Chapter IX (1)

Residence at Latakia--Remains of
Antiquity--Port--Gardens--Sycamore--Birdlime tree--Vegetables
and fruit--Tobacco--Salt tanks--Sponge fishery--Hanah
Kûby--Fanaticism of the Turks of Latakia--A Barbary Shaykh--The
Plague--Habits of the Mahometans accordant with common
sense--Epidemic illness--Impalement of a Malefactor--Ravages of
the Plague--Mr. Barker, British Consul at Aleppo, comes to spend
some time near Latakia--Hard fate of a Christian--Experiment
on a fruit diet--Imprudence of smoking in the streets during
Ramazán--Amusements--Sporting--Departure of Mr. B. for
England--Civility of the Greek Patriarch--Illness of Lady
Hester, and of the Author--She supposes her disease to be the
Plague--Illness of servants--Scarcity of provisions--Departure
for Sayda--Turkish Lugger--Tripoli--Aspect of Mount
Lebanon--Arrival at Sayda--Seamanship of the Turks.

There was a spacious mansion in Latakia, which, from its size and the expense required to keep it up, had been for some time empty. This was hired, unfurnished, for three months, at the rate of 500 piasters per month; whereas it would have been well paid for at 150. Here Lady Hester and Mr. B. took up their residence, whilst, with the view of seeing patients, I hired a house for myself, which I occupied, with two servants, Tanûs, whom I engaged on my arrival at Latakia, and my groom, Ibrahim. In the courtyard were tethered my two horses, night and day in the open air, but, as the yard was small, and they could almost snuff each other’s breath, they were constantly breaking loose and fighting. Lady Hester was hardly well housed when she wrote a long letter to the Marquis of Sligo, a great portion of which, as descriptive of her journey into the Desert, I shall be excused for inserting.

_Extract of a Letter from Lady Hester Stanhope to the
Marquis of Sligo._

Latakia, 1813.

* * * * *

**** I must first mention my entry at Damascus, which was one
of the most singular and not one of my least exploits, as it
was reckoned so dangerous, from the fanaticism of the Turks in
that town. However, we made a triumphal entry, and were lodged
in what was reckoned a very fine house in the Christian quarter,
which I did not at all approve of. I said to the doctor, I
must “take the bull by the horns,” and stick myself under the
minaret of the great mosque. This was accomplished, and we
found ourselves, for three months, in the most distinguished
part of the Turkish quarter. I went out in a variety of dresses
every day, to the great astonishment of the Turks, but no harm
happened. A visit to the pasha on the night of the Ramazán
was magnificent indeed: 2,000 attendants and guards lined the
staircase, antechambers, &c. The streets were all illuminated,
and there were festivities at all the coffee-houses. The message
of invitation was accompanied by two fine Arab horses, one of
which I mounted, and I am sorry to say they are both since dead
of the glanders. But this is enough for Damascus. I must now go
to the Arabs, only just mentioning that constant dinners and
fêtes were given to the great Turks and their harýms during my
long stay.

I did not delay long in making my arrangement with an Arab
chief to go to Palmyra, which the pasha, hearing of, greatly
disapproved, and said he should send me there himself in
security. But, when this business was examined into, I found
that at a place about three days’ journey from Damascus we
were to be joined by nearly 1000 men to escort us. The expense
and trouble of such an escort and the difficulty of managing
such a body of troops put it entirely out of the question: so
I affected to give up the plan entirely, and set off to Hamah,
not to do anything palpably rude towards the pasha. I cannot
enter into the detail of the second negociation with the Arabs,
nor of the dreadful stories that were told us of the danger
we were running into: but all that did not deter me from my
purpose. In March, we set off with the two sons of the King of
the Desert, forty camels loaded with provisions, and water, and
presents, twenty horsemen, the Doctor, Mr. B., myself, and an
Arab dragoman, a second dragoman, and a mameluke, two cooks, a
caffagi, four Cairo säyses, the Emir el akoar, or stud-groom,
Mr. B.’s valet, and Madame Fry, two sakas or water-carriers, my
slave, two ferráses or tent-pitchers, with an escort of Arabs.
On the second day we arrived at the tents of the King of the
Arabs, who had advanced to the borders, on purpose to meet us.
We remained there a day, and were very much entertained with
Arab stories and civility. I then requested the emir to move his
camp to the northward. We proceeded, and passed through some
other tribes, and encamped at night among the Beni Hez. The
next day we passed through the Beni Kaleds, and encamped in a
very desolate place, but sent for a guard from the tribe of the
Sebáh, who were not very far off.

Having visited the tribes of the Melhem, the Beni Hez, the Beni
something else, and the Sebáhs, we arrived on the eighth day at
Palmyra. We met 2000 of the Sebáhs upon their march, descending
into the plain where we were reposing from the Beláz, a mountain
pass, with all their fine mares, little colts, little camels,
little children, and hideous women, with the most extraordinary
head-dresses, and extraordinary rings at their noses, and
preposterously tatooed in flowers and frightful figures.

