In one of their late battles with
the Kurds, a young man of noble extraction, but poor, and without
authority, was crying out in the heat of action: “Comrades, let us
attack them on the left flank.” Hayder Aga, who heard it, exclaimed:
“Who are you? hold your tongue.” After the victory the young man, was
seen thoughtful and melancholy in the midst of the rejoicings of his
brethren; Hayder Aga, as proud a man as ever sat upon a throne, to whom
it was reported, sent for the young man, and when he entered the tent
rose, and kissed his beard, begging [p.644] him to forget whatever lie
might have said in the heat of action, when he was not always master of
himself.
Their ideas of decency appear singular, when compared with our own. A
Turkman will talk before his wife, daughter, or sister upon subjects
which are banished from our discourse; at the same time that he would be
much offended if any friend should in the presence of his females speak
in raptures or poetical terms of the charms of a beloved mistress.
Remains of Antiquity.
One of the principal motives of my visit to the Turkmans was my desire
to visit some ruins near their encampments, particularly those of Deir
Samaan, which at Aleppo I had heard compared to the temples at Baalbec.
I therefore made it a condition with my Turkman host, that he should
take me to Deir Samaan as well as to several other ruins whose names I
had collected from different Aleppines.
