January 30th
A Storm
We were not mistaken. The storm predicted is upon us in all its majesty, and we shall not get away from Sidon until it has spent its fury.
Contrary to all my previous ideas, I find your climate extremely variable and uncertain. There seems to be no fixed time for the commencement of the winter rains, nor is it much more certain when they will cease.
Variable Climate of Syria
That is quite true. I have seen these rains begin early in November and end in February; but they are sometimes delayed until January, and prolonged into May. I was once held prisoner in a wretched khân on Lebanon for two days by a storm which commenced on the 6th of May. Fresh snow generally falls on the heights of Lebanon and Hermon in November, but I have crossed over Jebel es Sheikh late in December when there was none. It ordinarily disappears, except from sheltered ravines, early in April; and yet the mountain tops are sometimes covered with fresh snow late in May. These are, indeed, great variations, and they subject the farmer to much uncertainty and many losses. All kinds of crops, including silk, fail more frequently in Syria and Palestine than in America. This has always been the case; and the failure is also more complete and ruinous, and hence we so often read in the Bible of sore famines in this country.
May not these facts give greater point and significance to those agricultural promises (if one may employ such language) in which regularity in the rains and certainty in the crops were guaranteed to Israel on condition of faithful obedience?
Sense of Dependence on God of Seasons
No doubt; and it is worthy of remark that to this day the people of every class, faith, and character familiarly and constantly ascribe regular and abundant rains, fruitful seasons, and good harvests to the direct agency and interposition of God. This formal and devout recognition strikes a stranger from America as indicating a high degree of pious sentiment; but be soon perceives that it is merely the stereotyped idiom of daily conversation, and has very little connection with the heart. Still, this style of remark has its origin in a deep sense of uncertainty, and of entire dependence for their daily bread upon the showers of heaven, delayed nearly every year until much painful solicitude is felt by all classes. Very often there is a universal cry, from man, beast, and bird, and burning sky, and drooping fields, ere the Lord hears the heavens, and they hear the earth, and the earth hears the corn, and the wine, and the oil (Hosea 2: 21-22). I have seen several instances in which Moslems, Christians, and Jews have united in fasts, processions, and prayers in the open air, for the showers that water the earth. On one occasion, the pasha, attended by all the principal men of Beirût, went forth in procession, and, among other acts, the great man held the plow with his own hands, as a public acknowledgment of dependence upon the fruits of the field, and the blessing of the Lord upon the labor of the ox.
There is no occasion for such ceremonies at present. How long may this wild storm last?
To judge from ordinary indications, it may continue ten days at least, possibly twenty.
Indeed! And what may those indications be?
Great Rains
It is not easy to give a tangible shape to some of them, which yet have much to do in producing the impression on the mind of one initiated, by long experience, into the mysteries of Syrian weather. In the first place, we must not forget that this is the time for heavy storms, especially if the season has been hitherto warm and dry, as this has been. Great rains are now needed to start the fountains and saturate the earth to the deepest roots of the trees. Without this no season can be truly prosperous in this country, because a large part of the produce is gathered from the olive, the mulberry, the fig, the walnut, the apricot, the orange, and other fruit and nut-bearing trees. Long rains are therefore in season, and to be expected. Then this storm has obviously been gathering for several days past, and its duration generally corresponds to the time spent in corning on. Again, the wind is full and strong from the proper rain quarter—the southwest—and while it holds to that point the storm will continue. It will not clear until the wind shifts round toward the north, which it is often slow to do, and will not now till the air becomes colder, and Lebanon is covered deep with snow.
Rainy Winds
As in ancient times, the west wind brings rain, and the north drives it away (Luke 41:54; Prov. 25:2828He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. (Proverbs 25:28)). There is also a somewhat in the thickness and color of the clouds which speaks to the eye of experience: and see how low they fly, tearing their garments to tatters on the rocky crags of Jebel Rehin, and trailing their soiled skirts in the wire.
“There's not a cloud on all the plain
But tells of storm to come or past;
Here, flying loosely as the mane
Of a young war-horse in the blast;
There, rolled in masses dark and swelling
As proud to be the thunder's dwelling.”
There will be no fair weather until they sail clear of the loftiest peaks of Lebanon. The sea, too, by its hoarse and heavy roar, warns the mariner to lower his topmasts, double his anchors, and make all tight for a long and hard gale; and even those stupid gulls, careering on the blast far inland, add their testimony to the general voice of nature. Depend upon it, we are in for a genuine winter storm, and may congratulate ourselves on having reached this snug harbor before it began. Nor need the time pass idly away.
Solace for Travelers
Here are books to consult; and friends, both Frank and native, from whom you can glean many a valuable hint for future use; so “wrap the garment of patience around you,” and let it rain. There will be intermissions, however (for no storm in this country is without them), during which we may run about the city and its environs; and in the evenings we shall have reunions of friends, in which all sorts of subjects are discussed. You will thus be in a fine school of manners—Oriental I mean, and may learn more of the customs and ways of the people in these few days than by months of mere travel through the land.
