210

SERVANTS AT ALEPPO.

Bring me a glass of water," he answers, "What for?" "Do this;" "Why?" "Bring so and so ;" "What for?" nor will a few lessons unteach this habit.

I must, however, from my own experience, now confirmed by a year's acquaintance, say they are honest and attached, quick and faithful; but the Englishman must submit to the dawdle, procrastination, and loiter, which attend all Eastern motions, or he will be endlessly hot, uncomfortable, and complaining. I was dreadfully so at first, but have now philosophised, till even no dinner and wet ground to sleep on have ceased to excite me. But to return to my journal, with a pardon sought for my long digression.

I observe no note on the day in question, except being vaccinated for preventing the Aleppo button. The operation was performed much in the same manner as for the small-pox. A fat child was brought with an atrocious-looking button, and my arm received in various punctures the matter. It was as well to avoid a nasty sore if it could be done at so cheap a rate; and though the vaccination never took, yet, as I also escaped the button, there was no great harm done. The Aleppo

THE ALEPPO BUTTON.

211

button, which forms a formidable objection with many to visiting Aleppo, is an endemical disorder, called the habeb el seneh, or ulcer of the year. It is a large pimple which is, at first, inflammatory, but, at length, becomes a large ulcer; remaining one year, and leaving a very disagreeable discoloured scar behind it. It does not attack people twice: it sometimes appears in several places at once, and the children of Aleppo may be seen with two or three at once, apparently not caring. It is so common that none seemed ashamed of it.

It sadly disfigures all the people, and you may know an Aleppene any where by his scarred face. Nor is it confined, as is commonly believed, to Aleppo it occurs in certain localities at Damascus, and through all the country from Aleppo to Diarbeker. No care is thought necessary, as nothing can apparently remove it before the year is out; patience and resignation, kismet, are the best remedies.

A curious cure occurred here; the fact was related to me by the patient, and several others bore testimony to the fact. The poor fellow suffered long and severely with the fever, which at last terminated in a complete lock-jaw. The

212

AN EXTRAORDINARY CURE.

Frank doctors were called in, pronounced the case hopeless, and withdrew: the native sages came, saw, and departed, saying they could do nothing. The poor man folded his robes, and turned to the wall, resigned to his fate. Resolved, however, to make one more effort, he told a Frank doctor, who was young and enterprising, to do something. The practitioner immediately proceeded to operate, trying to force open his jaws with a knife. This proving ineffectual, the poor man again settled to death, and thus lay three days. His friends came to pay their last sad farewell, and, among the rest, a Koord, from Mosul, a fine liberal-minded man, whom I knew very well. On entering the room, he looked closely at Mr. K. and, approaching him, gave his ear a peculiar twitch, repeating some words, and then ordered a plaster of dates to be applied to his jaw. Three days afterwards he was convalescent, and soon quite recovered. The Koord refused to tell me the cure; he said it was a secret handed down, in his family, from many generations.

A slave was much pressed on me as an eligible purchase: 2000 piastres, or about 187., was the lowest price. He belonged to a curious fellow who, after wandering everywhere, lost to his

A SLAVE OFFERED FOR SALE.

213

friends, &c., turned up after many years, a zealous Turk. He had accompanied Mr. Banks during part of his Eastern travels, and the reason assigned by him for parting with the lad was the same as so frequently appears in our newspapers with regard to a carriage, &c., the owner having no further use for him.

214

A MUSSULMAN FUNERAL.

CHAPTER XIV.

A Mussulman Funeral-Tomb of Abou Beker-The Rich Husband and the Unwilling Wife-Youthful Betrothals-Visit to the Castle of Aleppo-The Building Described -View from its Summit-Veneration of the Turks for Stamboul-Costume of Turkish Men and Women-A Picnic in a Turkish Garden-Ibrahim Pasha-His Policy-His Conscription-His enlightened Treatment of Christians -Turkish Sweets-Of what composed-Four Turkish Musicians— Their several Instruments-Final Glance at Aleppo.

WHILE passing the Mussulman burial-ground, I saw one of their ceremonies. The body had been laid in the ground; it being that of a man of some consequence, a rich pall covered the monument. The men stood round it, and with their hands raised and open on either side of the head, bowed simultaneously. It is difficult to say exactly the prayer they repeated: the women sat at a distance looking on. I visited the old serai without the town it covers the crest of a hill about half a mile from the town, but is now in ruins. In it is a tomb of Abou Beker-not the famous onehe did not move from his capital.

In the next page of my journal I find an