Water was scanty, and the inhabitants were either obliged to drink from wells or from springs at a distance. That of the village of Besnada was considered the best.
To the south of the city, the river, which was seen on our last day’s journey from Sekûn to Latakia, empties itself into the sea. About half a mile from the sea it was crossed by a bridge, over which passes the great coast road. The river, which here is almost navigable, goes by the name of Nahr-el-Kebyr, or Great River.
There is a rock which projects into the sea south of the harbour, and to which the natives of Latakia give the name of Seyd Lexis. It has several marks of either having been quarried or else of having served for baths, tanks, &c. There are still some salt tanks on it, which are used for the evaporation of the sea-water. Two or three poor men gain a livelihood by them, in conjunction with the occasional gains of angling, in which they employ their hours of watching.
A great sponge trade is carried on by Greeks of the Archipelago, who come annually, in smacks, about June, and remain until September. They seek them in a north-west or westerly direction, nearly out of sight of the shore. The time the divers remain under water is considerable, and instances of the rupture of a blood-vessel, and of returning to the surface in an expiring state, sometimes occur. They bear in their hands a knife, to cut through the root of the sponge; in which, if they fail, their strength is insufficient to tear it up.
We have said above that the walls of Latakia were built by a Christian named Kûby, and that he governed the town. Some of his descendants still live at Leghorn. Examples of power, ceded to Nazarenes to such an extent as the magistracy, are very rare: nor was that of Mâlem Kûby sufficiently happy in its close to present temptations to others to imitate him. How Kûby obtained his elevated situation we did not learn: but it was probably by farming the taxes of the town at a higher price than any Moslem would give. He was assassinated by a Mahometan soldier, one of his own men. His government was in nothing distinguished from the ordinary routine of motsellems.
Kûby’s family were, whilst we were at Latakia, in absolute poverty. Indeed such a thing as a Christian family of long standing scarcely exists in Turkey: for the aggrandizement of an individual is generally the prelude to his ruin. The secretaries of governors of towns, appointed by letters patent from the Porte, are those only who can hope to retain their situations for any number of years: for, as they do not owe their appointment to the caprice of each succeeding governor, so they are not removed with him.
The district of Latakia, as being a portion of the pashalik of Tripoli, was now in the hands of Mustafa Aga Barbar, governor of Tripoli under Ali Pasha. This man, raised by his conduct and valour from the very dregs of the people, had, for the last three or four years, preserved entire tranquillity.
The Mahometans of Latakia seemed to me to be more devout and more religious, as far as external observances went, than those we had met with in other cities. Every night several individuals might be seen parading the streets, bawling in a dissonant tone,—“There is no other God but the Lord.” Others, assembled together in rooms, formed themselves into a ring, and imitated the cries and impassioned gestures of the howling dervises, to the sound of the tabor. Whatever merit the religion of Mahomet may have, it certainly has no attractions from its liturgy: and, whether from the minaret or in the mosque, their chant is far from pleasant to the ear. We were able afterwards to account for this seemingly extraordinary devotion, which was owing to the late arrival of a Moorish shaykh, who, being a missionary and zealot in the cause of Islamism, had insinuated among the leading men of the place how great their remissness was in the exercise of their religious duties. His reproofs had operated so far upon them that they met to celebrate the noisy ceremonies above mentioned.
This zealot was a robust and comely man. He occasionally used to ride out on a handsome Arabian colt. He never would salute either a European or a Levantine Christian, but entertained a still stronger hatred against the sectaries of his own religion. Hence, it is said, he taught that the goods and lives of the Ansárys need not be respected by the followers of Abubekr. He lived in a costly way, and at other people’s expense: for he was a stranger, and on his arrival had nothing. He was given to abominations: and it was his eloquence, not his actions, that obtained for him the reputation of sanctity. In the bath, one of his disciples was accustomed to depilate for him his whole body.
The customary marks of attention and respect were shown by the Motsellem and Kumrukgi[74] to Lady Hester on her arrival, by sending officers to say that she had only to make known her wants in order to their being immediately supplied.