According to this account, Paul's euroclydon of fourteen days was no very extraordinary occurrence.
Not as to the length of the storm, certainly; nor do I understand the historian to intimate that there was anything miraculous about it. It was one, however, of extreme violence: “Neither sun nor stars appeared in many days, and all hope that we should be saved was taken then away” (Acts 27:14,2014But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. (Acts 27:14)
20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. (Acts 27:20)).
Fasting
And yet we are not to suppose that there were no intermissions in this tempest, any more than that the people literally tarried fourteen days fasting, without taking anything. Such expressions never deceive or disturb an Oriental. They do not mean absolutely nothing. In our medical practice, it is almost impossible to arrive at accuracy in regard to what a patient has eaten. Both he and his friends will assure you, in the most comprehensive terms, that he has “continued fasting, having eaten nothing”; and yet, by close questioning, you find that he has loaded his stomach with trash highly injurious to him. When pressed on the point, he will merely say, “It does not deserve to be mentioned.” You may take this as a general canon of interpretation, that any amount much less than usual means “nothing” in their dialect; and if you understand more by it, you are misled. In fact, their ordinary fasting is only abstaining from certain kinds of food, not from all, nor does the word convey any other idea to them.
The Euroclydon
In regard to Paul's euroclydon: it is no uncommon thing to encounter similar storms at this day, in the same part of the Mediterranean. I have followed nearly the exact route of his disastrous voyage, and, as our noble steamer sailed in between Catzo and Candia—the Crete of the Acts we were met by a tremendous wind, which tried the utmost power of her engines. Slowly and laboriously she plowed her foaming furrow through the troubled sea, close under Crete, for twenty-four hours, and then ran into the harbor of Suda, which we found as quiet as a mill-pond; and, unlike Paul's Fair Havens, it would be quite commodious for the entire British navy to winter in. Here we remained a “night and a day”; but, as the wind did not moderate, the captain became impatient, and sailed out in the very teeth of the gale. For a long time we made very little progress, and, as we ran under a certain island that was called Clauda, I could well understand that such a vessel as that “ship of Alexandria” must have been exceedingly tossed with the tempest. However, by the aid of steam, we were carried in four, instead of fourteen days, to that “certain island called Melita,” and into the glorious harbor of Valetta, instead of being wrecked at the entrance of St. Paul's Bay. And though we were also laden with wheat, we were not obliged to cast it into the sea to “lighten the ship.” I shall never forget the impressions of that voyage over the seas of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and across the “Adria,” where Paul was driven up and down for fourteen days.
Ghosts
I no longer wonder that the people of this country believe in jan, and ghools, and all the exaggerated machinery of the Thousand Nights. About one o'clock I was startled out of profound sleep by the most frightful noise I ever heard.
ILLUSTRATION
It seemed to come from this graveyard on the east of your house, and to be very near. What on earth could have produced it?
It was nothing but a concert of jackals. You may be serenaded by them every night, but they are particularly musical in the fiercest storms.
A Concert of Jackals
Deliver me from their music. I was terrified. It began in a sort of solo: a low, long-drawn wail, rising, and swelling higher and higher, until it quite over-topped the wind; and just when it was about to choke of in utter despair, it was reinforced by many others, yelling, screaming, barking, wailing, as if a whole legion of demons were fighting among the tombs over some son of perdition that had fallen into their clutches.
Why, you have been positively startled out of all propriety by these creatures; but no wonder. What a doom is that which David pronounces upon those who seek the soul of the righteous to destroy it: “They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes” (Psalm 63:1010They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. (Psalm 63:10)), by which jackals are meant, as I suppose. These sinister, guilty, woe-begone brutes, when pressed with hunger, gather in gangs among the graves, and yell in rage, and fight like fiends over their midnight orgies; but on the battlefield is their great carnival. Oh! let me never even dream that any one dear to me has fallen by the sword, and lies there to be torn, and gnawed at, and dragged about by these hideous howlers.
I have been wanting to send Salim down town on an errand, but he has been pounding at something most zealously all the morning. What is he after?
He is braying wheat with a pestle in a mortar, to make kibby, the national dish of the Arabs, and a very good one it is. Every family has one or more of these large stone mortars, and you may hear the sound of the “braying” at all hours as you walk the streets of the city.
ILLUSTRATION
So I suppose Solomon means that, if we pound a fool in a mortar, among wheat, with a pestle, into a batch of kibby, yet will not his foolishness depart from him (Prov. 27:2222Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. (Proverbs 27:22)). At any rate, there is nothing else in the country so likely to suggest the proverb; and if foolishness will not depart under such discipline, the case is indeed hopeless. But our boy is braying fish, not a fool, and we shall therefore have kibbet samak, which many people are extremely fond of. It is more commonly made of mutton, mixed with fat from the large tail of the sheep. When thoroughly pounded, it is sent to the oven, and baked in a copper dish made for the purpose. It will keep good in winter for half a month, and makes a capital lunch for the road.
