Long before we sighted Muktára, wild horsemen, in the rich Druze dress,

came careering down, jeriding on beautiful horses, with guns and

lances, the sons and retainers of the house heading them. They were

splendidly mounted, and one of the sons had a black mare, so simply

perfect I infringed the tenth commandment. We descended into a deep

defile, and rose up again on the opposite side, the whole of which was

lined with horsemen and footmen to salute us, and the women trilled out

their joy-cry. Ascending the other side was literally like going up

stairs cut in the rock; it was a regular fastness. We rode our horses

up the flight of stairs into the court. We received the most cordial

and gracious hospitality from the _Sitt_, who had all the well-bred

ease of a European _grande dame_. Water and scented soap was brought

in carved brass ewers and basins to wash our hands, incense was waved

before us, we were sprinkled with rose-water, whilst an embroidered

gold canopy was held over us. Coffee, sherbet, and sweets were served.

The next morning the palace was filled with grey-bearded and turbaned

scribes, with their long brass inkstands, and the _Sitt_ explained

to Richard that her affairs were entirely neglected at Beyrout, and

asked him to do something for her. He explained that it was a great

embarrassment to him, as he was subordinate to Mr. Eldridge, but that,

whatever she chose to write, he would make a point of going himself to

present her wishes to Mr. Eldridge. Richard notes in his journal that

day among others, "Eldridge does nothing, and is very proud of what he

does. Consular office awfully careless; sick of dyspepsia; nothing to

do body and mind."

We sat down to a midday meal equivalent to a dinner, and then went to

the _Jeríd_ ground, where the sons and their fighting men displayed

their grace and skill. The stables are solid, and like tunnels with

light let in, containing sixty horses, all showing blood, and some

quite thoroughbred. At nightfall there was a big dinner, to which all

the retainers flocked in; there was dancing and war-songs between the

Druzes of the Lebanon and the Druzes of the Haurán, ranged on either

side of the banqueting hall; they performed a pantomime, they sang, and

recited tales of love and war far into the night.

An amusing thing was, that after the _Sitt_ had dined with us, I found

her shortly after sitting cross-legged on the floor of the kitchen,

devouring a second dinner. I said, "Ya Sitti, I thought you had eaten

your dinner with us; what are you doing?" She laughed, and said, "My

dear child, you don't suppose for an instant that I got a bit into

my mouth with those knives and forks; I was only doing pantomime for

the honour of the house. Now I am getting my _real_ dinner with my

fingers!" We were accompanied out with the same honours as those with

which we were ushered in. How sorry we were to leave! Our friendship

always lasted. We used to begin, "My dearest sister," and she used to

say all those sweet things which only Easterns can say, such as--"My

eyes sought for you many days till my head ached; when will you come to

repose them, that I may not see your empty place?"

We went on to Deir el Khammar to the palace of Bayt el Din (B'teddin),

where Franco Pasha (the best governor the Lebanon has ever known)

lived, and was restoring this ruined castle of the late terrible Amir

Beshir Sheháb, from whence the view is splendid. He had about five

hundred soldiers, and was doing enormous good. He had a band, a school,

was planting pine trees and wheat, teaching carpet-making, tailoring,

shoemaking, making roads, teaching religion and loyalty to God, to the

Sultan, with liberality and civilization. He produced an electric shock

upon us by the invisible band playing "God save the Queen." We sprang

to our feet, and in that wild place it made me cry. In this region we

met the only real _prince_ in Syria, the Emir Mulhem Rustam. We had an

immense quantity of deputations of Druze Shaykhs; those of the Haurán

were something like bears, with huge white turbans, green coat, massive

swords, some in red, and all exceedingly wild-looking. We then went to

Ali Beg of Jumblatt, at Baderhan. We passed innumerable Druze villages,

until we came to Jezzín, one of the three manly Christian villages.

Usuf Beg, their Chief, was a delightful Shaykh.

Sometimes these breakfasts on the march were very amusing, where there

were a mixture of races and religion. You would see forty intrigues

round a dish of rice. At Rasheya there was no water; here we were on

Druze ground again. From this we went to the top of Mount Hermon,

_i.e._ it has three tops, and we put a _kakú_ of stones on the highest

for a remembrance. The view is immense. We found a cave and saw a

hare. When we got to the bottom, there was hardly a shoe or a rag left

amongst us. Here we met some very charming Druze chiefs, and went with

them to Hasbeya, because Richard was convinced that the sources of

the Jordan were not as they are given in books; and he was perfectly

right. There is a slanting rock with some figs growing out of it, and

oleanders growing in luxurious clumps in the sand all around, and out

of this rock rushes a stream, which we traced to the Jordan. Near is a

mine of bitumen.

From thence to Kefayr, another Druze village, after which we rode to

Banias. Of course, there are loads of things to see all the way--caves

or temples, or what not; but, then, all those can be got in books. The

sources are supposed to be here, at Banias, and are made much of; and

all visitors go to the fountain of Jordan, the cave of Pan, the temple

of Herod and Augustus, with the three niches. The water trickles from

beneath under the stones, separating into eight or nine streams, but

they are not the real source.

We had a large escort to-day. Ali Beg Ahmadi and his cavalry, Shaykh

Ahmad, and many others, came to escort us, and we had a delicious

gallop over the plain of Ghyam, which is part of the Ard el Húleh,

through which runs the Jordan, and another portion of the same is

called the Abbs. We came to Arab tents, and drank milk with the Bedawi;

we found many of them down with fever, and stopped to doctor them with

Warburg's drops. We had to ride all day, and at last through marshy,

rushy places under a burning sun, without a breath of air.

[Sidenote: _We camp at the Waters of Merom._]

This valley of the Jordan, if drained and planted, would be immensely

rich, but it teemed now with luxurious rankness, fever, and death. We

pitched our tents under a large tree, divided from the lake by papyrus

swamps; a most unwholesome spot, where we were punished by every sort

of insect and crawling thing in creation; and we all got headache and

sore throat at once.

The Bahret el Huleh, or the Waters of Merom in Josh. xi. 5-7, anciently

called Lake Semachonitis, is a small blue triangular lake, the first

and highest of the three basins of the Jordan. We had all our escort

with us; we had scarcely any food; there was none for the horses.

We had to turn them all loose to forage for themselves, except the

stallions, and they had to be led. It was a hideous expanse of fœtid

mire and putrefying papyrus. We had a frightful night, a stifling

heat, a very blizzard of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and we

were camped under the only tree in the plain. It was black dark; the

ground was bad-smelling black mud; we passed the dark hours in holding

our tent-pole against the wind, and digging trenches outside to let

the water off. There were no dry clothes to be had, and the various

vermin would not let one rest. We were like that for three days; so we

piled up the trunks and sat at the top of them, and read "Lothair," by

Disraeli, which we had brought with us. The description of the great

houses of England read so funnily sitting in this black mud in the

centre of desolation, surrounded by feverish swamps.

In spite of the difficulties of moving in such weather, Richard and I

were agreed that if we stayed there any longer, we should all perhaps

get in such a state as not to be able to move at all; so we saddled our

horses, and ordering our followers and escort to strike tents, pack,

load, and follow, we mounted and waded our horses through the water,

scrambled over stones and slippery rocks, and in and out mud and slush

for two hours, often sinking deep, till we reached the mountain roots

and began to ascend.

After some hours' climbing we arrived at the seventy-two tents of the

Shaykh Hadi Abd Allah; he instantly gave us hospitality, barley for our

horses and food for ourselves. They were all yellow and sickly, and,

even at this height, dying like sheep of fever from the miasma arising

out of the plain that we had been in for three days. They had lost

many children, and double sorrow when sons. One boy was dying as we

entered. Our tents came up to us late that day with all our belongings.

Our animals and people were fed. We stayed with the tribe long enough

to doctor them all round, and to leave remedies and directions; and I

baptized the incurables and the dying children.

Then came down the Amir Hasan el Fá'ur of the Benú Fadl, or Fazli

tribe. He heard of our being in the neighbourhood, and took us off to

his camp on the summit of a mountain called Jebel Haush, a day's ride

away, where we found his three hundred tents. The whole tribe turned

out to meet us, mounted and couching their lances, and jeríded the

whole way back. The reception tent was fifty feet long, and each divan

was twenty-five feet long. The retainers cleared a space for our camp,

corn was brought, horses picketed; an excellent dinner on a large scale

in the big tent was cooked, lambs and kids roasted whole, stuffed with

pistachios and rice, bowls of _leban_, unleavened bread, honey, and

camels'-milk butter, bowls of clear sparkling water. I love to think

now of those dark, fierce men, in their gaudy flowing costumes, lying

about in different attitudes, the moon lighting up the scene; the lurid

glare of the fire on their faces, the divans and pipes, _narghílehs_

and coffee, their wild and mournful songs, their war-dances, their

story-telling; and on that particular night, and on all these sort of

nights, my husband would recite to them one or another tale out of the

"Arabian Nights"--those tales which he has now translated literally for

the London world; and I have seen the gravest and most reverend Shaykhs

rolling on the ground and screaming with delight, in spite of their

Oriental gravity, and they seemed as if they could never let my husband

go again.

[Sidenote: _Richard is stung by a Scorpion._]

I can remember that night, when he and I went to our tent and lay

down on our respective rugs, he called me over, for he was stung by a

scorpion, but when I struck a match there was nothing but a speck of

blood, as though from a black ant; so we lay down again, and he called

out, "Quick, quick! I _know_ it is a scorpion." I ran over and struck

another light, and plunged my hand into the shirt by the throat, and

the scorpion caught my finger. I drew it out and shook it off, and

killed it; but it did not sting me, being, I supposed, exhausted. I

rubbed some strong smelling-salts into the wounds, and, seeing he was

pale, ran off to the provision-basket and got a bottle of _raki_, and

made him drink it, to keep the poison from the heart, and he woke in

the morning quite well.

I now discovered that though they were treating us with this splendid

hospitality, that behind the scenes they were also dying in their tents

of fever, although they were in the purest air; so here we again stayed

to doctor, and nurse, and baptize, and leave directions and remedies.

We then went on to most of the romantic and hospitable Druze villages

which cling to the southern and eastern folds of Hermon--Mejdel Esh

Shems to Birket er Ram, or Lake Phiala,[5] a little round lake which

we found interesting enough to come back to afterwards. Mejdel is on

a declivity of a mountain defile--their favourite position--a Druze

stronghold, very fighting and turbulent, where we were received and

treated like relations. Then we got to Beyt-Jenn, where we had a mixed

Druze and Christian place. We came in for a very interesting Druze

wedding at Arneh, at the foot of Hermon, just above which rise the

sources of the Awaj, which waters El Kunayterah. We then went to a

Druze village called Rimeh, to look for a stone with an inscription,

which we found in a stable, and then to the Bukkásim, which is the

Druze frontier. Here our Druze cavalcade took an affecting leave of us.

As we rode away I could see them for three-quarters of an hour standing

on a high rock to watch us out of sight, one or two of them with their

faces buried in their mares' necks.

THE WULD ALI.

Our escort of free-lances one day, as we were riding to some of

our usual environs, soon perceived that we were making for the

desert, towards the direction where the dreaded Mohammed Dúkhi was

known to camp, and they began the well-known dodges of making their

horses curvet and prance and wheel in circles as if they had become

unmanageable, and every round became so much larger that they gradually

dropped out of sight. Presently some cast a shoe, or another had broken

a girth, and stopped to rectify it. The fact is, Richard had been

determined to make friends with the Wuld Ali tribe, of which Mohammed

Dúkhi is the Chief, and rules five thousand lances. At last we found

ourselves alone, so we rode on all that day, slept by our horses at

night in a ruined _khan_, and got in sight of the Wuld Ali encampment

late next day. Richard said to me, "Now mind, when they see us two

horsemen, they will come galloping across the sand in a body with their

lances couched; if we were to turn and run, they would spear us; but if

we sit our horses, facing them like statues on parade, just as the Life

Guards sit in their sentry-boxes at the Horse Guards at home, they will

take us in with great applause, and our horses will stand it, because

they are used to desert manners."

