Journey of Lady Hester from Mar Elias to
Ascalon--Bussa--Acre--She prevails on Mr. Catafago to accompany
her to Ascalon--Illness of Ali Pasha--Professional visits
of the Author--Abdallah Bey, the Pasha’s son--Extraordinary
honours paid to Lady Hester--Her departure from Acre--Tremendous
storm--M. Loustaunau; his prophecies--His history--Don Tomaso
Coschich arrives with despatches from Sir Sydney Smith to Lady
Hester--Substance of them--Presents sent to the care of Lady
Hester by Sir Sydney--His character in the East--Cæsarea--Um
Khaled--Village of Menzel--Jaffa--Mohammed Aga, the governor
ordered to accompany Lady Hester--His character--Arrival at
Ascalon.
The next morning we resumed our journey, and arrived at noon at Mar
Elias. I found Lady Hester busily occupied in preparing for our
departure for Acre, which, now that I was arrived, was fixed for
the next day. In my absence she had purchased a gray mare from Mr.
Taitbout, the French consul of Sayda. The next morning she departed
with nearly the same attendants, as she had taken with her to Bâlbec:
not being quite ready, I followed her the next day, which was the 16th
of February, 1815.
I shall pass over the names of places on the road to Tyre, as having
already described them when coming this way before. The weather was
still tempestuous and wet; and, a very few hours after her ladyship’s
departure, there was a hail-storm, which, had glass been in use for
windows, would have broken every pane. She slept at El Khudder. About
noon, I overtook her there, and found the tents just struck for
marching: so, without dismounting, I joined company.
There are two roads from Sayda to Tyre, as also from Tyre to Acre,
from which circumstance, as being not generally known to travellers
themselves, there is often an apparent discrepancy in the names of
places and their relative distance. In the winter season, it is
customary to follow the windings of the strand of the sea-shore, where
the sand always affords a firm footing for the animals: in the summer,
a strait road, sometimes close to the sea, and sometimes, from the
bends of the coast, two, or three hundred yards, or a quarter of a mile
distant from it, is preferred: but it is too full of holes and too deep
in mire to be passed in the wet season.
We slept that night at Tyre. The rains still continued. I departed
next morning earlier than Lady Hester, to provide the evening station.
Passing Ras-el-ayn, I came to the promontory called Ras el Nakûra.
Ascending this, and riding through a level beyond it covered with
underwood, I came to the Guffer or toll-house, on the left hand of
which, as mentioned in a former place, is the village of Nakúra. This
I thought a convenient distance for a halfway station between Tyre
and Acre. Accordingly, inquiring for the shaykh’s house, I produced
the _buyurdy_, by which we were to be furnished with lodging
and entertainment on the road. The shaykh very civilly professed his
willingness to do so, but said that the station was specified in the
order for the village of Bussa, which was farther on. I thanked him,
perceived my error, and, remounting my horse, descended the hill by
the Burge Msherify into the plain of Acre. At the foot of the hill,
the road to Bussa turned short to the left. The incessant rains, for
some weeks past, had so soaked the ground that my horse could with
difficulty get along.
Bussa was about one mile from the Burge Msherify, and was a small
village surrounded with olive grounds, in which it seemed to be
particularly rich. The soil appeared lower than the sea-coast; so
that, on my arrival at the village, the street was fairly flooded. I
was directed to the _menzel_ or khan, as strangers generally are:
but I inquired for the shaykh’s house, and was, as it always happened,
followed by three or four people to learn my business there.
The shaykh, in compliance with the buyurdy, desired me to choose what
cottages I liked best: but, here the choice was truly puzzling. Each
cottage had a courtyard, where dung and wet lay in the same manner
as in the old-fashioned farmyards in England: each cottage likewise
consisted of a single room, half of which contained a yoke of oxen,
and the other half, somewhat raised, the tenant of it and his family.
Finding that they were all alike, I caused three to be cleared out,
and set the peasant women to work, to sweep and carry off the dung and
other filth. Mrs. Fry, Werdy, and the black slave, soon afterwards
arrived; and, by the aid of mats, carpets, and other contrivances,
metamorphosed the sheds into something like a habitation.
But there had been a mistake, on the part of M. Beaudin, as to the
meaning of the buyurdy; and he conducted Lady Hester, who departed late
from Tyre, to Nakûra, where she was informed that I had gone on to
Bussa. The night had already set in, when she arrived at Nakûra: but,
she was obliged to continue, on account of the luggage: and, for her
protection, the shaykh of Nakûra and two armed horsemen accompanied
her. I waited anxiously for her, until, owing to the extreme darkness
of the night, I became alarmed, and resolved to ride back in search
of her. The road, which was no better than a slough, presented a most
formidable obstacle in the dark, and my horse had already floundered
half a mile through it, when the welcome sound of voices reached my
ears. Nor was Lady Hester herself less glad to hear mine: for fatigue,
wet, and apprehension, had agitated her more than I well remember to
have seen on any other similar occasion.
