfortably for ten piastres per day, or at the rate of four
sovereigns a month. In this interval he has had enough time to look
about him, and determine upon the town or position in which he intends
fixing his abode; and he has had also, during this short period, the
satisfaction of writing to his friends at home, and of receiving their
answers and congratulations on his safe arrival. Listen to this, O ye
that would still persist in emigrating to Australia, and remember how
many months must elapse ere the happy tidings of your safe arrival and
its reply can reach you.
If the emigrant be a farmer he is not long in fixing upon a fit site for
the establishment of his farm-house. The immediate neighbourhood of
Tripoli, Beyrout, Tyre, Sidon, and Jaffa are best adapted for his
purpose, the shipping there and the towns themselves affording an ample
market for the consumption of live stock. He will have cheapness to
contend against in the sale of cattle and poultry, but the superior
quality of what would be produced by a careful farmer, his stall-fed oxen
and sheep, and well-fattened poultry, would, amongst Europeans and the
wealthiest natives, command eventually a ready and profitable sale.
Cyprus would supply him with young turkeys at an average value of about a
shilling a head, and with every other species of poultry. If he wished
to experimentalise in improving the breed of cattle, he might do so
advantageously, not to mention the profits from wool and hides. The one
article of cheese alone, in exchange, would be to him a source of certain
gain. One half of the inhabitants subsist for a great portion of the
year almost entirely upon this food, wretchedly as it is made by my
countrymen.
Should the emigrant be a lover of a cold climate, he can easily fix his
abode on the snow-capped pinnacles of Lebanon, where he may enjoy
perpetual frost. If another should prefer a milder climate, he can
calculate his temperature almost to a nicety, and by carrying a pocket
thermometer about with him, go higher or descend lower, as fancy or
inclination might prompt. Should he love to luxuriate in heat, he has
only to descend to the sea-side, and there he will revel in all the glory
of sunshine, glare, and warm land-breezes. Mechanics, etc., would find
ready occupation in the very heart of the busiest towns in Syria, and
what is more, such is the high repute of English mechanics and artizans
amongst the natives of Syria, that even old grey-bearded Mahomedans would
gladly apprentice themselves, giving in return their manual labour.
It may be urged, with regard to climate, that the heat of all parts of
Syria is too intense to admit of English labourers being employed in the
cultivation of the immense tracts of waste land that so abound in various
districts. My reply to this is, that both food and labour being
extremely cheap in that country, and the produce, whether grain or silk,
disposable at an enormous profit in the English markets, the proceeds of
such sales would enable the small capitalist to employ sufficient
labourers under him; so that, in short, he would be simply a teacher and
overseer, managing his own property, and could, in a very few years,
afford to have an official in his pay, whilst he himself perhaps might
be, with his family, enjoying a cheap jaunt to his own country.
But there is also another large class of emigrants, to whose means and
occupations Syria is even better suited than to all the foregoing. I
mean persons of a certain fixed moderate income; those in receipt of an
annual rent or interest, varying in amount from £50 to £300. A man in
London, especially if he have a wife and family to support, is
comparatively a pauper if he can earn no more than £50 per annum. Take
that man to Syria; plant him in any part of Lebanon, or in any other
district of that country, and he has no longer pounds and shillings to
mete out carefully, so as to cover the annual outlay for household
expenses; but he has now to deal with piastres and paras. For one
piastre he can get four ordinary penny loaves; for half a piastre he can
get five eggs; for another half, as much fresh butter and milk as will
serve his purpose for the day, and unless he be an extraordinary eater,
leave an abundant surplus. Thus for two piastres we have seen him
provided with milk, butter, and bread—three staple commodities—and the
additional luxury of fresh-laid eggs. An _oak_, or 2¾ lbs. of mutton,
would cost him about two and a half piastres, and he spends a piastre in
vegetables and fruit; thus the raw articles of consumption cost him daily
five and a half piastres, or just one shilling sterling. With sixpence
additional, he can have fish and wine and coffee, an ample supply of
each, enough indeed to satisfy the cravings of three moderate men; so
that his annual item for food, wine, and coffee, would amount to 547
shillings and sixpence, or £27 17s. 6d. Of his original income of £50
per annum, he would thus still have a surplus of £22 2s. 6d. His rent
and the hire of three servants, their keep included, may consume £10 of
this balance, and with the remaining £12 2s. 6d. he could buy and keep
for the whole first year a very serviceable steed, whose cost would be
more than recompensed by the benefit and pleasure of horse-exercise every
day in the week.
