The extraordinary resolution of performing a long and difficult journey on asses was not a mere fancy in Lady Hester: it arose from a deep feeling of indignation at the neglected state in which she found herself left by her friends and her relations, more especially by the then Marquis of B*********; and she thought, by assuming the mode of travelling common only to the poorest pilgrims who traverse Syria on their way to Jerusalem, to direct the attention of the consuls and merchants of the towns through which she passed to her deserted condition, imagining, no doubt, that a report of it would reach England, and call down animadversions on those from whom she had a right to claim support and attention to her comforts.
Lady Hester descended the mountain, and I was preparing to accompany her, when I was detained by a dispute among the muleteers, who declared that the fifteen mules could not carry the baggage. Intending to compel them to it, I desired my servant to lead my ass down the mountain, saying I would follow; but, after some time, I found that another mule was indeed required, and that there was not one to be had. Impatient of the delay, I mounted a horse belonging to the owner of the house, and rode to the monastery to get one. The monks refused to lend or hire out their mules; and, seeing no alternative, I desired the luggage thus left should be taken care of, and hastened on foot to overtake the party; but more than an hour had elapsed, and they were far before me. Descending into the plain on the north-east side, I continued along the banks of the Ewely, passing the granite columns, of which mention has already been made, over the bridge called Geser Behannýn. The road continued for a small distance farther in the ravine, through which the river runs north and south, when it turned to the right up an almost precipitous mountain, which overhangs the river, and the indentations and strata of which correspond exactly with those on the opposite side. I here became much fatigued with walking and with the exertions I had made during the morning, and I sat down to rest myself; for I had on me a riding dress, with which, in Turkey, it is scarcely possible to walk; as the breeches are very large. I had likewise a brace of pistols in my girdle, the weight of which was annoying. Whilst sitting by the road-side, some Drûzes, coming in an opposite direction, passed me, and I questioned them whether the English lady had been seen by them, and they pointed out the road by which she had gone. I then offered them an unusual price if they would let me have one of their mules to convey me to where she was; but they averred it to be impossible, on account of their business, which took them another way.
Renewing my journey, and ascending in a zigzag direction, I reached the head of a deep ravine, into which fell a cascade from the mountain above: I then resumed a northerly course, and made as much haste as my heavy attire would allow me. On the left, but low down and out of hearing, was the river Ewely, and on my right very high mountains, whilst my path was, although stony and rugged, along level ground. In this way I walked till the sun was declining behind the mountains, when I saw the lights of a village, but at some distance before me, which I guessed to be Makhtàrah, the residence of the Shaykh Beshýr, as I knew I had been tending towards it. The path soon became somewhat intricate, in consequence of olive, fig, and mulberry-tree plantations, which were numerous hereabout. It now grew dark, and I overtook a man driving an ass, who, as far as I could discern, seemed somewhat afraid of me and my pistols, whilst I felt equally so of him; I therefore turned out of the path, apprehensive, if I asked the way, that he might guess my situation, and find means to rob me; for, in the hurry of the moment, I had not loaded my pistols, and my cartridges were with my servant.
The lights were still before me. I knew that the place of our encampment would be marked by blazing meshals (formed by fixing an iron-hooped cylinder on a pole, and supplying it continually with tarred canvas), and I thought that, at some distance on the left and beyond the village, I observed this very blaze: I therefore left Makhtàrah on my right, and inclined towards them. After I had walked about half an hour, the blaze suddenly disappeared; by degrees, the path, which, from the darkness of the night was now no longer perceptible, became so uncertain, that I was almost fearful to advance, when, on a sudden, I found myself on a descent and within hearing of the sound of a torrent. Stepping with caution and difficulty, I came to a bridge over a rushing water, which I judged to be the river Ewely. I crossed it, but was no sooner over than I lost all traces of the path, and found my farther advance opposed by a precipice.
Here my courage and my strength failed me. I judged it to be three hours after sunset, and the darkness was not relieved in the abyss into which I had descended by even the glimmering of a star. The jackalls howled around me; and whoever has heard their night-cry, so like what we may suppose would be the screams of a child whom robbers are in the act of murdering, will not wonder if I disliked the necessity of sleeping in this wild place. I was not sure that there were not leopards near the spot where I was; and the jackalls alone, although they seldom or never attack a man who is awake and moving, might yet fall on me when asleep, and do me great injury before I could rise and defend myself. However, all these reflections were of no avail against extreme weariness. I lay down on the ground, fell asleep, and in the morning, soon after daylight and not before, awoke refreshed and unhurt.
I looked round me, and perceived that I was in a deep ravine; and, as I observed the path by which I had descended to the river, I blessed Providence that had guided my steps; for it was dangerous even in open day. About two hundred yards up the stream was a water-mill. I went to it, and, knocking at the door, found an old Drûze who invited me in; but my apprehensions of the plague caused me to refuse; and I asked him where I was, told him how I had passed the night, and inquired if he had seen a large caravan go by on the preceding day. The bridge, I learned, was called Geser Gedayda.
Having satisfied myself on these points, he directed me up the mountain to a village, where, on my arrival, I met another Drûze, who was just driving his oxen to plough. I asked him for something to eat, and he immediately turned back, and led me to his own door. His wife was yet in bed. He roused her, and said he had brought a foreigner for a visitor, desiring her to set out the table. But, on expressing my apprehensions of the plague, and on refusing to cross the threshold, she put out her homely fare on a straw tray.[2] It consisted of cheese soaked in oil, a bunch of hung grapes, and some bad bread-cakes. I had now fasted for twenty-two hours, and was not disposed to quarrel about trifles; so she placed it on a stone, and on her retiring I advanced, and ate with my fingers. My looks, dress, &c., were all examined by the woman and a neighbour; but they both scrupulously kept their faces covered.
Having satisfied my hunger, the man desired his son and daughter, children of six or seven years old, to show me on my way; but when I produced all the money I happened to have about me, which was seven paras (about twopence), and offered it in payment for my breakfast, his civility relaxed, and he suffered me to set off alone. In the village of Gedaydy, for so this was called, the inhabitants are Drûzes.
As soon as I was out of the village, I came on a country barren and stony; hardly was there a tree to be seen. An hour’s walk brought me to a Drûze village, called Ayn-wy-Zayn. Here, as there was no plague, I hired an ass and guide to carry me onward. Soon after we entered among very extensive vineyards, which continued as far as Barûk, where it will be recollected we halted for a night two years before.
Lady Hester had pitched the tents on the very same spot where she had encamped at that time. She had been, during the night, apprehensive that some accident had happened to detain me, and my absence had been productive likewise of still worse consequences. For as, in the necessity there was that our provisions should last us until we reached Bâlbec, the keys could not be entrusted to the servants, I had them in my pocket. Upon the arrival, therefore, of the party to the resting-place, which they did not reach until eleven at night, no provisions could be had; and after so long a day’s journey (the dragoman, who had turned off the road to go to Makhtárah to bear Lady Hester’s compliments to the Shaykh Beshýr, not being present), the mule-drivers and servants broke open the provision hampers, and unnecessary waste ensued, and caused us to be afterwards reduced to great straits.