[Illustration:
Day & Haghe, Lith^{rs} to the Queen.
LADY HESTER STANHOPE’S ARRIVAL AT PALMYRA.
London,, Henry Colburn, G^{t.} Marlborough S^t 1846]
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE;
FORMING THE COMPLETION
OF
HER MEMOIRS.
NARRATED BY
HER PHYSICIAN.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1846.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Damascus--Ramazán--Visit to the Jews--House of the Hayms,
brothers of him of Acre--Visit to the Pasha--Compliment
of Hadj Mohammed to Lady Hester--Curiosity of the women
to see her Ladyship--Their dress--Inefficacy of personal
restraints upon women--Fanaticism of the inhabitants
of Damascus--Lepers--Amusements of Ramazán--Patients
attended by the Author--Sulymán Bey--His malady--His
cure--Rural fête--Sister of Ahmed Bey--Chief families
in Damascus--Visits to the sick--The Merge, or place of
amusement--Women at prayer 1
CHAPTER II.
Lady Hester’s intended journey to Palmyra--Objections
to it--Hanah Fakhah--Difficulties of a journey to
Palmyra--Illness of Mr. B. on his road from Aleppo to
Damascus--The Author goes to his assistance--Osman
Aga--Masûd Aga--Village of Yabrûd--Author’s reception
by Osman Aga--Carahburgh--Character of Masûd
Aga--Use of Narkyly--Aspect of the Desert--Hamlet
of Hassiah--Dûrra bread--City of Hems--River
Orontes--City of Hamah--Mûsa Koblán--Visit from
him--Arrival of Mr. Barker and Mr. B.--Description of
Hamah--Clogs--Waterwheels--Coolness and heat produced by
the same means--Costume of the female peasants--Doors of
houses--Air--Panoramic prospect--Manufactures--Christians
of Hamah--Inundations--Messrs. B. and Barker go to
Bâalbec--Description of Hems--Pyramidal sepulchre--Tomb of
Khaled--Citadel--Lake of Hems--Orontes river--Cara--March
of troops--Yabrûd--Springs of Ras el ayn--Mâlûla--Grottoes
and Sarcophagi--Michael Rasáti--Account of M. Lascaris
and of Madame Lascaris--Nebk--Dress of M. Lascaris--His
character--Return of the Author to Damascus 31
CHAPTER III.
Precautions against riots--Emir Nasar visits Lady
Hester--He dissuades her from going to Palmyra with an
escort--Description of Nasar--How entertained--Lady
Hester quits Damascus--Reports of her wealth--She takes
Monsieur and Madame Lascaris with her--Her interview
with the Emir Mahannah--She arrives at Hamah--Departure
of Mr. B. and Mr. Barker from Damascus--The Messieurs
Bertrand dismissed--Bills of exchange--The Author sets out
for Hamah--Mode of travelling--A Caravansery--Gabriel,
the poet--Kosair--Kelyfy--Nebk--Turkish
adventurer--Khan of Nebk--Mode of washing in the
East--Carah--Hassiah--Hamah--The Author lodges with
Monsieur and Madame Lascaris--Opportunity for entering
the Desert--M. Lascaris resolves to accompany the
Author--Bedouin costume--First departure from Hamah 68
CHAPTER IV.
The author enters the Desert--Hostile tribes of
Bedouins--Beni Khaled Arabs--Their tents, manners,
&c.--Arabian hospitality--Tels or Conical mounds--Aspect
of the Desert--Want of Water--Hadidyn Arabs--Mountains
of Gebel el Abyad--Bedouin horsemen--Bedouin
encampment--Mahannah, the Emir--Bedouin repasts--Character
of Mahannah--Nature of his authority--His revenue--Means
used by the Bedouins to obtain gifts--March of a Bedouin
tribe--Contrivance for mounting camels--Gentleness of the
camel--Snow--Search for Water--Detention of the author by
Mahannah--He is suffered to depart for Palmyra--Encounter
with robbers--Plain of Mezah--Disappointment at the distant
sight of Palmyra--Arrival there 92
CHAPTER V.
Reflections on the ruins of Palmyra--Wood and Dawkins’s
plates--Fountain of Ephca--Castle--Tombs--Cottage selected
for Lady Hester--Visit to a curious cave--Justinian’s
wall--Climate and diseases--Salt marshes--Causes of
fevers--Air and climate of Palmyra--Gardens, corn-fields,
and trees--Sulphureous waters--Dress of the men; and of
the women--Departure from Palmyra--Lady Hester sends
Giorgio to look for the Author--Fall of snow--The party
lose themselves, and sleep in the snow--Encampment of
Beni Omar Bedouins--Hassan’s unfeeling conduct--Pride
of the Bedouins to ride on horseback--Encampment
of Ali Bussal--False notions of the hospitality of
Bedouins--Partridges of the Desert--Emir of the Melhem--M.
Lascaris’s scheme of traffic--Arrival of Madame
Lascaris--Attack of the Sebáh--Wounded Bedouin--Giorgio
goes to Palmyra--The Author returns to Hamah--Ruins of a
triumphal arch--Snow-storm--A night in a cavern--Ruined
village--Selamyah--Ruined mosque--Hardships endured by
Bedouins--Miscellaneous observations on their character and
manners 132
CHAPTER VI.
