Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village
of Joon--Abyssinian man and woman--Black horses--Lady Hester
fixes herself at Meshmûshy--Solitary wigwam--The Author wishes
to return to England--He sets out for Egypt--Destruction of
Tyre, not so complete as travellers represent--A self-taught
lithotomist and oculist--Seaweeds used for dyeing--Embarkation
for Egypt in a vessel laden with wood--Impalement--Passengers
on board--Cyprus--Revolt in Gebel Nablûs--Frequency of
insurrections there--Arrival at Rosetta--Smoking during
Ramazán--The Author is joined by Burckhardt, or shaykh
Ibrahim--Mutiny of troops at Cairo--Departure by land for
Alexandria--Lake Edko--Stay in Alexandria--Coasting voyage
to Damietta--Burckhardt not considered as a Turk--Foreigners
betrayed by their speech.
The supernumerary servants were again dismissed, and Lady Hester
resumed the retired mode of life which she had adopted in the spring of
last year. There was no plague, consequently nothing to interrupt those
pursuits which are most interesting to a traveller. Professionally, I
was about this time chiefly called upon to vaccinate the children of
the neighbouring villages.
It was about this period that I rode over, one day, to pay a visit to
the patriarch of Antioch at the monastery of Dayr Mkallas, near the
village of Joon. I had retired to rest in one of the cells, when I was
wakened, in the middle of the night, by the noise of horses fighting. I
called my servant. Receiving no answer, I descended into the stableyard
myself, when I was somewhat startled by seeing a black man separating
the horses. He told me in bad Arabic that he was an inmate of the
monastery, and, when I had seen him tie them up, I returned to my
chamber.
In the morning my first inquiry was to know who this man of colour
could be. The superior of the monastery told me he was an Abyssinian,
who, together with his sister, had, when on their pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, been shipwrecked at Suez, and with difficulty escaped with
their lives. Having found their way to the tomb of Jesus, they were,
by the charity of a few countrymen, enabled to reach Dayr Mkallas, in
which they sought an asylum, until, as they said, they could receive
aid from Abyssinia.
With this story I returned to Mar Elias; and Lady Hester, on hearing
it, asked me to bring them over that she might see them. On the
following day I again rode over to Dayr Mkallas, and went to the cell
in which the woman lived. She was of a dark colour, approaching to
black, with regular features, lively intelligent eyes, and white teeth.
I told her. through her brother, what the object of my visit was;
and she consented to accompany me the next day. I visited her again
in the afternoon, and the interest I seemed to take in their welfare
induced them to be open in their conversation with me. They gave me to
understand that in their own country they were people of rank,[59] and
that their shipwreck had deprived them of much property in money and
slaves, of which latter they pretended to have had several.
When the morning came, Mariam (that was the name she chose to go by,
although it afterwards proved not to be her real one)[60] was put upon
an ass; and, with her brother Elias by her side, accompanied me to
Mar Elias. Lady Hester received them with much kindness, and with her
accustomed humanity told them they should no longer be dependent on the
priests, for she would feed and clothe them, until they could find
means to return to their native country. They were accordingly put into
one of the rooms of the house.
Having with me at this time an abridgment of Bruce’s travels in
Abyssinia, I questioned the Abyssinian on all those passages in it
which, as descriptive of the manners and usages of the country,
admitted of affirmation or negation: and it is just to say that every
allusion, or name, or description, was perfectly intelligible to him.
He spoke of Mr. Salt as a person whom he had seen very frequently in
Abyssinia.
Ibrahim was now raised to the post of cook, which he filled with
considerable credit, and his residence in England had made him less
delicate in the use of lard and other parts of hog’s flesh, which
circumstance is generally a great obstacle to the employment of Turks
in European houses.
It was during this summer that Lady Hester was for the first time
enabled to obtain a true, thoroughbred Arabian horse. On my journey to
Damascus, I had, at her desire, looked through Ahmed Bey’s stables, to
ascertain whether a tall black stallion, which had caught her attention
when at Damascus, was still alive. When on my return she learned that
he was, and that Ahmed Bey had, from ill health, grown less fond of his
steed than formerly, she resolved to endeavour to get this horse for
herself. Accordingly, M. Beaudin was sent to offer a reasonable price
for it: and, not many days afterwards, he returned, bringing it with
him, mounted by the Abyssinian, who had gone with M. Beaudin for the
purpose. What price Lady Hester gave she would never tell me: but it
was something considerable.
Madame Lascaris, of whom nothing had been heard for more than a year,
came one day to Abra. It appeared that her husband had left her, and
was gone to Constantinople; and she was now living on the liberality
of her friends, more especially of the pasha of Acre; that viceroy
being a fellow-countryman of hers, carried away, as she had been, in
his childhood, to be sold as a slave. But fortune put him in the road
to greatness; and, like many others in the East, he had no reason
to regret the chance that removed him from his native soil into a
strange country. Madame Lascaris obtained a small sum of money, and I
afterwards heard that, on leaving Mar Elias, she embarked for Cyprus,
where she put the society of Freemasons under contribution, as being of
that order herself.