You must not understand Palmyra to be a desolate place, but
one in which there are 1500 inhabitants. The chief and about
300 people came out about two hours’ distance to meet us. He
and a few of the grandees were upon Arab mares, and dressed
rather more to imitate Turks than Arabs, with silk shawls and
large silk turbans. The men, at least many of them, had their
whole bodies naked, except a pestimal or petticoat studded
or ornamented with leather, blackamoor’s teeth, beads, and
strange sorts of things that you see on the stage. They were
armed with matchlocks, and guns, all surrounding me, and firing
in my face, with most dreadful shouts and savage music and
dances. They played all sorts of antics, till we arrived at the
triumphal arch at Palmyra. The inhabitants were arranged in the
most picturesque manner on the different columns leading to
the Temple of the Sun. The space before the arch was occupied
with dancing girls, most fancifully and elegantly dressed,
and beautiful children placed upon the projecting parts of
the pillars with garlands of flowers. One, suspended over the
arch, held a wreath over my head. After having stopped a few
minutes, the procession continued: the dancing girls immediately
surrounded me. The lancemen took the lead, followed by the
poets from the banks of the Euphrates, singing complimentary
odes, and playing upon various Arabian instruments. A tribe
of hale Palmyrenes brought up the rear, when we took up our
habitation in the Temple of the Sun, and remained there a week.

I must tell you that the difficulty of this enterprise was
that the King of the Desert was at war with some very powerful
Arabs, and it was from them we were in dread of being surprised,
particularly as it was known that they had said that they
could sell me for 25,000 piasters, or 300 purses, and which
they certainly thought they could get for my ransom at home.
This was the most alarming part of the business. Our people,
nevertheless, went out robbing every day, and came home with a
fine khanjár, and some visible spoil. We heard of nothing but
the advance of the enemy to the east of Palmyra, and we believed
it, as we had taken five of their scouts prisoners, which we
thought well secured at Palmyra; but, unfortunately, one night
one got out, and, fearing that he would give the intelligence
of what day we were to begin our journey back again, we set
off before our intended time. We were, nevertheless, pursued
by 300 horses a few hours off, which fell upon the tribe of
the Sebáhs, and killed a chief, and took some tents, and the
Sebáhs, on their side, carried off twenty-two mares. We returned
a different way, having made acquaintance with the tribe of the
Amoors, the Hadideens, the Wahabas, and another battalion of
Sebáhs, including Wahabees, and a party of hunting Arabs, that
are dressed in the skins of wild beasts. We arrived in safety
at the tents of the Grand Emir, Mahannah el Fadel, who gave us
a fine Arab feast, and killed a camel, of which we partook. At
two hours from Hamah, we were met by a corps of Delibashes, who
were sent as a complimentary escort by Moli Ismael, a man of
great note in Syria, who conducted us to his house, where dinner
was prepared for 300 people, and corn provided for all the Arab
mares. Within a mile of Hamah, full 10,000 people were assembled
out of curiosity, half of which were women, and many women of
distinction, with Nasif Pasha’s children carried by slaves.
_Mashallah_ echoed from every mouth. Selámet-ya meleky,
seláme, ya syt (welcome, queen--welcome, madam); El hamd Lillah
(thank God); Allah kerym (the Lord is gracious); and this very
interesting scene proved my ladyship’s popularity in Hamah.

Nothing in the world could have been so well managed, which
proves me an élève of Colonel Gordon’s, for I was at once
quarter-master, adjutant, and commissary-general. We were as
comfortable upon our road as if we were at home, and the Duke of
Kent could not have given out more minute orders, or have been
more particular in their being executed, which, in fact, is the
only way of performing a thing of that sort with any degree of
comfort.

We were excessively entertained with the different conversations
of these people, and the extravagant though elegant compliments
they paid me. They have got it into their heads that the only
power which can affect them is Russia. They were always thanking
God that I was not Empress of Russia, otherwise their freedom
would be lost. I am now getting translated into Arabic all the
real achievements of the Emperor Alexander, on purpose to send
to my friends in the Desert. 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
that of recommending my friends who may wish to visit them.