Bussa is inhabited by Mahometans. The women had somewhat the appearance
of Bedouins, in dress, more especially in the pointed shift sleeves
reaching almost to the ground. We left this place next morning for
Acre. As the road had now diverged a mile from the sea, we had an
opportunity of observing the fertility of the plain. It must, however,
be unwholesome, since the sea-shore is plainly higher than the soil
inland, which prevents the rains from running off; so that there are
many stagnant pools. The plain is semicircular, and the horns of the
mountains which enclose it are, Mount Carmel to the south, and the
Nakûra, over which we had just passed, to the north. We soon arrived at
Acre. A small house had been provided for Lady Hester, where she lived
with her female attendants only. M. Beaudin and myself had apartments
in the corn khan.
In order to avoid all foul play on the part of those with whom she
might have to do, her ladyship engaged Signor Catafago, at whose
house she lived on her first visit to Acre, to go with her, as being
a cunning man, and used to the intrigues of the country. We remained
at Acre until the 17th of March. In the mean time, Mâlem Musa arrived
from Damascus, having with him two men servants. Lady Hester saw from
day to day Mâlem Haym, the Jew; and she paid a visit to the pasha,
who received her with peculiar affability. Whenever she went out,
she was followed by a crowd of spectators; and the curiosity and
admiration which she had very generally excited throughout Syria were
now increased by her supposed influence in the affairs of government,
in having a Capugi Bashi at her command.
She was returning one day from the bath, in which she often indulged,
muffled up to keep out the cold air, and mounted on her favourite
black ass, with a groom on either side to support her, when the ass
took fright, and, turning suddenly round, threw her. The man on whom
the fault chiefly fell was named Harb, a Mussulman, who had been hired
expressly for this journey, at Sayda, as a janissary, he having been
janissary to the French Consul. Although Lady Hester was not hurt,
the Jew Seráf caused him to be bastinadoed on the feet, that he might
take more care of his mistress in future. No Turk now paid her a visit
without wearing his _benýsh_, or mantle of ceremony: and every
circumstance showed the ascendency she had gained in public opinion.
I have already described the caravansery in which I was living (called
Khan el Kummah) on a former occasion. I was lodged in a room the window
of which overlooked the harbour, which is no more than a small nook
sheltered by a dilapidated mole. During this time there was a most
violent storm, and I was witness to the stranding of a polacca, which,
although moored by two cables through portholes in the mole, rode so
uneasy that she broke the cables and drove on shore.
About this time, an order arrived from the Porte to the pashas of
Syria, desiring them to enforce the wearing of kaûks, the cloth
bonnet of Constantinopolitan Mahometans; and which, more especially,
was affected in the Levant by government officers, or by Turks,
in contradistinction to the natives, with whom the turban was the
favourite covering of the head.
On our arrival, a request was made me to attend on Ali, pasha of
Tripoli, whom we have before spoken of as residing with Sulymán Pasha
in preference to residing on his own pashalik, and who was, at present,
dangerously ill of a pulmonary complaint. He had been treated by eight
doctors, all at variance with each other in their opinions: and, during
three weeks previous to my arrival, the merits of bleeding had been
discussed in consultations held before the pasha’s friends, whilst the
patient’s malady was gaining ground. The casting vote was given to
me, and I decided for it. One of the anti-phlebotomists, however, who
performed the operation, made the orifice too small to give issue to
the required quantity of blood: this was a _medium anceps_, which
appeased both parties; the arm was bound up, and the trial was not
repeated. I generally visited him twice a day; and never surely had I
seen the path of death so smoothed to a dying man.
He was attended by a certain Shaykh Messaûd, spoken of heretofore as
head of an ancient family and governor of Beled Hartha. Seeing this
gentleman and one Hassan Effendi always with Ali Pasha, I inquired the
reason of their close attendance; and I was answered--“They are two
clever persons who are kept near the pasha to amuse him, to pacify him
when his temper is ruffled, to give the tone in conversation, and to
raise his spirits when depressed by melancholy forebodings.” The office
of _toady_ in Turkey at least requires some talent, where an
unlucky observation may lead to a bastinading: but, when this talent is
exerted in alleviating the sufferings of a sick bed, a toady ceases to
be a despicable person.
His complaint was pulmonary, and his intervals of ease were few. When
I paid my evening visits, an attendant, in waiting in the antechamber,
would lead me to the door of the room where he was sitting, and,
drawing aside the red cloth curtain embroidered in gold, would in
a low whisper tell me to enter. The salute to a great personage in
the East, on entering his presence, is by walking up to him, and
kissing the hem of his garment or his hand, when he makes a sign to
him who enters to sit down. All this was dispensed with from me, as
a foreigner; but I saw it done by every one else. When seated, I was
asked how I did, and how her Presence, or her Felicity, the dame, the
emiry[39] did, which civility I acknowledged by a προσκύνησις.[40]
I might then look round the room, and, in dumb show, by carrying my
hand to my mouth and forehead, recognize those whom I knew. There were
generally present the chief men of the place; such as the mufti, the
divan effendi, some ulemas, and always Mâlem Haym, the Jew seràf, the
minister, that wonderful man who was present everywhere, and directed
everything. The pasha was seated in an arm-chair (a very uncommon thing
unless in illness) and on each side of him stood a page, one holding a
pocket-handkerchief, and the other a small vase to spit in. The rest
of the party were seated on the floor: for who would dare sit on the
sofas when the pasha himself did not? who, so to say, would presume to
sit higher than the pasha!
