It was impossible to account for the continued sickness which prevailed at Latakia during the greater part of the year, excepting on the grounds of an influence depending on the particular constitution of the atmosphere, unconnected with local circumstances; for Latakia has, from its situation, a claim to be styled a healthy place. There are no marshes, no stagnant pools, near; there is no extensive artificial irrigation of the soil to beget damps; neither is the town, nor are the environs, overhung by mountains or precipices to exclude the warmth of the sun or the free access of the winds. On the contrary, to the north and south is a dry and somewhat sandy wild, over which were scattered myrtle bushes and odoriferous herbs; to the east sloping mountains; to the west the sea. Yet, independent of all this, besides the deaths by plague, well ascertained, there were others from malignant fevers; and there were also many persons who fell sick and recovered. It will be seen that, before we quitted this place, not one escaped illness of all those with Lady Hester; and my inquiries led me to conclude, that there was or had been, upon an average, one or two persons sick in every house throughout the place.
On the 9th of June, Giorgio, the dragoman, was attacked with pleurisy, which yielded to the common remedies.
Lady Hester was now becoming impatient to quit Latakia; and she was somewhat puzzled how to dispose of the many horses she had with her. As the first step towards my own preparations, I offered my two for sale: but, when it was understood that we were making ready for our departure, advantage was taken of that circumstance to bid a very low price, which I was necessitated to accept. I likewise dismissed Ibrahim, my groom, who, with Pierre, dismissed also, departed for Dayr-el-Kamar, the place where they had been hired, not quite a year before.
Although removed so far from the Bedouins, Lady Hester had not altogether lost sight of them. Indeed, whilst openly declaring her intention of going to Europe, she contradicted her assertion by endeavouring to establish a correspondence with Saûd, the chief of the Wahabys, to whom, she told me about this time, she had written. Credulity, which seems ever to be the fault of lively imaginations, was hers; and the account given of the Wahabite chief, with his dromedaries that outstripped the fleetest horses, with his spacious palaces, his eight hundred wives, and his superb vestments, had entirely possessed her mind. Sometimes she would plan a journey across the Desert to Deráyah, his capital; but what object her writing to him had I could not clearly understand.
Her supposed influence at Constantinople caused frequent applications to be made to her, to interfere on matters of dispute between the agents of our government and the officers of the Porte in the provinces.
July 12th was a holiday in the Greek calendar, and was celebrated by the inhabitants of that persuasion, according to annual custom, by bathing in the sea. There was a particular efficacy attached to this sea-bathing (at Latakia, at least) for the cure of sore eyes.
On the 19th of July, I was walking out of one of the gates of the town, about eight in the morning, when I came suddenly on a man who had been impaled an hour or two before, and was now dead, but still transfixed by the stake, which, as I saw on approaching him, came out about the sixth rib on the right side; but I was so shocked at this unexpected sight, that it was some minutes before I could recover myself sufficiently to go up to him. The stake was planted upright, seemed to be scarcely sharp, and was somewhat thicker than a hop-pole. I was told that it was forced up the body by repeated blows of a mallet, the malefactor having been bound on his face to a heavy pack-saddle, and an incision being made with a razor to facilitate the entrance of the stake. The body, yet alive, was set upright in a rude manner; for the Turks preserve no decorum in executions: from pity for his sufferings, after being a short time in this position, he was shot. His shirt, which was afterwards set on fire, in burning singed the whole of his body black; and thus he was left for two days. His crime was said to be the stealing of a bullock and the murder of one of his pursuers. Jewish, Christian, Drûze, and Ansáry criminals are alone subjected to this horrible punishment: Turks are beheaded.[75]
I will now detail the other accidents of the plague which occurred up to this time, the beginning of August. On Thursday, June 9th, a lad had died; on the 17th, two Turks at the strand or port, and a child five years old. On the 21st, I was led to the house of a woman whose daughter, nine years old, had died in the morning. The mother had been ill six days. She was still on her legs, and came into the courtyard for me to see her; but she appeared more like a corpse than a living person, and her face was the picture of anxiety and despair. Among her other feelings, she was exceedingly sensible to the wind. There was a swelling under her left arm very visible. On the following day I saw her again. The swelling was enlarged, but caused no discolourment. I could have wished to administer some remedies to her, but her friends opposed it. I do not know whether I have mentioned a prejudice which the Christians of Syria have, that the linen which people have on when they fall ill should be worn until their convalescence. There is a still more pernicious custom prevalent among them, that of assembling at the houses of their friends or relations who are sick; considering, on these occasions, that condolence is more peculiarly a mark of affection. But the complaisance of the Christians is only shown where no danger is incurred; Turks exert it on all occasions; and, as at these visits they are officious in little services around the sick-bed, if the disorder be contagious, they cannot well escape it.
Before the 30th of the month, a Jew, two children, a black woman, and a Turk, had died infected.
By the end of July, all appearances of plague had ceased in the town; and the infection was supposed to be diminished in its force, because the mother and sisters of a young man, who had died about the 20th, and on whom they had attended, had not caught it.