The Sight Of These Numerous Ruins Fills The Minds Of The
Turkmans And Kurds With Ideas Of Hidden Treasures, And
They relate a
variety of traditionary tales of Moggrebyn Sheikhs, who have been once
on the point of getting out
The treasure, when they have been
interrupted by the shrieks of a woman, &c. &c. Having provided myself at
Aleppo with a small hammer to break off spesimens of rocks, the Turkmans
could not be pursuaded that this instrument was not for the purpose of
searching for gold. Several Turkmans pressed me to do them the favour of
working for a day in their behalf. I endeavoured to persuade them that
the hammer was to assist me in procuring medicinal herbs.
[FN#1] Tshay is the Chinese word for tea; and our word is corrupted from
it. The word Tshay is used all over Tartary and Turkey, where the dried
herb, which is brought over land from China, is also well known. In
Syria and Egypt, where the word is better known than the herb, real tea
is generally distinguished by the name of Tshay Hindy (tea of India).
Ed.
APPENDIX. No. II.
On the Political Division of Syria, and the recent Changes in the
Government of Aleppo.
THE political division of Syria has not undergone any changes, since the
time of Volney.
The Pashaliks are five in number. To the pashalik of Aleppo belongs the
government of Aintab, Badjazze, Alexandretta, and Antakia. Damascus
comprehends Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablous, Bostra, Hums, and Hama. The
Pashalik of Tripoli extends along the seacoast from Djebail to Latikia;
that of Seide or Akka, from Djebail nearly to Jaffa, including the
mountains inhabited by the Druses. The Pasha of Gaza governs in Jaffa
and Gaza, and in the adjacent plains. The present Pasha of Damascus is
at the same time Pasha of Tripoli, and therefore in possession of the
greater half of Syria. The Pashalik of Gaza is at present annexed to
that of Akka.
Such is the nominal division of Syria. But the power of the Porte in
this country has been so much upon the decline, particularly since the
time of Djezzar Pasha of Akka, that a number of petty independent chiefs
have sprung up, who defy their sovereign. Badjazze, Alexandretta, and
Antakia have each an independent Aga. Aintab, to the north of Aleppo,
Edlip and Shogre, on the way from Aleppo to Latikia, have their own
chiefs, and it was but last year that the Pasha of Damascus succeeded in
subduing Berber, a formidable rebel, who had fixed his seat at Tripoli,
and had maintained himself there for the last six years. The Pashas
themselves follow the same practice; it is true that neither the Pasha
of Damascus nor that of Akka has yet dared openly to erect the standard
of rebellion; they enjoy all the benefits of the protection of the
supreme government, but depend much more upon their own strength, than
on the caprice of the Sultan, or on their intrigues in the seraglio for
the continuance of their power. The policy of the Porte is to flatter
and load with honours those whom she cannot ruin, and to wait for some
lucky accident by which she may regain her power; but, above all, to
avoid a formal rupture, which would only serve to expose her own
weakness and to familiarize the Pashas and their subjects with the ideas
of rebellion. The Pashas of Damascus and of Akka continue to be dutiful
subjects of the Grand Signior in appearance; and they even send
considerable sums of money to Constantinople, to ensure the yearly
renewal of their offices. (The Pashaliks all over the Turkish dominions
are given for the term of one year only, and at the beginning of the
Mohammedan year, the Pashas receive [p.649] their confirmation or
dismissal) The Agas of Aintab, Antakia, Alexandretta, Edlip, and Shogre,
pay also for the renewal of their offices. There are a few chiefs who
have completely thrown off the mask of subjection; Kutshuk Ali, the Lord
of Badjazze openly declares his contempt of all orders from the Porte,
plunders and insults the Sultan’s officers, as well as all strangers
passing through his mountains, and with a force of less than two hundred
men, and a territory confined to the half ruined town of Badjazze, in
the gulf of Alexandretta, and a few miles of the surrounding mountains,
his father and himself have for the last thirty years defied all the
attempts of the neighbouring Pashas to subdue them.
The inhabitants of Aleppo have been for several years past divided into
two parties; the Sherifs (the real or pretended descendants of the
Prophet), and the Janissaries. The former distinguish themselves by
twisting a green turban round a small red cap, the latter wear high
Barbary caps, with a turban of shawl, or white muslin, and a Khandjar,
or long crooked knife in their girdles. There are few Turks in the city
who have been able to keep aloof from both parties.
The Sherifs first showed their strength about forty years ago, during a
tumult excited by their chiefs in consequence of a supposed insult
received by Mr. Clarke, the then British Consul. Aleppo was governed by
them in a disorderly manner for several years without a Pasha, until the
Bey of Alexandretta, being appointed to the Pashalik, surprised the town
and ordered all the chief Sherifs to be strangled[.] The Pasha however,
found his authority greatly limited by the influence which Tshelebi
Effendi, an independent Aleppine grandee, had gained over his
countrymen. The immense property of Tshelebi’s family added to his
personal qualities, rendered his influence and power so great that
during twenty years he obliged several Pashas who would not yield to his
counsels and designs to quit the town. He never would accept of the
repeated offers made by the Porte to raise him to the Pashalik. His
interests were in some measure supported by the corps of Janissaries;
who in Aleppo, as in other Turkish towns, constitute the regular
military force of the Porte; but until that period their chiefs had been
without the smallest weight in the management of public affairs.
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