By what chance he was not killed on the spot is unimaginable. He secreted himself some days in Cairo; and then, in disguise, he attempted to fly into Syria across the Desert. His guides waited for a favourable opportunity, and attempted to murder him. Supposing him dead, they plundered and stripped the body, threw it into a cemetery which was near at hand, and then fled. When he recovered his senses sufficiently to know where and in what state he was, he crept under the shade of a tomb from the scorching rays of the sun, and was found in this lamentable situation by a Bedouin, who had compassion on him, carried him to his tent, and concealed him until his wounds were healed. The bey then continued his flight across the Desert: and, arriving at Jerusalem, there sought the protection of the pasha of Acre. He still complained of great pain in his loins from the wounds he had received, and his wrist was yet bound up.
Lady Hester Stanhope administered to his pecuniary wants, and desired me to afford him whatever assistance lay in my power. He gratefully received her present with less scruple than an Englishman in distress would have done, because the acceptance of alms by Mahometans has nothing degrading in it. Emin Bey, for that was his name, was a man with an expressive but not a handsome countenance; and the loss of two or three front teeth, which were beaten out by his assailants, contributed greatly to disfigure him. He expressed much admiration of the English as a people, and of their arts and manufactures: he professed a great regard for all of us. His servants, who were two only, one of whom seemed to be hired for the occasion, partook, as well as their master, of Lady Hester’s bounty.
The same day was destined for visiting the Holy Sepulchre. The monks, as also the Turks who are stationed there to take the accustomed fees, were apprized of our coming. To make the ceremony more pompous, they shut the church doors, which on the moment of our arrival flew open, and the monks appeared with candles in their hands, and preceded her ladyship to the sepulchre, as in a procession. Curiosity had likewise attracted a vast concourse of people; and the Turks, using their whips and sticks to keep them from pressing on, not less dishonoured the sacredness of the place than did the monks by their garrulity and mummery: whilst the tumultuous behaviour of the native Christians deserved all the chastisement it received. As the sanctuary or chapel that is built over the Holy Sepulchre is but small, her ladyship, Mr. B., myself, Giorgio, and one priest only entered, after we had first observed that it was decorated externally with tapestry, sculptures, and pictures. It consisted of an outer and inner chamber or cell, each of which might have been four feet by six, with no other light than that given by the silver lamps suspended from the ceiling. These lamps are presents from divers potentates of Europe, and generally of elegant shape. Vases of flowers fill up the intervals. The effect of the whole was solemn and beautiful. The grave itself of Jesus Christ is not seen: an oblong marble slab covers it. I placed several strings of beads with crosses on this lid or cover, as thereby I had been informed they acquired a degree of sanctity which would make them more acceptable to devout Catholics in Europe.
Disturbed as one’s thoughts were by the tumult without, still the solemnity of the place, coupled with the reflections to which it gave rise, was inconceivably imposing, far exceeding anything I had ever felt before. We all kissed the sepulchre. The Greek dragoman, Giorgio, giving way to the impulse of his devotion, took off his turban,[32] and, with several prostrations with his forehead touching the ground, showed how profoundly he was impressed with what he beheld. The priest, like one too much accustomed to it, and in whom the feeling had worn off, was indecorously deficient in gravity.
From the Holy Sepulchre we were conducted up about forty steps to the top of Mount Calvary, where the different spots made memorable by Christ’s sufferings are shown; where he was scourged, where he was crucified, and some others; all which events, as being here said to have happened within the compass of a few yards, carry such an air of improbability with them, that the spectator is led to believe that distant places have been approximated for the greater convenience of worship; in the first instance, perhaps as emblematical of the real ones, which, because covered by Mahometan houses, it might be impossible to see or get at; but afterwards, by priestcraft, held forth to the pilgrims as the very places that had been sanctified by the sufferings of the Redeemer.