Awful indeed was the moment of feeling the pulse, when it was necessary
to render an account of every pulsation: and how is it possible not
to dissimulate on such occasions? At every favourable turn which
manifested itself, happiness and complacency seemed to illumine every
countenance, and a bystander would have said, “The pasha will be well
to-morrow.” When the visit was over, I was generally taken into another
room by Haym, to confer with Abdallah Bey, the pasha’s son.[41] Here I
found the young lord, sitting between two venerable shaykhs, who were
expounding to him the Koran, or commenting on some abstruse points
of faith. When with the bey, pipes and coffee were served to me, the
latter of which alone was given me in the pasha’s presence. The state
of his father’s health was then inquired into, plans for the next day
were devised, and so the cure was conducted.
On one occasion, when ushered into Abdallah Bey’s room, I observed an
unusual degree of gaiety in the conversation. Inquiring the reason of
this from one sitting by me, I was told that the bey had, in the course
of that day, made a very clever throw with his girýd or javelin, on
horseback, and that nothing had since been talked of but his great
skill as a perfect cavalier.
Soon after our arrival at Acre, the weather became fine for a few days,
and it was resolved to remove Ali Pasha to a pavilion which he had
built a few miles from the city. I rode over to see him, accompanied
by the kumrûkgi or collector of the customs, Ayûb Aga, who was very
attentive to me during my stay at Acre. There was an extensive garden
round the pavilion; a thing of easy creation in Syria, where, as was
the case here, copious springs and running streams were found. It was
from this spot that the aqueduct, destroyed by the French in their
invasion of Syria, conveyed water to Acre. But Ali Pasha received no
benefit from his removal, and was soon conveyed back again.
In relating the case of the pasha, I am forgetting Lady Hester, who
was now ready to depart for Ascalon. In compliance with the orders
contained in the firmans of the Sublime Porte, she was honoured with
distinctions usually paid to princes only. In addition to her own six
tents, about twenty more were furnished, one of which was of vast
magnitude, and under which Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
slept, on her journey to and from Jerusalem. As a part of the alleged
misconduct of that princess was said to have taken place beneath it,
and as its particular shape excited some discussion in the House of
Lords, a sketch of it is annexed.
[Illustration: PRINCESS OF WALES’S TENT.]
This tent was double, like the calix and corolla of a flower inverted,
the same post supporting both; and, when planted, the distance between
the two at the bottom was about twelve feet. It was of a green colour
on the outside, studded with yellow flowers and stars. In the centre
of the inner tent was placed a sofa, behind which, and bisecting the
tent, was suspended a curtain made of broad bands of satin of the most
vivid colours. Nothing could be more showy or more elegant. There
were twenty-two akáms or tent-pitchers to accompany us, headed by one
Mohammed, a person whose activity, as I afterwards heard, made him
conspicuous in the suite of Her Royal Highness not less than in that
of Lady Hester. There was a _meshalgy_ to bear the night-torch,
being the iron skeleton of a tub fixed on a long pole, in which pieces
of tarpaulin are thrown from time to time to burn. A _sakka_, with
two mules at his disposal carrying vast leather skins, was to supply
water. Twelve mules carried the luggage; twelve camels the tents. The
attendants were on mules: Mr. Catafago, Mâlem Musa, the two dragomans,
and myself, on horseback. Last of all, to Lady Hester was appropriated
what, in Arabic, is called a takhterwàn, or tukht, a tilted palanquin,
covered with crimson cloth, and having in front six large gilded balls,
glittering in the sun. The palanquin was carried by two mules, which
were changed every two hours. In front of the palanquin were led her
ladyship’s mare and her favourite ass, in case she preferred riding.
One hundred of the Hawàry cavalry[42] escorted us, and three treasury
messengers preceded, as couriers to arrange stations and to make
provision for so many persons. I had almost forgotten the Zäym and the
persons composing his suite, who added considerably to our numbers.
On the 18th of March, the cavalcade left Acre, and, to the astonishment
but admiration of every one, Lady Hester rode her ass; nor did she, on
any future day, make use of the palanquin. I remained behind one day
to attend to the effect of certain remedies which I had prescribed for
the pasha, who, on my taking leave of him, ordered his khasnadàr or
treasurer to send me a purse of money.[43]
On the 19th it blew a strong equinoctial gale: but, as Lady Hester
had said she should wait my coming at the first station, I resolved
to depart in spite of the weather. It was afternoon before I had
finished my affairs, when I set off, taking with me an Hawáry horseman
for my escort. As I rode along the sea-shore, the wind swept the dust
in clouds, and the waves, contending with the swollen streams of the
two rivers which I had to pass, formed quicksands in their beds,
with a counter-current, which made the fords very dangerous: whilst
the hail cut our horses’ faces, so that with difficulty they could
be forced on. The horseman who accompanied me vented his spleen in
muttering complaints against the English, who always would travel
at such extraordinary seasons, when every sensible person remained
in-doors.[44]
I did not arrive until after sunset, when I found the encampment, in
consequence of the tempest, in the greatest confusion, which continued
to augment as the night advanced.
