Departure from Cyprus, and Voyage to Marseilles--Dirtiness of
the French ship and her crew--Fare on board--Cruel treatment of
a political prisoner--Angora greyhound--Arrival at Pomegue, the
quarantine anchorage of Marseilles.
The Jean Baptiste brigantine polacca of 150 tons being now ready to
sail, I embarked for Marseilles on the 9th of April, in the afternoon.
It was not without considerable regret that I took leave of a gentleman
whose unabated hospitality I had partaken of for seventy-six days. The
vessel was laden with cotton, of which she had nearly 600 bales, so
that they were stowed on the quarter-deck, in the waist, and on the
forecastle; besides which the cabin was so full, that between the bales
and the ceiling there was only room enough to creep to the sleeping
berths. I was to pay for the state-room and my board 350 francs.
Much had been said to me beforehand of the bad food and bad usage
which passengers generally meet with on board of Provençal vessels; I
therefore prepared myself contentedly for the worst.
On Friday the 10th of April, before sunrise, we got under weigh, with
the wind at west; but, after tacking off and on, we found ourselves,
at sunset, where we started from in the morning. We had on board a
prisoner in chains, named Candie, who had been arrested at St. Jean
d’Acre, by an order from Constantinople; and, as far as I could
collect, was accused of having taken part in some of the troubles at
Grenoble at the return of the Emperor Napoleon from Elba. The place
assigned him was on the cables, which lay on the cargo close to the
main hatchway; but, complaining that he feared being stifled when
the hatches were closed in bad weather, he was transferred to the
long boat; and, when the vessel was distant from the land, his chains
were taken off. The Captain, the owner, his two sons, the mate, and
a Maltese passenger, slept in the cabin; and, there being no room to
sit, we ate constantly on deck, fair weather and foul. As there was no
space for stools, or chairs, or benches, they all stood to eat, and to
this position I should have been myself condemned, had not my habits of
sitting in the Turkish fashion made a bale of cotton a very good sofa.
On the 12th, a strong wind from the East carried us on our course
seventy or eighty miles. On the 13th, the wind again shifted to the
west, and, up to the 23d, we were still beating to windward.
May set in with a change of wind to the north-east. For the first time,
studding sails were set. We now got on rapidly, and on the night of
the 3rd, we passed between Malta and Sicily.
On the 8th, the coast of Barbary was in sight the whole day. On the
11th and 12th we made little way; and on the 13th and 14th we were
becalmed on the Casse, a bank over which ships of large burden cannot
pass without danger. Here one of the sailors speared a fish, between
three and four feet long, of a deep purple colour on the back, and
with a snouted head, which some called a _paron_ and others a
_requin_ (shark).
On the 15th we had an easterly wind, and advanced very fast towards
our destination. On the 16th, at four o’clock in the afternoon, we
discovered the high land over Toulon, and about sunset we descried the
church of Nôtre Dame de la Garde, the village of Sinfours, and the rock
at the entrance of Toulon harbour. We stood off during the night; and,
on quitting the cabin in the morning, I found the vessel at the mouth
of Marseilles harbour, just where the rocky land, so rugged and bare,
presents itself to the sight. In an hour we were anchored at Pomegue,
an inlet in a small island not altogether safe in blowing weather, but
destined for vessels that have to perform quarantine. Thus we had been
thirty-seven days on our passage; ten of which were spent in reaching
Candia, thirteen more to Malta, six to Sardinia, and eight more to our
anchorage.
In taking a review of the circumstances of the voyage, I cannot say
that anything could have made it tolerable but the prospect of soon
landing in Christendom. I was shut up in a vessel, and obliged to live
in close society with men, whose habits, occupations, and education,
differed entirely from my own: and, although a philosophic mind will
not suffer its happiness to depend on such temporary inconveniences, I
confess I found mine sometimes greatly affected by them.
The Provençal sailors are superstitious to excess; and, whenever the
weather was bad, there was always a disposition to throw the blame of
it on me, whom, as a Protestant, they reckoned no Christian. They were
totally wanting in cleanliness. The cabin was full of fleas, and was
never swept during the whole voyage. This however was perhaps more
owing to the remissness of the captain, who did not enforce it, than
to the cabin-boy and men, who themselves, when ill-humoured with the
captain, complained of the dirtiness of the vessel. The Provençaux seem
to have a habit of spitting not exceeded by the Spaniards or Americans,
and, what is worse, they spit in every direction and on every spot, so
that I had not a single resting-place on the deck, nor could I go one
step without the apprehension of brushing with my long dress the saliva
that was scattered and conglobated in every direction. This habit
appeared more disagreeable to a person coming from Turkey, where the
meanest pauper is never seen to spit, even when smoking.
Their cookery was to me extremely disagreeable. The principal
ingredients in it were oil and garlic, the latter of which is
considered so great a delicacy, not only by the seafaring people of
Provence but by those who live on shore, that women even of respectable
condition often carry the odour of it in their breath into society.
