Part 24 (1/2)

I was lodged at the house of a Venetian merchant, named Paul Barberico; and as I had not entirely renounced my two pilgrimages to Nazareth and Mount Tabor, in spite of the obstacles which it had been said I should meet with, I consulted him on this double journey. He procured for me a moucre, who undertook to conduct me, and bound himself before him to carry me safe and sound as far as Damascus, and to bring him back from thence a certificate of having performed his engagement, signed by me.

This man made me dress myself like a Saracen. The Franks, for their security in travelling, have obtained permission from the sultan to wear this dress when on a journey.

I departed with my moucre from Baruth on the morrow after the galley had sailed, and we followed the road to Seyde that lies between the sea and the mountains. These frequently run so far into the sea that travellers are forced to go on the sands, and at other times they are three-quarters of a league distant. After an hour's ride, I came to a small wood of lofty pines, which the people of the country preserve with care. It is even forbidden to cut down any of them; but I am ignorant of the reason for such a regulation. Further on was a tolerably deep river, which my moucre said came from the valley of Noah, but the water was not good to drink. It had a stone bridge over it, and hard by was a khan, where we pa.s.sed the night. On the morrow we arrived at Seyde, a town situated near the sea, and inclosed on the land side by ditches, which are not deep. Sur, called by the Moors Sour, has a similar situation. It is supplied with excellent water from a spring a quarter of a league to the southward of the town, conducted to it by an aqueduct. I only pa.s.sed through; and it seemed to be handsome, though not strong, any more than Seyde, both having been formerly destroyed, as appears from their walls, which are not to be compared to those of our towns. The mountain near Sur forms a crescent, the two horns advancing as far as the sea: the void between them is not filled with villages, though there are many on the sides of the mountain. A league farther we came to a pa.s.s which forced us to travel over a bank, on the summit of which is a tower. Travellers going to Acre have no other road than this, and the tower has been erected for their security. From this defile to Acre the mountains are low, and many habitations are visible, inhabited, for the greater part, by Arabs. Near the town I met a great lord of the country, called Fancardin: he was encamped on the open plain, carrying his tents with him.

Acre, though in a plain of about four leagues in extent, is surrounded on three sides by mountains, and on the fourth by the sea. I made acquaintance there with a Venetian merchant, called Aubert Franc, who received me well, and procured me much useful information respecting my two pilgrimages, by which I profited. With the aid of his advice, I took the road to Nazareth, and, having crossed an extensive plain, came to the fountain, the water of which our Lord changed into wine at the marriage of Archetriclin[431]: it is near a village where St. Peter is said to have been born.

Nazareth is another large village, built between two mountains; but the place where the angel Gabriel came to announce to the Virgin Mary that she would be a mother is in a pitiful state. The church which had been built there is entirely destroyed; and of the house wherein our lady was when the angel appeared to her, not the smallest remnant exists.

From Nazareth I went to Mount Tabor, the place where the transfiguration of our Lord, and many other miracles, took place. These pasturages attract the Arabs, who come thither with their beasts; and I was forced to engage four additional men as an escort, two of whom were Arabs. The ascent of the mountain is rugged, because there is no road: I performed it on the back of a mule, but it took me two hours. The summit is terminated by an almost circular plain of about two bow-shots in length, and one in width. It was formerly inclosed within walls, the ruins of which, and the ditches, are still visible: within the wall, and around it, were several churches, and one especially, where, although in ruins, full pardon for vice and sin is gained.

To the east of Mount Tabor, and at the foot of it, we saw the Tiberiade, beyond which the Jordan flows. To the westward is an extensive plain, very agreeable from its gardens, filled with date palm trees, and small tufts of trees planted like vines, on which grows the cotton. At sun-rise these last have a singular effect, and, seeing their green leaves covered with cotton, the traveller would suppose it had snowed on them[432]. I descended into this plain to dinner, for I had brought with me chickens and wine. My guides conducted me to the house of a man, who, when he saw my wine, took me for a person of consequence, and received me well. He brought me a porringer of milk, another of honey, and a branch loaded with dates. They were the first I had ever seen. I noticed also the manner of manufacturing cotton, in which men and women were employed. Here my guides wanted to extort more money from me, and insisted on making a fresh bargain to reconduct me to Nazareth. It was well I had not my sword with me, for I confess I should have drawn it; and it would have been madness in me, and in all who shall imitate me.