The station was at the western gate of Häyfa, on the outside, being
that which we had occupied on our previous passage. On entering the
dinner-tent, I observed a stranger, in a long threadbare Spanish cloak,
whom, by his salutation, I guessed to be a Frenchman. He seemed to be
nearly sixty years of age, his hair grizzly and uncombed, and his whole
person apparently very dirty. He held under his left arm a book, which
he never seemed to let go or lay down. We took our dinners in great
haste, as the storm increased so much that the lights could not be kept
in, and it was necessary, in the sailor’s phrase, to make all snug,
and prepare for a busy night. The stranger soon went away; and I then
learned that he was a Frenchman, who had now, for two years, lived
in a shed in the orchards of Häyfa, where the alms of the inhabitants
maintained him. The book he carried constantly under his arm was a
Bible, which he read incessantly, and, whenever questioned by any one
who knew his failings, he would interpret texts from it as applicable
to the existing state of the world. But Buonaparte was the chief
subject of his prophecies.
No sooner had Lady Hester made her appearance at Acre, and the
town-talk of Häyfa had informed him of the preparations that were
making for her escort, than, ignorant of her real destination to
Ascalon, he fancied, like many others, that she could be going nowhere
else than to perform the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He accordingly
searched out a number of texts wherein he pretended that her coming
was announced, and was prepared to greet her with them on her passage
through Häyfa. Her ladyship had admitted him just before my arrival,
and had treated him with that kindness which the unfortunate ever
obtained from her. His history has already been related in a recent
publication.[45]
The storm continued, and the wind was so powerful that it blew up
the tents like so many umbrellas. Mâlem Musa’s, which was twelve or
fourteen feet in diameter, was thrown down on him, and he lay buried
under it for some minutes, roaring for assistance, until extricated by
the tent-men. Lady Hester, for better security, had betaken herself to
her own tent, and had quitted the large one. In spite of the additional
precautions which were used, by fixing stays on the windward side of
it, and by placing large stones on the pickets, she was twice half
smothered. Anxious for her safety, I remained on foot the whole of that
night, and was exposed to the fury of the contending elements. Early
in the evening, Signor Catafago had taken refuge in the town at the
Carmelite monastery: Derwish Aga, the Zäym, had done the same; and not
a soldier was left. The mesalgy’s beacon could not be kept alight, and
the akàms or tent-men were worn out by so often setting up the blown
down tents.
About midnight, Werdy, one of the women, came in haste to inform me
that there was a Frank in the dinner tent, just arrived from Acre: I
repaired to him immediately, and I found a young man in the act of
putting on a British naval uniform coat. I saluted him in Italian,
without reflecting that I was addressing him in a language foreign to
his dress: but I was right. He told me in the same breath that he was
a Dalmatian, in the English service, who had accompanied the Princess
of Wales in the capacity of dragoman from Palermo to Constantinople,
in her voyage of 1813, and that he was now come to conduct Lady Hester
and all of us to England. I was rather surprised at his embassy; more
especially when I learned from whom he came: but, having given orders
for providing him a supper, which was no easy matter in such a storm,
I took his despatches, and carried them to Lady Hester. In the midst
of the hurricane, she immediately read them. They were from Sir Sydney
Smith, and were most voluminous, relating to matters very different
from Lady Hester’s return: but, as they are foreign to this narrative,
I shall not enter into particulars.
Sir Sydney, however, had taken this opportunity of sending various
presents to persons whom he had known in Syria. These were a pair of
pistols to Abu Ghosh, the chieftain who lived on the mountains of
Judea, in the road to Jerusalem from Jaffa; a dressing-box for the Emir
Beshýr’s wife; an English bible to the public library of Jerusalem
(there being no such institution); and a picture of the pope for the
Holy Sepulchre. He likewise displayed his indignation at cruelty, but
not his prudence, in telling the Emir Beshýr, in a letter which he
wrote to him, how much he regretted that the sons of his brother had
been deprived of their eyesight by his order. The picture of the pope
which he gave was to be in the keeping of the Copt, Greek, Syrian, and
Catholic bishops; but, in so doing, he showed little knowledge of the
state of things at Jerusalem. These different sects have nothing in
common among them but their quarrels.
The following memorandums of the correspondence contained in the
despatches which passed between Sir Sydney Smith and Lady Hester
Stanhope, by the hands of M. Thomaso Coschich, were written down at
the time. They contain the substance of all the letters.
_Sir Sydney Smith to Lady Hester Stanhope, Latakia._
Vienna, Dec. 8, 1814.
My dear Cousin,
I received yours from Latakia. In my way to England
I spoke to Fremantle, whom I saw at Gibraltar, to send you
a frigate; for I am at present no longer in command. My
nephew, Thurlow Smith, has got the Undaunted (the ship
which carried B. to Elba), and he will contrive, if possible, to
come to you, as I say all I can of the necessity of guarding
our trade in that quarter.