It will not be misplaced here to give a list of the dishes on which we
chiefly lived during the passage, that other travellers may be induced
from it to take the precaution of laying in their own provisions on a
similar voyage. On Wednesdays and Fridays we lived on meagre fare, such
as lentils or rice done in oil, or salt fish soup, or salt fish plain
boiled; artichokes stuffed with onions, and parsley stewed in oil;
or on split peas and slices of bread boiled into a soup with oil and
water; or on cold boiled peas with oil. Hard Dutch cheese, or, which is
still harder, Cyprus cheese, with two dates and a few raisins for each
person, made up the dessert. On other days, there was rice boiled, or
rice soup; ham and bacon omelettes; stockfish always; broad beans raw,
which were to be eaten as children eat peas in England; boiled garden
snails, which were considered a delicacy, and of which we had a bushel
basket full. Two lambs were taken on board at Cyprus, and killed on
the voyage. They were eaten in the following manner. On the first day
the blood caught from the neck was fried, which looked like pieces of
liver; but this I could not eat. Next the liver itself was fried or
roasted, and the tripe done in _fricassée_, but so badly washed
that it was impossible to touch it. After this we fared well for two or
three days on lamb chops, vermicelli soup, _bouilli_ of lamb, &c.,
until the lamb was eaten. Towards the latter part of the voyage, when
all the provisions were nearly gone, we were reduced to ham and salt
fish soup, and boiled horse-beans in salad; whilst the water we drank
came from a wine barrel, with a smack of the vinous sourness in it.
There was no remedy for these evils when once embarked; for the desire
of avoiding anchorage dues prevents these vessels from entering any
port on their way home.
But when it is considered that some regard was paid to my English
habits, and that I had the liberty of disliking what did not please
me, my situation was good compared to that of the poor prisoner,
confined to the long-boat, and with no covering but an old sail. His
food was always of the worst; and the spray of the sea, in bad weather,
constantly flew over him, so as to wet him. In this man’s conversation
I found the only resource I had in the ship. He had been bred to,
and followed, the trade of a turner; but, in the revolution, he had
signalized his love of liberty, and bore with him a medal equivalent
in its import to what in ancient times a civic crown would have
been. His conduct on the return of Napoleon had made him obnoxious
to the royalists, and he had absented himself with a view to escape
persecution, which however pursued him into the heart of Syria: for,
at St. Jean d’Acre, whilst gaining a scanty livelihood by portrait
painting, he was seized and shipped off for France.
He was more attached than any person I ever saw to freemasonry, which
he seemed to have studied deeply, and his object in going to Palestine
was, he said, to visit Jerusalem, as the place which gave birth to this
singular fraternity. Whatever his motives were, he did not effect them.
The Provençal language (on board ship) is a most disagreeable jargon,
as unintelligible even to those who understand French as to those
who do not, and delighting in intonations of the voice, which always
reminded me of a crying child.
I had brought with me an Angora greyhound. The beauty of a dog from
that country consists in long silky hair at the ears and on the tail,
the peculiar feature of all animals, whether goats, cats, or dogs,
which come from Angora and its neighbourhood. Never did I feel so
forcibly the proverb of “love me, love my dog,” as then; for the whole
of the crew, when my back was turned, were constantly beating him, and
worried him cruelly.
As soon as the vessel was moored, the captain proceeded to Marseilles
(which is a league from Pomegue) with his papers; and next morning
I was conveyed, with my effects, to the Lazaretto, thankful to the
Almighty, for having permitted me, after so many perilous voyages and
journeys, once more to revisit Europe.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
“Beaten him.”--p. 325.
I have preserved the exact words in which Dr. Wolff told the story;
but, in justice to Lady Hester Stanhope, I ought to observe that, in
her ladyship’s residence at Mar Elias, there were no steps either in
the house or at the entrance, and consequently the bearer of the letter
could not be “kicked down stairs.” Neither am I disposed to believe
that her ladyship bastinadoed him: she might have desired the porter
to say that, if he returned again, he would be bastinadoed. In this
way were many strange tales circulated, for which there were no other
grounds than the assertion of some poor devil, who made out a pitiful
case in order to get a _bakshysh_ for his supposed sufferings. A
Syrian thinks a few piasters are fairly gained by a plausible lie.
THE END.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
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From the GLOBE.
Mr. Warburton has fulfilled the promise of his title-page. The
“Realities” of “Eastern Travel” are described with a vividness which
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From the ATHENÆUM.
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From the QUARTERLY REVIEW.
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From the BRITANNIA.
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From the EXAMINER.
Mr. Warburton’s book is very lively, and is most agreeably written.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] A few years afterwards she became more of a fatalist. See “Memoirs
of Lady Hester Stanhope.”
[2] These trays are made in continuous circles, like the top of a
beehive, and are very common in Syria.
[3] There are said to be about forty-four villages in the Bkâ.
[4] These had a resident Frank priest, who acted also as doctor. He was
well known as having received all the European travellers, who have
passed through Bâlbec, at his little monastery.
[5] The word _Shiys_ or _Shyas_ marks either the particular
followers of Ali, who do not acknowledge the legitimacy of the first
three Caliphs, or comprehends, generally, all heterodox persons,
born in the bosom of Islamism, in opposition to the _Sunnys_,
an expression by which all Moslems of the four orthodox sects are
designated.--(_Tabl. Gen. de l’Emp. Ott._ vol. i. p. 95.)
