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--Carah,
burgh--Character of Masûd Aga--Use of Narkýly--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.
From the time of Lady Hester’s arrival at Damascus, her mind had been
incessantly busied in the endeavour to bring to bear her intended
journey to the ruins of Palmyra. To this end, she had conferred with
every person whom she thought capable of giving information on the
subject. The pasha’s bankers, Yusef and Rafaël, endeavoured to dissuade
her from an undertaking which they considered very dangerous; but told
her that, in case of resolving upon it, the pasha would furnish her
with a body of troops for her safe conduct, and that he and they would
not be responsible for her safety, unless she went so protected. For it
was argued that, although the Arabs would do no violence to her, they
would probably make her a prisoner, and demand an exorbitant ransom.
A man named Hanah Fakhah, residing at Damascus, but said to be a
native Egyptian, speaking French, which he learned when the French
army was in Egypt, and who had accompanied Mr. Fiott[11] to Palmyra,
offered himself as capable of conducting us thither in safety, from the
friendship and connection he pretended to have with the chief shaykhs
of the Desert. For a long time, Lady Hester was inclined to rely on his
assumed importance; but subsequent information made her decline having
anything to do with him. Distracted with the various reports that were
made to her, she knew not what to do. At last she caused letters to
be written to the Emir of the Anizýs, Mohammed el Fadhel, desiring an
interview with him.
But, in order to understand the difficulties she had to contend
with, it is proper to relate in what manner they had proved almost
insuperable to other English travellers. Up to this period, the
road to Palmyra had been little frequented by Europeans: and, of
many Englishmen who had lately been in Syria, we could hear of three
only who had accomplished the journey, the rest having been deterred
through fear of the Bedouin Arabs, and by the obstacles that present
themselves in crossing twenty leagues of desert, exposed to the
chance of perishing from hunger and thirst. Of those three who went,
one was stripped and robbed, and returned to Aleppo in his shirt and
drawers, after a series of sufferings that would form a romance. One
performed the journey in the depth of winter, when the Arabs keep
their tents, and when the rains saved him from the want of water; and
both these went in the disguise of pedlars, or poor merchants. But
for Lady Hester, whose intention had been divulged, and whose sex and
rank continued to draw much attention to her movements, secrecy was
impossible.
She, therefore, seemed inclined to adopt the plan, suggested by the
pasha, of going with a formidable escort. At the same time, he gave
her to understand that the Emir Mahannah, chief of the Bedouins, was
in little or no subjection to the Porte, and that the inhabitants of
Tadmûr (as Palmyra is called in Arabic) were completely out of the
reach of the arm of justice, in case they should use any foul play
against her. The troops had already received orders to hold themselves
in readiness to march; the camels were hired, the presents intended for
the Bedouins were bought, and the day almost fixed for departure. What
Lady Hester’s reflections and plans were will be better understood from
two letters which she wrote to an intimate friend about this time.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----_
Damascus, October 10th, 1812.
My dear ----,
I am here yet, not liking to stir till I see a little what
turn things take. The pasha has offended all the cavalry (the
Delibashes commanded by the son of the famous deposed pasha,
Yousef Pasha): the infantry (the Albanians) are on the side of
the present pasha, and every day a battle is expected. A report
also has been in circulation that 50,000 Wahabees are within
four days’ journey of this city, but I do not believe it. It
takes its rise from a letter from Mecca to the pasha, saying
several thousand dromedaries mounted by Wahabees have set off
they know not where, but not improbably for this place, which
they once before attempted to take, but were driven back, after
having burnt and ransacked every village upon the road. Why
this concerns me is for this reason: the strongest tribe of
Bedouin Arabs, my friends, who do not like the present pasha,
will probably join any party against him, and there will be a
fine confusion in the desert as well as here, and the roads
in every direction will be filled with Delibashes, &c., &c.
These men are more dreaded in every part of Turkey than you can
imagine, as they stick at nothing. But luckily for me I am well
known to some of them, who have been in the habit of seeing me
with their chief looking at their horses; he has visited me
accompanied by them, and they have everywhere treated me with
the greatest civility, even when their chief has not been with
them; so I have less to fear than any one else, but yet when
such disturbances take place few are safe.
Should the worst come to the worst, I shall take fifty of them,
and set off to my friend, the Emir Beshýr, the Prince of the
Mountain, where I shall be quite safe. He has troops at his
disposal, which he can assemble at will, and nothing was ever
so kind as he has been to me; therefore, hear what you may,
believe me better off than any one else. The bey, who commands
the Delibashes, took a great fancy to me when at Cairo, and
everything he can command is at my disposal, I know; he is a
simple, honest soldier, and has no intrigue about him at all,
and is extremely beloved by the troops. It is a good thing that
old North is safe off, for he would be in a sad fright. I am not
at all, knowing my own presence of mind under all circumstances,
and that I have excellent friends in this country. Even with
the French I am upon terms of friendship and confidence; they
command everything upon the coast; for we have nobody in this
country but Mr. Barker.
I scribble in great haste, as a messenger to Acre is just going
off. Be perfectly easy about me; my good luck will not forsake
me, when any confusion takes place. All I can say about myself
sounds like conceit; but others could tell you I am the oracle
of the Arabs, and the darling of all the troops, who seem to
think that I am a deity because I can _ride_, and because
I wear arms; and the fanatics all bow before me, because the
Dervises think me a wonder, and have given me a piece of
Mahomet’s tomb, and I have won the heart of the pasha by a
letter I wrote him from Dayr el Kamar. Hope will tell you how
I got on upon the coast, and if he could make anything of the
Pasha of Acre, his ministers, or the rest of them, who were all
at my feet. I was even admitted into the library of the famous
mosque, and fumbled over the books at pleasure--books that no
Christian dare touch, or even cast his eyes upon.