The result of the quarrel was, that I was obliged to give them twelve drachms of their money, equivalent to half a ducat. The moment they had received them, the whole four left me, so that I was obliged to return alone with my moucre.

We had not proceeded far on our road when we saw two Arabs, armed in their manner, and mounted on beautiful horses, coming towards us. The moucre was much frightened; but, fortunately, they pa.s.sed us without saying a word. He owned that, had they suspected I was a Christian, they would have killed us both without mercy, or, at the least, have stripped us naked. Each of them bore a long and thin pole, shod at the ends with iron; one of which was pointed, the other round, but having many sharp blades a span long. Their buckler was round, according to their custom, convex at the centre, whence came a thick point of iron; and from that point to the bottom it was ornamented with a long silken fringe. They were dressed in robes, the sleeves of which, a foot and a half wide, hung down their arms; and instead of a cap they had a round hat, terminated in a point of rough crimson wool, which, instead of having the linen cloth twisted about it like other Moors, fell down on each side of it, the whole of its breadth.

We went to lodge at Samaria, because I wished to see the lake of Tiberias, where, it is said, St. Peter was accustomed to fish; and, by so doing, some pardons may be gained, for it was the ember week of September. The moucre left me to myself the whole day. Samaria is situated on the extremity of a mountain. We entered it at the close of the day, and left it at midnight to visit the lake. The moucre had proposed this hour to evade the tribute extracted from all who go thither; but the night hindered me from seeing the surrounding country.

I went first to Joseph's well, so called from his being cast into it by his brethren. There is a handsome mosque near it, which I entered, with my moucre, pretending to be a Saracen. Further on is a stone bridge over the Jordan, called Jacob's Bridge, on account of a house hard by, said to have been the residence of that patriarch. The river flows from a great lake situated at the foot of a mountain to the north-west, on which Namcardin has a very handsome castle.

From the lake I took the road to Damascus. The country is tolerably pleasant; and, although the road leads between mountains, they are generally from one to two leagues asunder. There is, however, one narrow place, where the road is only wide enough for a horse to pa.s.s. The tract all around it, to the right and left for the s.p.a.ce of about a league in length and breadth, is covered with immense flint stones, like pebbles in a river, the greater part as big as a wine-tun. Beyond this pa.s.s is a handsome khan, surrounded by fountains and rivulets. Four or five miles from Damascus is another, the most magnificent I ever saw, seated near a small river, formed by a junction of springs rising on the spot. The nearer you approach the town, the finer is the country.

I met, near Damascus, a very black Moor, who had ridden a camel from Cairo in eight days, though it is usually sixteen days' journey. His camel had run away from him; but, with the a.s.sistance of my moucre, we recovered it. These couriers have a singular saddle, on which they sit cross-legged; but the rapidity of the camel is so great that, to prevent any bad effects from the air, they have their heads and bodies tightly bandaged. This courier was the bearer of an order from the sultan. A galley and two galliots of the prince of Tarentum had captured, before Tripoli in Syria, a vessel from the Moors; and the sultan, by way of reprisal, had sent to arrest all the Catalonians and Genoese who might be found in Damascus and throughout Syria. This news, which my moucre told me, did not alarm me: I entered the town boldly with other Saracens, because, dressed like them, I thought I had nothing to fear.

This expedition had taken up seven days.

On the morrow of my arrival I saw the caravan return from Mecca. It was said to be composed of three thousand camels; and, in fact, it was two days and as many nights before they had all entered the town. This event was, according to custom, a great festival. The governor of Damascus, attended by the princ.i.p.al persons of the town, went to meet the caravan out of respect to the Alcoran, which it bore. This is the book of law which Mohammed left to his followers. It was enveloped in a silken covering, painted over with Moorish inscriptions; and the camel that bore it was, in like manner, decorated all over with silk. Four musicians, and a great number of drums and trumpets, preceded the camel, and made a loud noise. In front, and around, were about thirty men-some bearing cross-bows, others drawn swords, others small harquebuses, which they fired off every now and then[433]. Behind this camel followed eight old men, mounted on the swiftest camels, and near them were led their horses, magnificently caparisoned and ornamented with rich saddles, according to the custom of the country. After them came a Turkish lady, a relation of the grand seignior, in a litter borne by two camels with rich housings. There were many of these animals covered with cloth of gold. The caravan was composed of Moors, Turks, Barbaresques, Tartars, Persians, and other sectaries of the false prophet Mohammed. These people pretend that, having once made a pilgrimage to Mecca, they cannot be d.a.m.ned. Of this I was a.s.sured by a renegado slave, a Bulgarian by birth, who belonged to the lady I have mentioned. He was called Hayauldoula, which signifies, in the Turkish language, ”servant of G.o.d,”

