From Acre, Mâlem Musa was allowed to depart for Hamah, with a present from Lady Hester of 1000 piasters. His way home was through the district of Suffad to Damascus. Hadj Mohammed, the Akám Bashi, was handsomely rewarded for his extreme care and attention with 300 piasters. The captain of the Hawárys and the officers divided about 1000 more among them.
When the time came to quit Acre, I was curious to observe whether the subtraction of the numerous suite and the loss of tents, palanquins, and other emblems of greatness, would affect Lady Hester’s looks or spirits. But neither was there to be observed mortification nor melancholy, and she rode out of the city gates with as much serenity as any human countenance could put on. Being now reduced to eight or ten persons, we encamped in a field close by the Nakûra; and, on the following morning, resumed our march for Tyre. From Tyre we departed the next day for Abra. Wishing to arrive somewhat early at Abra, I rode on alone, and overtook the baggage mules, stopping at a place short of that where our people had been desired to unload, and I commanded them to go onwards. Some expressions, which escaped one of the muleteers, of the great hardship of loading and unloading so frequently, led me to think that they would stop here if I left them. I therefore desired them to proceed before me, when one of them refused, and, letting his cords slip, threw down his load. Upon this, wishing to punish him in a way not uncommon there, I drew a sort of small yatagan from my girdle, and in stooping from my horse, to cut the breast-band of the mule’s harness, so that his saddle might for the time become useless, and he be left alone on the road until a saddler should repair it, I drew the knife with such force, that it came home, and ran into my own horse’s neck to a great depth just under the vertebræ, by the mane. The horse shook his ears—the other muleteers were frightened—and at last went on. Farther on I halted them, and, leaving them there, rode on to Abra. The wound of my horse bled freely, but he showed no symptoms of weakness; it was, however, some weeks before it healed entirely.
Lady Hester arrived on the following day. When she was refreshed from the fatigue of so long a journey, the Zaym proceeded, under her direction, to excavate near the river Ewely, close to Sayda. Two hundred yards above the present modern bridge are the remains of an ancient one, which, as hid from the view of travellers, who pass the usual road, is never mentioned by them. Hereabouts, the manuscript signified that there were treasures, and here, by corvées of peasants, the digging was renewed, but with much less alacrity than at Ascalon, and with no better success. After a few days it was therefore abandoned; and, Lady Hester having written the despatches which occupied her a short time, and having presented the Zaym with a black slave and a Cashmere shawl, which, added to the presents, he had received at Jaffa and at Acre, made up something considerable, he departed with his suite for Constantinople.
Thus ended this very extraordinary affair, which, however, I should not have ventured to introduce into my narrative at such length, or accompanied with so many comments, had I not thought that it related closely to a subject always treated much too lightly by travellers. There is every reason to suppose that hidden treasures in plate, coins, or jewels, are frequently found under old buildings, in gardens, and in the open country. But, whether they are or are not, this is certain, that no European traveller in Turkey is seen wandering among ancient ruins, without being suspected by the natives to be in search of such deposits; for it is imagined that he bears with him private marks or indications written at the time of concealment, and which have been since handed down from generation to generation as family papers, until a fit moment presented itself for going in search of them. It is therefore necessary he should be apprised that, although he may one day be angry and another laugh at this unjust suspicion of the motives of his researches, still he will never alter their belief; and a true relation of the manner in which the Turks of all ranks lent a willing hand to such researches in our case puts this past doubt. In a word, it is the part of a prudent traveller to take this notion into account in all his dealings with the natives, that he may understand much of their conduct, which will otherwise be seemingly mysterious.
Lady Hester, in providing for the expenses which the Ascalon affair brought on her, had, as we have seen, recourse to Mr. Barker for a loan of money. As she had throughout proposed to herself no advantage but the celebrity which it would bring on her own and, as she thought, the English name, and had acted with the cognizance of our minister at Constantinople, she fancied that she had a claim on the English government for her expenses: she accordingly sent to our Ambassador at Constantinople a succinct account of her proceedings, and, in showing that all which had been done was for the credit of her country, she asserted her right to be reimbursed.
She, however, was unsuccessful in her application, and the expenses weighed heavily on her means. Yet hitherto she never had been in debt, and by great care and economy contrived still to keep out of it.
CHAPTER VIII.
Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village of Joon—Abyssinian man and woman—Black horses—Lady Hester fixes herself at Meshmûshy—Solitary wigwam—The Author wishes to return to England—He sets out for Egypt—Destruction of Tyre, not so complete as travellers represent—A self-taught lithotomist and oculist—Seaweeds used for dyeing—Embarkation for Egypt in a vessel laden with wood—Impalement—Passengers on board—Cyprus—Revolt in Gebel Nablûs—Frequency of insurrections there—Arrival at Rosetta—Smoking during Ramazán—The Author is joined by Burckhardt, or shaykh Ibrahim—Mutiny of troops at Cairo—Departure by land for Alexandria—Lake Edko—Stay in Alexandria—Coasting voyage to Damietta—Burckhardt not considered as a Turk—Foreigners betrayed by their speech.
The supernumerary servants were again dismissed, and Lady Hester resumed the retired mode of life which she had adopted in the spring of last year. There was no plague, consequently nothing to interrupt those pursuits which are most interesting to a traveller. Professionally, I was about this time chiefly called upon to vaccinate the children of the neighbouring villages.
It was about this period that I rode over, one day, to pay a visit to the patriarch of Antioch at the monastery of Dayr Mkallas, near the village of Joon. I had retired to rest in one of the cells, when I was wakened, in the middle of the night, by the noise of horses fighting. I called my servant. Receiving no answer, I descended into the stableyard myself, when I was somewhat startled by seeing a black man separating the horses. He told me in bad Arabic that he was an inmate of the monastery, and, when I had seen him tie them up, I returned to my chamber.