His tents were due north of Tel el Byrûth. I took with me my own tent, which was a small octagonal marquee, made without a central pole, and very commodious; and, accompanied by the Bedouin, who had come to fetch me, I set off the following day, under the idea of having but a short distance to ride. But my guide had deceived me, with the intention of more easily persuading me to go; for we passed the chain of Mount Aâleh at two hours off, and still rode on for two or three hours more, until we reached, at sunset, Casem’s tents. The parents of the wounded youth were so impatient to take me to him, that I was scarcely permitted first to take my coffee and pipe, which on other occasions they oblige you to do before they will suffer you to attend to business.
Casem’s son was about sixteen years old, with a fine air, which would have been fierce, had it not been softened down by his sufferings from his wound. A spear had entered his back under the blade-bone, and had deeply penetrated into the lungs. Instead of being a fresh wound, it proved to be now of some time standing. I did what I judged better for him than the dressings he was using; gave him some medicines to be taken as occasion might require, and passed three days with him to see what effect they would have. The first day there was a certainty of a speedy and miraculous cure; the second day his friends were less sanguine; and on the third, they observed that my remedies had not effected any very extraordinary change for the better. This was the tone of mind in which it was proper to leave them. They were thankful for the pains I had taken, and a Bedouin escorted me to Hamah, where Lady Hester and Mr. B. already were since the 13th. Crowds of people had gone out to welcome them on their return, considering her as a true heroine, who could perform in triumph what not a pasha in all Turkey durst venture to do with all his troops at his heels. It was given out at Hamah afterwards that two hundred horsemen, on the report of the two fugitives from Palmyra, had come in pursuit of us to the Beláz, but were a day too late to overtake us: that, however, they would have followed us farther, but were stopped by a party of the Sebáh, who had a skirmish with them, in which the Faydân were so much worsted as to find it necessary to retire.[53]
On her arrival at Hamah, Lady Hester rode strait to Muly Ismaël’s house, where a great dinner was prepared. The remainder of the money due to Nasar was paid, and the dangers and adventures of the journey talked over. There has crept into a publication (called Journal of a Tour in the Levant) an assertion that it cost Lady Hester 30,000 piasters to get to Palmyra. I think it necessary to state that this assertion is entirely erroneous, as may be proved from documents now in my hands, which must be considered as decisive authority on that head.[54]
No better proof can be adduced of the salubrity of the air of the Desert, than the excellent condition in which the horses were on our return, and the compliments paid on the improved good looks of all the party. I believe I have neglected to mention that, previous to quitting Damascus, and from the moment that the journey to Palmyra was talked about, Mr. B. and myself had let our beards grow, having been informed that much respect was universally paid to this supposed emblem of wisdom and manhood by the Bedouins, which we found to be the case.
During the journey, an Arab brought me a jerboa alive. Wishing to preserve it, and having no box or cage fit for such a purpose, I put it into a boot sewed up at the top, and carried it slung to my horse’s side for one day, but on the second I found that it had eaten a hole through the leather, and escaped.
I omitted to mention, in my first journey to Palmyra, that, when with the Bedouins, I drank for three mornings camels’ milk, to see if its reputed qualities were exaggerated or not. On me it had no sensible effect; yet I could not be deceived in the trial I made, for, fasting from my pillow, I drank a pint the first morning, a pint and a half the second, and half a pint the third. On this journey I was determined to try its effects on the servants, and here its operation was instantaneous and remarkable, causing a diarrhœa, which lasted the whole day.
It will hardly be believed, by those who may peruse this narrative, that Lady Hester, at this period, by no means enjoyed a good state of health; yet such was really the case, and her spirit, rather than her physical powers, helped her to surmount so much fatigue and to endure so many privations. Her pursuit was indeed health, but the phantom fled before her. Always a valetudinarian, she always flattered herself that some untried spot remained where she might find what she sought. Happy consolation of the sick, whom Hope never gives up to Despair!
Lady Hester brought with her to Hamah two Bedouins, with an intention of carrying them to England as a curiosity: but a city life, the want of the open country, loss of appetite and health, were things so little congenial to their feelings, that they could not be induced to stop.
I had taken up my abode this time in a small unfurnished house, which I hired of a Turk. My return to Hamah was again the signal for being besieged by the sick. I shall mention one or two of my patients, whose cases may have something curious for the general reader. Yahyah Bey, whose deposition and removal to Hamah I have already spoken of, had contrived to make his peace there by the sacrifice of large sums of money, and was now come back to Hamah to live as a private person. One of his concubines was ill, and he asked me to see her. She had had an ague for eight months, with little loss of strength, sleep, or appetite. I was introduced to an inner room, and she was sent for to come to me. She entered, covered with the yzzár,[55] a large white veil reaching to the ground, which she kept on during the whole time I was with her. Yahyah Bey watched her actions like an Argus, and, the moment I had done questioning her, sent her out of the room.
Another patient, whom I saw April 20th, was an old man of the sect of the Syrians, very ill of a fever. It was then Lent, and the rules of his religion, with respect to fasting, were, it would appear, more rigid than those of either the Greek or Catholic church; for he could not, according to them, eat anything but bread, oil, and herbs. I desired him to relax somewhat from this severe abstinence, if he wished to save his life. He would on no account consent to do so; and, as his age and malady required nourishment of a different kind, he died a martyr to his scruples.