48

ANCHOR AT BEYROUT.

CHAPTER IV.

Beyrout Description by Lamartine - Meeting with old friends Beyrout, as it now is-Policy of the Pasha-Progress of the Turks -Influence of European Consuls - European Ball given to the Pasha-Ball given to the Turkish Ladies Their Acknowledgment of the Courtesy and its Effect-Second Tomb of Jonas--Sidon-Old Friends there Call of the Muezzin-Prayers of the Mahomedans-Antiquities of Sidon-Its refusal to admit Ibrahim Pasha-Lady Hester Stanhope and her attendant-Stud of the Emir Beshir.

"AND, I pray thee, let me go over and see the goodly land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." What was denied to the Lawgiver of old was permitted to us, and at early morning we were at anchor beneath it in the bright blue waters of Beyrout. It would be vain. to attempt a description. Lamartine's rhapsodies, dear Warburton's poetic prose, have displayed the view to the world in happier phrases than could fall from my pen. They have monopolised the prettiest form of laudatory words, the happiest expressions of descriptive praise.

Yet Beyrout deserves them all. The views of the mountain range are superb, and the various

PRESENT APPEARANCE OF BEYROUT.

49

tinted plain forms no unworthy foreground; the town was outwardly transformed to a white-housed Frank place. Within, however, it still is a capital specimen of the Eastern city, its narrow passage, streets closed in by arches, the strictly latticed overhanging windows, the low doors, the old walls, with here and there the columns of handsome workmanship built in, the old grey khans, the marble-paved mosques, the Eastern baths, bazaars, and cafés, all are worthy of inspection.

It was with boyish enthusiasm I had gazed at it before; it was with calmer emotions, yet pleasureable still, that I looked over it now. We landed at Turkino's, and old acquaintances of many ranks soon crowded around me. Breakfast over, we sat upon the terrace; the pipe sent up its first incense, a meet sacrifice, and the news of the place was heard.

"Some were dead, and some were gone,

Some were scattered and alone,
And some were rebels on the hills."

The wildest, freest and best had gone as they ever do. Some had risen; some had fallen; the young timid maid was the matronly wife-the happy mother; boys were now grown to couriers, and the courier settled into the innkeeper. Every

VOL. I.

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PRESENT PROSPERITY OF BEYROUT.

moment brought some old companion. With this one I had been once robbed by the Ansayrii; with that captured by the Druses; with another had fled from the fierce-pursuing Arnouts. Each was an episode in my history, and all made up the chapters of the freer, happier portion of my life. But the old spirit was upon me, and I resolved to start at once for the road.

Beyrout, since my last visit, now eight years ago, has nearly doubled in its size: each Christian merchant has now his villa. The Franks have pleasant houses surrounded by green gardens; the wastes around us all cultivated, rich mulberry groves, fruit trees, and other verdure, imbed the whole in one mass of green. Enquiring of a native the cause of all this prosperity, he at once imputed the whole of it to the Sultan's visit. "C Ibrahim Pasha," he said, "first treated the Christians well and taught them that the possession of wealth was no direct crime; but the presence of the Padishah blessed us, and now we prosper." Prosper it does-whether from the benign visit of the man-slayer (one of the Sultan's titles), or from the reform forced on him by the English ambassador, I leave unsettled. But now new and good houses spring

up on every side: the indolent Turk must either give way, or pocket his dignity, and move. When I was here before, one small schooner ran once a month, now three large steamers during the same time find good work. The Boockrah (to-morrow) of the Turk is lost, and he boldly exclaims, "The steamer goes; I must do so and so to-day."

The presence of European consuls also, while it affords great protection to trade, does away with nearly all cases of oppression, furnishing a proof of what can be done by a fair and equitable government. A ball had been given by the Frank residents some time before our arrival, to which the Pasha and the principal officers of his government were invited. On their return home they praised the Frank women, the dresses, &c., and above all, the beautiful dances in which they had joined the fair houris of the west. So lavish was their praise, that the helps of the true believers felt their blood boil and their hearts big for revenge.

Calling on some Frank ladies, they repeated the stories they had heard, and begged a similar exhibition might take place before them, stating that no male Caffer* was to be present. An evening was

* Infidel-the Giaour of the Turk.

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DEPARTURE FROM BEYROUT.

appointed; they came, and several Frank ladies present stood up and danced waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, &c. On the conclusion of the festival, the slaves of the Pasha's wife put a purse of gold into each of the dancers' laps. Down went the Westerns in a faint; cries, hysterics,-was ever such an insult! The Pasha's wife calmly departed, saying, she had only followed her country's custom of paying dancers.

The history of Beyrout has been often told, and it is vain seeking for new matter among my papers-let us to horse. The Salome of Warburton, no longer as of yore, speaks soft words of safety for my journey. She is an old matron, and says we are bad people, but the horses are as fresh

*The origin of the name is ascribed to the Arabic word Birath, a well. The ath must have been put for the sake of euphony; Bir is a well. But it seems to me, (for I have no authority up in these wilds to strengthen my opinion), to be more probably derived from the Greek Βήρυτ.

The ancient town may probably have been founded by the General of Alexander, to whom Syria fell in the division of his empire. Far also from its being a place of wells, the water consumed is brought into the town, not one well existing within the walls. Its roads cut in the rocks, and numerous remains, mark it as a place of importance ages ago.

Among the remains of antiquity at Beyrout, tesselated pavement shows itself here and there, particularly after rains, on the road between Beyrout and Rars Beyrout; also the remains of a sea wall and other artificial works in the cliffs. Frequent pillars are visible here and there about the bazaars; and there are one or two remains on the Maidan to the north of the town.