Hamah--Inclemency of the weather--Preparations made by Lady
Hester for her journey to Palmyra--Conical cisterns--Nazyf
Pasha--Abdallah Pasha--Muly Ismael--The governor of
Hamah--Appearance of the Plague in Syria--Motives of Lady
Hester Stanhope for visiting Palmyra--Price paid to the
Bedouins for a safe conduct--Pilfering; particularly by
their chief Nasar--Order of march--Sham fights--Tribe
of the Sebáh--Arabs on their march--Rude behaviour
of Nasar--Gebel el Abiad, or the White Mountain--The
Author rides forward to Palmyra--Alarm at Lady Hester’s
encampment--Her entry into Palmyra--Inspection of the
ruins--A wedding--Dress of the women--Faydân Bedouins made
prisoners--The escape of two of them causes Lady Hester to
leave the place 166
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Palmyra--Suspicions of Nasar--Encampment in
a beautiful valley--Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh
Mnyf--Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s
tent--The women--Traits of Bedouin character--Tribe
of the Beni Omar--Affray between the Bedouins--Their
war-cry--Aqueducts--Salamýah--Clotted cream and sour
milk--Meat of the Desert--Castle of Shumamýs--Medical
assistance required by Bedouins--Entry of Lady Hester into
Hamah-- Sum paid to Nasar for escort--Salubrity of the air
of the Desert--State of Lady Hester’s health--Professional
aid of the Author in requisition--Yahyah Bey--Rigid
abstinence of a Syrian Christian--The bastinado--Pilgrimage
to the tomb of a shaykh--Treatment of horses in
spring--Precautions against plague--Custom of supporting
great personages under the arm--Schoolmasters--Doctors and
their patients 203
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Hamah--Encampment on the bank of the
Orontes--Transformation of aquatic to winged animals--Vale
of the Orontes--Calât el Medyk--Bridge and village of
Shogre--Topal Ali makes himself independent of the Pasha
of Aleppo--Singular application of a Jewess--Poverty of
the inhabitants of Shogre--Visit to Topal Ali--Gebel el
Kerád--Beautiful Scenery--Tribe of Ansáry--Lady Hester
stays behind among them--Latakia 231
CHAPTER IX.
Residence at Latakia--Remains of
Antiquity--Port--Gardens--Sycamore--Birdlime
tree--Vegetables and fruit--Tobacco--Salt tanks--Sponge
fishery--Hanah Kûby--Fanaticism of the Turks of Latakia--A
Barbary Shaykh--The Plague--Habits of the Mahometans
accordant with common sense--Epidemic illness--Impalement
of a Malefactor--Ravages of the Plague--Mr. Barker,
British Consul at Aleppo, comes to spend some time near
Latakia--Hard fate of a Christian--Experiment on a
fruit diet--Imprudence of smoking in the streets during
Ramazán--Amusements--Sporting--Departure of Mr. B. for
England--Civility of the Greek Patriarch--Illness
of Lady Hester, and of the Author--She supposes her
disease to be the Plague--Illness of servants--Scarcity
of provisions--Departure for Sayda--Turkish
Lugger--Tripoli--Aspect of Mount Lebanon--Arrival at
Sayda--Seamanship of the Turks 252
CHAPTER X.
Mode of Life of Lady Hester Stanhope--Imaginary
treasures of Gezzàr Pasha--Road to the Convent of
Mar Elias--Description of the Convent--Village of
Abra--Interior of a cottage--Poverty of the people--Change
in the character of Lady Hester--Abra purchased by a
Greek Patriarch--Revenues--Tenure of land--Occupations
of the peasantry--Herdsmen--Village overseer--Notions
of propriety in the behaviour of females--Dread of the
plague--Precautions against the infection suggested by Lady
Hester to the Emir Beshýr--Visit of the Shaykh Beshýr to
Abra--Good breeding of the Turks--Greek monasteries--The
patriarch Macarius--M. Boutin--Hanýfy, a female slave sent
to Lady Hester--Specification of her qualities--Discovery
of an ancient sepulchre--Paintings in it copied by Mr.
Bankes, and by the Author--Various forms of sepulchres 304
CHAPTER XI.
Plague at Abra--Terror occasioned by it--Peasants forsake
the village--Alarm of Lady Hester--Imaginary virtues
of bezoar and serpent stone--Funerals--Embarrassment
of the Author--Illness of his servant--Increase of the
contagion--Medical Treatment--Arrival of the Kite sloop
of war--Number of victims of the plague--Pilgrimage to
the shrine of St. Haneh--Prickly heat--Lady Hester goes
to reside at Meshmûshy--Costume of the Drûzes--Maronite
monastery--Camel’s flesh eaten--Bridge of Geser
Behannyn--Journey of the Author to Bteddyn--Sons of the
Emir Beshýr--Wedding at Abra--Moorish Conjuror--Return
of Giorgio--Vineyards--Wines--Dibs--Raisins--Olive
Harvest--Figs--Country between Abra and Meshmûshy 358
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
Τὴν Ἀσίην δὴ πλεῖστον διαφέρειν φημὶ της Ευρώπῆς ἐς τὰς φύσιας
τῶν ξύμπαντων, τῶν τὲ ἐκ τῆς γῆς φυομένων και τῶν ἄνθρωπων·
πουλὺ γαρ καλλιόνα καὶ μεῖζόνα πάντα γίγνεται ἐν τῃ Ἀσίῃ. Ἡτὲ
χώρη τῆς χώρῆς ἡμερωτέρη καὶ τὰ ἠθεα τῶν ἄνθρῶπων ἣπιωτέρα καὶ
εὐεργοτέρα. [Hippocr. 72 ¶, cap. 5. Περὶ ἀερῶν, ὑδατῶν καὶ
τοπῶν.]
CHAPTER I.