I said "All right," as I always did when he gave me an order, and I

was glad he put me up to it, for, sure enough, when they saw our two

dusky figures galloping from a distance across the sand towards them,

the whole tribe charged with their lances couched, and we reined in and

stood stock still, facing the charge; but as soon as they got within

a few yards, they seemed by instinct to recognize the man they were

charging. They lowered their lances, opened their ranks to enclose us,

and with one cry of "Ak-hu Sebbah!" (Brother of the Lion), jumped off

their horses, kissed our hands, galloped in with us jeriding, and held

our stirrups to alight. I need not say that we were treated with all

the true hospitality of real Bedawi life, and we remained several days

with them. My husband's object was to make peace between the Wuld Ali

and the Mezrabs. We visited the lakes which are near them, and they

were all dried up except a bit of water in the sand about the size of

a small duck-pond. "What, then," said Richard, "becomes of the Bárada

and the Awaj, the so-called ancient Abana and Pharphar?" They have been

partly drawn off, and partly evaporated before reaching their basements

at 'Utaybah and Hijánah, where we then were.

The Arabic of Damascus, _especially_ the Christian Arabic, Richard

found so grating to the ears after the pure speech of the Bedawi--and

that of the Nejd and El Hejaz.

Richard writes an account of a trip--

[Sidenote: _Explorations of Unknown Tracts._]

"A little later on Charley Drake and I again started to revisit the

Tulúl el Safá,[6] and our first eight days was over the old ground.

This trip added considerably to our scanty geographical knowledge of

these regions off the tracks. In one week we collected some hundred

and twenty inscriptions, and three lengthy copies of Greek hexameters

and pentameters from the Burj, a mortuary tower at Shakkah, a ruin

long since identified as the Saccæa of Ptolemy. We went to the top

of Tell Shayhán, whose height is 3750 feet, which showed us that the

Lejá, the Argob of the Hebrews and the western Trachon of the Greeks

and Romans, is the gift of Tell Shayhán.[7] It is a lava bed, a stone

torrent poured out by the lateral crater over the ruddy yellow clay

and the limestone floor of the Haurán valley, high raised by the ruins

of repeated eruptions, broken up by the action of blow-holes, and

cracked and crevassed by contraction when cooling, by earthquakes, and

the weathering of ages. 'The features are remarkable. It is composed

of black basalt, which must have issued from the pores of the earth

in a liquid state, and flowed out until the plain was almost covered.

Before cooling its surface was agitated by some powerful agency,

and it was afterwards shattered and rent by internal convulsions

and vibrations' (Porter). Two whole days were spent at Kanawát, the

ancient Canatha, a city of Og.

"There are now hundreds of Druzes, and we may remark for the first

time 'the beauty of Bashan,' the well-wooded and watered country. We

then went along the Jebel Kulayb and visited the noble remains of

Sí'a, where we met with three Palmyrene inscriptions, showing that

the Palmyra of Ptolemy extended to the south-west far beyond the

limits assigned to it. We then got to Sahwat el Balát, where lives my

influential friend, Shaykh Ali el Hináwí, a Druze Akkál of the highest

rank; and here they gathered to meet me and palaver. We crossed the

immense rough and rugged lava beds which gloom the land. Jebel el

Kulayb was bright with vetch, red poppy, yellow poppy, mistletoe with

ruddy berries, hawthorn boughs, and the vivid green of the maple and

the sumach, the dark foliage of the ilex oak scrub, and the wild

white honeysuckle. There was cultivation; the busy Druze peasantry

at work, the women in white and blue. The aneroid showed 5785 feet,

the hygrometer stood at 0°, the air was colder than on the heights of

Hermon in June, and the western horizon was obscured by the thickest

of wool packs. Here we made two important observations. The apparently

confused scatter of volcanic cratered hill and hillock fell into an

organized trend of 356° to 176°, or nearly north-south. The same will

be noticed in the Safá, and in its out-layers the Tulúl el Safá, which

lie hard upon a meridian; thus the third or easternmost great range,

separating the Mediterranean from the Euphrates desert, does not run

parallel with its neighbours, the Anti-Libanus and Libanus, which are

disposed, roughly speaking, north-east 38°, and south-west 218°.

"The second point of importance is that El Kulayb is not the apex

of the Jebel Durúz Haurán, though it appears to be so. To the east

appeared a broken range, whose several heights, beginning from the

north, were named to us. Tell Ijaynah, bearing 38°, back by the Umm

Haurán hill, bearing 94°; the Tell of Akriba (Wetz Stein), bearing

112° 30'; Tell Ruban, bearing 119°; and Tell Jafnah, bearing 127°

30'. We believed that Tell Ijaynah was 6080 English feet high, and

we thought that Jebel Durúz must be greatly changed since it was

described by travellers and tourists.

"Here the land, until the last hundred and fifty years, was wholly

in the hands of the Bedawi, especially of the Wuld Ali, and the nine

hill tribes already named. At last the Druzes, whom poverty and

oppression drove away from their original home, the Wady Taym and the

slopes of Libanus and Hermon, settled here. In Rashíd Pasha's reign

seventeen mountain villages have been repeopled, and in 1886 some

eight hundred families fled to this safe retreat; nor can we wonder at

the exodus, because of half the settlements of the Jaydur district,

the ancient Ituræa, eleven out of twenty-four have been within twelve

months ruined by the usurer and the tax-gatherer, and at one time a

hundred and twenty Druze families went in one flight from their native

mountains to the Haurán.

"They found here a cool, healthy, but harsh climate, a sufficiency

of water, ready-made houses, ruins of cut stone, land awaiting

cultivation, pasture for their flocks and herds, and, above all

things, a rude independence under the patriarchal rule of their own

chiefs. In short, the only peaceful, prosperous districts of Syria are

those where home rule exists, and there is scarcely any interference

by the authorities. It is a short-sighted and miserable management

which drives an industrious peasantry from its hearths and homes to

distant settlements where defence is more easy than offence.

"This system keeps the population of the whole province to a million

and a half, which in the days of Strabo and Josephus supported its

ten millions and more. The European politician is not sorry to see

the brave and sturdy Druze thrown out as a line of forts to keep the

Arab wolf from the doors of the Damascene, but the antiquary sighs

for the statues and architectural ornaments broken up, the inscribed

stones used for building rude domiciles, the most valuable remnants

of antiquity white-washed as lintels, or plastered over in the

unclean interiors. The next generation of travellers will see no more

'mansions of Bashan.'

"At Shakkah (Saccæa) there are still extensive ruins and fine

specimens of Hauránic architecture, especially the house of Shaykh

Hasan Brahím with its coped windows and its sunken court Here we were

received by the Druze Chief, Kabalán el Kala'áni, who behaved very

badly to us, and when we tried to go, refused to let us unless we paid

him forty napoleons for ten horsemen. We laughed in his face, told him

to stop us if he dared, and sent for our horses. However, as we were

going into a fighting country, I sent back all the people who would

have been in the way.

"The Druzes had been quarrelling amongst themselves; fifteen men had

been killed, and many wounded. We had to doctor three; one had a

shoulder-blade pierced clean through. We were joined _nolens volens_

by ten free-lances, and escorted as far as Bir Kasam, their particular

boundary. Finally, it appears that our visit to the 'Aláh district,

lying east of Hamáh, has brought to light the existence of an

architecture which, though identical with that of the Haurán, cannot

in any way be connected with that of Og. Although only separated by

seventy miles from the southern basaltic region, the northern has

also its true Bashan architecture, its cyclopean walls, its private

houses, low, massive, and simple in style, with stone roofs and doors,

and huge gates, conspicuous for simplicity, massiveness, and rude

strength. Moab has the same, only limestone is used instead of basalt.

"Dumá Ruzaymah is occupied by three great houses, and the Junaynah

hamlet is the last inhabited village of this side towards the desert.

We now got to the Wady Jahjah, thence to El Harrah, 'the Hot or Burnt

Land,' and to the Krá'a, which we crossed in fifty-five minutes, and

got into or entered the Naká, _and were surprised to see a messenger

mounted on a dromedary, going at a great pace, and evidently shunning

us_. We had descended 3780 feet; the passage occupied two hours.

"We then ascended into the Hazir, and from the top we had our first

fair view of the Safá,[8] a volcanic block, with its seven main

summits. They stood conspicuously out of the Harrah, or 'Hot Country.'

In the far distance glittered the sunlit horizon of the Euphrates

Desert, a mysterious tract, never yet crossed by European foot. We

eventually arrived at the stony, black Wa'ar, a distorted and devilish

land, and we then got to a waterless part, where our horses were

already thirsty, and into the Ghadir, where we had been promised

water, and it was bone dry. After long riding, we came to a ruined

village, El Hubbayríyyah, where we found yellow water forming a green

slime. It was again the _kattas_ which led me to the water, as in

Somali-land. Here we spent an enjoyable fifty minutes at the water,

refreshing ourselves and beasts; it lies 3290 feet above sea-level. We

presently fell into the Saut on return; it was good travelling, and we

saw old footmarks of sheep, goats, and shod horses.

"The only sign, as we turned out of the Saut and swept down from the

Lohf, that human foot had ever trod this inhospitable wild, was here

and there a goat-fold, with a place for the shepherd on a commanding

spot, or more probably a Bedawin sentinel or scout (you often see

a solitary tribesman perched on a hilltop). The road was simply a

goat-track, over the domes of cast-iron ovens, in endless succession.

It was a truly maniac ride. _At the Rajm el Shalshal we again saw

traces of our friend on the dromedary._ That day at 4.20 p.m. we were

surprised by our advanced party springing suddenly from the mares, and

hearing the welcome words, 'Umm Nirán!' (the mother of fire). Late as

it was, we rejoiced, because a night march over such a country would

have been awful. The cave is as dry as the land of Scinde, and in the

summer sunshine the hand could not rest upon the heated surface, but

after rain there is a drainage from the fronting basin into the cave.

We crawled into it and entered a second tunnel, and after two hundred

feet we came to the water, a ditch-like channel, four feet wide. The

line then bent to the right from north-north-east to the north-east.

Here, by plunging our heads below water and raising them further on,

we found an oval-shaped chamber, still traversed by the water. We

could not, however, reach the end, as shortly the rock ceiling and the

water met. The supply was sweet, the atmosphere close and damp, the

roof an arid fiery waste of blackest lava. The basalt ceiling of the

cave sweated and dripped, which could not have been caused only by

simple evaporation. The water began by a few inches till it reached

mid-thigh. The length was a total of three hundred and forty feet; the

altitude was 2745 feet.

"A water scorpion was the only living thing in the cave. This curious

tunnel reservoir is evidently natural. There are legends about a

clansman going in with black hair, and coming out after the third day

with white hair, and one of our lads declared he had taken an hour to

reach the water; but we, on all fours, took three minutes. We set out

again next day for the great red cinder-heap, known as Umm el Ma'azah,

where we halted for observation, and then fell into the trodden way

which leads from the Ghutah section of the Damascus plain to the

Rubbah valley.

"We had long and weary desert rides, seeing everything to the Bir

Kasam. Bedawi never commit the imprudence of lingering near the well

after they have watered their beasts, because that is the way to draw

a _ghazú_, or raid, down upon you.

