Departure from Hamah--Encampment on the bank of the
Orontes--Transformation of aquatic to winged animals--Vale of
the Orontes--Calât el Medýk--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.
On the 10th of May, Lady Hester and Mr. B. left Hamah. A sick servant,
the Emir el Akhûr, who was dismissed from his place, but to whom I was
willing to render service as long as I could to put him out of danger,
kept me one day after the rest had departed. On the 11th I quitted
the suburbs at noon. The road seemed to lead aslant to the chain of
mountains which is seen west of Hamah, and which, by a pocket compass,
as well as the distance would allow, I found to run north by east, and
south by west. The country was cultivated and the soil rich, like that
to the south of Hamah. I was accompanied by a servant and a muleteer,
with his mule to carry my luggage. At three o’clock we came abreast of
Shayzer, where is a castle, which, from the distance I saw it, seemed
to have been a place of great strength. This place is the ancient
Larissa, built at the confluence of some stream with the Orontes, which
is described in Abulfeda as falling from a mound fourteen cubits high.
This mound is called El Kherteleh. Here we turned short to the right,
and arrived at a bridge over the Orontes or Aâsy. We crossed it, and in
a few minutes reached the spot where Lady Hester was encamped, on the
right bank of the river, and whence, at the moment, the baggage-mules
were setting off for the next station.
Her ladyship was not yet on horseback, nor was her tent struck, and Mr.
B. was asleep on a bank by the river-side; so I dismounted, sending
my servant and muleteer forward with the rest, and I sat down by the
side of the Orontes, at an elbow of the stream, which formed an eddy,
where hundreds of small fish of the size of shrimps were playing on the
surface of the water. They attracted my attention: over them numbers
of a kind of butterfly were skimming about.[60] A shoal of large fish
was mixed with the small fry, not seeming to devour or harm them; but
whenever any of the butterflies incautiously touched the surface of
the water, they were immediately swallowed up by them. Observing more
closely, I saw that the business of these butterflies was to fasten
themselves, by means of two long trailing feelers which grew from their
tails, to the head of the little fish swimming in the water; then,
exerting all the force their wings gave them, they pulled and pulled
until by degrees they extricated another animal like themselves from
the filmy skin which had just now covered it. No sooner was it at
liberty than, flying to and fro, the newly metamorphosed one, now a
butterfly, seemed to seek to perform the same office for another fish.
Many were eaten by the large fish in the very act of shedding their
skin, and as many escaped to be devoured afterwards.
I caught one of the butterflies. Its body was an inch long, covered
with circular scales one line in breadth and of a golden colour; the
wings were of a blackish dove-colour; the head, which was small and
black, was furnished with two curved horny antennæ, seemingly for
defence; the tail, besides the two trailing feelers, which were two
inches long and jointed, and which, as it flew, draggled in the water,
had a double-horned and curved forceps like those on the head.
Near the bridge of Shayzer were several Arab encampments, but I did not
learn the name of the tribe. They were shepherds, and paid tribute.
Their huts were made of reeds, which they, however, principally occupy
in winter, quitting them in summer for tents.
We did not leave this place until six o’clock, when the sun had lost
its power, and the air was somewhat cooled. It soon grew dark, so
that I saw nothing of the country through which we passed. At nine
we arrived at Calât el Medýk; and, descending a hill into the valley
below the village, we reached our station in about half an hour. As
it was late, and the tents were already fixed, we dined immediately
and retired to rest: but the musquitoes were exceedingly troublesome,
owing to the low marshy ground which the tent-men had chosen for the
encampment, and which made me dread, moreover, the worst consequences
for the health of the party. The grooms, in the morning, said that the
horses had been much bitten by the flies during the night.