Damascus--Ramazán--Visit to the Jews--House of the Hayms,
brothers of him of Acre--Visit to the Pasha--Compliment
of Hadj Mohammed to Lady Hester--Curiosity of the women
to see her Ladyship--Their dress--Inefficacy of personal
restraints upon women--Fanaticism of the inhabitants of
Damascus--Lepers--Amusements of Ramazán--Patients attended
by the Author--Sulymán Bey--His malady--His cure--Rural
fête--Sister of Ahmed Bey--Chief families in Damascus--Visits to
the sick--The Merge, or place of amusement--Women at prayer.
Damascus is a city of the highest antiquity, and is repeatedly spoken
of in the Holy Scriptures. In the time of the Syro-Macedonian
dynasties, and of the Romans, it was the capital of Cœle-Syria. Under
the Saracen Caliphs, it was the residence of the Ommiades, beginning
forty years after the death of the Prophet; and it is still the second,
if not the principal city of Syria, and the capital of a pashalik.
Its name, among the natives, is El Sham, and Demeshk el Sham, demeshk
being the word from which we derive Damascus, the signification of
which I do not know, and el Sham (to the left) being the name of the
province, as Yemen (the right hand) is the name of another facing it.
Ali bey, p. 265, makes its population to amount to 400,000 souls,
which is probably too much by half; and we have a right to doubt his
accuracy, since the shortness of his stay (only seven days) must have
rendered it impossible for him to obtain accurate estimates. He reckons
20,000 Catholics, 5,000 Greek schismatics, and 1,000 Jews. Damascus has
many noble mosques and fine public edifices. Of the mosques we entered
none; yet a person could, as he sat in the Melon coffeehouse, look into
the court of the principal one, of which Abulfeda seems to speak, p.
172, saying that it was built by Walyd, son of Abd el Malek, and was
called Beny Omyah: although it has not externally any appearances of
Saracen architecture. Ali bey, in his character of a Mahometan, entered
it, and he describes the mosque as having “three naves of forty-four
columns, each nave being four hundred feet long: and in the middle
of the central nave four enormous pillars, supporting a large stone
cupola.” He adds that, the mosque stands in a large court, surrounded
with arcades, supported by square pillars, over which are galleries,
and that in the mosque is the sepulchre of John the Baptist, whose
head, as well as that of Hoseyn ebn Ali, was exposed here. In the
suburbs there is a mosque of dervises remarkable for numerous cupolas.
It is said to have as many as a dozen schools in it, supported by large
revenues, arising from endowments and contributions. I regret not to
have taken drawings of the ironwork of the windows of the ancient
mosques, which, from the taste and delicacy of their forms, were well
worth the trouble.
Of the khans, that which is called Khan Harûn is the most remarkable.
It is built in layers of black and white stone, like a chess-board; and
within are commodious magazines for the merchants.
The patriarch of the Greek Church, a prelate superior in rank, although
not in power and influence to the archbishop of Constantinople, resided
here. His title is patriarch of Antioch. He had under him forty-two
archbishops and bishops.
Damascus owes half of its pleasantness to the fountains which abound in
every part of the city, and in almost every house. These fountains are
supplied by running streams, which traverse the city, and which are
branches of a small river, called the Barada.[1]
Although the house assigned to Lady Hester Stanhope was a good one, she
had probably determined to find it bad, in order to shift to a better
quarter of the city; for it is customary, in Turkish cities, to lodge
Europeans, of what rank soever they may be, among the Christians; as
their habits of life and their religious observances are more easily
followed there than among the Turks, who, in their own quarter, would
suffer with impatience any violation of their own notions of decency
or religion, which Europeans, without intending it, are constantly
committing. So it is, that the Mahometans look on the Christian quarter
in the most contemptuous light, never going thither but when called to
it by urgent business.
Lady Hester knew all this; and was determined, by a strong measure,
at once to give herself a title to consequence beyond any other
European who had before visited Damascus. Accordingly, the dragoman
was despatched to state how impossible it was for her to remain in the
house assigned to her. It was attempted to overrule her objections, but
in vain; and, towards the close of the day, the pasha gave orders that
the dragoman should be conducted from house to house with permission
to choose, until one was found suitable. Lady Hester instructed M.
Bertrand as to what she should like, but raised objections to every one
that was proposed, until one, in which a Capugi Bashi, coming on some
business from the Porte, had resided, met with her approbation.
The fatigue of moving being over, the Christian whose house Lady Hester
had quitted was to be satisfied, and his expectations were raised to an
inconceivable pitch, grounded upon her supposed riches and greatness.
Some idea may be formed from one article of his bill, which was no more
than a tumbler of lemonade, “Sherbet for the queen on her arrival, 15
piasters.” His visionary prospects, however, were soon annihilated,
and he was desired to content himself with a fair price for two nights
spent in his house, being told that he should recollect how little
claim, according to the practice of Turkish grandees, he had to any
thing at all.
The house to which we were now removed was situate in the best quarter
of Damascus, not far from the palace, and near the bazars. It opened
through a narrow passage into an oblong marble paved court. In the
middle of the court was a large basin, shaded by two very lofty lemon
trees, into which two brazen serpents poured a constant supply of
fresh water. At one end of the court was a saloon with a tesselated
marble pavement; at the other an alcove or recess for a divàn or sofa,
with a small apartment on each side. A double staircase led up to a
considerable height on the outside of the left wall of the court; at
one end, to two rooms, which Lady Hester occupied for sleeping and
dressing-rooms, and at the other to a large saloon, which was destined
to receive visitors. There were consequently but six rooms in all, yet
was this considered a spacious house; for the Orientals sleep in the
same room where they sit, their beds being removed in the day-time to
large recesses formed in the walls for that purpose, and hidden by a
curtain.
