_Beyroot, May 29th, 1837._
On the first day of the new year, (the orientals follow the old
style, which is twelve days later,) about four o'clock P.M., while
we were assembled at the Mission-house, and engaged in celebrating
the Lord's Supper, there was a very severe earthquake; at first a
sudden shock, then a momentary pause, then a rocking motion, so
that the arms of nearly every person were involuntarily extended
to preserve their balance. It was preceded by a dull murmuring
sound. The sound and motion seemed to proceed from the north. There
had been for several days a haziness of the atmosphere which is
unusual; no rain had fallen since the first of December, and the
ground had become dry for this season of the year. The haziness
increased considerably about the time of the first shock, and part
of the sky was covered with a fleecy cloud, in some places of a
dark appearance. This was very unusual in the region. There were
several slight shocks during the night. It did not do much injury in
Beyroot, excepting cracking some of the houses; but Safet, Tiberias,
and many other villages were almost entirely destroyed, and many
lives lost. A meeting of the Franks was held, to see what could
be done for these suffering villages; a collection was made, and
Messrs. Thomson and Calman appointed as a committee to visit and aid
them. I would gladly have accompanied them, and made observations
for myself, but the circumstances of the mission rendered it
inexpedient for Mr. T. and myself to be absent at the same time.
Slight shocks of earthquakes were frequent for ten or twelve days,
and the people were much alarmed. Many have feared to sleep in their
houses. A Jew at Damascus prophesied that the whole coast from
Sidon to Antioch would be destroyed. The governor, believing, very
properly, that he was an impostor, had him confined, and threatened
to punish him if his predictions were not fulfilled. Most of the
Jews left their houses, and encamped without the city.
The attention of the English government has, for several years
past, been much turned to the opening and maintaining a passage
from some port in Syria, through the valley of the Euphrates to the
East Indies. Two steam-boats, the _Euphrates_ and _Tigris_, were
taken across from the Mediterranean Sea, near Scanderoon, to the
Euphrates, at Beer. They were carried in pieces on camels, and put
together at Beer, and the expedition, under the command of Colonel
Chesney, proceeded, on their exploring tour down the river. The
_Tigris_, which was the smaller boat, was lost in a tornado; the
_Euphrates_ continued on her route, and the river was explored.
The matter did not succeed quite as well as some of its more
ardent advocates expected, but well enough to prove that it was
practicable. Large quantities of bitumen are found in that region,
and the experiment was tried of substituting this for coal, as there
is not much wood in the vicinity. It would not answer; it melted
too rapidly. A person is now engaged in examining whether coal may
not exist there. In the meantime Mr. Farren, the Consul-General
at Damascus, using the great influence he has gained over some of
the Arabs, opened a direct communication with Bagdad through the
wilderness. He made use of dromedaries, and the mail passed in six
or eight days. Since Mr. Farren's recal, the post is continued under
the present consul. There is thus a regular communication from
Beyroot to India, viâ Damascus and Bagdad. In a few years, I doubt
not that steamboats will run regularly on the Euphrates, and that a
great travelling route will thus cross the most interesting part of
the great valley of the Euphrates, the ancient seat of early cities,
kingdoms, and civilisation. This will, as it may be hoped, prepare
the way for the spread of the gospel in the interior of Asia.
I have attended, by special request, an Arab wedding, the parties
being members of the Greek church. The men and women were in
separate apartments. In both rooms there was music from a rude drum,
and the women kept up a singular hallooing, or kind of shrill cry.
I was taken into the female apartment, and introduced to the bride.
She was much adorned with gold and gold foil, her face and hands
painted in the most fantastic manner; she kept her eyes closed, or
nearly so, which she must do for several days. They made her put on
cob-cobs, a kind of sandal nearly a foot high, and dance before us,
or rather walk very slowly backwards and forwards, keeping time
with the music; her hands were held up by an attendant, to be seen
and admired. They then took her into another room to eat, after
which the marriage ceremony commenced. The priest read the marriage
service, during which he put a ring on the finger of each, with
many crossings, and touching the head and breast, and afterwards he
changed the rings; he then put a chaplet made of an olive branch
with its leaves on the head of each, and after a similar crossing
and touching the head and breast, the chaplets were changed; he
then took a cup of wine, and made them both drink of it: this, with
the priest's blessing, closed the marriage. The bride was then made
to follow her husband to the place where the horses were fastened.
Her attendants led her, and her walk was as slow as you can well
conceive,--a step, then a pause, then a very slow moving of the
foot forward; she must show great reluctance, and be forced after
her "well beloved." He seemed to give himself no trouble about her,
but mounted his horse, and waited with his back towards her, until
the signal should be given for starting. At last, by half carrying
and half pushing her, the bride reached the horse brought to take
her to her new home, and was mounted astride, as is the custom for
females to ride here. The signal was given, and the bridegroom moved
forward, accompanied by most of the male guests, while the females
surrounded the bride, some on animals, others on foot. The music and
screaming were kept up, and "the friend of the bridegroom" danced
and played all sorts of odd tricks before him. It was his business
to make sport for them. A pomegranate was given to the bride, which
she breaks as she enters her husband's door, thus showing that she
promises to be an obedient and dutiful wife. About dark, a few
weeks ago, we were somewhat startled by a discharge of artillery
from the castles about the town, one of which stands very near
us. We were, however, soon told that it was meant to signify the
commencement of the fast of the Rammedan, a fast of the Mohammedans.