[6] The largest of the stones in the outer (western) wall is said to
be 62 feet 9 inches, that in the quarry 68 feet in length, 17 feet 8
inches wide, 13 feet 10 inches thick. Wood and Dawkins, who aver that
they give all their drawings and plans from measurement, are the best
authors to rely on.
[7] Of this emir Ali, Burckhardt has these words (p. 168):--“the north
declivity of Mount Libanus, a district governed at present (March,
1812,) by Ali Beg, a man famous for his generosity, liberality, and
knowledge of Arabian literature.”
[8] Bâlbec has to boast of having given birth to a famous physician,
named Beder-ed-dyn Bâlbeky, who lived in the third century of the
hegira.
I marked in charcoal, on the walls of the inner temple, the name of
Lady Hester with this laudatory quatrain:--
Quam multa antiquis sunt his incisa columnis
Nomina! cum saxo mox peritura simul.
Sed tu nulla times oblivia: fama superstes,
Esther, si pereant marmora, semper erit.
How many names, else never to be known,
Live for a while, inscribed upon this stone!
But, Hester, thine oblivion shall not fear:--
Fame will transmit it, though not written here.
However, her ladyship requested me immediately to efface the whole; and
she declared she never had consented, when living with her uncle, to be
praised in verse, or portrayed in painting.
[9] In the Syrian monasteries, the customary salutation between the
friars who meet each other is that above mentioned, and the answer
likewise.
[10] I have since read in some author that this column was of the
Corinthian order, fifty-seven feet high and five feet in diameter,
having a tablet for an inscription, now erased. I cannot recollect
whether it was before or after we arrived at the column, that there
stood a village (called Yyd or Nyd) not far out of the road, which we
were desirous of entering: but the inhabitants hailed us from the roofs
of the houses, and with muskets in their hands threatened to shoot any
one who should approach them; for they were determined, they said, to
let nobody, coming from Bâlbec, where the plague was, have intercourse
with them.
[11] For the properties of this lake, see Eusebius de vitâ Constantini,
iii. 55.
[12] Ayn Aty is called by Burckhardt Ainnete, one word, but I venture
to think that he is incorrect.
[13] For _Aphaca_, a temple dedicated to Venus, on the top of
Mount Lebanon, see Zosimus, i., 58.
[14] It must be observed that, in the East, a usual way of doing
honour to distinguished guests is to spread something costly for them
to tread or sit on. Thus, when it was thought that her Royal Highness
the Princess of Wales would have visited Damietta, the English agent
there, a rich merchant, had arranged that the path from the side of the
Nile to his house door should be covered with Cashmere shawls. Carpets
are seldom left spread out in a room, but are rolled up and moved from
room to room as wanted, being generally small, and never made singly to
cover a whole room.
[15] I dined with these gentlemen at different periods, and was
generally expected to give about a crown as vails to the servants on
coming away.
[16] We heard here, with pleasure, a eulogium passed on two of our
countrymen, by the grateful widow and daughters of a M. Cuzi, who,
in the prosecution of a journey, as intrepreter, with two English
gentlemen, Major C. and Mr. F., fell a victim to a fever, and left a
family who would have seen want staring them in the face, but for the
liberal relief afforded them by these gentlemen.
[17] These hoods are made of cloth, and men use them in travelling
as women use hoods in England: they being, in the like manner, not
attached to a cloak, but worn separately.
[18] His name was Sulimán, the son of Ibrahim, katib of Hussn and
Safýna, which is an adjoining district, and where he lived.
[19] It would appear that this is the place described by Abulfeda (page
102), under the name of Hussn el Keràd. His words are: “Hussn el Keràd
is a fortified castle, facing Hems to the west, upon the mountain.
This castle is a day’s journey from Hems, and the like distance from
Tripoli.”
[20] One of Selim’s horses continually moved his head up and down. This
is esteemed, in the East, a mark of a high-bred horse, and is supposed
to have something holy in it, I believe because it resembles the motion
which learned and devout Mahometans put on when reading the Corân.
[21] It perhaps may amuse some persons to know that parasites, or
toadies, as they are now called, are as common in Syria as in other
countries. Selim, wherever he went, was generally accompanied by a
man, to whom, upon all occasions, he was accustomed to appeal for a
confirmation of his assertions. This man accordingly would attest, with
violent asseverations, anything, however hyperbolical or exaggerated,
that Selim advanced.
[22] Räys means a captain of a vessel, or the superior of a community,
or the head of any body of persons.
[23] Burkhardt spells it Amfy. His words are, “Below, on the sea-shore,
at the extremity of a point of land, is a lone village, called Amfy,
and near it the convent Dair Natour.”
[24] Jos. Antiq. Jud. l. viii. c. 13.
[25] This kind of marriage is called in Arabic El Menmah--conjugium
temporarium.
[26] About £3 sterling. Roubles, rupees, rubías, are all the same word
in different tongues.