I send you Don Thomaso Coschich, with despatches, &c.
I have paid his passage, and agreed with him for one dollar a
day, having left forty dollars unpaid (as he is a man of whose
character I am ignorant in a moral point of view), to leave him
something to look to. I shall leave Vienna after the Congress,
for Florence and Leghorn, where I hope to meet you
in the month of April.
I remain, &c.
A second communication begged to charge Lady Hester with delivering
certain despatches to the Emir Beshýr. They were, to ask him to send
the 1,500 soldiers which had been promised him through Mr. Fiott, who
vouched for the prince’s having said so in word and in writing, and
to inform him that these troops were to be employed in attacking the
Algerine pirates. For the purpose of rallying them, he sent flags of
different descriptions, with plans for encamping. His plan (he added)
had been submitted to the emperors of Austria and Russia, to the
kings of Prussia and (through Talleyrand) of France; who all approved
highly of it. He had also held conferences with the crowned heads
in ball-rooms and assemblies as well as he could have done in their
closets; but nobody would advance money.
He went on to say that, finding his debts pretty large, he had given
up his goods and chattels to his creditors in England, and had brought
his all to Vienna on eight wheels: that he was so far reduced as to
be obliged to beg a loan from his Syrian friends; and he charged Lady
Hester with the commission.
He advised Lady Hester not to go to Naples, which was not orthodox,
owing to the presence of a certain person (the Princess of Wales),
whose follies she recollected at Plymouth. He observed that his nephew
had seen the King of Rome, who was at Schoenbrun, wearing a wooden
sword, and that he was a pert lad.
To confirm the feasibility of his scheme, he said he was in
correspondence with the Emperor of Morocco, who would second these
views, being, _par force_, just then no pirate. The dey of Tunis
had also been consulted on the business; but, as he was since dead, Sir
Sydney recommended it to Lady Hester to visit the coast of Barbary,
and see what sort of a man his successor was. The deceased dey was too
liberal-minded for his subjects, and had been poisoned.
There was a letter to the Emir Beshýr, which was in French, nearly as
follows:--
Au tres puissant et grand prince Beshýr. I have heard with much
pleasure from certain Englishmen (Mr. Forbes, Mr. Gell, who
were never there, and Mr. Fiott, now Dr. Lee, were the names
mentioned), of the continuance of your health and prosperity. It
grieves me to learn that the sons of the Emir Yusef labour under
your displeasure, and that they have lost their eyesight. (N.B.
It was the Emir himself who had blinded them). I hope you will
not suffer them to want your protection. You are answerable to
them, and more particularly to me, for their safety.
The letter then went on in a style which will show that Sir Sydney’s
vanity sometimes made him fall into hyperbole.
I have dismantled my ships, having no farther occasion for them,
owing to the pacification of Europe. I have written to the
Prince Regent of Portugal, whom I had induced to take refuge
in America, that he may now return to his capital: and, after
having paid a visit to the son of the king of England, I am
come to Vienna to assist at the Congress. Mr. Fiott, an English
gentleman, has informed me that you are ready to furnish me
with fifteen hundred men: I have just now occasion for them, to
subjugate the Barbaresque pirates, who impede the transmission
of corn from Egypt to Christendom; so Captain Ismael, Mahomet
Ali’s envoy to Malta, has told me.
I send your highness a dressing-box, containing a few trifles
for your ladies (N.B. This dressing-box was in ebony, studded
in steel, furnished with pins and needles, thread, &c.); also a
black cloak for yourself, or for the officer you may choose to
appoint commander of your troops. To these things I have joined
a pair of pistols, with an Arabic inscription partly defaced.
Lady Hester disapproved of the whole plan, from beginning to end, and
answered Sir Sydney’s letters as follows:--She told him, that to send
for troops from the Emir Beshýr was endangering that prince’s life;
as he was employing the force of one province against another, both
being parts of the same empire. Such a thing could only be done by
a direct application to the sultan, enforcing the request by saying
that, if he would not lend his aid to stop the piracy of his subjects,
then other measures would be resorted to. Alluding to the flags which
he had sent, and which were no more than so many German stuff shawls,
she asked him, who was the king of pocket-handkerchiefs? She said, the
mountaineers would fight very well on their own dunghill, when they had
their mountain to retreat upon; but that they would never quit their
firesides.
Lady Hester might have added likewise, that the Emir had too many
enemies of his own to dare to send his troops away; nor could he, as
he wanted a seaport in his own territory, have embarked them without
permission from the pasha of Acre.
Of her own and Sir Sydney’s letters she sent copies to Mr. Liston,
English ambassador at Constantinople; and to Mr. Barker, English consul
at Aleppo; desiring the latter to stop all letters passing through his
hands, which he supposed to come from Sir Sydney to the Emir Beshýr.
She then wrote to the Emir himself, to say, when her journey to Ascalon
was over, she would see him on business of importance.
There was great indelicacy in Sir Sydney’s conduct in sending such a
man, giving out wherever he went that he was to take charge of Lady
Hester, and conduct her back to Europe.