After my return to Hamah, the immense number of Arabs that
waited on me from all quarters was quite surprising. You think
we have been losing our time in Syria, but certainly we have
seen in great perfection what nobody else has, not even your
friend Shaykh Ibrahim, who, going under consular protection, was
stripped stark naked in coming from Palmyra, and, after having
marched some days in this happy state, got a pair of shalwars
(trousers) at a village, and, in this figure, entered Damascus.
As for Mr. W****, he certainly crept there like a thief in the
dark, when the Arabs were several days’ journey to the eastward.
The Palmyrenes are the best mimics in the world; and, one day,
when I was looking over Zenobia’s pleasure house, a very clever
Palmyrene bubbled and blustered just like him, and he said Mr.
W**** complained bitterly of the cold. Then (rubbing the two
palms of his hands together to imitate him) he added, “He says
he is the son of a vizir.” “Oh! then,” rejoined one of the Arabs
who accompanied us, “it cannot be a vizir of the true race:
the man is a booby;” he spread out his hands too, and exposed
them to the cold, when he ought to have wrapped them up in his
abah. “Pooh!” added he, blowing his fingers, and making a sign
of contempt, “he is good for nothing.” I only saw one mare, a
Wahabee, that I thought perfection. The owner said he would not
part with her for less than one hundred purses. The generality
of their horses and mares is by no means so beautiful as you
would imagine, but beyond anything excellent for swiftness and
fatigue. I could write volumes upon different circumstances
that took place on this interesting journey, which I certainly
recommend to no traveller to undertake without being well aware
of the _carte du pays_, and having considerable abilities
to plan, and great energy to go through with it. When you are
once in the scrape, nobody can get you out of it, for no pasha
has sufficient authority over them to be the least depended
upon. They no sooner heard of our intention of going with the
pasha’s people than they said they should cut off all their
beards and send them naked about their business. For my part,
I believe they would have been as good as their word. The idea
of telling them cock-and-bull stories, and treating them like
fools, is perfectly incorrect: they are much more difficult to
manage than any Europeans I have ever seen.

I always went dressed like a Bedouin Arab, and rode with
provisions under a sort of red rug upon my horse, and a
water-bottle and a chief’s lance. Mr. B. and the doctor had
beards and were dressed in the same style, with sheepskin
pelisses, some tanned, some covered with Bagdad flowered
cottons, and over that abahs, which are a sort of woollen
cloaks, some white with great gold flourishes woven in upon
the back and shoulders, others with plain and large stripes of
black and white, a quarter of a yard wide. There was a chief
there that Lord Petersham would die of envy before, as he was as
_éveillé_ as a Frenchman, and presented himself with the
air of Lord Rivers or the Duke of Grafton. Respecting etiquette
and politeness, these people certainly far exceed even the
Turks; but for eloquence and beauty of ideas (though one can
hardly be a judge of it), they undoubtedly are beyond any other
people in the world.

To expect a frigate upon this coast till the plague is quite
gone is out of the question, and to pop into a nasty infected
ship would be folly. As far as country and a good house goes, we
are very comfortable; as well off now as ill off last winter.

Believe me,
Dear Lord Sligo,
Yours sincerely,
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.

In these distant countries the arrival of strangers was in those times an event of importance among the few Europeans of the place, and “Have you seen the mylady who is just come from Hamah?” was the question of the day.

By what I could learn from the mention of visits of this sort made by former travellers, there was no one, however distinguished his rank, who had not sought with avidity the society of these Europeans as his only resource among barbarians: for so the Turks are called by most persons who travel among them. Such was not the practice of Lady Hester. Unless a European, from situation or talents, had some claim to her acquaintance, she always refused to see him: and the wife of a factor, in the town where we now were, in vain solicited, during six months, the honour of being presented to her, although the only European-born woman in the place. I however was soon acquainted with them all: and, as there was an epidemic fever raging on our arrival, my professional aid was called for on all sides; the more especially as I gave it gratuitously.[70]

When we were settled, and time was allowed for examining the town and environs, I observed several remains of ancient edifices, which once adorned Laodicea, lying about in different directions, of some of which I took sketches. Going from the town to the port, (which two places are distant half a mile from each other) a single granite column was to be seen upright, but buried half its length among the graves of a cemetery. The soil was overgrown with flowers and weeds at this time. Close to it were five palm trees of different heights.

Two hundred paces to the north and east of this was a singular remnant of antiquity in an octagonal piece of marble, giving support to the main beam of a Persian waterwheel, one end of which rested upon it, as the other did upon the fluted shaft of a column. It was placed upside down, and had, on three of the eight faces, a long inscription in Greek capitals. The copying of it, from the unpleasant posture in which I was obliged to do it, took me up two mornings. Large blocks of stone and patches of a wall attested the former existence of some building on this spot.

There are several granite pillars scattered in and about the town. Thus, to the north of the citadel is one, and by the sea-side a piece of another. In one of the streets are no fewer than ten granite pillars, still upright, but without capitals. The intervals between them have been blocked up with masonry, and the whole forms the wall of a house. There are seven more incorporated in another wall; these and the ten above mentioned are scarcely half their length out of the ground, proving how great must be the heaps of ruins which now cover their bases.

On the road from the town to the port there are four other granite columns lying flat and half buried in the soil, the capitals and pedestals of which are wanting.

In one of the streets of the city there were the remains of an ancient edifice, supposed to have been a temple. Four pillars, parts of two of the sides, were still upright, the shafts not being of a single stone, as is most frequently the case, but of four pieces. They are of the Corinthian order, and the blocks which form the architrave are very large. Within the court where they stood was the tomb of a holy Mahometan, named Shaykh Mohammed. Many devout persons visited the tomb, and hence mats were spread on the ground for the convenience of praying.

