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**** I must first mention my entry at Damascus, which was one of the most singular and not one of my least exploits, as it was reckoned so dangerous, from the fanaticism of the Turks in that town. However, we made a triumphal entry, and were lodged in what was reckoned a very fine house in the Christian quarter, which I did not at all approve of. I said to the doctor, I must “take the bull by the horns,” and stick myself under the minaret of the great mosque. This was accomplished, and we found ourselves, for three months, in the most distinguished part of the Turkish quarter. I went out in a variety of dresses every day, to the great astonishment of the Turks, but no harm happened. A visit to the pasha on the night of the Ramazán was magnificent indeed: 2,000 attendants and guards lined the staircase, antechambers, &c. The streets were all illuminated, and there were festivities at all the coffee-houses. The message of invitation was accompanied by two fine Arab horses, one of which I mounted, and I am sorry to say they are both since dead of the glanders. But this is enough for Damascus. I must now go to the Arabs, only just mentioning that constant dinners and fêtes were given to the great Turks and their harýms during my long stay.
I did not delay long in making my arrangement with an Arab chief to go to Palmyra, which the pasha, hearing of, greatly disapproved, and said he should send me there himself in security. But, when this business was examined into, I found that at a place about three days’ journey from Damascus we were to be joined by nearly 1000 men to escort us. The expense and trouble of such an escort and the difficulty of managing such a body of troops put it entirely out of the question: so I affected to give up the plan entirely, and set off to Hamah, not to do anything palpably rude towards the pasha. I cannot enter into the detail of the second negociation with the Arabs, nor of the dreadful stories that were told us of the danger we were running into: but all that did not deter me from my purpose. In March, we set off with the two sons of the King of the Desert, forty camels loaded with provisions, and water, and presents, twenty horsemen, the Doctor, Mr. B., myself, and an Arab dragoman, a second dragoman, and a mameluke, two cooks, a caffagi, four Cairo säyses, the Emir el akoar, or stud-groom, Mr. B.’s valet, and Madame Fry, two sakas or water-carriers, my slave, two ferráses or tent-pitchers, with an escort of Arabs. On the second day we arrived at the tents of the King of the Arabs, who had advanced to the borders, on purpose to meet us. We remained there a day, and were very much entertained with Arab stories and civility. I then requested the emir to move his camp to the northward. We proceeded, and passed through some other tribes, and encamped at night among the Beni Hez. The next day we passed through the Beni Kaleds, and encamped in a very desolate place, but sent for a guard from the tribe of the Sebáh, who were not very far off.
Having visited the tribes of the Melhem, the Beni Hez, the Beni something else, and the Sebáhs, we arrived on the eighth day at Palmyra. We met 2000 of the Sebáhs upon their march, descending into the plain where we were reposing from the Beláz, a mountain pass, with all their fine mares, little colts, little camels, little children, and hideous women, with the most extraordinary head-dresses, and extraordinary rings at their noses, and preposterously tatooed in flowers and frightful figures.
You must not understand Palmyra to be a desolate place, but one in which there are 1500 inhabitants. The chief and about 300 people came out about two hours’ distance to meet us. He and a few of the grandees were upon Arab mares, and dressed rather more to imitate Turks than Arabs, with silk shawls and large silk turbans. The men, at least many of them, had their whole bodies naked, except a pestimal or petticoat studded or ornamented with leather, blackamoor’s teeth, beads, and strange sorts of things that you see on the stage. They were armed with matchlocks, and guns, all surrounding me, and firing in my face, with most dreadful shouts and savage music and dances. They played all sorts of antics, till we arrived at the triumphal arch at Palmyra. The inhabitants were arranged in the most picturesque manner on the different columns leading to the Temple of the Sun. The space before the arch was occupied with dancing girls, most fancifully and elegantly dressed, and beautiful children placed upon the projecting parts of the pillars with garlands of flowers. One, suspended over the arch, held a wreath over my head. After having stopped a few minutes, the procession continued: the dancing girls immediately surrounded me. The lancemen took the lead, followed by the poets from the banks of the Euphrates, singing complimentary odes, and playing upon various Arabian instruments. A tribe of hale Palmyrenes brought up the rear, when we took up our habitation in the Temple of the Sun, and remained there a week.