The perusal of these papers and the necessary deliberation upon them
lasted until morning. In the mean time, Signor Thomaso Coschich (for
so the Dalmatian was called) had made but a poor supper, and could not
conceal his discontent, when the servants told him no wine was ever
served up at Lady Hester’s table when she was travelling with Turks.
When daylight came, I gathered, by reports already in circulation
among the people, that Signor Coschich had arrived at Acre after
my departure; that he had addressed himself to Mâlem Haym with an
exaggerated story of the importance of his mission, alleging that he
bore despatches declaratory of war between Turkey and Russia, in which
England would take a part, and that he was, therefore, come to convey
Lady Hester to a place of safety; with many other strange inventions
of a hardy cast: upon which Mâlem Haym had caused the town gates to be
opened after the usual hour, and a treasury messenger had been ordered
to conduct him to Häyfa. The imprudence of such conversation induced
Lady Hester to get rid of him forthwith. She accordingly ordered a
halt at Häyfa; and, stopping there three days, she wrote answers to Sir
Sydney Smith’s despatches, laying open the whole transaction to Derwish
Mustafa Aga, in order to set his mind at ease on a subject which must
otherwise have excited a multitude of suspicions. When the answers
were prepared, Signor Coschich was ordered to depart; and instructions
were given him to ship himself for Cyprus as speedily as possible. The
courage of this man on the sea, nevertheless, was wonderful. He had
crossed the Mediterranean, in the most perilous part of the year, in a
boat no bigger than a nutshell; so that, on entering Larnarka roads,
in Cyprus, seafaring men would scarcely credit their eyes. He had
quarrelled with his guides on the road from Tripoli, exposing himself
more than once to be assassinated.
Upon examining the different articles which Sir Sydney Smith had sent
as presents, farther incongruities were discovered. The pistols were
of Persian make: this was sending coals to Newcastle; for, when Turks
ask for pistols from England, it is English pistols they want. There
was an abah made of black satin, with Sir Sydney’s arms emblazoned on
the shoulders on a white ground. He seems to have known as little of
the dress of the country as he did of its politics or religion. A satin
abah could no more be worn by a man in Syria, than a pair of chintz
breeches by a man in England.
To have done with this subject altogether, it may be as well to say
here how it terminated. Lady Hester, on her return to Mar Elias, sent
her secretary to the emir Beshýr, who translated to him as well Sir
Sydney’s letters intended for him as her ladyship’s answers, and then
gave him the presents. The emir, as might be supposed, did not like
to be lectured about his nephews, whom he had barbarously mutilated.
But this was of little note in comparison with the mischief which a
supposed league with European nations would do him in the eyes of the
Porte; and, had it not been for Lady Hester’s prudence, he felt that
his head would soon have been no longer on his shoulders. The presents
he received; but, contrary to his usual custom of showing everything
that he had, which was curious or foreign, to people who went to see
him, these he never exhibited to a soul.
Lady Hester thought that the ebony dressing-box would best befit the
Shaykh Beshýr’s wife, who was young and coquettish: but the shaykh,
fearful of being mixed up in such a business, returned it immediately,
and never mentioned the giver’s name.
Sir S. Smith never passed in Syria for a man of talent. He spent a good
deal of money, and always carried his point by bakshyshes, or presents.
Yet, with a squadron to back him, he failed in raising himself a
reputation; and, as for a politician, he was considered a miserable
one; for, when he interfered in Gezzàr’s war with the Emir Beshýr,
and took that prince on board his ship, to save him from the hands
of Gezzàr, he knew not that he was lending protection to a man who
afterwards showed himself to be one of the most sanguinary tyrants of
modern times. Gezzàr Pasha said, “Here is a man who comes and attempts
to destroy in a day what I have been labouring to effect for fifteen
years,” and he was right; for, now that the plan was consolidated,
the expediency was manifest, and the emir and shaykh Beshýr were as
completely under the thumb of the pasha as two servants; which, however
abject a situation in the abstract, is what, by the nature of their
tenure from the Porte, they were required to be.
Some persons will blame Lady Hester for disclosing a private
correspondence to the Zäym; but, when Sir Sydney had said that he had
written to Constantinople and to the emir, she knew it must soon be
blown. Besides, from the strange rhodomontades of Signor Coschich, it
was necessary to tell the truth, or to incur the suspicion of being an
emissary and a spy.
On the 23rd of March, in the morning, we left Häyfa. The weather was
cloudy, and a misty rain now and then fell. In four hours we arrived
at Aatlyt, but here an accident happened which damped our joy for the
evening. Turkish cavalry are accustomed, on all occasions of festivity,
to show their feats of horsemanship, one of which is to fire off
their carbines at each other in a full gallop. Just before reaching
the encampment at Aatlyt, a soldier, among others who were merrily
disposed, galloped up close to his comrade, when, firing his carbine,
the wadding lodged in the shoulders of a handsome youth of fifteen,
the son of the _bin bashi_, or colonel. I was immediately called
to him, and found an ill-looking wound in the deltoid muscle, but it
was superficial, and there was nothing serious to be apprehended. I
bound up the wound, and the young man went the following morning to
his mother at Nazareth, where, as I afterwards heard, he speedily
recovered.[46]
Lady Hester was lodged in a cottage, to avoid the repetition of the
inconveniences suffered at Häyfa. Whilst supper was cooking by Um Risk,
a serpent, unperceived by her, entwined itself round her naked leg.