Adieu, and believe me ever,
most sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
I sent you, about a fortnight ago, a large packet for England
by a respectable Damascus merchant going to Malta. Pray do not
put any women or fools into a fright about the state of things
in this country; besides, to tell the truth is here often the
greatest danger one can run.
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----_
Damascus, October 12th.
My dear ----,
The Wahabees (which were the subject of my last letter) have not
been heard of near this town; it is said that a small number of
them have arrived at Palmyra, but that is of no consequence.
Whether it was the report of their being upon the road for this
place, or that the pasha was unable to settle the dispute with
his troops, which induced him to send a positive order to an old
figure, like Sir David,[12] to come here directly (the head of
everything military in Syria), I know not; but this sensible,
popular, and active old fellow appeared, and shortly after was
commanded to take a strong body of troops, and go over all the
pashalic of Damascus instead of the pasha. During the time he
was here he expressed a great wish to make my acquaintance,
and that I should visit him; “for,” said he, “I shall be very
jealous of my young chief if she does not.” Knowing the state of
things, the rebellious spirit of the troops, their exultation at
his arrival, &c., I considered this visit as an awful thing, yet
I was determined to go, as everything military seemed to have
set their heart upon it.
I first was obliged to ride through a yard full of horses, then
to walk through several hundred, perhaps a thousand Delibashes,
and then to present myself to not less than fifty officers and
grandees, the old chief in the corner, and my friend the young
bey (Yousef Pasha’s son) next to him, who rose to give me his
place. I remained there about an hour; the old fellow was so
delighted with me that he gave me his own house upon the borders
of the desert for as long a time as I chose to inhabit it; he
offered me a hundred Delibashes to escort me all over Syria; he
sent off an express to put, as he said, his most confidential
officer under my command, that nothing I asked was to be
refused. In short, nothing could equal his civility, besides,
it was accompanied with a degree of _heartiness_ which you
seldom meet with in a Turk. The next day he sent me a very fine
little two-year-old Arab horse to train up in my own way.
The chief of 40,000 Arabs, Mahanna el Fadel, arrived here about
the same time to get 4,000 camels, and several thousand sheep
released, which the pasha had seized. His sons have been my
friends ever since I came here, but as the father is reckoned
as harsh as he is cunning, I little thought to manage him as
I have done. He, his eldest son, and about twenty-five Arabs,
dined with me, and were all enchanted, and the _meleki_,
(the queen) is in the mouth of every Arab, both in Damascus and
the desert. As to the Wahabees, Mahanna assures me that, as one
of _his family_, he shall guarantee me with his life, and
whether I meet or do not meet with them it is the same thing.
To see this extraordinary people is what I wish, but not in the
town or environs of Damascus, to be confounded with the crowd of
those they wish to injure.
B. and Mr. Barker are now upon their road from Aleppo, because
they chose to take it into their heads I must go with a caravan
to Palmyra. No caravan goes the road I intended to go, and if
it had, as I told them, nothing should persuade me to join one.
This put them into a fright, so they are coming with a wire
thing, a tartavan, which Mr. Barker pronounces necessary, but
which all the consuls in the universe shall never persuade me to
get into. What an absurd idea, in case of danger, to be stuck
upon a machine, the tartavangees running away and leaving you
to the mercy of two obstinate mules! the swiftest horse one can
find is the best thing, and what the Arabs often owe their lives
to. My second messenger (saying more positively than the first,
that whether they come or not, I would have nothing to do with a
tartavan) had only left this place three days when the caravan
between Homs and Damascus (composed of several hundred persons,
and fifty armed men, I believe) was attacked by Arabs, and
sixteen men killed. Who is right, I or the consul-general?
The pasha answers for my safety, so do all the chiefs of
the Delibashes, and so do the Arabs, but they do not answer
for rich, cowardly merchants, who are left to take care of
themselves. By this time, Barker must be half-way from Aleppo,
therefore, it is right I should think about setting off to meet
them at Homs: four armed men is all I shall take, just to keep
watch about the tents at night, and to have an eye upon the
horses, that no stray robber may make off with them. As to great
tribes, &c., I am perfectly secure with them, I know.
During my residence here, I have made a great number of very
pleasant acquaintances, and have seen all the most famous
harems. I believe I am the only person who can give an account
of the manner in which a great Turk is received by his wives
and women. A particular friend of mine, who has four wives and
three mistresses, took me to see them himself. None of his wives
sat down in his presence, or even came up upon the raised part
of the room where we sat, except to serve his pipe and give him
coffee. When he invited me to a dinner, apparently for fifteen
or twenty people, I of course thought the poor women were to
eat; but not at all; they only presented him with what he
wanted from the hands of the slaves, and never spoke but when
he asked some question. Yet this is one of the most pleasant
and good-natured men I know, and with me he behaves just like
anybody else, and is full as civil and attentive as another man,
but in this instance he does not consider his dignity lowered.