Curiosity, it may be supposed, was much excited by Lady Hester’s
arrival. There are two monasteries at Damascus, one of monks of the
order of St. Francis, the other of Capuchins. The society of these
monks is generally sought after by Europeans; and, in the expectation
of the distinguished reception they fancied they should receive, the
superior of each monastery came to offer his services to her ladyship:
but she would not see them. They were told that, as the quarter of the
town she lived in was entirely Turkish, and as the sight of priests
in this neighbourhood would be looked upon as an infringement of the
rules observed by them, of seldom or never coming thither, they were
requested not to repeat their visit: but she received with civility
Mr. Chaboceau, a French doctor, seventy years of age, very deaf; for
his privileges were more extended, as all quarters of the city are
alike open to medical practitioners. This gentleman has or had a son
living in England, at Uxbridge.
These measures, purposely made public among the servants, and repeated
by the master of the house to his friends in the city, were construed
into demonstrations of her esteem for the Turks, and contributed not a
little to her popularity.
In the mean time, after resting herself a day or two, she prepared
to ride out. No sooner were the horses brought to the door, than a
crowd of women and children assembled; the gravity of the male part
of the Turkish population seldom yielding so far to curiosity, as to
allow them to join in a mob. When she came out, as she stood upon
the horse-block, (of which there generally is one at the entrance
of most houses) a smile on the people around served at once to
prepossess them in her favour. She was accompanied by no one, but
her young interpreter, Giorgio, and Mohammed, her Janissary, thus
throwing herself entirely on the discretion of the inhabitants.
Her first excursion naturally gave us some uneasiness; but it was
without foundation. A grave, yet pleasing look, an unembarrassed, yet
commanding, demeanour met the ideas of the Turks, whose manners are
of this cast. We were, however, somewhat diverted by the different
reports which were spread respecting her among them. It was generally
supposed, from her fair complexion, that she painted white: and it was
confidently affirmed, as her appearance was so little European, that,
although by birth an Englishwoman, she was of Ottoman descent, and had
Mahometan blood in her veins.
The Turkish feast of Ramazán was now celebrating, during which
Mahometans are accustomed to fast from sunrise to sunset for the space
of a whole moon. Little business, excepting what is unavoidable, is
transacted all this time. The day is beguiled as much as possible in
sleep, by which the cravings of appetite and the desire for drink
are considerably deadened. The first half of the night is devoted to
feasting and visits.
Lady Hester was anxious to be presented to the pasha as soon as
possible, and an early evening was fixed on. Previous to it, she
signified to the Jews, brothers of him of Acre, her intention to visit
them. They filled at the court of Damascus, as has been said, the
post of seràfs, which word signifies bankers or money-changers, but
embraces a more comprehensive meaning. The wealth of this family was
enormous, and the house they lived in was not inferior to any one in
the city: its exterior, however, was mean in appearance, and gave no
idea of the magnificence within. All the houses in Damascus are built
of clay, beat up with chopped straw, and made into a composition,[2]
which, when dried in the sun, becomes very tenacious. Houses so built
have, externally, a mean appearance; and as the Jews throughout Turkey
are odious to the natives, they are compelled, from policy, to give to
the quarter in which they reside a dirtiness of appearance that shall
not rouse the over-sensitive jealousy of their masters. Accordingly,
on entering the Jews’ quarter at Damascus, the organs of smell and
sight are much incommoded, and any thing but architectural beauty or
cleanliness is found in it. Haym’s street-door opened, and we went down
two or three steps into a stone entry about fifteen or twenty feet
square, to the left of which was a dirty alcove, with a carpet on the
floor, and cushions against the wall, and opposite to it a small filthy
room. A staircase led from this court to two rooms above, of the same
description. Any stranger, but particularly a Turk, enters thus far,
and, whether he comes for the business of a moment or for a few days,
it is here the master of the house sees him, and it is here that his
meals are brought to him.
Opposite to the front door was another which opened by a crooked entry
into the first grand court of the house, so that nobody from the
strangers’ court could see into this, even if the door was ajar. Here
began to be displayed the wealth of the proprietor. The court was
spacious, and in the centre was a large basin, into which water spouted
and gave coolness to the surrounding apartments, which were numerous.
A large one on the left was covered with a rich Persian carpet, and
the cushions of the sofas, which ran round the three sides, were of
Damascus satins. On the right was a smaller one, more magnificent, but
on the same plan. We entered only those two in the first court.
A passage led into a second court, the pavement of which was inlaid
with marble mosaic, and in the centre was a basin with a fountain.
Round it were numerous apartments; and these were destined for the
harým; nor should I have enjoyed the privilege of seeing them (as no
men enter here) had I not accompanied her ladyship, who, as a female,
was necessarily conducted to them. Nothing could equal the magnificence
of these rooms, two of which, at the extremity, were peculiarly
beautiful, and between them was an alcove, which is inseparable from
the houses of the Levantines, and which is no other than a saloon with
three sides to it, the fourth side, fronting the court, being entirely
open to the air, with an arch thrown over it. All these apartments had
the walls painted and gilded in arabesque, and none of the ceilings
were plain, but painted in stars, in lozenges, or in some diagram or
device.
