They took little or no notice of me; some few made acquaintance with Giovanni, whose pot of coffee they soon emptied, but not before he had given me what I required for myself. By their conversation, which I overheard, I found that they were a part of the troops who had assisted in ravaging the Ansáry territories under Mustafa Aga Berber, and Lady Hester’s name was often mentioned.
As soon as day dawned, I left them, and continued on my way to Abra. This rencontre will serve to show that the alarms and descriptions of travellers respecting the Turkish soldiery may sometimes be exaggerated.
On the 3rd of December, I went down to Sayda. At about an hour before sunset, there came on a most heavy fall of rain; so that, using all the haste I could to quit the city, I found a little rivulet, which crossed the road on going through the orchards, so swollen that my horse could hardly ford it without falling. Such are the rains in these countries. M. Beaudin departed the same day for Acre, with five camel-loads of presents, for the pasha, for Mâlem Haym, and other individuals. The rain continued, without intermission, until the 8th.
On the 9th, Lady Hester had a suppliant at the convent, in the person of Mohammed Aga Tersýty, who came to demand money. He had been driven out of one of the towns between Hamah and Damascus by the new pasha, who had cut off his uncle’s head, and avanized his family. I omitted to mention, in its proper place, that the pasha of Damascus, Sayd Solymán, had been replaced by Hafyz Ali Pasha, formerly Lord High Admiral. This pasha took the road for Damascus, through Asia Minor, with his myrmidons, and had no sooner arrived on the skirts of his pashalik beyond Hamah, than he began to reform many abuses that had crept into the administration. A new pasha generally enters into office with sanguinary measures. As he advanced, he confiscated the property of some, put others to death, and made the guilty of all sorts (or perhaps the rich) tremble. Mohammed Aga, Tersýty’s uncle, was one of these: and the nephew probably had his reasons for flight.
On the 13th, I took Mr. N. into the mountain, to show him a little of the country, and to introduce him to some of the persons who were occasionally in correspondence with Lady Hester. On our way, hearing that the Emir Beshýr was not at Dayr-el-Kamar, we turned from the road through the village Aynût to another, called Hazrûs, whither he had gone. He was out with his falcons, and we went on to Garýfy, where we passed the night at Shaykh Shems’s. Mr. N. was so dreadfully tormented with the fleas, that, in the morning, his body looked as if he had the measles. This arose from his unwillingness to forego the English habit of undressing to his shirt, and sleeping on a bed. For myself, I slept on my small carpet, with my clothes on.
The next morning we returned to Hazrûs. Here we saw the emir, of whom I took leave preparatory to my voyage to England; and, having told him that we wished to see his palace at Bteddýn, which he requested we would do with all liberty, we left him. We took a different road from that which we had followed on the preceding day through Ayn Bayl, and Zimaruka, where reside some of the family of Zayn ed Dyn, Drûzes who have enjoyed the enviable privileges of supplying for many generations the common executioner. But it will hardly be believed that this family derives much importance from the office; so that they would no more wish to lose it than a chieftain his fief. Nothing could exceed the romantic scenery we this day saw. The path lay principally by the side of the bed of a torrent, in a deep ravine between two lofty mountains, from which, in the lapse of ages, large fragments of rock had detached themselves, and lay below in majestic confusion. The late rains had somewhat swelled the stream, and it occasionally foamed in cascades over the broken masses. Arriving at night at Dayr el Kamar, we were provided with lodging in the old palace, the residence of the emir before building that of Bteddýn.
I sent for Pierre, who proceeded to see that our supper was provided in the best style, and M. Ayda came to spend the evening with us. The next day we visited Bteddýn palace, which is really a very pleasing specimen of the irregularities and decorations of the present Syrian architecture. The most beautiful room is the kâa, which is not inferior in richness of ornament to some of the first rooms at Damascus. We made the acquaintance of Abûna Stefàn (or Father Stephen), a priest and a physician, in which latter capacity he was now in attendance on the emir’s lady. We were however called upon to intrude on his department by a request from the princess to enter the harým and prescribe for one of her women. But, as we saw only one room in the harým, our visit did not answer the purposes of curiosity which we had hoped to derive from it. We returned the next day to Abra.
Christmas-day now came, and my departure was fixed for the next week; but the necessary preparations for a long voyage, and the number of letters which Lady Hester had to write, detained me until the 18th of January. It was not without great melancholy that I beheld the day arrive, which was to separate me from a country, where I had seen so many strange things, and from a person whose exalted courage, talents, and character, had gained an entire ascendency over my mind.
CHAPTER XIII.
Departure of the Author for Europe—Arrival at Larnaka, in Cyprus—Hospitality of M. Vondiziano, British vice-consul—Tours in the island—Leucosia—The Greek archbishop—City walls—Lepers—Cytherea—Monastery of St. Chrysostom—Famagusta—Return to Larnaka—Carnival amusements—Houses—Amour of Signor Baldo—Murder of Prince George Morusi—History of Signor Brunoni—Cypriote women not remarkable for beauty—Superstitious notions—The Greek archbishop and his dragoman Giorgaki—Insurrection of Turks—How quelled by Cara Pasha—Pusillanimity of the consuls—Thunder-storm—Lenten diet—Malignant fevers—Excursion in the interior—Idalia—Leucosia—M. Brens—Robbery in the governor’s palace—Proceedings against the suspected—Intolerance towards freemasons.