Daylight enabled us to examine the spot where we were. About six or
seven hundred yards to the north of us, and at the very extremity of
the ridge of a jutting hill, stood Calât el Medýk, a village enclosed
in a ruinous fortress. This hill is the termination of a chain of
some loftier ones which seemed to run to the north: but the view was
so bounded, that their direction and extent were uncertain. Between
the encampment and the castle, at the foot of the hill, stood a large
quadrangular caravansery, handsomely built, but falling, from neglect,
into ruins. To the north and by west, and to the west, extended a
spacious vale, bounded on the west by lofty mountains, which seemed
about two leagues distant from us, and are inhabited, as we shall
afterwards see, by the Ansárys. On the east the vale is shut in by the
hills abovementioned. The valley near us, and as far as the eye could
see, had now the appearance of a fenny marsh, full of small lakes,
formed by the inundation of the Orontes.[61]
The Orontes could be seen at first running north-west, and then winding
along the foot of the Ansáry mountains. The vale, where not overflowed,
was highly verdant.[62] I walked up the road by which we had descended
the preceding evening, and found it to be through a steep defile. At
the top of the hill, I turned off to the left towards the castle. Calât
el Medýk is a piece of indifferent masonry of no great antiquity,
though built probably anterior to the use of cannon: it has been
repaired at different times, and there are only patches of the original
structure. By these it seems to have consisted of a vaulted rampart,
surmounted by battlements, enclosing a space of sufficient size to
contain, as it does at present, several habitations.
[Illustration: CALAT EL MEDYK.]
On the north-east side of the castle I was fortunate enough to discover
what I conjectured to be the ruins of the ancient city of Apamea.[63]
The walls are in part still standing, and their extent might easily
be measured. There are the remains of a long colonnade running nearly
north and south, which must have been extremely grand. The pillars are
of the Corinthian order, all fallen, but in several places lying in
ranges as they stood. The stones of which the edifices were composed
are of very large dimensions, but less so than those of Palmyra, and of
an inferior quality of stone, seemingly quarried from the hills in the
environs; for the effects of the atmosphere were strongly marked upon
them, showing them to want hardness. There are several _spiral_
fluted columns, which seem to have belonged to a temple. Within the
walls are two small eminences, but too diminutive to have been the
sites of fortresses. What buildings stood on them, or what purposes
they served, I could only conjecture. Apamea was built by Seleucus
Nicator, and named after his wife.
There are many bee-hives at Calât el Medýk, which resemble in shape our
earthenware chimney-tops; they are made of clay, baked in the sun. I
tasted the honey, but it was not particularly good.
We left Calât el Medýk at half-past two in the afternoon. On quitting
Hamah, Muly Ismäel had assigned us a guard of two Delibashes.
The road now lay at the foot of the hills to the east of the vale;[64]
for it would have been impossible to keep a north-west direction, the
point of the compass towards which Latakia lay, owing to the many lakes
there are in the vale; and, had not that obstacle existed, prudence
forbade, at any time, the crossing the Ansáry mountains, unless by the
usual road, as no security is afforded for the traveller out of it.[65]
A few minutes after three we came to a fine spring of water, issuing
from the foot of the hill, which fed a number of pools to the left
of us. The name of this spot is the Shreah Water. A short distance
before arriving at it were two stone uprights, parts of a gateway of
some large building, of the same style of architecture as the ruins
of Apamea. Due west of the Shreah Water, about two miles, is Gemmyah,
a hamlet of Arab huts, the inhabitants of which live by fishing. They
spear the fish; and one of our soldiers informed us that so abundant
are fish in the Orontes, and in the small lakes, that it is sufficient,
after dark, to thrust a barbed spear into the water, to bring out one
every time.
We pursued our way, and at every little distance encountered a rivulet
crossing the road, issuing as before from the foot of the hills, which
were now terminated by a low precipice. These springs were so copious
as to form pools, and the waters of all of them were very clear. Some,
we were told, were tepid, but those we tasted were not so; we did not,
however, try them all.
Towards sunset we passed a Tel or conical mound, differing in nothing
from those seen in the desert; our guides called it Tel el Amjyk. I
had quickened my pace for the last two hours, in order to superintend
the encampment myself, and to avoid the torment of the musquitoes by
placing it on high ground: but when I had chosen it, the cook grumbled
at being far removed from running water, so that, at half-past seven,
we halted at another spot, Tel Kely-ed-dýn, close to a fine spring.
During the whole of the day the flies had rendered the horses almost
unmanageable; and we were half inclined to believe the assertion we had
often heard made, that, during autumn, cattle were sometimes stung to
death by them in this vale.[66] The grass hereabouts was so luxuriant,
that a horse could not in twenty-four hours consume more than what he
covered as he stood. During these first days none of the animals had
any corn. Clover and sweet herbs were mixed with the grass. We thought
it strange that hay was never made of it, considering how abundant the
grass grew; and we easily conceived how Seleucus fed here so large a
number of elephants and mares--if indeed elephants eat grass.