Neither in the first nor the second court was there an upper story,
excepting over one room, where all the splendour of which the other
apartments partake is united. We ascended to it by stone stairs, from
the court, on the outside, in the open air, and, as is the case with
all the staircases throughout Syria, it was steep and inelegant. On
entering this _âléah_ (so an upper room is called, and so the
word signifies) the eye was struck with the glitter of the walls and
ceiling, resembling the descriptions of fairy palaces. Mock precious
stones, mirrors, gilding, and arabesque paintings, covered it every
where, and the floor was of elegant mosaic. The pipes with their amber
heads; the coffee-cups, with a gold stud at the bottom, on which
ambergris was stuck to perfume this beverage as it dissolved in it; the
embroidered napkins to wipe the mouth with; and the brilliant colours
and high flavour of the sherbets corresponded with the grandeur of the
house. But how shall we reconcile to all this the dishes served up on
tinned copper, and set on a table of the same metal? This anomaly will
be explained in another place.
But the interview with the Pasha himself was the ceremony most talked
of. I did not accompany her ladyship on this occasion, owing to a
temporary indisposition. Sayd Suliman Pasha had spent his life at
the court of Sultan Selim and his predecessors, and was considered
as a finished gentleman Turk. It must indeed have been a formidable
undertaking to a woman, when, after being led through antechambers by
the light of flaring candles, which threw their gleam on the arms of
numerous soldiers and attendants, who waited in still and fearful
silence, she was ushered into a long saloon, through two rows of the
pasha’s suite, where at the upper end sat--and he alone was sitting--on
a crimson sofa, in a most starched attitude, the small but dignified
man. He rose not to receive her, and by a motion of his hand signified
to her to sit. M. Bertrand, the dragoman, stood by her side, and by
the side of the pasha stood the Jew Rafäel. M. Bertrand trembled so
much that his tongue faltered when he interpreted the pasha’s first
salutations, nor was he for some time sufficiently collected to
repeat with precision what was said to him. Lady Hester was not at
all disconcerted. Her interpreter, Giorgio, whom she had ordered to
attend her to observe if her answers were correctly translated, was
prevented from entering the presence-chamber because he wore arms: it
being as ill-bred to pay visits of ceremony in Turkey with arms on,
as in England to wear boots on a similar occasion. After a reasonable
time, Lady Hester retired, having first begged the pasha to accept of a
handsome snuff-box. In return a beautiful Arabian horse was led to her
door after the visit was over; and the bearers of the presents received
from the respective parties money of about a quarter the value of the
gifts.
On her return home from this visit, her janissary, Hadj Mohammed el
Ludkány, whilst standing before her to receive her orders for the
morrow, said, “Your ladyship’s reception was very grand;” and upon her
replying, “Yes, but this is all vanity,” he remarked, “Oh! khanum” (or
my lady), “you carry the splendour of royalty on your forehead, with
the humility of a dervise at your heart.”
Lady Hester scarcely found time to write to her friends an account of
her adventures; but we may extract from a letter, already published in
a periodical work, a few anecdotes, as related in her own words.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to Lieutenant-General Oakes._
Damascus, September 30th, 1812.
My dear General,
The only letters I have received since the shipwreck are those
which you directed to the care of Colonel Misset; I was quite
happy to hear from you again, and that you were well, though so
very busy; indeed, I fear it would not be a compliment for me to
write half I have to say, even had I time.
If I was once to begin to give you my history since I left Acre,
I should fill all my paper with the honours which have been paid
me. The pasha here has given me two horses, but neither fit for
you; another, which was presented me by the Emir Beshýr, or
Prince of the Druses, would have just done; but I found he was
so vicious (a rare thing in this country), that I gave him to my
janissary, who is the best rider I have seen since I left Egypt.
I must now speak to you of the Druses, that extraordinary and
mysterious people who inhabit the Mount Lebanon. I hope, if
I ever see you again, to be able to reach Mr. North[3] in my
account of them. I will only now mention a fact, which I can
state as positive, having been eyewitness to it--it is that they
eat raw meat. I purchased of a Druse an immense sheep, the tail
weighing eleven pounds, and desired it to be taken to a village,
where I ordered the people to assemble to eat. When I arrived
the sheep was alive; the moment it was killed it was skinned,
and brought in raw upon a sort of dish made of matting, and in
less than half an hour it was all devoured. The women eat of it
as well as the men: the pieces of raw fat they swallowed were
really frightful.
I understand so well feeling my ground with savage people, that
I can ask questions no other person dares to put to them; but
it would not be proper to repeat here those I asked even the
_sages_, and still less their answers. Any one who asks
a religious question may be murdered without either the Emir
Beshýr (the Prince of the Mountain), or the Shaykh Beshýr (the
governor) being able to punish the offender.
Nothing ever equalled the honours paid me by these men; the
prince is a mild, amiable man,[4] but the governor has proved a
Lucifer, and I am the first traveller he ever allowed to walk
over his palace, which has been the scene of several massacres.
The two days I spent with him I enjoyed very much; and you will
be surprised at it when I tell you, that he judged it necessary
to make one of his chief officers taste out of my cup before I
drank, for fear of poison; but I am used to that; yet this man
upon his knees before me looked more solemn than usual.
Believe me, my dear General,
Ever most sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
* * * * *
Captain Hope came to the coast to see after me, and gave me your
kind message. He is a very worthy young man, and has been more
kind to me than I could have thought it possible for a man, who
was a stranger to me at Rhodes, could have been. A thousand
thanks for the medicine-chest.
I have just heard that all the women belonging to the sultan
have died of the plague, also his two children, and that 400
persons die a day at Constantinople. All the foreign ministers
are shut up in palaces near the mouth of the Black Sea.
To his Excellency, Lieut-General Oakes, &c., &c., &c.
Malta.