I had seen other proofs of courage in this withered old woman, but
was astonished most at this. She felt the serpent, and, looking down,
calmly seized it by the neck, held it so until she had unwound the
tail, and then killed it.
On the 24th we departed for Tontura, where we arrived in two hours.
We observed several Arabs under tents pasturing their flocks. Here we
experienced much civility from the shaykh. As our encampment, next
day, was to be among the ruins of Cæsarea, camels laden with rice,
bread, fuel, and other necessaries, were sent forward; for Cæsarea,
a ruined place, could furnish nothing but water. From Tontura to
Cæsarea proved a distance of two hours’ march.[47] We reached it on the
afternoon of the 25th. As the night threatened to be very tempestuous,
Lady Hester’s tent was planted under the vault of a ruin, our horses
were stabled in caves, and every preparation was made to guarantee us
from the inclemency of the weather. We experienced, in fact, a storm
not less dreadful than that at Häyfa; and those who had not ventured to
brave it on the former occasion, now, having no town to flee to, were
much worse off. Our squadron of horse soldiers lay exposed to the wind
and rain, without any covering but broken walls, and Signor Catafago
was so terrified, that he wished himself safe back at his house in
Acre. Ruins are very uncomfortable places to encamp in, under the most
favourable circumstances, owing to the reptiles which are continually
crawling about.[48]
The 25th continued too rainy to allow of resuming the journey, or even
of examining the ruins among which we were encamped. One of the Hawàry
soldiers took this favourable moment for being bled, having, as he told
me, neglected to undergo his annual spring venesection before quitting
Acre. Accordingly, he seated himself on a stone in the air; and, as is
generally pretended to be done by the barbers of the country when they
bleed a person, begged me to let the blood spout until I saw it change
to a good colour.
On the 26th, we had fine weather, and struck our tents. We arrived at
Um Khaled. The shaykh called to mind our passage three years before,
and complimented me on my beard. The peasants were turned out of their
cottages, compelled to remove every article of furniture, and moreover
to sweep the cottages for our reception. I got my breakfast early,
and, accompanied by a courier, proceeded on before to Mharrem. We
passed the sandy tract called Abu Zabûrrah, which, to a traveller in
an unprotected state, is not a place devoid of danger. A pasha named
Ismael was stripped and robbed by the Arabs at this spot; and, in
Gezzàr pasha’s time, a patrole was kept here. It was no slight proof of
the good government of the reigning pasha, that the greatest security
prevailed in every part of his pashalik.
At Mharrem, the shaykh immediately pointed out the sanctuary of the
saint as the best place for lodging us; and indeed the building was
more respectable than those which usually cover the sepulchres of the
santons of Islamism. Lady Hester arrived soon afterwards. I renewed my
acquaintance with such of the peasants as recollected us in our former
journey. We now had an opportunity of judging of the moroseness of men,
and of their disposition to inflict pain where they can. On the former
occasion we paid largely for every thing, but were served reluctantly,
and were by no means well treated: whereas now, when every article was
furnished by requisition, the utmost alacrity and apparent good-will
was demonstrated, although they received nothing but blows in payment.
It seemed an act of oppression, on first thoughts, thus to oblige a
small village to furnish nearly 200 persons and their animals with food
and lodging, for one or more nights; yet, in reality, it was less so
than it appeared to be. The reason is this. Every village shaykh has
remitted to him so much of the imposts falling on it, in consideration
of the number of persons who may be likely to be guests, from
government orders, or otherwise, during the year; and, in consideration
of this, he is bound to receive and entertain them for the space of
three days. In this way, that noble institution of the _menzel_
or alighting-house is maintained throughout Syria, (where I have often
profited by it,) and elsewhere in Turkey, as I have been informed: in
consequence of which a traveller, who is a stranger, rides boldly up to
the house of the shaykh, and, in nine cases out of ten, is entertained
for the night, and sent off next morning with a prayer for his safety,
without the cost of a farthing.
The next day we reached Jaffa in three hours. One hour from El Mharrem
is the river Awgy. The news of our approach had reached Jaffa already,
and curiosity was awake, as I could perceive, among the inhabitants.
The town-gate was thronged with spectators. This gate, if I recollect
rightly, the only one, was handsome, and highly ornamented with a
diversity of colours fantastically painted in arabesque. The governor
had a small kiosk, or pavilion, near it: and, seeing me pass from his
window, requested my presence the moment of my arrival. He received me
with a very distant air, recalling to mind, in all probability, the
refusal of his present, which refusal he recollected to have occurred
through me in Mr. B.’s name, three years before.
