Charles Lewis Meryon

“ No sooner were the horses brought to the door, than a crowd of women and children assembled; the gravity of the male part of the Turkish population seldom yielding so far to curiosity, as to allow them to join in a mob. When she came out, as she stood upon the horse-block, (of which there generally is one at the entrance of most houses) a smile on the people around served at once to prepossess them in her favour. She was accompanied by no one, but her young interpreter, Giorgio, and Mohammed, her Janissary, thus throwing herself entirely on the discretion of the inhabitants. ”

“ Like Doctor Pangloss, I always try to think that everything is for the best; if I had not been shipwrecked, I should have seen nothing here; if I had been born a man instead of a woman, I could not have entered all the harems as I have done, and got acquainted with all the Turkish customs, and seen all that is to be seen of most magnificent—for a Turk’s splendour is in his harem: the rooms, the dresses, the whole air of luxury is not to be described. ”

“ All being ready, each family marches separately, and the desert becomes a moving scene for some miles round. The horsemen proceed at a foot pace, from which they never vary, except when occasional races take place to gain a spot where water is known to lodge, or when the youths tilt with each other for amusement. The Bedouin girls are seen dropping from the backs of the camels to drive in those that stray, and then, seizing the animal’s tail, remount with an agility quite astonishing. ”

“ March the 29th, Lady Hester mounted her horse, and went to see the ruins. She knew the report that was current of her being in search after treasures, and took an ingenious mode of curing the shaykh of the village of such a belief. She told him she would have him go with her; and she, being on horseback, led him, who was on foot, such a round, that the poor man, little curious about places in which he had lived all his life, begged her at last to excuse him, as he could walk no farther. ”

“ Were I desired to describe a peasant woman in her most customary occupation, I should represent her as seated at the door of her cottage, spinning with a hand-spindle, and having a long cane lying by her side to drive away the chickens, which she talks to and scolds as if they were children, giving to each a name. ”

“ Mahannah el Fadel might be said to command that tract of country which extends from Hamah down to Damascus, and backwards as far as Palmyra, perhaps beyond; but it is impossible for a stranger to learn or mark out any precise boundaries for a people, the nature of whose possessions, and even of whose existence, is so uncertain, both from the vicissitudes of their fortune, and from their wandering habits. He was chieftain of the tribe of the Melhem, and had in subjection to him other tribes, all of which go by the general name of Anizy Arabs. ”

“ For the first quarter of an hour the appearance of the mountain is so wild that one scarcely believes it possible to find habitations higher up. You are however agreeably undeceived, when, quitting the forest of firs, you come upon a small hamlet beset with vineyards, tobacco fields, fig and walnut-trees. You now see above you the monastery with its steeple, and your ears perhaps are saluted with the tolling of a bell, always a pleasing sound among rocks and woods. ”

“ Sayd Suliman Pasha had spent his life at the court of Sultan Selim and his predecessors, and was considered as a finished gentleman Turk. It must indeed have been a formidable undertaking to a woman, when, after being led through antechambers by the light of flaring candles, which threw their gleam on the arms of numerous soldiers and attendants, who waited in still [12] and fearful silence, she was ushered into a long saloon, through two rows of the pasha’s suite, where at the upper end sat—and he alone was sitting—on a crimson sofa, in a most starched attitude, the small but dignified man. ”

“ In Syria, there is not a Christian or a Frank, who, in speaking of his own or his neighbour’s maladies, does not ascribe them to fruit, either from its qualities, or from the time of day, or the season of the year, in which it was eaten. [286] At Damascus, this notion was carried so far by the Christians, as to attribute to fruit the numberless sore eyes that afflict the inhabitants. Not so the Turks: they eat fruit abundantly at all times, and give it unrestrictedly to their children and to their sick, as the most palatable and cooling diet, especially in fever. ”