But the most perfect specimen of antiquity yet to be seen in Latakia is a square building, said to have been a triumphal arch. This supposed triumphal arch is now converted into a mosque, called Jamâ el Mezyad. It is in the street called Hart el Ashar, a small distance from the foot of the elevated spot of ground which commands Latakia from the east, and upon which once stood a castle or citadel. When the building was entire, the arch between the two pillars was open, but has been since blocked up with rude masonry. The pillars of the Corinthian order and the materials of the building are of a hard stone, quarried in the neighbourhood; on the entablature are figures in bas-relief. Among them may be distinguished rams’ heads with a collar round their necks, and bucklers: the second and fourth compartment (counting from the left) seemed to bear something like robes: the seventh and tenth have the appearance of helmets. But the troublesome curiosity of a crowd of Turks, who collected round me whilst I was drawing, prevented me from making such accurate observations as I could wish to have done.

Within, the dome is supported by eight pilasters, two at each angle of the square; they are Corinthian. Those of the two opposite faces are different, two sets being lower than the other two. The darkness of the inside prevented me from making out the bas-reliefs: for the light cannot enter except by the doorway. No inscription was found within or without. In this mosque the howling dervises perform their religious ceremonies.

I endeavoured to procure a ladder to mount up and examine the bas-reliefs on the outside: but the bystanders, having talked the matter over, said it could not be permitted, as I should thus be enabled to overlook the terraces of several houses in the neighbourhood, where possibly the harýms might be unsuspectingly diverting themselves unveiled.

Numbers of tombs and sarcophagi are to be seen in the environs of the city, but principally to the north of it. The tombs are square chambers, with cells hewn in the sides. Some are cut out singly in the rock. One yet remains where there are three figures sculptured in high relief on the façade; but the figures are unfortunately much mutilated. The entrance to one tomb (four minutes’ walk from the town) had two Ionic pillars: some had pilasters. On the sarcophagi, which are to be found hewn from single blocks of stone or marble, rams’ heads are sculptured with wreaths of flowers; and these seem to have been the most common ornaments. It is not clear whether, in such cases, the block was not originally an altar, and had been subsequently hollowed out, not for the reception of a corpse, but for the purposes of a water-trough.

I observed, with respect to the sepulchres, that no rule is adhered to as to the direction of the head and feet.

There are, likewise, on the seashore, some caves, or chambers, hewn out of the solid rock, on a level with the sea, and which have openings to give the waves a free passage in and out. These are shown as baths, and are of the same construction with those which are to be seen in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and which are named Cleopatra’s baths.

The site of the ancient city appears to have extended much more to the north-east than the modern town, running between the castle hill and the promontory.

These are all the remains of what this city once was.[71] Its revolutions may be comprehended in a few words. It is one of those cities whose name is pure Greek; for the idiom of the Arabic tongue has transformed the Greek name of Laodicea, which by Europeans is generally called Latakia, into Ladkýah. The city contained 3,000 to 4,000 inhabitants, consisting of Mahometans, Christians, and a few European families. The Greeks had five or six churches, eight curates, and a bishop. There was a monastery for the Franciscans, a solid piece of masonry;[72] but there were no friars: and it was then occupied by the French consul, who let out the lower part as a caravansery. The few catholics who lived here were French and Italian. There was an English agent. Latakia is a dirty town. It was governed by a motsellem. There was a wall round the city, but of no strength, said to have been built by a Christian, one Hanah Kûby, who, in the time of the invasion of Egypt by the French, as I was told, governed the place.

The harbour of Latakia is distinct from the town. It is about two cables’ length in breadth and width, with a very narrow entrance, formed by two jetties of stone-work in ruins. On the north jetty stands an old fort or castle, which is suffered to go to decay: upon it, on Fridays, a ragged Turkish flag was hoisted, scarcely visible above the parapet. The port seemed to have been anciently walled round, as there were patches of masonry still remaining on the south side: now, it would not admit vessels of above one hundred tons burthen. It was governed by the collector of the customs, who was at this time named Hosayn Aga. He was one of the few surviving of those Mamelukes bought and brought up by Gezzàr Pasha: and was said to retain something of the ferocity of his old master. His power was almost as great as that of the governor. There were several granite columns to be seen just under water, near the wharf, indicating that some ancient edifice had been thrown down by an earthquake.

Out of the town there were fine orchards and olive grounds. Of these the two best cultivated were Bostán el Bende and Bostán el Frangy, or the Franks’ garden, one mile and a quarter from the town. And it is observable, in spite of all the lamentations that the European priests living in the Levant make over their privations and sufferings, that their houses and gardens are generally better than even those of the rich natives. We saw here olive trees much larger than any where else in our travels, and some of them that would have greatly pleased the lovers of rural scenery by their grotesque and knotted trunks, and by the strange windings which the grape vines planted at their roots made among their branches. 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. Instead of growing on the sides and extremities of the minute or smaller branches, it springs upon little twigs which surround the trunk and the lower and thick part of the stoutest branches, where there are no leaves. It first ripens in August, and this crop is succeeded by another in October. It is eaten by the poor principally.[73]

The jujube-tree is common here. The henna plant is reared in pots.