At the beginning of June, Lady Hester had found the weather extremely
hot; for she could not live comfortably but in a temperature of from
sixty to eighty degrees; and, now that it was higher, she resolved to
repair to a more elevated situation, as she had done the preceding
year. Meshmûshy was accordingly chosen, and three cottages were taken
for the accommodation of servants, the Abyssinians, &c. On the road,
a romantic spot was selected for the first day’s halt, at a hamlet
overhanging the river Ewely, in the deep ravine through which it runs
after quitting the vale of Bisra. The hamlet is named Musrat et Tahûn,
or the mill-field. Here dwelt a miller named Abu-Tanûs, who became
from this time a sort of purveyor to her ladyship; until, by making an
improper use of her name at Acre, to gain preferment to the place of
shaykh of the hamlet, he fell into disgrace.
On arriving at Meshmûshy, Lady Hester fixed herself quietly for the
autumn, resolved to find amusement in wandering among the rocks and
precipices and in beholding the beautiful and magnificent views which
surrounded us. The Abyssinians also occupied much of her time; and, in
the numerous anecdotes she heard of the chief men of that nation, and
of the productions of the country, she found herself almost induced to
undertake a journey to it, and revolved in her mind the practicability
of the scheme. Her success would not have been doubtful, had she
undertaken it; since her plans were generally laid, as a prudent
builder raises an edifice, upon a sound foundation; but other events
intervened.
Towards the end of July, to amuse myself, and relieve the sameness of
our rides, I caused a sort of rural wigwam to be constructed of stakes
and branches of trees, in the midst of the forest of firs which lay
at the back of Meshmûshy. For, although on the side of Bisra plain
the mountain seems like a sugar-loaf, it is in fact no other than
a promontory belonging to a lofty ridge, which runs south, with a
gradual ascent, until it reaches the province of Suffad, where it
begins to decline. This ridge afforded pleasing excursions for a great
distance. To this wigwam an occasional ride in the course of the
morning diversified the monotony of the life we led, where, sitting
for an hour or two, one might peruse a favourite author, or indulge in
one’s own reflections, for which there was ample food. Meshmûshy is by
nature so inaccessible, that no person, from mere idle curiosity, would
think of ascending to it. There, her society was literally confined
to myself; for the priests were too unmannered to gain access to her
presence, and the shaykh of the village was a farmer, without any other
knowledge than that required for his agricultural occupations.
That Lady Hester had no thoughts at this time of going to Europe, much
less of returning to England, is pretty evident. It might be supposed
that she had almost now resolved to spend the remainder of her days in
the East. I therefore, with much reluctance, had communicated to her
my wish, as soon as some one could be procured to supply my place, of
returning to my native country, from which I had now been absent nearly
six years; and it was resolved that Giorgio, the Greek, should be sent
to England both for the purpose of bringing out my successor, and also
to execute a variety of commissions for his mistress, which could not
be accurately made known by letter. On the 30th of June, he sailed
from Beyrout to Cyprus, where he found a vessel to Malta, and thence
took his passage to England. He was charged with several presents, in
sabres, wines of Mount Lebanon, brocades, and other productions of the
manufactures and soil of the Levant.
It was about this period that a malicious paragraph found its way into
the English newspapers, copied from the French, stating that Lady
Hester was surrounded by children whom she educated. The fact was,
that she had three servant boys of from ten to twelve years old, sons
of peasants of Abra, who were useful to run on messages, where the
different parts of the family were scattered in different cottages, and
who took it by turns to walk by the side of her ass when she rode out,
to hold it when she alighted, and to perform the duties of groom-boys
in the stable.
When not animated in the pursuit of some interesting affair, Lady
Hester now sunk into an extraordinary lassitude and inactivity of body,
but never of mind. She had been accustomed ever since her illness at
Latakia to be carried up stairs by two men-servants, and could, on no
occasion, support the slightest exertion of an unusual nature.
Time passed on in this way. Her ladyship was in constant correspondence
with Mâlem Haym Shâdy at Acre, to which end M. Beaudin was continually
going backward and forward. The project of my journey to Egypt, so
often put off, was now definitively arranged; and on the 1st of August
I left Meshmûshy for Abra, in order to embark.
Signor Volpi, an Italian, professing medicine at Tripoli, was sent for,
and engaged by Lady Hester to attend on her until my return.
As there was a constant resort of vessels from Egypt to Tyre, for the
purpose of loading with wood, I resolved not to wait at Sayda for
an occasion, which was at best very uncertain, but to go to Tyre.
