Part Fourth

With Mr. Bankes in his voyage upon the Nile into Nubia (4)

We passed by Tyre, less desolate than I was prepared to find it (it has been improving – particularly in the commerce of tobacco – of late years), and then into the fertile district of Sidon, where, turning from the sea-coast to a distance of about two hours (February 23, 1816), upon the skirts of Mount Libanus, and commanding a delightful prospect, we found the residence of Lady Hester Stanhope, a small building, called Mar Elias, built as a Christian convent, but lately repaired and furnished by its present occupant. Within, a neat corridor surrounded a little square court, into which all the chambers opened, including a bath which had recently been added to its accommodations, the whole consisting only of one story.

Lady Hester wore the male attire of that country, but very seldom left the house. Her establishment consisted of two female English servants, and several natives, both Druse and Christian, who were inmates; but her English physician was lodged apart in the village, where also Antonio and myself had our quarters assigned: for there was room only for Mr. Bankes under the roof, who remained there upwards of three weeks, and the weather proving unfavourable, very seldom went out to any distance during that time, excepting once, under the doctor’s guidance, to a beautiful summer residence of Lady Hester at Abra, near the summit of the mountain; and to a remarkable cave, not far from it, worked out by art, in the side of a precipice, and accessible only by a very narrow shelf of the rock, said to be connected with the romantic story of Fakr Eddyn.

But for the research of the antiquary there was a greater treat much nearer home, in a sepulchral chamber very recently discovered, under some ground almost adjoining to Mar Elias, with figures at full length, and a few Greek words painted on the stucco, and well preserved. Copies of all in detail were added to the store of drawings, and even some of the originals successfully sawed off and removed during this visit¹⁰.

As for myself, my gun was in the meanwhile my principal resource, and had full occupation, yet I never was fortunate enough to include one of the small mountain-leopards in my day’s sport, though they are to be seen not unfrequently.

A Syrian servant or two, whom the lady recommended Mr. Bankes, at parting, to add to his suite, proved rather an incumbrance, (though he retained them for some weeks,) for the passage over the mountain to Damascus was become sufficiently difficult from the snow, without this addition to our baggage and numbers.

We deviated from the most direct track to pay a visit to the Prince of the Druses, who is lodged rather magnificently in a spacious palace, ornamented after the Turkish manner, surrounded by that singular and mysterious people whom he rules over, and whose religion is unknown, though he is himself a Christian. The women there of all ranks wear upon their heads a long horn of metal or silver, and the men of a particular class, called Okkals (supposed the priests), a milk-white turban, very neatly and singularly folded.

It was necessary to clamber from thence over a pass that was covered deep in snow; and some researches made afterwards in the passage over Djebbel el Sheik occasioned delay, but brought to light several temples that were not before known: from whence we descended upon Damascus, one of the pleasantest cities of the east.

The new Pasha had been nominated, but was not yet arrived; his locum tenens, however, granted an escort of soldiers, which I was directed to apply for, to conduct us through the province of Hauran.

Mr. Burckhardt was, I believe, the first European who explored it, and had furnished Mr. Bankes with directions.

It is one of the most singular countries that ever I saw; a part of it, called Ledja (Ledja is unquestionably Trachonitis), is all covered over with great masses of stone as black as ink, which seem to have been discharged from extinct volcanoes which we visited¹¹, but most of the remainder is a vast plain, producing abundant crops in fruitful years, but which, in this, had no other aspect throughout than that of a bare desert. No feature of the whole province, however, is so remarkable, as the prodigious number of antique villages that stand scattered over it, with the dwelling-houses of a thousand years old and more, remaining quite entire; no other material having been employed throughout in them, besides this black stone, even to the very planking of the ceilings, and to the doors and shutters, which still turn upon their pivot-hinges. Greek inscriptions, and carved devices, are upon many of these houses, which are mostly small and low, few rising to a second story, but the best surround little courts, and have sometimes the appendage of stables, with all the mangers cut in solid stone. Square towers are also seen, sometimes intermixed, and sometimes quite detached from other buildings, which seem to have been the burial-places¹².

The most extensive examples of the kind that I have been describing, seemed to be those at Ezra, Missimie, Soueyda, Shohba, and Bostra; but there is scarcely a space of an hour’s ride in all that tract, where they do not abound on a larger or smaller scale.

By far the greater part are quite empty, or inhabited only periodically, and by chance-corners, for they serve by turns both the Bedoueen and the cultivating Arabs, as occasion requires; and the first occupant becomes the possessor for the time being, so that in frequent instances we found the litter of cattle, and embers of the day before, where there was not a living creature to be seen.