[Sidenote: _I prevent Rashíd Pasha's Intentions taking effect._]

"Now I have every reason to be thankful that I did not bring my wife

on this journey, as she was not very well. In this country fever and

dysentery seize upon you with short notice, and pass away again, and

she, though in no danger, was not in a state for hard riding at the

time. At Bir Kásam, a Druze greybeard, on a _rahwán_, rode up to the

well, and took the opportunity of making me a sign: pretending to

question him, as to the name of a mountain on the horizon, I led him

away, and he cautiously pulled out of his pocket a medicine bottle,

which he handed to me, from my wife. I then knew there was something

up, and I thanked him, giving him some money, and asked him if he had

anything to say. He said, 'If I may advise you, get rid of all your

party. They want to go to Damascus or Dhumayr; announce that you are

going to neither, and they will probably forsake you, as this is not

a safe spot. I shall ride on, till out of sight, and then turn round

and ride back to Damascus, by slow degrees, sleeping and eating on the

road. You and your friend ride into Jebel Dákwah; but first read the

directions about the medicine.'

"I uncorked the bottle, saw my wife's warning in writing, and

carefully put them in my pocket not to leave a 'spoor.' I then paid

him still more handsomely, and told him to go back to my wife, and

tell her it was 'all right,' and not to fear. As evening fell, they

asked us what our intentions were. We said we were not going either

to Damascus or Dhumayr, and, as our messenger had prophesied, they

all disappeared in the night, to our great relief. As soon as the

last man had disappeared, we went into the Dákwah Mountain (hid our

horses in a cave), from the cone of which you command a view of the

whole country, and after a few hours we saw a hundred horsemen and two

hundred dromedary riders beating the country, looking for some one in

the plains. At last they turned in another direction, towards some

distant villages, and when we were consoled by not seeing a living

thing, we descended from our perch, galloped twenty miles to Dhumayr,

where we were well received by faithful Druzes, whose Chief was Rashíd

el Bóstají. We were just in time. The Governor-General had mustered

his bravos; they missed us at Umm Nirán, at the Bir Kasam, and again

upon the _direct_ road to Dhumayr, having been put out by our _détour_

to Dákwah. They were just a few hours too late everywhere; so, to

revenge themselves, they plundered, in the sight of six hundred

Turkish soldiers, the village of Suwáydah, belonging to my dragoman

Azar, whose life they threatened, and also Abbadáh and Haraán el

Awáníd. So we rode into Damascus, escaping by peculiar good fortune a

hundred horsemen and two hundred dromedary riders, sent on purpose to

murder _me_. I was never more flattered in my life, than to think that

it would take three hundred men to kill _me_. The felon act, however,

failed."

RASHÍD PASHA'S INTRIGUE WITH THE DRUZES--MY ACCOUNT FROM

DAMASCUS.

"I wish each man's forehead were a magic lantern of his inner self."

[Sidenote: _Rashíd's Intrigue about the Druzes._]

About this time the Druzes wrote and asked Richard to come to the

Haurán. He wished to copy Greek inscriptions and explore volcanoes.

He was not aware that the _Wali_ had a political move in the Haurán,

which he did not wish him to see. Mr. Eldridge knew it, and encouraged

him to go, as his leave would be short. Richard knew that if he went

to one man's house, he must go to everybody, therefore he asked them

all to meet him at the house of the principal Shaykh. When the _Wali_

was told by Richard that he was going, his face fell, but he suddenly

changed, and said, "Go soon, or there will be no water." Mr. Eldridge,

who never left Beyrout, and had at that time never seen Damascus, had

talked a great deal about going there; so Richard wrote and asked him

to go with him, but to that there was no answer. It was providential

that I was weak with fever and dysentery, and could not ride, so that

I was left at home. As soon as he was gone the _Wali_ wrote to me,

and accused my husband "of having made a political meeting with the

Druze Chiefs in the Haurán, thereby doing great harm to the Turkish

Government." Knowing that Richard had done nothing of the kind, I told

him so, but I saw there was a new intrigue on. The _Wali_ had only let

my husband go in order to be able to accuse him of meddling, and by Mr.

Eldridge's not answering I suspected he knew it too. An old Druze from

the Haurán came to our house, said he had seen my husband, and began to

praise him. I said, "Why, what is he doing?" He replied, "Máshálláh! we

never saw a Consul like him. He can do in one day what the _Wali-Pasha_

could not do in five years. We had a quarrel with the Bedawi, and we

carried off all their goats and sheep, and the Government was going to

attack us. Our Chiefs, when they saw the Consul (Allah be praised!),

told him the difficulty, and asked him what we ought to do. He told us

we ought to give back the goats and sheep to the Bedawi, and to make

up our quarrel, and submit to the Government, for that the war will

do us great harm. The Shaykhs have consented, and now we shall be at

peace. Máshálláh! there is nobody like him!" I now began to wonder if

the _Wali_ had intended a little campaign against the Druzes, and if

my husband had spoilt it by counselling submission. If he had intended

to reduce the Druzes of the Eastern Mountains, and if a campaign took

place in Jebel Durúz Haurán, the inhabitants would have been joined by

the fighting men of the Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Hermon. The country

is eminently fitted for defence, and the Druzes, though badly armed,

are brave, and animated by the memories of past victories. In short,

the same disgraceful defeat of the Turkish Government would have taken

place as that which occurred in 1874, and which caused the _Wali_,

Mustafa Beg, and nine high officials to be dismissed.

The _Wali_ then employed somebody--who I need not name--to inform him

what day my husband was coming back. On being questioned about it, my

suspicions were aroused; I immediately gave the wrong date (it was

God's own blessing that I had for once been unable to go with him). I

got the faithful old Druze to start at once, with a pretended bottle

of medicine. I wrote, in a cipher that my husband and I composed and

understood together, the whole history of the case, and I tied it

round the cork of the bottle, covering it with leather and a bit of

oil-skin, and sent my messenger straight out to meet him. It was just

in time. He noticed with his keen desert instincts the fresh spoor of

one solitary dromedary; the rider was bound like them from Shakkah

to the north-east (where the Bedawi encamped), not for exploration,

but with a message. He divined the ill-omened foot-prints which he

saw twice in different localities, and so soon as the medicine bottle

reached him, with what Ouida would call "a quiet low laugh under his

moustache," he altered his course, and from a concealed shelter in the

rocks was able to watch the progress of a hundred horsemen and two

hundred _Redifs_--dromedary riders, two in each saddle--beating the

country and looking for some one. Now, these were not _real_ Bedawi,

but the jackals who call themselves Bedawi, who surround the Cities,

and are to be hired like bravos for any dirty work. They went off on a

false scent, and he arrived home all right. Now, the day of his arrival

I had been obliged, more or less officially, to attend a ceremony,

where the _Wali_ and Authorities and the Consuls would be present with

their wives. I was determined to go, and to put on a perfectly calm

exterior, though I felt very heart-sick, and a well-known Greek in the

_Wali's_ pay said to me, with a meaning, unpleasant smile, "I fancy

there will be important news for you in a short while." I felt very

faint inside, but I said coolly, "Oh, will there? Well, I suppose I

shall get it when it comes." Almost immediately afterwards, Richard's

Afghan walked in, and saluting said, "The Consul has returned and wants

you." The faces of the _Wali_ and his Greek were a study. I saluted

them all, went out, jumped on my horse, and rode back. Had the _Redifs_

fallen in with Richard, the verdict would have been, "Fallen a prey to

his wild and wandering habits in the desert." The _Wali_ then forged

a letter from Richard to the Druzes, and forwarded it through Mr.

Eldridge to the Foreign Office. Here it is:--

REAL COPY (TRANSLATED) TO THE SHAYKHS OF THE RENOWNED DRUZE

MOUNTAIN.

"After the usual compliments we want to inform you that this time the

wish to visit you has moved us, and to take the direction of your

country.

"For which reason we will leave Damascus on the Wednesday, and sleep

at Hijaneh; the second day at Lahtah, and the third at Kanawát.

"We therefore hope that you will meet us in the above-mentioned place,

that we may see you."

This is a simple general _return visit_ to the visits of the Druzes,

not to waste time in going to each man's house, nor to make jealousies

by singling out some and neglecting others.

FALSE COPY (TRANSLATED) AND SENT TO ENGLAND.

"Traduction d'une lettre addressée par le Consul Britannique, en date

du 22 Mai, 1871 (3 Jui), aux Cheikhs Druzes Haurán.

"'Après les compliments d'usage, _je m'empresse_ de vous informer

que, animé du désir _de m'entretenir avec vous_, je quitterai Damas

mercredi _pour vous rejoindre_, et que j'arriverai ce jour même à

Hedjan, et le lendemain à Lahita, et le troisième à Finvate. Je

nourris l'espoir que vous ne manquerez pas _tous_ de venir me

recontrer, au dit village de Finvate, _afin de prendre part à cette

entrevue_."

This _adds_ all the words that are dashed, to give it a semblance of a

secret political meaning.

Richard and I and Charley Drake made another pleasant journey exploring

the Anti-Libanus. Everybody thinks, even professional geographers, if

you speak of the Anti-Libanus, that you are going over trodden ground,

filling up details upon the broad outlines traced by other people; but

it is very far from being the case. Now the best maps only show a long

conventional caterpillar, flanked by acidulated drops, and seamed with

a cobweb of drainage. They never name a valley north-east of Zebedáni,

nor a summit, except Jebel el Halímah, which is not its name. The

northern half of the Anti-Lebanon is arid and barren, the southern is

very fertile, and it is far superior to the Lebanon. Weird, savage,

like parts of Moab, the colouring is richer, forms more picturesque,

contrasts of shape and hue are sharper, and the growth is more like

thin forest. "That ravines of singular wildness and grandeur furrow

the whole mountain side, looking in many places like huge rents," is

true of Anti-Lebanon, but not of Lebanon. The views are superior; it is

richer and more remarkable.

Some of our followers will not forget some of our day's work, for we

ascend successively every height, taking angles, laying down altitudes,

and building up _kakús_ to serve for a theodolite survey. Charley Drake

mapped and sketched whilst we wrote.

The Convent of Nabi Baruh is ruinous in the extreme, but it gave us the

idea of being the most ancient which we had seen throughout Syria and

Palestine. The reception in these wild places is always the same, if

they are not Christians, who--why, it is impossible to say--generally

receive one badly, except of course the Maronites in their stronghold,

and more especially the splendid Christians of Jezzín, Sadád, and

B'sherri, who are marked exceptions to the generality of Christians,

and who are equal, if not better than the rest.

[Sidenote: _The Manner in which we are received in Villages._]

All the Chiefs and notables meet the stranger at a distance beyond the

houses. As the two parties meet, he reins in his horse and touches

hands, snatching away his with a jerk if they attempt to kiss it,

reproachfully ejaculating "Astaghfir 'Ullah!" (I beg pardon of Allah,

_i.e._ God forbid that such a thing should happen). If you permit it

they kiss your hand, and ridicule you in their minds as a fool, who

delights in such homage as a priest, whose right it is. Guided by the

Shaykhs, each in a strict precedence as at a London dinner-party, he

rides leisurely, not hastening the pace, lest he cause his host to run;

he dismounts at the door, and the Chiefs and notables rush to hold his

horse, his stirrup, and his back under the shoulders. He must be sure

to ride into the courtyard, no matter how broken be the gate threshold,

nor how slippery the pavement, or up the steps, or they will suspect

him of not knowing how to ride. He is led to the _salamlik_, but he

will not enter till the women who have been sprinkling the floor have

made themselves scarce. He sits down, doubling his legs a little if he

cannot cross them, whilst the others form a semicircle upon humbler

rugs before him. Each salaams, and is salaamed to, as he takes his

place, squatting ceremoniously on his shins, till his visitor says,

"Khuz ráhatak" (Take your ease), suggesting a more pleasant posture.

