We finished with Mr. Farran’s town-house or palace, for such it truly is; and where, to oriental splendor we found united English elegance and comfort. The furniture from his own country was made to harmonize very well with the eastern architectural taste.
The Commodore in the morning had sent his travelling firman to the palace of Sheriff Pasha, the Governor of Syria; and now, while the ladies proceeded with Mrs. Farran to her country residence, he went with the officers to make an official visit to that dignitary. The cavalcade, consisting of the Dragoman of the English embassy, Cavasses, Mr. Farrah, and the American officers, had to traverse the whole length of the city, as the Governor’s palace is on the south-western end. Sheriff Pasha had been represented to us as a thorough Turk in his feelings and manners towards Christians; but owing, probably, to the firman, he met the party in the court of his palace, surrounded by his officers, and with a guard of honor. On being conducted to the audience hall, the party found that chairs had been provided for their accommodation, and he even occupied a chair himself. The usual compliment of pipes, &c. was paid; and while smoking, he proceeded to inquire about our country, showing, as indeed did most of the Egyptian officers wherever we visited, a knowledge of our institutions and resources that we had not expected to find. He spoke of our late war and our successes on the ocean; and expressed a strong desire to see the Delaware, of which he said he had that morning received an account by letter. His curiosity, he said, would have carried him over to Beirout to visit the ship, if he had not been in daily expectation of the arrival of Ibrahim Pasha. After presenting Mr. Farrah to him as the agent of our government, and receiving assurances that on this recommendation he should be received without the usual formalities of writing to Alexandria, the Commodore expressed the satisfaction he felt in the protection and countenance that had been afforded by Mohammed Ali and the Governor to the American citizens resident in Syria. The Pasha replied, “That the citizens of all powers residing in the kingdom were entitled to protection—such were his orders, which it afforded him pleasure to fulfil, particularly towards the Americans, who had by their correct conduct and their efforts to do good, merited protection and favor; and that so long as he continued in office they should be his peculiar care, and that he himself would be their consul;” he requested, “if we should hear of an American having suffered injustice or injury, or not having obtained justice for any injury or insult, that the Commodore would write to him, and charge him with neglect of his promise:” and added, “that, in short, he wanted to be himself American consul in Syria, and charge himself with the care and interests of all Americans, who were then, or might afterwards settle, in Syria, or make it a visit.” The reader is left to deduct from all this whatever he may consider as belonging to the usual palavar of such occasions; but, after all, Sheriff Pasha certainly acted and spoke in a very handsome manner.
The party, after this interview, proceeded to Mr. Farran’s country-seat, where we were engaged to dinner. This is a very beautiful spot. It is quite near the foot of the mountains, in a north-western direction from the city, from which it is about two miles distant. The house stands within a large enclosure, and has in front a court surrounded by immense walnut trees intermingled with the orange and lemon, overhanging a large fountain. Directly under the windows in the rear rushes the Barraday, here undivided, and a full rapid stream of the clearest water. The grounds around the dwelling are laid out in good taste, and are covered by an exuberance of foliage, some of the trees being of prodigious magnitude.
The entertainment was in a style to correspond to all this; and after such a busy day, good appetites were not wanting to do it justice. It was, indeed, pleasant, away at Damascus, to meet with a hospitality so kind and agreeable, and society that beguiled the thoughts back to one’s father-land: and the party were easily induced to remain till morning. Beds, in these countries, are, easily provided, the broad ottomans only requiring a few sheets in order to make them excellent places of repose; and so they are generally used.
