LIBRARY University of California. Class c^ ^ (T^ ^ 1 THE LAND OF GILEAD THE LAND OF GILEAD WITH EXCURSIONS IN THE LEBANON BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT AUTHOR OF 'LORD ELGIN'S MISSION TO CHINA,' 'PICCADILLY,' ETC. I WILL BRING THEM INTO GILEAD WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXX y^ a^l><' O 6 TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS CHRISTIAN OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN SONDERBURG-AUGUSTENBURG, PRINCESS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, BY PERMISSION, iHost respectfullg BetJicatctf, AS A MARK OF DEEP GRATITUDE FOR THE WARM SYMPATHY AND CORDIAL INTEREST MANIFESTED BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS IN THE author's EFFORTS TO PROMOTE JEWISH COLONISATION IN PALESTINE. 228455 CONTENTS. PAOB INTRODUCTION, . . . xiii CHAPTER I. Arrival at Beyrout Preparations for the start Sidon Naba- tiyeh The Metawalies Their religious observances The Melchites The castle of Belfort The scenery of the Litany The Merj Ayun View of the Huleh Capa- bilities of the plain of the Huleh Railway from Haifa to Damascus Tel el Kadi Banias, . . . . i CHAPTER II. Ain Fit An Ansariyeh village The sheikh's house His reticence Origin of the Ansariyeh The founder of the sect Their religious tenets Their social divisions Marriage and other ceremonies Journey to Kuneitereh A Circassian colony Kuneitereh Medjliss at the Caima- kam's Present condition and prospects of the Circassian colonists, ....... 26 CHAPTER III. We leave Kuneitereh Jaulan Jedur The Lejah Its impreg- nability and strategical importance Vast extent of pasture- lands ^Ascent of Tel el Faris Magnificent view Fik, the ancient Aphek and Hippos The coming of Antichrist, and CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. Departure from Beyrout Ain Anub A Druse assembly Druse character Their diplomacy A silk factory The valley of the Damur Prosperity of the Lebanon accounted for Der El Kamr The Maronite priesthood The palace of Beteddin Feats of horsemanship A noisy welcome Arrival at Mukhtara A native banquet The Jumbelit family The birth of an heir Great rejoicings on the occasion, . . . . . . 342 CHAPTER XIV. Origin of the Druse religion The Imaumat Connection of Druse theology with China The origin of evil The transmigration of souls Divine manifestations Druse view of Christ The four ministers of truth The day of judgment Ceremony of initiation Secret organisation Druse women Ain Matur, ..... 379 CHAPTER XV. Ascent of the Lebanon range The Buka'a Aithi An in- hospitable reception An educated Syrian Arrival at Damascus A geological excursion The Baghdad post- men Dhumayr Wedding festivities at Adra Dervish miracles Serpent-eating Knife-stabbing and impervious- ness to fire The dervish sheikh's explanation A Damas- cus theatre The Arab opera of " Aida," . . . 409 CHAPTER XVL Start for Baalbec and Malula Wadies and saharas Tourist vandalism at Baalbec Cross the Anti-Lebanon Tunnel entrance to Malula Its romantic position The Syriac language Greek monasteries The convent of Sednaya The miracle-working Madonna Menin Return to Damas- cus Start for Zahleh Its picturesque situation Cross the Lebanon Mezra'a Abdulla, the son of Jirius the priest, . 442 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XVII. Ruins of Kalat Fakra The natural bridge Magnificent scenery Afka The temple of Adonis We are benighted Arrival at Ghazir Night quarters Political discussions Maronite views Ecclesiastical cupidities The Nahr-el- Kelb Inscriptions Departure from Beyrout, . . 475 CHAPTER XVIII. POLITICAL. Arrival at Constantinople Khaireddin Pasha His successors Official corruption Procrastination and intrigue Neces- sity for responsible government Unpopularity of the pres- ent system Decentralisation and local administrative auto- nomy The political and strategical importance of Palestine A possible Russian crusade Beneficial influence of a Jewish colony The future of Palestine, . . 5^ APPENDIX The Colonisation of Palestine, . 525 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Ruins of Jerash, . Frontispiece The Gorge of the Yarmuk, 87 The Castle of Kalat er Rubud, '. 172 The Grand Theatre, Rabbath-Ammon, 254 Ruins, Rabbath-Ammon, . . . 264 Arak el Emir, .... 280 MUKHTARA, .... 378 Malula, ..... 452 The Natural Bridge, . 478 Map showing the proposed Railways, and Site of THE proposed CoLONY, . . . . 302 Map of Palestine, showing the Route taken by Mr Oliphant, . . . .At the end INTRODUCTION. The travels recorded in the following pages were undertaken in pursuance of an idea which occurred to me shortly after the conclusion of the Treaty of Berlin, and when it became evident that the Eastern Question was about to enter upon a new phase. It was manifest that the immediate effect of that treaty would be to render inevitable an external inter- ference in the domestic affairs of Turkey, of a more pronounced character than had ever existed before ; and that this interference was calculated sooner or later to produce most serious complica- tions, unless it could be averted by reforms in the administration springing from the initiative of the Sultan, which should anticipate any such forcible intrusion from without. Whereas