Accordingly, on the 6th, accompanied by my man Giovanni, I departed,
and arrived at Tyre in the evening. I took up my abode at the house of
the Greek bishop, and, sending Giovanni to the captain of the port,
desired him to inform me as to the Egyptian craft I saw lying at
anchor. He soon afterwards brought to me the räis of a _shekýf_,
burden 250 ardeps of rice, not decked, and with a crew of twelve
men--the master named Mohammed el Ketàb. As he was not to sail until
the 8th, I employed the whole of the 7th in examining the town, about
the miraculous decadence of which so much has been said, and continues
to be repeated by travellers. Yet, to an unbiassed observer, it
appeared to share only in the general fate of all the cities of the
coast, and could indeed claim a more prosperous fortune than Gaza,
Ascalon, or Cæsarea, all famous cities in their time.
Tyre therefore, described as so ruinous by some travellers, was now
a flourishing town, to which additions were daily making in houses
and inhabitants. Its population might be estimated at 2,000 souls,
consisting of Metoualys, Greek Catholics, and Greeks. The quarter of
the Metoualys was on the isthmus near the gate; that of the Christians
to the north-west side of the town. The Greek families amounted to no
more than a dozen: they had, however, a monastery, in which there was
but one secular priest, who had now resided twenty years in Tyre; and
there I was lodged. I had before heard of this man, who was remarkable,
as I was told, for the retired life he led, and for his spare diet. On
observing him, I remarked that he ate everything but fruit, sweets,
and pastry, which he refrained from, not because he did not like them,
but because he was a martyr to flatulence, for which he consulted
me. I found him to be a complete valetudinarian, to which state he
had brought himself by gross feeding, wine-drinking, and absolute
inactivity. So much for worldly reputation!
The walls of Tyre, in the state in which I saw them, were a very recent
and insignificant work; but in parts might be discerned the remains
of a wall of older date. There was also a dilapidated palace, in a
corner of which the governor still contrived to reside: this might be
considered as the castle. The houses were of stone, and some of them
had very handsome upper apartments, commanding an extensive prospect.
At this time houses and warehouses were building on the strand to the
north, facing the basin. The isthmus was, in appearance, a heap of
sand; beneath the surface, however, according to the report of the
inhabitants, were hidden masses of ruins. So lately as fifty years
before, this part was covered with gardens; now it was built upon. To
the south and to the west, on the sea-shore, the rock, which forms
the peninsula, was bared by the continued action of the sea, impelled
by the western gales; but to the north, wherever workmen dug for the
purpose of laying foundations, the rock was never met with.[61]
Tyre has two ports. The inner seemed to have been formed by two
moles, enclosing a basin perhaps 250 yards across. The moles were now
partly washed away by the sea, and the towers which flanked them were
tumbling down. The basin contained at most half a fathom of water. On
the outside of the mole, running West and East, were to be seen, under
the surface of the sea, on a fine day, about a dozen fallen pillars,
which probably formed a colonnade to some ancient edifice. To the West,
likewise, were various fragments. There were men whose occupation it
was to dive to the bottom of the basin, or to rake the strand for
whatever they could find. They came to me, at the instigation of the
harbour-master, and produced, out of their findings, about a hundred
and fifty copper coins, some agates and cornelians, pieces of lead,
like the heads of arrows, or the balls of slings or of the balistæ, &c.
The coins were so corroded by the salt water as to be totally defaced.
Among the stones was the fragment of an intaglio of a horse, the head
only and the end of the warrior’s spear remaining: but this portion
was so beautifully cut, that, had it been entire, it would have been
invaluable.
The outer port or road is considered as one of the best along the coast
of Syria. It is formed by a broken ledge of rocks running North from
the peninsula. Were the intervals between the rocks filled up, so as to
make a continued breakwater, a capacious and nearly a safe port might
be formed. The depth of water between the rocks varies from a fathom
and a half to three fathoms. In this road the bottom is sand as far
out as the ledge runs. To the South of Tyre, there is a bay which is
very deep and dangerous, having at places sixty fathoms of water. The
trade of Tyre was, in 1815, in corn, tobacco, wood, and charcoal, all
exported to Egypt.
For two piasters I hired a boat with four men, for the purpose of
obtaining, if possible, some specimens of the Tyrian dye. The man who
steered her was the harbour-master, Räis el myna, who, brought up to
the trade of a fisherman, had, nevertheless, acquired considerable
celebrity along the coast of Syria for his skill in lithotomy. His
name was Bûlus Abu Hanah. From the moment of my arrival at Tyre, he
had hung about me, hoping to obtain from me an English penknife, that
being the instrument with which he operated. He showed me a stone of
seventeen drachms Turkish, or an ounce and a half English, and another
a little smaller, which he had extracted. His operations amounted to
twenty-five, and his average of deaths was not different from those on
record by some celebrated European surgeons. He acknowledged that no
previous study had led him to undertake this bold operation; but that,
having observed with what facility it had been done by some itinerant
lithotomists who came to Tyre, he ventured to undertake it first upon
his own nephew. His success in that instance emboldened him, and he now
refused no case that presented itself, where he saw a prospect of cure.
