Scarcely had the anchor descended from the bows, before our ship was besieged by a number of small boats, with more noise and bustle than even at Constantinople.  The half-naked and excitable Arabs or Fellahs are so ready with offers of service, that it is difficult to keep them off.  It almost becomes necessary to threaten these poor people with a stick, as they obstinately refuse to take a gentler hint.  As the water is here very shallow, so that even the little boats cannot come quite close to shore, some others of these brown forms immediately approached, seized us by the arms, took us upon their backs amidst continual shouting and quarrelling, and carried us triumphantly to land.

Before the stranger puts himself into the hands of men of this kind, such as captains of small craft, donkey-drivers, porters, etc., he will find it a very wise precaution to settle the price he is to pay for their services.  I generally spoke to the captain, or to some old stager among the passengers, on this subject.  Even when I gave these people double their usual price, they were not contented, but demanded an additional backsheesh (gratuity).  It is therefore advisable to make the first offer very small, and to retain something for the backsheesh.  At length I safely reached the house of Herr Battista (the only inn in the place), and was rejoicing in the prospect of rest and refreshment, when the dismal cry of “no room” was raised.  I was thus placed in a deplorable position.  There was no second inn, no convent, no place of any kind, where I, poor desolate creature that I was, could find shelter.  This circumstance worked so much on the host’s feelings, that he introduced me to his wife, and promised to procure me a private lodging.

I had now certainly a roof above my head, but yet I could get no rest, nor even command a corner where I might change my dress.  I sat with my hostess from eleven in the morning until five in the afternoon, and a miserably long time it appeared.  I could not read, write, or even talk, for neither my hostess nor her children knew any language but Arabic.  I had, however, time to notice what was going on around me, and observed that these children were much more lively than those in Constantinople, for here they were continually chattering and running about.  According to the custom of the country, the wife does nothing but play with the children or gossip with the neighbours, while her husband attends to kitchen and cellar, makes all the requisite purchases, and besides attending to the guests, even lays the tablecloth for his wife and children.  He told me that in a week at furthest, his wife would go with the children to a convent on the Lebanon, to remain there during the hot season of the year.  What a difference between an Oriental and a European woman!