In the course of this day’s journey we observed several patches of
an ancient paved road. The country, we were told, had no robbers
hereabouts, and we slept in perfect security. We indeed saw, at every
little distance, small encampments of Arabs, but these are stationary,
and live by their flocks. They make rush mats, which are in request for
fifty miles round.
It was near two o’clock when we left Tel Kely-ed-dýn; for Lady Hester
found the heat so intolerable that she would not stir earlier. This
used to vex much the two guards, who, thinking themselves qualified
to instruct us how to travel in their own country, were constantly
enforcing the necessity of rising early and of travelling in the
cool of the morning, so as to reach betimes our evening station, and
thus to enable the tent-men to pitch by daylight, as their work was
exceedingly difficult to do in the dark. This counsel was very good but
very useless, as Lady Hester would not change her hours for anybody;
excepting on our return from Palmyra, when prudence perhaps got the
better of her habits.
It was near four when we came to Tel Ketýn, from the top of which I
observed, by compass, that our course, during the morning, had been
S.S.W. ½ S.: looking onward it was N. From Tel-Kely-ed-Dýn the hills
on the right had receded considerably, forming a half-moon, the centre
of the curve being due E. of Tel-Ketýn. After quitting this Tel, the
appearances of a paved road were very manifest for half a league,
during which we continued on it; until, inclining to the left, we
struck across a most fertile plain, nearly covered with corn-fields,
and abounding, where uncultivated, with grass four feet high,
intermixed with clover. About seven, we ascended a small eminence, from
which the Orontes again became visible, winding at the foot of finely
wooded mountains. We descended once more, and arrived in half an hour
at the bridge called Geser el Shogr, where we pitched our tents on a
green plat of ground close by the river.
The Orontes here is not broader than at Hamah. In its broadest parts,
thus far, it scarcely exceeds the Isis at Oxford, and does not seem
deeper, but is much more rapid. There are numerous islets in and about
it, but fewer gardens than at Hamah, owing to the height of its banks,
which renders it impossible to make a wheel with a diameter sufficient
to dip. The town of Shogr is miserable and poor; yet its situation,
commanding the bridge of communication across the Orontes and the
great caravan road from Aleppo and Hamah to the coast, makes it a
place of considerable importance. It is a dependency of the pashalik
of Aleppo: but Topal Ali, an officer of the Deláti, appointed to
the government of it, having turned rebel, set himself up as a petty
chieftain, and had contrived to become master of a considerable tract
of the mountains, with so much of the plain as lies between the river
and Tel-Kelyeen. Rageb, pasha of Aleppo, on one occasion, endeavoured
to reduce him to obedience, and for that purpose assembled an army
of three or four thousand men. But Topal Ali, although with fewer
soldiers, had so little fear, that, instead of shutting himself up in
his fortress, or fleeing to the inaccessible parts of the mountains,
he marched out to meet him; and, the pasha’s army being principally
composed of Deláti, would not fight against their old comrade and
officer, and remained neuter. The other mercenaries, seeing themselves
deserted, fled, and were pillaged by Topal Ali’s troops. Not wishing,
however, to irritate the pasha, Topal Ali afterwards restored his
artillery, camp equipage, &c. At this time, by means of bribes, he
had obtained permission to hold his government as the apanage of some
person in the Seraglio: but it was evident that he thought himself
insecure, as he was obliged to keep in his pay more troops than his
means could afford. He was lame (hence his appellation of Topal), and
seemed about forty years old.
We had not been long encamped when a rather ludicrous circumstance
occurred. Lady Hester had, on more than one occasion, related the
prophecy of the fortuneteller respecting her--that she should one day
be queen of the Jews. It appeared that this had been retold, with, as
is usual, some exaggerations, one of which we will suppose was that she
was herself a Jewess: for a woman of the people of Israel really came
from the town to the tents, and asked to see her ladyship; when, being
referred to me, she gravely asked me whether she might be employed to
kill her meat. I did not at first comprehend her: and told her that the
Aga had sent us lambs, which the cook would kill. “What! he is a Jew
then?” said she. (It is known to most persons that Jews may eat only of
what has been killed by people of their own religion.)--“Why, what if
he is not?”--“What, if he is not?” cried she: “is not the meleky [the
queen] one of us, and how can she eat from other hands than ours?” I
now comprehended the woman’s drift; for I had so often heard Turks say
they were sure she was a daughter of the Grand Signor by some English
lady, and the Jews convert prophecies from holy writ to her person,
that I was no longer astonished at any thing of this kind. I related
the story to Lady Hester, who sent the woman a small present. Topal Ali
in the mean time had sent a couple of lambs, rice, fowls, sugar, and
whatever could be wanted for eating--the customary way, as has been
more than once said, of welcoming distinguished strangers.