In several places the temples remain, though generally less perfect than the private houses, and in some the theatres also, particularly at Bostra, where is the largest and most entire of them all, now converted into the castle (I believe this to be the most entire antique theatre remaining in any country).

Another portion of this district is more elevated, and notwithstanding that wood grows there, the buildings still exhibit the same mode of construction; it is called Djibbel Hauran, or sometimes Djibbel Druse, from a small colony settled there of that nation and persuasion, who are at perpetual war with the Arabs, and were at that time governed by a sheik of their own, named Shibleh¹³, a brave and enterprising man, whom we visited at his residence at Aehra, and, having brought a letter to him from Mr. Burckhardt, were received with great kindness.

He added one or two of his own people to our escort, who continued with us many days, and I would fain have discovered from them something of their customs and religion, but could never succeed. It was plain, however, that they were no Christians, for it was now the season of one of the long fasts, and they ate meat when they could get it; – quite as little did they conform to the Mahommedan observances.

While staying in one of those antique dwellings that have been described, at a place called Shakkah, there was a considerable fall of snow, which discomposed all our plans, and kept us prisoners there three days, it being impossible to make any progress, or even drawings and measurements, till it was melted.

Luckily our guides knew of an Arab tory-teller within reach, so we sent for him, and his tales served as a resource during this uncomfortable delay.

But this hard weather disgusted Mr. Bankes of the journey, and prevented, for that time, his penetrating quite so far as he had purposed, though he did so about two years afterwards, when I was not with him.

It is by no means a safe country, being much infested and overrun by the Bedoueens, and we once met a poor man on foot who had been robbed and nearly stripped by two of them, almost in our sight, in his way to Mezerebe. Neither are the Arabs of the soil very honest, for Mr. Bankes’s purse was twice stolen from him during the night, once in the house of the Sheik of Bostra, and again in a village near Missemie.

It was with regret, however, that he quitted a country so curious, after a stay in it of five weeks, and returned for a while to Damascus.

The vast temples at Baalbeck detained us two whole days in the road from thence to Hems, where it was expected that some arrangement might be made for crossing the desert to Palmyra: and if a personal preference could, under existing circumstances, have in any way brought it about, the Motsellim of Hems would certainly have contrived it, for, from the first interview, he conceived such an affection for Mr. Bankes, that he seemed to have hardly any other thought than how to gratify his wishes during his stay; every amusement was resorted to that could beguile the time; the jereed, the bath, an entertainment in the interior part of his palace, and one also in a rich tent on the banks of the Orontes, followed each other, day after day; but all could not divert the traveller from his purpose, or soothe his impatience, so that when it became apparent that his friend could (in the present state of the country, without any Pasha at Damascus) as little procure a safe conduct for him, as he would consent to expose him to any risk, they parted with mutual kindness, and the experiment was to be tried from Hamah.

Here we were the guests of Selim, Christian secretary of the governor, a very humorous and debauched character, but yet high in authority, so that great hope was entertained that he might have brought the Bedoueens who command the neighbouring desert to terms, but all his endeavours were ineffectual, for the interregnum at Damascus (to which place all the others in that province are subordinate) had thrown the country into so lawless a state, that no one was willing to make himself responsible for a safe return from Palmyra, without an escort so great, and a demand of money so unreasonable, that all negociation was broken off or suspended, and with regret Mr. Bankes took his leave, and turned towards Aleppo.

In the way thither by Djibbel Reahah, there occur large ancient towns in ruin, but they differ from those of the Huran in being roofless¹⁴; beyond them, all the latter part of the road is across a great flat that skirts the desert, and is very liable to incursions from the Arabs, which induced us, as we had no escort, and also no heavy baggage, to press on almost as fast as our horses could carry us, and we thus reached the city within a few hours, which is large and handsome, but its situation and appearance pleased me less than Damascus.

The British Consul, Mr. Barker, received his countryman with distinction, and made him an inmate of his handsome houses, both in town and country.

During our stay, I witnessed the public entry of a new Pasha from Constantinople, who graced it, among other things, with the unusual show of more than ten European carriages; and about the same time intelligence reached us that the other, so long expected at Damascus, was already in Syria, and would be at Harnah, in his way thither, immediately.

Attempts already made by the Consul to send us by a different route to Palmyra with the Arabs of Sukney having failed entirely, the best chance left seemed to be an immediate return to Hamah, and a direct application to this new potentate.