the Treaty of 1856, which resulted in the promulgation of the Hatti Houmayoun, carefully provided against any intervention on the part of foreign Powers to en- force the fulfilment of that or any other reformatory measure, the Treaty of Berlin expressly stipulated in favour of such interference in the event of the XIV INTRODUCTION. expectations of the Powers remaining unsatisfied ; and by the Cyprus Convention the Government of the Sultan came under special obligations in regard to the whole of Asia Minor. Having visited Turkey upon three former occasions in the years 1855, i860, and 1862 and travelled pretty extensively through the country, I thoroughly realised the fact familiar to all those acquainted with its administra- tion that any reform, to be effectual, must begin with the official system at Constantinople ; and that, in default of that being possible, the only chance of reform at the extremities, was by a process of decen- tralisation, which should more or less provide for the administrative autonomy of the provinces to be re- formed, and for the immovability during a term of years of the valis or governors-general. As, how- ever, it was scarcely to be expected that the Turkish Government would consent to adopt a radical meas- ure of this kind, and apply it throughout the extent of its vast Asiatic dominions, it occurred to me that an experiment might be made on a small scale, and that an evidence might thus be afforded to the Porte of the advantages which would attend the development of a single province, however small, under conditions which should increase the revenue of the empire, add to its population and resources, secure protec- tion of life and property, and enlist the sympathy of Europe, without in any way affecting the sovereign rights of the Sultan. As the objection to all reforms INTRODUCTION. XV proposed was, that they involved an increased ex- penditure which the finances of Turkey were unable to meet, it seemed possible that a scheme which should bring foreign capital with it to carry it out, might be favourably regarded at Constantinople, provided it was not accompanied by obnoxious pro- visions in regard to foreign supervision a point upon which the Sultan and his Ministers are not unnaturally extremely sensitive. It appeared to me that this object might be attained by means of a Colonisation Company, and that one of those rich and unoccupied districts which abound in Turkey might be obtained and developed through the agency of a commercial enterprise which should be formed under the auspices of his Majesty, and have its seat at Constantinople though, as in the case of the Otto- man Bank and other Turkish companies, the capital would be found abroad, provided the charter con- tained guarantees adequate for the protection of the interests of the shareholders. The next questions which naturally presented themselves to my mind were, first, the locality to be selected for the experiment ; and secondly, the class of people who should be invited to come as col- onists. The objection to foreigners who were at the same time Christians seemed insurmountable, as by the existing colonisation law it was made a sine qua non that any colonists permanently settling in Turkey in Asia should become Ottoman subjects a provi- XVI INTRODUCTION. sion with which foreign Christians were extremely unlikely to comply, as they would thereby forfeit all special privileges of consular protection, and lose the benefit of the capitulations. Moreover, the rivalries of the various Christian sects, already productive of so much mischief throughout Turkey, and the jealousy of the Powers supporting them, would certainly ren- der all attempts at harmonious colonisation abortive. The idea, therefore, of colonising with European Christians was speedily dismissed. The possibility of finding, under the auspices of such a Company, an asylum for the thousands of Moslem refugees, who, driven from their homes in Bulgaria and Roumelia, were starving in various parts of the empire, also suggested itself ; but the difficulty in this case arose from the extreme improbability of finding the capital in Christian Europe which would be required for the transportation of thousands of penniless men, women, and children, and establishing them under conditions which should enable them to subsist through the early stages of the development of a new country: the houses to be built, the stock and farm implements to be provided, and the facilities of transport to be created, would all fall exclusively upon the Company. The chances of remuneration, therefore, were not likely to tempt capitalists, while European sympa- thies in favour of poor Moslems were not sufficiently strong to make it likely that the charitable public would come forward to a sufficient extent in favour INTRODUCTION. XVU of any such enterprise. There was, in fact, only one race in Europe who were rich, and who did not, therefore, need to appeal to Christian capitalists for money to carry through the whole undertaking ; who were not Christians, and to whom, therefore, the objections of the Porte to the introduction of more rival Christian sects did not apply ; who had never alarmed the Turkish Government by national