I must add, that previous to my departure the Consul did every thing that it was possible for him to do, conducive to my safety and accommodation on the road, which as we were obliged to go to the city of Diarbeker, a great length out of our way, he observed would be long, dreary, fatiguing, and hazardous; he procured me from others, and gave me himself, a number of letters, and at parting desired me to comfort myself with the reflection, that when I arrived at my journey’s end, I should have to boast, that I went to India by a route never travelled by any European before.
LETTER XXXVII.
As I became familiarised to my Tartar guide, I found his character disclose much better traits than his first appearance bespoke, and I began insensibly to think him a very entertaining fellow: perceiving that I was very low spirited and thoughtful, he exhibited manifest marks of compassion; and taking it into his head that I was actually removed for ever from my friends and my family, he spoke in a style of regret and feeling, that did great honour to his heart: and to say the truth, he did every thing in his power to alleviate my feelings, conversing with me, either by means of the interpreter, or in broken lingua franca; supplying all my wants cheerfully and abundantly; changing horses with me as often as I pleased, and going slow or galloping forward just as best suited my inclination or humour.
The first object he seemed to have in view on our journey, was to impress me with a notion of his consequence and authority, as a messenger belonging to the Sultan. As all those men are employed by the first magistrates in the country, and are, as it were, the links of communication between them, they think themselves of great importance in the State; while the great men whose business they are employed in, make them feel the weight of authority, and treat them with the greatest contempt: hence they become habitually servile to their superiors, and by natural consequence insolent and overbearing to their inferiors, or those who being in their power they conceive to be so. As carriers of dispatches, their power and authority wherever they go is in some points undisputed; and they can compel a supply of provisions, horses, and attendants, where-ever it suits their occasions; nor dare any man resist their right to take the horse from under him to proceed on the Emperor’s business, be the owner’s occasion ever so pressing.
My feelings, which I can tell you were altogether of the most unpleasant kind, served as a stimulus to my mind, and increased my anxiety to get forward; I therefore pushed on as fast as the horses, which were in general excellent, could carry me: and as we halted at a number of stages to get fresh horses and provisions, my Tartar guide had frequent opportunities of indulging his self-importance, and displaying his great authority and power. As soon as he stopped at a caravansera, he immediately called lustily about him in the name of the Sultan, demanding with an imperious and menacing tone of voice, fresh horses, victuals, &c., on the instant. The terror of this great man operated like magic; nothing could exceed the activity of the men, the briskness of the women, and the terror of the children; for the caravanseras are continually attended by numbers of the very lowest classes of the people; but no quickness of preparation, no effort or industry could satisfy my gentleman; he would shew me his power in a still more striking point of view, and fall belabouring them with his whip, and kicking them with all his might. I must confess I was much hurt at this extravagant abuse of upstart power, and was two or three times on the point of interfering; but fortunately, recollected that it would neither be in character, nor have any good effect, and that if I presumed to speak, my guide would be obliged in my defence to give me a flogging in order to prevent suspicion.
This inconsiderate tyranny and cruelty, I had afterwards reason to believe, was by no means a part of his natural disposition; but vanity, to which so many among us in Europe fall victims, urged him to excesses, which I dare say his heart privately condemned.
It was on the fifth or sixth day (I cannot precisely say which) after our leaving Aleppo, that we got to the city of Diarbeker, the capital of the province of that name, having passed over an extent of country of between three and four hundred miles, most of it blessed with the greatest fertility, producing, in the few cultivated parts, grain, fruits of various kinds, and silk in great variety and abundance, and abounding with as rich pastures as I ever beheld, covered with numerous herds and flocks. The air was charmingly temperate in the day-time, but, to my feeling, extremely cold at night.
Yet notwithstanding the extreme fertility of this country, the bad administration of government, conspiring with the indolence of the inhabitants, leaves it unpopulous and uncultivated. Diarbeker, proper, called also Mesopotamia, from its lying between the two famous rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and by Moses called Padan Aram, that is to say—“The fruitful Syria;” abounds with corn, wine, oil, fruits, and all the necessaries of life. It is supposed to be the seat of the Earthly Paradise, and all Geographers agree that it was there the descendants of Noah first settled after the flood.