The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton, vol 2 | Page 9

perfectly self possessed. He always dressed in snow white
turban and _burnous_, with not a single ornament except his jewelled
arms, which were superb. He was every inch a soldier and a sultan, and
his mind was as beautiful as his face. Both he and Richard were
Master-Sufi, and they greatly enjoyed a talk together, both speaking
purest Arabic.
When I look back on those dear days and friends in Damascus, my eyes
fill and my heart throbs at the memories which crowd upon me. When I
think of all those memories, none is dearer to me than the recollection
of the evenings which we four--Lady Ellenborough, Abd el Kadir,
Richard, and myself--used to spend together on the top of our house.
Often after my reception was over and the sun was setting, we used to
ask these two to stay behind the others and have a little supper with us,
and we would go up to the roof, where it was prepared, and where
mattresses and the cushions of the divans were spread about, and have
our evening meal; and after that we would smoke our narghilehs, and
talk and talk and talk far into the night, about things above, things on
the earth, and things under the earth. I shall never forget the scene on
the housetop, backed as it was by the sublime mountain, a strip of sand
between it and us, and on the other three sides was the view over
Damascus and beyond the desert. It was all wild, romantic, and solemn;
and sometimes we would pause in our conversation to listen to the
sounds around us: the last call to prayer on the minaret-top, the
soughing of the wind through the mountain- gorges, and the noise of
the water-wheel in the neighbouring orchard.
I have said we smoked, and that included Lady Ellenborough and
myself. I must confess to the soft impeachment, despite insular
prejudices; and I would advise any woman who sojourns in the East to
learn to smoke, if she can. I am no admirer of a big cigar in a woman's
mouth, or a short clay; but I know of nothing more graceful or
enjoyable than a cigarette, and even more so in the narghileh, or even
the chibouque, which, however, is quite a man's pipe.
I must add that when we were in the East Richard and I made a point of
leading two lives. We were always thoroughly English in our Consulate,
and endeavoured to set an example of the way in which England should
be represented abroad, and in our official life we strictly conformed to
English customs and conventions; but when we were off duty, so to

speak, we used to live a great deal as natives, and so obtained
experience of the inner Eastern life. Richard's friendship with the
Mohammedans, and his perfect mastery of the Arabic and Persian
languages and literature, naturally put him into intimate relations with
the oriental authorities and the Arab tribes, and he was always very
popular among them, with one exception, and that was the Turkish
Wali, or Governor, aforesaid. Richard was my guide in all things; and
since he adapted himself to the native life, I endeavoured to adapt
myself to it also, not only because it was my duty, but because I loved
it. For instance, though we always wore European dress in Damascus
and Beyrout, we wore native dress in the desert. I always wore the
men's dress in our expeditions in the desert and up the country. By that
I mean the dress of Arab men. This is not so dreadful as Mrs. Grundy
may suppose, as it was all drapery, and does not show the figure. There
was nothing but the face to show the curious whether you were a man
or a woman, I used to tuck my kuffiyyah up to only show my eyes.
When we wore Eastern clothes, we always ate as the Easterns ate. If I
went to a bazar, I frequently used to dress like a Moslem woman with
my face covered, and sit in the shops and let my Arab maid do the
talking. They never suspected me, and so I heard all their gossip and
entered into something of their lives. The woman frequently took me
into the mosque in this garb, but to the harim I always went in my
European clothes. Richard and I lived the Eastern life thoroughly, and
we loved it.
We went to every kind of ceremony, whether it was a circumcision, or
a wedding, or a funeral, or a dervish dance, or anything that was going
on; and we mixed with all classes, and religions, and races, and tongues.
I remember my first invitation was to a grand fete to celebrate the
circumcision