While on the subject of cooking, take another favorite dish of the Arabs. They select a young kid, fat and tender, dress it carefully, and then stew it in milk, generally sour, mixed with onions and hot spices such as they relish. They call it Lebn immû—”kid in his mother's milk.”The Jews, however, will not eat it. They say that Moses specifically forbade it in the precept, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk” (Exod. 23:19; 34:2619The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Exodus 23:19)
26The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Exodus 34:26); Deut. 14:2121Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21)), which he repeated several times, and with special emphasis. They further maintain that it is unnatural and barbarous to cook a poor kid in that from which it derives its life. This may have been one reason for the prohibition,—many of the Mosaic precepts are evidently designed to cultivate gentle and humane feelings; but “kid in his mother's milk” is a gross, unwholesome dish, calculated also to kindle up animal and ferocious passions; and on these accounts Moses may have forbidden it. Besides, it is even yet associated with immoderate feasting; and originally, I suspect, was connected with idolatrous sacrifices. A great deal of learning has been spent upon this passage by critics, to ascertain what the law-giver referred to; but after seeing the dish actually prepared, and hearing the very name given to it which Moses employs, we have the whole mystery explained. I have repeatedly tasted Lebn immû; and, when well prepared, it has a rich and agreeable flavor. But, though there is little of the Jew in me, yet I have some scruples about partaking of this forbidden food, just as I have in regard to any kind of dish cooked in blood. The reason assigned for the original prohibition continues in full force to this day:
Eating Blood
“But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Gen. 9:44But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:4)). Nearly all sects of the East, Christian included, regard this reservation, in the grant to eat flesh, as strictly obligatory. The semi-barbarian Abyssinians, according to Bruce's famous story, it is true, violate the whole breadth of the precept when they cut out and devour flesh from the flanks of the living animal; and it is just possible that the command was aimed against some such brutal practice. However that may be, in this country, not only blood-puddings, but every preparation of blood for food, is held in utter abomination. And so, also, it is unlawful to eat animals, fowls, and birds, strangled or smothered, and cooked with the blood in them. And, in my feelings at least, the Orientals in this matter are right. Moses repeats the prohibition in these emphatic words: “Ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings” (Lev. 7:2626Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. (Leviticus 7:26)). And again, in Leviticus 27:10-1410He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy. 11And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest: 12And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be. 13But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation. 14And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand. (Leviticus 27:10‑14), it is reaffirmed in the most absolute terms, extended even to strangers, and made to include game taken in hunting. Accordingly, our hunters, when they shoot even a small bird, are careful to cut its throat, and “pour out the blood thereof.” God himself declares, “I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people” (Lev. 17:1010And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Leviticus 17:10)).
Atoning Blood
And let us not forget that the element which represents blood is still given to us in the Supper as the symbol of atonement. How often are we reminded that it is through the blood of atonement alone that we can receive pardon and reconciliation with God! And it seems rash, to say the least, to venture needlessly upon the violation of a precept announced before the law was given, so often repeated, surrounded with so many sanctions, and suggestive of so much that should impress the heart with tenderest emotion and deepest reverence. And, finally, I believe that the apostolic council of Jerusalem solemnly reaffirms this prohibition, and with special reference to the Gentile Church (Acts 15:2020But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:20)). For once I am an Oriental, and while I would not hastily judge him that eateth even blood, think they do better who refuse.
Sheep With Large Tails
In your account of kibby you mentioned the large tails of the sheep, which reminds me of an inquiry I have to make on this subject. Russell, in his “History of Aleppo,” says that these tails grow to a prodigious size—sometimes weighing fifty pounds; and that they require to he supported and defended from injury by thin boards, which have little wheels attached to them to facilitate transportation. My mother used to sing “little be-peep,” when I was a child, and of the sheep that “left their tails behind them”—a much more sensible custom than to drag them on little carriages “behind them.” But, seriously, what have you to say to this strange story? I have already seen at least a thousand “tails” since landing in Beira, and have examined them carefully, both on the living animal and when dressed for the market, and I must say that Mr. Russell's statement seems somewhat apocryphal. None that I have yet noticed would weigh more than ten pounds. A traveler can commit no greater error than to jump to the conclusion, soon after he arrives in a country, that nothing is possible but what he has seen. As to the particular matter in hand, Russell may have copied, not from observation, but from Herodotus. The “Father of History,” however, strikes off in a bolder strain than the Aleppo chaplain deemed it safe to follow.
