146

NOTICE OF

JOURNAL of a TOUR in the LEVANT. By WILLIAM TURNER, Esq. Three Volumes Octavo.

PART II. [Concluded from No. LI.]

OUR author's journey to Palestine and to Egypt is the subject of his 2d volume. In Feb. 1815, he sailed from Constantinople on board of a small Turkish vessel, carrying about 40 persons, sailors and passengers. Of the Turkish sailors one was a young Candiote, who had fled from his own country, in consequence of having stabbed four men, with whom, at different times, he had quarrelled. Mr. Turner, on his voyage, visited the islands of Scio, Cos (as the Greeks still call it like their ancestors, though the Turks have given it the name of Stanco), Rhodes, and Cyprus. It appears from his interesting account, that the last-mentioned island, which had been so rich and florishing in early ages, and even under Venetian oppression, is daily impoverished and depopulated by the barbarism of its Turkish rulers, like every other place that has unhappily fallen under their subjection.

And it was lately (says Mr. T.) like Rhodes, or even more, because nearer, ruined by the Turkish fleet and army off Satalia; the Captain Pasha who commanded forcing the island, not only to furnish him gratis with all sorts of provisions and fruits, and even to pay the freight of them, but to buy the ships he took at his own price.' (P. 39.)

Yet the Turks here, are said to be much milder towards Christians, and less bigoted than in other parts of their empire.

Cyprus is no longer famous for the beauty, or infamous for the immodesty of its women. The women of Nicosia are, I am told, in general, pretty; but not to any extraordinary degree; and one half of their charms is destroyed by the relaxation of the system, consequent on their frequent use of the bath, that enemy of female attractions throughout the Levant. But after seeing the rigor with which they are guarded at Constantinople, 1 was astonished to see the familiarity with which they enter the houses here, even of the Franks, divested of either ferredjee or yatchmak.' (P. 45.) A note informs us that the former is

"A large cloak that entirely envelopes them; the yatchmak, a veil that hides all the face but the eyes. The Turks, who think that nothing but extreme restraint can secure female virtue, lay it down as a principle that a woman cannot, without a crime, let her face be seen by any other man than her husband, father, brother, uncle and father-in-law (the four

latter only at stated festivals); and that two persons of different sexes cannot be innocently alone together for a moment.' (P. 52.)

At a convent in Cyprus, Mr. T. was lucky enough to engage as his servant, a destitute orphan Greek, named George, about 15 years of age, who spoke Greek and Arabic, and was strongly recommended by the fathers who had educated him. Attended by this faithful boy, he soon after sailed in a Barbary vessel, and on the 24th of March anchored in the bay of Barout. The captain, who had given up his own bed to Mr. T., would not accept any payment or remuneration; for, having traded much with the English, he had always been so liberally treated by them that nothing, he declared, could gratify him more than having an opportunity of serving a person of that nation.

The noise of frogs, which had annoyed our author in Cyprus, he exchanged at Barout for the sound of torrents pouring through the streets from Lebanon. This mountain he visited, and its Maronite convents. In one of these Mr. T. discovered the opinion entertained of his countrymen respecting religious worship:-he tells us, that saying his prayers as usual going to bed

Fedlullah, who slept in the same room with me, asked me, 'Per l'amor di Dio, Signor, what are you doing?' I told him praying; when he replied with a strong expression of surprise, 'Praying! why they told me that the English never prayed.' In fact our national character suffers much by the unavoidable inattention to public worship of our travellers. The Catholic and Greek find almost everywhere in the Levant a church of their persuasion; but the Englishman never enters one except from curiosity. (P. 73.)

The prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel seem completely verified in the present state of Seyd, the ancient Sidon. All its maritime commerce is now confined to a few fishing boats, and its limits so reduced, that our author walking at the rate of three miles an hour, encompassed its walls in twenty minutes. The town consists of stone houses, fallen or falling, ruined buttresses, and old square towers; many streets passing under massy stone arches, which support the ruined houses. (P. 90.) From Sidon to Tyre (now called Sur) is reckoned a distance of nine hours; from a spot about half way, Tyre appeared like a very small town built on an island, with a small long mountain to its left.' The prophetic writers above quoted respecting Sidon may be consulted on the ancient opulence and present wretchedness of Tyre, which, Mr. T. declares, does not contain any object worthy of observation. (P. 100.) He visited with much delight the fortifications of Acre, where British valor was so eminently displayed; and Mount Carmel, of which Pope's description (in the Messiah) is, Mr. T. says, perfectly appropriate

'And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies.'

Nazareth is now only a large village, of miserable stone cottages, with mud floors and roofs. Here the Turks had lately murdered a poor Christian woman, on pretence that she had treated their religion with contempt, and would not allow the Greeks to bury her until they had paid two hundred piastres. Near the foot of Mount Tabor, a small village retaining its ancient name, Deborah, is said to be the spot where Sisera was nailed to the ground by Jael. (P. 136.) Having visited Tiberias, the sea of Galilee, and the village of Cana, our author left Nazareth and proceeded to Samaria and Judea, and at length, on the 24th of April, was gratified with a view of Jerusalem, the Holy City (as even the Turks entitle it), with Mounts Olivet and Sion. It presented a confused prospect of trees, roofs of houses and domes, among which were conspicuous those of the Mosque of Omer (occupying the site of Solomon's temple), and of the Holy Sepulchre. Mr. T. was cordially welcomed at the Roman Catholic convent of San Salvador, even before he had delivered to them a dispatch from the English ambassador at Constantinople, authorising them (in consequence of a petition sent some months before) to draw on him for twenty-five thousand piastres-a favor most acceptable to those worthy Franciscans, who were reduced to great distress by the exactions of the Turks, and the neglect they had experienced in consequence of the late wars in Europe. For his account of the Holy Sepulchre, the Via Dolorosa, the Pool of Bethesda, Mount Sion, the Sepulchre of David, and other royal Tombs, the river Jordan, the (probable) site of Jericho, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, the Tomb of Rachel, the Gardens of Solomon, the Grotto of the Nativity, the Potter's field, the Pool of Siloam, the Tomb of Absalom, the Mount of Olives, and various other objects that render the consecrated precincts of Jerusalem and its vicinity so eminently interesting, we must refer the reader to Mr. T.'s work; for within our narrow limits we could not possibly do justice either to his excellent descriptions, or his ingenious conjectures and remarks. We shall notice, however, his account of the anxious impatience of those Christian pilgrims, who visit, through devotion, the holy River Jordan, and their emulation in contending for the priority in entering it, every one carrying away a bottle of the water-those whose infirmities would not allow them to bathe in the stream, soliciting those standing in it to fill their vessels for them-χατζη (Hadjee) σας παρακαλω ξαναγεμιζε TOUTO, Pilgrim, pray fill this.' But Mr. T. was disgusted with the inhumanity of those pilgrims who passed their dying com panions on the road, without even asking, en passant, how they