“ From the low situation of the city, the air is bad, and autumnal diseases are here often very fatal, always very common; but the climate is mild beyond measure in the winter. Seen from the neighbouring hills, Hamah presents one of the most beautiful prospects I ever beheld, arising from the joint effect of the windings of the river through the straggling streets, the noble arcades, the great wheels, and the rich foliage of its orchards. ”

“ The Bedouins continued to gain on us, and at length we lost sight of them, and saw them no more.
At this distressing moment, the fog cleared up, and our delight may be conceived, when, on a neighbouring hill, we saw a drove of camels. We made towards it, and were informed by the herdsman, that the Beni Omar Bedouins were encamped in a bottom hard by. Our spirits cheered up. We met other herds; and at last saw a woman grubbing roots for fuel, a certain sign that we were close to the tents. In a few minutes we came to the edge of a glen, where was a large encampment. ”

“ The inhabitants had resolved on welcoming Lady Hester in the best manner they could, and had gone out in a body to meet her. There might be altogether fifty men on foot, who, naked down to the waist, without shoes or stockings, and covered with a sort of antique petticoat, ran by the side of as many horsemen, galloping in all directions, with rude kettle-drums beating and colours flying. ”

“ He is not represented as a very loveable object; but, making love subservient to ambition, they may unite their arms together, bring about a great revolution both in religion and politics, and shake the throne of the Sultan to its very centre. I wish you would come and assist them with your military counsel. How proud I should feel to learn the art of war under so accomplished a general! I only hope that Lady Hester’s health will be able to resist the fatigue which she will unavoidably be exposed to. ”

“ That which is most difficult to bear is the want of water, which, even when it abounds, being collected from holes in rocks and puddles, is quite muddy; yet, in my case, novelty and hunger made me tolerate, if not relish, everything. These are the sources of the liberty of the Arab. Brought up from his birth to bear privations, to which the inhabitants of towns and villages would not submit, he reigns the lord of a territory which nobody envies him: and, whilst he plants his tent at pleasure over a measureless waste, enjoys a freedom bought at a price that few are willing to pay for it. ”

“ On the event of a death in a village, it was customary before the plague for everybody to join the funeral, and mourn and howl over the corpse; the women beating their breasts, whilst the men loosened their shawls from their heads, and used other tokens of despair. On such occasions, too, the peasants from the neighbouring villages would assemble and join in the ceremony. The corpse was carried on a bier, dressed; as coffins are not in use among the Christians of Mount Lebanon. But when Nicôla, son of Constantine, died, it was impossible to find any one to bury him ”

“ They are the most singular and wonderfully clever people I ever saw, but require a great deal of management, for they are more desperate and more deep than you can possibly have an idea of. It would have very much amused you to see me riding like a Bedouin woman in a bird’s-nest made of carpeting upon a camel, and upon one of the fleet dromedaries like a Wahabee. I am enrolled as an Anisy Arab in the tribe of the Melhem, and have now the rights of the Desert, particularly [258] that of recommending my friends who may wish to visit them. ”

“ He, his eldest son, and about twenty-five Arabs, dined with me, and were all enchanted, and the meleki, (the queen) is in the mouth of every Arab, both in Damascus and the desert. As to the Wahabees, Mahanna assures me that, as one of his family, he shall guarantee me with his life, and whether I meet or do not meet with them it is the same thing. To see this extraordinary people is what I wish, but not in the town or environs of Damascus, to be confounded with the crowd of those they wish to injure. ”

“ Every night several individuals might be seen parading the streets, bawling in a dissonant tone,—“There is no other God but the Lord.” Others, assembled together in rooms, formed themselves into a ring, and imitated the cries and impassioned gestures of the howling dervises, to the sound of the tabor. Whatever merit the religion of Mahomet may have, it certainly has no attractions from its liturgy: and, whether from the minaret or in the mosque, their chant is far from pleasant to the ear. ”