Having now mounted my comparatively English “beggar on horseback”—even if
he be the most indolent of indolent men—he must go on thriving better and
better. Most Englishmen, however, have too much good sense now-a-days to
suffer precious hours to flit lazily by. It is evident also, that our
emigrant will he put to less expense the second year of his sojourn, at
least to the amount of the value of cost of his horse, which will then
only become an item of keep, as grass is plentiful and barley (on which
our horses are fed) cheap. His exchequer would thus be increased by £10
at the end of the second year. Now, even in England, a sharp-witted
fellow might, by unremitting perseverance and indefatigable zeal, turn
ten pounds into twenty; but in Syria, this sum is 1100 piastres, and for
1100 piastres there is many a bit of ground to be purchased equal in size
to the largest square in London. This he could lay out, if he fancied,
part in a kitchen-garden, part in a farm-yard, and part in a nursery for
young mulberry shoots, to be transplanted the ensuing year, by which time
also the extent of ground could be doubled by the purchase of a fresh lot
for £10 more—both planted with mulberries, the proprietor supplying his
own table with poultry and vegetables, making his own wine, and pressing
his own oil. In five years after his first settlement, he would have a
mulberry plantation five times as extensive as Eaton Square, with that
portion of the property first planted already yielding a return; for the
mulberry-tree, after three years, is ready to rear the worm upon, and the
quantity reared goes on increasing as the trees become larger and yield a
more abundant supply of leaves. At the end of these five years our
landed proprietor, whose greatest horror in London was quarter-day, and
rent and taxes, now finds himself in receipt of about £80 per annum
instead of £50, with every prospect of a rapid augmentation, for he may
have been adding ground to ground each successive year, and every
successive piece of land purchased may have been larger than the
preceding, till about the seventh year of his residence, when he may have
made an outlay of about £200, and have a promising plantation, yielding
him, conjointly with his income, somewhere about £120 per annum, with
every prospect of this income rapidly increasing. The best part of the
pleasant tableau, too, would consist in the fact that there had been no
pinching and screwing up of one’s means, no direful privations to meet
the emergency, no sleepless nights, and worrying busy days, racking one’s
brains and detracting from health and happiness; but on the contrary, the
emigrant’s life will have been one perpetual scene of pleasurable and
healthful occupation and diversion.
He will be an early riser, because he has had his little flower-garden to
weed, or the planting out of his fruit-trees and vegetables to
superintend: his farm-yard will then claim his attention; the cows
milking and sending forth to grass; the sheep, the turkeys, the geese,
ducks, fowls, guinea-hens, etc., all to be attended to; terminating by a
pleasant ride round his own plantation (how his heart throbs at the
thought, _his own plantation_!), and in seeing that his people are at
their various labours for the day. This ride gives him a keen relish for
his breakfast; and the forenoon is agreeably occupied in making notes of
when such and such a hen first sat on her eggs, and when such a batch of
chickens were hatched, etc. At noon he has lunch, and takes his
_siesta_; whilst the afternoon is devoted to study, or to correspondence;
or, if the fancy take him, and the season be propitious, to a shooting
party. There is no game-law to check his ambition, or to limit his range
of ground: no preserves, no man-traps, no “All dogs found trespassing
will be shot.” He may climb up one hill and go down another; spring a
covey of partridges, knock over a couple or more, and then quietly
re-load his gun for another shot. The only thing that seem inquisitive
about, or will take any interest in, such proceedings are, not
game-_keepers_, but game-_destroyers_—jackals and sparrowhawks; the one
will track the blood of the wounded partridge more surely even than the
dogs, the other soars high over head, and equally robs the sportsman of
his game unless numbered amongst his victims.
In the cool of the evening, the emigrant will enjoy his wholesome,
abundant, and luxurious dinner, and perhaps, entering into the spirit of
Oriental life, take a _fingan_ of coffee, and, may be, smoke a pipe of
delicious _Lattakia_; and at ten, at the latest, he takes himself to bed,
glad, after the many occupations of the day, to seek that healthful and
refreshing sleep, which is sure to be the natural result of so regular a
course of life.
Such is the picture of life I have drawn out for a man possessed at the
outset of only £50 per annum. Many in the receipt of even more than this
sum annually, are now on the threshold of the poorhouse. Surely, if such
should peruse these pages, they cannot longer hesitate as to what to do
or how to proceed.
Men with families who wish to luxuriate in the enjoyments of life, but
whose limited means of from £200 to £300 per annum restrict them, should
emigrate to Lebanon and to Syria. There they might build themselves
palaces, have parks stocked with gazelles and deer, the choicest orchard
of fruit, a stable not to be surpassed by potentates of Europe,
summer-houses, and dogs, and guns, and other requisites for shooting and
coursing parties; a summer residence near the seaside, and a yacht to
pleasure in whithersoever they might choose, or whither the whim of the
moment might lead them.
Finally, if Englishmen would only emigrate to Syria, and establish a
small colony there, then the uninitiated natives would be enabled to form
some estimate of their character as a nation; and, above all, would
discover, that they, like themselves, are Church-goers, strictly
observant of the sabbath, possessing ordained bishops, priests, and
deacons,—acknowledging the efficacy of the Sacraments, and a people
really good, and believers in the Gospel, in lieu of being what they now
suppose them to be, a people that mount upon house-tops to pray, because
the higher the elevation the nearer they think themselves to God.
If consumptive patients, in the early stage of that most direful malady,
were to resort to the milder climate of Syria, there is every hope that,
under God’s blessing, they would eventually recover, for, apart from the
excellency of the climate, they are there exposed to no sudden changes of
heat and cold, no coming out of stifling opera-houses into the chilling
night air, no pernicious excitements, nor exhausting late hours.