GAZA TO NABLUS
PASSING now once again through Palestine and Syria I retained the tent
which I had used in the Desert, and found that it added very much to my
comfort in travelling. Instead of turning out a family from some
wretched dwelling, and depriving them of a repose which I was sure not to
find for myself, I now, when evening came, pitched my tent upon some
smiling spot within a few hundred yards of the village to which I looked
for my supplies, that is, for milk and bread if I had it not with me, and
sometimes also for eggs. The worst of it is, that the needful viands are
not to be obtained by coin, but only by intimidation. I at first tried
the usual agent, money. Dthemetri, with one or two of my Arabs, went
into the village near which I was encamped and tried to buy the required
provisions, offering liberal payment, but he came back empty-handed. I
sent him again, but this time he held different language. He required to
see the elders of the place, and threatening dreadful vengeance, directed
them upon their responsibility to take care that my tent should be
immediately and abundantly supplied. He was obeyed at once, and the
provisions refused to me as a purchaser soon arrived, trebled or
quadrupled, when demanded by way of a forced contribution. I quickly
found (I think it required two experiments to convince me) that this
peremptory method was the only one which could be adopted with success.
It never failed. Of course, however, when the provisions have been
actually obtained you can, if you choose, give money exceeding the value
of the provisions to somebody. An English, a thoroughbred English,
traveller will always do this (though it is contrary to the custom of the
country) for the quiet (false quiet though it be) of his own conscience,
but so to order the matter that the poor fellows who have been forced to
contribute should be the persons to receive the value of their supplies,
is not possible. For a traveller to attempt anything so grossly just as
that would be too outrageous. The truth is, that the usage of the East,
in old times, required the people of the village, at their own cost, to
supply the wants of travellers, and the ancient custom is now adhered to,
not in favour of travellers generally, but in favour of those who are
deemed sufficiently powerful to enforce its observance. If the villagers
therefore find a man waiving this right to oppress them, and offering
coin for that which he is entitled to take without payment, they suppose
at once that he is actuated by fear (fear of _them_, poor fellows!), and
it is so delightful to them to act upon this flattering assumption, that
they will forego the advantage of a good price for their provisions
rather than the rare luxury of refusing for once in their lives to part
with their own possessions.
The practice of intimidation thus rendered necessary is utterly hateful
to an Englishman. He finds himself forced to conquer his daily bread by
the pompous threats of the dragoman, his very subsistence, as well as his
dignity and personal safety, being made to depend upon his servant’s
assuming a tone of authority which does not at all belong to him.
Besides, he can scarcely fail to see that as he passes through the
country he becomes the innocent cause of much extra injustice, many
supernumerary wrongs. This he feels to be especially the case when he
travels with relays. To be the owner of a horse or a mule within reach
of an Asiatic potentate, is to lead the life of the hare and the rabbit,
hunted down and ferreted out. Too often it happens that the works of the
field are stopped in the daytime, that the inmates of the cottage are
roused from their midnight sleep by the sudden coming of a Government
officer, and the poor husbandman, driven by threats and rewarded by
curses, if he would not lose sight for ever of his captured beasts, must
quit all and follow them. This is done that the Englishman may travel.
He would make his way more harmless if he could, but horses or mules he
_must_ have, and these are his ways and means.
The town of Nablus is beautiful; it lies in a valley hemmed in with olive
groves, and its buildings are interspersed with frequent palm-trees. It
is said to occupy the site of the ancient Sychem. I know not whether it
was there indeed that the father of the Jews was accustomed to feed his
flocks, but the valley is green and smiling, and is held at this day by a
race more brave and beautiful than Jacob’s unhappy descendants.
Nablus is the very furnace of Mahometan bigotry; {263} and I believe that
only a few months before the time of my going there it would have been
quite unsafe for a man, unless strongly guarded, to show himself to the
people of the town in a Frank costume; but since their last insurrection
the Mahometans of the place had been so far subdued by the severity of
Ibrahim Pasha, that they dared not now offer the slightest insult to a
European. It was quite plain, however, that the effort with which the
men of the old school refrained from expressing their opinion of a hat
and a coat was horribly painful to them. As I walked through the streets
and bazaars a dead silence prevailed; every man suspended his employment,
and gazed on me with a fixed, glassy look, which seemed to say, “God is
good, but how marvellous and inscrutable are His ways that thus He
permits this white-faced dog of a Christian to hunt through the paths of
the faithful.”
The insurrection of these people had been more formidable than any other
that Ibrahim Pasha had to contend with. He was only able to crush them
at last by the assistance of a fellow renowned for his resources in the
way of stratagem and cunning, as well as for his knowledge of the
country. This personage was no other than Aboo Goosh (“the father of
lies”), {264} who was taken out of prison for the purpose. The “father
of lies” enabled Ibrahim to hem in the insurrection and extinguish it.
He was rewarded with the Governorship of Jerusalem, which he held when I
was there. I recollect, by the by, that he tried one of his stratagems
upon me. I did not go to see him, as I ought in courtesy to have done,
during my stay at Jerusalem; but I happened to be the owner of a rather
handsome amber _tchibouque_ piece, which the Governor heard of, and by
some means contrived to see. He sent to me, and dressed up a statement
that he would give me a price immensely exceeding the sum which I had
given for it. He did not add my _tchibouque_ to the rest of his
trophies.
There was a small number of Greek Christians resident in Nablus, and over
these the Mussulmans held a high hand, not even permitting them to speak
to each other in the open streets; but if the Moslems thus set themselves
above the poor Christians of the place, I, or rather my servants, soon
took the ascendant over _them_. I recollect that just as we were
starting from the place, and at a time when a number of people had
gathered together in the main street to see our preparations, Mysseri,
being provoked at some piece of perverseness on the part of a true
believer, coolly thrashed him with his horsewhip before the assembled
crowd of fanatics. I was much annoyed at the time, for I thought that
the people would probably rise against us. They turned rather pale, but
stood still.
The day of my arrival at Nablus was a fête—the new-year’s day of the
Mussulmans. {265a} {265b} Most of the people were amusing themselves in
the beautiful lawns and shady groves without the city. The men (except
myself) were all remotely apart from the other sex. The women in groups
were diverting themselves and their children with swings. They were so
handsome, that they could not keep up their yashmaks. I believe that
they had never before looked upon a man in the European dress, and when
they now saw in me that strange phenomenon, and saw, too, how they could
please the creature by showing him a glimpse of beauty, they seemed to
think it was better fun to do this than to go on playing with swings. It
was always, however, with a sort of zoological expression of countenance
that they looked on the horrible monster from Europe, and whenever one of
them gave me to see for one sweet instant the blushing of her unveiled
face, it was with the same kind of air as that with which a young, timid
girl will edge her way up to an elephant and tremblingly give him a nut
from the tips of her rosy fingers.