The environs of Latakia produce a tree with a fruit the size of a gooseberry, and, when ripe, of a straw-colour, containing a viscid matter which serves for bird-lime. It is called in Arabic _dubbuk_; it grows to the height of an apple-tree, and has a leaf like a peach-tree. Birdlime is prepared from it in the following manner by the gardeners of Latakia. Any number of ripe berries (say 200) being gathered, the person bites them in two, one by one, as fast as he can, and lets fall the husk, keeping the viscid matter (which adheres to a kernel) in his mouth, until he has extracted the produce of about twenty. He then spits the clot into his hand, which has been previously dipped in water, and throws it with a jerk, that it may not stick, into a large earthenware platter. This process he repeats, until he has bitten them all asunder; each time holding a little water in his mouth, and wetting his hand. He now beats this quantity with his two hands in a cross-fashion, like the shutting and opening of the blades of a pair of shears; adding, by degrees, about a breakfast cupful of water, a spoonful at a time. He then moves his hands round one another, until the viscid pulp has assumed the colour and appearance of whipped cream. About two table spoonfuls of honey are then added, and he beats it again with a rotatory motion and with the flat part of his hand downwards, until it becomes quite gluey, that is, for about a quarter of an hour. Twigs are then limed with this, and put in the sun. The same process is repeated the next day with fresh berries, and again a third time: after which the twigs are fit for use.

Scammony is said to be brought from this neighbourhood. The plants growing in the hedges hereabouts are however but few; as there was much difficulty in finding even one.

Vegetables are very abundant and of great variety. Those of which the names were familiar to us were spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, of a very large size, beet-root, and a kind of turnip which grows on the summit of the stalk among the leaves just like a cauliflower. There is also a vegetable with long leaves like lettuce, called beet: also calabashes, gourds, cucumbers, Jews’ mallows, kusas, long kusas, and some others to which we were unable to assign an English name: such as crunb, curnabýt, &c.

The vicinity of Cyprus afforded us some things which are not always attainable in Mahometan countries, such as lard, hams, &c.; but it is never worth while for a traveller in Turkey to make a parade of eating pork, so abominable in the eyes of the followers of Mahomet.

Fruits are numerous: figs, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, grapes, pomegranates, quinces, myrtle-berries, dates (which do not ripen here), sweet and water melons, olives which grow to a great size, sumág (a subacid berry, used in sauces), and others.

The tobacco, which forms a great article of home trade and exportation at Latakia, is not the growth of the immediate environs, but of the mountainous district of the Ansárys. It is known in the Levant by the name of Abu Ryah, and obtains its peculiar odour from the process of smoke-drying not unlike that used in drying herrings in England.

Water was scanty, and the inhabitants were either obliged to drink from wells or from springs at a distance. That of the village of Besnada was considered the best.

To the south of the city, the river, which was seen on our last day’s journey from Sekûn to Latakia, empties itself into the sea. About half a mile from the sea it was crossed by a bridge, over which passes the great coast road. The river, which here is almost navigable, goes by the name of Nahr-el-Kebyr, or Great River.

There is a rock which projects into the sea south of the harbour, and to which the natives of Latakia give the name of Seyd Lexis. It has several marks of either having been quarried or else of having served for baths, tanks, &c. There are still some salt tanks on it, which are used for the evaporation of the sea-water. Two or three poor men gain a livelihood by them, in conjunction with the occasional gains of angling, in which they employ their hours of watching.

A great sponge trade is carried on by Greeks of the Archipelago, who come annually, in smacks, about June, and remain until September. They seek them in a north-west or westerly direction, nearly out of sight of the shore. The time the divers remain under water is considerable, and instances of the rupture of a blood-vessel, and of returning to the surface in an expiring state, sometimes occur. They bear in their hands a knife, to cut through the root of the sponge; in which, if they fail, their strength is insufficient to tear it up.

We have said above that the walls of Latakia were built by a Christian named Kûby, and that he governed the town. Some of his descendants still live at Leghorn. Examples of power, ceded to Nazarenes to such an extent as the magistracy, are very rare: nor was that of Mâlem Kûby sufficiently happy in its close to present temptations to others to imitate him. How Kûby obtained his elevated situation we did not learn: but it was probably by farming the taxes of the town at a higher price than any Moslem would give. He was assassinated by a Mahometan soldier, one of his own men. His government was in nothing distinguished from the ordinary routine of motsellems.

Kûby’s family were, whilst we were at Latakia, in absolute poverty. Indeed such a thing as a Christian family of long standing scarcely exists in Turkey: for the aggrandizement of an individual is generally the prelude to his ruin. The secretaries of governors of towns, appointed by letters patent from the Porte, are those only who can hope to retain their situations for any number of years: for, as they do not owe their appointment to the caprice of each succeeding governor, so they are not removed with him.

The district of Latakia, as being a portion of the pashalik of Tripoli, was now in the hands of Mustafa Aga Barbar, governor of Tripoli under Ali Pasha. This man, raised by his conduct and valour from the very dregs of the people, had, for the last three or four years, preserved entire tranquillity.