We found him halted there, with a vast retinue, and with a great reputation for severity of character, which were circumstances of advantage to us.

I was commissioned to present to him the firman from the Porte, and explained my errand, Selim kindly seconding all that was urged.

Accordingly when the Bodoueen Sheik, Nasser, son of Mahannah, (the chief of the Annasee tribe commanding in all that desert,) came the next day, according to established usage, to be invested with the turban, it was intimated gently to him that he must remain as a hostage for the safe return of the Englishman, and in the mean time supply him with a suitable guide, for a definite sum, which was fixed at a thousand piastres.

The arrangement was sullenly acceded to, and a single Negro Bedoueen slave provided, bearing Sheik Nasser’s lance, and his deputed authority.

We learned upon the way that the alarms which we had before listened to had been well founded, for that all, this dismal desert had been lately a scene of confusion and warfare, on account of a girl, whom this very Nasser, who was our hostage, had carried off from a neighbouring tribe.

We took with us but a very small supply of water, because some was to be found by the way; and very early in the fourth morning reached the ruins, which are very noble, and so extensive, that all the day was employed in rambling over them; and, at night, retiring into the Temple of the Sun, (which, though a ruin, is still used as a sort of fortified dwelling,) we found Sheik Hamed, the younger brother of Sheik Nasser, in the occupation of it.

He refused all egress the following day, and again the next, placing a guard upon the chamber door, and closing the great gate, insisted upon some larger present, which was as peremptorily denied him, for Mr. Bankes felt convinced that he had been secretly authorised to act so, but that he durst not press it so far as to put his brothers liberty or life into serious hazard.

On the third morning the temper of the chief seemed changed, and he invited us to partake his sport in hawking the gazelle, hoping, as I believe, that we should seize that opportunity to escape. But since all was not completed yet in the ruins, this was declined.

Subsequently, in the course of the same afternoon, the guard was taken off the door, and the temple gate set open without conditions, but with a strong recommendation of an immediate return to Hamah; Mr. Bankes, however, made ample use of the remainder of that day with his paper and pencil¹⁵, and did not take his leave till about the middle of the next, after making a small voluntary present, and an exhortation to the young Sheik that he should behave better to travellers in future. So they parted at last with many friendly salutations.

The little water that remained in the well upon the way, as we came, had been. since dried up, or exhausted by the wild beasts and birds, which caused us some embarrassment, but threw us into a different track, where we found almost all the old. Roman mile-stones still standing in their places.

A wild sow and her four pigs were the only living objects that we saw, for it is a very dreary desert, and we were glad to get back to the hospitable roof of our friend Scum at Hamah (June 9, 1816), whose house was spacious within, and pleasantly situated, but the door leading to it not more than three or four feet high, a precaution universal among the Christians and Jews of some of the Syrian cities, against tumults, and sudden bursts of fanaticism. Their women seemed here to be kept under more restraint, and more out of sight in the interior than was usual among those of their religion in other places.

During our short stay, I myself was obliged to be a close prisoner, and under a sort of concealment, owing to my misfortune and imprudence on the evening of our return, in having wounded with a pistol ball in the leg a Turkish soldier of the Delhi¹⁶ regiment, who fired at me coming out of a coffee-house, as we were disputing about our winnings in a game of chance. His friends and comrades bad traced me out, and repeatedly called at the little low gate, demanding me, in order to have their revenge, but it was always asserted there that I was gone, and though my master was displeased with me, he favoured my escape, by making the first stage in his way to Tripoli before it was light.

Nothing appeared at all remarkable in that direction excepting a small lake, which we coasted round.

At Tripoli I fell sick for a few days at the old Consul’s house, and Mr. Bankes went up in the mean time into Libanus to Eden, and to visit the cedars.

At Tartoos there is a large Gothic church¹⁷, that is almost entire, but made no use of, and some very rude sculptured monuments of an early age, built with huge stones, within sight of the sea¹⁸.

Whilst we were in the Khan there after dark, a Tartar came in, and joined us at our supper. He laid a sort of basket down by him, and told us soon afterwards that it contained the head (even offering to shew it to us) of that refugee Suleyman Pasha, whom we had conversed with at Acre, which, after strangling him, according to his instructions, be was carrying back with him to Constantinople, to be laid at the Seraglio gate.