If he fails to do this they will watch an opportunity to change seat,

but if disposed to be impertinent they will stretch out their shanks

and require a reproof. Water pipes, sherbet, lemonade, and coffee are

brought, after which the Shaykh will retire and beg you to repose.

A breakfast is served about noon of cheese, soured milk, grape syrup,

raw green onions, boiled rice, wheaten scones, and eggs fried in

clarified butter. It is vulgar for the stranger to produce his own

wine and cold meat from the saddle-bags. At sunset meat is served. A

whole kid is a prime sign of honour. During meals one of the family

stands up, holding a metal pot full of drinking water. Pipes and coffee

conclude. The correct thing is to compel the Shaykh and the Chiefs to

eat with you; the followers and retainers will eat afterwards, the

trays being removed to another part. At night there will be a _samrah_,

or palaver, in which the state of the country in general, and the

village in particular, is discussed, grievances are quoted, the usurer

and creditor complained of, the Government and Governor abused. Local

legends are told, and the traveller can gain any amount of information

if he can speak the language. They press him to stay next day, and his

excuses are received with a respectful and regretful unwillingness.

Before leaving next morning he will find out privately what he has cost

them, he will find out that his animals have been well fed, and he

will manage to slip it and something more into the hands of one of the

women or children. Before the departure the women of the family will

offer excuses for their poor fare, saying, "La tawák-hizná" (Don't be

offended with us), and he will hasten with many "Astaghfir 'Ullahs"

to express his supreme satisfaction. He mounts as ceremoniously as he

dismounted, preceded by his escort, but every now and then he reins in,

dismissing them--"Arja'ú ya Masháikh" (Return, O Shaykhs). They persist

in walking to the last house, and often much farther; they again try

to kiss his hand, which he pulls away as before, and the visit ends.

The visited then retire and debate what has caused the visit, and what

will be the best way to utilize it.

We divided and visited every section of the northernmost line of

Anti-Libanus from the Halímat el Kabú, 8257 feet above sea-level. We

enjoyed an extensive and picturesque view far superior to anything

seen in the Libanus, especially southwards. From here we might write a

chapter on what we could see. The weather being clear, we could even

see the long-balled chine of the Cedar Block of the Libanus, and its

large spots of snow, which glowed like amethysts in evening light.

We could see the apex of the Libanus, which falls into the Jurd of

Tripoli. We could see the Jebel el Huleh, which defines the haunts of

the mysterious Nusayri; the glance falls upon the Orontes Lake, upon

the rich cultivation of Hums and Hamáh, one of the gardens of Syria

upon the ridge of Salámiyyah, that outpost of ancient Tadmor, and

upon the unknown Steppe el Huleh, and the Bedawi-haunted tracts which

sweep up to the Jebel el Abyaz, whilst the castle of Aleppo bounds the

septentrional horizon. The end of this day was a remarkable one. "It

was the only occasion," said Richard, "during my travels in Syria and

Palestine that I felt thoroughly tired. My _rahwán_, though a Kurd nag,

trembled with weakness, and my wife jogged along sobbing in her saddle,

and if it had not been for the advice of Charley Drake we should have

spent the night on the mountain-side; but we did arrive. Habíb had

built a glowing fire, beds were spread, tea was brewed, and presently a

whole roast kid appeared, and restored us all in the best of humours;

and our horses, after plenty to eat and drink, and being well rubbed

down, lay down. We had had fifteen hours very hard work, not counting

the before and after the march."

We next determined to prospect the third part of the east-west section

of Anti-Libanus, including the Ba'albak crest, and then to ride up

the Cœle-Syrian valley so as to fill in the bearings of the western

wady mouths. We had forage for our beasts, water the whole way, and

we were excited by the account of inscriptions and ruins. The Wady el

Biyáras was splendid in scenery, and though our road was horrible, we

congratulated each other in not missing it, and we descended into the

Wady Atnayn.

[Sidenote: _Remarks on the Journey._]

It is very curious to observe the goats and sheep; they don't mix much,

though in the same flock. The goats prefer difficult and venturesome

places, the sheep browse in the lower lands. The goat is curious and

impudent--he goes out of the way to stare and sneeze at you; the sheep

is staid and respectable, like the "good young man." Here Richard did

nothing but quote a piece of poetry which amused him intensely--

"In Teneriffe, for a time brief,

I wandered all around,

Where shady bowers and lively flowers

Spontaneously abound.

"Where posies rare perfume the air

In festoons o'er your head,

Brave sheep and cows in pastures browse

Without remorse or dread."[9]

[Sidenote: _Kurdish Dogs._]

Some of the goatherds are rather bullying. The Kurdish dog is shaggy,

with cropped ears, large head, brindle coat, rough hair, bushy tail, as

big as a St. Bernard, and looks like a bear; but if he is a soldier's

dog, he is always civil. I took one from a Bedawi tent as a pup; he

was christened "Kasrawán," which soon became "Cuss." From his earliest

puppyhood he played watchman, and led our horses by the halter. As

he grew up he would hardly allow a native to pass along the road at

night. He wrangled with and made love to our English bull-terriers, he

appeared to be sorely oppressed with the seriousness of life, and could

never get fighting enough. A Fellah threw him some meat with a needle

in it, a favourite style of revenge of one who has been once bitten,

and does not care to be bitten again; we were obliged to put him out of

his misery, and he was honourably buried in the garden of Bludán.

We carried out all our prospected journey, gathering information,

inscriptions, and ruins everywhere, till we reached Yabrud, where the

Shaykhs gave us a picnic, to show us the Arz el Jauzah.

There is a temple known as Kasr Namrúd; the water flows through a

conduit of masonry, and is said to pass into a large underground

cistern below, round the ample stone troughs and scattered fragments

of columns. All through Syria Nimrod represents the Devil, and 'Antar

the Julius Cæsar of Western Europe. The picnic, under the shade of

this venerable building, passed off happily enough. The _kabábs_ of

kid, secured instantly after sudden death, were excellent; the sour

milk and the goat's cheese were perfection; and the Zahlah wine had

only one fault--there was only half a bottle, and we could have drank

a demijohn. We were very much struck by the similarity of plan which

connects the heathen temple with the Christian church. It was late in

the afternoon when we shook hands with our good host. It is pleasant to

think upon happy partings--we never saw them again.

On our way home we passed ruins, arched caves, and sarcophagi, whilst

a wall displays a large rude crucifix. We were received later at

Talfíta with all honours by the Shaykh el Balad Mahfúz, whose pauper

homes had been destroyed and the rest threatened by the villainous

usurers under British protection, and next day we rode into Damascus.

During this excursion, we had seen in a range of mountains, supposed

to be impracticable, four temples, of which three had been hitherto

unvisited; we had prepared for the map of Syria the names of five

great mountains; we had traced out the principal gorges, all before

absolutely unknown to geography; we had determined the disputed

altitudes of the Anti-Libanus, and we proved that it is much more

worthy of inspection than the much-vaunted Libanus.

ANOTHER TRIP, DESCRIBED BY CHARLEY DRAKE.[10]

[Sidenote: _Excursions to Unknown Tracts._]

"It is curious to see even what discrepancies there are in the heights

of the Lebanon, which have been visited by scientific men. It shows

that it must have been guess-work. There is one height which the

goatherds know by the name of Tizmarún; but the aneroids, uncorrected

for temperature, gave a reading of barely nine thousand feet, and this

is the highest, though not generally acknowledged so.

"We wonder whether England will ever look upon Syria as anything else

than a land for tourists to amuse themselves in; whether she will

ever see that a _pied à terre_ there, would secure her not only an

uninterrupted passage to India, but wealth incalculable in mineral and

agricultural produce; that both may yet be drawn from this fertile

land, whose soil needs no manure, and whose mountains teem with ores.

"The prettiest scenery we had seen in the Lebanon was at the head

of a large _wady_, called El Nakrah; wild deep gorges, overhung by

fantastic rocks, and in some places thickly wooded, are alternated by

open grassy Alps, contrasting well with the deep rich purple of the

basalt, and the yellow sandstone which was never far from it. When we

got to the head of the Wady Mimnah overlooking the entrance to Hamath,

the comparatively level tract that stretches from Tripoli to Hums,

and divides the Lebanon from the Jebel Nusayri, we got to Akkar, to

Kala'at el Husn and to Hums, crossing the river Orontes. When we were

in the 'Aláh, all the Arabs agreed that it contained three hundred and

sixty-five ruins, and that if a man travelled for a year, he might

never sleep twice in the same village; and we quite believed it. The

number of Bedawi who infest this region, the want of water, the loose

basaltic soil, so tiring to horses, and want of reliable information,

is, doubtless, the reason why this district has never been explored.

"The Pasha of Hamáh worried us with a large escort, which meant

piastres. The troop would have made the fortune of any theatre as a

gang of bandits in a burlesque. There were horses of all sizes and

colours--some had bridles, some had none--half-starved beasts, not

able to keep up with ours; pistols that would not go off, swords that

would not come out of the scabbards; but one of them, a short-bodied,

long-legged fellow, was mounted, without stirrups, on a year-old colt,

his only arm a lance sixteen feet long. He looked like a monkey, armed

with a broomstick, riding a small dog. On the road we found several

ruined, deserted, fortified camps. The Circassians are come into this

part of the country, and have taken a village from the Nusayri, and

ousted the rightful owners, and we think there will be mischief later

on. We reached the edge of the plain, in which stands Salamíyyeh,

whose chief, Amir Ismail, is a patriarchal old gentleman. Holo Pasha

sent us a large escort without our asking him; but when we explained

to them our intention of striking across the desert to Shakún, they

declined to go, which delighted us. Going along, we found the Haddidín

Arabs encamped all along the desert.

"It is a curious thing to say, but there are sheep and goats where

there is apparently nothing to eat, yet they are always fat. The soil

is rich, but very tiring to horses, because it gives way beneath

their weight, letting them sink in to the hock. At Shakún we found a

quarantine for travellers from Baghdad. We were now on the ordinary

travelling road from Hamáh to Aleppo. In these deserts the Haddidín

go to the wells, which are a great depth, a hundred to a hundred

and fifty feet. A horse is attached to the end of a rope, and trots

away, bringing the leathern bucket to the surface. If the well be not

very deep, they sometimes harness two women in it. El Háthir is in a

marsh which has been dry for two years, and abounds in a large and

troublesome horse-fly, whose bite is so severe that the horses were

streaming with blood.

"We passed through a salt-pan which becomes a lake in the winter

months, and is a source of considerable revenue to the Government.

Soldiers are placed here to prevent contraband trade in salt.

"The refraction induces mirage. It seems impossible that one is not

looking upon a pellucid and unruffled lake, in which both the houses

of Jabúl and the outlines of an insular Tell are clearly reflected by

the mirage.

"Akrabeh must have been a place of importance from the extent of

ground over which the ruins are spread. The resemblance borne by the

mounds on which the castles are built in Hums, Hamáh, and Aleppo is

very striking; they are quite identical, Aleppo being the largest.

At Hamáh particularly we find monuments of greatest possible value.

History is silent about the construction of these three sister

castles, but we thought that the five blocks of basalt at Hamáh,

covered with hieroglyphics in excellent preservation, may be the

opening page of a new chapter in history."

Richard took copies and Charley Drake took squeezes of them.