It will scarcely be believed that the very delicate operation for the
cataract is likewise performed in Syria by itinerant oculists.
Our search after the Tyrian dye was unsuccessful: this not being, it
was said, the proper season for fishing for it. But a promise was made
me that I should be supplied with some in the spring of the ensuing
year; in return for which I was to send the harbour-master an English
penknife. He did not execute his promise the following year, but I did
mine.
As I desired him to bring to me everything that his nets caught, one
of the men bethought himself that a collection of sea-weeds would
interest me. He showed me thirteen sorts. Two of them are used for
dyeing; of these one, called _hashýsh ed dúdy_, or _sindean el
bahr_, dyes a crimson, and is of a purple hue. Although the history
of the Tyrian dye is a certain one, I would nevertheless ask whether
there might not have been a crimson extracted from a sea-weed as well
as a fish.[62]
On Monday, the 8th of August, I embarked, about one in the morning. At
sunrise we weighed anchor, and, coasting the shore, came to the Nakûra
(of which mention has been made in former passages) about four leagues
South of Tyre. Here the vessel was anchored in a nook close in to the
shore, for the purpose of receiving her cargo of wood, consisting of
cordbats as thick as a man’s leg, and about a yard long, which were cut
on the mountain close to the villages of Nakûra and Alma, and sold on
the spot for from five to eight piasters the hundred.
Whilst the vessel was loading, which was done by the crew, who carried
the wood on their shoulders through the surf, the passengers went on
shore, and I among the number. We were about one mile to the North of
the Nakûra toll-house, when, at a little distance from the sea-shore,
I observed two pillars standing, the remains of some ancient building.
The name the ruin goes by is Um el Hamûd; but I was surprised to find
that two such objects should have hitherto escaped my notice, when I
had now passed this road three times. I have not, therefore, inserted
them in our itinerary, in their proper place. On a line with the
pillars, close to the sea-shore, so as to be washed by the surf, were
two or three small springs of water, which from their situation are
constantly brackish.
Some Metoualys, who were inhabitants of the mountain hereabouts, came
down to look at us. They had muskets, the use of which Gezzàr Pasha had
prohibited at the time when he laid waste their country, and put their
chiefs to death. But their rough and almost insolent manner towards
Moslems here argued very clearly that they had in a certain degree
recovered their independence.
Gezzàr persecuted this race of people almost to extermination. The
troops which he sent against them were commanded by Selim Pasha, a
Mameluke, who afterwards headed the insurrection of the Mamelukes
against that pasha. Upon this occasion, Faris and Nasýf, two chieftains
of a Metoualy family, in which had been vested the government from time
immemorial, were put to death, and others were imprisoned at Acre.
Selim Pasha sent 745 heads to his master, which were piled up outside
the gate of Acre.
But the greatest cruelty was exercised on those who were led to Acre
as prisoners; for Gezzàr Pasha ordered them to be impaled immediately.
This horrible massacre was recounted to me in the following manner. It
was two or three hours past sunset when the prisoners were brought in.
Pierre, one of our servants, whom I have often mentioned, was living
at Acre at that time; and, happening to be walking towards the city
gate on his own affairs, with his lantern in his hand, he was laid
hold of, as were many others, by the soldiers, to stand by and guard
the prisoners, whilst the others were executed. Of these there were
twenty-seven. Three, bound hand and foot, were his charge: and, when he
saw the horrid work that was preparing, he trembled not much less than
did the prisoners themselves. Several were already impaled on rough
stakes hastily sharpened, when at length a man, whom Pierre described
as of great strength, feeling the first blow of the mallet which drove
the stake into his body, (his legs having been untied previously to
stretch them wide open,) gave a sudden spring, extricated himself from
the grasp of his executioners, and ran off. He plunged into the sea,
and in the darkness of the night saved himself or was drowned; for he
was heard of no more. The executions continued until the night was far
advanced: some of these miserable creatures lived until the next, and
some until the third day.
At night our cargo was completed, and the shekýf (so the little craft
was called) was hauled off into deep water. After midnight, as soon
as the land breeze was felt, we set sail for Rosetta, our course
being West South West. A shekýf resembles somewhat, in size and
construction, a smuggler’s lugger, being without a deck. The wood
filled her up to the very gunwale; and, upon this hard and uneven
material, twelve passengers, with a crew of the same number, were to
find berths. The small boat, which was lifted in, was awarded to me
by the captain, against the pretensions of a Turk, who, however, did
not yield so advantageous a situation without much grumbling. There
was a soldier with one hand, with a military voice and very haughty
demeanour, but whom the räis smoothed into a most obliging person by
frequently applying to him the title of aga: although his pride never
could submit to be civil to two Jews, who were driven from side to
side until the rest of the passengers had accommodated themselves: yet
one of these was a rabbin, a man of learning, and whose conversation
afterwards was my greatest comfort on the passage. There was, likewise,
an Egyptian shaykh, whose neck was ornamented by three rows of large
Mecca beads: and with him were his wife and daughter, both dreadfully
sea-sick, with an old man servant, seventy years of age, infirm and
helpless. Two Alexandrian pedlars, and two poor creatures of no trade
or craft whatever, with Giovanni, who was like a corpse from the moment
he got on board, completed our heterogeneous party.
