I visited one Bedouin who had received a wound in the calf of his leg from a lance. Alum, powdered with crumbs of bread, was his remedy. He refused to suffer me to handle the wound at all, and said he should soon get well. In fact, the extreme temperance and spare diet of the Bedouins render their wounds less dangerous than the same would be to a European.
The mare of one of the emir’s sons could scarcely stand from fatigue. He wrapped her body in a piece of carpeting, with which he generally covered himself when he slept. Nasar caught a most severe rheumatism from head to foot, and I observed that this was one of the commonest maladies among them.
The inclemency of the weather, beyond what had been known for many years, obliged me to remain a day longer with them. It was arranged that Giorgio should make another attempt to reach Palmyra in company with M. Lascaris;[38] and I, accompanied by my former guide, Hassan, set off on the 28th of January, to return to Hamah.
The weather was very cold, and sleet fell occasionally. We rode all day, and here a chasm in my journal obliges me to trust to my memory: for my fingers were so benumbed that I could not make notes. I recollect, that, while we were crossing that chain of mountains which I have called the Beláz, we passed the ruins of an edifice which looked something like a triumphal arch, and of Roman architecture. That part which I particularly observed was the portico, the pillars of which lay on the ground in the same order in which they had stood. There was an inscription, in very large letters, but of which I could only make out the letters IMP....[39]
Hassan was not willing that I should loiter, and I was too benumbed and fatigued even to feel the curiosity natural to me on such occasions. Hassan had moreover told me several stories of the ferocity of hyenas and tigers in seasons so inclement as this; so that I expected to see one rush out upon us from every bush. Towards the afternoon, the severity of the cold augmented. We were still in the mountains, among a scattered forest of turpentine trees; but the sleet and snow, which drove directly in our faces, made it impossible to advance quickly. About four or five o’clock, we came to the mouth of a cavern, where we dismounted, and led our horses into it. They could just stand upright, but the water oozed through the roof upon them; and, for ourselves, we could hardly find a place free from wet whereon to sit. We had with us no provisions but unleavened bread and raisins. My pipe, which, under all difficulties, had been my greatest solace, served to beguile many hours of this night. Hassan would not light a fire, much as we stood in need of it; assuring me that there were too many robbers about to be able to do it with safety, as the blaze would betray us. It may be supposed what comfortless hours we passed in this situation.
Several times in the night Hassan peeped out of our den to see what turn the weather would take. As soon as the morning star was up, he told me we must start, as we had far to go. We tied on our wallets behind the saddles, which had not been taken off, and, on emerging from the cavern, I found that the sky promised a fine day, and that the morning star was shining brilliantly. We rode along through scattered turpentine trees. The sun rose, and yesterday’s snow, now thawed into drops of water, shone like diamonds on the branches. On a sudden we came on a low Bedouin tent, and, before Hassan could decide whether we were to advance towards it, or to shun it, a Bedouin, who knew Hassan, immediately made his appearance. They saluted each other, and talked together about ten minutes, when we continued our journey. A little farther on we saw a ruined village of comparatively modern date.
We soon quitted the forest and mountains, and entered on an almost level country. The day proved mild, and we travelled on briskly. Soon after mid-day, we saw, about a league distant, some camels, mounted by Bedouins. We inclined towards them, and I suspected that Hassan had been informed of their march by the Bedouin we spoke to in the morning, as he showed no suspicions respecting them. We joined them in half an hour. They were four Bedouins going to Hamah; and, accommodating our pace to theirs, we marched with them the rest of the day. We soon came in sight of the ruins of Salamyah, which we passed, leaving them six miles to the south of us: then the Castle of Shumamys, which we left behind us; and after sunset, reached a ruined mosque, where, amidst the dung of animals, that had, no doubt, under circumstances like our own, sought shelter here, we seated ourselves, supped on figs, which the Bedouins gave us, and, wrapped in our abahs and sheep-skins, slept out the night.
The next day, about two or three in the afternoon, we reached Hamah. The Orontes had overflowed its banks, and on the bridge of Hamah the water reached up to our horses’ hocks.
Thus, during the twenty-eight days which I passed in the Desert, for fifteen I never washed my hands, never changed my clothes, and slept in a tent open on one side to the snow, the rain, and the wind: often did I awake with my feet soaked in wet. Excepting the six days I passed at Palmyra, it was seldom I ate anything but unleavened bread, figs, raisins, treacle, and rice. People may marvel at the extraordinary hardships of the Bedouin Arabs, who support life with a pinch of flour and a few dates, and at the hundred other wonders related of them. That which is most difficult to bear is the want of water, which, even when it abounds, being collected from holes in rocks and puddles, is quite muddy; yet, in my case, novelty and hunger made me tolerate, if not relish, everything. These are the sources of the liberty of the Arab. Brought up from his birth to bear privations, to which the inhabitants of towns and villages would not submit, he reigns the lord of a territory which nobody envies him: and, whilst he plants his tent at pleasure over a measureless waste, enjoys a freedom bought at a price that few are willing to pay for it.
I felt proud to have contemplated the Bedouins, not as most travellers do by a cursory sight of some stragglers whom chance throws in their way on the high road, or in the market-towns to which they resort; but in their own homes, in their most numerous encampments, and under the roof of the Emir, Mahannah el Fadel.