aspira- tions, but, on the contrary, had always proved them- selves most loyal and peacable subjects of his Ma- jesty; who were nevertheless strongly attached by historical association to a province of Asiatic Tur- key, and to whom the inducement of once more be- coming proprietors of its sacred soil might prove strong enough to tempt them to comply with the probable conditions of the Turkish Government ; more especially as the persecution to which they were subjected by some Christian Governments in Europe, contrasted most unfavourably with the tol- eration with which they were treated in Turkey itself. It was thus that I found myself, by a process of de- duction, compelled to turn for the locality of the col- ony to Palestine, and for the colonists to the Jews. The more I examined the project from this point of view, the more desirable on political grounds did it appear. "^The establishment of a Jewish colony in Palestine, under the Imperial auspices, was not likely to excite the suspicion or arouse the hostility of the Powers of Europe, and much less of the Sultan him- XVIU INTRODUCTION. self. On the contrary, his Majesty, by affording an asylum for this people, so much oppressed by certain Christian Governments, had an opportunity of con- trasting his clemency with their severity, of enlisting sympathy in behalf of Turkey in those countries which have espoused the Jewish cause, and of prov- ing that in a province to which the capitulations did not extend, a community might be formed under con- ditions which afforded greater guarantees for order and good government than could be found in those provinces where conflicting consular jurisdictions were a perpetual source of disturbance. The Jews themselves have borne repeated testi- mony to the fact that, so far as they are concerned, Christian fanaticism in Eastern Europe is far more bitter than Moslem ; and indeed the position of Jews in Turkey is relatively favoured. They are, as a rule, on good terms with the people amongst whom they live, and enjoy the protection of the Govern- ment, such as it is. In illustration of this, I may quote the concluding paragraphs of the firman granted by the Sultan Abdul Medjid to the Israel- ites in his empire, at the request of Sir Moses Mon- tefiore, in 1840. It is addressed to the Chief Judge at Constantinople, and at the head of the document the Sultan wrote with his own hand the sentence " Let that be executed which is prescribed in this firman." After alluding to an ignorant prejudice which prevailed among the Mohammedans, and INTRODUCTION. XIX which seems to have led to persecution, that the Jews were "accustomed to sacrifice a human being to make use of his blood at their feast of the Pass- over," and stating, "the charges made against the Jews and their religion are nothing but pure calum- nies," it concludes : " For this reason, and the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the Jewish nation (whose innocence of the crime alleged against them is evident) to be vexed and tor- mented upon accusations which have not the least founda- tion in truth, but that, in conformity to the hatti scherif which has been proclaimed at Gulhane, the Jewish nation shall possess the same advantages and enjoy the same privileges as are granted to the numerous other nations who submit to our authority. "The Jewish nation shall be protected and defended. "To accomplish this object, we have given the most posi- tive orders that the Jewish nation dwelling in all parts of our empire shall be perfectly protected as well as all other subjects of the Sublime Porte, and that no person shall molest them in any manner whatever (except for a just cause), neither in the free exercise of their religion, nor in that which concerns their safety and tranquillity. In con- sequence, the present firman, which is ornamented at the head with our hoomaioon (sign - manual), and emanates from our Imperial Chancellerie, has been delivered to the Israelitish nation. " Thus you, the above-mentioned judge, when you know the contents of this firman, will endeavour to act with great care in the manner therein prescribed. And in order that nothing may be done in opposition to this firman at any time hereafter, you will register it in the archives of the tribunal ; you will afterwards deliver it to the Israelitish XX INTRODUCTION. nation ; and you will take great care to execute our orders and this our sovereign will. "Given at Constantinople, the 12th Ramazan, 1256 (6th of November 1840)." That the Jews would respond to an invitation from the Sultan to return and take possession of the soil in a district of their own ancient heritage, I did not doubt, notwithstanding the reflection which a few of their co-religionists in the great centres of European civilisation have cast upon their devotion to the land of their fathers. I append two articles from the ' Jewish Chronicle' of the 9th January and nth June 1880, which, as that paper is the leading Hebrew organ in this country, does, it may be assumed, represent the feeling of the nation on this subject ; ^ and in this impression I have been strongly confirmed by Jews with whom I have since conversed in the East. The total number of the Hebrew race to-day is between