At Aleppo, in the south wall of the Jam'ia el Kahan, is a block of

basalt with an inscription similar to those of Hamáh. Though much

defaced, Charley Drake made out nineteen characters identical with

the above-mentioned, and a doorstep bore the same. Charley Drake

thought that the key to these characters must be looked for in _beth_

(house), _kaf_ (hand), _gimel_ (camel), _ain_ (eye), etc., of the

Semitic alphabet. Hands, flowers, and teeth, and other unmistakable

signs occur. If Richard was right, the well-known Moabite Stone would

be modern in comparison, and we shall see these remarkable monuments

deposited in the Louvre or the St. Petersburg Museum; and, as Charley

Drake said, "there will be the usual gnashing and weeping of teeth

after it is too late." But for my own part, in 1892, I begin to doubt

that England is sufficiently interested in anything, except money, to

have the energy to gnash its teeth at all.

"The ironwork of the gates of the castle of Aleppo is very good. The

upper gate bears the name of Melek el Dhaher and the date 645 A.H.

Having been officially informed that the mosques of Aleppo might not

be visited by any Christian, we thought that something interesting

might be found; but we managed to see them, and we did not find much,

and the Shaykhs were only anxious to give all the information they

could. We crossed the Nahr el Kowwáyyik, which does not run thirty

miles to the south of Aleppo, as said in maps, but loses itself at a

distance of two and a half hours from the City. On our road a row was

going on between the Kurdish shepherds and the Fellahín of this place.

The shepherds bring sheep down from Mesopotamia and Diarbekr by easy

stages, and sell them at Aleppo and Damascus. The Fellahín envy and

dislike these itinerant pastors. We rode seven and a half miles from

Aleppo, arriving at Serákib.

"If you listen, the Fellahín are always talking about money, and

prices, and transactions. The Bedawi only delights in listening to or

telling stories of travelling and adventure, or smokes his pipe in

placid enjoyment, while another of them sings an endless romance to

the stirring tones of a one-stringed fiddle. We rode on to Mo'arrat

el No'aman, where we visited some very interesting ruins in Jebel

el Zowi. We then went to Jirjinnáz, as we found we could make it a

head-quarter, and visit all the ruined cities within reach and then

move on to Temányeh. The natural features and ruins of the 'Aláh are

nearly all alike--a rolling plateau varying from thirteen hundred feet

at the north-eastern, to sixteen hundred feet at the south-western

above sea-level.

"From Damascus to Aleppo, one only meets with a few favoured villages

whose supply of water is just sufficient to irrigate a patch of land

and a few trees. The first ruin in the 'Aláh was Abu Mekkeh, and it

was exactly like the uninhabited cities of the Haurán and the Lej.

The ruins of Surr 'Aman are a mere collection of rude shelters

piled up with old materials. The ruins of Tarútín el Tujjar are the

most important in the 'Aláh. The village of Harráken was repeopled

by Fellahín four years ago. Happily they have not the organ of

destructiveness, as have their brethren in Palestine, and what was

broken was accidental, and not wilful damage, like in the Haurán. At

Burj el Abiadh ruins of considerable extent surround the white tower

after which it is named. At Kufayr we found a ruined tower two stories

high. The tower and ruins at El Fárajeh are of the usual type, but

more solid. Nearly all the ruins bear crosses, Greek or Latin. At El

Ikhwayn there is good water, but at Temányeh the villagers have to

go a mile distant, to a hill with a well at the top. We then went

to Atshán, passing the mounds and pillars which mark the site of

S'kayk el Rubyíet. We next visited El Ma'an, which has the largest

guard-house in the 'Aláh, built by Justinian. Of the ruins of Duwaylíb

little has been left; the stones have been carried off for building

purposes. We got water for our thirsty horses at the shallow well of

Arúneh, beside which and around were encamped the Bedawi Mowáyleh. We

rode through the ruins of Kefr-Ráa, and then descended into the valley

of Orontes to Hamáh.

"There is a pyramidal-roofed tomb at El Barah. The roofs of these

curious sepulchral monuments are built of massive stones, open

inside up to the apex. One rock-hewn cave contains six loculi, five

and a quarter feet long, by three and a quarter feet deep, and two

and a quarter feet wide, with semicircular arches above them. On

one of the rounded pillars we remarked that two crosses had been

obliterated. A round-about road took us to Kefr Omar, where we saw

a ruined monumental column built with circular stones upon a square

base. We then went to Hass, where there was every kind of style of

tomb--a square tower supporting a pyramidal roof, and all kinds of

other shapes. The number of ruined villages in this district is

surprising. During the day's ride you could count from six to eight

with not a mile between them. Near Mo'arrat el No'aman is a castle

similar to that near Salamíyyeh. At Danah there are very extensive

ruins, and one building called the 'Church' resembles that near Hass.

The stones used in these buildings are commonly six feet long, by two

wide, and two deep. Here the Shaykh told us that twenty years ago a

tomb had been opened, and a small gold image, a sword, a dagger, and

some glass and pottery vessels had been found. There were one or two

tombs in imitation of rock-hewn sepulchres. We felt certain that the

ruined cities of Jebel el Zowi would amply repay any one with time

and opportunity to make excavations. We then went to examine the

Hums Lake, whose position, considering the rapid fall of the Orontes

Valley, had always been a puzzle.

"We eventually came to a dam of masonry five hundred yards in length,

and twenty feet high in the centre, built across the northern end

of the lake. A small square tower stands at the west of it, and the

water leaks through it in several places, but the dam looks as if it

would last many centuries. The lake is now four or five feet lower

than in winter, yet the surface of the water is about twelve feet

higher than the river at the base of the dam, and many feet higher

than the housetops of Saddi. Were the barrage ever to give way the

destruction to life and property down the valley of the Orontes would

be terrible. The ruins of Wajh el Haja afforded little of interest.

We passed through many villages till we came to Tell Nebi Mand, a

conspicuous mound. The native Moslems think that this prophet was

related to the patriarch Joseph, but the Shaykh assured Richard that

the tomb was that of Benjamin. The place marks the site of the ancient

Laodicea and Libanum. At the south-east end of the lake is a large

building standing at the water's edge, called Kasr Sitt Belkis ('Queen

Belkis' Castle'), and near (_i.e._ about two miles distance) is an old

entrenched camp some four hundred yards square, called Tell S'finet

Núh, or 'the Mound of Noah's Ark.' It was probably a Roman post of

observation to guard the entrance of the Buká'a. From Tell Nebi Mand

we rode back to Damascus."

"FAIS CE QUE DOIS, ADVIENNE QUE POURRA."

"Caused by the moon's veering orb, what tumult and strife I see!

Wherever I view the earth, iniquity rife I see.

Daughters of turbulent mind, awaking their mother's ire,

And sons who of froward mood wish ill of their sire, I see.

Sherbets of sugar and rose the world to the fool supplies;

But nought save his heart's blood the food of the wise I see.

Galled by the pack-saddle's weight, the Arab's proud steed grows old;

Yet always the ass's neck encircled with gold I see.

Master, go forth and do good;

The counsel of Háfiz prize;

Far better than treasured pearl

This counsel so wise--

I see."

----_Ode composed when Persia was invaded by Taimur._

Unofficially speaking of official things, we had rather a lively time,

in an unpleasant sense, during these summer months. I always say "we,"

because I enter so much into my husband's pursuits, and am so very

proud of being allowed to help him, that I sometimes forget that I am

only as the bellows-blower to the organist. However, I do not think

that anybody will owe me a grudge for it.

No. 1.

[Sidenote: _Troubles from a Self-appointed Zealot._]

The first shadow upon our happy life was in 1870-71. An amateur

missionary, residing at Beyrout, came up to Damascus, visited the

prisons, and distributed tracts to the Mohammedans. It was the

intention of the Governor to collect these prints, and to make a

bonfire of them in the market-place. Damascus was in a bad temper for

such proselytizing. It was an excitable year, and it was necessary to

put a stop to proceedings which, though well meant, could not fail to

endanger the safety of the Christian population. The tract-distributor

was a kind, humane, sincere, and charitable man, and we were both

very sorry that he had to be cautioned. He had an enthusiasm in his

religious views which made him dangerous outside a Christian town. At

Beyrout he was well known, but at Damascus he was not, and the people

would have resented his standing on bales in the street haranguing the

Turks against Mohammed. I believe this gentleman would have gloried in

martyrdom; but some of us, not so good as he is, did not aspire to it.

His _entourage_, also, was not so humble or so kind as himself.

Richard was obliged to give the caution, to do his duty to his large

district, thereby incurring at Beyrout most un-Christian hatreds,

unscrupulously gratified. Richard, with the high, chivalrous sense of

honour which guided all his actions, redoubled his unceasing endeavours

to promote the interest and business of these persons, amidst the

hailstorm of petty spites and insults--which justice and greatness

of mind on his part they themselves were obliged _eventually_ to

acknowledge, however reluctantly. We were decidedly destined to stumble

upon unfortunate circumstances. Since that, a gentleman told off to

convert the Jews in one of Richard's jurisdictions, insisted on getting

a ladder and a hammer, and demolishing a large statue of St. Joseph in

a public place of a Catholic country, because he said it was "a graven

image." Why are the English so careless in their choice? and why have

other foreign Consuls no _désagrémens_ on this head?

Richard writes--

No. 2.

"The Druzes applied early in 1870 for an English school. They

are our allies, and we were on friendly terms with them. As two

missionaries wished to travel amongst them, I gave them the necessary

introductions. They were cordially received and hospitably entertained

by the Shaykhs, but on their road home they were treacherously

followed by two _mauvais sujets_ and attacked; they were thrown off

their horses, their lives were threatened, and their property was

plundered.

"Such a breach of hospitality and violation of good faith required

prompt notice: firstly, to secure safety to future travellers; and,

secondly, to maintain the good feelings which have ever subsisted

between the Druzes and the English. To pass over such an act of

treachery would be courting their contempt. I at once demanded that

the offenders might be punished by the Druze chiefs themselves, and

twenty napoleons, the worth of the stolen goods, were claimed by me

for the missionaries. The Druzes went down to Beyrout to try to pit

Consulate-General against Consulate, and refused to pay the claim. I

then applied for their punishment to the Turkish authorities, knowing

that the Druzes would at once accede to my first demand--a proceeding

approved of by her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople. After three

months the Shaykh el Akkál, head religious chief, brought down the

offenders, who were recognized by the missionaries. They confessed

their guilt, and the Shaykh, who was staying as a guest in our house,

assured me [Richard] that I was perfectly right in acting as I had

done, and that every Druze was heartily ashamed of the conduct of

these two men."

No. 3.

[Sidenote: _Usurers very troublesome._]

"In June, 1870, I prepared a despatch for our Ambassador at

Constantinople, on the system of defrauding the poor and of 'running'

villages by the Damascus Jewish money-lenders.

"I will now try to explain how these matters stood.

"In former days, when not a few Europeans were open to certain

arrangements which made them take the highest interest in the business

transactions of their clients, a radically bad system, happily now

almost extinct, was introduced into Syria. The European subject, or

_protégé_, instead of engaging in honest commerce, was thus encouraged

to seek inordinate and usurious profits by sales of the Government

and by loans to the villagers. In such cases he, of course, relied

entirely upon the protection of a foreign Power, on account of the

sums to be expended in feeing native functionaries before repayment

could be expected. Thus the Consuls became, as it were, _huissiers_,

or bailiffs, whose principal duties were to collect the bad debts of

those who had foreign passports.

"Damascus contained a total of forty-eight adult males protected by

H.B.M.'s Consulate, and of these there were a triumvirate of Shylocks.