A messenger had been sent to Laodicea or Latakia, to ascertain whether
the plague raged there or not; and it was resolved to await his return
before proceeding any farther.
Close to our encampment was the gibbet on which malefactors were
executed. It consisted of two rough forked stakes with a cross piece,
scarcely trimmed with a hatchet. When a felon is caught, he is
forthwith taken before the governor, and, if the evidence of his guilt
is clear, he is, in the same instant, conveyed to the gallows, and
hanged without any formality; or he is tied hand and foot and thrown
over the bridge.
I walked into the town, and was shocked at the misery that displayed
itself. A large mosque, the governor’s house,[67] and a bath, formed,
as it were, the whole of it: for the houses of the inhabitants were so
mean that wretchedness itself could not be lodged worse. The clothes of
the artisans and mechanics at work in their shops indicated either real
or affected misery: for the garb of poverty is generally so common in
Turkey, wherever the law cannot control the oppression of the ruler and
his deputies, that no argument can be drawn from it of the real state
of people’s pockets. Nor is a province always accounted the poorer
because apparently groaning under oppressive management--nay, it often
happens that, under a licentious soldiery, the profits of manual labour
and goods are greater: witness the desire so often expressed in Cairo
for the return of the Mamelukes, under whose reign there was so little
security for property, and so much rapacity on the part of the Beys:
yet were large fortunes often amassed, and much more speedily than now.
In the bazar lazy soldiers were sitting, smoking and drinking iced
water; for the weather was become exceedingly hot: others were at the
doors of barbers’ shops. A few squalid and poorly dressed Christians
were moving about on their business. Wishing to hear the news of the
day, I entered a barber’s shop. As is customary, a round looking-glass
with a handle to it (such as mermaids are represented as holding,) was
handed to me to see my face in. This is the usual compliment to such
as merely enter to gossip, and they place a para or two upon it when
presented to them.
Surgery forms part of a barber’s education in the East. Whilst sitting
there, a man came in to have blood taken from his ears, which was very
expeditiously and neatly done in the following manner. The patient held
a handkerchief round his neck, which he was desired to draw as tight as
he could bear, and this he did so effectually that he soon became black
in the face: scarifications were then made on the upper edge of the
ear by scoring it with a razor. Not much blood came away; although, on
other occasions, I have seen it flow very freely.
Mr. B. paid a visit to Topal Ali, and on his return to the tents a
horse was sent to him as a present. Topal Ali desired his katib (or
secretary) to seek me out, and ask me to call on him, which I did. He
assumed more importance than I had observed in several of the first men
of the empire, and seemed a vain-glorious man. He asked me for remedies
to render him more amiable in the eyes of his harým: but I told him I
was unable to afford him the assistance he required.
In the evening, we were disquieted by an officious peasant, who came
to inform us, with much mystery, that twelve soldiers had been seen
lurking at a short distance from the encampment, and that, as the gates
of the town were shut, these men could not be there with any good
intention. This information created some alarm, and we were somewhat on
the alert throughout the night; but nobody molested us.
To-day the messenger returned from Laodicea, and brought letters which
denied the existence of the plague there: we accordingly set off the
next day at eight o’clock. On quitting Shogr, the road begins to ascend
into the mountains. These, unlike Mount Lebanon, were clothed with
trees and covered with verdure. Their ascent was more gentle, and their
breaks were less precipitous: there were slopes for corn fields, and
levels capable of irrigation. We continued to mount, and passed a large
village called Damat. We then came to a small river, near which is
Castel el Frange, which is the extent of Topal Ali’s district in this
direction, and may be about three hours and a half from Geser. At three
o’clock we came to another river, Ayn-el-Zerky, and encamped there for
the night.
At half-past seven in the morning, we left Ayn-el-Zerky. Soon after
eight, we crossed a small bridge, built over a cleft in the rock thirty
feet deep, at the bottom of which ran a small river. It is called
Shaykh-el-Agûf. It is not more than six feet over, but, when looked
into, had so much the appearance of a horrible chasm as to make us
shudder.