six and seven millions. There are in Europe about 5,000,000 ; in Asia, over 200,000 ; in Africa, nearly 100,000; in America, from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000. More than half the European Jews 2,621,000 reside in Russia; 1,375,000 inhabit Austria, of whom 575,000 live in the Polish province of Galicia ; 5 1 2,000 live in Germany ; Roumania is credited with 274,000, and Turkey itself with over 100,000. There are 70,000 in Holland, 50,000 in England, ^ See Appendix I. INTRODUCTION. XXi 49,000 in France, 35,000 in Italy, and the other European countries contain very limited proportions. Of the Asiatic Jews, 20,000 are assigned to India and 25,000 to Palestine. w/ As the area of land which I should propose in the first instance for colonisa- tion would not exceed a million, or at most a million and a half of acres, it would be hard if, out of nearly 7,000,000 of people attached to it by the tradition of former possession, enough could not be found to subscribe a capital of ^1,000,000, or even more, for its purchase and settlement, and if, out of that number, a selection of emigrants could not be made, possessing sufficient capital of their own to make them desirable colonists. I should not expect such men to come from England or France, but from European and Asiatic Turkey itself, as well as from Russia, Galicia, Roumania, Servia, and the Slav countries where they are more especially oppressed, and where there are many among the richer classes who would gladly exchange the persecution under which they live for the freer air which they would breathe under Turkish rule in the land of their fore- fathers. It is true that about 25,000 are there already ; but they are, for the most part, of a men- dicant class, and are deprived of that protection which they would enjoy under the auspices of a company and a charter securing them a certain amount of self-government. As it is, the condition of the Sephardim Jews in Palestine contrasts favour- XXU INTRODUCTION. ably with that of the Jews in Russia or Roumania ; while in other parts of Asiatic Turkey they form in many instances the richest section of the community, and contribute largely by their capital to the pros- perity of the country. Mr Geary, in an interesting account of a journey recently undertaken from India to Europe through Asiatic Turkey, thus describes a community of Jews which he visited near Bagdad : *' The Jews of the town of Hillah," he says, " form a large body, and the capitalists among them advance money to the cultivators to make irrigation-cuttings and plant crops. It is said that agriculture, such as it is, of half Mesopotamia, would come to an end if it were not for the Jews of Bagdad and Hillah, who are in that country what the Soucars are in India. They carefully abstain from buying land, and, as a rule, from building houses, so that when the moment comes that summons them to Jerusalem, they may not be delayed by the necessity of turning irremov- able property into ready money. For the most part, they are the descendants of the Jews of the Captivity: a Jewish community has lived in this strange land by the waters of Babylon since Israel was led captive; but it has never ceased to yearn for a return, more or less triumphant and miraculous, to the heritage of the seed of Abraham."^ It has been objected that the Jews are not agricul- ^ Through Asiatic Turkey (G. Geary), vol. i. p. 189. The following letter which appeared not long since in a Jewish INTRODUCTION. XXIU turists, and that any attempt to develop the agricul- tural resources of a country through their instrumen- tality must result in failure. In the first instance, it is rather as landed proprietors, than as labourers on the soil, that I should propose to invite them to emigrate into Palestine, where they could lease their paper published in the United States, called the ' American Hebrew,' shows that these expectations are not confined to the Jews of Hillah : " Back to Palestine. " To the 'American Hebrew.' " While I admire your wisdom in what you so happily have termed, steering clear of the ' Scylla of Orthodoxy and the Charybdis of Reform, excuse me if I draw your attention to the significancy of Mr Oliphant's scheme, which is attracting such wide and remarkable attention, and which has received already the unofficial sanction of such influential powers as the Earls of Beaconsfield and Salisbury. " As far as I understand, reformers in this country only abandon the doctrine of the re-establishment of our State. Orthodox Jews do not; and while they declare that it does not necessarily imply that all the Jews in the world shall be caged up between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, any more than all Americans are in America or Frenchmen in France, they say, and with justice, that the geographi- cal position and extreme fertility of Palestine point to a grand future for it, as soon as it is rescued from the incapable government of the Porte, sublime only in its indifference to progress in all sublime parts of its happy empire. " Now, as an attentive reader of the Bible, I cannot but be struck with the fact that a realisation of Mr Oliphant's scheme would be a wonderful coincidence when compared