June 19th.

As we were not to travel far to-day, we did not set out until ten o’clock, when we started in company of several Franks who were in the pacha’s service.  They led us into a park by the roadside belonging to the mother of the Sultan.  Here the pacha usually resides during the summer.  In half an hour’s time we reached this park.  The garden is rather handsome, but does not display many plants except lemon, orange, pomegranate, and cypress trees.  The display of flowers was not very remarkable; for not only could we discover no rare or foreign plants, but we also missed many flowers which grow plentifully in our gardens at home.  A few kiosks are here to be seen, but every thing seemed miserably out of repair.

The residence of the pacha, situated outside the gardens, has a more inviting appearance.  We paid our respects to his highness, who received us very graciously, and caused us to be regaled with the usual beverages.  No sooner had the high ladies in the harem learnt that a Frankish woman was in their territory, than they sent to invite me to visit them.  I gladly accepted this invitation, the more so as it offered an opportunity of gratifying my curiosity.  I was conducted to another part of the house, where I stepped into a chamber of middle size, the floor of which was covered with mats and carpets, while on cushions ranged round the walls reclined beauties of various complexions, who seemed to have been collected from every quarter of the globe.  One of these women, who was rather elderly, appeared to be the pacha’s chief wife, for all the rest pointed to her.  The youngest lady seemed about eighteen or nineteen years of age, and was the mother of a child eight months old, with which they were all playing as with a doll; the poor little thing was handed about from hand to hand.  These ladies were dressed exactly like the daughters of the consul at Joppa, whose costume I have described.  I did not see any signs of particular beauty, unless the stoutness of figure so prevalent here is considered in that light.  I saw, however, a woman with one eye, a defect frequently observed in the East.  Female slaves were there of all shades of colour.  One wore a ring through her nose, and another had tastefully painted her lips blue.  Both mistresses and slaves had their eyebrows and eyelashes painted black, and their nails and the palm of the hand stained a light-brown with the juice of the henna.

The Oriental women are ignorant and inquisitive in the highest degree; they can neither read nor write, and the knowledge of a foreign language is quite out of the question.  It is very rarely that one of them understands embroidering in gold.  Whenever I happened to be writing in my journal, men, women, and children would gather round me, and gaze upon me and my book with many signs and gestures expressive of astonishment.