During the whole of Monday, our course was nearly the same, with a
capful of wind. In the night it fell calm. The land breeze was then
felt, and with that we advanced a little. But, on Tuesday, the 9th,
a West wind, the prevailing one of the season, sprung up, and obliged
us to alter our course to North and by West, upon which rhumb we kept
the whole of the day and the following night. The wind freshened
considerably, and we furled our mizen. Giovanni was very ill, and
incapable of doing anything for me; and, in the usual strain of the
sea-sick, recommended himself to the Virgin, and considered his case as
desperate.
On the 10th, about ten in the morning, we got sight of Cyprus, bearing
North. Through the day we had a fresh breeze, and went, as I suppose,
at the rate of five knots. Our vessel was leaky, and the crew baled her
twice (for there was no pump) before noon. Every passenger was sick but
the soldier, the Egyptian shaykh, and myself. A little before sunset,
we anchored in a nook to the East of the island. After sunset the wind
freshened; but we were in perfectly smooth water.
On the 12th we weighed, and coasted the island towards the south. We
doubled a small cape, and came in sight of the bay of Limasol, into
which a gentle breeze brought us after sunset. Smooth water and the
sight of the lamps in Limasol (for it was Ramazán) had revived the
passengers, and Giovanni begged to be permitted to go on shore with the
boat which was hoisted out to fetch water. When he returned, he brought
me a supply of grapes, honey, fresh bread, eggs, and other articles,
which made the rest of the passage very tolerable: but the water we
took in here was extremely bad.
The island of Cyprus looks from the sea very picturesque and of varied
scenery. Its grand features are a chain of mountains which runs through
its whole length, and which is rendered remarkable by a sugar-loaf
elevation in one part, and a lofty long summit in another. These large
mountains detach themselves into smaller ones, and these into hills, of
conical and other shapes, which come down to the sea-coast. The point,
that forms the bay of Limasol, is a cape of flat land, running into the
sea to a considerable length. As we coasted the island, the face of it
appeared variegated with trees and pastures, and rising in fair slopes.
Half a league from the shore, near our first anchoring place, we saw a
village, which resembled those I had left in Syria.
About midnight, a light breeze sprung up: and, taking advantage of it,
we set sail for Egypt. It may be remarked that, at this season of the
year, when the west winds prevail[63] very constantly, the country
vessels seldom attempt to beat down by short tacks: but they make a
long tack to Cyprus, and a second brings them to Egypt.
Saturday, the 13th, was a cloudy day. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we
kept close-hauled, our course being S.W. and S.W. and by W. At sunrise
there was generally a calm, and a sea as smooth as a mirror: about
ten a breeze would come on, which would freshen until about sunset,
when it usually became as strong as the vessel could well bear. The
captain, one morning, frightened me somewhat by leaping into the sea:
but I found that his intention was only to bathe, and, after swimming
about the vessel, he returned on board. I was not tempted to follow his
example, although very fond of swimming.
As my provisions failed me somewhat, I was surprised to find that
the Jew produced from his store many excellent things, such as sweet
biscuits, cakes, dried fruit, &c. He was a native of Tiberias, and
was now on his way to Gibraltar, and perhaps to England, to beg for
the Holy City. I found some relief to the tiresomeness of the passage
in his conversation. His name was Yudy (Judas?). Among other things,
he gave me the details of a revolt which took place in Gebel Nablûs
during the preceding year, at which he was present in the capacity
of secretary to Málem Sulymàn, who was seràf to the forces on the
occasion: which I thought it worth while to write down, as descriptive
of the petty wars which often take place in the Turkish provinces.
In the autumn of each year, Mûly Ismael and his mercenaries were
generally hired by the pasha of Damascus for the purpose of marching
through the southern districts of the pashalik, where there had been
for many years past a refractory spirit, and a disposition to throw off
allegiance to the reigning pasha. This had more particularly manifested
itself on Gebel Nablûs, the ancient Samaria. The Mûly proceeded on
his march, as was customary; but, on approaching Suffýn, a village
that could raise 400 muskets, he was told to retire, or he should be
received as an enemy, as they would no longer submit to the oppressions
of the government. The Mûly accordingly halted and encamped. He did not
attack the village, but sent a courier to acquaint the pasha with the
resistance which was opposed to him, and to demand fresh troops. In
the mean time, it was whispered that Mûly Ismael had received a bribe
to induce him to remain passive. Fresh troops, however, were sent from
Damascus; and, lest these should not be enough, aid was required from
the pasha of Acre and afforded. With these latter troops, Sulymàn, the
banker, went, and with him his secretary, Yudy. Thus the forces of two
pashas were united against one village.
