Monsieur Taitbout, the French Consul, had made arrangements in the French caravansery for the lodging of us all. This caravansery is a quadrangular building, with few windows looking outward, and having but one gate. It was originally built for the residence of the French factors, but contained at this time only two or three families of that nation, being those who had returned to live there after the expulsion of the factory by El Gezzàr Pasha, and who were now starving for want of commerce. A visit to and from the governor were the only occurrences, in which Lady Hester took a part, that are worth notice. The governor received a watch as a present, in return for the sheep, rice, coffee, sugar, &c., which he had sent on our arrival.
The town appeared dull, having nothing to boast of but its gardens, which are indeed fruitful, and its water, which is excellent, but not yet a temptation to us, who, new to the East, had not learned to relish that wholesome beverage.
Turkish towns are very much alike. A large building, with an open place before it, generally denotes the palace of the governor; a few streets called the sûk or bazar, from eight to fourteen or twenty feet broad, contain rows of shops; and other streets, equally narrow, are occupied by the Mahometan inhabitants, who live in retired and jealous stillness; whilst a second quarter contains the Christians; and, in a few dirty lanes, inaccessible from the stench and filth to any but their tenants, live the Jews.
A Turkish shop is commonly no more than from six to nine feet square, in the shape of an alcove, the floor of which is raised waist high, and before which the customer stands in the open street, whilst the shopkeeper sits cross-legged on the shop-board, and has only to reach his hand to what his customer applies for. A single shutter falls down and shuts in the whole, and a few shelves contain the goods of every day’s demand. But, often, a small door leads to a warehouse behind, where articles of more value and bulk are to be found. Merchants upon a larger scale have warehouses by the waterside, where rice, tobacco, silk, and the like, are deposited. In the same room with the merchandize sits the merchant, upon a mat of a few feet square, on boards raised to a convenient height from the ground, where an inkstand and two or three half-bound account-books are the whole apparatus of sometimes very extensive dealings. There are no desks. Shopkeepers of the same trade generally live in a row. The artisans carry on their trades in the same sort of niches; and shoemakers, tailors, silversmiths, &c. may be seen in their shops, sitting cross-legged and working, so that passengers may almost learn a trade as they walk along.
The gate of the town is the general rendezvous of the chief people of the place, and the governors are accustomed to go and sit there on benches in the open air every day. The sentence that occurs so often in the Scriptures, “And the king sat at the gate,” shows how ancient this custom is. The name of the Sublime Porte is derived from this usage. Suliman Pasha of Acre might be seen every day sitting to administer justice at the city gate.
Sayda is supplied with water from the river Ewely, (pronounced Ouwely) a portion of which is conveyed by an aqueduct into the heart of the town, where the altitude of the water is found by pyramidal levels, and is then distributed by earthenware pipes to the houses of the inhabitants.
Sayda has two castles, which the firing of their own guns shakes to the foundation. It has likewise two ports; but its inner port can admit fishing-smacks only. The haven is dangerous, and vessels can with difficulty ride out a storm.
It would appear that the extent of ancient Sidon was not so great as some travellers have imagined. At the foot of the mountain, east and north-east, I have myself traced the remains of several sepulchres, which, as having been on the outside of the city walls, prove that the city could not have extended so far. Thus, just above the modern village of Helliléah, east and by south of Sayda, is a sarcophagus, with some tombs, distant from the seashore one mile and a half. Due north, in a garden, is a sepulchre not half a mile from the town; so that, if the ancient city did not extend far to the north or east, and if there are no ruins to the south, as in fact I saw none, its boundaries are reduced to a very small space. Modern Sidon may be two miles in circumference.
Sayda,[79] according to some authors, is distant from Damascus sixty-six miles, west south west. Its population is carried by some persons as high as 15,000 souls, of whom 150 are Maronites, 300 Greek Catholics, from 100 to 150 Jews, and the remainder Turks: but, considering the size of the place, I should not be disposed to allow even half that number. A native merchant, named Dubani, limited it to 4,500 or 5,000 souls, among whom were 100 Christian families. There are eight mosques, the largest of which was once a church of St. John. Here is also a palace, which formerly was the residence of the Emir of the Drûzes. It is now in ruins, but is still called Dar el Emir (the Emir’s place.). Close by the seashore stands likewise a large building, where are the sepulchres of several of the Emirs of that nation. As it was much neglected by the people of Sayda, and made the receptacle of filth of every kind, the Emir Beshýr, the reigning prince, obtained permission to block up the doors and windows.
Sayda pays annually to the pasha 200 purses, (each of 500 piasters), of which the customs and harbour dues (as they were farmed in 1818,) produced 100. Duties on imports were for Europeans 3 per cent., for Mahometan subjects of the Porte 4, and for Christians 4½. These latter, however, seldom pay more than the Turks.