. Part IL Travels into /■/'^Levant. i i 
^ , i— ... 
derftood If^ï//^î«, having asked me what I was, aadlanfwered him inthefiime 
Language that I was a Frenchman^ he acquainted the Officer of the Cufl-ome- 
houfe withit. I went and lodged at the houfe of xhQ Chevalier Ervieu, 
who made me very welcome, and took the pains himfelf to go and /èe my 
things brought a fhore which he cleared at the Cuftome-houfe without any 
coft to me : I received fo many Civilities from him during my ftay in that 
Town , that I wifh I were able to publifh all the World over, that he is one of 
the moft gallant and obliging Gentlemen living. 
SaUe is a fmallTown very ill built, having a good Caftle ftanding upon a Saidc. 
Rock in the Sea, oppofiteto the Town ; it is an Ifland and fèparated from the 
Land by a Bridge of ten or twelve Arches. Thyort which is at the fide of 
that Caftle is inconfiderable, and there is anoth " better clofè by the Town ; 
But the Emir Fecardin being one day at Saide, and fearing that the Galleys 
which came for the Grand Seignior's money might ferve-him (bme ugly 
trick, he cauled the Entry of it to be ftopt up ; to the end the incommodiouf 
nefs of the other Port might oblige them to haften their departure. A few 
fteps from thence in a Garden, there is a little Chappel, in which there is a 
Tomb with two Stones ereded over it ; the People of the Countrey lay it is 
the Sepulchre of Zebulon., and that the diftance of the two Stones fhews the 
length of his Body ; if it be fo, he muft have been a very proper man, for 
thefe Stories are about ten foot diftant one from another. It is but three years 
fince there was a Ba^a. at Saide, formerly it was governed by a Vaivode, 
but the Sangiacat of Sefet hath been annexed to Saide and its dépendances, 
and both together ereded into a Baftiafliip. ThI day that I departed I law 
the Baflia enter the Town.he wasattended by about three hundred Horfe-men 
well mounted and armed, fome with Carabines, and others with Bows, Ar- 
rows and Buckler, and all with a fliable by their fide : in the rear of the 
company there were a great many Players on Tymbrels, Hoboys, and fuch 
like Inftruments ; amongft the reft one kept time by knocking two little Plates 
of Copper one againft another. 
The chief Traffick of Saide confifts in Silk, and therefore there is abun- 
dance of Mulberry-trees in the Fields about, and fo foon as they can get but 
a little piece of a Rock, if they can make two fingers breadth of Earth hold 
upon it, there they plant a Mulberry-tree at Saide. I bargained with a Mou- 
ere or Moukir to carry me to Damafcus. Moucre comes from ÛïQArabick word 
Kir a J which fignifies to let, to hire, as one would lay a letter out of Beafts to 
hire. He was to furnifh me with a Horfe for my felf, and two Mules, one for The chtirs^e of 
my Servant and another for my Baggage ; befides he obliged himlelf to clear fajjagefrom 
me of all the Caff ares, and I payed him fixteen Bockels and a half Saide to Da- 
Tuefday the five and twentieth of March about eleven of the Clock in the . 
Fore-noon, I parted from Saide ; we came to our lodging at Labatia about Departure 
five a Clock in the Evening: we travelled all daylong mounting through fiomSMe. 
very good Corn-fields, and the reft of the ground by the road that was not 
lowed, was covered over withDafFadils and Furzes in the blofrom,*with other Daffadih and 
like /hrubs that yielded a very pleafant profpedt. So foon as we were arri- Fur:{es. 
ved, a Tchorbadgi of Damafcus, encamping hard by under a Tent, being infor- 
med of the Moucre that there was a Franck there, fent for me ; and having 
treated me with Coffee, asked me if I had any relation to Monfimr Bermond 
a Chirurgeon of Marfeilles, who negotiated fome Affairs at Damafcus for the 
Merchants of Saide : I told him I was, without mentioning in what degree, 
for our Kindred is onely derived from the Patriarch Noah. He told me that 
he was his friend, and made me to underftand lèverai times, that if I had a 
mind to buy afiies, he would be my merchant ; but all my anfwer was that 
I was too poor to be a Merchant, and that my bufinefs was to go to my 
Kinfirian. 
Labatia is a miferable little Village, where we could not find lodging, and LabatW 
the beft accommodation we had to he in, wasa little place at the end whereof 
there was a pane of a Wall ; our Mules were made faft hard by, and we poll- 
ed our felves near the Wall in the open Air. 
Next day being Wedneflay the twenty fixth of March, we parted about 
five in the Morning, the ground being frozen with a (harp cold Wind. Our 
C 2 way 
