The weather will probably change after the 21st of the
moon, and after a couple of days the roads and the river will be
passable, therefore I shall expect you either Saturday or Monday.
"It will be a great satisfaction to me to have an opportunity of
inquiring after your mother, who was a sweet, lovely girl when I
knew her.
"Believe me, sir,
"Yours sincerely,
"HESTER LUCY STANHOPE."
Early one morning I started from Beyrout. There are no regularly
established relays of horses in Syria, at least not in the line
which I took, and you therefore hire your cattle for the whole
journey, or at all events, for your journey to some large town.
Under these circumstances you have no occasion for a Tatar (whose
principal utility consists in his power to compel the supply of
horses). In other respects, the mode of travelling through Syria
differs very little from that which I have described as prevailing
in Turkey. I hired my horses and mules (for I had some of both)
for the whole of the journey from Beyrout to Jerusalem. The owner
of the beasts (who had a couple of fellows under him) was the most
dignified member of my party; he was, indeed, a magnificent old
man, and was called Shereef, or "holy"--a title of honour which,
with the privilege of wearing the green turban, he well deserved,
not only from the blood of the Prophet that flowed in his veins,
but from the well-known sanctity of his life and the length of his
blessed beard.
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