From the time of our arrival, the applications to me for medical advice
had been beyond measure numerous. Some were no more than excuses to get
into the courtyard, in the expectation of seeing Lady Hester; many were
from persons labouring under chronic and incurable maladies; and some,
which afforded me extensive opportunities of seeing the interior of
the houses in the city, were from those who were lying ill with acute
diseases, which required my visits to their bedsides. However, the
janissary, who officiated as porter, had much ado to keep the mob from
the doors, and preserve good-humour among them; and the pertinacity
of the women to gain admittance was truly laughable. This janissary
was, from a long residence in his youth at Damascus, acquainted with
the names of all the principal families of the place. When, therefore,
the harým of any great man (the term harým being used in the East to
express collectively all the women, whether wives or concubines, and
their female servants, which belong to any one grandee)--when such a
harým applied, Mohammed would signify it to me, and ask if they could
not be admitted, to obtain a sight of her ladyship. On one occasion,
thirteen in a body thus gained an entrance, and overwhelmed me with a
volubility of questions truly comic.
The dress of the Damascus women, when out of doors, consists of a long
white sheet, and over the face a muslin handkerchief, through which
they can see very well without a possibility of having their features
distinguished by others. If men are not present, this handkerchief is
often thrown up over the top of the head; and some, fairer than others,
if desirous of practising a little coquetry, and of letting their
features be seen, will suffer the gentlemen to come upon them as if
unawares, and then in haste throw down the handkerchief.
When I became better acquainted with the language and usages of the
country, I was surprised to see how ineffectual all the devices of
veils, cloaks, separate apartments, keepers, duennas, &c., are for
guarding those who are resolved to be under no restraint: and a
gentleman of the country assured me that there were few women who had
not their gallants. I half believed him; for his own gallantries were
notorious, and some circumstances that had happened to myself since our
arrival at Damascus had given me a partial insight into the subject.
When it is considered how very fanatic the inhabitants of Damascus
were,[5] and in what great abhorrence they held infidels; that native
Christians could only inhabit a particular quarter of the town; and
that no one of these, at the peril of having his bones broken by the
first angry Turk he met, could ride on horseback within the walls, or
wear as part of his dress any coloured cloth or turban that was showy,
it will be matter of surprise how completely these prejudices wore
laid aside in favour of Lady Hester, and of those persons who were
with her. She rode out every day; and, according to the custom of the
country, coffee was poured on the road before her horse by several of
the inhabitants, in order to do her honour. It was said that, in going
through a bazar, all the people in it rose up as she passed--an honour
never paid but to a pasha, or to the mufti; but, as I was not present,
I do not assert the thing positively. On no occasion was she insulted;
and, although a crowd constantly assembled at her door at the time she
was expected to appear, and awaited her return home, she was always
received by an applauding buzz of the populace; and the women, more
especially, would call out, “Long life to her! may she live to return
to her country!” with many other exclamations in use among them.
I took an early opportunity of visiting the lepers, who have an
hospital in Damascus, to which they are sent from fifty miles round.
They are never subjected to medical treatment, and are only housed
here to rot. They live on the alms of the charitable, and send out,
every summer, to a great distance, some of their body to beg. For
this purpose they plant themselves near the entrances of towns and
villages, and, suspending a platter or half a cocoa-nut shell to a
forked stick, retire a few paces off, that they may not deter the
humane from approaching by the sight of their sores or the apprehension
of contagion. The idea of the contagious nature of the disease is very
general throughout the East, and I was treated as a madman for having
once locked my hand in that of a leper’s, to convince the bystanders
that I was not of this opinion.
The rich have influence enough to evade the law which obliges lepers
to be kept apart from their fellow-citizens. Mansûr, son of Syt Habûs,
a Drûze princess, was generally said to be afflicted with leprosy,
which the peasants of Mount Lebanon call aat, or da-el-kebýr (the great
malady). His friends were very shy in saying what was the matter with
him, lest the Turkish authorities should compel him to quit his house
for the infirmary.
As it was Ramazán at this time, the whole city was illuminated every
night, and the tops of the minarets were encircled with a row of lamps.
Although, on these occasions, a Turkish city is less brilliant than the
common lighting of a London street, still as, at other parts of the
year, the streets are not lighted at all in the evening, these feeble
illuminations during Ramazán have an enlivening effect. I went several
times to the coffee-houses and shows, which form the amusement of the
people during this festival. I saw a rope-dancer who was tolerably
clever; but his loose trowsers (tight breeches being considered
unseemly) somewhat obstructed his movements.
A coffeehouse in Turkey means no more than a bench, from three to four
feet deep, running along the front of a room open to the street, and
shaded by a shed or sometimes by an orange-tree or a vine, upon which
bench is spread a clean mat. There the guests squat crosslegged, or
seat themselves on wooden or rush-bottomed stools. Small hookas, called
narkýlys, are smoked, or else the long pipe; and coffee is served out
in small cups, holding about two tablespoonfuls of liquid, at the price
then of one para each cup. Nothing else is sold at these places, and
the thirsty person trusts to the casual passing by of a sherbet-seller,
or drinks the pure element out of an earthen jug that stands ready for
those who call for water. There is one coffeehouse in Damascus where
there is a fountain which throws up water enough to dance a round melon
on the top of the jet for a long time without its falling.
It is during the evenings of Ramazán that the reciters of the Arabian
Nights’ Entertainments, of the story of Antar, and of other amusing
tales, are to be heard. The story-teller walks backward and forward,
narrating with suitable gesticulation, and in a loud voice. Sometimes
he is listened to, sometimes not, according to the fancy of the hearers
or the interest which the tale excites. Some of these men are very
clever, and will move the passions as strongly as our best actors;
which will not appear strange when it is known that, in the eloquence
of common conversation, the Arabs, both of towns and of the Desert, are
inferior to no people in the world.