with the announcements in the sacred volume. A colonisation of Palestine by the Jews, with the sanction and assistance of the various kings and potentates, would be in strict accordance with such passages as Isa. ch. xlix. v. 22, 23, where it says. Gentiles shall be the active instruments of the restora- tion, kings and queens the prime movers. See also ch. Ix. v. 3, 4, 5 ; Ixi. V. 4, 5 ; Ixvi. v. 20. " I would like some abler pen to write upon this subject than that of M. H. BiRNEBAUM." C XXIV INTRODUCTION. own land at high prices to native farmers if they preferred, instead of lending money on crops at 20 or 25 per cent to the peasants, as they do at present, and for which they have no landed security ; but it is probable that the prospect of a large remunera- tive return for the investment of their capital would soon induce them to acquire a knowledge of farming themselves sufficient for all practical purposes. At Lydda, about ten miles from Jaffa, fifty- five Jewish families, composed of Sephardim and Ashkenazim, have recently established themselves on a tract of upwards of 2000 acres of land, which they are culti- vating with great success. Indeed, among the Se- phardim in Palestine many excellent agriculturists are to be found. In the Sandjak of Acre, Lieu- tenant Kitchener came upon a village in the course of his survey, the whole population of which were Jewish agriculturists, who maintained that their an- cestors had tilled the same soil from time imme- morial. In Morocco and other parts of Africa, Jews are to a considerable extent employed in agriculture, while in Russia agricultural colonies of Jews have been tried with marked success. In a recent number of the ' Times ' one of its own correspondents re- marks : " The Russo-Polish and Lithuanian towns are swarming with such a large and unemployed Jew- ish population, that the civic authorities are no longer able to support them, and the Government have therefore resolved to found more agricultural INTRODUCTION. XXV colonies in the various provinces for the reception of this superfluous Hebrew proletariat, those created several years ago having of late shown signs of pros- perity, a remarkable truth, I may take the liberty to add, in view of the fact that in no country what- soever, where they settle, do the gifted descendants of Jacob show anything but the most deep-rooted aversion from manual labour." There can be no doubt that this inaptitude and dislike to field-labour arises partly from the religious sentiment which has operated to prevent their becoming landholders any- where except in their own country, and partly from the difficulties which both the Governments and the peoples in many countries have opposed to their becoming proprietors of the soil ; but their early his- tory testifies that no such objection to a rural life existed in former days, while in some parts of Asiatic Turkey they to this day retain those pastoral habits which especially characterised the race. In the Kurdo-Jewish district the shepherds are principally Jews ; while several wandering tribes of the Arabian desert, though called Arabs, are purely Jewish, and to this day pasture their flocks of sheep and camels upon its oases. I am well aware that the Alliance Israelite Universelle has established an agricultural school at Jaffa known as the ** Mikveh Israel," con- sisting of 780 acres of market-garden, where Jewish children are trained and educated in agricultural pur- suits, which cannot be considered altogether a sue- XXVI INTRODUCTION. cess. This is partly owing to the extremely unfor- tunate choice of the land, which is close to the great sand-dunes which bound the shores of Palestine, and which, advancing, it is said, a yard a -year, have already partially invaded the property; and partly owing to the absence of any protection against the extortions of the Turkish Government and the hos- tility of the native population, objections which would not arise in a country where there were no settled agricultural inhabitants to compete with, and under conditions especially adapted to provide against undue interference on the part of the Government, and which should insure the necessary protection. It is not, however, upon Jewish labour that Hebrew capitalists emigrating to a colony in Palestine would need to rely ; and I have shown, in my description of the tract which I propose for colonisation, from whence their labour could be drawn. At the same time, were any further evidence re- quired that the Jews consider themselves qualified as agriculturists, that they are eager to emigrate in that capacity from the countries in which they are now oppressed and persecuted, and that the land upon which their longing eyes are fixed as their future home is Palestine, it is to be found in the account contained in the following letter from the president and members of a society lately formed in Roumania dated Bucharest, 20th August 1880, ac- cording to our calendar to the 'Jewish Chronicle' : INTRODUCTION. XXVU To the Editor of the ' Jewish Chronicle! Sir, We have long heard that you are always ready to devote your valued columns to anything involving the wel- fare and prosperity of your brethren, and that your great object is to promote