76

TWO OF OUR PARTY FALL SICK.

the people were down, ill of the fever. We pitched our tent on a lofty artificial tel, of great height but small extent, one of two that stand like towers protecting the northern portions of the plain. Our cook taken ill. The other servants recommended

me to leave him; I said "Good gracious!" (co lateef), "no; he would die here." "God knows,"

they replied.

Wednesday, 10th July.-Abdallah, my righthand man, struck down with the fever; the Doctor also. Both lie on the ground, nor will any persuasion induce them to move out of this pest-house. At last, we forced the sick to mount, leaving the baggage to follow. We rode eastwards over the dry broken plain, Djebel Hair before us; its abrupt sharp peaks and narrow ridges reminded me much of the range at Waohoo, in the Sandwich Islands. But where are the green verdure, the cool glades that render the climate and them so pleasant? We passed ground irrigated for rice; whole villages struck with fever; children, men, and women in its various stages. We passed the low hills that skirt the base of the mountains; two streams dry. The sick had to be driven on by force,-to me it was a day of intense fatigue.

THE TOWN OF AKKA.

77

Few people can bear heat with less inconvenience than myself, yet this day it was very oppressive. It seemed as if the Koran was true, and the last day should be ushered in by extraordinary heat,as if, to use the Eastern expression, "the sun should no more be veiled, but drawn from his sheath, and allowed to pour down his rays direct on us wicked."

We ascended the base of the mountain, and entered a gorge. Had Paradise opened before us, the change could not have been more delicious. We dived under the shade of olives, pomegranate, apricot, plum, cooled by running water beautified by creepers, and cheered by the full-throated note of the nightingale. The town of Akka was above us, burnt and parched. We turned into the shadiest garden, and there pitched the tent when it arrived, in the shadiest spot. The sick were put into a house, where I applied for their comfort all the means that I possessed.

We had lighted on a delightful garden; one room of the small house which stood in it was given up to the sheik, and I soon became a great ally of the pretty widow (whose husband had lately gone on a journey and not returned), and

VOL II.

G

78

COMPLAINING VISITORS.

her married sister, with whom she lived. They were savage and morose when their Koord brother was near, but nothing could be kinder than they were when he left. We, however, were forced to move : worried by the repeated invitations of the Montselim, we took up our quarters in his garden, he and his suite occupying another end of it. Complaints poured in on us. First came a Nestorian of most unprepossessing countenance, bringing with him a half-witted lad, all whose relations and family had fallen in the massacre of the Christians at Rowandig. The cadi had taken this lad, and ordered him to prepare for Mahomet and circumcision in a week. The Montselim, however, who was kind and attentive to all our wants, utterly denied the charge, and promised to send the boy to the Christian mountains, which he did the following day.

Next came a large company of Jews. For a while they sat at a distance, but gradually approached and made known their complaint. They said, that a few years ago a Turkish man had seized a Jewish maid and carried her to the harem, where he kept her; at the time, they were unable to procure justice or the restitution

THE YOUNG JEWESS.

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of the girl now, however, the man was dead, and the cadi had taken the woman and refused to give her up, though she still retained her native faith and wanted to return to her friends. The cadi always protects widows and the divorced; in fact, he is the person to whose house the women fly for protection in all cases. I would not interfere, more particularly, as I had heard the case had been long in agitation, and was not quite so clear as the picturesque groups of suppliants made it appear. Report said the girl had willingly gone to the Turk, changed her faith, and now sought the cadi to protect her from the vengeance of her people. However kind the Montselim was, he little thought of our health; nightly his gardener irrigated the garden, so that we slept in a pond.

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ABDALLAH AND THE DOCTOR ILL.

CHAPTER V.

Continued Illness of some of the Party-How Sickness is borne by Natives of the East-Accompanied by Mr. Layard, start for the Koord Mountains-Town of Akka described-The Pasha deposed by the Sultan-I fall sick-Murder of Professor Schultz-Scenery on the Journey-Welcome of the Pasha to Mr. Layard-Arrival at Van-Bitlis Cloth-Bazaars of Van-Visit the Pasha-Reception by his Hasnedara-Taken worse-Tacktervan in which I journeyed to the Convent-The Dresses of the People of Van-Policy of the Porte briefly considered-Frankish Dress adopted by Turks— "Lebiss Stamboul"-Apartments in the Convent, and partial Recovery-On the Pleasure and Advantage, or otherwise, of travelling alone.

FRIDAY, 12th.-I rose as well as usual: on one side of the tent lay the Doctor, dead beat; under one flap, which constitutes a separate room, Abdallah perfectly insensible: the cook lay behind on a heap of horse-cloths, equally stricken. I sat down to write in the air; finding the flies annoyed me, I read, fell asleep, and remember nothing save a great sensation of pain and weariness for two days. It seemed as if a noise awoke me; it was early morning, and Mr. Layard stood before me. Poor fellow he had learned