The karacûz or _Ombres Chinoises_ is one of the favourite shows
of this people. A subject often treated by them was--the sickness of a
lady; her wish to have a Frank doctor; the blunders of the Frank doctor
in broken Arabic, when questioning the lady respecting the seat and
nature of her malady; the jealousy of the husband; the belabouring the
doctor; the quarrel of the husband and wife; &c., &c.
There are performers on violins with seven strings. Some of these from
time to time accompanied their instruments with the voice, and sung
plaintive airs that seemed to affect their audience even to tears.
The Ottomans in general appeared to me to be very fond of sweetmeats,
and indulged their children with them as much or more than fond mothers
do in England. In Ramazán, the shops which sold them were much in
request. There were several kinds unknown, or at least not known to
me. One sort, of which I was particularly fond, was haláwy jozy, or
blanched walnuts embedded in a composition of dibs and almond meal.
Damascus is famous for its preserved apricots, which are sent to all
parts of the Turkish empire.
The bazars of Damascus are rows of shops covered in: they are as well
furnished almost as those of Constantinople, but are particularly rich
in the stuffs which are manufactured in the place. I regret that I
did not note down the names and texture of these brocades, and of the
silks and satins, as also of the cottons. Of the taste displayed in the
colours of these latter, some idea may be formed when it is known that
all the prevailing patterns for gowns among us during the last eight or
ten years have been copied from them.
In the mean time, almost the whole of each day was taken up by the
importunate applications of the sick, many of whom, affected with
incurable diseases, would not believe that there were cases in which
all art is vain. I was requested to give to the consumptive a fresh
pair of lungs, to make the paralytic walk, to restore sight to the
blind, and to do many other things equally easy of accomplishment. Abd
el Rahmán, the proprietor of the house in which we lived, was very
instrumental in carving me out work of this sort: and when I reproached
him for it, he said--“What will you have me do? I cannot define to them
the exact limits of your abilities; and, although I am sure you do not
perform miracles, nay, although I may suppose, as you say, that you
come to seek knowledge, not to pretend to impart it, still I know that
the ardent imaginations of my fellow-countrymen will always make an
Hippocrates of a Frank doctor, and that the sight of you will do them
good, even though your medicines should not.”
Abd el Rahmán, one morning, introduced to me two black eunuchs, by
the names of Mukhtar Aga and Ambár Aga, informing me that they held
places of trust in the administration of the female department of the
family of Ahmed Bey, son of Abdullah Pasha, ex-pasha of Damascus. I
was already so far accustomed to the dignities and the titles of the
country as to understand the enumeration of these to mean--I present
you the deputies of a great man. I had also heard frequent mention made
of the ancient house of _Adam_, the family name of Ahmed Bey, and
that it was considered one of the oldest and richest in Syria.
After some prefatory discourse, these gentlemen told me that Sulymán
Bey, the eldest son of Ahmed Bey, was given over by his physicians, and
that the father, hearing of my presence in Damascus, entreated me to go
and see him. I replied, that, in every house where I had been, I had
found persons so little disposed to obey my directions as to make me
despair of ever doing any good, and that, therefore, I declined going.
Abd el Rahmán was thunderstruck on hearing me refuse to attend on such
a distinguished family, and when too the heir was ill. The messengers
went away, and in about half an hour returned, and said so much of the
father’s grief at my refusal that I then yielded to their solicitations.
I found his son on a silk mattress, placed on the sofa, in an open
alcove that looked on a marble paved court shaded by lofty orange
and lemon-trees. There were three physicians present, a Turk and
two Christians. Ahmed Bey received me very politely, and eagerly
begged me to restore his son to health. The boy was about thirteen
or fourteen--ugly, of diminutive stature, and somewhat hump-backed.
He was labouring under anasarca, consequent on a long intermittent
fever. After examining him, I said I saw no reason to doubt of the
possibility of curing him. I was then asked how I would do it, which
I declined telling: for I had no one but my servant for interpreter,
and the little Italian which he knew made it impossible to explain my
intentions clearly.
The bey told me that nothing had been left unattempted which the
faculty of the city could think of. His son had been sewed up in a
sheepskin fresh from the warm carcase. He had taken pills made of
powdered pearl; he had lived six days on nothing but goats’ flesh;
he had had pigeons’ skins put hot on his feet; but all had been
unavailing. I merely observed that these remedies might have much merit
in them, but that the practice of medicine in England was somewhat
different; and, if he wished me to prescribe, my first condition
was that I should not be controlled by anybody. After some other
conversation, I went away.
About three hours afterwards, I was summoned again, and desired to
act as I chose. Not to tire the reader, I was fortunate enough to
restore the boy to perfect health, and the father signified to me
that he would thank me in the Eastern way. On an appointed day, I was
conducted to the vestibule of the bath, where Sulimán Bey, attended
by half-a-dozen servants, awaited my coming. We undressed and entered
the bath, having each a silk apron on. About an hour was consumed in
the ceremonies of shaving the head, washing, depilation, &c.; after
which we returned to the dressing-room, where we were enveloped in
embroidered napkins, and lay down to repose. Pipes, coffee, and
sherbets, were served. When it was time to dress, the bey ordered a
page to invest me with the dress of honour which had been prepared for
me. It consisted of an entire suit of Turkish clothes, with a pelisse,
and three pieces of Damascus silks not made up. The whole might be
valued at fifty pounds. After dinner I returned home, and could
perceive, by the cheerfulness of my groom, who generally held my horse
at the door, that he too had not been forgotten.