[27] Strabo, xvi. 755. 1 Kings, v. Josh. xiii. 5. Ezekiel, xxvii. 9.
Ptolemy places Byblus ten miles south of Botrus; this agrees very
nearly with five hours’ march, ass’s pace.
[28] So it is written in my notes, but I am inclined to think the name
of this hamlet is Mynat Bergeh, or the port of Bergeh. It was in going
to this place, that, finding one of the Turkish muleteers exceedingly
careless, I dismounted, and laid a stick sharply across his shoulders.
This was the only time, thus far in my travels, I ever struck a
Mahometan; and, although he merely vented his dudgeon in words, I was
very apprehensive that, on our arrival at Beyrout, he would take an
opportunity of raising a mob against me. I would not advise a European
ever to strike a Mussulman, whatever the provocation may be.
[29] Via Antoniana. This road was made by Aurelius. (Pococke.)
[30] Beyrout was taken from the Saracens, by Baldwin, in 1111, and lost
in 1187. It was anciently a famous school of civil law.
[31] Some say the Adonis (Brown); some the Tamyras (Poc.); but Brown
seems to have been exceedingly inaccurate in assigning names to places
and things along the coast of Syria; and Pococke places the Tamyras,
which we shall presently pass, and which is the modern Damûr, some
miles too far North. The similarity of Tamyr and Damûr might have saved
Pococke from this blunder.
[32] Dame Habûs.
[33] Vid. Niebuhr or Pococke.
[34] Supposed by Pococke to be the Porphirion of the Jerusalem
Itinerary, eight miles from Sidon: but Nebby Yunez is from fifteen to
eighteen, being six hours’ ride.
[35] Zâym means, I believe, the superior of any order: I should
translate it by the word _president_. Capugi means a doorkeeper,
and Capugi-bashi, a head doorkeeper. But these appellations do not
convey to the mind the nature of the duties allotted to such persons
by the government. A Capugi-bashi and a Zâym are great men, who are
entrusted with the most important missions.
[36] Thus, whilst we were at Acre, there were Roman coins of the middle
empire on sale at the goldsmiths’ by threes and twos: and as one three
disappeared another supplied its place. It was plain that a jar of
coins had lately been discovered, and it was said that Shaykh Messaûd
of Hartha was the fortunate finder.
[37] “Avanized” is the Levant word for “mulcted.”
[38] “We reached the plain near a small village, inhabited only during
the seed time.” Burckhardt, v. ii. p. 207. This village was that where
we now sought shelter.
[39] Emiry is feminine, emir masculine.--These were the titles the
pasha always gave her in speaking of her. I therefore conceived they
were what she was legitimately entitled to in that country. Her
_Presence_ is no more an absurd title than her Highness, her
Grace, his Excellency, his Worship, and many other terms and qualities
which use has consecrated to rank.
[40] By προσκύνησις I understand the salutation, in use among the
Romans, of carrying the points of the fingers to the mouth, and kissing
them, which is the customary mode still practised throughout Turkey
from an inferior to a superior. Our word _adoration_ (os, oris) is
derived from this gesture, and by no means implies prostration or
genuflexion. Sir R. K. Porter, in his Travels in Persia, p. 665, I
think, makes a mistake, in attributing this mode of salutation to
another cause. His words are--“In front of the sovereign appears a
man in a short tunic and plain bonnet, carrying his right hand to his
mouth, to prevent his breath exhaling towards the august personage.”
Sir R. seems not to have been aware that the answer to every question
put by a great man to an inferior is accompanied by this very gesture.
Facciolati (_Tot. Lat. Lex._) defines _adoratio_ by “precatio, manu ad
os admotâ et flexo corpore facta.”
[41] Afterwards Pasha of Acre, until taken prisoner by Ibrahim Pasha.
[42] These Hawàrys were from Barbary, and the dingy colour of their
complexions distinguished them from soldiers of other parts of
the empire. I know not what pay the colonel, or the person whose
duties answered to those of our colonels, had: but he was reputed to
increase his income in this way. A regiment was composed of so many
_bayraks_ or standards, each consisting of four men: but, instead
of four, as rated, there were generally only two or three on actual
service; and, in cases of muster, temporary substitutes were found.
[43] The word _kys_, or purse, means a specific sum of 500
piasters. On the 5th of April, whilst we were at Ascalon, news was
brought of his death.
[44] The obstinacy of the English, and of Europeans in general who
visit the East, often leads them into disagreeable and dangerous
situations. When endeavours are used to divert them from any purpose
where the difficulties which are represented are not quite obvious, and
can only be foreseen by persons used to the country, they fancy their
advisers are playing with them, and thus persist in their purpose,
until they find themselves attacked by robbers, carried away by a
torrent, or embedded in snow.
[45] Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope, 1st edit., vol. ii. p. 184.
[46] I here lost a glass-stoppered bottle, which I had entrusted to the
hands of some one standing near me; and I observed, on every occasion
where crystal bottles with glass stoppers once got into the possession
of any one in Syria, they were never to be recovered. It was an article
not attainable there but by gift, and possessed in the eyes of the
inhabitants great value for holding elixirs, essences, &c.
