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176

KALED

"THE SWORD OF GOD."

the prophet. "A drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and of prayer," says the Koran. What precepts for conquest-what maxims to make warriors! It was one of the four cities which was not possessed by the Christians after their first crusade the strip comprising Aleppo, Hamath, Homs and Damascus, never being subdued, or wrung rather, from the Moslems.

Kaled, or Caled, "the sword of God," is buried in the mosque; he deserted from the revolution raised against Mahomet, and in the first war with the Roman empire he bravely won his name: this was at the battle of Muta. Kaledos (says Theophanes) δν λεγουσι μαχαιραν του θεου, of that day. He was of immense importance to the cause under Caliph Abubeker, attended the army through the Syrian conquest, was foremost among the bravest in cruelty, as in valour, at Damascus and at Aignadin, and commanded the army at Yormuk. After such a life of danger he died quietly, having survived most of his distinguished companions in arms. This immunity from death on the field was imputed to a cap he wore, which had been blessed by the

CHIVALRY OF KALED.

177

prophet of God. Surely all must admire the highsouled cavalier of the Moslem cause. Who does not remember the boy's apostrophe, as he parted from his home, his mother, and soft, loving sister? "It is not, mother mine (emee), the delicacies of Syria, or the fading delights of this world, that have prompted me to devote my life in the cause of religion; but I seek the favour of God and his apostle; and I have heard from one of the companions of the Prophet, that the spirits of martyrs shall be lodged in the crops of green birds who shall taste the fruits and drink of the rivers of Paradise. Farewell; we shall meet again, among the groves and by the fountains which God has chosen for his elect."

The speedy conquest of the land may be imputed to the degeneracy of the empire. Her soldiers were aliens, hated and feared: looked upon as conquerors, they treated the people as conquered. The inhabitants looked almost with apathy on a struggle, for the result of which they cared little. Spite of every search and enquiry, it was impossible to find or hear of any trace of the once-famed temple. If descriptions are true, it equalled that of Baalbec, and the

VOL. I.

N

178

FOOD OF THE HOMS PEOPLE.

poet has compared it to the Lebanon in

splendour

"Emesa fastigia celsa resident

Manu diffusa solo latus explicit; ac subit auras
Turribus in cœlum nitentibus; incola claris

Cor studiis ac erit

Denique flammicomo devoti pectora soli

Vitam agitant: Libanus frondosa cacumina turget,
Et tamen bis certant celsi fastigia templi."

The food of the people is poor and meagre in the extreme, and no doubt renders them more liable to the attacks of the fever and ague so prevalent here during the midsummer months. On the Christians, owing to their long fasts, it falls with greater severity. Meat they seldom eat ; bread, leban, milk made sour on purpose, and bruised maize form their chief sustenance. Turks indulge occasionally in camels' flesh, which is very cheap; this the Christians will not touch.

The

THE VILLAGE OF TEL BISSÈ.

179

CHAPTER XII.

Departure from Homs-Tel Bissè-Description of that village-Tel el Cartel and Djebel Mariam - Kubbes - Arrival at Hamath - Our Reception-The Bazaars-Manufactures of Hamath-The OrontesHow the Town is supplied with Water-The Algerine Arab and his Stories The Provident Turk and his Silly Wife-Hamath to Khan Shokune-Scenery on the Way-Two Algerine Moors and Abd-el Kader-Columns and Ruins-Shokune to Marra-Corn-holes-Use they are put to-Beautiful Ruins.

WE quitted the town at daylight the gate we passed out at was fine with carved marble, but fast falling to decay. We crossed the wheat

fields that environ the town, and then on into the flower-strewn desert. At length, a mound broke

the roundness of the

village built on it.

horizon, and we came upon a

The mud houses had domeshaped roofs, a form seemingly better adapted for a country subject to rain, than the flat roofs universal in Syria. They looked like enormous native ovens. The village is called Tel Bissè, and is about nine miles N.N.E. from Homs. On again over uncultivated verdure; in one hour and ten minutes we reached Rastan, the ancient

180

THE MODERN VILLAGE OF RASTAN.

Arethusia. The ruins are extensive, built of black ferruginous stone. They occupy a long hill on the right bank of the Orontes, which flows in a deep channel far beneath the northernmost part is occupied by the village. All is perfectly ruined.

We noticed one spring of an arch composed of alternate layers of black and white stone Saracenic, and comparatively modern, and some remnants of walls built of huge blocks uncemented. The rows of pedestals form a broad way for some distance till lost in the village. Shafts, in all stages of decay, lie strewn about. The present village is built of blocks about a foot square: these compose the walls, yards, &c. Roofed with sticks and mud, well rammed over all this, they form wretched, low, dark hovels, light and air being admitted only by the door. I saw only one capital of black stone, small, and perfectly unornamented.

We passed through the modern village, and descending the hill rejoined the baggage, which had halted at a large spacious khan close to the banks of the river. This we crossed by a fine solid stone bridge, and climbed a long, steep

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