The other day I was paying a visit to the wife of a very great
effendi (who, though not the most agreeable, is perhaps the
cleverest man I know here); not less than fifty women were
assembled in the harem to see me; when in came the lord and
master--all put on their veils, except his wife and his own
women, and he made a sign and all retired. He then told me
he had sent for my little dragoman, who shortly appeared. We
talked some time and then he proposed dining; he had led me into
a beautiful court paved with coloured marble, with fountains
playing amongst the orange-trees, and in a sort of alcove we
found dinner prepared, or rather supper, for it was at sunset.
Everything was served in high style by black female slaves,
and a black gentleman. Immense gilt candlesticks, with candles
nearly six feet high, were set on the ground, with a great
illumination of small elegant lamps suspended in clusters in
different parts of the court; the proud man talked a great deal,
and kept my little dragoman nearly four hours upon his knees,
having fetched a great book to talk astronomy, upon which he
asked me ten thousand questions. In short, he kept me there till
nearly ten o’clock, an hour past the time which, if any one is
found in the streets, they are to have their heads cut off; such
is the pasha’s new decree. All the gates were shut, but all
opened for me, and not a word said. The pasha cuts off a head or
two nearly every day; but yet I do not think he has added much
to his own security, for he is by no means liked, nor does he
command half so much as my friend, the old Delibash.
What surprises me so much is the extreme civility of the Turks
to a Christian; for Christians they detest much more here than
in any other part of the Sultan’s dominions. A woman in man’s
clothes, a woman on horseback--everything directly in opposition
to their strongest prejudices, and yet never even a smile of
impertinence, let me go where I will. If it was as it is in
England, it would be quite impossible to get through with it
all. Like Doctor Pangloss, I always try to think that everything
is for the best; if I had not been shipwrecked, I should have
seen nothing here; if I had been born a man instead of a woman,
I could not have entered all the harems as I have done, and got
acquainted with all the Turkish customs, and seen all that is to
be seen of most magnificent--for a Turk’s splendour is in his
harem: the rooms, the dresses, the whole air of luxury is not to
be described.
Adieu, my dear ----. I have written you a long letter, because
I thought my last might have put you in a fright. Had the
Wahabees come here, it would have been no joke, at least for the
inhabitants of this town, for they burn and destroy all before
them.
When you have read this, will you enclose it to Lord Ebrington,
who is so good as always to feel anxious about me, and I have
not time to write to him now, and I shall have no opportunity
of sending another letter for a long time, most probably. Pray
remember me most kindly to Captain Hope, and tell him I prosper.
Believe me,
Ever yours, most sincerely,
H. L. STANHOPE.
* * * * *
Things were in this position when a messenger arrived from Mr. B. to
say that he had quitted Aleppo, accompanied by Mr. Barker, the English
consul, and, on his road to Damascus, had been taken ill at an obscure
village, but was not so bad as to be incapable of travelling. This
account induced her ladyship to request me immediately to go to his
assistance. I accordingly departed, October 15th, on horseback, with a
mule carrying my bed and medicine-chest, and with Ibrahim, my groom, on
another horse.
On the road I was going there lay a village, called Yabrûd, the
Shaykh of which, Osman Aga, had sent to Damascus to obtain my advice
concerning a troublesome complaint with which he had been afflicted
for some years. He was the brother-in-law of one Masûd Aga, Shaykh of
Carah, a considerable burgh on the skirts of the Desert. In Masûd Aga
was vested whatever authority the pasha had over Palmyra. This was
little indeed; since the Bedouins, by their proximity, had considerable
influence over the movements and the conduct of the inhabitants.
However, it was proposed to Lady Hester, that, in case of her going to
Palmyra, Masûd Aga should escort her. She was therefore anxious to do
an act of civility to his relation, Osman Aga; and it was agreed that I
should stop at Yabrûd in my way. There happened to be at Damascus one
of Masûd Aga’s people, named Yahyah, who had been sent by his master to
inquire when Lady Hester proposed setting off for Palmyra. He undertook
to be my guide; and we departed from Damascus on the morning of the
15th October, and at nine in the evening arrived at Yabrûd, after
being on horseback thirteen hours. The road had been good the whole
way, excepting where we ascended Gebel Yabrûd.
[Illustration: VILLAGE OF YABRÛD.]
Yabrûd is a large village of great beauty, situate in a plain as you
emerge from a narrow pass between two ridges of rock, and having many
orchards and gardens extending as much as a mile from the village, and
watered by a stream which runs from a spring called Ras-el-Ayn.[13]
Several sepulchres, excavated in the neighbouring rocks, denoted the
antiquity of the place. The inhabitants are Mahometans, Greeks, and
Christians. There are the ruins of a church of the middle ages: and it
is the residence of a Greek bishop.
Osman Aga received me in his own house; of which however I saw nothing
but the room where I was lodged, on the floor of which he caused a bed
to be spread, his troublesome civility not allowing my own to be used.
This receiving-room for strangers is generally the nearest to the door;
and as many strangers as arrive sleep in it. A dish of rice, some soup,
or a chicken, is commonly served up for supper, with a cup of coffee
and a pipe on arriving, and the same after supper, and this makes up
the entertainment of the evening. The master of the house keeps his
guests company for an hour or two, and then leaves them to themselves.
But, as my visit had his own health for its object, the evening was
spent chiefly in conversation with him on this topic.
Next morning I left Yabrûd, accompanied still by Yahyah and by Osman
Aga, and, after a ride of five hours, reached Carah. This is a poor and
slovenly village. It seems to have formerly had very extensive gardens,
but which now lie entirely waste.[14] There is a monastery of Greek
caloyers. The situation of Carah is high, and the temperature of the
air was many degrees lower than at the place we had come from. As a
proof of this, all the houses which I entered had fireplaces, which are
not seen at Damascus. There was no public bath in the place, and the
absence of this very necessary article of cleanliness and religion is
always a proof of the meanness of a Mahometan town.