[47] Yet it had required three hours fifteen minutes to do it in, on a
former occasion.
[48] In hot climates, for an encampment no soil appears to me so good
(and I had some experience) as a sandy soil, covered with tufted grass
or turf.
[49] “Two miles south of Majdil are the ruins of six Roman baths of
mineral water.”--_Mangles and Irby’s Travels_, p. 299.
[50] c. xiii., v. 3.
[51] I. Kings, c. vi.
[52] Lib. 10.
[53] The above notices of Ascalon are extracted from Noris, de Ep.
Syromac, to whose learned researches the reader is referred for more
copious information.
[54] How far this justifies the epithet of “prodigious thickness,” used
by d’Arvieux, is for the reader to decide. Indeed, they are so much
covered with sand, that I should not wonder if any cursory observer
conceived them to be of four times that thickness.
[55] Looking at the result of Lady Hester’s search, some wag may be
disposed to say--“Certainly, the fittest day in the year.”
[56] Named Ashur, if there be such a name in Arabic; for I do not
recollect the like to it.
[57] “Participa ella del colosso, avanzando molto l’ordinaria statura
d’uomo; sapendosi per osservanza degli eruditi, che cosi erano soliti
farsi per i ré e pergli imperadori.”--_Statue antiche e moderne, No.
15._
It appears that the sculpture on the Gate of the Lions, as it is
called, at Mycenæ, had a strong resemblance to the centre ornament of
the statue.--See _Hughes’s Travels_, v. i. p. 229.
[58] The labours of Mr. Belzoni, in removing and embarking the head
of Memnon in a barge, entirely set at naught all boasting of what was
done at Ascalon. Columns of granite, indeed, are much heavier than
Memnon’s head; but they are round, and may be made to roll easily in
any direction.
[59] Those who have read Bruce’s and Salt’s travels will recollect
that both of them speak of a particular rotundity in a certain part
of a woman as a criterion of noble birth, and as giving an air of
high breeding and gentility to the happy possessor. In this respect
it must be allowed that Mariam might lay claim to a descent from a
distinguished race.
[60] For Mariam, the Abyssinian woman’s parentage, see at page 164
vol. 3rd Lord Valentia’s travels, what is said of Ras Ayto, who raised
Tecla Georgis to the throne. Subsequently, Elias gave me his Abyssinian
name as Elias Jegurgos lidj, or Elias the son of George, and hers
as Trungore Rashyelo lidj--urarefs or curnakyb Dinkanesh Rashyelo
lidj--yeroda midjt--confusing all these terms in a way that left me in
the dark as to which of them was her own name, and which that of her
parents.
[61] Pococke, who saw the flourishing state of Tyre, even in 1737, not
knowing how to reconcile with it the words of Ezekiel, xxvi. 14; and
xxviii. 19, says, that the prophecy must be understood of the ancient
city on the continent. He adds, “It is a place where they export great
quantities of corn, and Malta itself is supplied from this place.”
Vol. ii. p. 82, fol. Surely a port which supplies Malta must be a
populous and thriving one! I know that evidence contrary to this may
be brought from the relations of other travellers, and I believe the
particular bias of a person’s mind has much to do with the colouring
which he gives to objects. It would be well if commentators on prophecy
would consider that Antioch, Ascalon, Berytus, Cæsarea, Decapolis,
Emesa, Famagusta, Gebayl, Heliopolis, or Bâlbec, Laodicea, Palmyra, or
Tadmûr, and other cities, the rivals in commerce and luxury of Tyre,
will be found fallen from their flourishing greatness, many of them
lower than it; and yet against the greater part of them there is no
denunciation at all in the prophetic writings. On the other hand, we
read (_Isaiah_ v. 1, c. xvii)--“Behold, Damascus is taken away
from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap:” yet, in spite of
its doom, so emphatically predicted, Damascus has flourished from that
time until now. The editor of “The Monthly Review” for November, 1822,
looking at the account of Tyre given by Mr. Buckingham, whose Travels
he is reviewing, and who states that he saw 800 substantial houses,
containing full 5,000 inhabitants, is staggered at the assertion, and
confronts with it the testimony of Maundrell, Bruce, Jolliffe, and
some others. He observes, very justly, that what were good comfortable
houses in the eyes of Mr. Buckingham, accustomed from the age of nine
years to roam about the world, might not be so in reality. But perhaps
a means for settling his doubts may be found when he is told that
the houses of Tyre were equally good with those at Jaffa and Acre,
two neighbouring towns, which have not fallen under the prophet’s
interdict, and that therefore no manifestation of the Divine wrath can
be said to have descended more on it than on the two others. Cæsarea,
where the good Centurion lived, has not now one house standing; yet the
walls which encompass it were built by Saint Louis:--but then he was a
Catholic.
[62] Murex.
[63] The Arabic saying is, “The month of August, the month of wind and
wave.”
[64] Yet it may be safely affirmed that this gentleman had never read
the story of Hippomenes and Atalanta.