I must tell you that the difficulty of this enterprise was that the King of the Desert was at war with some very powerful Arabs, and it was from them we were in dread of being surprised, particularly as it was known that they had said that they could sell me for 25,000 piasters, or 300 purses, and which they certainly thought they could get for my ransom at home. This was the most alarming part of the business. Our people, nevertheless, went out robbing every day, and came home with a fine khanjár, and some visible spoil. We heard of nothing but the advance of the enemy to the east of Palmyra, and we believed it, as we had taken five of their scouts prisoners, which we thought well secured at Palmyra; but, unfortunately, one night one got out, and, fearing that he would give the intelligence of what day we were to begin our journey back again, we set off before our intended time. We were, nevertheless, pursued by 300 horses a few hours off, which fell upon the tribe of the Sebáhs, and killed a chief, and took some tents, and the Sebáhs, on their side, carried off twenty-two mares. We returned a different way, having made acquaintance with the tribe of the Amoors, the Hadideens, the Wahabas, and another battalion of Sebáhs, including Wahabees, and a party of hunting Arabs, that are dressed in the skins of wild beasts. We arrived in safety at the tents of the Grand Emir, Mahannah el Fadel, who gave us a fine Arab feast, and killed a camel, of which we partook. At two hours from Hamah, we were met by a corps of Delibashes, who were sent as a complimentary escort by Moli Ismael, a man of great note in Syria, who conducted us to his house, where dinner was prepared for 300 people, and corn provided for all the Arab mares. Within a mile of Hamah, full 10,000 people were assembled out of curiosity, half of which were women, and many women of distinction, with Nasif Pasha’s children carried by slaves. Mashallah echoed from every mouth. Selámet-ya meleky, seláme, ya syt (welcome, queen—welcome, madam); El hamd Lillah (thank God); Allah kerym (the Lord is gracious); and this very interesting scene proved my ladyship’s popularity in Hamah.
Nothing in the world could have been so well managed, which proves me an élève of Colonel Gordon’s, for I was at once quarter-master, adjutant, and commissary-general. We were as comfortable upon our road as if we were at home, and the Duke of Kent could not have given out more minute orders, or have been more particular in their being executed, which, in fact, is the only way of performing a thing of that sort with any degree of comfort.
We were excessively entertained with the different conversations of these people, and the extravagant though elegant compliments they paid me. They have got it into their heads that the only power which can affect them is Russia. They were always thanking God that I was not Empress of Russia, otherwise their freedom would be lost. I am now getting translated into Arabic all the real achievements of the Emperor Alexander, on purpose to send to my friends in the Desert. They are the most singular and wonderfully clever people I ever saw, but require a great deal of management, for they are more desperate and more deep than you can possibly have an idea of. It would have very much amused you to see me riding like a Bedouin woman in a bird’s-nest made of carpeting upon a camel, and upon one of the fleet dromedaries like a Wahabee. I am enrolled as an Anisy Arab in the tribe of the Melhem, and have now the rights of the Desert, particularly that of recommending my friends who may wish to visit them.
After my return to Hamah, the immense number of Arabs that waited on me from all quarters was quite surprising. You think we have been losing our time in Syria, but certainly we have seen in great perfection what nobody else has, not even your friend Shaykh Ibrahim, who, going under consular protection, was stripped stark naked in coming from Palmyra, and, after having marched some days in this happy state, got a pair of shalwars (trousers) at a village, and, in this figure, entered Damascus. As for Mr. W****, he certainly crept there like a thief in the dark, when the Arabs were several days’ journey to the eastward. The Palmyrenes are the best mimics in the world; and, one day, when I was looking over Zenobia’s pleasure house, a very clever Palmyrene bubbled and blustered just like him, and he said Mr. W**** complained bitterly of the cold. Then (rubbing the two palms of his hands together to imitate him) he added, “He says he is the son of a vizir.” “Oh! then,” rejoined one of the Arabs who accompanied us, “it cannot be a vizir of the true race: the man is a booby;” he spread out his hands too, and exposed them to the cold, when he ought to have wrapped them up in his abah. “Pooh!” added he, blowing his fingers, and making a sign of contempt, “he is good for nothing.” I only saw one mare, a Wahabee, that I thought perfection. The owner said he would not part with her for less than one hundred purses. The generality of their horses and mares is by no means so beautiful as you would imagine, but beyond anything excellent for swiftness and fatigue. I could write volumes upon different circumstances that took place on this interesting journey, which I certainly recommend to no traveller to undertake without being well aware of the carte du pays, and having considerable abilities to plan, and great energy to go through with it. When you are once in the scrape, nobody can get you out of it, for no pasha has sufficient authority over them to be the least depended upon. They no sooner heard of our intention of going with the pasha’s people than they said they should cut off all their beards and send them naked about their business. For my part, I believe they would have been as good as their word. The idea of telling them cock-and-bull stories, and treating them like fools, is perfectly incorrect: they are much more difficult to manage than any Europeans I have ever seen.
I always went dressed like a Bedouin Arab, and rode with provisions under a sort of red rug upon my horse, and a water-bottle and a chief’s lance. Mr. B. and the doctor had beards and were dressed in the same style, with sheepskin pelisses, some tanned, some covered with Bagdad flowered cottons, and over that abahs, which are a sort of woollen cloaks, some white with great gold flourishes woven in upon the back and shoulders, others with plain and large stripes of black and white, a quarter of a yard wide. There was a chief there that Lord Petersham would die of envy before, as he was as éveillé as a Frenchman, and presented himself with the air of Lord Rivers or the Duke of Grafton. Respecting etiquette and politeness, these people certainly far exceed even the Turks; but for eloquence and beauty of ideas (though one can hardly be a judge of it), they undoubtedly are beyond any other people in the world.