A few observations, which presented themselves in the course of my stay among them, and which would have interrupted the thread of the narrative, will not be altogether misplaced here. The Bedouins are very ceremonious. Whoever joins a party generally makes three salutations, to which every person replies, “Salám Alëikûm, peace be unto you: Allah messekûmbel khyr, the Lord give you a good night—strength to you.” To which the answers are, “Unto you be peace: A hundred good nights to you: God strengthen you also.” When a person of consequence enters, all rise; and as, from the nature of a tent where the entry and exit is but a step, this takes place very frequently, the repetition of this ceremony becomes extremely tiresome. Whenever any one drinks, he says, “In the name of God;” and, as he removes the cup from his lips, he is saluted on all sides by “Hannean” (much good may it do you), He puts it down with “El hamd lillah—Praise to God.”[40]
I have seen an Arab, in selling a measure of barley, take God to witness in every shape in which an oath can be worded of his being a loser by the bargain; adding, as he measured it out, “In the name of God the merciful:”—yet, to the certain knowledge of the bystanders, he was making fifty per cent. by his goods. Their thieving disposition allows not a moment’s peace to the traveller who is among them. His saddle-bags must always be with him, or they will be rifled: and, though he may sleep upon them, sit by them, and leave them only on pressing occasions for a moment, he may expect to find something missing. A plated curb to my bridle disappeared on the second night: my provision of barley for my horse soon followed, and I was obliged to content myself with the scanty pittance allowed me by the emir.
CHAPTER VI.
Hamah—Inclemency of the weather—Preparations made by Lady Hester for her journey to Palmyra—Conical cisterns—Nazýf Pasha—Abdallah Pasha—Muly Ismael—The governor of Hamah—Appearance of the Plague in Syria—Motives of Lady Hester Stanhope for visiting Palmyra—Price paid to the Bedouins for a safe conduct—Pilfering; particularly by their chief Nasar—Order of march—Sham fights—Tribe of the Sebáh—Arabs on their march—Rude behaviour of Nasar—Gebel el Abiad, or the White Mountain—The Author rides forward to Palmyra—Alarm at Lady Hester’s encampment—Her entry into Palmyra—Inspection of the ruins—A wedding—Dress of the women—Faydán Bedouins made prisoners—The escape of two of them causes Lady Hester to leave the place.
I paid Hassan the remainder of the sum agreed upon for conducting me, namely, 182 piasters. The whole cost of the journey, including every expense, was no more than 215 piasters, being equal to about £10. I had been absent twenty-eight days. The horse which Hassan had ridden died, from fatigue and the wound on his back, three days after our return. I found that the general theme of conversation in Hamah was the extraordinary weather. It had rained and snowed alternately from the 2nd of January up to the present time, and the snow had remained on the ground three inches deep. Soon after my return, water, in exposed situations, when still, froze a quarter of an inch thick, yet at mid-day the weather was beautiful and even hot.
As M. and Madame Lascaris were no longer at Hamah, I now occupied an apartment in a building that had formerly been the harým or private dwelling of Yahyah Bey, the governor of the place, who had been spirited away so suddenly, and where Mr. B. was already living.
Having satisfied Lady Hester on the practicability of her journey to Palmyra, she now busied herself very seriously in preparations for her departure, which she fixed for the ensuing month, when we expected that the weather would be settled. Her health, however, was not very robust at that time; and few persons in my situation would have pronounced her equal to such an undertaking. But I had had occasion to observe so frequently the great resources which she had derived from her personal courage and animal spirits against fatigue; and how often on a journey, her state was better than when halting; that I thought myself perfectly justified in consenting to the attempt. On the 10th of February I hired a boy, named Antonio, for my servant. Even then it froze very hard in the night, although the days proved fine and clear. About this time I observed in the markets a species of bulbous root, with a grassy leaf, which the inhabitants bought up with great avidity. I desired Ibrahim to procure me some, and, according to the manner of the country, I ate them boiled in milk, and found them exceedingly good. They are called in Arabic (at Hamah) khabbûs, and at Damascus hardyl; but I know not their botanical name.
February 12.—I rode to the west of Hamah one league, where I saw several reservoirs or cisterns of the shape of a sugarloaf, with openings at the apex large enough to admit a man. These, from numberless observations made at different places, I now supposed to indicate the former sites of houses and villages. They are always found on dry elevated ground, and served as repositories for grain;[41] they are always well coated with cement. Upon the hill, likewise, to the west and south-west of the city, on my return, I saw others; and, at the same spot, there were evident traces of a foss, or ditch: by which I was led to conclude that the city originally occupied this eminence, and was not, as at present, confined to the valley beneath.
Lady Hester had already received visits from most of the first families of Hamah. Among these was that of Nasýf Pasha, who had once been governor of Damascus, and, from dread of the Porte, had been obliged to fly into Europe, as we have already mentioned when speaking of Hadj Ali, (v. i., p. 298.) Nasýf Pasha was one of the most comely men I ever saw. Having expressed a wish to consult me, I went, on the 13th of February, to see him. His conversation turned chiefly on vaccination, concerning which he was anxious to arrive at a certainty as to its alleged preventive powers. He spoke a few words of Italian: and although he had resided at Rome, Naples, Genoa, and Marseilles, he said, (will it be believed?) that he had seen nothing to induce him to alter, in a single instance, his mode of living, his mode of educating his children, his dress, his furniture, his sentiments, or even his agricultural or horticultural pursuits, if we except that he had raised in his garden a few strawberries, before unknown in that neighbourhood.
Another of the great families of Hamah was that of Abdallah Pasha, of the house of Adam, father of Ahmed Bey: but he lived a very retired life. There was the chieftain of the delibash, or deláty, (a kind of cavalry, who wear high cylindrical felt caps, and are known throughout Turkey by this distinction) named Muly Ismaël,[42] who proved, from his rank and influence, of the greatest service to Lady Hester, for whom he conceived a great friendship. He had a corps of delibash in his pay, whom he hired out to the neighbouring pashas as mercenaries. His ordinary residence was at Hamah, where he had a large mansion. Besides the number of wives allowed by the Mahometan law, he had several concubines: and these latter it was his custom to marry to those officers of his household whom he distinguished by his particular favour, imitating, in this, his sovereign and the grandees of the country. He was a very fat man. As he was independent of the magistrates appointed by government, he exercised even the power of life and death over his own people. I was consulted by him several times, and he readily made use of all external applications; but I never could induce him to take any medicine; and even though, upon one occasion, I made the experiment of obliging Giorgio first to swallow a pill before him, (being one out of three I held in a box, and of which the other two were intended for him) his distrust of mankind was not to be overcome, and he refused to take them.