[65] Mohammed Aga Abu Nabût, actuated by a more sanguinary feeling, was
accustomed, in his petty wars, to give 150 for a head and 100 for a
prisoner. The consequence was natural.
[66] The mode used by the soldiers, when plundering a village, to
discover where the peasants have hidden their corn and effects, is
ingenious enough. They know that such things are generally concealed
in holes in their cottages, but the difficulty is to discover where
to dig. The floors are of clay mixed up with chaff. The soldiers make
three or four piles of stones in different parts of the room, each pile
consisting of several large stones placed one upon another. They then
jar the floor by jumping or stamping on it, and wherever a pile falls
there is the hole, because the jar is felt only where there is a hollow.
[67] This fact, and what occurred to me at Latakia, will enable
travellers to judge when and where they can smoke openly in Ramazán
time.
[68] This slave was bought in Upper Egypt and cost fifty dollars--four
dollars were paid as dues at the towns coming down the Nile, and two at
Cairo: making the total cost fifty-six.
[69] The Gazette of the battle of Waterloo reached Egypt a day or two
after our arrival.
[70] This collection was afterwards bought for the Royal Museum at
Munich.
[71] Khawágy is the appellation given to Christian merchants or
gentlemen; its meaning is _merchant_, and it is the most civil
title that Christians, whether subjects of the Porte or Europeans, ever
get from Mahometans. Aga, Bey, Mûly, Shaykh, &c., they reserve for
themselves.
[72] My stay at Damietta was short, yet, among the sick whom I
was called upon to see, were six with pulmonary complaints. These
were Hyláneh Karysáty, with spitting of blood; Khawágy Isaac, with
asthma; the brother of Hyláneh Karysáty, with consumption; Michael
Surûr, bronchitis; his sister, with that disposition confirmed;
Khawágy Karysáty, the husband of the lady, with spitting of blood.
In Alexandria, Mrs. Schutz died of consumption; her sister was ill,
and lived in daily apprehension of sharing her fate: Miss Maltass,
an English lady, died of it; and there were other examples, both of
natives and foreigners, which I neglected to note.
[73] San, the ancient Tanis, capital of Tanites, a province of Egypt.
[74] Burckhardt, in one of his works, amongst the various theories that
have been advanced by different travellers to account for the enormous
heaps of broken pottery which are found among the ruins of Egyptian and
other cities, has alone given a plausible one. He supposes (I quote
from memory) the ancient Egyptians to have built their walls of those
cylindrical pots (like English chimneypots) which, placed horizontally
one upon another, are still very generally used throughout Syria for
the parapets of terraces of houses; whereby air is admitted, the view
excluded, and little weight added to the subjacent walls. Broken into
shards, they would be sufficient to account for the vast heaps in
question.
[75] An explanation of this term has already been given. This
appellation, with that of mâlem, or master, and khodja, or goodman, is
what is bestowed on Christians, when spoken of or to in a civil manner.
A proud, an angry, or a rude Mahometan addresses them generally by the
term Nusrány, Nazareen, or Christian; Kafir, or infidel; and gaûr,
signifying the same thing. To true believers only belong the titles
of aga or effendi (which are Turkish words), and shaykh or sayd; much
less would an infidel dare to usurp the loftier titles of bey, mûly,
emir, &c. _Ga_ in _gaûr_ is like _ga_ in gander. The word is pronounced
ga-oor, and not jaoor, as Lord Byron seems erroneously to have sounded
it.
[76] The rice was now in ear.
[77] Young and handsome, he looked extremely well. Mâlem Surûr one
day showed me his wardrobe, which was exceedingly well furnished. The
Levantines are as nice, and perhaps nicer, in their distinction of
colours than the French. Take, for example, Shems el Aser (the setting
sun); mantûra, rosy pink; zinjàby, between dove and ash-colour, &c.,
all tints exceedingly delicate.
[78] This catalogue, on my return to England, I lent to Dr. Nichol,
Hebrew professor at Oxford: at his death it probably was burnt, as a
paper of no value.
[79] The word bakhshýsh is so often in the mouths of the Syrians and
Egyptians, that the reader will be anxious to know its precise meaning.
The verb _bakhshesh_ means “to give gratuitously:” and the native
of these countries, after every thing he does for you, generally
says--Please to give me a bakhshýsh, or please to bakhshýsh me. It is
the first word that a stranger learns and the last that he hears: so
that it is not astonishing if very soon it becomes familiar to his ear.
[80] I conceive these Ansárys to be descendants of the Iturei spoken of
by Strabo in his 16th book, and who were in part subdued by Pompey.
[81] This is supposing the Ansárys to be those same mountaineers, one
of whom stabbed our crusading king, and hence introduced the word
_assassin_ into our language.
[82] Dukhýl means a suppliant, according to the dictionary.
[83] Black slaves often are named from substances in colour and
quality very unlike themselves. Thus _merján_ means coral, and
_anbar_ or amber was another name of one of Ahmed bey’s black
slaves.
[84] The very adjunct of _Nykhu_, a nickname the most offensive
to delicate ears in the Arabic language, would have been sufficient to
designate this man as an impostor.