The Mahometans of Latakia seemed to me to be more devout and more religious, as far as external observances went, than those we had met with in other cities. 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. We were able afterwards to account for this seemingly extraordinary devotion, which was owing to the late arrival of a Moorish shaykh, who, being a missionary and zealot in the cause of Islamism, had insinuated among the leading men of the place how great their remissness was in the exercise of their religious duties. His reproofs had operated so far upon them that they met to celebrate the noisy ceremonies above mentioned.

This zealot was a robust and comely man. He occasionally used to ride out on a handsome Arabian colt. He never would salute either a European or a Levantine Christian, but entertained a still stronger hatred against the sectaries of his own religion. Hence, it is said, he taught that the goods and lives of the Ansárys need not be respected by the followers of Abubekr. He lived in a costly way, and at other people’s expense: for he was a stranger, and on his arrival had nothing. He was given to abominations: and it was his eloquence, not his actions, that obtained for him the reputation of sanctity. In the bath, one of his disciples was accustomed to depilate for him his whole body.

The customary marks of attention and respect were shown by the Motsellem and Kumrukgi[74] to Lady Hester on her arrival, by sending officers to say that she had only to make known her wants in order to their being immediately supplied.

The removal to the sea-coast had been considered as a measure preparatory to our embarkation either for Malta or Russia. But there was now much uncertainty as to the practicability of such an event, on account of the general prevalence of plague along the coast, which made it hazardous to employ vessels of the country, whilst European ships kept aloof until the danger of infection should be over.

The existence of the plague at Latakia was not yet dearly established, but strong suspicions were entertained that some recent deaths had been owing to it. The difficulty of ascertaining its commencement in Mahometan countries would seem to be, from what we experienced, very great. The Mahometans, who esteem it impious to withdraw themselves from the danger of infection, look with an evil eye on the precautions which Christians take to that effect: nor will they readily tell, in suspected cases, of what disease a person died, lest they should seem accessory to such impiety. They take a pride in making comparisons between their resignation to the will of Heaven and the want of it manifested in the conduct of the infidel Christians. Christians, on the other hand, are unwilling to assert of rich Turks that they died of the plague, because they might give umbrage to families powerful enough to do them harm. Again, as all medical practitioners in Turkey refuse to visit the sick suspected of having the plague, no sure reports can be obtained from that quarter. Still, an attentive watchfulness from day to day over the diseases and deaths which occur, will leave little doubt on a person’s mind, as may be judged from a perusal of the journal of occurrences during our residence at Latakia.

It was some time before Lady Hester could arrange herself to her liking in the house which she occupied; yet, had it been in thorough repair, no residence that had hitherto been allotted to her, excepting the palace at Dayr el Kamar, was so good. The whole of the ground-floor consisted of vaulted apartments, which, for their warmth, are preferred by the natives during the winter months, and for their coolness during the summer. There was stabling for fifty horses: we at this time had nineteen. These rooms and offices surrounded a large, oblong court, two sides of which only were surmounted by a first story. On one of these there was breadth and length sufficient for a stuccoed court, surrounded by eight or ten rooms, with the doors and windows opening upon it. This upper story was the dwelling intended for the women, or the harým.

Mr. Barker had, at my request, hired me an Armenian servant at Aleppo, who arrived at Latakia on the 28th of May; and, my little establishment being now complete, I was careless whether we embarked for Europe or remained some time longer in this pleasant climate. The Armenians who live towards the Euphrates generally emigrate in their youth with a view to serve in the large cities. There they earn and lay by a little money, with which they return to their native villages. Carabit, the man whom Mr. B. had sent, was past fifty, and had been less economical or less lucky than his countrymen; for he was still, as he said, very poor, but he was an honest and serviceable old man.

During the two summers which I had passed in Turkey, I had suffered much from the heat during the night: for, yet new to the country, I had listened to the advice of European residents, who described it as dangerous to expose one’s-self to the night air. But I had found, when I could converse with the natives, and more especially with the Mahometans, that they were a people who lived more after the dictates of common sense, and were less slaves to theories and doctrines than Franks. Thus, for example, they take acid drinks and eat ripe fruits in fevers, because they find them beneficial and agreeable; they sleep in the open air, because, during great heats, the confinement of walls and of a roof is intolerable; they reject the use of fermented liquors, not only because their Koran forbids them, but because the refreshing sensation arising from a draught of cold water is not to be equalled, in hot climates, by the most delicious wines; they are slow in speech and action, because haste is no argument of judgment; in fact, they lead the lives of reasonable beings, and consequently appeared to me, in many respects, not unworthy of imitation. I accordingly henceforward suspended my musquito-net from four poles erected on the terrace of the house, and, like the natives, slept beneath it, under the canopy of heaven, the thermometer standing, at sunrise, at 71° F., and in the morning I caused cold water to be poured upon my shaved head (for all those who wear turbans are constrained to have the head shaved), thereby procuring for myself a most refreshing coolness, and preserving myself from catarrhal affections.