Most of them are Jews who were admitted to, or whose fathers acquired,

a foreign nationality, given with the benevolent object of saving them

from Moslem cruelty and oppression in days gone by. These _protégés_

have extended what was granted for the preservation of their lives,

liberties, and property, to transactions which rest entirely for

success upon British protection. The case of No. 1, whom we will call

Judas, is a fair example. He has few dealings in the city, the licit

field of action. But since the death of his highly respectable father,

in 1854, he had been allowing bills signed by the ignorant peasantry

of the province to accumulate at simple and compound interest, till

the liabilities of the villagers have become greater than the value

of the whole village. A----, for instance, on the eastern skirt of

Mount Hermon, owed him 106,000 piastres, which were originally

42,000. He claims 5000 purses from the B---- family, upon a total

debt of 242,000½ piastres, in 1857. We have not yet passed through a

single settlement where his debtors did not complain loudly of his

proceedings; and to A--- may be added C----, ----, and D---- el X----,

a stronghold of the Druzes. Some villages have been partly depopulated

by his vexations, and the injury done to the Druzes by thus driving

them from the Anti-Lebanon to the Haurán, may presently be severely

visited upon the Ottoman authorities.

"The British _protégé_ is compelled every year, in his quality of

_shúbasi_ (farmer of revenue), to summon the village Shaykhs and

peasantry, to imprison them, and to leave them lying in jail till

he can squeeze from them as much as possible, and to injure them by

quartering _hawali_, or policemen, who plunder whatever they can.

He long occupied the whole attention, though it had other and more

important duties, of the Village Commission (_Kumision Mahasibat el

Kura_), established in A.H. 1280 (1863). For about a year a special

commission (_Kumision Makhsus_) had at that time, 1870, been sitting

on his case, whose intricacies, complicated by his unwillingness to

settle anything, wearied out all the members. At different times he

quarrelled with every person in the Court--from the _defterdar_, who

is its President, to the Consular Dragomans, who composed it. Even

felony was freely imputed to him by various persons. He was accused

of bribing the Government _khatibs_ (secretaries) to introduce into

documents sentences of doubtful import, upon which he can found claims

for increased and exorbitant interest, of adding lines to receipts

and other instruments after they have been signed, and of using false

seals, made at home by his own servants. One of the latter publicly

denounced him, but was, as usual, paid to keep silence. He is reported

again and again to have refused, in order that the peasants might

remain upon his books, the ready moneys offered to him for the final

settlement of village liabilities. His good management had baffled all

efforts at detection, whilst every one was morally certain that the

charges were founded on fact. He corrupts, or attempts to corrupt, all

those with whom he has dealings.

"I wanted to inform them that British protection extends to preserving

their persons and property from all injustice and violence, but that

it would not assist them to recover debts from the Ottoman Government,

or from the villages of the province, and that it would not abet them

in imprisoning or in distraining the latter. To such general rule,

of course, exceptions would be admissible, at the discretion of the

officer in charge of H.B.M.'s Consulate; in cases, for instance, when

just and honest claims might be rejected, or their payment unduly

delayed. The sole inconvenience which would arise to such creditors

from their altered positions would be the necessity of feeing the

Serai more heavily; and even they openly communicated with the local

authorities, reserving the Consulate as a forlorn hope. The change

might possibly have directed their attention to a more legitimate

commercial career. Such a measure would have been exceedingly popular

throughout the country, and would have relieved us from the suspicion

of interested motives--a suspicion which must exist where honesty

and honour, in an English understanding of these words, are almost

unknown; and from the odium which attaches to the official instruments

of oppression. Finally, the corruption of Damascus rendered me the

more jealous of the good name of the Consulate, and the more desirous

of personal immunity from certain reports which, at different times,

have been spread about _others_ in office. I therefore posted on the

door of H.M.'s Consulate, Damascus, the following notice:--

"'Her Britannic Majesty's Consul hereby warns British subjects and

_protégés_ that he will not assist them to recover debts from the

Government or from the people of Syria, unless the debts are such as

between British subjects could be recovered through H.M.'s Consular

Courts. Before purchasing the claims, public or private, of an Ottoman

subject--and especially where Government paper is in question--the

_protégé_ should, if official interference be likely to be required,

at once report the whole transaction to this Consulate. British

subjects and protected persons are hereby duly warned that protection

extends to life, liberty, and property, in cases where these are

threatened by violence or by injustice; but that it will not interfere

in speculations which, if undertaken by Syrian subjects of the Porte,

could not be expected to prove remunerative. British subjects and

protected persons must not expect the official interference of the

Consulate in cases where they prefer (as of late has often happened

at Damascus) to urge their claims upon the local authorities without

referring to this Consulate, and altogether ignoring the jurisdiction

of H.B.M.'s Consul. Finally, H.B.M.'s Consul feels himself bound to

protest strongly against the system adopted by British subjects and

protected persons at Damascus, who habitually induce the Ottoman

authorities to imprison peasants and pauper debtors, either for simple

debt, or upon charges which have not been previously produced for

examination at this Consulate. The prisons will be visited once a

week. An official application will be made for the delivery of all

such persons.

"'(Signed) R. F. BURTON,

"'H.B.M.'s Consul, Damascus.

"'Damascus, June 20th, 1870.'"

[Sidenote: _A Jehád threatened._]

I have already related how, on August 26th, Richard received a letter

from the Rev. W. Wright, and likewise one from the Chief Consular

Dragoman, Mr. Nasif Meshaka, which induced him to ride at once to

Damascus (from Bludán, the summer quarter); how he found that half the

Christians had fled, and everything was ripe for a new massacre; how he

sought the authorities, and informed them of their danger; induced them

to have night patrols, to put guards in the streets, to prevent Jews

or Christians leaving their houses, and to take all measures needful

to convince the conspirators that they would not find every one

sleeping as they did in 1860. The _Wali_ and all the Chief responsible

Authorities were absent. The excitement subsided under the measures

recommended by him, and in three days all was quiet, and the Christians

returned to their homes.

I affirm that, living in safety upon the sea-coast, no man can be a

judge of the other side of the Lebanon, nor, if he does not know some

Eastern language, can he be a judge of Orientals and their proceedings.

Certain Jewish usurers had been accused of exciting these massacres,

because their lives were perfectly safe, and they profited of the

horrors to buy up property at a nominal price. It was brought to

Richard's notice that two Jewish boys, servants to British-protected

subjects, were giving the well-understood signal by drawing crosses on

the walls. Its meaning to him was clear. He promptly investigated it,

and took away the British protection of the masters temporarily, merely

reproving the boys, who had acted under orders. He did not take upon

himself to punish them. Certain ill-advised Israelitish money-lenders

fancied it was a good opportunity to overthrow him, and with him his

plan of seeing fair proceedings on the part of the British _protégés_;

so they reported to Sir Moses Montefiore and Sir Francis Goldsmid that

he had tortured the boys. His proceedings were once, more proved just.

The correspondence on the subject was marvellously interesting, but

being official I cannot use it.

[Sidenote: _Jews._]

"The Jews," he writes, "from all times held a certain position in

Syria, on account of their being the financiers of the country; and

even in pre-Egyptian days Haim Farhi was able to degrade and ruin

Abdullah Pasha, of St. Jean d'Acre. In the time of Ibrahim Pasha,

about forty-four years ago,[11] when the first Consuls went there,

a few were taken under British protection, and this increased their

influence. Then came the well-known history of the murder of Padre

Tomaso. After this had blown over, all the richest people of the

community tried to become British-protected subjects, or _protégés_

of some foreign Consulate. In the time of Mr. Consul (Richard) Wood,

(1840), they were humble enough. In the massacre of 1860 they enriched

themselves greatly, and men possessing £3000 rose suddenly to £30,000.

Then they had at their backs in England Sir Moses Montefiore, Sir F.

Goldsmid, and the Rothschilds[12] and others, who doubtless do not

know the true state of the Jewish usurers in this part of the world.

The British Consul became the Jews' bailiff, and when we went to Syria

we found them rough-riding all the land. I speak only of the few

money-lenders. When I arrived in 1869, Shylock No. 1 came to me, and

patting me patronizingly on the back, told me he had three hundred

cases for me, relative to collecting £60,000 of debts. I replied, 'I

think, sir, you had better hire and pay a Consul for yourself alone;

I was not sent here as a bailiff, to tap the peasant on the shoulder

in such cases as yours.' He then threatened me with the British

Government. I replied, 'It is by far the best thing you can do; I have

no power to alter a plain line of duty.' Shylock then tried my wife's

influence, but she replied that she was never allowed to interfere in

business matters. Then Sir Francis Goldsmid, to our great surprise,

wrote to Head-quarters--a rather unusual measure--as follows: 'I hear

that the lady to whom Captain Burton is married is believed to be a

bigoted Roman Catholic, and to be likely to influence him against the

Jews.' In spite of 'woman's rights' she was not allowed the privilege

of answering Sir Francis Goldsmid officially; but I hope to convince

him, even after years, that he was misinformed."

I think that religion certainly is, and ought to be, the first

and highest sentiment of our hearts, and I consider it my highest

prerogative to be a staunch and loyal Catholic. But I also claim to

be free from prejudice, and to be untrammelled in my sentiments about

other religions. Our great Master and His Apostles showed no bigotry,

and it is to them that I look for my rule of life, not to the clique I

was born in. Many amongst us Old Catholics, who live amongst our own

people, and are educated men and women, go forth into the world and are

quite unbiased against other faiths; we take to our hearts friends,

without inquiring into their religion or politics. And if sometimes we

sigh because they are not of our way of thinking, it is not from any

bigotry or party feeling; it is because we love them, and we wish that

we could give them some of our happiness and security. I appeal to my

enemies--if I have any--to say whether I have any prejudice against

race or creed.[13] At all events, I have an honest admiration and

respect for the Jewish religion. They were the chosen people of God.

They are more akin to us than any other faith.

Jesus Christ was a Jew, the Apostles were Jews. He came not to

destroy the Law, but to change the prescriptions necessary for the

times. The Great Reformer was the connecting link between us. He made

Christianity, or Judaism, for the multitude, a Syro-Arabian creed. He

parted the creation into two divisions--those who accepted the new

school, and those who clung to the old. We are of the former, and the

Jews of the latter fold. It would be madness to despise those who once

ruled the ancient world, and who will rule again--do we not see signs

of their return to power every day? It would be more than folly not

to honour the old tribes of the chosen people of God. In Syria only

the Jews, Druzes, and Bedawi can boast of their origin. In the Syrian

world we know, only the Jews and Catholics can boast of antiquity of

religion. An Eastern Jew cannot but be proud of his religion and his

descent. As I turn over my old Damascus journal, my heart warms to

think that some of our dearest native friends at Damascus were of the

Jewish religion. We were on good terms with them all, and received

sincere hospitality from them. At Trieste, again, the enlightened and

hospitable Hebrews were our best friends. It is the Jews who lead

society here, the charities and the fashion; they are the life of the

town. When I call to mind how many Jews I know, and like, and have

exchanged hospitality with, here and in the East, I do not know how to

speak strongly enough on the subject.

But now let us turn to the dark side of the picture. Even those who

are the proudest of their Semitic origin speak contemptuously of their

usurers. And, let me ask, do we pet and admire our own money-lenders?

Let a Damascus Jew once become a usurer, back him up with political

influence, and see what he will become. He forgets race and creed; that

touching, dignified, graceful humility changes into fawning servility,

or to brutal insolence and cruelty, where he is not afraid. He thirsts

only for money. The villanies practised by the usurers, especially the

Shylocks in Damascus, excite every right-minded person to indignation;

and if I had no other esteem for my husband, I should owe it to him

for the brave manner in which he made a stand against these wrongs at

every risk. He knew that no other Consul had ever dared--nor would ever

dare--to oppose it; but he said simply, "I must do right; I cannot sit

still and see what I see, and not speak the truth. I must protect the

poor, and save the British good name, _advienne que pourra_, though

perhaps in so doing I shall fall myself." And he did--but not for this.