We found in Masûd Aga a laughing, plethoric, unwieldy Turk, who gave
himself airs of importance which almost imposed on my simplicity. He
desired me to tell Lady Hester that, if she would put herself under his
guidance, he would carry her safely to Palmyra; when, as we learned
afterwards from the Arabs themselves, he himself did not dare to stir
out of his own village for fear of them: and it was the assurance of
the insufficiency of any solid protection which he could give that
induced the Jews, Yusef and Rafaël, to dissuade us from going at all.
On the 18th, I took my leave of Masûd Aga and Osman Aga, having first
taken coffee and a pipe with them. I cannot help expressing the
astonishment I felt at observing the continued use that Masûd Aga made
of the narkýly, a pipe by which the smoke is inhaled through water in
the manner of the hooka; he was never without it for a moment, and it
was the employment of one man to prepare it for him.
From Yabrûd towards Carah, the face of the country had assumed a more
lonely aspect than hitherto; and, on leaving Carah, I could plainly
perceive that we were on the skirts of the desert, if not in it.
Cultivation, and the appearance of it, had ceased altogether. To the
east of us, the eye wandered over plains bounded only by the horizon.
We met few people, and those we did meet were generally in parties:
there was a look of suspicion given and exchanged on both sides, and
the _salàm alëikûm_ was always muttered in a hollow tone, which,
from the whistling of the wind across the desert, was scarcely audible:
the ample abah, the kefféya tied over the bottom of the face, leaving,
like the vizor of a helmet, the eyes alone visible, the long spear
borne on the shoulder, all wore an air of defence and distrust, which
rendered me, in spite of myself, thoughtful and cautious. On our left
was a chain of barren mountains, which seemed to shut us out from the
habitable world. This chain was about four or five miles off, and I
conceived it to be a branch of the Antilebanon. At one place, we saw
men employed in burning kali, which grows abundantly hereabout.
About two o’clock, we arrived at Hassyah, a village enclosed by a mud
wall: it contained a large caravansery and a mosque: a hundred yards
from the wall, there was likewise a detached caravansery with a well;
but this seemed to be totally neglected. In the middle of the village,
there was a large basin, supplied with water from a spring, brought
to it in earthenware pipes from without: it was nearly dry just now,
and looked like a stagnant pond; so that the water we had to drink was
quite foul and bad tasted.
I made use of my _buyurdy_, or pasha’s order, with the shaykh of
Hassyah, to obtain a better supper than I thought I should get of the
villagers for money: but I was deceived, for I supped on treacle and
dûrra bread;--and bread from dûrra, or Indian corn, is worse than that
made from oats and barley, and is not to be eaten unless immediately
after it is made.
There was a small caravan going the same road with ourselves, and it
was thought prudent, for greater safety, to march with it. Accordingly,
we departed the next morning, the 19th October, before one o’clock, by
the light of the moon, and in the evening we reached Hems.
I was conducted to the house of Mâlem Skender, a gentleman well-known
in those days to most English travellers for his hospitality. Yahyah
had accompanied me thus far, and I rewarded him with a present of
twelve piasters and a half. Mâlem Skender sent a guard forward with me,
and about nine o’clock we reached Tel Byssy, a village on an eminence,
the houses of which were for the most part exactly in the shape of a
sugarloaf, and built of unbaked bricks.
Soon after passing the village of El Rosten, we came to the banks of
the river Orontes, called in Arabic El Aâsy, over which is a bridge,
with a large caravansery adjoining. The sight of this river, which our
earliest studies make so familiar to us by name, caused considerable
emotions of pleasure. The river is here about ten yards broad.[15]
[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE ORONTES.]
Pursuing our route, we passed Ibsarýu, a hamlet with sugarloaf houses.
Between the bridge and this hamlet there was a burying-ground, where
were many tombstones and one mausoleum. This cemetery was called Kubt
el Habázeh. At first, the road was stony, as was generally the soil
about it, but afterwards it changed to a fine blackish red mould. At
twenty-seven minutes to five, we saw another burying-place called Kubt
el Kaireen: we arrived about five in the evening at the gate of Hamah.
I paid my muleteer and dismissed him, and, giving Mâlem Skender’s man
his present, dismissed him also. He had conducted me to the house
of Mâlem Mûsa Koblan, his master’s relation, the governor’s kateb
or secretary, and consequently the chief Christian of the place. I
was lodged in a room, detached from the house, and in which it was
necessary to make a great sweeping before it could be rendered clean
enough to receive me. Some dirty mats were placed on the floor, over
these a carpet somewhat broader than a bed-carpet, and a dish of rice
was served up for my supper; but I saw nobody.
When the evening was somewhat advanced, Mâlem Mûsa, who pretended that
he was just returned from the governor’s, came to see me. He complained
of his asthma, grunted at every word he said, hoped I had supped well,
and then left me, after having begged me to await Mr. Barker and Mr. B.
at Hamah, since they must pass through on their way to Damascus.