ILLUSTRATION
“In Arabia,” says he, “there are two kinds of sheep. One of them is remarkable for an enormous length of tail, extending to three cubits, if not more. If they were permitted to trail them along the ground, they would certainly ulcerate from friction. But the shepherds of the country are skillful enough to make little carriages, upon which they secure the tails of the sheep.”—Thalia, 113.
As to the “boards” and the “carriages,” I choose to say nothing, except that the thing is not absolutely impossible. But I have been to Aleppo repeatedly, and have inquired into this matter on the spot, yet could never hear of such an apparatus; nor have I found any sheep that needed, or would have known how to use such a locomotive. The rest of Mr. Russell's account is sufficiently accurate, and quite credible.
The “Rump”
These tails (or, as the Bible more correctly calls them, the rump) of ordinary sheep in the market do not weigh more than ten or fifteen pounds—about your own estimate; but when the sheep are well fattened, they grow to an enormous size. I have seen many in Lebanon so heavy that the owners could not carry them without difficulty,—yet I never saw any that would weigh quite fifty pounds. Such a tail, however, is within the limits of possibility. The cooks use this mass of fat instead of Arab butter, and many prefer it, as it is fresh and sweet, while the other is often rancid. No doubt this is the “rump” so often mentioned in the Levitical sacrifices, which was to be taken off hard by the backbone (Exod. 29:2222Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration: (Exodus 29:22); Lev. 3:9; 7:3; 9:199And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, (Leviticus 3:9)
3And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, (Leviticus 7:3)
19And the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver: (Leviticus 9:19)). It is, in fact, not properly a tail, but a mass of marrow — like fat, which spreads over the whole rump of the sheep, and down the caudal extremity until near the end, which, as Russell says, turns back upon it in a kind of appendix.
Rams Skins Dyed Red
Salim led me through an entire street of shoe-shops this morning. Is the red leather which the shoemakers use the rams' skins dyed red (Exod. 25:55And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, (Exodus 25:5)), which formed one of the three covers of the tabernacle?
No doubt; and there is a definiteness in the name rams' skins which is worth noticing. From time out of mind the southern part of Syria and Palestine has been supplied with mutton from the great plains and deserts on the north, east, and south, and the shepherds do not ordinarily bring the females to market. The vast flocks which annually come from Armenia and Northern Syria are nearly all males. The leather, therefore, is literally rams' skins dyed red. It is pleasant to meet such perfect accuracy in the most incidental allusions and minute details of the Mosaic record.
Yes, it is indeed satisfactory to find everything about this home of the Bible just as it should be; and the testimony seems all the stronger when the incident is so minute as to exclude the very possibility of design. Here is another illustration of the same kind.
Basket Let Down From Window in Wall
Your boy has just let down a basket through the window by the wall, to get oranges from this garden outside the city (Acts 9:2525Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. (Acts 9:25)). So Paul tells the Corinthians, at the close of that long list of perils and persecutions which he had encountered, that he was let down through a window, in a basket, by the wall, when the governor of Damascus kept the city with a garrison, desirous to apprehend him (2 Cor. 11:3333And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:33)).
Certainly the illustration is entirely to the point, and there are seventeen windows of our house on the wall of the city, from any one of which we also could easily escape, as Paul did, if the governor of Sidon should watch the gates of the city to apprehend us.
Writing Upon Walls
Moses probably did not originate, but, as in many other cases, merely availed himself of the custom, in order to keep the precepts of the Lord ever before the eyes and in the hearts of the people. Indeed, it is certain that the Egyptians observed a similar practice from the most remote antiquity. But, whatever may be its origin, it has been perpetuated down to the present day, and among all classes in this country. The Moslems are particularly fond of it. They never set up a gate, cover a fountain, build a bridge, or erect a house, without writing on it choice sentences from the Koran, or from their best poets. Christians also do the same. The consul, as you saw, has adorned his best room with a multitude of extracts from the Psalms, written in large characters, very much involved, which is considered particularly ornamental, and is, besides, a constant puzzle to exercise the skill of the visitor. Indeed, very few can decipher these intricate mazes of Arabic caligraphy. This custom is certainly not objectionable in itself, and may be useful at all times, but it was more appropriate when books were few, and only within the reach of the learned and the wealthy. Like every other good practice, however, it could be, and was, early perverted into a hurtful superstition. These sentences were and are inscribed as charms to keep off evil spirits, and to afford protection against disease and other calamities. The same is true of the customs referred to in the 8th verse:
Frontlets
“Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes” (Deut. 6:88And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. (Deuteronomy 6:8)). These signs and frontlets, of every kind, whether engraved on signets, written on parchments and enclosed in silver cases, or simply tattooed on the hands, the forehead between the eyes, or on other parts of the body, are universally regarded as charms possessing talismanic virtues. The Moslems, Nusairîeh, and Bedawin Arabs attach great importance to them, and never venture abroad without them.
