Yours ever, most sincerely,
H. L. S.
I scribble sadly, but my ink is so bad, and I have no table; the Turks always write upon their hand, and so slow—it is quite amusing!
Previous to her going, I gave her an account of my visit to M. and Madame Lascaris, and excited in her a great desire to see them. In the mean time the report had spread in the Desert that an English princess, who rode on a mare worth forty purses, with housings and stirrups of gold, and for whom the treasurer of the English sultan told out every day 1000 sequins, was about to pay a visit to Tadmûr; that she had in her possession a book which instructed her where treasures were to be found (this book was the plates of Wood and Dawkins); and that she had a small bag of leaves of a certain herb which could transmute antique stones into gold.
Lady Hester did certainly take the road to Hamah, but, unknown to us all, she had arranged a meeting with Nasar’s father, and was determined to enter the Desert alone, and thus give the Emir Mahannah a proof of her reliance on his honour. So, as she told us afterwards, going as far as Nebk, she there induced M. Lascaris and his wife immediately to dispose of their goods and whatever incumbrances they had, and to accompany her in the capacity of interpreters. She then turned off from the high road, at Tel Bysy, a hamlet near Hems, plunged into the Desert, under the guidance of a single Bedouin sent for that purpose, and trusted herself, a solitary and unprotected woman, to hordes of robbers, whose livelihood is the plunder they make, and whose exploits are numbered by the travellers they have despoiled. Arrived at Mahannah’s tent, her courage and demeanour struck that prince with astonishment. “I know you are a robber,” she said, on their first interview, “and that I am now in your power; but I fear you not; and I have left all those behind who were offered to me as a safeguard, and all my countrymen who could be considered as my protectors, to show you that it is you and your people whom I have chosen as such.” Mutually pleased with each other, after a short interview Mahannah escorted her ladyship to within a few miles of Hamah, and, commissioning his son to conduct her safe to the residence prepared for her in that city, they then parted.
In the mean time, Mr. B. and Mr. Barker, who had recovered from his indisposition, about the 24th of November, followed Lady Hester to Hamah. I remained behind, anxious to receive some boxes and packets of letters said to be arrived at Acre from England, and for which I had despatched an express messenger to that place. I hired a small house belonging to Mâlem Hanah Takhal, and divided my time between Ahmed Bey, M. Chaboceau and the Greek archbishop, taking the opportunity of visiting whatever I had neglected to see before in this beautiful city.
On the departure of Lady Hester from Damascus, the two Messieurs Bertrand were dismissed. As one of them had to return to Sayda, he rode a horse of Lady Hester’s, which was sent back by the messenger, who brought with him the boxes and letters that were expected. Having now nothing to detain me at Damascus, I took leave of my friends there as of persons I might never see again.
I had received from Hamah a bill of exchange on Ibrahim Aga, a creditable Damascus merchant, dealer in red caps, for one thousand piasters, in order to make some purchases; but the extreme caution of the old man, and the time he took to collect the money, delayed me yet longer: for the Mahometan merchants are not used to negotiate bills as persons do in England, and trade is generally carried on by barter or by hard cash.
I made a contract with one Hossayn Shakády to carry all my luggage to Hamah, for forty ikliks, or one hundred piasters. On the 7th of December I left the city of Damascus. I was now equipped in a very different manner from what I had been when I entered it. I had altered my dress entirely, and had assumed that of the Syrian Mahometans, one principal feature of which is the abah, or long cloak, made of woollen stuff, which hangs, without sleeves, from the shoulders. Instead of my bed, I provided myself with a small carpet of the size of a hearth-rug, on which I proposed to sleep without undressing. I discharged my servant Yusef, a hypocritical fellow, who, from having lived as cook in the Franciscan convent of Damascus, was as demure, and at the same time as great a cheat, as such an education could possibly make him.[25]
I departed in company with a caravan of about sixty mules and camels, most of them destined for Aleppo. I was furnished with a buyurdy, or government order, for my supply on my journey with food and provender for myself, horses, and servant. I was now therefore no longer an English traveller, but, both in garb and usages, endeavoured to conform to the customs of the natives; and, whilst in the East, I never afterwards quitted them. I will therefore describe this method of travelling, that the reader may understand how wide the difference is between Turkey and his own country.