There is to the south of the city, just without the gate, a spacious meadow reserved for the amusements of the inhabitants, whither horsemen go to play at the game of giryd, idlers to sit on the turf; and where sometimes caravans assemble previous to their departure on a distant journey. On one side of the meadow are two or three caves, excavated in a sandy rock. I had, in my rides through it, observed that a large checkered sheet was often suspended before the entrance of these caves; but it was not until I saw a soldier and a female issuing from one of them, that I conjectured what kind of inhabitants they contained. Generally speaking throughout Turkey, the police is extremely severe against frail women; and here, although their meretricious blandishments were, it seemed, more publicly displayed than elsewhere, they were, nevertheless, obliged to live without the walls of the city. It is not intended to say that they could not reside within them if they chose, but they find their advantage in the privacy that these obscure dwellings afford to their visiters. Damascus was, in those days, the only place where I saw women of this class parading the streets, almost unveiled, and inveigling the passers-by: but they were compelled to confine themselves entirely to one bazar.
I was one day reading at home when a Turkish woman of the middling rank of life came to consult me. Whilst speaking with her, the hour of namàz, or prayer, was cried from the mosque; when she immediately broke off the conversation, and signified that, with my permission, she would say her prayers. She went through the show of washing as if she had had water before her, and she repeated the fathah;[10] without paying the least regard to my presence. It did not, however, happen to me to see women pray openly, excepting in this one instance, and once at Latakia on the seashore: for it is not considered seemly for females to exhibit themselves to the gaze of the public under any circumstances. Lady Hester’s slave constantly prayed before any one indoors.
CHAPTER II.
Lady Hester’s intended journey to Palmyra—Objections to it—Hanah Fakhah—Difficulties of a journey to Palmyra—Illness of Mr. B. on his road from Aleppo to Damascus—The Author goes to his assistance—Osman Aga—Masûd Aga—Village of Yabrûd—Author’s reception by Osman Aga—Carah, burgh—Character of Masûd Aga—Use of Narkýly—Aspect of the Desert—Hamlet of Hassiah—Dûrra bread—City of Hems—River Orontes—City of Hamah—Mûsa Koblán—Visit from him—Arrival of Mr. Barker and Mr. B.—Description of Hamah—Clogs—Waterwheels—Coolness and heat produced by the same means—Costume of the female peasants—Doors of houses—Air—Panoramic prospect—Manufactures—Christians of Hamah—Inundations—Messrs. B. and Barker go to Bâalbec—Description of Hems—Pyramidal sepulchre—Tomb of Khaled—Citadel—Lake of Hems—Orontes river—Cara—March of troops—Yabrûd—Springs of Ras el ayn—Mâlûla—Grottoes and Sarcophagi—Michael Rasáti—Account of M. Lascaris and of Madame Lascaris—Nebk—Dress of M. Lascaris—His character—Return of the Author to Damascus.
From the time of Lady Hester’s arrival at Damascus, her mind had been incessantly busied in the endeavour to bring to bear her intended journey to the ruins of Palmyra. To this end, she had conferred with every person whom she thought capable of giving information on the subject. The pasha’s bankers, Yusef and Rafaël, endeavoured to dissuade her from an undertaking which they considered very dangerous; but told her that, in case of resolving upon it, the pasha would furnish her with a body of troops for her safe conduct, and that he and they would not be responsible for her safety, unless she went so protected. For it was argued that, although the Arabs would do no violence to her, they would probably make her a prisoner, and demand an exorbitant ransom.
A man named Hanah Fakhah, residing at Damascus, but said to be a native Egyptian, speaking French, which he learned when the French army was in Egypt, and who had accompanied Mr. Fiott[11] to Palmyra, offered himself as capable of conducting us thither in safety, from the friendship and connection he pretended to have with the chief shaykhs of the Desert. For a long time, Lady Hester was inclined to rely on his assumed importance; but subsequent information made her decline having anything to do with him. Distracted with the various reports that were made to her, she knew not what to do. At last she caused letters to be written to the Emir of the Anizýs, Mohammed el Fadhel, desiring an interview with him.
But, in order to understand the difficulties she had to contend with, it is proper to relate in what manner they had proved almost insuperable to other English travellers. Up to this period, the road to Palmyra had been little frequented by Europeans: and, of many Englishmen who had lately been in Syria, we could hear of three only who had accomplished the journey, the rest having been deterred through fear of the Bedouin Arabs, and by the obstacles that present themselves in crossing twenty leagues of desert, exposed to the chance of perishing from hunger and thirst. Of those three who went, one was stripped and robbed, and returned to Aleppo in his shirt and drawers, after a series of sufferings that would form a romance. One performed the journey in the depth of winter, when the Arabs keep their tents, and when the rains saved him from the want of water; and both these went in the disguise of pedlars, or poor merchants. But for Lady Hester, whose intention had been divulged, and whose sex and rank continued to draw much attention to her movements, secrecy was impossible.
She, therefore, seemed inclined to adopt the plan, suggested by the pasha, of going with a formidable escort. At the same time, he gave her to understand that the Emir Mahannah, chief of the Bedouins, was in little or no subjection to the Porte, and that the inhabitants of Tadmûr (as Palmyra is called in Arabic) were completely out of the reach of the arm of justice, in case they should use any foul play against her. The troops had already received orders to hold themselves in readiness to march; the camels were hired, the presents intended for the Bedouins were bought, and the day almost fixed for departure. What Lady Hester’s reflections and plans were will be better understood from two letters which she wrote to an intimate friend about this time.
Lady Hester Stanhope to ——
Damascus, October 10th, 1812.