But Moses certainly did not, in any case, countenance superstition, and probably intended by these precepts to appropriate to a valuable purpose customs he could not eradicate, and ornaments which he could not induce the people to lay aside. We learn from Herodotns, and other ancient writers, that the people throughout all these countries were universally attached to such superstitions.
The Jews have always observed this precept, I suppose, but not always in the same way.
Parchments on Gates of Cities
In the times of their national prosperity, when they could act out their religion without fear of enemies, they literally engraved the “laws of the Lord” on their gates and door-posts. But for generations, no one knows how many, they have been in the habit of writing certain of these laws on small rolls of parchment, which they enclose in some sort of case, and insert into a niche made in the post, or in the plaster upon it. Even in cities like Safet and Tiberias, where the Jews are the majority, they still do the same; and, although the parchments are not absolutely hidden, yet they are so adjusted that it was not until after many years' residence in this country that [ was aware of their existence, or knew where to find them. This parchment s called medzuzah, and the passages written are generally Deuteronomy 6:1-91Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 4Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1‑9) and Deuteronomy11:13-30. The ceremonies accompanying the operation are different n different places, sometimes puerile, always superstitions.
Come to the kiosk, and tell me what is going forward in the street.
A Funeral
That is a funeral procession, which, like most other things purely Oriental,
is without order—a confused medley of men and boys, in all sorts of costume, oiling on somehow or other toward the cemetery. The only thing solemn 'bout it is the low, sad monotone in which they chant that eternal truth, “La illah illa Allah—no god but God”; accompanied by that necessary lie, as gibbon calls it, “W' Muhammedhū russûl Allah—and Mohammed is the prophet of God.” This, and nothing else, is their funeral dirge, and they repeat it over and over until they reach the grave.
See how those women toss their arms, swing handkerchiefs, and scream, and shriek at the top of their voices! Those are the relatives, I suppose? Yes, and they go before to the grave; for it is not customary for women and men to walk together on such occasions. But what are they about now? They have formed a circle, like a bull-ring at a country fight, and there are two or three men inside, as if they were the combatants.
A Zikr
Wait a moment, and you will see what it all means. Now they begin. These two men in the center are the choristers, and are singing one of their hymns. The whole performance is called a zikr.
How they shake their heads, and twist and jerk their bodies! and what do they repeat with such emphasis and solemnity?
This is but the commencement; the storm will burst out by degrees. They say nothing but “Ya-Allah! Ya-Allah!” (O God! O God!) beginning, as you see, very slowly. It will soon come—is coming faster and louder; as they grow warm, their notions become wild and frantic; the chant runs into a horrid, deep growl, like wild beasts, in which it is impossible to distinguish any words—merely “Allah, Allah, Allah,” which they drive through their throats at a most perilous rate. This they will continue until, from sheer exhaustion, they break down.
Generally someone goes off into convulsions and, foaming at the mouth like an epileptic, falls to the ground, when the zikr ceases. There goes one already. It is very kind and considerate in him to terminate the hideous performance so speedily.
The End
He is now supposed to be in a divine trance! There is nothing in all the customs of the East so outrageously repulsive and disgusting as this zikr. The men look like demons yelling, and stamping, and foaming around the dead. If there be demoniacal possession in our day, it is seen, beyond a doubt, in this hideous ceremony.
February 10th.
I have been down at the castle watching the waves. They come in fast and thick, hills over hills, heaving and tossing their huge volumes against the island and the rocks of the harbor with uproar prodigious—the very “noise of many waters,” so often sung by Hebrew poets.
Ships
Now and then one mightier than the rest rolls right over everything, thunders against the old castle, overrides the causeway, and rushes headlong on the houses, and up the lower streets of the city. Sidon's modern mariners may well be thankful for their sheltered beach along that ancient wall, whereon to lay their tiny craft for the winter.
The Beach
This has always been the practice, I suppose. The Phoenicians never had a harbor where ships could ride in safety during the storms of winter, and hence they drew them up on shore. They could thus dispense with harbors, and could and did build towns along the coast, wherever there was a bit of sandy beach large enough for their vessels. I counted sixteen deserted sites on the shore between Sidon and Tyre—a distance of not more than twenty miles—and not one of them ever had a harbor. When spring opens, they launch their ships, rig up and re-pitch them, and prosecute their business until the next winter, when they again dismantle and haul them on shore. Nor was this custom confined to the Phoenicians. The Greeks did the same, even with their warships on the coast of Troy,—which, by the way, is about as destitute of harbors as this of Syria. It is plain that Homer's heroes not only did so with their navy, but even built a fortification around their ships to protect them from the Trojans.