The next day was appropriated to a lounge among the bazaars; and we spent it agreeably, under the guidance of Mr. and Mrs. Farran, in looking at the great variety of oriental productions. I have always taken great pleasure in lounging in a Turkish bazaar; and it struck me that these of Damascus, though perhaps less splendid, are more pleasing than even the great bazaars of Constantinople. One very pleasing characteristic of them is their great loftiness; while those of the Turkish capital are low. The reader will imagine a street, or any succession of streets, or rather a labyrinth of streets, about fifteen feet wide, and covered at the height of fifty or sixty feet by a wooden roof, generally tight, but sometimes allowing, through the interstices of the covering or of a huge spreading grape-vine, the sunbeams to fall in a gentle and chequered light. The sides of this street are composed entirely of shops, not very large, and quite open in front; so that the passengers can easily distinguish every article upon the well-filled shelves. The floor of the shop is raised about three feet, and is carpeted; and in the centre sits the lord of the little domain, ready for the call of customers, and in the intervals helping away the time by means of a book, or a pipe, or it may be by a nap. From the sides of partitions between the stores bits of wood project into the street, and on these are hung specimens of the articles for sale, silks of various dye, handkerchiefs covered with vines or with sprigs of gold embroidery; towels ornamented at their ends in a similar showy manner; and cashmere shawls, rich enough to turn almost any brain, except, of course, those of the reader and myself. Here, as in other oriental cities, the shops are not mixed up together in the manner usual with us; but streets, or parts of a street, are appropriated to the sale of a particular article. One street has cobcobs; another has slippers; another jewelry; another arms; another dry goods; another drugs. We came to one lined with manufactories of cutlery, and at once scattered along it in search of something that might be tortured into the boast of “a Damascus blade;” but all to little purpose. The gentlemen, seated cross-legged before their anvils, stared at our questions, and seemed now, for the first time, to become aware of the celebrity of their manufactures: and the nearest approach that we could find to the articles of our search, were some huge, coarse knives, and a handjar or two. They had, however, the delicate waving lines of yellow and blue along the blade, which was one of the characteristics of the Damascus swords, and was occasioned by their being made of alternate pieces of iron and steel wire; the former to give them toughness, the latter hardness and edge.
Here and there, at the corners of streets, we came to fruit-stands, and in some of the well-filled baskets I noticed peaches, which I think were the largest that I have ever seen.
The appearance of such a large party in the French dress seemed to rouse the people from their natural apathy, and the streets sometimes became so crowded as to be uncomfortable. We were, however, always treated with politeness, and found them ready to gratify our curiosity with regard to their wares: if we purchased, well: if not, well: the muscles of the dignified and composed features of the merchant were equally unmoved.
We might have spent a much longer time very agreeably at Damascus, and were urged also to proceed on to Palmyra; but our time was limited; and towards the close of the second day we bade adieu to the hospitable family of Mr. Farrah, by which we had been so kindly entertained. Our faces were now turned towards Balbec, which was not far out of our way back to the ship; and as Mr. Farran’s house was on the road to that city, he had insisted on our coming out this evening and spending the night under his roof.
Having filed out at the north-western end of the city, we came, soon after leaving it, to a large burying-ground, where the graves, covered with solid masonry, which was plaistered and whitewashed, showed a pleasing attention to the dead. The whitewash looked as if frequently renewed, and every part of the ground was clean and in good order. The appropriate cyprus, however, was wanting; nor was there any other tree, or even a shrub. Beyond this, we entered among the gardens once more; and were immediately surrounded by trees of venerable appearance and majestic growth, and by cottages and country-houses, and gushing streams. In our own country, majestic forest trees and streams of all dimensions are common things, and the reader may wonder at the enthusiasm which we felt when such objects were met with in our journeyings: our enthusiasm was owing to two causes—the rarity of such things about the Mediterranean was one, and the other cause was the fact that they are common at our home: they brought home to our minds, more vividly perhaps than any other objects could have done; and no one who has not made the experiment can tell how dear, at the end of a few years’ absence, our father-land becomes.
Alighted at Mr. Farran’s, however, we could not feel that we were in a strange country. A pleasant evening succeeded an agreeable day, and when we stretched ourselves on our couches, the gurgling of water on either side of the house lulled us to repose.