In fact, the next day they arrived. Mr. B.’s indisposition had not
lasted, and he felt now quite well. Mr. Barker’s establishment being
equally large with Mr. B.’s, the house, from the quantity of luggage
and number of servants, became a scene of great confusion. For his
dragoman he had brought with him a young Frenchman, named Beaudin,
residing from his fifteenth year at Aleppo, and speaking Arabic almost
like a native. Mâlem Mûsa had a son, well known to Mr. Barker, named
Selûm, which name he had warped from its original sound into Selim,
this last being a Turkish appellation, which Christians are not
generally allowed to bear. For Selim was on all occasions very desirous
of assuming the garb and air of a Turk; and his situation in the employ
of the governor enabled him to take many liberties of that kind. He was
at present from home: but his name will be often mentioned hereafter.
Hamah is a large but straggling city on the Aâsy or Orontes, which may
be here from twenty to thirty yards broad. It is built in a bottom
between two hills. There is a conical mound, evidently the work of
human hands, upon which once stood a citadel, although now one stone
is not left on another. Nor could this elevation, since the invention
of cannon, have served for defence, as its highest part is only on a
level with the downs which surround the city. The streets are filthy
and stinking both in winter and summer; and, as they are not paved, the
winter rains render them almost impassable; so that here I beheld, what
I believe is not seen in any other country, men of all ranks walking
from house to house in clogs, such as brewers’ men wear in England, but
much higher.
At the corner of a private house I observed a stone let into the wall,
with figures and hieroglyphics upon it; but my interpreter had given
me to understand that much curiosity would be excited if I were seen
drawing it, with some danger to my person, and I therefore merely
mention its existence there to invite other travellers to examine it,
now that the Syrians are become more civilized than formerly.
The wheels used for raising water from the bed of the river, are among
the greatest curiosities in Hamah. They are of that kind called Persian
wheels, and are of a bold, although rude, construction. One is said
to be sixty feet in diameter. An adventurous fellow was accustomed
to make the circuit of this wheel, holding by the extremity of one
of the spokes, and to undergo the dip through the water. The 41st
question of Michaelis relates to the word [Arabic], which I believe
to mean water-wheels, such as here described. To the circumference are
fastened leathern buckets or earthenware pots, which fill from below,
and, as the wheel goes round, empty themselves at the highest point
into aqueducts raised on arcades. By these the water is carried inland,
and the grounds are irrigated, for all the purposes of gardening and
husbandry.
The houses of the poor are of mud and unbaked bricks: those of the rich
are of stone, and, for the most part, built in the form of vaulted
chambers. Many of these rooms have no windows, the light being admitted
by the door only, which it is scarcely necessary to keep shut in
the coldest season of the year: whilst, by these means, a degree of
coolness is preserved in the summer heats not attainable in any other
manner. There is one trifling inconvenience which arises from this
mode of excluding the light. In the middle of the day, when the glare
of the sun is almost intolerable, on entering these rooms, one seems
for a moment in total darkness. I cannot but suppose that this sudden
abstraction of light must in some degree enfeeble the organs of vision.
Hamah, indeed, like Damascus, abounds in one-eyed and blind people.
The dress of the poor female inhabitants may be said to consist of
four pieces; the veil, the gown, the shift, and the apron. The veil is
green, the gown blue, and the apron red. This costume, on a pretty
woman, looks well. The veil is drawn so as to form an oval outline on
the face, falling over the shoulders down to the middle.
As Hamah lies on the high road from Aleppo to Damascus, and is
constantly exposed to the passage of troops, among whom, in addition to
a very relaxed discipline, obtains the custom of quartering themselves
at will in the towns through which they march, the inhabitants have
been taught by experience that even their saloons might on such
occasions be converted into stables. Hence a usage which is very
general here, and more especially in the Christian houses, of making
the street doorway no more than from three to four feet high, so that a
horse or mule cannot enter. Indeed, it requires much stooping for even
a man to do so: and when, on my arrival at Hamah, I was led, through a
filthy lane, down a blind alley to the door of Mâlem Mûsa’s house, I
could not persuade myself that I was entering a respectable habitation.
From the low situation of the city, the air is bad, and autumnal
diseases are here often very fatal, always very common; but the climate
is mild beyond measure in the winter. Seen from the neighbouring hills,
Hamah presents one of the most beautiful prospects I ever beheld,
arising from the joint effect of the windings of the river through the
straggling streets, the noble arcades, the great wheels, and the rich
foliage of its orchards.
The chief manufacture of the place is that of sheepskin pelisses,
which are worn by the Bedouin Arabs and by the people of the villages
on the skirts of the Desert. Printed muslin handkerchiefs, felt for
saddle-covers, silk napkins for covering the waist in the bath, and
silk handkerchiefs, are likewise made here. The town is famous also for
towels and napkins, in appearance like huckaback.
There are about fifty families of the Greek church, who, with the
Syrians, comprehend all the Christians. These, generally speaking, are
subjected to more humiliations here than on the coast; for they are
always in awe of a licentious soldiery, and are never permitted to wear
any other coloured clothes than blue, black, or what we call quakers’
colours. The Greeks have a bishop, or _despotes_.
The river is liable to great inundations in the winter season, which
sometimes rise as high as the top of the parapet of the bridge which
joins the streets and suburbs on the right and left bank. It produces
fine fish. The valley in which the river runs is not wide; and, where
it is bounded on the left side by almost perpendicular ascents to the
downs overlooking the town, the poorer inhabitants have made themselves
caves, in which, to appearance at least, fifty families had taken up
their abode. Hamah would make a most beautiful panorama.
