A few minutes after three we came to a fine spring of water, issuing from the foot of the hill, which fed a number of pools to the left of us. The name of this spot is the Shreah Water. A short distance before arriving at it were two stone uprights, parts of a gateway of some large building, of the same style of architecture as the ruins of Apamea. Due west of the Shreah Water, about two miles, is Gemmyah, a hamlet of Arab huts, the inhabitants of which live by fishing. They spear the fish; and one of our soldiers informed us that so abundant are fish in the Orontes, and in the small lakes, that it is sufficient, after dark, to thrust a barbed spear into the water, to bring out one every time.
We pursued our way, and at every little distance encountered a rivulet crossing the road, issuing as before from the foot of the hills, which were now terminated by a low precipice. These springs were so copious as to form pools, and the waters of all of them were very clear. Some, we were told, were tepid, but those we tasted were not so; we did not, however, try them all.
Towards sunset we passed a Tel or conical mound, differing in nothing from those seen in the desert; our guides called it Tel el Amjyk. I had quickened my pace for the last two hours, in order to superintend the encampment myself, and to avoid the torment of the musquitoes by placing it on high ground: but when I had chosen it, the cook grumbled at being far removed from running water, so that, at half-past seven, we halted at another spot, Tel Kely-ed-dýn, close to a fine spring. During the whole of the day the flies had rendered the horses almost unmanageable; and we were half inclined to believe the assertion we had often heard made, that, during autumn, cattle were sometimes stung to death by them in this vale.[66] The grass hereabouts was so luxuriant, that a horse could not in twenty-four hours consume more than what he covered as he stood. During these first days none of the animals had any corn. Clover and sweet herbs were mixed with the grass. We thought it strange that hay was never made of it, considering how abundant the grass grew; and we easily conceived how Seleucus fed here so large a number of elephants and mares—if indeed elephants eat grass.
In the course of this day’s journey we observed several patches of an ancient paved road. The country, we were told, had no robbers hereabouts, and we slept in perfect security. We indeed saw, at every little distance, small encampments of Arabs, but these are stationary, and live by their flocks. They make rush mats, which are in request for fifty miles round.
It was near two o’clock when we left Tel Kely-ed-dýn; for Lady Hester found the heat so intolerable that she would not stir earlier. This used to vex much the two guards, who, thinking themselves qualified to instruct us how to travel in their own country, were constantly enforcing the necessity of rising early and of travelling in the cool of the morning, so as to reach betimes our evening station, and thus to enable the tent-men to pitch by daylight, as their work was exceedingly difficult to do in the dark. This counsel was very good but very useless, as Lady Hester would not change her hours for anybody; excepting on our return from Palmyra, when prudence perhaps got the better of her habits.
It was near four when we came to Tel Ketýn, from the top of which I observed, by compass, that our course, during the morning, had been S.S.W. ½ S.: looking onward it was N. From Tel-Kely-ed-Dýn the hills on the right had receded considerably, forming a half-moon, the centre of the curve being due E. of Tel-Ketýn. After quitting this Tel, the appearances of a paved road were very manifest for half a league, during which we continued on it; until, inclining to the left, we struck across a most fertile plain, nearly covered with corn-fields, and abounding, where uncultivated, with grass four feet high, intermixed with clover. About seven, we ascended a small eminence, from which the Orontes again became visible, winding at the foot of finely wooded mountains. We descended once more, and arrived in half an hour at the bridge called Geser el Shogr, where we pitched our tents on a green plat of ground close by the river.
The Orontes here is not broader than at Hamah. In its broadest parts, thus far, it scarcely exceeds the Isis at Oxford, and does not seem deeper, but is much more rapid. There are numerous islets in and about it, but fewer gardens than at Hamah, owing to the height of its banks, which renders it impossible to make a wheel with a diameter sufficient to dip. The town of Shogr is miserable and poor; yet its situation, commanding the bridge of communication across the Orontes and the great caravan road from Aleppo and Hamah to the coast, makes it a place of considerable importance. It is a dependency of the pashalik of Aleppo: but Topal Ali, an officer of the Deláti, appointed to the government of it, having turned rebel, set himself up as a petty chieftain, and had contrived to become master of a considerable tract of the mountains, with so much of the plain as lies between the river and Tel-Kelyeen. Rageb, pasha of Aleppo, on one occasion, endeavoured to reduce him to obedience, and for that purpose assembled an army of three or four thousand men. But Topal Ali, although with fewer soldiers, had so little fear, that, instead of shutting himself up in his fortress, or fleeing to the inaccessible parts of the mountains, he marched out to meet him; and, the pasha’s army being principally composed of Deláti, would not fight against their old comrade and officer, and remained neuter. The other mercenaries, seeing themselves deserted, fled, and were pillaged by Topal Ali’s troops. Not wishing, however, to irritate the pasha, Topal Ali afterwards restored his artillery, camp equipage, &c. At this time, by means of bribes, he had obtained permission to hold his government as the apanage of some person in the Seraglio: but it was evident that he thought himself insecure, as he was obliged to keep in his pay more troops than his means could afford. He was lame (hence his appellation of Topal), and seemed about forty years old.
We had not been long encamped when a rather ludicrous circumstance occurred. Lady Hester had, on more than one occasion, related the prophecy of the fortuneteller respecting her—that she should one day be queen of the Jews. It appeared that this had been retold, with, as is usual, some exaggerations, one of which we will suppose was that she was herself a Jewess: for a woman of the people of Israel really came from the town to the tents, and asked to see her ladyship; when, being referred to me, she gravely asked me whether she might be employed to kill her meat. I did not at first comprehend her: and told her that the Aga had sent us lambs, which the cook would kill. “What! he is a Jew then?” said she. (It is known to most persons that Jews may eat only of what has been killed by people of their own religion.)—“Why, what if he is not?”—“What, if he is not?” cried she: “is not the meleky [the queen] one of us, and how can she eat from other hands than ours?” I now comprehended the woman’s drift; for I had so often heard Turks say they were sure she was a daughter of the Grand Signor by some English lady, and the Jews convert prophecies from holy writ to her person, that I was no longer astonished at any thing of this kind. I related the story to Lady Hester, who sent the woman a small present. Topal Ali in the mean time had sent a couple of lambs, rice, fowls, sugar, and whatever could be wanted for eating—the customary way, as has been more than once said, of welcoming distinguished strangers.
A messenger had been sent to Laodicea or Latakia, to ascertain whether the plague raged there or not; and it was resolved to await his return before proceeding any farther.
Close to our encampment was the gibbet on which malefactors were executed. It consisted of two rough forked stakes with a cross piece, scarcely trimmed with a hatchet. When a felon is caught, he is forthwith taken before the governor, and, if the evidence of his guilt is clear, he is, in the same instant, conveyed to the gallows, and hanged without any formality; or he is tied hand and foot and thrown over the bridge.