Page:Eothen, or, Traces of travel brought home from the East by Kinglake, Alexander William.djvu/80

 was staying, bearing themselves as ostentatiously as though they were carrying a cartel from the Devil to the Angel Michael; one of these (the other being his attendant) was an Italian by birth (though now completely orientalized), who lived in my Lady's establishment as a Doctor nominally, but practically as an upper servant; he presented me a very kind and appropriate letter of invitation.

It happened that I was rather unwell at this time, so that I named a more distant day for my visit than I should otherwise have done, and after all, I did not start at the time fixed; whilst still remaining at Beyrout I received this letter, which certainly betrays no symptom of the pretensions to Divine power, which were popularly attributed to the writer:—

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