Mr B. was desirous of visiting the ruins of Bâlbec, and therefore he
and Mr. Barker departed on the following morning. I accompanied them
only as far as Hems, where they left me to return to Damascus by the
way I came. This I was obliged to do, as I had to seek out a European
gentleman, who was said to be living in obscurity at a village close
by Yabrûd, and concerning whom Lady Hester was curious to learn some
particulars. Mâlem Skender received us in his house, and the next
morning my companions set off for Bâlbec. The weather had been much
colder at Hamah than at Damascus, for I found myself obliged to buy a
lamb-skin pelisse, which proved of great comfort to me; and on this day
it rained, being the first wet we had had since the month of May.
Hems is the ancient Emesa. It is a neat, compact town,[16] with streets
paved, and wider than is customary in Turkey. It contains fourteen or
fifteen mosques, and is about a mile and a half in circumference. It is
said to contain 15,000 souls, about 300 of whom are Christians. Just
outside the town there is a ruinous piece of ancient masonry, square at
the base, which is surmounted by a pyramid. It has probably served for
a mausoleum. The pyramid was supported by pilasters, and the frieze
shows the remains of the festoons which once ornamented it. On one side
is an inscription, which was too high to be read by me. This mausoleum
contained two chambers, one over the other, with small windows. It is
built of brick, and faced with gray stones, lozenge-shaped.
Without the walls, also, is the tomb of Khaled Sayf Allah, one of
Mahomet’s first disciples, his relation, and the conqueror of Syria. In
riding out on the 26th, I was tempted to try the experiment of passing
for a Turk; and, dismounting from my horse at the door of the mosque,
I walked boldly in, and requested to see Khaled’s tomb, which is an
object of great veneration to those who perform pilgrimages to the
shrine. My bad Arabic went for nothing; for the doorkeeper had only to
suppose me to be an Albanian, or some native of the European provinces
of Turkey. I saw the tomb, which, similar to other Mahometan tombs of
ancient date, was shaped like the roof of a house. He gave me some
holy water to drink, and threw over me a veil, or scarf, during which
ceremony he pronounced a long prayer, whilst I felt somewhat alarmed
at the risk I ran in assuming a feigned character. In going out, the
unusual present which I gave him of two piasters and a half was enough
to betray me; for a devout Mussulman probably never exceeded twenty
paras, or half a piaster.
I visited the citadel of the town, which seemed to have been the work
of the Saracens, or crusaders, but was now altogether in ruins. It
stood on a truncated mound, the sides of which were faced with neat
gray stone from top to bottom. Round it was a ditch from twenty to
thirty yards broad, with a counterscarp faced also in stone. On the
table of the eminence there appeared the remains of a series of vaults
that had gone round the circumference of the citadel, and communicated
with each other by small doors. There had been towers at equal
distances. Fragments of granite and stone pillars were lying about, and
in one place some of these were let into the walls.
On approaching Hems, when coming from Damascus, the rising sun was
reflected strongly on a lake, to the left of the road, formed by the
waters of the Orontes, not far from where it takes its rise. As I
proposed remaining a day or two at Hems, I resolved to visit it, and
for the value of eighteen pence a guide conducted me thither.
After passing through Katâny, a miserable village, not unlike a nest
of hogsties in England, and about half a mile from the lake, I soon
reached the margin of the water, and beheld before me an expanse,
apparently about three miles across in its broadest part, but in most
places less, and about twelve long, or perhaps much more; for a sheet
of water is liable to deceive the eye greatly.[17] It narrows at the
Eastern extremity, where I was, and is banked in by a dyke about a
quarter of a mile long,[18] appearing not of very ancient construction,
although Abulfeda attributes it to Alexander the Great. I walked on the
dyke, and the first outlet for the waters that presented itself was a
small stream that I had crossed in my way: then came the mouth of the
aqueduct for supplying Hems. This aqueduct is of rough workmanship, and
it seems to have been constructed in the place of one now dilapidated,
but of equally indifferent construction. But, from the sight of this
aqueduct and the elevation of the embankment, it may be concluded that
the object, or the principal object, of it was to raise water to a
sufficient height to enable it to flow to Hems.
At the northern extremity of the dyke stands a ruined tower, and,
between it and the aqueduct, about half way, the lake runs over, and
falls down in cascades to form the river Orontes. A meadow beneath the
dyke, and much below the level of the lake, shows where once the waters
ran unchecked: a small mulberry plantation now occupies its place.
Wild fig trees grew out of fissures of the dyke. Close to the tower a
small aqueduct commences, by which a village two hundred yards off is
supplied with water. Under the dyke, and at the foot of the _tel_
or mount, are many loose stones, but none of them seemed to be of a
Grecian or Roman character: nor were there any fragments of pillars or
of buildings of ancient date.
I returned to Hems much pleased with my excursion, having first
followed the course of the Orontes for some distance, until I came
to a very large Persian waterwheel, and a mill; both put in motion
by the stream, which was nearly dammed across to give it a greater
impetus. This place was called El Memas, and here are the gardens of
Hems, which, for want of water for irrigation, cannot thrive close to
the town. But this, although a privation, contributes greatly to the
salubrity of the place, the air of which is much superior to that of
Hamah.
Having seen everything worthy of curiosity at Hems, I left it on the
28th of October, accompanied by the same man as guide who had before
conducted me from Hems to Hamah.