Sidonian Ships at Troy
Indeed, Sidonian ships were there to aid the beleaguered city. And it is a pleasing corroboration of the Biblical account of the ancient greatness of Sidon, to find her pre-eminent in commerce and in art at that early day. The “king of kings and fierce Achilles” were proud to wear Sidonian purple, and fight their battles in her polished armor. And Homer's heroines also arrayed themselves in gorgeous robes,—
“Which from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore,
With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.”
And from Sidon came that
“Silver bowl, the largest of its kind,
The pride of kings, and labor of a god.”
And, if we may so judge from the story of Menelaus, in the fifteenth book of the Odyssey, the Sidonians were a kind of Yankee pedlers in those olden times:—
“A ship of Sidon anchored in our port,
Freighted with toys of every sort—
With gold and amber chains, etc. etc.
Each female eye the glittering links employ,
They turn, review, and cheapen every toy.”
And the treacherous heroine of the story, “A fair Phoenician, tall, full-sized, and skilled in works of elegance,” was from our city: —
“ I too from glorious Sidon came,
Famous for wealth by dyeing earn'd.”
If such was Sidon's fame before Troy was burned or Homer sang, she not only may, but must have been “great,” when Joshua conquered at Merom.
Women at Graves
I have noticed every morning since coming to Sidon, that women come forth very early to visit the graves. They move about under the trees and among the tombs in the gray dawn, wrapped up from head to foot in their white sheets, and looking for all the world like veritable ghosts. Sometimes I hear the voice of prayer, some weep and sob, while others sing or chant in a low, monotonous tone. The whole thing is very novel, and thus far deeply affecting.
Weeping
You do well to limit the duration of your emotion, and may safely moderate its intensity as fast as possible. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, this public manifestation is the work of that arch-tryant, custom, and nothing more. The inquiry, What will the world say if I don't go and weep? sets all your ghosts in motion; and, unless your sympathy is directed toward the slave, it is merely thrown away. They themselves curse the tyrant they obey, as bitterly as the Moslem does the fast of Ramadan, which yet he observes. In either case, it is artificial, hypocritical, slavish. You observe that some of these performers have tents pitched above the graves which require to be wept over. These, however, afford but slight protection against this pitiless storm and piercing wind. The great majority have no cover, and the mourners go home to nurse rheumatisms and catarrhs, burn in fevers, or go blind with ophthalmia. The real weeping is in the houses. And when you further know that many of these mourners and chanters are hired, and weep, howl, beat their breast, and tear the hair according to contract, your compassion will fail fast, or take another direction, and sigh for the victims of folly and fashion.
You must not suppose, however, that there is no genuine sorrow among this people. The voice of nature is far too strong to be stifled, even by this machinery of hypocrisy. Amid all this ostentatious parade, there are burning tears, and hearts bursting in agony and despair. Many a Mary still goes to the grave to weep there, and true friends follow them thither with real sympathy (John 11:81).
ILLUSTRATION
But where iron custom compels everybody to visit the bereaved, and to act well the part of comforters and mourners according to prescribed forms, much will, of course, be manufactured for the occasion; and so it is ad nauseam. Many of the women are admirable performers, and could put to the blush the most accomplished actress on the European stage. These accomplished actress on the European stage. These customs date far back in the history of earth's sorrows. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:77Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:7)). Job had his friends who came from a distance to comfort him, and many of the expressions now detailed with a glib volubility which confounds us simple Americans, are copied from those celebrated dialogs. On similar occasions lover and friend hasten from afar to mingle their condolence with the wretched, and sometimes with no kinder feelings than those of Bildad and his associates.
Even the custom of hiring mourners is very ancient. Jeremiah says, “Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come: and send for cunning women, that they may come; and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters” (Jer. 9:17-1817Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. (Jeremiah 9:17‑18)). Every particular here alluded to is observed on funeral occasions at the present day. There are in every city and community women exceedingly cunning in this business. These are always sent for, and kept in readiness. When a fresh company of sympathizers comes in, these women “make haste” to take up a wailing, that the newly come may the more easily unite their tears with the mourners. They know the domestic history of every person, and immediately strike up an impromptu lamentation, in which they introduce the names of their relatives who have recently died, touching some tender chord in every heart; and thus each one weeps for his Own dead, and the performance, which would otherwise be difficult or impossible, comes easy and natural, and even this extemporaneous, artificial sorrow, is thereby redeemed from half its hollow-heartedness and hypocrisy. There may yet be occasions, in the politer circles of European society, when such a machinery for manufacturing tears will be a great convenience.
On the whole, I do not think that the modern customs of mourning are more extravagant, even in Syria, than the ancient.