In the year 1809 or 1810 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was burned to the ground, having been, as was said by many, maliciously set on fire by the Turks, in order to extort money for the permission of rebuilding it; but different professions of Christians charge each other with the act; by the Catholics it is imputed to the Greeks, and by the Greeks to the Catholics. Be this as it may, the Greeks have been at the expense of rebuilding it, in a style of architecture that no doubt appears more beautiful to the Oriental pilgrims than that of the pristine church. It has now white walls, with blue and red mouldings, and unmeaning flowers and gilding in abundance.
Lady Hester was not forgetful of whatever might be curious in Jerusalem. Supposing that the Jewish nation could no where be seen to so great an advantage as in the city which they reverence as their holy place, she inquired who were the principal families, and sent a message expressing a wish to see them at their own houses in their own fashion. From the house of Emin Bey we proceeded to the quarter of the Jews; and, so disgraceful is the commerce with that people held by the Turks and even Christians, that our janissary, Mohammed, and the dragoman of the convent, made as many wry faces as if they were going to prison, and frequently looked behind them to see who observed us. It is not unknown to our readers that the Jews, in the Turkish dominions, live in a particular quarter assigned to them, which in many places is without the walls of the town; but, whether within the walls or without, it is always remarkable for the narrowness of its streets, and the dirty exterior and ruined state of its houses. It was thus it proved in Jerusalem, the metropolis of the nation, where we were conducted into a small, mean, dilapidated house, and found no less a person than a Venetian Jewess dressed in much Italian finery, who had been selected in preference to others to receive Lady Hester, because she spoke bad Italian. They had prepared a tray of sweetmeats, which, with coffee, and some desultory conversation, finished the amusements of this day; to be numbered as one of the most busy that will be described in these pages.
The following day horses were hired, at two piasters a piece, to go to Bethlehem. Our guide was a Christian shaykh, an inhabitant of that place. The road was, similar to that which we had passed in coming from Abu Ghosh’s village, stoney and rocky. After three or four hours’ ride, we arrived at the monastery. We were much struck with the beauty of the portico or stoa, which, though disfigured and blocked up in front, forms an imposing colonnade of lofty granite pillars. Having reposed a little, and listened to the conversation of a monk, who, during Buonaparte’s stay in Egypt, had thrown aside the cowl and fought under the French, we were conducted down some dark steps to the manger in which our Saviour was born. Like his tomb, it is so much disguised with silks and velvets, crucifixes and lamps, as to be hardly recognized for, what it seemed really to be, a trough hewn out of the solid rock. Such mangers are not uncommon in Syria at this day. The altars round the manger were more splendid than that at the sepulchre, as his birth was a more joyful event than his death. We here likewise saw the tomb of Nicodemus.
We were much pestered by the inhabitants of the village to induce us to buy their crosses and beads; but, as we had come just after Easter, we found that every good article had been carried off. This did not prevent us from purchasing as many rosaries as would suffice for a host of friends: for a trifle, however ordinary on the spot, has an inconceivable value a hundred leagues off. The inhabitants of Bethlehem have the mien and appearance of robbers; and their broad stilettoes stuck in the girdle, which they make use of very readily, contribute much to the impression, that, we were told, is by no means unfounded. After taking refreshment, we prepared to return; and, although the steward of the convent received a present of one guinea for the few hours we were there, he was very discontented; and our dislike seemed to be mutual, since we had no reason to be pleased with the difficulties which had been opposed to every arrangement for our gratification.
Her ladyship caused several horses to be brought her to look at; but a numerous retinue and the reputation of being rich made it extremely difficult to buy, unless at an exorbitant rate. Nevertheless, from observations made since, on going through Syria, there is no place where better horses are to be obtained than at Jerusalem, Jaffa, and their environs. This is owing to the annual resort of the pilgrims, which induces the Arabs of the interior, from the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, to bring their spare horses and mares to a market where they are sure to find a ready sale. In like manner, the shaykhs of the villages round Jerusalem are glad to dispose of their horses as soon as Easter is over, as they cannot expect to let them out to advantage until the ensuing year.