I Saw Enough, However, To Convince Me That They Possess Most
Of The Vices Of Nomade Nations, Without Their Good Qualities.
The
Turkmans are, like the Arabs and Kurds, a people of robbers, that is to
say, [p.641] every thing which they can lay hold of in the open country
is their lawful prize, provided it does not belong to their acknowledged
friends.
The Arabs make amends in some measure for their robberies by
the hospitality and liberality with which they receive friends and
strangers. In this respect I soon found that I had been led to form a
very erroneous opinion of the Turkman character. I was introduced at
Aleppo to Mohammed Ali Aga, a man of considerable influence amongst the
Ryhanlu, as a physician who was travelling in search of herbs, and I
succeeded in supporting my assumed character during near a fortnight’s
stay under his tent. Before my departure from Aleppo, I made him a
present of coffee and sweetmeats, to the amount of sixty piastres, and I
promised him another present, when he should have brought me back in
safety to Aleppo. Notwithstanding these precautions, my reception in his
tent was rather cool, and I soon found that I was among men who had no
other idea than that of getting as much out of me as they could. They
were not under the least restraint, but calculated in my presence how
much my visit was worth to them, as I sufficiently understood, from
their animated tone and gestures, added to the few Turkish words, which
I learnt.
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