Tear-Bottles
We find allusions in old authors to the custom of collecting the tears of the mourners, and preserving them in bottles. Thus David prays, “Put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:88Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? (Psalm 56:8)). These lachrymatories are still found in great numbers on opening ancient tombs. A sepulcher lately discovered in one of the gardens of our city had scores of them in it. They are made of thin glass, or more generally of simple pottery, often not even baked or glazed, with a slender body, a broad bottom, and a funnel-shaped top. They have nothing in them but dust at present. If the friends were expected to contribute their share of tears for these bottles, they would very much need cunning women to cause their eyelids to gush out with waters. These forms of ostentatious sorrow have ever been offensive to sensible people. Thus Tacitus says: “At my funeral let no tokens of sorrow be seen, no pompous mockery of woe.
Crown me with chaplets, strew flowers on my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial to tell where my remains are lodged.”
ILLUSTRATION
How long do these seasons of mourning continue? There is no absolute law on the subject, and the duration and intensity of grief varies. The most bitter lamentations are for young men, and for fathers of families. These are sometimes very extravagant and greatly prolonged. That tent under our windows covers the grave of a young man, and, as you see, they are there every day, although he has been buried for several weeks. There are, however, certain days on which the regular business of mourning is renewed. A curious and rather pretty custom is very commonly practiced by the Moslems, connected, however, with superstitious notions in regard to the state of the departed. On the eve preceding any great festival, the relatives, generally the women, go to the graves and fill small holes, left purposely at the head and foot of the tomb, with fresh myrtle bushes, and sometimes palm branches, which are watered daily to keep them green. Some do this every Thursday evening, because Friday is their sacred day. You had better read what Lane says on this subject at your leisure, for it would now be tedious to describe all their funeral customs, and equally useless. There is one, however, to which our Savior alludes, that of white-washing the sepulchers, which should not pass unnoticed.
White-Washing Sepulchers
I have been in places where this is repeated very often. The graves are kept clean and white as snow — a very striking emblem of those painted hypocrites, the Pharisees, beautiful without, but full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness within. “So ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:27-2827Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (Matthew 23:27‑28)).
Yes; this passage is made sufficiently plain by an acquaintance with modern funeral customs. What you have just read is part of that protestation which the devout Jew was required to make at the close of the third year, “which is the year of tithing.” He was to come before the Lord and say, “I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments ... I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead” (Deut. 26:13-1413Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: 14I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. (Deuteronomy 26:13‑14)). This was the strongest possible protestation that he had dealt faithfully in the matter of tithing and consecrated things, and in charities to the poor. He had not allowed himself to divert anything to other uses, not even by the most pressing and unforeseen emergencies.
Expense of Funerals
It is here assumed, or rather implied, that times of mourning “for the dead” were expensive, and also that the stern law of custom obliged the bereaved to defray those expenses, however onerous. The same thing lies at the basis of that excuse for not following our Savior, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father” (Matt. 8:2121And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. (Matthew 8:21)); a duty which must take precedence of all others. Such it was among most ancient nations, and such is the public sentiment at this day. Moreover, funerals are now ruinously expensive. Crowds of relatives, friends, and acquaintances assemble on these occasions. The largest gatherings ever seen on Lebanon are on these occasions. For all these guests refreshments must be provided, and not a few from a distance tarry all night, and must be entertained. Then these gatherings and feasts for the dead are repeated at stated times for forty days. The priests also, and religious functionaries of all sects, must be rewarded for their attendance at the time, and for their subsequent prayers and good offices in behalf of the dead. A young friend of mine, whose father lately died, informs me that the ecclesiastics are demanding of him twenty thousand piasters for these subsequent services. In short, many families are reduced to poverty by funerals; and it must have been substantially so in remote ages, for the customs were very similar.
Tithes
The temptation, therefore, to devote a part of the tithes, hallowed things, and charities, to defray those enormous, unforeseen, and providential expenses, would be very urgent; and he who stood faithful at such times might be safely trusted on all other occasions. Hence the protestation covers the strongest case that could be selected. The words, “nor given aught thereof for the dead,” are explained by a curious custom still observed with great care.
Presents for the Dead
On certain days after the funeral, large quantities of corn and other food are cooked in a particular manner, and sent to all the friends, however numerous, in the name of the dead. I have had many such presents; but my dislike of the practice, or something else, renders these dishes peculiarly disgusting to me.
A custom prevails among the Bedawin Arabs, and especially those around the Hûleh, which illustrates this whole subject. When one of their number dies, they immediately bring his best ox or buffalo, and slaughter it near to the body of the deceased. They then cook it all for a great feast, with burghûl, rice, and whatever else good to eat they may possess.
Funeral Feasts
The whole tribe, and neighbors also, assemble for the funeral, and go direct from the grave to this sacrificial feast. The vast piles of provisions quickly disappear, for the Bedawin despatch their dinners with a rapidity that would astound a table (I ate at a Western railway station. However, everyone must partake at least of a morsel. It is a duty to the departed, and must be eaten in behalf of the dead. Even strangers passing along are constrained to come and taste of the feast. My friends of Hasbeiya inform me that this custom is so binding that it must be observed, though it consume every item of property and of provisions the man possessed, and leave the wife and children to starve. It is the feast of the dead. That the Jewish tithe-payer, when pressed even by such a stringent call as this, had left untouched the tenths which were devoted to God, was the very best proof that could be demanded or produced that he had acted honestly in this matter.
