My servant had obtained permission to go to the shrine of St. Haneh, (St. Joan) at the village of Kurka, on the 6th of July, to celebrate the festival of that saint. A small church stood there to her honour, on the side of a mountain, commanding a fine view of the wild and romantic scenery through which the river Ewely runs. A crowd of people annually assembles on this day from Sayda, and from the neighbouring villages. They go, on the vigil of the saint’s day, and, mixing together promiscuously, pass the night in the open air round the walls of the chapel. Many cures are attributed to the leaves of an oak tree, which overshadows the chapel, and to the water of a spring which trickles from the rock beneath the altar within it. Setting aside any supposed medicinal virtues in trees and stones, the place may no doubt be very healthy. I rode to the spot, and saw a motley assemblage of Christians. Two Mahometans were likewise there, induced, from the reported miracles of the place, to try them in their own cases, being sorely afflicted with chronic diseases. These pilgrimages to Christian shrines by Mahometans are not unusual, and bring no scandal on the pilgrim.
July the 9th, Lady Hester was seized with the prickly heat. This is a miliary eruption, alternately disappearing and returning, which excites the most intolerable itching. The heat oppressed her so much that I thought it advisable to remove her to a cool situation on some elevated part of the mountain. Pierre, who had been recalled since Captain Forster’s arrival, had mentioned a house above Beyrout as extremely commodious and airy; upon which he had been immediately despatched to request it of the emir. The emir returned for answer that the house in question was inhabited by a branch of his own family, whom he could not turn out. Meshmûshy, a village upon a very high part of the mountain, enjoying a fine air and excellent water, distant about five hours’ journey from the monastery, was then fixed on, and a second application was made.
On the 20th of July, an answer arrived from the Emir Beshýr to Lady Hester’s application for the house at Meshmûshy. He did not say positively she could not have it: his expressions were equivocal and shuffling; but, as she could not bear the least appearance of opposition to her will, or a show of disrespect, she wrote back, in very strong terms, that, “whether he gave her a house or not, she should set off next day, and would pitch her tents on the mountain, if she found nothing better.”
Accordingly, on the 25th, we set off: Lady Hester rode on an ass, which the emir had given her some time before. In order to enjoy the fine scenery of Mount Lebanon, the journey was divided into four days. The first day, passing Salhyah, a clean village, we went no farther than Ayn el Hager, a spring of water distant one league from the convent, where the tents were fixed. The second day we reached Libâ, a village of Christians and Metoualis, which is about three miles farther. Libâ is a village of forty-four houses. The shaykh, or bailiff, was a Drûze named Sumyn. The weather was so hot that I would not have my tent up, and slept under some fig-trees upon a small carpet. A fat little man, who was the curate, amused me much by his curiosity and talkativeness. The third day brought us to Isfarýn, a hamlet celebrated for its tobacco. The next morning, we passed Iktány, and on the 4th, encamped at Bisra, close to Ayn Bisra,[108] a small spring of excellent water. On the 28th, we ascended half way the steep mountain on which Meshmûshy stands, and on the 29th, in the morning, arrived there.
The situation of Meshmûshy is commanding and romantic. The house was small; it was, therefore, resolved to get rid of all unnecessary servants. Lady Hester’s maid had been left behind at Mar Elias: Pierre was dismissed: there remained only a mountain lass, who understood nothing but Arabic; Um Risk, an old woman, who was in the same predicament; and an out-door man, named Ayd. Ten weeks were passed in this retirement; and Lady Hester several times said that she never had been more comfortable since she left Malta than she was then.
MESHMÛSHY.
Meshmûshy is a hamlet of twelve or fourteen families,[109] situate nearly at the summit of a mountain, forming, as it were, the promontory of a chain: so that, towards the valley of Bisra, it is almost perpendicular, making a very difficult ascent. The air is good; but fogs every evening were seen to hang on the summit and around us, giving an excessive chilliness to the atmosphere. Dysenteries and hooping-coughs were prevalent at our first coming.
I have endeavoured to give a representation of the costume of the natives of this village, which will serve for that of all the Maronite population.
Of the two figures, that on the left was the chief of the village of Meshmûshy. His companion was a less considerable person; but still was a sort of squire, as he kept a horse, which is the test of gentility throughout Syria. Yellow shawls are very much worn by the Christians of respectability. The blue striped close abah of the other figure is affected chiefly by the Drûzes themselves, who use much simplicity in their garment, and mostly dress alike. All such as are above the level of labouring peasants carry khanjàrs, or daggers, in their girdles.