No sooner did these reinforcements reach the encampment, than, on
a sudden, their leaders also became pusillanimous, and declared
it impossible to attack the village. An interrupted cannonade was
carried on from a great distance, but no demonstration of resistance
was made by the village, unless when the troops approached too near,
on which occasions they were warmly received. The peasants had no
other protection than a trench carried round their village: but the
place itself was on an elevated situation, and presented natural
difficulties. This warfare continued several days. Despatches from the
pashas cried shame on their conduct, saying that they would be loaded
with infamy if they suffered themselves to be baffled by so few men,
and those not soldiers.
During this suspense, the regular forces were more than once on the
point of running away. On one occasion a report was industriously
circulated that the peasants intended to attack the camp by night.
Accordingly, the horses were kept bridled, the troops lay on their
arms, and the seràf Sulymàn was seized with a diarrhœa from fright, and
had taken his measures to escape with the gold, intending to drop some
silver about on the road, as a trap to stop the pursuit.[64]
It will be recollected that, in relating the occurrences at Damascus,
a certain Hamed Bey, son of Yusef Pasha, was mentioned, as commanding
a corps of mercenaries. This man had now been sent by the pasha of
Damascus, and, not having shared in the bribes given to the other
leaders, resolved on distinguishing himself by a spirited attack on the
village. He was joined by an aga, who was also aware of the treachery
of Mûly Ismael and his colleagues. These two, then, forming a body of
horse and foot, advanced to the trench. The peasants received them by
a general discharge along their whole line, which threw Hamed Bey’s
cavalry into disorder: but, whilst they were reloading, the infantry
rushed forward sword in hand, passed the trench, and mixed pell-mell
among the peasantry. It being harvest time, there was a great quantity
of straw lying near the spot where the attack was made; and, the wind
being high, the Turks got to windward, set fire to it, and, following
the smoke which blinded their adversaries, they discomfited them
completely. Thirty-one heads were cut off; for which a reward of 100
piasters each was given, and, as is customary, a stamped piece of tin,
which the gainers wear afterwards in their caps or somewhere about
them, as a sign of their prowess. Two shaykhs and several peasants
were made prisoners, and for them 150 piasters each was awarded.[65]
The Albanians directed their attention chiefly to the women, whom they
violated wherever they caught them: the _deláty_ plundered for
effects.[66] The prisoners were conducted to the camp, and, on as many
as chains could be found for, chains were put. The rest were tied with
their hands behind them, and made to lie on their backs: from which
position, if they dared to stir, a soldier with a whip lashed them
cruelly. Others were bound together with a long cord in nooses round
their necks: so that if one attempted to stir he tightened the noose
round the neck of the man next to him, and might eventually strangle
him. The women, who were not comely, or who were somewhat old, were
sold back to the old men for five, ten, or fifteen piasters: and thus
the affair terminated.
There was not a year, during our stay in Syria, that some part of Gebel
Nablûs was not in insurrection. This spirit of resistance to the lawful
authorities we may suppose to be often fomented by persons attached to
the government. The rabbin Yudy told me an anecdote in confirmation
of this, which was as follows. When Abdallah Pasha was governor of
Damascus, an attack was made by one of his officers on a village of
about twenty houses in the district of Nablûs, which was unsuccessful.
Enraged at this repulse, the pasha in person assaulted the place at
the head of seventeen men and took it. He found in it one of his own
ammunition chests which had been sold by his gunners to the enemy,
whilst encamped before the village. Such treachery the rabbin said was
common in Turkish warfare.
On the 15th of August, at sunset, our räis suspected we were
approaching the land, and hove the lead to see what bottom it was: by
it, and by the freshness of the water, he knew that we were near the
Egyptian shore. He accordingly shortened sail, stood cautiously in, and
anchored late in the evening in sight of land, which he distinguished,
no doubt, easily enough: but my eyes, less used to reconnoitring a flat
coast, more especially in the dark, beheld nothing but a heavy sky and
a gloomy sea.
In the morning of the 16th, I was turned out of the small boat, which
was my berth, just as we were coming upon the bar of Rosetta, and, to
lighten the vessel, it was lifted out, and loaded with wood: but, in
going over the bar, it swamped, and the painter was cut in an instant
to prevent the hindrance it caused to the progress of the shekýf. We
touched several times in crossing the bar; and signs were made to us by
vessels within that our course was too far south: but the räis appeared
to rely on his own skill, and we finally got into smooth water.
The Delta was now flooded, as the Nile was at its height, so that the
houses and villages seemed to be inaccessible but to boats. There were,
however, children, who kept up with us by the river side, sometimes
on a dry knoll, sometimes up to their knees in water, and sometimes
wading and swimming over canals, eagerly following us, to catch the
bread and other refuse provisions which were thrown to them from the
vessel. A cap was handed round to collect coffee-money for the crew, in
consideration of our safe passage over the bar.