and pretended to have been three times at Mecca. I formed an acquaintance with him, because he spoke a little Italian, and often kept me company in the night as well as in the day. In our conversations I frequently questioned him about Mohammed, and where his body was interred. He told me he was at Mecca; that the shrine containing the body was in a circular chapel, open at the top, and that it was through this opening the pilgrims saw the shrine; that among them were some who, having seen it, had their eyes thrust out, because they said, after what they had just seen, the world could no longer offer them any thing worth looking at. There were, in fact, in this caravan two persons, the one of sixteen and the other of twenty-two or twenty-three years old, who had thus made themselves blind. Hayauldoula told me also, that it was not at Mecca where pardons for sin were granted, but at Medina, where St.

Abraham built a house that still remains[434]. The building is in the form of a cloister, of which pilgrims make the circuit.

With regard to the town, it is seated on the sea-sh.o.r.e. Indians, the inhabitants of Prester John's country, bring thither, in large s.h.i.+ps, spices and other productions of their country; and thither the Mohammedans go to purchase them. They load them on camels, and other beasts of burden, for the markets of Cairo, Damascus, and other places, as is well known. The distance from Mecca to Damascus is forty days'

journey across the desert. The heat is excessive; and many of the caravan were suffocated. According to the renegado slave, the annual caravan to Medina should be composed of seven hundred thousand persons; and when this number is incomplete, G.o.d sends his angels to make it up.

At the great day of judgment Mohammed will admit into Paradise as many persons as he shall please, where they will enjoy honey, milk, and women at pleasure. As I was incessantly hearing Mohammed spoken of, I wished to know something about him; and, for this purpose, I addressed myself to a priest in Damascus, attached to the Venetian consul, who often said ma.s.s in his house, confessed the merchants of that nation, and, when necessary, regulated their affairs. Having confessed myself to him, and settled my worldly concerns, I asked him if he were acquainted with the doctrines of Mohammed. He said he was, and knew all the Alcoran. I then besought him, in the best manner I could, that he would put down in writing all he knew of him, that I might present it to my lord the duke of Burgundy. He did so with pleasure; and I have brought with me his work.

My intention was to go to Bursa[435]; and, in consequence, I was introduced to a Moor, who engaged to conduct me thither in the track of the caravan on paying him thirty ducats and his expenses; but as I was advised to distrust the Moors, as people of bad faith and accustomed to break their promises, I did not conclude the bargain. I say this for the instruction of those who may have any concerns with them; for I believe them to be such as they were described to me. Hayauldoula, on his part, procured me the acquaintance of some Caramanian merchants; but I took another resolution.

In regard to the pilgrims that go to Mecca, the grand Turk has a custom peculiar to himself-at least, I am ignorant if the other Mohammedan powers do the same-which is, that when the caravan leaves his states he chooses for it a chief, whom they are bound to obey as implicitly as himself. The chief of this caravan was called Hoyarbarach; he was a native of Bursa, and one of its princ.i.p.al inhabitants. I caused myself to be presented to him, by mine host and another person, as a man that wanted to go to that town to see a brother. They entreated him to receive me in his company, and to afford me his security. He asked if I understood Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, the vulgar tongue, or Greek? When they replied that I did not, he answered, ”Well, what can he pretend to do?” However, representations were made to him that, on account of the war, I dared not go thither by sea; and that, if he would condescend to admit me, I would do as well as I could. He then consented; and, having placed his two hands on his head and touched his beard, he told me, in the Turkish language, that I might join his slaves; but he insisted that I should be dressed just like them.

