[107] Sir James Porter, in his Letters from the Levant, speaking of the importation of silk during the time of plague (page 446), says: “We may safely affirm that the plague scarce ever rages in those parts of the country where silk is—namely, at and about Antioch, at Tripoli, and Latakia. An accident may indeed appear once in fifteen or twenty years.” Is it possible that an ambassador, residing in the capital of the empire, and enabled by his situation to procure every kind of information he might desire, should yet have taken up with notions so diametrically opposite to the truth! although it must be confessed, that those who can afford it do build themselves huts of canes and branches of trees, in which they rear their worms; and the reason of this is, that the smells arising from cooking, and other offensive odours, may not, as was the case in my fumigation, kill the worms.
[108] Ayn means spring, and Ayn Bisra means Bisra spring. Who would think that Maundrell contrives, out of these two words, to make Ambuslee, which he gives as the name of the village?
[109] These families are all descendants of four brothers, who fixed their residence here about a century ago, promising to till the neighbouring slopes, upon condition of being exempted from all taxes. The head of the family, named Jahjáh Abu Yusef, and who had given up his house for us, pretended that he still retained the firman, or grant, although the emirs of the Drûzes had encroached on the privileges granted by it. Hence they were now compelled to pay the miri, or tax for sown land; but their houses were still free from land-tax.
[110] I bought of one, for three shillings, a powder-horn, made with his own hand.
[111] Fakhr-ed-dyn flourished in the reign of Sultan Murad. He was fourth emir of the Drûzes. In March, 1816, I visited this castle, in company with Mr. W. Bankes.
[112] I believe there was an Athenian law of the same nature, on which the incidents of one of Terence’s comedies are founded.
[113] Service in Syria is the last resource of the wretched, but not all kinds of service; for that of a great family is often considered as very desirable for youth of both sexes. There was also a peasant lad hired, named Elias, concerning whom I learned the following anecdote. His mother, when in childbirth, fearing her situation to be dangerous, had made a vow to St. Athanasius on the Mountain, that, if she survived, not a razor should touch the head of her offspring until she had made a pilgrimage to his shrine, distant about five days’ journey from Meshmûshy, where she lived. Poverty prevented her from fulfilling her vow; and the boy arrived at the age of 7 or 8 years, a period at which it is considered as disgraceful not to have the head shaved: for it is the custom in the East at that age to leave only a small lock on the forehead, in the same way as the head of old Time is represented by painters. So, to get over the difficulty, she made use of scissors, affirming that she had sacredly kept her vow; for scissors were not a razor. “Avec le ciel il y a des accommodements.”
[114] The appearance of vineyards in Syria and in the Pays de Vaud in Switzerland is precisely alike. The manner of cultivation likewise seemed to be the same.
[115] For lading, a calabash is generally used, which is a species of pumpkin, which, when dried, has had its pulp and seeds scooped out, and becomes fit for the purposes of a ladle.
[116] Three quintals of grapes are necessary to make one quintal of dibs, which sells at one pound per quintal.—Burckhardt, p. 156.