Here I staid the whole of the 30th, in consequence of the marching
of some troops. The inhabitants were apprised of the coming of these
troops, who were a corps of Deláti, mercenaries in the pay of Hamed
Bey: and, from the conversation of the villagers, I could easily
perceive that their passage was exceedingly dreaded. I therefore
requested Masûd Aga to grant me a soldier, to remain at my door and
protect me from insult. He candidly told me that his soldiers could do
nothing at such a moment, when even his own house would be scarcely
exempt from intrusion. I therefore resolved to depend on my own
scheming. I dressed myself in my smartest clothes, with a cashmere
shawl round my head and one round my waist, girded on my sabre with
its silver scabbard, and, seating myself in the corner of the cottage,
on my travelling carpet, I assumed an air of importance as great as I
could put on. My host, I had observed, had removed out of the way every
thing that could serve as fuel or food, and then went out, leaving the
soldiers to expend their fury on the bare walls; “for, if they get hold
of me,” he said, “it will be in vain to declare that I have nothing to
give them: they will beat me until I produce my all.”
About ten o’clock, I heard the noise of horses and the clamour of many
voices. Presently a soldier alighted at my door, and said--“Holloa,
rascal; come here and take my horse:” then, thrusting his head in, and
seeing me seated, he begged my pardon and moved on to the next cottage.
Another came; I kept my seat, and telling him “This is my house,
friend,” he too went away. A third and a fourth presented themselves,
and fortunately no one, in the hurry of the moment, discovered me
to be a Frank. My groom Ibrahim was of great service, who, leaning
negligently against the outer door, told every one not to enter or
shout so, as there was an Aga within.
The troops merely baited at Carah, and then went for Hassiah: and the
rest of the day was employed by the cottagers in replacing their
furniture, and lamenting the hardships to which they were subjected
from such a lawless soldiery.
On the 31st I went from Carah to Yabrûd, where I took up my lodging at
an old Christian’s house. The man was a farrier, and, being ill, had
entreated Osman Aga, if I passed through again, to billet me upon him:
so that I had an importunate patient, labouring under asthma, close at
my elbow.
I amused myself, on Sunday, Nov. 2nd, in a ride towards the springs
that supply the brook by which the gardens of Yabrûd are irrigated. At
twenty minutes’ distance from the gate of the town, there are two of
them, both gushing from the foot of a rock: and, just before reaching
them, there is a sarcophagus, hewn out of a mass of rock, and covered
by a huge lid, having had on it two circular reliefs sculptured, but
now indistinct. The valley is highly cultivated,[19] and terminates,
beyond the farthest spring, by a small meadow, where the two chains of
mountains approach to within a hundred yards of each other.
My landlord, the farrier, having said much about the curious
excavations in the rocks at a village called Mâlûla, I induced him,
the next day but one, which was the 4th, to accompany me thither. On
reaching the place, my conductor took me to a small monastery, built on
the brow of the precipice, which overhangs the bogáz or ravine in which
the village stands. On the rock where we were, and in those rocks which
to the right and left were still overtopping us, are numerous grottoes
cut out of the solid stone. In the ravine beneath is the village: and,
beyond it, we looked over the Desert as far as the eye could reach. I
was eager to enter some of these grottoes, and did then for the first
time believe in the stories of the troglodytes: for many of them had
evidently been inhabited; and some of them showed for what purposes
they had been used, as for wine-pressing, baking, sleeping, &c. Yet a
little reflection told me that they originally must have been intended
for sepulchres only: inasmuch as many of them contained sarcophagi,
like similar caverns that I had seen elsewhere: and in those that had
them not, it was not difficult to imagine that they had been disfigured
and enlarged for the purposes of pressing oil and wine, or had been
converted into magazines after they had ceased to serve as sepulchres.
We were very civilly received at the convent by Mâlem Michael Rasáti,
a native of Damascus, sent hither to collect money for Mâlem Rafaël
the Jew, to whom the village belonged: _i. e._ who, for a certain
sum, farmed it from the pasha, to make of it as much as he could by
his exactions. Persons, so sent, live on the people of the village
until they have completed the collection of the imposts. He had with
him his wife and sister, who, as being in a retired Christian village,
enjoyed themselves with nearly as much liberty in their walks and
amusements as ladies in England would do. Soon after my arrival we
dined,[20] drank our coffee, and smoked our pipes: and, whilst Mâlem
Rasáti took his afternoon nap, I revisited the excavations. In several
there were remains of mouldings and other ornaments in bas-relief, and
some appeared to have been stuccoed. About four o’clock we all walked
down into the village. A spring from the hills above, carried by a
grooved ledge down the ravine, supplied the inhabitants with water.
A large shady tree or two afforded them shelter from the rays of the
meridian sun, which, when declined from the perpendicular, are shut
out by the high precipices on either side. Upon the whole, I would
recommend the traveller in Syria to turn from his road to visit Mâlûla.
The _summag_ or _sumak_ tree, the leaves of which are used
in dyeing, is much cultivated on this spot, and some of the sepulchres
were converted into store-rooms for holding them.
Mâlem Rasáti urged me strongly to remain all night, in which my
landlord, who found his _raki_, or brandy, good, joined him: so
that, when nothing I could say would persuade them to let me go, I
stole out unperceived, bridled my horse, and rode off alone, although
not sure of the way. I had not, however, got a mile when my landlord
came galloping after me; and could not refrain, when he had overtaken
me, from muttering a great deal about the obstinacy of Franks, and of
the folly of riding after it was dark. We reached Yabrûd in safety.