In the mountains thereabout live the Ismaelies, Ansaries and Kelbies, three sects, the nature of whose several religions is quite as unknown as that of the Druses: we saw them in their fields as we passed, but went little amongst them, because M. Boutin, a French traveller, had very recently been murdered in some part of their district. So that Latikieh was the next resting-place; where there are antiquities, and a pleasant tract of cultivation all round.

But the approach towards Antioch surpasses all in beauty of landscape, and is quite different in character from any part of Syria which we had before seen: even the very houses wear a new appearance, having pent roofs with tiles on them; and there are regular fields also fenced round with hedges, and even gates to them, little circumstances that render the wildness and grandeur of the natural scenery the more striking, with its combinations of forest, mountain, and water, which are varied at every turn.

It was a singularity also to end, as we advanced, the Turkish becoming all at once the commonly spoken language, in lieu of the Arabic.

The city itself is now neither considerable nor handsome, yet makes a figure, from the magnificence and great extent of its old walls and towers, which attest its former importance.

We made an excursion from thence for a day to visit the remains of the great church of St. Simeon (Stelites), an immense ruin, situated high up in a solitary wild; the whole is in form of a cross; but a great octagon, where the four arms meet, seems always to have stood open to the sky, since the span is too broad to have been covered; there is no part left of the pillar on which the Saint is said to have lived so many years; but a mass of the live rock stands up square in the centre, which was probably its pedestal.

A great chief among the Koords had not long since repaired a part of the adjoining buildings for his residence, but feeling alarm at the new Pasha of Aleppo, had withdrawn to a distance, so that we found no person there, and proceeded to examine other early Christian remains that abound in all that neighbourhood; and then returned to Antioch.

The sea-coast is at the distance of several miles, and the road to it, down a charming valley, following the course of the Orontes, is scarcely inferior in beauty to the mountain region by which we first came. Armenian and Turkman villages are every where in sight, with cultivation, and fruit-gardens, and mulberry-grounds for their silk-worms, interspersed amongst them.

The port is at Suadieah (Seleucia), near which also are considerable vestiges of antiquity.

Here it was that I reluctantly took my leave of Mr. Bankes, he embarking (June 26, 1816), with Antonio, for Cyprus, in a Greek vessel, – my little knowledge of that language, and repugnance to the sea, making it probable that I could be of no further service to him at that time; but he parted from me with expressions and proofs of kindness that I shall ever remember.

from Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Giovanni Finati native of Ferrara
by Giovanni Finati, 1830

Notes

¹⁰ There were nine figures, male and female, whole length, and about three parts the size of life: the most part of them were represented carrying dishes as to the funeral-fest, with the name of each of the dishes written above. The execution was coarse, but the style free and sufficiently good.

¹¹ The largest is called Sheik Hawn, and is very considerable; some smaller craters stand close to the walls of the ancient city Shohba: the avenue to one of its principal gates is between two of them.

¹² In one or two I found the sarcophagi, and on a few others sepulchral inscriptions, but they are strangely intermixed with the domestic buildings in many instances.

¹³ During his life, the Druses of the Hauran kept the Bedoueens quite in awe; however, in my second journey through the Hauran in 1818, I found that he had been killed in an encounter with them, and that his cousin had nominally succeeded to his authority, but not at all to his real credit or power.

¹⁴ El Bara is, perhaps, the most extensive of these ruined cities, but they are numerous. It is a part of the country much mentioned in the crusades, yet few buildings, if any, of that period are to be found there.

¹⁵ Perhaps the most singular discovery that I made at Palmyra, is a Hebrew inscription on the architrave of a doorway among the ruins of the town. I observed also (what seems to have escaped the scrutinizing and accurate eyes of Wood and Dawkius), that the practice of making the doors themselves of stone (as in the Hauran) prevailed. I found many fragments of them, one pair so large near the temple of the Sun, that I suspect them to have formed the principal gate to it, and a much smaller pair is yet standing in its place, near the outskirts of the city.

¹⁶ Delhi signifies mad, and is the name given to a class of soldiers in the Turkish army on account of the desperate courage that is imputed to them: they wear high upright caps of black felt, and are mostly Koords by nation. – See Mengin, vol. i., p. 123.

¹⁷ This church at Tortosa is a very interesting specimen of the lancet Gothic, and is perfect even to the very vaulting. It is a spot that should be interesting to an Italian, for it is that on which Tasso opens his Jerusalem.

¹⁸ These most singular and early sepulchral monuments were first noticed by Maundrell in his journey, which is up to this day the best book upon all that part of Syria which fell within his route; very little has been added to it by subsequent travellers.