About noon we reached the foot of Mount Sekûn. The tract we had passed,
which begins at Damat and ends here, is called Gebel-el-Kerád. The road
this day had presented some of the most beautiful scenery that nature
can boast of. Our course, as it wound among the mountains, led us
sometimes through groves of plum, fig, and pomegranate trees; sometimes
over a wild of myrtles, arbutuses, and other flowering shrubs: again
it conducted us along the banks of a river, which, taking its source
from the spring where we had encamped over night, had now increased
to a large stream, and, as it meandered in the valley, or rushed
down some descent, gave an admirable finish to the landscape. Oaks
and firs covered the highest mountains; corn-fields and agricultural
produce the valley. Scattered cottages, here and there, wore the
appearance of English farms, and recalled the idea of my country, with
embellishments in which a colder climate cannot be dressed. Altogether,
the valley of Sekûn was a most rich and luxuriant scene.
On our way, the remains of an aqueduct, made of finely cemented
brick-work, were to be seen in one or two small patches. It is probable
that the water of the river, or a portion of it, was anciently carried
to some town,[68] and there were certain indications that a road had
once run along by its side.
When our tents were pitched, several inhabitants of the neighbouring
hamlets came to stare at us. We were now in the midst of the Ansáry,
a tribe of mountaineers, of whom we had heard many strange stories.
Gebel Sekûn,[69] which overhung our encampment, is said to contain many
impregnable fortresses, to which, when attacked by a superior force,
the inhabitants flee for refuge. It is one of the highest of that chain
of mountains which runs parallel to the sea-coast, north and south,
from the termination of Mount Lebanon, a few miles to the north of
Tripoli, up to Antioch; and seems to be one of the strongholds which
secure the independence of this warlike race; for all those who dwell
upon and about it are comparatively free, whilst those between it and
the sea pay tribute to the governor of Latakia.
Our guards, who were now two of Topal Ali’s soldiers, beheld the
Ansárys with distrust, and endeavoured to inspire us with it too: but
their demeanour was peaceable; and, although there was nothing like
timidity in their manner, their address was not rude. As I was seated
at the door of my tent smoking, they came and placed themselves close
by me. Soon after arrived others; and then those already seated rose,
and, with most prolonged ceremoniousness, gave place to the new comers,
or preserved their precedence. The Drûzes likewise are reproached with
being much given to useless ceremony and complimentary speech. The
Ansárys were all armed, some with a brace of pistols in their girdle,
and all with khanjárs.
Lady Hester thought their appearance and air so military that she
resolved to encamp a day longer among them. I have no doubt, too,
that she was anxious to learn something of a people of whom such
extraordinary things are reported; and when she was intent on any plan
which required much penetration and great conduct, she generally chose
to be alone. Under pretence, therefore, of staying behind until a house
was prepared for her, she requested us to depart next day for Latakia.
Next morning accordingly Mr. B. and I, with the principal part of the
luggage, set off at seven in the morning. We had to ascend until we
reached the summit of the mountain, from which the descent is gradual,
and leads almost imperceptibly, on a level with the sea, to the city
of Laodicea, now called in Arabic el-Ladkýah. But the river which we
had seen on the preceding day winds, by a circuitous course, round the
foot of Mount Sekûn, and reappears on the other side, emptying itself
afterwards, under the name of Nahr-el-Kebýr, at a short distance from
the city.
The season of the year was calculated to produce a favourable
impression of the beauty of the country. There was no similarity
whatever between the coast here and at Sayda. Round Latakia all was
verdure, and the climate seemed to be just at that point at which the
sun’s rays are insufficient to burn up the soil, but still capable of
producing the fruits that are generally thought to require considerable
heat. Here the date, it is true, does not bear; but there are melons,
grapes, and figs, in the greatest abundance. Such were our first
impressions, as we traversed the environs of Latakia. A residence
of seven months, the latter part of which was a continued scene of
suffering, caused me to view the same picture with such different
feelings, that I quitted it at last with more pleasure than I ever did
any place in my life.
Lady Hester did not arrive until two days afterwards, and it was said
that she had completely gained the hearts of the mountaineers among
whom she had been encamped. This may be readily believed, for there
never was a person who could, like her, when she thought it worth
while, on all occasions, and with all classes, engage and secure
admiration and attachment.