70 70 AHMET BEY. CHAPTER XXII. Ahmet Bey.-Mr. Farren's Defence of a Greek.-Pacha's influence.-Rebellion against Mohammed Selim.-Dervish in a panther's skin.-Parliament of Damascus.-Beautiful Jewess.-Presented in some Christian Hareems by Padre Manoel.-Women of Damascus.-Sleeping Beauty.-Introduced to a Christian House by Mr. C. Farren.-Girls of great beauty.-Turkish Hareem.-Mode of Salutation in Damascus. -No damask now manufactured. - Aromatic waters.-House of Naaman the Syrian-now an Hospital for Lepers.-House of Ananias. May 19th. WENT to-day to pay my respects to Ahmet Bey, the vice-governor. In conformity with the request of Sheriff Bey, (or Beck, as the Damascus pronunciation has it,) Mr. Farren always appeared in the divan in European costume, laying aside the Turkish dress which he wore at other times; and upon this occasion the remarks made upon us as we passed along the streets, though heard only by the attendants, were anything but flattering. "Thank DEFENCE OF A GREEK. 71 God I am a Mussulman, and not one of those Infidels!-look at the beasts, the dogs!" Though no outward signs of violence appear, yet the bitterness of the inward feelings of the Mohammedans toward the Christians escapes them sometimes in their words; and they do not hesitate to say, that the present system may last for a time, but the day of retribution shall come. The Bey wore neither shoes nor stockings, but was very civil. Mr. C. Farren, brother to the Consul-general, presented me; having some business to transact on behalf of a Greek, who, contrary to the law, had been selling wine and spirits in the Turkish quarter, and though warned to desist within five days, did not do so, and in consequence was bastinadoed, and his property destroyed. The Greek, however, was in possession of a teschere, certifying that he was a British subject, and maintained that he had read this to the Bey himself before he was beaten; which the latter as positively denied. If he could have proved this fact, the government would have indemnified him for the loss of his property, and perhaps have made him some compensation for his stripes: but he 72 PACHA'S INFLUENCE. prevaricated and contradicted himself so continually, that the charge could not be made good against the Bey. This case, though abstractedly of little consequence, was yet of great political import, and will give the reader some idea of the remarkable change that has taken place wherever the Pacha's influence has extended. It was a strange anomaly, in a country where a few months before a hat would have subjected the wearer to assault and battery, to see an Englishman, in a blue coat and buff waistcoat, with his hat upon his head, bearding the chief officer of Damascus in his very den, and pleading the cause of a man whose claim to be an English subject was very equivocal; and the Bey at the same time admitting, that if the accused had made known that he was such before his punishment, it would not have been inflicted, though he was acting in direct violation of those laws by which every other man in the country is bound. This affair being one of delicacy, as affecting the governor's authority, the guards, attendants, and all persons unconcerned were ordered to withdraw. My servant retired to the guard-room near the divan, where were also some Damascenes, who REBELLION AGAINST MOHAMMED SELIM. 73 said that Ahmet Bey was a good Mussulman at bottom, and could not endure the sight of the Franks; at which the Egyptian officers laughed heartily. The virulence of the Damascus feeling is a burlesque even upon prejudice. At the beginning of 1832, Mohammed Selim, Pacha of Damascus, gave offence to the people by ordering the streets to be cleaned. It was considered to be an European innovation, and a rebellion ensued. The Pacha defended himself gallantly in the castle with a few followers for three weeks, but despairing of relief, fell by his own hand. His head was carried upon a lance to the Franciscan convent, and thrown into the court, with this label attached-" Here's your friend." Mohammed Selim was a great favourite with the Sultan, and had been his chief coadjutor in the destruction of the Janissaries: he was appointed to Damascus as a fit person to quell the rebellious spirit of the people. A dervish, clad in a panther's skin, who was of the party in the guard-room, drew a rude figure like a boat upon paper for one of the soldiers, which, if the latter wore it with perfect fuith, would serve as a panoply, and make 74 BEAUTIFUL JEWESS. him bullet-proof. The dervish received eight piastres for the sketch. Damascus is now furnished with a parliament of twenty members; and such is the liberality of the Egyptian policy, that one of these is a Jew, the richest of his caste, blessed also with a beautiful daughter, a "Jessica," who occasionally is seen sitting under a certain weeping willow at the water-side, her head glittering with diamonds, but far less brilliant than her eyes! I know not whether she had been taught to expect that "there would come a Christian by should be worth a Jewess' eye," or had noted it by custom; but toward the evening she was wont to be found near the willow; and a Christain of my acquaintance, well knowing her whereabout, did use to be led, as if unconsciously, to the spot; when his devotion was repaid by a glance from her full dark eyes, aided by little enigmatical signs of the fingers, which in the East convey as much as could be contained in the neatest three-cornered note of any colour in Europe. This Christian befriended me during my there-remain in Scham,* and spared no pains to point out everything worthy * The present name of Damascus. |