When I told him I wished immediately to have quarters assigned for us,
he gave me one of his archers, with a command to turn out any family
at my pleasure. Knowing, however, the delay and distress that always
attended these measures of force, I preferred going to the Latin
monastery, but found it too small for all of us. The Greek monastery
(where I had lodged before) was more spacious, and I here took six
rooms opening on the terrace that overlooks the port. The English
consul’s house had been previously prepared for Lady Hester, and was at
once airy and agreeable. She arrived in due time (on her gray mare),
and rode strait to Signor Damiani’s, who received her in the same
gold-laced cocked hat which afterwards so much excited the ridicule of
her royal highness the Princess of Wales and of Signor Bergami.
Jaffa was at this season very dull, as the pilgrims had already passed
to Jerusalem. Their influx and return from that place, I have already
said, are the chief support of the inhabitants; for the trade is little
without them.
Much bustle occurred a day or two afterwards, in consequence of the
arrival of a courier from Egypt on his way to Constantinople, to
announce the defeat of the Wahabys and the imprisonment of Abu Nukta,
their chief. It was reported that there was among these Wahabys a
valiant maiden, named Gâly, who performed prodigies of valour.
Mohammed Aga, the governor, was ordered by the firman of the pasha
to accompany Lady Hester to Ascalon; a mission he would willingly
have avoided, as it cannot be supposed he liked her ladyship, who had
before treated him with such contempt: nor did she now pursue more
conciliatory measures; for never was she known to bend to any man,
neither had Mohammed aught in him to secure her esteem.
He was astute, false, and insinuating. Bought, as a Mameluke, by the
tyrant Gezzàr, he had, like those who had survived of that number,
been elevated to considerable situations, in which the present pasha
had continued him; but, like them, without relations or domestic
connections to chain him to the soil, he lived but to enrich himself.
Hence he was often guilty of rapine and oppression; and the energy
of his administration, for which he was sometimes praised, was
nevertheless founded in cruelty. The thief was punished with the loss
of the offending hand, the libertine with the severest castigations;
yet he was not disposed to set bounds to the indulgence of his own
depraved tastes and propensities. He was married, nevertheless, to
the daughter of that Kengi Ahmed, whom formerly we saw as governor of
Jerusalem, which post he still filled. With all this, Mohammed Aga
was reputed a warlike chieftain, and was thought by some as likely to
succeed the present pasha.
Signor Damiani, the English vice-consul, had a budget full of anecdotes
tending to prove how perfidious and how base the governor was. I
noted down two; one as serving to show how much the simplicity of the
Mahometan worship had been perverted; such perversions being common in
the course of time to all institutions. He happened to be greatly taken
with a handsome horse belonging to a chorister in one of the mosques.
The chorister liked his horse, and would not sell it, which refusal
Mohammed Aga pretended not to resent, and seemed to have forgotten
the matter. On the first day of Ramazán, the new moon was not visible,
upon which the chorister deferred the commencement of his fast until
the morrow. Mohammed Aga wanted nothing more than a pretext to ruin
him, and this seemed a good one. He sent for the singer, reproached
him loudly for his relaxed principles and his breach of public and
divine ordinances, inasmuch as the new moon had been seen by several
persons on the prescribed day; fined him in a large sum of money; and
confiscated his goods and possessions, among which, of course, was the
horse.
On another occasion, a man offended him grievously. He pretended to
have forgiven him; and a few days afterwards, as the offending Turk was
sitting under a tree, a servant of the governor’s drew his pistol and
shot him. The servant made a pretence of hiding himself for three or
four days, and then resumed his situation in his master’s family as if
nothing had happened.
We remained at Jaffa until the 30th of the month; and, on the last day
of March, set off for Ascalon, our party being now increased by the
addition of Mohammed Aga, Abu Nabût, and suite, and by Signor Damiani,
together with a host of cooks, and loads of shovels, pickaxes, baskets,
and whatever was necessary for excavating the soil. The country from
Jaffa assumed a rural appearance, resembling the cultivated parts of
England; the undulating soil, covered with wheat in leaf, barley in
ear, and high grass, gave proofs of its fertility. No part of Syria is
so beautiful; which manifests how erroneous is the argument of Gibbon,
who founds on the supposed barrenness of Palestine, compared with its
former population, a doubt of the authenticity of the bible.
In four hours’ time we arrived at Ebna, a village not less miserable
than those to the north of Jaffa. Three hours’ farther was a hamlet,
El Lubben or Lubden. Leaving this, with the village of Haremy on our
right, we arrived, in one hour and a half, at Mejdel, a populous
burgh,[49] whose shaykh bore the name of Shubashy, which is a Turkish
word, indicating a degree higher than simple shaykh. Ascalon was
no more than a league off, and we proceeded thither on the morrow.
Arrived at our destination, our tents were fixed in the midst of the
ruins, whilst a cottage was fitted up for Lady Hester at the village
of El Jura, just without the walls of Ascalon. Orders were immediately
sent to the surrounding villages to furnish workmen, in gangs, at the
rate of 150 per day, for the excavations. But, before I narrate the
proceedings which took place, it will be necessary to say a few words
on the history of this once celebrated city, and on the revolutions
to which it has been subject; now, last of all, to be the scene of
operations of a singular and surprising nature, if it be considered
that Mahometan governors were to act under the commands of a helpless
Christian woman, in a barbarous and fanatic country.