Some days before this, Mahannah, as was said above, arrived at Hamah. Muly Ismael had warned Lady Hester of the danger there might be in having no check whatever on the Bedouins, who, in spite of their promises, might be led by their natural habits to plunder her. He told her that it was common for them, when they got strangers among them, to beg for every thing they saw, and piece by piece to reduce them to the same state of nakedness as themselves: for, in the early part of his life, having incurred the displeasure of the Porte, he had taken refuge among them, and could speak as to their habits from experience. A conference therefore was held with Mahannah in the presence of the Muly; and, as a price for the escort he was to afford Lady Hester across the Desert, it was settled that he was to receive a sum of money, which was to be deposited in the hands of Muly Ismael; and the deposit was made in Mahannah’s presence. The sum agreed on was 3000 piasters, equal to about £150, of which 1000 piasters were advanced at starting, and the remainder was to be paid on our safe return.
The 20th March was fixed for our departure. Each of the party was well mounted, furnished with a leather water-bottle, and a small pair of saddle-wallets to contain provisions. Every one of us carried, secreted about his person, a few sequins, in case of losing company, or of otherwise being separated from the caravan. All were in the costume of the Bedouins, and Mrs. Fry, Lady Hester’s maid, was, like her mistress, dressed in man’s clothes.
About ten in the morning we set off. Spectators lined the road for half a league out of the town; and some janissaries, whom the governor had sent to clear the way, had much ado to keep off the crowd. Of the reflecting part we had commiseration for our supposed folly and prayers for our safe return; many considering that we were going to the certainty of being plundered, if not to our destruction. By degrees we left them behind, and entered upon plains where the solitude that prevailed formed a striking contrast with the scene we had just quitted. Lady Hester was followed by the Bedouin chieftains, who composed her body-guard. Their long lances, plumed with ostrich feathers; their curling hair hanging in ringlets over their cheeks and neck; their gay-coloured keffiyahs, drawn over their mouths like vizors; their lean mares; every thing about them was novel and calculated to set the fancy of all of us to work, as to where we were going, and what would be the issue of our journey—excepting myself, who had already trod the same ground. As we entered the Desert, those who before had not seen so vast a waste behind them looked as people may be observed to do, embarking on the sea for the first time in their lives, and losing sight of land.
We continued along the right bank of the Orontes for about two hours and a half, until we arrived at a hamlet called Genàn. Here we halted for the night, and were lodged in the cottages. I had scarcely dismounted, when I was led to one of them, where, on a rug, lay a dying man. The bystanders expected I should give him some restorative that would reprieve him from the hands of death; but, whilst endeavouring to make them understand that the case was desperate, the man expired, and I was suffered to depart. In about an hour, four or five women, with their faces whitened, their hair dishevelled, and with sabres in their hands, began, in an open space in the centre of the hamlet, a funereal dance accompanied by occasional howls. The men did not join in it, and seemed very indifferent about it.[47] The corpse was soon afterwards interred, but I did not see it put into the ground.
There were so many rats in the cottage where Lady Hester slept, that her maid became exceedingly terrified, and, quitting the room, sat in the open air during the greater part of the night.
We resumed our march on the morrow, the twenty-first, and followed, through a rich meadow, the course of a rivulet which empties itself into the Orontes at Genàn. In about seven hours we arrived at an encampment of the small tribe of Beni Hez, where also were a few tents of the Melhem, Mahannah’s family tribe. These had been ordered here for the purpose of affording a station for us.
The next day we filled our skins with good water from the rivulet, and departed. The ruins of Salamyah[48] were on our left, and we were near to the ground where M. Lascaris and I had passed the first night on my former journey. The escort was now augmented by some Arabs from the Beni Hez. Nasar was unremitting in his attention to Lady Hester’s commands; but, in all the rest of the caravan, wherever he appeared, much disputing prevailed. In defiance of all interference and of all contracts, the Bedouins had begun to pilfer from the moment of quitting Genàn. Most of the servants were in clothes quite new; and, if one of them happened to throw off a cloak, Nasar would lay hold of it, and put it on his own shoulders. In vain the owner would beg for it back again. Nasar would pretend to be angry, and ask who dared refuse him anything? In an hour’s time he would make a present of the same cloak to one of his own people: and then, in a few hours more, by fair or foul means, would obtain something from somebody else; not to keep it himself, but to give it away to some one of his people who had none.
This day’s journey brought us to the wells of Keffiyah, four or five in number, where Mahannah, with his household tents, was encamped. These wells, which, from the days of Abraham, seem to have existed in the Desert, supply a brackish water, which necessity alone can render palatable. We gave it to our horses, in order to preserve the sweet water for our own drinking.
We rested here one day. Lady Hester received the visits and, we may say, the homage of the chief shaykhs, who came in from all quarters. To all of these presents were made, generally of articles of dress. Her ladyship took for the sentry of her tent a tall black slave, named Guntar, a fellow of reputed courage and daring, and whose scowling looks and tremendous battle-axe (his only weapon) almost excited terror in those whom he was destined to protect.
The Anizy were at this time at war with the Faydân; a tribe that generally pastured on the borders of the Euphrates. The Faydân were known to have some strong parties abroad, and it was probable, that, if they received information of our route, they would attack us. Much attention was therefore paid to the order of our march with the view of avoiding a surprise. Soon after daybreak, on the 24th, the tents being struck and the camels loaded, Lady Hester and her guard, with Nasar, took the lead, whilst Mr. B. and myself and the armed servants covered the rear of the caravan. Scouts were sent out ahead of us to reconnoitre; and, although sometimes we lost sight of them for hours, and there were no beaten paths, they were still sure to rejoin us.