During the continuance of this fast they are not to eat, drink, or
smoke, from sunrise to sunset. They may, however, eat and drink
during the night, and they make amends for their abstinence during
the day. Many of them turn day into night, night into day, eating
at sundown, midnight, and just before sunrise, and after making it
a time of great revelry and wickedness. This fast is a moveable
one, and passes round to all seasons of the year. When it falls in
midsummer it must be a sore trial to abstain from water in these
thirsty countries; they have, however, various ways of getting round
the law of the fast, and in some degree modifying the deprivations
it would cost them. All the systems of religion in the eastern
world lay much stress on fasting, and with many it is carried to an
idolatrous extent. They make a saviour of them. That this should be
the case with systems that do not take God's Word for the rule of
their faith and practice, would not surprise us; but that those who
call themselves _Christians_, and profess to found their faith on
God's Word, and appeal to it as their rule, should do so, may well
grieve us. It is true, that while the Bible is in a general way
acknowledged as the Word of God, they do not appeal to it, but to
the authority of the church; they have left the word of God,--have
rendered it void, that they may "follow their own devices,"--that
they may "keep their own traditions." The fasts of the Christian
sects are rather a distinction of meats, an abstinence from animal
food, than fasts properly so called. The Greeks, in accordance with
all the Oriental churches, observe Wednesday and Friday of each
week. The Papists, Friday and Saturday. In addition to these weekly
fasts, they have others of many days in succession. During one of
forty days' continuance, they are not allowed to eat until after
twelve o'clock at noon. It is astonishing with what rigidity even
small children observe these seasons.
A few days since, some dervishes, or Mohammedan priests, who have
been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, returned. They came back as holy
men, and great crowds went out to see their wonders. I was assured
by several persons who witnessed its performance, that boys threw
themselves on the ground, in a row as close together as they could
lie, with their faces to the earth, making a row of forty or fifty
yards, and one of the priests paced his horse over them, the horse
literally stepping on their backs. The boys jumped up very briskly,
though some of them showed what they were unwilling to acknowledge,
that they were slightly hurt. The fact may seem strange, but
Christians have tried the experiment, and succeeded as well as the
Moslems. Some of the priests thrust spears and swords through their
cheeks--a most unnatural thing. The people consider such things in
the light of a miracle.
I had a very pleasant interview not long since with Dr. Wilson, of
Scotland, who has just returned from a tour through Palestine, and
who went south as far as Petra. At Hebron he made a special contract
with a Sheik, who for about one hundred and fifty dollars took him
and his party to Petra and back, and left his own brother as a
hostage with the governor, until they returned. Petra is in a very
rough district. The El-Ghor is a wide valley, but much more elevated
than I had supposed, much more so than the Dead Sea, possibly
a thousand feet at the highest part. It is very destitute of
vegetation, and this is especially the case with the country about
Mount Hor, and Petra. There is a district more to the south that is
more fertile, and has a good many inhabitants on it. The antiquities
at Petra are most wonderful; a town hewn out in a sandstone rock,
only one house of any size built above ground, and that a church.
This building has been slightly injured by the late earthquake.
There are most extensive excavations--a considerable town under
ground; the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor is an excavation. The mount
is a round sugar-loaf hill, with a small level on the top.
We have had fearful accounts of the prevalence of cholera at
Jerusalem, Aleppo, Malta, and some other places; much fear is felt
that it will visit us; may the Lord preserve us from its ravages!
A few days ago, a moolah, a Mohammedan priest, died at this place.
He was one of those who last spring made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
and on his return rode over the boys in the plain outside the town.
After his death, the other priests pretended that his body would
fly off to heaven, if they did not prevent it. They, therefore, had
ropes tied to his body, and fastened them to other things, that the
body might not get away. They held on to the ropes as they took the
body to the grave-yard. On their way the bearers stopped several
times, and would pull this way and that way, as if some invisible
power would not let them go forward, and the pretence was, that the
dead man was not willing to go that way, or to be buried. They at
length, however, got him to the grave, put him in, and made great
lamentation over him. This is a sample of the tricks they play to
delude the people.
I spent an hour on the 17th of last month, very pleasantly, with
Lord Lindsay, who has travelled extensively in these countries.
From Egypt he passed Mount Sinai and the Elanetic Gulf--visited
Petra, Bosrah, Gerash, and most of Palestine and Palmyra. He says
there are many ruins about Bosrah; a Roman road thirty feet wide
runs from that place towards Bagdad. It is in a good state of
preservation, but not used. Lord Lindsay had the affliction to lose
a brother, who travelled with him; if I mistake not, he died from
what is called a stroke of the sun. Means were used to preserve the
body, and he took the corpse with him in the same vessel to England.