One evening, on opening the door of my chamber, I found a serpent coiled up on the stone floor. I started back, and caught up a walking-stick, which lay in my room, in time to give him, as he was crawling up a perpendicular wall, a smart cut across the neck, which brought him to the ground, and a few more blows rendered him harmless. I took him up on the end of the stick, and, with a jerk, intended to throw him from the terrace into the street; but, from applying too much force, the serpent passed the street (not more than twelve feet wide) and fell on my neighbour’s terrace, in the midst of a family party sitting there smoking. Their fright was ludicrous, until the serpent was observed to be nearly motionless, when, of course, tranquillity was restored, and the groundless terror created much laughter.

The town was seized with some alarm by the arrival of a ship from Tarsûs, which had thrown overboard seven bodies dead of the plague: she was not permitted to enter, and again put to sea. The Christians here, being tolerably rich, had influence enough to effect this, under the hope of excluding the disease at least for this year: but it was soon after known that the malady was now prevailing even within the walls; for a man, supposed to be ill of a fever only, avowed, on his recovery, that he had two plague-buboes actually suppurating; and, as he had been visited and touched by several of his friends, their consternation was very great.

It was not extraordinary that the plague should be in the town, but only that its presence could have been for a moment doubted. Coasting craft were every day entering the harbour of Latakia from infected places, and fifteen persons had, at different times, been buried out of them. Some warehousemen had also died where goods had been lodged from them. Still the inhabitants flattered themselves that the infection was confined to the port: and, as all the Christians had shut up their counting-houses and suspended business, the little communication there was with the port lulled them for some time into a dangerous security.

A Damietta merchant, settled in Latakia, died on the 4th of June of the plague, having caught it, as it now was first ascertained, from his partner, who had died a few days before. I had reason to reflect with myself how much custom renders danger familiar. Two months before, whilst we were at Hamah, the mere report that the plague was so close to us as Damascus set all the house in a trepidation: but the subject, constantly talked over, by degrees lost its horrors. We could now hear of a neighbour’s death even with tolerable indifference; and, in the evening of this day, the sudden attack of Mr. B.’s servant, with symptoms like those of the plague, frightened nobody very much. I saw him first at eight o’clock. His spirits were depressed, under the persuasion that he had caught the infection at the governor’s house, whither he had accompanied his master on a visit. He was removed to an airy cottage. Active remedies so far restored him by the evening of next day that I was not apprehensive for his safety, and he soon recovered.

June 8.--For the last three days there had been no deaths in the town.

It was impossible to account for the continued sickness which prevailed at Latakia during the greater part of the year, excepting on the grounds of an influence depending on the particular constitution of the atmosphere, unconnected with local circumstances; for Latakia has, from its situation, a claim to be styled a healthy place. There are no marshes, no stagnant pools, near; there is no extensive artificial irrigation of the soil to beget damps; neither is the town, nor are the environs, overhung by mountains or precipices to exclude the warmth of the sun or the free access of the winds. On the contrary, to the north and south is a dry and somewhat sandy wild, over which were scattered myrtle bushes and odoriferous herbs; to the east sloping mountains; to the west the sea. Yet, independent of all this, besides the deaths by plague, well ascertained, there were others from malignant fevers; and there were also many persons who fell sick and recovered. It will be seen that, before we quitted this place, not one escaped illness of all those with Lady Hester; and my inquiries led me to conclude, that there was or had been, upon an average, one or two persons sick in every house throughout the place.

On the 9th of June, Giorgio, the dragoman, was attacked with pleurisy, which yielded to the common remedies.

Lady Hester was now becoming impatient to quit Latakia; and she was somewhat puzzled how to dispose of the many horses she had with her. As the first step towards my own preparations, I offered my two for sale: but, when it was understood that we were making ready for our departure, advantage was taken of that circumstance to bid a very low price, which I was necessitated to accept. I likewise dismissed Ibrahim, my groom, who, with Pierre, dismissed also, departed for Dayr-el-Kamar, the place where they had been hired, not quite a year before.

Although removed so far from the Bedouins, Lady Hester had not altogether lost sight of them. Indeed, whilst openly declaring her intention of going to Europe, she contradicted her assertion by endeavouring to establish a correspondence with Saûd, the chief of the Wahabys, to whom, she told me about this time, she had written. Credulity, which seems ever to be the fault of lively imaginations, was hers; and the account given of the Wahabite chief, with his dromedaries that outstripped the fleetest horses, with his spacious palaces, his eight hundred wives, and his superb vestments, had entirely possessed her mind. Sometimes she would plan a journey across the Desert to Deráyah, his capital; but what object her writing to him had I could not clearly understand.

Her supposed influence at Constantinople caused frequent applications to be made to her, to interfere on matters of dispute between the agents of our government and the officers of the Porte in the provinces.

July 12th was a holiday in the Greek calendar, and was celebrated by the inhabitants of that persuasion, according to annual custom, by bathing in the sea. There was a particular efficacy attached to this sea-bathing (at Latakia, at least) for the cure of sore eyes.