On arriving at the quay of Rosetta, the busy scene, though not novel
to me, had lost none of its attractions. I had seen the Nile before
when empty: I now beheld it brim-full, and enlivened with an increased
degree of activity from the number of vessels and from the animation
that commerce excites.
It was Ramazán time, and I sat on the quarter, smoking, and viewing
the scenes around me. But, had the vessel not been from the sea, and
of course the passengers considered as persons travelling, I could not
thus, in the face of everybody, have presumed to smoke. For travellers
and for the sick there is an exemption in the Koràn.[67]
I had sent a letter on shore to the English agent, Signor Lenzi,
requesting him to provide me a lodging. His dragoman came instantly
down to inform me that the plague was in the town, otherwise Signor
Lenzi would have accommodated me at his own house, but that he had
secured apartments for me at the Terra Santa monastery, where Padre
Luigi would entertain me. To prevent the danger of contagion, the
dragoman had provided some rush mats, in which the whole of my baggage
was wrapped, and then carried by porters to the monastery, where they
put down their burdens at the door and took away the mats. Thus, they
having touched nothing that remained, all danger of infection was
prevented.
I retired to a gloomy cell, where I was devoured by fleas; and
resolved to escape as speedily as possible to Alexandria. So I went to
rest, deliberating how this was to be managed; as both land and sea
conveyances would expose me to the contact of the infected. In this
mood I fell asleep, and was wakened next morning by a violent knocking
at my door; when who should enter but shaykh Ibrahim, better known as
Mr. Burckhardt, who was on his way from Cairo to Alexandria. We renewed
our acquaintance, (which had been but momentary at Nazareth) and agreed
to go thither in company. He was glad, I believe, to have me for a
companion, as his health was far from re-established since a dangerous
fever that had attacked him at Mecca: and, in return, I was pleased to
study the character of a man who was reputed to be an adventurous and
enterprising traveller, and, moreover, highly gifted with the talents
necessary for rendering his researches useful to the world.
As we could not depart immediately, we were compelled to be very
careful in our walks and visits about Rosetta.
On the 18th of August, in the evening, we departed for Alexandria by
land, mounted on asses. Shaykh Ibrahim had with him a black slave[68]
named Fadl Allah, and Giovanni and he, both accustomed to travelling,
left us nothing to do but to smoke, eat, converse, and sleep. Arrived
at Lake Edko, we hired a boat to cross it, and here I was determined to
leave the whole conduct of the passage to the shaykh, who knew so much
more of Egypt than I did. But he could not be a match for the cunning
of an Egyptian. The director of the ferry deceived him both as to price
and as to the nature of our passage. He had bargained for a boat to
be occupied by ourselves only; yet, we found, on getting on board,
that it was already full of passengers; and, whilst he was charging
the director with duplicity and cheating, the boatmen were setting the
sail and seemed not to heed us. For, it must be observed, these lakes
are very shallow, and a boat that draws only three feet water cannot
approach within fifty yards of the shore. Hence it is customary for men
to ply at the landing places, to carry passengers and luggage to and
fro on their shoulders. They wear nothing but a blue smock frock, and
this they tuck up, even if there are females on board, as high as the
waist.
We crossed Lake Edko and the isthmus, and then re-embarked in another
boat of a similar build. We were finally landed at the block-house, on
the dyke between Lake Madia and Lake Mœris, where, three years before,
I passed, in company with Mr. Henry Pearce, so disagreeable a night. We
here hired asses, which were waiting on the shore for the arrival of
boats, and proceeded strait to Alexandria, which we reached at sunset.
Colonel Missett, the British Resident, received us both into his house,
and expressed his obligations to me for coming so far on his account.
The plague had committed some ravages in Alexandria this year, but
they were now over, and, in the language of the Levant, people had
opened their houses; that is, those who had shut themselves up in
rigid quarantine had now resumed their accustomed occupations and
intercourse.[69]
Shaykh Ibrahim showed a strong disposition to revisit Syria at this
time, and expressed himself as half inclined to accompany me when I
should go back. My time passed away most delightfully in Alexandria.
Banished so long as I had been from European society of all sorts,
I entered again, with infinite relish, into the parties and evening
_conversazioni_, which were both gay and instructive. Colonel
Missett’s urbanity drew to his house whatever was respectable in talent
or rank. So great was the esteem in which the British Resident was
held, that the greatest title to consideration and gratitude, from all
ranks at Alexandria, for me would have been in restoring to the Colonel
that health of which he had been long deprived. But some dietetic
rules, with a few remedies as palliatives in the most distressing
symptoms, were all the relief that a confirmed paralysis of the lower
extremities, now of seven years’ standing, would admit of.