their interests. We therefore entreat that you will grant a hearing to us who seek your assistance. The troubles which the Jews of Roumania are compelled to suffer are well known to you. It is a land whose princes are like the wolves of the forest, in their endeavour to anni- hilate the children of Israel. With fearful zeal they seek to persecute us ; one day they pursue us under the name of religious enthusiasm, and on the morrow they abandon the cry which is so disgraceful to them. But then they conceal their hatred under the name of economy, alleging that the state of trade and mercantile prospects of the country compel them to act oppressively to the Jews who absorb the substance of the Roumanians, and many other such excuses. Thus are we constantly and severely attacked, and our powers of endurance are exhausted. We have therefore resolved, after mature deliberation, to leave the country. With this view we have formed ourselves into a Society for the Colonisation of the Holy Land, consisting of a hundred families. Every one of the members is ex- perienced in the work of cultivating the soil, and it is our intention to journey to Palestine to " till the ground and to guard it." The members will subscribe 400 francs each, and the sum of 40,000 francs thus subscribed, it is our wish to send to the Board of Deputies in London, one of whose objects is to found a Memorial in honour of Sir Moses Montefiore. We purpose that the Board shall purchase land in Palestine and found a colony for us, and that the expenses thus incurred by the Board shall be refunded by us in ten years for we have no wish that the Board shall give us charity, only that funds may be granted to us as a XXVlil INTRODUCTION. loan. The project would not necessitate a very large out- lay, as it would now be an easy matter to obtain land from the Turkish Government on a ten years' agreement, and it would suffice if 20,000 or 30,000 francs were added to the 40,000, which we would send as a first instalment. With God's blessing we should be able to pay off this debt entirely. Until this is done, the ground and everything which shall be provided for the colony, is to be under the name of the Board as security. There seems to us to be another advantage to recommend our scheme to the minds of our brethren. It would offer to the inhabitants of the Holy Land opportunities of learn- ing agriculture through our means, so that they might escape the sad charge of eating the bread of idleness. We intend sending concurrently with this a letter to the heads of the Board of Deputies, and we therefore beg of you to use your powerful influence on our behalf with our benev- olent brethren. We trust that the valuable aid of your journal will be effective in bringing speedy assistance to one hundred distressed families. If this object is attained, the Sir Moses Montefiore Testimonial will be realised, for which a large sum of money has already been collected. The time has certainly arrived for something to be done. With the earnest hope that you will inspire the hearts of the lovers of Israel with a desire to help their brethren, we beg, honoured sir, to subscribe ourselves, Abraham Weinfield, President. HiRSCH Gralen, ^ NiSAN Aubewitch, L^ ) Members. Samuel Braunschwein, [ Abraham Schenberg, J Society for the Colonisation of the Holy Land, Bucharest, Ellul i-^h, 5640. INTRODUCTION. XXIX The correspondence to which this appeal from Bucharest gave rise will be found in the Appendix/ and I trust it may result in action being taken in the matter. That the Jews in England share the senti- ments of their Roumanian co-religionists, may be gathered from the following paragraph extracted from their leading organ in this country, alluding to the late change of Government and its bear- ing upon the scheme which I presented at the Porte : " It is to be hoped that the Liberal leaders may see fit to give, if it be only unofficially, some kind of counte- nance, as did the Conservative authorities, to Mr Laurence Oliphant's excellent scheme for the peaceful and non-politi- cal colonisation of a portion of Palestine by our people. Such sanction would, more than anything else, show that this scheme is wholly of a non-political character a guar- antee greatly needed by the timorous Ottoman rulers, who see the shadow of politics in all regenerative plans. The Liberal party may count on the assistance of the Jews in all serious efforts towards reforming matters in the East. We have too much at stake to be indifferent in the matter, and too large a proportion of brethren in deep suffering from the present condition of affairs to remain supine. The people of England who include the Jews of England cry out for reform in the East in the name of our common humanity."