On the morrow, I was invited to a rural fête. I accompanied Ahmed Bey
and his three sons, followed by his black and white servants, in all
about twenty-five persons, on horses richly caparisoned, to a garden
in the environs of the city. Beneath the shade of orange-trees, by the
side of a stream that ran through the garden, carpets were spread, and
a repast was served up. The bey had ordered several dishes, which,
as being rare, he thought would please me. Through an opening in the
trees, our seats commanded a view of the plain of Damascus, which,
in the cultivated part, is one of the richest in foliage I ever saw.
We sat, smoked, drank coffee and sherbet; and afterwards the pages
were matched against each other to throw the giryd or javelin. The day
passed away delightfully, and at sunset we returned to the city.
The bey expressed himself very grateful to me for having saved his son;
and hence began an acquaintance between Lady Hester and him, which
afterwards ripened into a long and durable friendship.
I cannot help mentioning an occurrence which happened in consequence of
this cure. The bey, having conceived a favourable opinion of my skill,
consulted me for himself and all his family. Among the rest was his
sister, a young lady of sixteen, and of the most dazzling beauty. Upon
that occasion, I was conducted to the harým by her brother, the bey,
the women being previously warned to keep out of sight,[6] so that I
saw no one but her. He desired her to unveil before me, which she did
without any affectation.[7] Lady Hester soon afterwards paid a visit
to the bey’s wife,[8] and was received with great ceremony.
In the same manner, she visited the lady of Hassan Pasha, of Assâd
Pasha, and of several others, persons of distinction, so that she had
an opportunity of seeing all who were most eminent for rank and beauty
throughout the city. There was an Abyssinian slave, sixteen years of
age, one of Ahmed Bey’s wife’s female attendants, whom her ladyship
described as exquisitely handsome. In the harýms of all these families
I too was admitted, but it was to see the sick. Wherever I was called
I invariably found the patient, if too ill to rise, lying on a bed
spread on the floor in the middle of the chamber, with no bedstead or
curtains, but sometimes with a silk musquito net temporarily suspended.
The females were always veiled on entering, generally by pinching a
shawl over the face, so as to leave one eye[9] only visible; but would
for a reasonable cause (as, for example, to look at their tongue)
draw the veil aside. At any house where it became necessary for me
to repeat my visits, these formalities were by degrees disused, and
always first of all by the comeliest women. The women and men always
wear a night-dress when in bed, generally consisting of a wrapping gown
and a quilted jacket; for the coverlet, being wadded with cotton, and
about one inch thick, does not, from its stiffness, keep in the warmth
sufficiently--the sheet, moreover, is sewed to it; and therefore they
wear night-clothes to prevent exposure to cold.
Mohadýn Effendy was a gentleman of the most polished manners, who had
lived much at court, and who moved in the best society of Damascus. He
was exceedingly polite and attentive to Lady Hester, and was one, among
some others, who seemed to employ himself in trying to dive into the
motives of her residence in a land so foreign in its climate, customs,
and language, to her own.
There is a class of persons in Turkey unknown at present in Europe,
but very common during the middle ages--I mean the captains of
mercenary troops, who sell their services to the prince who can pay
them best. There were, in 1812, three of them, who, living in the
heart of the pashalik of Damascus, might be said to be independent of
their legitimate masters, and to have a jurisdiction of their own. I
was acquainted professionally with all three: their names were Ozûn
Ali, Hamed Bey, and Muly Ismael. Ozûn Ali had a very fine palace in
Damascus; the bey, Hamed, who was the son of a pasha, lived like a
daring soldier, who devoted himself with equal ardour to Mars and
Venus; but Muly Ismael, now somewhat advanced in years, was a politic
chieftain, whose influence and weight had, no doubt, much sway in the
province. Hamed Bey gave a horse to Lady Hester, who, in return, sent
him a brace of pistols. These men were employed, on all occasions of
insurrection, for levying imposts and contributions, for displacing
motsellems and inferior governors; and probably occasioned as much
alarm to the pashas themselves as to those against whom they were
employed.
There is to the south of the city, just without the gate, a spacious
meadow reserved for the amusements of the inhabitants, whither horsemen
go to play at the game of giryd, idlers to sit on the turf; and where
sometimes caravans assemble previous to their departure on a distant
journey. On one side of the meadow are two or three caves, excavated
in a sandy rock. I had, in my rides through it, observed that a large
checkered sheet was often suspended before the entrance of these caves;
but it was not until I saw a soldier and a female issuing from one
of them, that I conjectured what kind of inhabitants they contained.
Generally speaking throughout Turkey, the police is extremely
severe against frail women; and here, although their meretricious
blandishments were, it seemed, more publicly displayed than elsewhere,
they were, nevertheless, obliged to live without the walls of the city.
It is not intended to say that they could not reside within them if
they chose, but they find their advantage in the privacy that these
obscure dwellings afford to their visiters. Damascus was, in those
days, the only place where I saw women of this class parading the
streets, almost unveiled, and inveigling the passers-by: but they were
compelled to confine themselves entirely to one bazar.
I was one day reading at home when a Turkish woman of the middling
rank of life came to consult me. Whilst speaking with her, the hour
of namàz, or prayer, was cried from the mosque; when she immediately
broke off the conversation, and signified that, with my permission,
she would say her prayers. She went through the show of washing as if
she had had water before her, and she repeated the _fathah_;[10]
without paying the least regard to my presence. It did not, however,
happen to me to see women pray openly, excepting in this one instance,
and once at Latakia on the seashore: for it is not considered seemly
for females to exhibit themselves to the gaze of the public under any
circumstances. Lady Hester’s slave constantly prayed before any one
indoors.