On the 19th of July, I was walking out of one of the gates of the town, about eight in the morning, when I came suddenly on a man who had been impaled an hour or two before, and was now dead, but still transfixed by the stake, which, as I saw on approaching him, came out about the sixth rib on the right side; but I was so shocked at this unexpected sight, that it was some minutes before I could recover myself sufficiently to go up to him. The stake was planted upright, seemed to be scarcely sharp, and was somewhat thicker than a hop-pole. I was told that it was forced up the body by repeated blows of a mallet, the malefactor having been bound on his face to a heavy pack-saddle, and an incision being made with a razor to facilitate the entrance of the stake. The body, yet alive, was set upright in a rude manner; for the Turks preserve no decorum in executions: from pity for his sufferings, after being a short time in this position, he was shot. His shirt, which was afterwards set on fire, in burning singed the whole of his body black; and thus he was left for two days. His crime was said to be the stealing of a bullock and the murder of one of his pursuers. Jewish, Christian, Drûze, and Ansáry criminals are alone subjected to this horrible punishment: Turks are beheaded.[75]

I will now detail the other accidents of the plague which occurred up to this time, the beginning of August. On Thursday, June 9th, a lad had died; on the 17th, two Turks at the strand or port, and a child five years old. On the 21st, I was led to the house of a woman whose daughter, nine years old, had died in the morning. The mother had been ill six days. She was still on her legs, and came into the courtyard for me to see her; but she appeared more like a corpse than a living person, and her face was the picture of anxiety and despair. Among her other feelings, she was exceedingly sensible to the wind. There was a swelling under her left arm very visible. On the following day I saw her again. The swelling was enlarged, but caused no discolourment. I could have wished to administer some remedies to her, but her friends opposed it. I do not know whether I have mentioned a prejudice which the Christians of Syria have, that the linen which people have on when they fall ill should be worn until their convalescence. There is a still more pernicious custom prevalent among them, that of assembling at the houses of their friends or relations who are sick; considering, on these occasions, that condolence is more peculiarly a mark of affection. But the complaisance of the Christians is only shown where no danger is incurred; Turks exert it on all occasions; and, as at these visits they are officious in little services around the sick-bed, if the disorder be contagious, they cannot well escape it.

Before the 30th of the month, a Jew, two children, a black woman, and a Turk, had died infected.

By the end of July, all appearances of plague had ceased in the town; and the infection was supposed to be diminished in its force, because the mother and sisters of a young man, who had died about the 20th, and on whom they had attended, had not caught it.

The month of August was ushered in by quotidian and tertian agues, which prevailed very generally. Ophthalmia was also very common, but yielded to antiphlogistic treatment and common collyria.

It was on the 10th of August that news reached Lady Hester, by letter from Tripoli, of the death of Mr. Cotter, one of two English gentlemen, who, shortly after landing in Syria from the Archipelago, had, with the other, Mr. Davison, been seized with a malignant fever at the monastery of Dayr Natûr, near Tripoli, which city they had been unable to enter, owing to the plague. Her ladyship hastened to offer an asylum to Mr. Davison, should he be disposed to avail himself of it; but it was said that he had departed for Jerusalem.

August 20.--Mr. Barker, the British consul at Aleppo, had resolved on spending part of the autumn with his family at Latakia; they arrived about this time, and their society was a great acquisition. There is a village on the first rise of the mountains to the north-east, called Besnáda, celebrated for the view which it affords, for its air, and for its water; there Mr. Barker fitted up a cottage, and, with the addition of a tent or two, found room enough for his large establishment.

A melancholy event occurred at the end of this month to a young Christian, who fell a victim to his indiscretion. He was the brother of Abdallah, katib of the Collector of the Customs, and ranking, from his situation, as one of the most respectable of the Christians. This gentleman, who was about twenty-five years old, and of a fair complexion (forming a strong contrast with the browner faces of his nation), was seen one morning to come out of the harým of a Turkish Effendi, just before sunrise. A Mussulman, who suspected that he was carrying on an intrigue with a Turkish lady, had watched him, and, information being laid against him, he was seized and imprisoned. His imprisonment made a great noise; and Abdallah, fearing that his brother’s life might be in danger, despatched a courier to Acre, to intercede for him with the pasha.

The Moslems will not easily pardon any man for an illicit intercourse with their women, but a Christian never. As there existed much hatred between the Motsellem and the Kumrukgi, the latter could obtain no mitigation of punishment by his intercessions.

The next morning, the prisoner was reported to have been cruelly bastinadoed: and the third morning he was said to have died. In fact, he was despatched hastily, lest the return of the courier should prevent the revenge which the Turks will ever take on Christians for an affront not to be wiped out but with their blood.

Various are the opinions entertained as to the effects of fruit on the human frame. The question is of too general a nature to make it necessary to apologize for inserting in this place the results of a fruit diet, persisted in from the 1st of July to the 20th, and renewed from the 4th of August to the 27th. 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. 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.