Within a few miles of Yabrûd is Nebk, a small village, where resided a
person whom Lady Hester wished me to seek out. His name was Lascaris,
and his history is singular. He considered himself a descendant of
Lascaris, emperor of Trebizond: but, not to go so far back, his uncle
was Grand Master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Malta, and
of the Piedmontese family of Lascaris de Ventimiglia. He himself was
a knight, and one of those, who, after the capitulation of the Island
of Malta, followed General Buonaparte into Egypt. He then held a post
of considerable emolument as receiver of imposts; and, being an ardent
favourer of universal fraternization, he married a Georgian slave, who
had belonged to the harým of a kashef of Murad Bey. She was stolen from
Georgia at the age of fifteen, and pretended that she never had changed
her religion.
The history of her bondage, as related to me by herself, may, if
true, serve to give an idea how slaves are carried off from the
countries which supply the market of Turkey. She was walking from the
village of Warran, her native place, to an adjoining town, when, in
an unfrequented part of the road, five men sprang out from an ambush
and seized her. They stuffed her mouth with a pocket handkerchief,
and carried her to a retired cottage in the mountains near at hand. A
master of a merchant vessel awaited them, to take off whatever prey
they might make; and, her price being settled, she was conveyed to
the sea-side, and embarked. Until they reached the sea, they always
travelled by night, and by day remained concealed in unfrequented
places, at which time they tied her by the leg, but otherwise treated
her well. She was transported to Constantinople, but, the market being
dull, was re-embarked for Grand Cairo. Mohammed Kashef bought her; and
his harým being dispersed after the defeats of the Mamelukes by the
French, she fell into the hands of the Chevalier Lascaris, who married
her. She was a large masculine woman: she seemed to have been handsome,
but her beauty was now gone; for, in these climates, women at thirty
are in their wane.
On the evacuation of Egypt, M. Lascaris took his wife to Paris; but
her manners and education were so little adapted to the society of the
French capital, that, after an exhibition of her shawls, her Turkish
dress, and the few novelties she had to show, the lady found herself
out of her sphere, and, we may suppose, worried her husband to return
to a country where she could meet with people like herself. The aunt
of M. Lascaris was _dame d’atour_ to the Empress Josephine;[21]
and, for this or some other reason, he aspired to a post of importance,
which not being able to obtain (for it is said he rejected with disdain
that of sous-prefet of a department), his own dudgeon, joined with his
wife’s, induced him to depart for Constantinople. They there planned
a journey into Georgia, to her native place, where M. Lascaris, who
was extremely visionary, proposed civilizing the inhabitants and
introducing a new system of agriculture. An Armenian, who found out
that the projector had a good deal of money at his disposal, undertook
to conduct his affairs, to provide articles of barter, implements of
agriculture, &c. They embarked together on the Black Sea, landed in
the Crimea, and were proceeding on their way to Georgia, when they
were arrested as French spies, by the Russians; and, the Armenian
having plundered and deserted them, M. Lascaris and his wife were
conveyed as prisoners to Petersburg, with the loss of the greatest
part of their fortune. Their innocence being proved, they were set at
liberty. I forget what next became of them, but gradually M. Lascaris
frittered away all that he possessed, and, in 1811, became a school
and music-master at Aleppo. I recollect, however, that one of his
intermediate schemes was a copartnership with the shaykh of a village
near Latakia, where he proposed to raise double crops from the soil by
the use of European agricultural instruments, &c. He had not been long
there when some unguarded expressions on politics caused his intentions
to be suspected; and, had he not retired in haste to Latakia, he would
probably have been the victim of the suspicions of the natives. At the
time when, as will be presently related, I found him at Nebk, he had
just come from Aleppo with a bale or two of red cotton stuffs, which he
hoped to sell to the women of the neighbouring villages for petticoats
and aprons, at a great profit, and thus make his fortune.
On the 3rd of November, according to my instructions, I rode over
to the village of Nebk. On entering it, I inquired for the house of
the bishop, to which I had been directed. As I went up the street, a
girl about twelve years old, looking out at a door, stared very hard
at me. I repeated the question as to the bishop’s residence, when
she immediately begged me to stop, and called her master. It was the
servant girl of M. Lascaris himself, who, on her calling him, came
to the door in a peasant’s dress. He wore a striped black and white
woollen abah, in shape like the coats of Robin Hood’s days: beneath
it a pair of loose, blue cotton Turkish brogues, no stockings, and
peasants’ red shoes. His beard was long and very handsome, his turban
like that of the peasantry.
I made myself known to him, dismounted, and was introduced to his wife,
who, with her own hand, set about preparing some coffee. They occupied
a small cottage, with a yellow clay floor, polished until it shone like
a looking-glass: and everything in the room was arranged with great
neatness.
I spent two most agreeable days with them. M. Lascaris was a man whose
conversation was always particularly pleasing, and, as far as regarded
the fine arts, very instructive: for he had seen and read a great deal.
The consciousness of his own superior merit was perhaps the cause of
all his misfortunes, in having made him lay claim to higher offices
in the state than he could obtain: and hence, assuming the tone of an
injured man, he had irretrievably embroiled himself with the Emperor
Napoleon.[22]
At the close of the second day, I received a letter to hasten my return
to Damascus, Mr. Barker having arrived there very ill. On the 5th of
November, I quitted Nebk for Yabrûd, where I left some medicines and a
small recompense with my host, the farrier; and, on the 6th, I departed
for Damascus. I slept on the road at Marra, and arrived at Damascus on
the 7th, after an absence of twenty-five days.