“Of course,” he said. “Come along, and I’ll take you on a tour of the whole city.”
I started to swap my white turban for a blue one, but he stopped me.
“If you wanted to, you could even wrap a green turban around your head,” he said. “In this town, there’s no restriction on what Christians can wear.”28 But even with his reassurance, I couldn’t bring myself to wear any turban but my blue one.
٦،٢
وخرجت معه ندور في المدينه ولا زلنا دايرين حتي وصلنا الي مكان كانه صرايه لكن صغير بالقد وله ليوان وجالس هناك ثلاث اربع اغاوات كاسم عصملي لافين بروسهم شاشات يانس باطراف قصب وعلي اكتافهم مشالح صوف انكرلي شاككين خناجر مجوهره وامامهم عشر خمسة عشر شب بسربندات قرمز ومنهم اخدر وشاككين كذالك فضه وسيوف سقطه فلما رايتهم تلملمت ورجعت الي الوراء فقلي ذلك الشاب اعني به يوسف الحلبي ما بالك يا اخي فزعان اتعرف هل اغاوات من هم قلتله لا لكن بظن انهم حكام البلد قلي نعم انهم حكام البلاد كلها اعني بلاد كسروان وهل مكان هو الكمرك الذي هن ظابطينه وهن موارنه من بيت الخازن واخدين ميري البلاد عليهم ومن هناك اخدني فرجني علي الاسكله وعلي مغارة التنين الذي قتله ماري جرجس ومن هناك رجعنا الي الدير.
We set off to tour the city. After a little while, we arrived at a small palace containing an īwān.29 Seated there were three or four officers dressed in the Ottoman style. On their heads were turbans of crimped silk, the edges brocaded with gold thread. They wore long cloaks of angora wool over their shoulders, and sported jeweled daggers. Ten or fifteen young men stood before them, some wearing crimson turbans and others green ones. They too were armed with silver daggers and damascened swords.
I stopped short and took a step backward when I saw them, but Yūsuf, the young man from Aleppo, said to me, “Why are you afraid, brother? Don’t you know who these officers are?”
“No,” I said. “But I did think they might be the rulers of the town.”
“Indeed,” he said. “They’re the rulers of the whole country, which is to say all of Kisrawān. This here is the customhouse, which they control. They’re Maronites from the al-Khāzin family, and they’ve taken over the collection of the mīrī tax in the country.”30
From there, he took me to see the seaport and the cave of the dragon slain by Saint George. We then returned to the monastery.
٧،٢
وتاني يوم ما سافرنا فراد الخواجه يستقيم كام يوم في بيروت حتي يتفرج لاني كنت احكيت له علي فرجتي في يوم الاول فلما طلعت انا واياه من الدير فقلي من الان وصاعد ان احد سالك عني اقول باني حكيم وهو كان لابس ثياب بلادنا وفي راسه قلبق فطلعنا ندور في المدينه من مكان الي مكان وهو يفتش علي فلوس قدم اعني معاملة ملوك الاقدمين فاشترينا في ذلك اليوم مقدار اربعين خمسين واحد ورجعنا للدير.
We didn’t travel the next day. The khawājah decided to spend a few days touring Beirut, as I’d told him about all the things I’d seen the first day. When we left the monastery together, he said to me, “From now on, if anyone asks you about me, tell them I’m a doctor.”
He was wearing our native dress and a calpac on his head. We went to tour the city, and he searched for old coins, the kind struck by ancient kings. We bought forty or fifty coins that day and returned to the monastery.
٨،٢
وتاني يوم ايضًا نزلنا للمدينه ورحنا الي سوق السياغه فصار يفتش علي حجار وخواتم مصورات فوجدنا كام واحد ومن الفلوس وجدنا ايضًا كام واحد ونحن راجعين للدير فصاحنا واحد مسلم معصارني فقلي عندي فلوس بتشتروهم فقلته هاتهم لنراهم فدخل الي مكانه وجاب لنا اربعين فلس كل واحد بقد ثلث لكن سميك فوضعهم امامنا فلما راهم الخواجه وهم مصديين وما مبين لهم كتابه من كثره الصدا فابا عن اخدهم وقلي بلسان الفرنجي اشتريهم منه وجاز عنا وراح فلما راح رحت انا ايضًا.
The next day, we set off again into the city, headed for the jewelry souk. He hunted for precious stones and engraved rings, and we found a few, along with some more coins. On our way back to the monastery, a Muslim oil presser called out to us.31
“I have some coins,” he said. “Want to buy them?”
“Let’s have a look,” I said.
He went into his shop and brought out forty coins, each the size of a thulth, but thicker.32 He placed them before us, and when the khawājah saw that they were so rusty that no writing could be made out on them, he declined to buy any. Before leaving, though, he said a few words to me in Frankish.
“Buy them from him.”
After the khawājah left, I turned to leave as well.
٩،٢
فقلي ذلك الرجل ما بالك ما بتشتريهم قلتله لاجل صداهم وغيابة كتابتهم ما عادوا بينفعوا شي فعاد قلي خدهم بكام ما بتريد. حيندٍ قلتله الحكيم ما بيريدهم لكن كرما لك انا بشتريهم بكام بتبيعهم لي قلي بغرس كل واحد بمصريه فدفعت له نصف غرش فما راد يعطيهم فجزت عنه ورحت في طريقي فعاد صاحني وارواني حجر خاتم سليماني مصور