Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IVVarious
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IV
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Leaning on Lebanon, and laving her beautiful feet in the sea, the superb
slave he burned to possess, still dreams in the sun. We look from the
tent door and see her sleeping, and the remembrance of this last,
momentary interest which disturbed the slumber, reminds us that it will
one day be broken. So fair is the prize, that, knowing all others desire
her as ardently, no single hand feels strong enough to grasp it, and the
conflict of many ambitions secures her peace.
Yet it is clear that nerve and skill could do what they have done, and
so spare is the population, so imbecile the government, and so rich the
soil, that a few thousand determined men could march unresisted through
Syria, and possess the fair and fertile land.
BAZAARS.
Christians and Saracens agree in reprobating the black hat. But the
Damascenes declare open war against it. In 1432, Bertrandon de la
Brocquière entered the city with a "broad beaver hat," which was
incontinently knocked off his head. Naturally his first movement was "to
lift my fist," but wisdom held his hand, and he desisted, content to
revenge himself by the questionable inference that it was "a wicked
race."
But if it be "wicked" to malign the black hat, who shall be justified?
This was only a gentle illustration of the bitter hatred of Christians
and all infidels, cherished by the Damascenes, who are the most orthodox
of Muslim. Indeed, it is only within twenty years that an accredited
English representative could reside in Damascus, and he maintains an
imposing state. At present, some hundred European tourists visit the
city yearly, and the devout faithful find reasons for toleration in
infidel gold, which they never found in argument.
Here, too, as every where in Syria, Ibrahim Pacha has been our ally. He
permitted infidels to ride horses through the streets. "O, Allah!"
exclaimed the religious Damascenes, who are termed by the Turks
_Shami-Shoumi_, cursed rascals. "Your Highness suffers Christians to sit
as high as the faithful."
"No, my friends," responded Ibrahim, "you shall ride dromedaries, which
will put you much above them."
We went into the bazaars to encounter these enemies of the black hat,
and _ex-officio_ riders of dromedaries. We had a glimpse of their beauty
as we entered the city. But Eastern life is delightful in detail. It is
a mosaic to be closely studied.
You enter, and the murmurous silence blends pleasantly with the luminous
dimness of the place. The matting overhead, torn and hanging in strips
along which, gilding them in passing, the sun slides into the interior,
is a heavy tapestry. The scene is a perpetual fair, not precisely like
Greenwich Fair, or that of the American Institute, but such as you
frequent in Arabian stories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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