As it was Ramazán, Shaykh Ibrahim, in the character of a Moslem, was
bound to fast from sunrise to sunset: but, when he got to Colonel
Missett’s, he thought he might resume his Frank habits without the risk
of being detected. We were seated one morning at one of those sumptuous
breakfasts for which the Colonel’s table was celebrated, when a young
Turk, named Sadiz Effendi, and well known to Shaykh Ibrahim, suddenly
entered, and caught the shaykh with his mouth full. Evasion or denial
was useless: and this discovery, no doubt, did the shaykh great harm
among those Moslems who had almost made up their minds to identify him
with themselves.
Much amusement was afforded us about this time by the facility with
which some French gentlemen, presuming on the restoration of the old
nobility by the return of Louis XVIII., assumed pretended dormant
titles in their families; so that Cairo and Alexandria had on a sudden
many noble names to boast of.
M. Drovetti, ex-consul of France, was residing at Alexandria, and
gratified us with a sight of his collection of antiquities, which he
hoped one day to sell in Europe. He estimated it at three thousand
guineas, probably somewhat more than its value.[70]
The commerce of Alexandria had revived since Buonaparte’s downfall.
There were more than a hundred European ships in the west harbour
during my stay. Of these, a few came fully laden with European
commodities; but as yet there was not a market for them.
Signor Belzoni, who afterwards rendered himself so celebrated for his
discoveries in Egypt, was, at this epoch, just arrived there in search
of employment. But the person who excited most conversation among
the Franks was Mr. J. Silk Buckingham, who to considerable natural
abilities united much activity and research, which, not being well
seconded in Egypt, obliged him subsequently to repair to India, where
he found his talents better appreciated. There was also a Scotchman
here, who was left after the affair of Rosetta, and from a soldier had
made a doctor of himself. He secretly told me that he wanted to abandon
Egypt and his religion; but Shaykh Ibrahim dissuaded him from doing so.
Towards the end of September, after a stay of five weeks, I quitted
Alexandria. As Shaykh Ibrahim had never seen Damietta, he resolved to
accompany me thither; and we jointly hired a coasting boat to convey
us to that city, for which we were to pay 100 piasters.
We embarked in the evening of the 25th, but the wind was fresh, and we
could not quit the port until the next day. Our boat was roomy, and
we had it entirely to ourselves, such being the agreement. Both our
servants became so ill the moment they were embarked, that we were
obliged to dress our dinner for ourselves. The passage was favourable.
Shaykh Ibrahim performed his prayers on board, but the räis never
could make up his mind to address him as a Turk, and through the
whole passage persisted in calling him Khawágy[71] Shaykh Ibrahim,
ludicrously mixing the Christian appellation with his Mahometan
designation.
Shaykh Ibrahim, it is generally believed, passed everywhere,
unsuspected, as a Mahometan. That is possible. All Turkey is full of
Italian and French renegadoes, who, of course, speak but indifferently
a language which they generally attempt to acquire when the organs
of speech have no longer the pliability of childhood; and, exclusive
of these, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, abound with Albanians and
other natives of European Turkey, who have, of course, nearly the
same difficulties to encounter in learning Arabic as a Swiss or an
Englishman. It was, therefore, no cause of suspicion that he had an
accent, or that he could not pronounce certain letters, and overcome
those (we may call them) insurmountable difficulties for grown persons
in speaking in Arabic. But, that he ever passed as a native is not
true; and, although he spoke Arabic better than any European traveller
upon record, still he was incapable of opening his mouth for ten
sentences without being detected as a foreigner.
Mr. Burckhardt himself often related an anecdote, which went to prove
the belief of the pasha of Cairo that his character of a Moslem was
an assumed one; but this anecdote rather regards the purpose of his
disguise. It was, that, on having obtained permission of the pasha to
go to Mecca, the pasha sent a message to him by his hakým bashi or
chief physician, (Hanah Bozaro) desiring him to keep his own counsel,
and not to go and say he had made a fool of the pasha.
After quitting Alexandria, and before reaching Aboukir bay, we passed
an eminence called Tel Agûl; and farther on is Nelson’s Island, as it
has been named by the English, but which the native sailors called
Gezýra Ghoro.
We arrived at that mouth of the Nile, marked, on d’Anville’s map,
_Ostium Taniticum_, crossed the bar, and reached the custom-house,
where a party of Albanian soldiers was put on board to be conveyed
gratis to Damietta. The shaykh, as well as myself, had enough
experience of this sort of gentry to know that, if they discovered us
to be Franks, they would probably usurp our places, and send us to the
forecastle. We therefore seated ourselves in a sort of authoritative
manner, smoked our pipes, spoke little, and carried on the farce of
Turkish gentlemen (to which, so long as our tongues betrayed us not,
our costumes lent every assurance) so well, that when we arrived
opposite to the quay of the town, and were inquired after by the
dragoman of the English agent, who was apprized of our coming by
letter, the Albanians were furious to think how they had been imposed
upon.