[85] Among the remedies which had been used to remove the anasarcous
swelling of his feet and legs were the actual cautery on the instep
and the application of pounded small white snails (called in Arabic
_halazony_), in poultices to his feet.
[86] It was as follows:--Aloes and myrrh in powder, three parts:
pitch and frankincense, two parts. Some time subsequently M. Belzoni
observed, on my showing him this receipt, that frankincense formed no
part of the embalming powder used by the Egyptians, it being forbidden
by their religion.
[87] In examining the head of a mummy opened by M. Belzoni at the
Egyptian Museum in Piccadilly, I mentioned to him the way in which I
had extracted the brains of the patriarch; which led to an examination
of the skull of the mummy before us, to see if it were possible to
find out by what means the Egyptians extracted the brains previous to
embalming. No division of the scalp or inequality of the bone, as if it
had been forcibly opened, could be discovered on any part of the head.
There was no passage even for a probe up through the palate or the
substance of the sphenoidal bone; but the right nostril was larger than
the left, and, on introducing a crooked probe, I could carry it up into
the cavity of the skull, and I suspect that to have been the opening by
which the brain was extracted.
[88] In this respect the Mahometans are exceedingly praiseworthy. A
body, previous to interment, is carefully washed, and prepared for
going to the grave with scrupulous attention to cleanliness.
[89] Derwish el Seghýr was an ear-sucker! Ear-sucking is practised in
deafness, abscess of the ears, and in other complaints of that organ.
[90] Near the village of Garýfy there is abundance of quartz lying on
the surface of the soil. This village is nearly in the centre of Mount
Lebanon.
[91] Afterwards Lord Guildford.
[92] When a person is named Shems, it does not mean that he bears
simply that name. Shems-ed-dyn (or the sun of religion) is his true
appellation. So no man in Turkey is commonly called Aladdin, or
Ali-ed-dyn, as it should be written, but Ali only; and Aladdin, his
name in full length, would be inserted in writing only.
[93] In 1815, there was not in all Syria a factor (unless the English
consul may be styled one) who spoke English.
[94] “And Laban said, it must not be so done in our country, to give
the younger before the first born.” Genesis, xxvi. 29.
[95] Two blows, one on each foot, make a pair.
[96] In 1824, member of parliament for the University of Cambridge.
[97] When Lady Hester was in the Desert, she entered into an
arrangement with the emir and his son Nasar, that, whatever person
applied to them for a passage to Palmyra, and made use of her name
without being furnished with a letter from her, such a one was no
friend of hers. Of those who produced letters from her she wished them
to understand there might be two classes, who would be distinguished by
a double seal or single seal. “If there comes to me,” said Lady Hester,
“a great man, on whom I can rely, and whose word you may trust as my
own, who wants to live among you, to see your mock fights or a camel
killed and eaten, to ride on a dromedary in his housings, &c., I will
send him with two seals: but if it be another sort of person, I will
send him with one.”
Lady Hester had mentioned this conversation to Mr. Bankes. When
therefore Mr. Bankes was furnished with a letter by her ladyship,
curious to know under which denomination he was sent, he caused
his letter to be read to him by a man at Hamah, a stranger whom he
accidentally met; and, finding that there was but one seal, and that he
was mentioned neither as a prince nor nobleman, he would not present it.
Some persons, who heard of this, went so far as to say that Lady Hester
wanted to shut people out of the Desert; but it must be evident that
all she wanted was not to compromise herself.
So much was Mr. Bankes’s pride hurt by this adventure that, when
finally he had achieved his journey to Palmyra, he left Lady Hester’s
letters with Mr. Barker, as a deposit,--to show (he said) that her
influence had nothing to do with his getting thither.
Arrived at Hamah, he neither delivered the letters to Muly Ismael and
to Nasr, nor suffered Pierre to remain with him; but, having met there
the Pasha of Damascus, Hafiz Ali, who showed him great civility and
wrote to the Bedouins to recommend him to their protection, he set off
with his customary guard, the renegado Albanian. He was arrested in
his progress, at the Belàz mountain, by Shaykh Nasar, who demanded of
him who he was, and whither he was going. Mr. Bankes in vain said that
the pasha would punish those who molested him. Nasar required of him a
vast sum of money, as the price of his passage; and, on Mr. Bankes’s
refusal, conducted him back to Hamah, without doing him any harm. Mr.
Bankes afterwards made a second attempt, which also was not attended
with complete success. Hearing that Sir William Chatterton and Mr.
Leslie were on their way to Hamah, he waited some time for them; but,
eager to effect his purpose, he at last departed alone, having agreed
to pay 1,100 piasters (£45 sterling). On his arrival at Palmyra, Hamed,
another son of Mahannah, insisted on having an additional present;
and, on Mr. Bankes’s refusal, imprisoned him. It was also said that
Mr. Bankes was forced to pay thirty _ikliks_ to be permitted to
copy an inscription over the gate of the Temple of the Sun: but Nasar
restored the money to Mr. Bankes on his return to Hamah.
