understand almost every thing that is said in common conversation,
and am able to make myself understood on most subjects, although
sometimes with difficulty. I have made acquaintance with some
Shikhs, and some of the first literati amongst the Turks of Aleppo,
who from time to time visit me. I owe this favour principally
to Mr. Wilkins’s Arabic and Persian Dictionary. The common
manuscript dictionaries, or Kamus, being generally very defective,
the learned Turks are often very glad to consult Wilkins, and never
do it without exclaiming “How wonderful that a Frank should know
more of our language than our first Ulemas.” Learning at Aleppo
is in a very low state; no science, the Turkish law excepted,
is properly cultivated; not even that of Arabic grammar, which is
so necessary to the interpretation of the Koran. I am assured by
the best authority, that there are now in this town only three men,
(two Turks and a Christian) who know this language grammatically. The
chief quality of a literary man is that of getting by heart a great
number of verses made upon different occasions, and of knowing
the proper opportunity of reciting them; to this must be added,
a knowledge of the different learned significations of one and
the same word, and of the words which express the same idea. For
example, the word Adjuz, which in common language means a decrepid
old man, has in the learned language about sixty other different
significations; and there are in Arabian poetry about one hundred
and fifty different words for wine. But to interpret passages of
difficult grammatical construction, or rationally to amend errors,
or even to compose prose or verse free from grammatical blunders,
is a task much above the capacity of an Aleppine Ulema.
Two Persian Dervishes arrived here about two months ago, who had
lived upwards of two years at the Wahabi court of Derayeh. I got
acquainted with one of them, a young man of twenty-two; the other
has gone to Mosul, from whence his companion shortly expects his
return. The latter has been in the habit, singular enough for a
Mohammedan traveller, of keeping a regular journal of his travels,
describing whatever struck his inquisitive mind, and abounding,
as I understand, with geographical notices.
Another traveller of a singular description passed here two
years ago. He called himself Aly Bey, and professed to be born of
Tunisian parents in Spain, and to have received his education in
that country. Spanish appears to be his native language, besides
which he spoke French, a little Italian, and the Moggrebyn dialect
of Arabic, but badly. He came to Aleppo by the way of Cairo, Yaffa,
and Damascus, with the strongest letters of recommendation from
the Spanish Government to all its agents, and an open credit upon
them. He seemed to be a particular friend of the Prince of the
Peace, for whom he was collecting antiques; and from the manner in
which it was known that he was afterwards received by the Spanish
ambassador at his arrival in Constantinople, he must have been a man
of distinction. The description of his figure, and what he related
of his travels, called to my recollection the Spaniard Badia and
his miniature in your library.[3] He was a man of middling size,
long thin head, black eyes, large nose, long black beard, and feet
that indicated the former wearing of tight shoes. He professed
to have travelled in Barbary, to have crossed the Lybian Desert
between Barbary and Egypt, and from Cairo to have gone to Mekka,
and back. He travelled with Eastern magnificence, but here he was
rather shy of shewing himself out of doors; he never walked out but
on Fridays to the prayers of noon, in the great mosque. One of the
beforementioned Dervishes told me that there had been a great deal
of talking about this Aly Bey, at Damascus and Hama; they suspected
him of being a Christian, but his great liberality and the pressing
letters which he brought to all the people of consequence, stopped
all further enquiry. He was busily employed in arranging and putting
in order his journal during the two months of his stay at Aleppo.
_Aleppo, 2nd July,_ 1810.
My long stay in Syria having been determined upon, in consequence
of the absolute necessity of my familiarising myself with the idiom
of these countries, I shall deem it my duty to send you from time
to time some vouchers of my application to Arabic literature. I
have for some time past been engaged in an Arabic exercise,
which has proved of great utility to me; it is the metamorphosis
of the well known novel of Robinson Crusoe into an Arabian tale,
adapted to Eastern taste and manners. A young Frank born at Aleppo,
who speaks Arabic like a native, but who neither reads nor writes
it, has been my assistant in the undertaking. I take the liberty
of sending you here inclosed a copy of this travestied Robinson,
or as I call the book in Arabic, Dur el Bahur, the Pearl of the
Seas. Of the merits or defects of the translation I can claim at
most forty per cent.; the handwriting excepted, which is my own.
I am on the eve of leaving Aleppo for an excursion into the Desert,
and shall probably set out the day after to-morrow. My good luck
conducted some days ago an Arab Shikh to town, who is the mightiest
chief of all the Arabs between Aleppo, Damascus, and Bagdad. He
came for the purpose of receiving in person the passage duties upon
certain goods which are shortly to be sent by means of a great
caravan to Bagdad. He belongs to the wide extended tribe of the
Aenezy, who have all become Wahabi; his own very powerful tribe is
called the Tedhan, and his name is Duehy Ibn Ryeiben. I easily got
acquainted with him; we ate and drank together, and I succeeded
in making an agreement with him, that he should take me by way of
Tedmor or Palmyra home to his family and tents, which he says are
not far from Damascus in the plain of Haouran; he himself came to
Aleppo accompanied only by a few people upon dromedaries. He is
to shew me his tents and horses, of which latter I told him the
English Consul here might be perhaps induced to buy some upon my
recommendation; and he is then to set me down at Damascus.