He is not what is _called_ a religious man, but he acts like one; and

if he did nothing to win respect and admiration, that alone should

give people an insight into his character, whilst I, like Job's wife,

incessantly said, "Leave all this alone, as your predecessor did, as

your Consul-General does, and as your successor will do, and keep your

place, and look forward to a better." If the usurers had been Catholics

instead of Jews, I should like them to have lost their "protection,"

to have been banished from Damascus, and _excommunicated_ as long as

they plied their trade. More I cannot say. Nay, I prefer the Jew to

the Christian usurer. The former will take my flesh and blood, but the

Christian will want my bones too.

Richard writes--

"One man alone had ruined and sucked dry forty-one villages. He used

to go to a distressed village and offer them money, keep all the

papers, and allow them nothing to show; adding interest and compound

interest, which the poor wretches could not understand. Then he gave

them no receipts for money received, so as to be paid over and over

again. The uneducated peasants had nothing to show against the clever

Jew at the Diwán, till body and soul, wives and children, village,

flocks, and land, became his property and slaves for the sake of the

small sum originally borrowed. These men, who a few years ago were not

worth much, are now rolling in wealth. We found villages in ruins,

and houses empty, because the men were cast into jail, the children

starving, and women weeping at our feet; because these things were

done in the name of England, by the powerful arm of the British

Consulate."

[Sidenote: _Usurers try to remove Richard._]

My husband once actually found an old man of ninety, who had endured

all the horrors of the Damascus jail during the whole of a biting

winter, for owing one of these men a napoleon (sixteen shillings). He

set him free, and ever after visited the prisons once a week, to see

whether the British-protected subjects had immured pauper Christians

and Moslems on their own responsibility. One of the usurers told him

to beware, for that he knew a Royal Highness of England, and that

he could have any Consular officer recalled at his pleasure; and my

husband replied that he and his clique could know very little of

English Royalty if they thought that it would protect such traffic as

theirs. The result of this was that they put their heads together, and

certain letters were sent to the Chief Rabbi of London, Sir Francis

Goldsmid, and Sir Moses Montefiore. They sent telegrams and petitions,

purporting to be from "all the Jews in Damascus." We believe, however,

that "all the Jews in Damascus" knew nothing whatever about the step.

Richard said, "They are mostly a body of respectable men--hard-working,

inoffensive, and of commercial integrity, with a fair sprinkling of

pious, charitable, and innocent people." These despatches, backed by

letters from the influential persons who received them, were duly

forwarded to the Foreign Office. The correspondence was sent in

full to Richard to answer, which he did at great length, and to the

satisfaction of his Chiefs, who found that he could not have acted

otherwise.

Richard wrote: "I am ready to defend their lives, liberty, and

property, but I _will not_ assist them in ruining villages, and

in imprisoning destitute debtors upon trumped-up charges. I would

willingly deserve the praise of every section of the Jewish community

of Damascus, but in certain cases it is incompatible with my sense of

justice and my conscience." They bragged so much in the bazars about

getting Richard recalled, that a number of sympathizing letters were

showered upon us.

I quote the following _verbatim_:--

[Sidenote: _Letters of Indignation and Sympathy._]

DEAR MRS. BURTON,

"We desire to express to you the great satisfaction which Captain

Burton's presence as British Consul in Damascus has given us, both

in our individual capacities and in our character of missionaries to

Syria.

"Since his arrival here we have had every opportunity of judging of

Captain Burton's official conduct, and we beg to express our approval

of it.

"The first public act that came under our notice was the removing

of dishonest officials, and the replacing them by honest ones. This

proceeding gave unmixed pleasure to every one to whom the credit of

the English name was a matter of concern. His subsequent conduct

has restored the _prestige_ of the English Consulate, and we no

longer hear it said that English officials, removed from the checks

of English public opinion, are as corrupt in Turkey as the Turks

themselves. As missionaries we frankly admit that we had been led to

view Captain Burton's appointment with alarm; but we now congratulate

ourselves on having abstained, either directly or indirectly,

endeavouring to oppose his coming.

"Carefully following our own habitual policy of asking no consular

interference between the Turkish Government and its subjects, we stand

upon our right as Englishmen to preach and teach so long as we violate

no law of the land, and we claim for our converts the liberty of

conscience secured to them by treaty. In the maintenance of this one

right we have been firmly upheld by Captain Burton.

"A few months ago, when our schools were illegally and arbitrarily

closed by the Turkish officials, he came to our aid, and the injustice

was at once put a stop to. His visit to the several village schools

under our charge proved to the native mind the Consul's interest in

the moral education of the country, which it is the object of those

schools to promote, and impressed upon the minds of local magistrates

the propriety of letting them alone.

"Within the last few days we had occasion to apply to Captain Burton

regarding our cemetery, which had been broken open, and it was an

agreeable surprise to us when, after two days, a police-officer came

to assure us that the damage had been repaid by the Pasha's orders,

and search was being made for the depredator.

"Above all, in view of any possible massacre of Christians in this

city--the all but inevitable consequence of a war between Turkey and

any Christian Power--we regard as an element of safety the presence

among us of a firm, strong man like Captain Burton, as representing

the English interests.

"When, not long ago, a panic seized the city, and a massacre seemed

imminent, Captain Burton immediately came down from his summer

quarters, and by his presence largely contributed to restore

tranquillity. All the other important Consuls fled from Damascus, and

thus increased the panic.

"We earnestly hope that Captain Burton will not suffer himself to be

annoyed by the enmity he is sure to provoke for all who wish to make

the English name a cover for wrongs and injustice, or think that a

British subject or _protégé_ should be supported, whatever be the

nature of his case.

"With kindest respects, we are, dear Mrs. Burton, yours very truly,

"(Signed) JAMES ORR SCOTT, M.A., Irish Presbyterian Mission.

"WM. WRIGHT, B.A., Missionary of the Irish Presbyterian

Church.

"P.S.--By-the-by, on one occasion one of the most important Jews of

Damascus, when conversing with me [Wm. Wright] and the Rev. John

Crawford, American missionary, said that Captain Burton was unfit for

the British Consulate in Damascus; and the reason he gave was that,

being an upright man, he transacted his business by fair means instead

of by foul.

"Damascus, November 28th, 1870."

* * * * *

"MY DEAR ISABEL,

"I was calling at a native house yesterday, where I found assembled

some leading people of Damascus. The conversation turned upon Captain

Burton and the present British Consulate. One word led to another; and

I heard, to my surprise and consternation, that men famed for their

_various pecuniary_ transactions are boasting about everywhere 'that,

upon _their_ representations, _the Consul is to be recalled_,' and

all Damascus is grieved and indignant at them. For my part I cannot,

will not, believe that her Majesty's Government would set aside a man

of Captain Burton's standing, and well-known justice and capacity

in public affairs, for the sake of these Jews, who are desolating

the villages and ruining those who have the misfortune to fall into

their clutches. He is also so thoroughly adapted for this Babel of

tongues, nations, and religions, and is so rapidly raising our English

Consulate from the low estimation in which it had fallen in the eyes

of all men, to the position it ought to and would occupy under the

rule of an incorruptible, firm, and impartial character like Captain

Burton's.

"At the risk of vexing you, I must tell you what I now hear commonly

reported in the bazar, for several merchants and others have asked

me if it was true. [Here follows the history of the complaints.] Our

present Consul is too much a friend to the oppressed, and examines

too much everything _himself_, to suit their money transactions. The

Consulate for an age has not been so respectable as now; and should

you really go, I should think any future Consul would shrink to do

his duty, for fear of his conduct being misrepresented at home. You

must write me a line to tell me the truth, if you may do so without

indiscretion; and people are wanting to write to the Foreign Office

and the _Times_, so provoked are they at the lies and duplicity. The

day I was with you and you refused to see Judas and the other Jew, who

seemed to dodge you about like a house cat, and looking so ill at ease

and in a fright, did you then suspect or know anything about all this?

"With regard to the Arab tribes, they too have an admiration for

Captain Burton's dauntless character and straightforward dealing, so

different from others. You know that Shaykh Mohammed el Dhúky and

Farés el Mézyad openly say so in the desert.

"I had intended to scribble but two lines, and I have been led on till

my note has become a long letter. So, good-bye; and I truly hope all

these machinations will end in the discomfiture of their inventors.

"Your affectionate cousin,

"JANE DIGBY EL MEZRAB.

"Damascus, November 28th, 1870."

* * * * *

"MONSIEUR LE CONSUL,

"C'est avec le plus plaisir nous venons vous exprimer notre

satisfaction et les sentiments de notre amour envers votre amiable

personne, ayant toujours devant les yeux les belles qualités et les

grands mérites dont vous êtes orné.

"Il y a plus d'un an que nous avons eu l'honneur de vous connaître,

et nous sommes en même de pouvoir apprécier votre bonne disposition

pour le soutien de la cause chrétienne sans distinction de religion;

et, par conséquent, nous sommes extrêmement reconnaissants au bienfait

philanthropique de Gouvernement de S.M. Britannique, qui a daigné

nous envoyer à Damas un représentant si digne et si mérité comme vous

l'êtes, Monsieur le Consul.

"C'est avec regret que nous avons appris que des gens malicieux de

Damas se sont plaints contre vous pour des causes qui vous sont

très-honorables.

"Nous venons vous exprimer notre indignation pour leur conduite

inexplicable at méprisable en vous témoignant notre reconnaissance

pour le grand zèle et l'activité incessante que vous déployez toujours

pour le bien et pour le repos de tous les Chrétiens en général.

"Nous espérons que vous continuerez pour l'avenir comme pour le passé

à nous accorder les mêmes bienfaits.

"C'est avec ce même espoir que nous vous prions, Monsieur le Consul,

d'agréer nos sentiments de haute considération.

"(Signé) EROTEOS, Patriarche Grec d'Antioche.

"A M. le Captaine Burton, Consul de S. M. Britannique à Damas.

"Damas, le 15 Décembre, 1870."

* * * * *

"MONSIEUR LE CONSUL,

"Nous avons entendu avec beaucoup d'inquiet que certains gens

malicieux à Damas se sont plaignés de vous pour des causes qui vous

sont très-honorables.

"Nous désirons vous exprimer combien leur conduite est méprisable et

inexcusable à nos yeux.

"Nous vous avons connu maintenant plus qu'un an; nous vous avons

trouvé toujours prêt à assister la cause chrétienne, sans égard pour

les differences de la religion et à nous appuyer quand nous aurions

été peut-être traités durement.

"Dans les circumstances actuelles de cette année nous aurions beaucoup

d'inquiétude s'il y avait une chance même que vous nous quittiez. Nous

espérons que vos bons offices seront continués pour nous dans l'avenir

comme dans le passé. Nous vous prions de vous servir de notre regard

pour vous comme Consul et ami aussi publiquement que possible.

"Daignez agréer, etc., etc.

"(Signé) L'EVÊQUE MACARIOS, Le Vicaire du Patriarcat à Damas.

(L.S.)

"GREGOIR JACOB, Archev. Syrien Catholique de Damas. (L.S.)

"Le Vicaire du Patriarcat Maronite à Damas. (L.S.)

"Le Vicaire du Patriarcat Armenian Catholique à Damas. (L.S.).

"A Monsieur R. F. Burton, Consul de S. M. Britannique à Damas.

"Damas, le 13 Décembre, 1870."