Cemeteries
I have been sauntering through the cemeteries of Sidon. Every sect, I peroeive, has its separate graveyard. That of the Moslems, under these pretty China trees, is the largest and most striking. Both they and the Christians seem to have a disposition to place the foot of the grave toward the east. Those of the Jews all turn toward Jerusalem; but the Metwalies bury as it happens, and appear to take very little care of their graves. As a general fact, I suppose the ancients expended far more upon their tombs than the moderns. Are there no old sepulchers about Sidon?
Old Tombs
Countless numbers. All those eastern hills are full of them. They are of all sizes, and the internal arrangements are very various. Most of them consist of a square or oblong room, perpendicular to the sides of which the niches for the bodies extend six or seven feet into the rock. I have counted sixteen of these in a single room; but we need not suppose that they were all hewn at the same time, or even in the same age. A family selected a cave, if one could be found, which they trimmed and squared, and cut in it as many niches as they expected to need. Their posterity would hew new ones as occasion required; and when the original room was full, they cut out another behind, or at the side of it, and thus went on enlarging from generation to generation, as long as the family existed.
Machpelah
This was done, as I understand the matter, in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased for a family burying-place. Jacob, when about to die in Egypt, made Joseph swear to bury him: “In my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me” (Gen. 50:55My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. (Genesis 50:5)). Now Jacob could only dig a grave for himself in the cave of Machpelah by cutting out a separate niche. Abraham made one for Sarah, and another was prepared for himself. Isaac prepared one for himself and Rebekah, and there Jacob says he buried Leah (Gen. 49:3131There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. (Genesis 49:31)).
Tombs of the Judges
In some sepulchral rooms there are double tiers of niches, one above the other. This appears to have been a favorite plan with the northern Phœnicians, as you find them not far from Tortosa, Gebile, Ladakîyeh, and Seleucia. The entire system of rooms, niches, and passages, may be comprehended at once by an inspection of the plan of the Tombs of the Judges, near Jerusalem, which I borrow from Mr. Williams's valuable work on the Holy City. The entrance faces the west, and has a vestibule (A) thirteen feet by nine. Chamber (B), nearly twenty feet square, and eight high. The north side is seen in elevation in Fig. 2, and shows two tiers of niches, one over the other,—not often met with in tombs. There are seven in the lower tier, each seven feet long, twenty inches wide, and nearly three feet high. The upper tier has three arched recesses, and each recess has two niches. From this room (B) doors lead out into chambers (C and D), which have their own peculiar system of niches, or loculi, for the reception of the bodies, as appears on the plan. I have explored scores of Sepulchers at Ladakîyeh closely resembling this at Jerusalem, and there are many in the plain and on the hill sides above us here at Sidon of the same general form—chambers within chambers, and each with niches for the dead, variously arranged, according to taste or necessity.
Tombs in Sidon
ILLUSTRATION
The interior of not a few of those about Sidon was plastered originally, or in after ages, with a hard cement or stucco, which is still quite perfect in some of them. In one I found a Greek inscription, drawn in the stucco before it hardened. In others there were such inscriptions written on the plaster with red ink. One large one is adorned with wreaths of flowers and small birds, with palm, orange, and other trees, such as are now found in the gardens below. These would seem to prove that the orange had been cultivated at Sidon from a very remote age. But I am inclined to believe that this stuccoing, writing in Greek, and painting upon the tombs, took place long after they were first hewn in the rock, probably after the original occupants had returned to utter dust. I am confirmed in this suspicion from examining a large tomb which was uncovered last winter on the plain. The surface above it had been used from time out of mind as a summer threshing-floor. A shaft, sunk about ten feet through the soil, exposed a low door in the face of the rock opening into a room thirty feet long by twelve broad. The ceiling and walls are stuccoed and ornamented with various figures in red paint; and a Greek inscription, written with the same paint, runs quite round the room, as a sort of ornamental border. It is much the longest inscription I have seen, and the letters are large, well formed, and as perfect as the day they were laid on. This was not the first time that this tomb had been opened, for all the antiquities it contained had been removed, and it was nearly full of earth, thrown there from other tombs connected with it. Something about this chamber suggested the idea that it was a kind of subterraneous oratory, and not a sepulcher,—in short, that it was one of those underground sanctuaries among the tombs, where the early Christians are said to have met for worship in times of cruel persecution. The whole area in this neighborhood is undermined by tombs, and, if one had funds to excavate them, many curious discoveries might be made. I need hardly remind you that sepulchers hewn in the rock are mentioned in many passages in the sacred record.