He is known to all the principal Bagdad merchants of this town,
and my agreement with him has been made in writing, signed by the
most respectable of these merchants, as witnesses; I am so far in
perfect tranquillity as to the security of my person under his
protection. He is indeed a famous robber, but the Shikhs of the
Desert have never been known to withdraw their protection from
those to whom they have promised it.
_Damascus, August 15,_ 1810.
The Arab Shikh mentioned in my last kept true to his engagements only
during the two first days of our journey. Instead of conducting me,
on the third day, in person, to Hamah, he gave me one of his men
as a guide. Returning the next day towards the watering place seven
hours east of Hamah, where we had left the Shikh, we were attacked
and stript by a party of Mawáli Arabs, who, unfortunately for me,
happened to be engaged in a quarrel with the Aenezy tribe of the
Shikh. A watch and compass were the only articles I regretted to
have lost; as to cash, I had not a single farthing in my pocket. We
returned to the town, to refit ourselves as well as possible,
and then set out again the next night, to rejoin our chief. The
latter had however in the interval left the watering-place; we
were obliged to run after him in the Desert for thirty-six hours,
and finding him at last at another watering-place he declared to
me that he could not possibly conduct me himself any further,
because his people had very much pressed his return, afraid as
they were of the approaching Wahabi. In reply to my remonstrances,
he offered me another guide to take me to Tedmor, and from thence
to the Haouran. With this guide I reached Tedmor after a march of
thirty hours, and contemplated the wonders of the Palm city for
nearly two days. The Shikh of Tedmor, in consideration of my empty
purse, contented himself with taking my saddle from me. Leaving
Tedmor we reached by a forced march Kariatein in one day, and
from thence Yerud, a village about twelve hours to the N. E. of
Damascus. Duehy, the Arab chief, had passed there a few days before,
and knowing that my guide would likewise take that route, he had
left at the village-Shikh’s house, an open letter to my address,
in which he peremptorily told me not to proceed any farther in my
journey towards the Haouran, but to go direct to Damascus, because he
was determined to fly with his tribe away from the Wahabi. The fact
was, that he did not wish to feed me under his tents for two months,
according to our contract. Convinced that the whole was but a trick,
I insisted upon proceeding in the original direction. My guide,
however, refused to accompany me; he even left me in the evening;
there were no other trusty people present to guide my steps through
the Desert, I was therefore at last obliged to follow Duehy’s
advice, and came to this place with a salt caravan from Tedmor, which
I had found at Yerud. Two days after my arrival Duehy likewise made
his appearance, and there being nobody present to take up my cause
against him, I was obliged strictly to fulfil the stipulations of
our contract, which he on his side had thus shamefully eluded.
Notwithstanding these disappointments, which often occur to
travellers in these countries, my tour to Tedmor has given me much
satisfaction. Besides the pleasure of seeing those interesting ruins,
I have had some good opportunities of observing the Bedouins under
their own tents; we alighted every day at different encampments,
and were every where received with hospitality and kindness.
I should have put my project of visiting the Haouran in execution,
even before now, had not the recent changes in the government of this
city, and the state of suspense which it naturally occasions, in the
districts depending upon it, rendered the roads insecure, and the
inhabitants more than usually suspicious of strangers, until the new
Pasha shall have had time firmly to establish himself in his newly
acquired territory. A few days after my arrival at Damascus, Yussef
Pasha, who had governed the town and its territory for the last four
years, was turned out, and his place occupied by Soleiman Pasha of
Akke (Acre.) This change being connected with the interruption of
the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, and with the late Wahabi affairs,
some details concerning it may perhaps be thought acceptable. As
to the state of the Wahabi power in the southern parts of Arabia,
I must confess that I am in perfect ignorance of it. Without being
an eye witness, or meeting by chance with a credible eye witness,
it is impossible to guide oneself through the labyrinth of false
reports, which policy, fanaticism, and party spirit spread on
their account. To mention but one instance: at my leaving Aleppo
the general voice was, that the Wahabi were at the gates of Damascus.