Some time before this, a rupture had taken place between Lady Hester
and Mr. Bankes; and, on Mr. Bankes’s writing to me a request that, in
case of going to England, I would take charge of a tin box containing
some of his drawings and his fresco paintings, both which were still at
Mar Elias, Lady Hester advised me to have nothing to do with them, but
to transmit them to him, which I did, with an excuse on the score that
the trust was too great.
[98] Lady Hester Stanhope, under precisely the same circumstances,
contrived to effect her entry. These difficulties were never raised
against common persons.
[99] These fish were afterwards shown to Monsieur Cuvier, but, as
being common to all the Mediterranean, proved not to be curious. The
traveller in those countries should be apprized that drawings of the
fish of the Syrian rivers, and of the inland seas and lakes, would
be esteemed a great curiosity. Dr. Clark says, “An Arab fisherman at
Jaffa, as we were standing upon the beach, came running to us with
a fish he had just taken out of the water; and, from his eagerness
to show what he had caught, we supposed it could not be very common.
It was like a small tench, but of a dark and exceedingly vivid green
colour, such as we had never seen before nor since; _neither is it
described by any author we are acquainted with_. We had no means
of preserving it, and therefore would not deprive the poor man of an
acquisition with which he seemed so delighted; but gave him a trifle
for the gratification its very extraordinary appearance afforded us,
and left it in his hands.”--_Dr. Clark’s Travels_: vol. ii., chap.
xviii., p. 643: quarto edition.
Dr. Clark, on seeing a drawing I had made of the _Aroos_, in
French _Demoiseau_, declared it to be the same fish that he speaks
of in the above extract. He is, however, mistaken in supposing it to be
rare on the coast of Syria. I have seen five at a time for sale, and
his assertion is totally incorrect.
[100] The melinján is a vegetable of a pear shape and of a deep
lilac colour, as large as a bon-chretien pear, called in French
_aubergine_.
[101] As a proof of this we here subjoin the translation of an extract
from the _Courrier Français_, under date of April 29, 1830, and
part of a sketch of Colonel Boutin’s life, which appeared in that
newspaper.--“Towards the year 1811, Colonel Boutin received orders
from the Emperor to visit the East. He was entrusted with a mission to
explore Syria, to learn Arabic, and, at a fit opportunity, to penetrate
into Arabia and describe that country. On that occasion he made the
acquaintance of Pitt’s niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, subsequently
crowned Queen of Palmyra by the Bedouins in 1821. He met from her with
a most honourable reception, and, proud of her powerful protection,
he was on the point of succeeding in his enterprise, when he was
assassinated in the neighbourhood of Damascus by the Arabs, who sought
to rob him of a bag of coins which he had in his possession. France
knows how the murder of this illustrious traveller was avenged by her
ladyship, who caused his assassins to be decapitated and obtained the
restitution of his baggage, which she effected purely by her personal
influence and efforts.” To this extract may be added another mark of
the gratitude of the French nation, by whom her noble conduct was
better appreciated than by her own countrymen. She received the thanks
of the French Chamber of Deputies, after a speech made relative to this
affair by the Comte Delaborde, and I regret that I have not been able
to meet with the notice of it in the French newspapers of the day.
[102] In the same manner, Ibrahim, a groom who took over two horses
which Lady Hester sent to the Duke of York and to Lord Ebrington, used
to affirm that his Royal Highness the Duke shook hands with him, and
that the Duchess danced with him.
[103] His name was Seraphim; and he spoke of Colonel Campbell as a
person he knew at Elba, whither he had accompanied the Emperor Napoleon.
[104] Messieurs Stratton, Fuller, Idliff, and Rennell, had been here in
their way from Greece to Egypt; as well as Lord Belmore and family.
[105] It never happened to me to see carpets in Turkey so large
as those which, under the name of Turkey carpets, cover English
dining-rooms.
[106] I was informed that, in the village of Trisolias, there was a
woman, thirty-five years of age, with a tail. She was the daughter of
a papas, named Yennion. My informant was the archimandrites, a man
respectable from his situation and age. When entreated by me to allow
me to make use of his name or to furnish me with a letter, as a means
of seeing her, he refused both requests.
[107] He was, likewise, a knight of the holy sepulchre; having made
good his pretensions to a noble descent (by money of documents) in the
following manner. He asserted that his name, Brins, is but the Arabic
manner of spelling Prince; there being no letter P in the alphabet
of that language: and that his ancestors were princes of Tripoli, a
principality erected in the time of the crusades. His plea was thought
so good, that he was created a knight; and, as a proof of it, he showed
me his diploma to that effect.
[108] One of the servants accused Andrea, the dragoman, as having
prompted him to the theft. He described how he had effected it, how
he carried the money to his house, and delivered it into Andrea’s
hand, who recompensed him immediately for his trouble. Fortunately for
Andrea, his wife that very night lay-in, and, as is usual in Greece,
his house was full of friends, who bore witness to the falsehood of
such testimony.
[109] About this time, by the Trieste newspapers, the news of Lord
Stanhope’s death (on the 26th December, 1816) came to Cyprus. I
forwarded the melancholy information to Lady Hester on the 2nd and 3rd
of April.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
5. Italics are shown as _xxx_.