[Sidenote: _Jews._]

To conclude: the effect of their conduct in Damascus will fall

upon their own heads, and upon their children. Do not purposely

misunderstand me, O Israel! Remember, I do not speak of you

disparagingly as a nation, or as a faith. As such I love and admire

you; but I pick out your usurers from among you, as the goats from

the sheep. You are ancient in birth and religion; you are sometimes

handsome, always clever, and in many things you far outstrip us

Christians in the race of life. Your sins and your faults are, and

have been, equally remarkable from all time. Many of you, in Damascus

especially, are as foolish and stiff-necked as in the days of old. When

the time comes, and it will come, the trampled worm will turn. The

Moslem will rise not really against the Christian--he will only be the

excuse--but against you. Your quarter will be the one to be burnt down;

your people to be exterminated, and all your innocent tribe will suffer

for the few guilty.

A Druze of the Haurán once said to me, "I have the greatest temptation

to burn down A----'s house. I should be sent to Istambul in chains, but

what of that? I should free my village and my people." I begged of him

not to think of such a crime. A sinister smile passed over his face,

and he muttered low in his beard, "No, not yet! not yet! Not till the

next time. And then not much of the Yahúd will be left when we have

done with them." I quote this as a specimen of the ill-feeling bred

over the interior of Syria by their over-greed of gain. And I only

hope that the powerful Israelite Committees and Societies of London

and Paris will--and they can if they will--curb the cupidity of their

countrymen in Syria.

[Sidenote: _Omar Bey's Fine Mare--Horse-breeding._]

We were present at a very grand review, where a splendid mare,

ridden by Omar Bey, was the centre of attraction, and the newspapers

afterwards noticed her in the following manner:--

Cutting from the _Boomerang_.

"Lady Burton mentions a very fine mare which Omar Bey, a Turkish

brigadier-general at Damascus, bought from some Arabs after a free

fight in the desert. She was so handsome that at a grand review, the

only one held while Sir Richard Burton was Consul at Damascus, neither

Lady Burton nor her husband could look at anything else. Omar Bey

was subsequently ordered to leave the district, and sold the mare

for £80, being all she would fetch at the time. It does seem a pity

that, in a great horse-breeding country like Australia, there are not

men to be found patriotic enough to secure specimens of these famous

breeds of antiquity. We have plenty of breeders willing and anxious

to secure and continue the breed of the English thoroughbred, but

although we are possessed of some of the finest areas in the world

for horse-breeding, and in a climate analogous in many respects to

Mesopotamia, the original home of the horse, we have unfortunately

no one among all those who have amassed wealth who will, either for

pleasure or profit, take in hand the formation of a pure Arabian stud.

There can be no question that in this country, where feed is not a

matter of consideration, the Arabian would grow to a very much larger

size."

[Sidenote: _The Holy Land._]

We at last determined to thoroughly do Palestine and the Holy Land,

and we went down in an awfully rough sea, in a very tiny and dirty

little Egyptian steamer, as far as Jaffa. There were great doubts as to

whether we could land, but at last boats were put out, and we got in

on the top of a truly alarming surf, shooting through a narrow hole in

the rocks just wide enough to admit the boat. The plain of Sharon was

looking beautiful--meadows of grass land, wild flowers, cultivation,

and orange groves all along our forty mile-ride.

I shall not say much about this pilgrimage, because it is too well

known, except that we remained long enough to see and learn everything

by heart about every place where our Saviour and His followers ever

were in Syria, not only with the Bible and "Tancred," but learning all

the legends, and the folklore handed from father to son. I have given a

very long account of this in my "Inner Life of Syria" (2 vols., 1875),

so that I don't want to repeat it again.

With Richard it was a constant matter for thought whether the sites and

the tombs were the correct ones; and the sword of Godfrey de Bouillon

and the Crusaders' arms, also those of the Knight Templars, were

always of immense interest to him. We visited all the Patriarchs, and

principally Monseigneur Valerga, a man of brilliant education, with

the _savoir faire_ of the diplomat or courtier, blended with religion.

We went through all the ceremonies of _all the numerous religions_

during the Holy Week, the Mohammedan as well as the fourteen Christian

sects, and Jewish, of which not the least touching thing is the wailing

of the Jews outside the wall of the Temple on Fridays, and the Greek

fire on Holy Saturday. A Jewish friend took us in for the Passover. We

visited all the country of St. John, Bethlehem, Hebron, where Abraham,

Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca, and Leah are buried; to Mar Saba, where

is the Convent of Penitent Monks, in a most wonderful ravine. From

there we got down to the Dead Sea, and swam in it, and saw fish. It

receives daily seven million tons of water, and has no outlet; but

its evaporation forms the desert of salt, called the Ghor, all round

its southern shore, which fact Richard compares with Tanganyika. From

there we went into Moab; we visited Moses' Tomb on the return journey.

At Bethábara we bathed, and brought home bottles of the water of the

Jordan; thence we went to Jericho, but we took care to visit every

spot where tradition and folklore says our Saviour touched at, _off

the tracks_ besides. We encamped on the supposed sites of Sodom and

Gomorrah, and so on to Bethel, and Hai, the most ancient site in

Palestine, the camping-ground of Abraham, where he and Lot parted

and divided their flocks; and we gradually made our way to Nablus,

which is the boundary between the Damascus and Jerusalem Consular

jurisdictions. We ascended Mount Ebal and Mount Gerízim, and stayed

with the Samaritans, who then numbered a hundred and thirty-five. We

then went to Samaria, and through the plain of Esdraelon; and we camped

at ancient Engannin, where Christ cured the ten lepers. From thence to

Scythopolis into the Ghor, and to as many sites of the towns of the

Decapolis as we could realize. We went to Naim, and Endor, and Tabor,

and Nazareth--at Nazareth we were stoned (a little political manœuvre);

thence to Cana. About Nazareth Richard wrote in his private journal--

"I rode down the country by the vile Kunayterah road to Tiberias,

where the Jews protected by our Government were complaining that the

_Wali_ had taken from them and had sold to the Greek Bishop Nifon, at

Nazareth, a cemetery and synagogue, which for the last four hundred

years had belonged to their faith, and to visit a few men who held

British passports, which ought to have been annually changed, but had

through carelessness not been renewed since 1850. For these acts, I

was destined to the same honour as my Master, namely, being stoned out

of Nazareth; and because I did good to the Jews, they also betrayed me

to the Authorities, and asked for my recall."

We went up the Mountain of Precipitation to Hattín, and ascended to

Tiberias, the second and the middle sea which feeds the Jordan, and we

visited the site of the eight towns so much frequented by our Saviour.

From thence we went to Sáfed, which is a very fanatical Jewish Holy

City, from which we could see the Jaulán and the Haurán stretching

right away into the Arabian desert of the ancient kingdom of Báshan;

and from here we again made our way to the plain of Huleh, which we

remember of old, and the Waters of Merom, where we camped before under

difficulties, and so nearly got a bad fever. This time it was black

from a recent prairie fire. The best amusement on these occasions is

to laugh at one another's miserable, unrecognizable faces, all swollen

with bites and stings, like the face one sees in a spoon. After a lot

of other places, we got back to Birket er Ram or Lake Phiala, which I

remember saying a while ago we determined to revisit. Richard found

something that excited his attention about it, so we emptied the water

out of all our goat-skins, blew them up with air, strapped them to

our camp-table, made a raft, and used the tent-poles for oars. It is

supposed to have no bottom, is six hundred yards broad, and about nine

hundred wide. We sounded with the lead, and the deepest part proved to

be seventeen feet and a half. It has a weed bottom and leeches below,

no shells; but the air began to whistle out of the skins, and Richard

and Charley Drake only just got back in time to save themselves a swim.

Whilst at Jerusalem and its environs Richard did two very graceful

things. He saw a monk conducting a party of Catholics, who wanted to

say prayers in the Sepulchre itself at three o'clock on Good Friday.

It was invaded by the usual class of tourists. The monk shrunk back

with his people, and the particular time for these prayers was slipping

away. Richard stepped forward, and, touching his cap, said, "What is

the matter, Father?" He said, "The Sepulchre is full of tourists, who

are not Catholics. We have no right to turn them out, and we don't

like to push in and begin our devotions." Richard said, "Leave that to

me." He went in and explained to them, and they came out. Richard then

passed the monk and his party in, and he stood guard himself outside

the whole time they performed their devotion, and would not let any one

pass. These little acts used to win him the heart of everybody.

Another day we were riding in rather a desert place about a mile from a

small village; we met a solitary priest and his acolyte. I was about to

ride up to speak to him, when he gave me the sign--I mean the sign the

priest gives you when he is secretly carrying the Blessed Sacrament. I

told it to Richard, who ordered his men to draw up in two lines for the

priest to pass through and salute. He jumped down from his own horse,

and offered it to the priest, asking to accompany him. The priest

declined it, but he blessed him as he passed. I always thought of this

afterwards in Austria, when I saw the large picture in the Palace at

Innsbrück, of Rudolph the Second of Hapsburg doing the same thing.

At Jerusalem we explored the Mágharat el Kotn; these are enormous

quarries, also called the Royal Caverns. The entrance looks like a

hole in the wall outside the town, not far from the Gate of Damascus.

Creeping in, you find yourself in endless caves and galleries

unexplored. We used to use magnesium fusees, and take plenty of ropes

to have a clue.

[1] "We were living at the foot of the eastern spur of the

Anti-Libanus, upon whose south-eastern slopes lies the large northern

suburb of Damascus, El Salahíyyah ('of the Saints'), facetiously

changed on account of its Kurdish population into El Talahíyyah ('of

the Sinners'). Our friend Bedr Beg was its Chief."--R. F. B.

[2] If any one wants dragomans, let them give preference above all to

Melhem Wardi, of Beyrout, and consult his brother Antun.

[3] This was written at the time when the report of Lady Ellenborough's

death was generally believed to be true.

[4] Ah, what a beautiful life it would have been!--I. B.

[5] The cave near Affka forms the Orontes, the Jura sends forth the

Bárada of Damascus, and Lake Phiala Josephus makes the highest water of

the Jordan.

[6] I was not well, and was left at home.--I. B.

[7] This answers something to the Karst above Trieste.

[8] "This is a term used at Damascus to the northern offsets; these are

the southern."

[9] Lines by a West African poet.

[10] Most of these descriptive scientific journeys are more for

geographers and antiquaries.

[11] Now sixty-four years in 1893.

[12] Now, in 1893, the Sassoons, the Oppenheims, and Bischofheims.

[13] Although a staunch Catholic, I was an ardent disciple of Mr.

Disraeli--I do not mean Mr. Disraeli as Prime Minister of England, but

the author of "Tancred." I read the book as a young girl in my father's

house, and it inspired me with all the ideas, and the yearning for

a wild Oriental life, which I have since been able to carry out. I

passed two years of my early life, when emerging from the school-room,

in my father's garden, and the beautiful woods around us, alone with

"Tancred." My family were pained and anxious about me--thought me odd;

wished I would play the piano, do worsted work, write notes, read the

circulating library--in short, what is generally called improving one's

mind; and I was pained because I could not. My uncle used to pat my

head, and "hope for better things." I did not know it then, I do now:

I was working out the problem of my future life, my after mission. It

lived in my saddle-pocket throughout my Eastern life. I almost know

it by heart, so that when I came to Bethany, to the Lebanon, and to

Mukhtár--when I found myself in a Bedawi camp, or amongst the Maronite

and Druze strongholds, or in the society of Fakredeens--nothing

surprised me. I felt as if I had lived that life for years. I felt that

I went to the tomb of my Redeemer in the proper spirit, and I found

what I sought. The presence of God was actually felt, though invisible.

The author possesses by descent a knowledge that we Northerners lack (a

high privilege reserved to his Semitic blood).--I. B.