Adieu, my dear ——. I have written you a long letter, because I thought my last might have put you in a fright. Had the Wahabees come here, it would have been no joke, at least for the inhabitants of this town, for they burn and destroy all before them.
When you have read this, will you enclose it to Lord Ebrington, who is so good as always to feel anxious about me, and I have not time to write to him now, and I shall have no opportunity of sending another letter for a long time, most probably. Pray remember me most kindly to Captain Hope, and tell him I prosper.
Believe me,
Ever yours, most sincerely,
H. L. Stanhope.
Things were in this position when a messenger arrived from Mr. B. to say that he had quitted Aleppo, accompanied by Mr. Barker, the English consul, and, on his road to Damascus, had been taken ill at an obscure village, but was not so bad as to be incapable of travelling. This account induced her ladyship to request me immediately to go to his assistance. I accordingly departed, October 15th, on horseback, with a mule carrying my bed and medicine-chest, and with Ibrahim, my groom, on another horse.
On the road I was going there lay a village, called Yabrûd, the Shaykh of which, Osman Aga, had sent to Damascus to obtain my advice concerning a troublesome complaint with which he had been afflicted for some years. He was the brother-in-law of one Masûd Aga, Shaykh of Carah, a considerable burgh on the skirts of the Desert. In Masûd Aga was vested whatever authority the pasha had over Palmyra. This was little indeed; since the Bedouins, by their proximity, had considerable influence over the movements and the conduct of the inhabitants. However, it was proposed to Lady Hester, that, in case of her going to Palmyra, Masûd Aga should escort her. She was therefore anxious to do an act of civility to his relation, Osman Aga; and it was agreed that I should stop at Yabrûd in my way. There happened to be at Damascus one of Masûd Aga’s people, named Yahyah, who had been sent by his master to inquire when Lady Hester proposed setting off for Palmyra. He undertook to be my guide; and we departed from Damascus on the morning of the 15th October, and at nine in the evening arrived at Yabrûd, after being on horseback thirteen hours. The road had been good the whole way, excepting where we ascended Gebel Yabrûd.
VILLAGE OF YABRÛD.