Chapter V

Reflections on the ruins of Palmyra--Wood and Dawkins’s
plates--Fountain of Ephca--Castle--Tombs--Cottage selected
for Lady Hester--Visit to a curious cave--Justinian’s
wall--Climate and diseases--Salt marshes--Causes of
fevers--Air and climate of Palmyra--Gardens, corn-fields,
and trees--Sulphureous waters--Dress of the men; and of
the women--Departure from Palmyra--Lady Hester sends
Giorgio to look for the Author--Fall of snow--The party
lose themselves, and sleep in the snow--Encampment of
Beni Omar Bedouins--Hassan’s unfeeling conduct--Pride
of the Bedouins to ride on horseback--Encampment
of Ali Bussal--False notions of the hospitality of
Bedouins--Partridges of the Desert--Emir of the Melhem--M.
Lascaris’s scheme of traffic--Arrival of Madame
Lascaris--Attack of the Sebáh--Wounded Bedouin--Giorgio
goes to Palmyra--The Author returns to Hamah--Ruins of a
triumphal arch--Snow-storm--A night in a cavern--Ruined
village--Selamyah--Ruined mosque--Hardships endured by
Bedouins--Miscellaneous observations on their character and
manners 132

CHAPTER VI.

Hamah--Inclemency of the weather--Preparations made by Lady
Hester for her journey to Palmyra--Conical cisterns--Nazyf
Pasha--Abdallah Pasha--Muly Ismael--The governor of
Hamah--Appearance of the Plague in Syria--Motives of Lady
Hester Stanhope for visiting Palmyra--Price paid to the
Bedouins for a safe conduct--Pilfering; particularly by
their chief Nasar--Order of march--Sham fights--Tribe
of the Sebáh--Arabs on their march--Rude behaviour
of Nasar--Gebel el Abiad, or the White Mountain--The
Author rides forward to Palmyra--Alarm at Lady Hester’s
encampment--Her entry into Palmyra--Inspection of the
ruins--A wedding--Dress of the women--Faydân Bedouins made
prisoners--The escape of two of them causes Lady Hester to
leave the place 166

CHAPTER VII.

Departure from Palmyra--Suspicions of Nasar--Encampment in
a beautiful valley--Tribe of the Sebáh and their Shaykh
Mnyf--Assembly of Bedouins at Lady Hester Stanhope’s
tent--The women--Traits of Bedouin character--Tribe
of the Beni Omar--Affray between the Bedouins--Their
war-cry--Aqueducts--Salamýah--Clotted cream and sour
milk--Meat of the Desert--Castle of Shumamýs--Medical
assistance required by Bedouins--Entry of Lady Hester into
Hamah-- Sum paid to Nasar for escort--Salubrity of the air
of the Desert--State of Lady Hester’s health--Professional
aid of the Author in requisition--Yahyah Bey--Rigid
abstinence of a Syrian Christian--The bastinado--Pilgrimage
to the tomb of a shaykh--Treatment of horses in
spring--Precautions against plague--Custom of supporting
great personages under the arm--Schoolmasters--Doctors and
their patients 203

CHAPTER VIII.

Departure from Hamah--Encampment on the bank of the
Orontes--Transformation of aquatic to winged animals--Vale
of the Orontes--Calât el Medyk--Bridge and village of
Shogre--Topal Ali makes himself independent of the Pasha
of Aleppo--Singular application of a Jewess--Poverty of
the inhabitants of Shogre--Visit to Topal Ali--Gebel el
Kerád--Beautiful Scenery--Tribe of Ansáry--Lady Hester
stays behind among them--Latakia 231

CHAPTER IX.

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 252

CHAPTER X.

Mode of Life of Lady Hester Stanhope--Imaginary
treasures of Gezzàr Pasha--Road to the Convent of
Mar Elias--Description of the Convent--Village of
Abra--Interior of a cottage--Poverty of the people--Change
in the character of Lady Hester--Abra purchased by a
Greek Patriarch--Revenues--Tenure of land--Occupations
of the peasantry--Herdsmen--Village overseer--Notions
of propriety in the behaviour of females--Dread of the
plague--Precautions against the infection suggested by Lady
Hester to the Emir Beshýr--Visit of the Shaykh Beshýr to
Abra--Good breeding of the Turks--Greek monasteries--The
patriarch Macarius--M. Boutin--Hanýfy, a female slave sent
to Lady Hester--Specification of her qualities--Discovery
of an ancient sepulchre--Paintings in it copied by Mr.
Bankes, and by the Author--Various forms of sepulchres 304