It is now the sixth year since the Damascus pilgrim caravan,
which included the Hadjis of the greatest part of the Turkish
dominions, has not been able to reach Mekka. In 1805, Abdallah
Pasha, then Pasha of Damascus, set out at the head of a caravan;
having arrived in the neighbourhood of Medineh, the Wahabi governor
of that city, by orders of Ibn el Saoud the great Wahabi chief,
refused entrance to the caravan. The Hadjis were obliged to pass
on the outside of the walls, and thus continued their way towards
the Kaaba. They were yet three days journey from it, when they
found themselves surrounded by the innumerable host of Saoud’s
army. The two parties came to a parley, when Saoud declared to the
Pasha, that he should thenceforward suffer no Turkish army to march
through his territory, and that the army must therefore immediately
return; but that those Hadjis who were determined to complete their
pilgrimage might continue their way in safety, on condition that
they should go unarmed, and promise to stay only three days at the
holy city. None of the pilgrims were tempted to accept the offer of
a free passage. Abdallah himself, frightened by the Wahabi numbers,
made Saoud conceive hopes that he would be a convert to the new
religion. Before he returned, it was stipulated that in case of
any caravan taking its departure the following year, there should
be neither Pasha nor army to convoy it; that all the Hadjis should
be unarmed and without ammunition; that there should be no Mahmal
(the camel which carries the new carpet for the decoration of the
Kaaba); and that arrived at the same place where they then were,
Saoud should have the right of selecting the individuals who were to
proceed, while the others should wait there for the speedy return
of their brethren. It is said that Abdallah Pasha was obliged by
his officers to give his consent to these shameful articles. He
insisted upon their attesting with their signatures that he had
declared his determination to appeal to the sword, but that he
was prevented from doing so, by their unanimous opinion that it
was better not to shed blood. The Hadj returned to Damascus and
Constantinople, and Abdallah sent the attestation of his officers
to Constantinople, to excuse his retreat. Instead of recruiting and
strengthening his forces, and protecting the next year the caravan
with an army capable of forcing its way through the Wahabi tribes,
Abdallah set out in 1806, with a corps not exceeding 8000 men,
and a very small caravan of Hadjis. They were met, at three days
journey from Mekka, by the Sherif of Mekka, who is a subject of the
Wahabi. He told them that he had positive orders to refuse to any
armed force the entrance into the holy city; but he again offered
to let the unarmed Hadjis complete their pilgrimage. It is said
that Abdallah had beforehand entered into some secret negociations
with the Sherif, and that the latter had declared his wish to join
the Pasha, with the Mekka people, against the Wahabi; thinking,
of course, that the Pasha would not hazard the Hadj, without being
accompanied by a considerable force; but that when he saw the small
number of the troops and the mutinous spirit which reigned amongst
them, he remained true to his former engagements with Ibn Saoud.
Abdallah returned to Damascus a second time, without having been
able to accomplish the pilgrimage, which he had formerly led fifteen
times to Mekka and back to Damascus. He soon afterwards fell into
disgrace with the Grand Signor, when Yussef Aga, an upstart, who
from the rank of a simple soldier, had raised himself to the first
dignities in the town, was named Pasha of Damascus. His military
temper and courage were known, and he had promised to conduct the
Hadj. It may be necessary to explain here the policy of the Pasha
of Damascus and of the Porte respecting the Hadj. The Miri, or land
tax, of the Pashaliks of Damascus and Tripoli, which, according to
the original assessment amounted to about 3500 purses, (it is now
worth more than triple that sum,) has been abandoned to the Pasha
of Damascus for the necessary expense of the Hadj; and to the Pasha
of Tripoli for the expense of the Djerde, or caravan of provisions,
which meets the Hadjis on their return. Besides these 3500 purses,
the Pasha of Damascus contributes at least 1000 more, out of his own
treasury, because the expenses, particularly the tribute paid to the
Arab tribes on the pilgrim route, are yearly increasing. Abdallah
Pasha, who had already given apparent proofs of his zeal for the
Hadj, seeing the power of the Porte daily decreasing, and knowing
the terror which the Wahabi name had inspired, thought that the
time was come, when, without inculpating himself, he might at last
put a stop to the Hadj, and add its expenses to the revenue of the
Pashalik. For this reason, he neglected to recruit the forces, which
were to accompany the pilgrims, as he might have done, if it had been
his real intention to favour the Hadj, and he returned the second
year to prove to the country that if he himself, who had so often led
the Hadj to Mekka, was no longer able to do so, certainly any other
person who should attempt it, would be equally unsuccessful. The
Porte however prevented his design; before the conclusion of 1806,
Yussef Pasha was named to the command of Damascus, and Abdallah
Pasha, who was much disliked in the town, peacefully retired to
Aleppo, where he lives now as a private grandee. Yussef Pasha
governed the territory of Damascus and Tripoli for four years,
without once conducting the caravan. What Abdallah had projected
his successor executed; the Miri, instead of defraying the expenses
of the Hadj, or being accounted for to the Porte, entered into the
Pasha’s chests. In the present degenerate and tottering state of
the empire, the Porte has forgot that the religious and fanatical
spirit which is diffused over its subjects by the visitors of the
Kaaba, is perhaps the last supporter of its political existence. She
thinks no longer of the religious importance of the pilgrimage;
her troubles and cares are all for money; as if money alone would
uphold an empire.
Yussef Pasha was the best Pasha Damascus ever had; his firmness and
justice kept the turbulent Damascenes in order; he never committed
avanies upon the inhabitants, and was respected and even liked by
every honest man. He had one vice however which the Porte never
forgives in its officers, that of avarice. Instead of transmitting
the greater part of the Miri to the Porte, who had a claim to it all,
as not being employed in the expense of the Hadj, the sums carried
by his yearly envoys to Constantinople, every thing included, did
not amount to more than fifteen hundred purses; he thought himself
sure of the attachment of his troops and the country people; and
slighted the Porte’s remonstrances.