I went, immediately after this interview, with one of my friends, to the market, called the Bazaar, and bought two long white robes that reached to my ancles, a complete turban, a linen girdle, a fustian pair of drawers to tuck the ends of my robe in; two small bags, the one for my own use, the other to hang on my horse's head while feeding him with barley and straw; a leathern spoon and salt; a carpet to sleep on; and, lastly, a paletot of a white skin, which I lined with linen cloth, and which was of service to me in the nights. I purchased also a white tarquais (a sort of quiver) complete, to which hung a sword and knives; but as to the tarquais and sword, I could only buy them privately; for if those who have the administration of justice had known of it, the seller and myself would have run great risks.

The Damascus blades are the handsomest and best of all Syria; and it is curious to observe their manner of burnis.h.i.+ng them. This operation is performed before tempering; and they have, for this purpose, a small piece of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they rub up and down the blade, and thus clear off all inequalities, as a plane does to wood.

They then temper and polish it. This polish is so highly finished, that, when any one wants to arrange his turban, he uses his sword for a looking-gla.s.s. As to its temper, it is perfect; and I have nowhere seen swords that cut so excellently. There are made at Damascus, and in the adjoining country, mirrors of steel, that magnify objects like burning gla.s.ses. I have seen some that, when exposed to the sun, have reflected the heat so strongly as to set fire to a plank fifteen or sixteen feet distant.

I bought a small horse that turned out very well. Before my departure I had him shod at Damascus; and thence, as far as Bursa, which is near fifty days' journey, so well do they shoe their horses that I had nothing to do with his feet, excepting one of the fore ones, which was p.r.i.c.ked by a nail, and made him lame for three weeks. The shoes are light, thin, lengthened towards the heel, and thinner there than at the toe. They are not turned up, and have but four nail holes, two on each side. The nails are square, with a thick and heavy head. When a shoe is wanted, and it is necessary to work it to make it fit the hoof, it is done cold, without ever putting it in the fire, which can readily be done because it is so thin. To pare the hoof they use a pruning knife, similar to what vine-dressers trim their vines with, both on this as well as on the other side of the sea. The horses of this country only walk and gallop; and, when purchased, those which have the best walk are preferred, as, in Europe, those which trot the best. They have wide nostrils, gallop well, and are excellent, costing little on the road; for they eat only at night, and then but a small quant.i.ty of barley with chopped straw. They never drink but in the afternoon; and their bridles are always left in their mouths, even when in the stable, like mules.

When there they have the two hinder legs tied; and they are all intermixed together, horses and mares. All are geldings, excepting a few kept for stallions. Should you have any business with a rich man, and call on him, he will carry you, to speak with you, to his stables, which are, consequently, kept always very cool and very clean. We Europeans prefer a stone-horse of a good breed; but the Moors esteem only mares.

In that country a great man is not ashamed to ride a mare with its foal running after the dam. I have seen some, exceedingly beautiful, sold as high as two or three hundred ducats. They are accustomed to keep their horses very low, and never to allow them to get fat. The men of fortune carry with them, when they ride, a small drum, which they use in battle, or in skirmishes, to rally their men. It is fastened to the pommel of their saddles, and they beat on it with a piece of flat leather. I also purchased one, with spurs, and vermilion coloured boots, which came up to my knees, according to the custom of the country.

As a mark of my grat.i.tude to Hoyarbarach, I went to offer him a pot of green ginger; but he refused it, and it was by dint of prayers and entreaties that I prevailed on him to accept of it. I had no other pledge for my security than what I have mentioned; but I found him full of frankness and good will-more, perhaps, than I should have found in many Christians.

G.o.d, who had protected me in the accomplishment of this journey, brought me acquainted with a Jew of Caiffa, who spoke the Tartar and Italian languages; and I requested him to a.s.sist me in putting down in writing the names of every thing I might have occasion to want for myself and my horse while on the road. On our arrival, the first day's journey, at Ballec, I drew out my paper to know how to ask for barley and chopped straw, which I wanted to give my horse. Ten or twelve Turks near me, observing my action, burst into laughter; and, coming nearer to examine my paper, seemed as much surprised at our writing as we are with theirs.

They took a liking to me, and made every effort to teach me to speak Turkish. They were never weary of making me often repeat the same thing, and p.r.o.nounced it so many different ways that I could not fail to retain it; so, when we separated, I knew how to call for every thing necessary for myself and horse.