did. I was near when the horse fell down the precipice; not a soul waited, except myself, to inquire whether the rider had saved himself. The only answer I could get from those who I supposed might have seen it, was, ' τι με κοφτει εμενα? τι ίζευρω ey? What do I care? what do I know? yet these people went to save their souls by bathing in a river. This is, indeed, faith without good works.' (P. 233.) From Jerusalem Mr. T. proceeded to Jaffa, of which place the Aga had lately assisted Lady E. S. (Esther Stanhope) in making excavations among the ruins of Ascalon, where considerable remains of an ancient temple were discovered; but the Turk, disappointed at not finding a treasure, ordered the columns and other fragments to be again covered with earth-perhaps the barbarian has, by this order, been unconsciously the means of preserving some precious monuments of antiquity, which at a future time may be brought to light under more auspicious circumstances. Our traveller having sailed from Jaffa, lauded at Damietta, in Egypt, on the 21st of May. We cannot trace him very closely through Alexandria, which, however interesting from its ancient remains, he would assign, with Volney, to the deserts of Africa, as it exhibits nothing of Egyptian fertility. (P. 324.) Having visited Aboukir and Rosetta, he embarked in a boat on the Nile, and mentions his surprise at the shallowness of this celebrated river before the time of its rise; for having swam or rather walked across it, near the village of Zoayerah (July 5th), he found that where deepest, near the banks, it seldom exceeded ten feet; in the middle not above four, and in most places not above two feet. (P. 351.) The streets of Cairo, which contains three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, are nowhere above ten feet wide, and several no more than four-rendered dark by the roofs and windows of the opposite sides, projecting so as to touch each other in some instances. Yet in these narrow streets it is the universal custom to ride on asses. Mr. T. visited the slave market, often filled with blacks (for white slaves are not sold at Cairo), but now empty, for the plague within the last four months had destroyed eleven thousand, and the caravans had not yet arrived with fresh supplies. (P. 366.) Having examined the Pyramids, the Sphynx, the Nilometer, and other curiosities, Mr. T. made preparations for an excursion to the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. He crossed the desert from Cairo to Suez, which he represents as a most miserable place: here he bathed in an arm of the Red Sea, which did not any where seem very deep; for he could always find the bottom by letting himself drop, with a little exertion; but the coral plants at the bottom cut his feet. On the

northern coast he remarked a great abundance of shells, and adds

Three or four Arab women were bathing naked in the sea, whose idea of modesty amused me extremely, as it prompted them to run out of the water to hide their faces, which Mahometan women are strictly enjoined to hide from men, and a fortiori from Christians. I have more than once been diverted by the same female precaution on the Nile. In fact, the reserve of the Arab women proceeds not from principle, but from fear. One of them at Cairo, who came to wash for Mrs. Belzoni, immediately on entering the house, stripped herself naked: but when the Arab water-bearer knocked at the door, huddled on her clothes in a fright: she drank wine in the house freely.'

Mr. T. was hospitably received by the monks of the convent on Mount Sinai:-he visited Mount Horeb, and the Stone from which Moses caused water to flow. In the convent of Sinai another English traveller, Mr. Bankes, discovered a library of two thousand volumes, three-fourths of which were MSS., and of these, nine-tenths Greek. The greater part were theological, but some few interesting. Mr. B. brought away a thick MS. containing Hephaestion on the Greek metres; an oration of Isocrates; the Letters of Phalaris (a subject of much controversy some years ago). Another MS. comprising the three first books of the Iliad and part of the fourth; two Tragedies of Eschylus, and much Greek poetry; another containing the Medea of Euripides, and the beginning of his Hippolytus; also the work of Cedrenus, a Byzantine historian; all the Physics of Aristotle, &c. From Suez our author returned to Cairo; thence to Alexandria, where he embarked in a Venetian vessel, and again (Oct. 3d) landed at Larnaca in the island of Cyprus. Here he visited the ruins of Paphos, now called Baffo, with the village of Leros Kypos or The sacred Garden,' where, it is said, were situated the gardens of Venus, the Paphian divinity. The whole neighbourhood of Baffo and of leros Kypos is full of large masses of rock, hewn into caves and chambers, all, probably, communicating subterraneously one with another, but now nearly choked up, and almost impenetrable. Mr. T. gives a most unfavorable account of the Greek priests, who in Cyprus enjoy great power.

They strip the poor ignorant superstitious peasant of his last para, and when he is on his death-bed make him leave his all to their convent, promising that masses shall be said for his soul.-Madame Dupont (the mother of my companion) tells me that she once paid a visit to a Greek widow of a peasant, who was dying, and asked her if she had made her will to dispose of what she had in the world. I have only that,' replied the woman, pointing to a handsome Venetian looking-glass hanging up in the room, and that I have left to my father confessor to pray for my soul. But your two children?' replied Madame D. 'Oh!' said the superstitious dupe,' he says Heaven will take care of them!!