It was dark before we reached the foot of the mountain, and some lights directed us to a few wretched cottages, which Sulymán knew to be the hamlet of Khurby,[38] and where, when at Jûb Genýn, we had been informed the plague was raging; but, I believe, if worse than the plague had then faced us, we should have thought it preferable to what we had just left: so we knocked at the first door we came to, and requested that some empty stable or outhouse might be given us, where, having made a fire, we sheltered ourselves. We had scarcely entered when Mbàrak fainted away. Sulymán was much astonished when I insisted on his being laid in the corner farthest from the fire, where we rubbed his limbs and his feet, until he came to himself, when, from pain and fear, he kept up a grievous moaning. Sulymán next procured some barley for the animals, and I endeavoured to find a dry spot to lie down on, but it was impossible. The villagers at first refused to give us anything to eat: but there is a law which subjects any place wherein a person dies from want to a considerable fine; and the apprehension of Mbarak’s perishing during the night, which, as he lay, seemed likely, frightened them, and they brought us some bread and porridge.
What a miserable night did I pass! Morning at length came; and then the person calling himself the bailiff of the hamlet offered, for a reasonable reward, four men to assist us in recovering the baggage. These people are well acquainted with the mountain. They guided us up, and we were fortunate enough to find every thing as we had left it. The otter was alive, nor did he die until some time afterwards. The luggage was carried on the backs of the peasants and of Sulymán, until we reached the descent to the west; when, having re-loaded, I rewarded the peasants, and in a short time we reached Barûk, where the snow disappeared. In order to make up for the loss of time on the preceding day, Sulymán was told to hurry on. We left Dayr el Kamar on the right of us, and arrived at sunset at Ayn-bayl, a Drûze village, inhabited chiefly by muleteers, among whom was one who had served Lady Hester in the journey to Bâlbec. To his house Sulymán led me to pass the night. The wife gave me the best entertainment in her power; and to convey some idea of the interior of a Drûze cottage, I will relate how I passed the evening.
A narrow carpet, kept doubled up, excepting on days of ceremony, was spread on one side of the clay floor, which, from being well rubbed with a smooth round boulder, shone like a mirror. The cottage was of stone, one story high, and flat-roofed, with a shed close by which served for a stable, and no other out-houses whatever. The cottage was divided in two, by a partition not reaching to the ceiling, which was of beams and rafters, trimmed with an adze only. Round the room were several sun-baked clay barrels, about three feet high, but of small circumference: these were filled with wheat-flour, figs, borgûl, lentils, rice, &c. The muleteer’s wife busied herself in preparing my supper at a fireplace, made of a few rude stones outside of the door. As she came in and out to fetch the different articles which she wanted, she carefully concealed her face by pinching together her veil, which was of long white crape, falling gracefully from the point of her horn, so that only one eye was seen. In the same room with me sat Sulymán and Mbárak, with six or eight Drûzes, who dropped in one by one on the news of our arrival, and to whom Sulymán was earnestly relating the adventures of the preceding night. They invariably, as they entered, civilly saluted everybody, and there was much decorum in their manners, which is, however, not peculiar to the Drûzes, but is universal among the different classes of society throughout Turkey. Whenever the husband spoke to his wife she answered in low feminine accents, for it would have been discreditable to her, had she, whilst strangers were by, laughed or vociferated.
When supper was ready, which consisted of a dish of boiled rice, some dibs and leben, and a few figs and raisins for the dessert, it was served up on a wooden table about two feet in diameter, and six inches from the ground, with box-wood spoons alone to eat with. After supper, my own travelling stock afforded coffee, with which the whole party was regaled, smoking their pipes, and appearing as soberly merry as pious Christians round a winter fire; for nowhere will you see so much cheerfulness without loud laughter, and sedateness without gloom, as among this people.
CHAPTER VI.
Journey of Lady Hester from Mar Elias to Ascalon—Bussa—Acre—She prevails on Mr. Catafago to accompany her to Ascalon—Illness of Ali Pasha—Professional visits of the Author—Abdallah Bey, the Pasha’s son—Extraordinary honours paid to Lady Hester—Her departure from Acre—Tremendous storm—M. Loustaunau; his prophecies—His history—Don Tomaso Coschich arrives with despatches from Sir Sydney Smith to Lady Hester—Substance of them—Presents sent to the care of Lady Hester by Sir Sydney—His character in the East—Cæsarea—Um Khaled—Village of Menzel—Jaffa—Mohammed Aga, the governor ordered to accompany Lady Hester—His character—Arrival at Ascalon.
The next morning we resumed our journey, and arrived at noon at Mar Elias. I found Lady Hester busily occupied in preparing for our departure for Acre, which, now that I was arrived, was fixed for the next day. In my absence she had purchased a gray mare from Mr. Taitbout, the French consul of Sayda. The next morning she departed with nearly the same attendants, as she had taken with her to Bâlbec: not being quite ready, I followed her the next day, which was the 16th of February, 1815.
I shall pass over the names of places on the road to Tyre, as having already described them when coming this way before. The weather was still tempestuous and wet; and, a very few hours after her ladyship’s departure, there was a hail-storm, which, had glass been in use for windows, would have broken every pane. She slept at El Khudder. About noon, I overtook her there, and found the tents just struck for marching: so, without dismounting, I joined company.
There are two roads from Sayda to Tyre, as also from Tyre to Acre, from which circumstance, as being not generally known to travellers themselves, there is often an apparent discrepancy in the names of places and their relative distance. In the winter season, it is customary to follow the windings of the strand of the sea-shore, where the sand always affords a firm footing for the animals: in the summer, a strait road, sometimes close to the sea, and sometimes, from the bends of the coast, two, or three hundred yards, or a quarter of a mile distant from it, is preferred: but it is too full of holes and too deep in mire to be passed in the wet season.
We slept that night at Tyre. The rains still continued. I departed next morning earlier than Lady Hester, to provide the evening station. Passing Ras-el-ayn, I came to the promontory called Ras el Nakûra. Ascending this, and riding through a level beyond it covered with underwood, I came to the Guffer or toll-house, on the left hand of which, as mentioned in a former place, is the village of Nakúra. This I thought a convenient distance for a halfway station between Tyre and Acre. Accordingly, inquiring for the shaykh’s house, I produced the buyurdy, by which we were to be furnished with lodging and entertainment on the road. The shaykh very civilly professed his willingness to do so, but said that the station was specified in the order for the village of Bussa, which was farther on. I thanked him, perceived my error, and, remounting my horse, descended the hill by the Burge Msherify into the plain of Acre. At the foot of the hill, the road to Bussa turned short to the left. The incessant rains, for some weeks past, had so soaked the ground that my horse could with difficulty get along.