“ Lady Hester has gained the friendship of Ishmael Aga, a great Delibash chief, who has guaranteed our safety. He is one of the most powerful men in Syria, and the Arabs stand in great awe of him. I think, therefore, that you need be under no apprehension of our being detained prisoners in the Desert. Mahannah el Fadel, the chief of all the tribes known by the name of Anizi, comes here to-morrow, in order to escort us. If Lady Hester succeeds in this undertaking, she will at least have the merit of being the first European female who has ever visited this once celebrated city. ”

“ Through an opening in the trees, our seats commanded a view [25] of the plain of Damascus, which, in the cultivated part, is one of the richest in foliage I ever saw. We sat, smoked, drank coffee and sherbet; and afterwards the pages were matched against each other to throw the giryd or javelin. The day passed away delightfully, and at sunset we returned to the city.
The bey expressed himself very grateful to me for having saved his son; and hence began an acquaintance between Lady Hester and him, which afterwards ripened into a long and durable friendship. ”

“ It was a pleasing sight, early in the morning, to see a whole village deserted: men, women, and children, hastening with their asses and baskets of provisions to pass the day in their olive grounds; although the year was far advanced, and the weather, especially in elevated situations like Meshmûshy, by no means warm. ”

“ As soon as the weather mends, Mulla Ismael, the powerful Delibash, will return from Damascus; the pasha sent him to collect the miri in Palestine, for he was afraid to go himself. Mulla Ismael is a great friend of mine, and I shall go out to meet him in the Turkish way: it will be a compliment to him, and besides make me personally known to those of his troops who have not seen me before. He is a very jolly Turk, and has four wives here, and I believe fifty women—so many that I cannot count them: they are all very good to me, and less shut up than any women I ever saw in this country. ”

“ Although the house assigned to Lady Hester Stanhope was a good one, she had probably determined to find it bad, in order to shift to a better quarter of the city; for it is customary, in Turkish cities, to lodge Europeans, of what rank soever they may be, among the Christians; as their habits of life and their religious observances are more easily followed there than among the Turks, who, in their own quarter, would suffer with impatience any violation of their own notions of decency or religion, which Europeans, without intending it, are constantly committing. ”

“ Nothing can be more beautiful than the face of the country around the city, combining every requisite for agriculture, for prospect, or for embellishment. Much oil is made here.
There were some sycamore-trees in the environs of the city, but their leaves and appearance were unlike the tree to which we give that name in England. The sycamore of the Levant and of Egypt somewhat resembles a large walnut-tree, but with a smaller leaf. It is most remarkable in its fruit, which is in shape like a fig, and in size as big as a medlar. ”

“ Through the whole length of the coast of Syria, from Laodicea to Jaffa, we had remarked these sepulchres, and had observed them, likewise, in the interior of the country: as at Heliopolis or Bâlbec, at Malûla, a village on the road from Damascus to Emesa, at Jerusalem, at Damascus, and at other places: but, in every instance, they were open; always in a state of decay, from the effects of time and the weather, and seemed long to have been the haunts of jackalls, or the pens of sheep and goats. ”

“ Barker, who had a fever, I made an experiment upon the good faith of the Arabs; I went with the great chief, Mahanna El Fadel (who commands 40,000 men) into the desert for a week, and marched three days with their encampment. I was treated with the greatest respect and hospitality, and it was, perhaps, altogether, the most curious sight I ever saw: horses and mares fed upon camels’ milk, Arabs living upon little else, except a little rice, and sometimes a sort of bread; the space around me covered with living things, 1,000 camels coming to water from one tribe only ”

“ As I proposed remaining a day or two at Hems, I resolved to visit it, and for the value of eighteen pence a guide conducted me thither.
After passing through Katâny, a miserable village, not unlike a nest of hogsties in England, and about half a mile from the lake, I soon reached the margin of the water, and beheld before me an expanse, apparently about three miles across in its broadest part, but in most places less, and about twelve long, or perhaps much more; for a sheet of water is liable to deceive the eye greatly. ”