Few Rich
Merchants Are Found In The Town; But It Is The Residence Of Many Opulent
Turkish Gentlemen, Who Find In It All The Luxuries Of The Large Towns,
At The Same Time That They Are In Some Measure Removed From The
Extortions Of The Government.
Naszyf Pasha, of the family of Adein, who
has an annual income of about £8000.
Sterling, has built a very handsome
house here. He is well known for his travels in Europe, and Barbary, and
for his brave defence of Cairo, after the defeat of the Grand Vizir by
General Kleber near Heliopolis. Being curious to see him, I waited upon
him, notwithstanding the rule I had prescribed to myself of mixing as
little as possible with Turkish grandees, and presented him a letter of
recommendation. We conversed for about half an hour; he was very civil
for a Pasha, and made many enquiries concerning Prince Augustus (the
Duke of Sussex), whom he had known in Italy.
The government of Hamah comprises about one hundred and twenty inhabited
villages, and seventy or eighty which have been abandoned. The western
part of its territory is the granary of northern Syria, though the
harvest never yields more than ten for one, chiefly in consequence of
the immense numbers of mice,
[p.148]which sometimes wholly destroy the crops. I did not see any of
these animals.
From a point on the cliff above the Orontes, called El Sherafe, the
traveller enjoys a beautiful view over the town. At one hour and a half
from it lies the Djebel Zeyn Aabdein [Arabic] in the direction N. by E.;
this mountain has two prominent summits, called the Horns of Zeyn
Aabdein [Arabic]; its continuation southward is called Djebel Keysoun,
the highest point of which bears E. 1/2 N.; still farther south it
protrudes in a point in the neighbourhood of Salamie, which bears S.E.
and is called Djebel el Aala, upon which stands the castle called Kalaat
Shemmasye [Arabic]. To the S. of Hamah, two hours distant, lies an
insulated chalky mountain, two or three hours in length, from west to
east, called Djebel Erbayn; its highest point bearing from Hamah S. 1/2
E. The Orontes flows on its E. side.
The Aaszy irrigates a great number of gardens belonging to Hamah, which
in winter time are generally inundated. Whereever the gardens lie higher
than the river, wheels like those already mentioned are met with in the
narrow valley, for the purpose of raising up water to them. In summer
the water of the river is quite clear.
February 27th.--We remained five days in the hospitable house of Selym,
where a large company of Turks and Arabs assembled every evening; and it
was with difficulty that we could prevail upon him to let us depart. The
distance between Hamah and Tripoli, by the direct road, is four days, or
three days by performing on the first a thirteen hours journey from
Hamah to Hossn; but we wished to visit the castle of Maszyad, the seat
of the Ismaylys, which is laid down upon most of the maps of Syria, but
has rarely been visited by any travellers. We set out about mid-day, and
travelling in a S.W.
SHYGHATA.
[p.149]direction came in an hour and a half to the Christian village
Kefrbehoun Arabic]; and in two hours, to a hillock in the plain called
Tel Afyoun [Arabic], i.e. the opium-hill, with an ancient well. The
number of these insulated mounds of earth in the eastern plain of Syria
is very remarkable; their shape is sometimes so regular, that there can
be no doubt of their being artificial; in several places there are two
standing close together. It is a general remark that wherever there is
such a mound, a village is found near it, and a spring, or at least an
ancient well. At two hours and a half from Hamah is El Dobbe, a small
village near the road: here the ground begins to be uneven, covered with
rocks, and little fit for cultivation. At three hours and three quarters
is Tel Mowah [Arabic] upon elevated ground, with the ruins of a
considerable village; from hence Tel Afyoun bears W. 1/2 S., Hamah
E.N.E., Homs S.S.E. In four hours and a half we came to considerable
heaps of large hewn stones, and ruined habitations, called El Feiryouny
[Arabic], where a few families of Kurdines had pitched their tents. On
the side of the road is a large and very neatly cut ancient well. The
face of the country is hilly with a rocky soil, here and there
cultivated. At the end of five hours and a half we reached Byszyn
[Arabic], a village inhabited by Anzeyrys, where we slept.
February 28th.--One hour and a half from Byszyn is the village of
Shyghata [Arabic] The road ascends, through a rocky country, overgrown
with shrubs and low trees. At two hours and a half is a ruined bridge
over the winter torrent El Saroudj, which we had passed in the plain
below, between Seidjar and Hamah; it was now so much swelled by the
heavy rains, that we were trying in vain to cross it in different
places, when a shepherd came to our assistance, and shewed us a ford.
Considerable as the stream was, it is dried up in summer. We proceeded
from the bridge in a W.N.W. direction, and, after a march of an hour and
three quarters, during [p.150]which we crossed several torrents, we
reached the castle of Maszyad [Arabic], or, as it is written in the
books of the Miri, Meszyaf [Arabic]. The approach to the castle on two
sides is across a large moor; to the N. of it are the highest points of
the mountain of Maszyad, at the foot of which it stands, upon a high and
almost perpendicular rock, commanding the wild moor in every direction,
and presenting a gloomy romantic landscape.
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