We now advanced with as much expedition as possible, and at last came to the end of the plain. A gentle ascent brought us among some low hills, covered with stunted shrubs, and shortly afterwards we came to the monastery. The building was of stone, and seemed of great solidity. I dismounted, and was made to enter by a door, the lowest, bearing that name, I had ever seen in my life. For, as this monastery stands quite away from any town, and is in the high road from Tripoli to Hems and Hamah, by which road troops are frequently passing, a difficult entrance is a necessary precaution to prevent the refectory from being converted into a stable: which troopers, not liking to lose sight of their horses, would often unceremoniously do.
I was put into a neat room, and immediately presented with a pipe and coffee, followed by a breakfast; whilst two garrulous priests told me why I was come, which they seemed to know better than myself, and questioned me on the news of Tripoli. With respect to the khasnadár, my patient, I gathered some particulars of his life. It appeared that he had been, as a youth, a favourite of Mûly Ismael, who, when he arrived at manhood, created him his khasnadár, and gave him in marriage to one of his concubines, of whom he himself was tired. Soon after their union, the khasnadár had a stroke of the palsy, which deprived him of the use of his limbs and utterance. Every known means had been tried for his recovery; and, as a last resource, it was resolved to send him to Dayr Hamýra, this monastery, which was dedicated to Saint George, and renowned far and wide for miraculous cures, effected in the following manner. The afflicted person was made to sleep in the chapel, his bed being placed there for that purpose, and round his neck was put an iron collar, jointed behind, and shutting over a staple before, in which sometimes a pin was inserted. He slept; and, if the cure was within the reach or the will of the Saint, the collar was found open in the morning; if otherwise, shut. Offerings, or vows in case of success, were made to propitiate the Dragon-killer, and it was said that from a rich man a trifle would not content him. The khasnadár had made the trial two or three times without success: when his wife, who accompanied him, having heard of our arrival at Tripoli, thought that the request of Mûly Ismaël would be sufficient to bring me over to the monastery to see him: and a horse soldier, as has been said, was accordingly despatched with a letter to that effect.
After my breakfast I went to see my patient, whom I found with his wife in an adjoining room. A best carpet was spread for me; coffee and pipes were served. The khasnadár was a plethoric young man about twenty-five; and, but for sickness, must have been very handsome. His wife was veiled at first by a shawl over her head, and pinched together by her hand so as to show one eye only; but by degrees she let it fall open, and I beheld a masculine woman of thirty or thereabouts. She was a Georgian, and had been a slave. I immediately took my patient in hand, and, as it is always necessary in the East, enacted, in the course of an hour, the parts of physician, surgeon, and apothecary. I then left him, and went to look over the monastery.
It was inhabited by three caloyers only, who, according to the rules of this Greek monastic order, are permitted, except on fast-days, to indulge in coffee, smoking, drinking, and eating, to what extent they please, with the exception of meat, which is allowed only twice a year. Hence I was requested to administer medicines for the corpulence of the one, the indigestion of the other, the pimples of a third. There were three or four good rooms on the story which they inhabited, and beneath were storehouses well stocked with wine, oil, wheat, and eatables. There were two or three servants, and a mule or two; and thus this small community lived. As the extreme lowness of the entrance was still strongly present to my thoughts, I asked them concerning it. They assigned the reason I have above given, and added that the mule of the convent had been taught to crawl through on his knees, of which I was afterwards an eyewitness, in consequence of my previous incredulity.
There was an annual festival celebrated at this place, upon which occasion persons come from Hamah, Hems, Tripoli, and other towns in great numbers. At midnight, the image of St. George on horseback is seen against the wall of the convent, at which vision the people set up a shout, and rejoicings continue until morning.
As this road is much frequented, not a night passed in which travellers or caravans did not stop. A sort of shed sheltered the horses and mules, and the people, if respectable, were received into the interior. The monks supplied them with food, which was good or bad in proportion to the recompence expected, and this employment was so lucrative that the monastery was supported by it. Their funds had been enough at one period to enable them to build a caravansery, which they had begun, but were prevented from proceeding in by an order from the government. This happened during the rule of Yusef Pasha: and the half-built caravansery adjoined the monastery.
I expressed my wonder how a strict Mahometan could have resorted to the shrine of a Christian saint; but the caloyers told me that this was by no means a rare occurrence, and that, if I stopped a few days among them, I should see many Ansárys, who had recourse to them in all their difficulties, and especially when their wives wished for children; and, in fact, there did afterwards come a party of ten or twelve on account of sickness.
The evening was passed with the khasnadár’s wife in talking over the news of Hamah. On the following day I had a visit from the katib of the district (if so he may be called), the person who was the accredited agent[18] in all transactions between government and the people. He too was in want of a doctor; for it is to be observed, that, although in the East no traveller has such advantages as a medical man, because he is well received everywhere, yet no one is so much harassed: and I sometimes thought the people pretended to have maladies either to get English medicines given to them, which they prized greatly; or to learn what mode of cure was to be pursued in case such a disease really affected them; for at no place was I secure from interruption from morning to night.
On the 15th I rode up to a castle, which stands on the highest part of the hills through which the road passes from the sea-coast to Cæle-Syria. From its position it commands the passage, in a certain degree; it is distant from the monastery about one mile and a half, as the crow flies. The road was of no difficult steepness, and lay through small brushwood. A long, dark, covered way, filthy with cow-dung and mire, led to the gate, which appeared to have had a portcullis and all the apparatus of early fortifications. I entered through it into a spacious court, in which were living several Turkish families. The castle was composed of a keep and outer works, flanked with round towers; but the whole was in a dilapidated state.
I was taken to a smoky stone room under the gateway, where a man, in a tawdry yellow silk pelisse, the shaykh of the village, received me with an air which brought to my recollection Juvenal’s description of the magistrate of Cumæ. It may be observed of the Turks and Christians, that the former are often more gaily dressed than their means warrant; whilst the latter, in spite of the humility of garb to which they are condemned, swell sometimes with the pride which a full purse gives, and excite the envy of their better-dressed masters. The name of the castle was El Hussn, which signifies a walled fortification.[19]