^ It was indeed my hope that, by enabling the Porte to take the initiative in this project of internal re- form, it would be deprived of any political aspect, as * Appendix II. 2 'Jewish Chronicle,' 9th April 1880. XXX INTRODUCTION. suggested by English interests exclusively ; for it is beyond a question that whatever conduces towards the maintenance of the integrity of the Ottoman empire in Asia is not only in the interests of Eng- land, but of the peace of Europe. If, owing to the refusal of the Sultan to entertain it, I now allude to its political bearings, it is not because I desire to impair that integrity, but because, while it should undoubtedly be the policy of England to do -all in her power to support the Sultan in any attempts which he may make to reform the administration of his Government, and in his own interest to ex- ercise all legitimate pressure upon his Majesty in that direction, we cannot be blind to the fact that the opposition to reform in certain quarters is so de- termined as to render the task almost hopeless, and that every day increases the danger of the premature dissolution of the empire. It is most unfortunate that the efforts which England is making to avert any such catastrophe should be misconstrued at Con- stantinople into a desire to obtain possession of Asia Minor, a misconception which has acquired so firm a hold on some official minds, that well-meant en- deavours to consolidate and strengthen the Turkish empire were met with suspicion and opposition, until at last the catastrophe has become imminent, which it was the interest of England, no less than of Tur- key, to avert. If, immediately after the Treaty of Berlin, the Porte had frankly acted upon the advice of INTRODUCTION. XXXi England, and relied upon the honesty of her desire to preserve Asia Minor to the Sultan, instead of fos- tering the suspicion that she wished to conquer it for herself, I believe that a reform which should have begun at the centre, and extended to the extrem- ities of the empire, might have been successfully carried out. Unfortunately it is now too late, the patience of England is exhausted, new political com- binations have been formed, and it behoves us to anticipate the complications which may arise out of the altered relations of England and Turkey. Po- litical events in the East have so shaped themselves, that Palestine, and especially the provinces to the east of the Jordan, owing to their geographical posi- tion, have now become the pivot upon which of necessity they must ultimately turn. Situated be- tween the Holy Places at Jerusalem and the Asiatic frontier of Russia, between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, between Syria and Egypt, their strat- egic value and political importance must be apparent at a glance ; and the day is probably not far distant when it may be found that the most important inter- ests of the British empire may be imperilled by the neglect to provide in time for the contingencies which are now looming in the immediate future. I have adverted to these at some length in the last chapter, as well as to the policy which the result of a year's negotiation at Constantinople leads me to believe would be most likely to secure the desired results. XXXll INTRODUCTION. Nor can we, in connection with this project and the probable future of Palestine, ignore the great change which has taken place during the last fifty years in the relations which the Jewish race occupy towards the Governments of Europe. As a conse- quence of the more enlightened policy which has been pursued towards them of later years, they have been enabled to increase in wealth and num- bers, while their social and political status has been so improved as to have made it possible for them to acquire an almost commanding influence in the finance and press of many civilised countries. It is evident, therefore, that a colony founded by their enterprise, under the auspices of the Sultan, would enjoy a protection of a very special character, and that the influence of the race upon the several Gov- ernments under which they possess civil rights would be exercised in its favour. It is somewhat unfortunate that so important a political and strategical question as the future of Palestine should be inseparably connected in the public mind with a favourite religious theory. The restoration of the Jews to Palestine has been so often urged upon sentimental or Scriptural grounds, that now, when it may possibly become the practical and common-sense solution of a great future difflculty, a prejudice against it exists in the minds of those who have always regarded it as a theological chi- mera, which it is not easy to remove. The mere INTRODUCTION. XXXlll accident of a measure involving most important in- ternational consequences, having been advocated by a large section of the Christian community, from a purely Biblical point of view, does not necessarily impair its political value. On the contrary, its po- litical value once estimated on its own merits and admitted, the fact that it will carry with it the sym- pathy and support of those who are not usually par- ticularly well versed in foreign politics is decidedly in its favour. I would avail myself of this oppor- tunity of observing that, so far as my own efforts are concerned, they are based upon considerations which have no connection whatever with any popular religious theory upon the subject. In the event scarcely, I fear, to be expected of wiser counsels prevailing at the Porte, and of the introduction at Constantinople of institutions which should impart some stability and homogeneity to the Cabinet, and increase the responsibility of Min- isters to the country, by the creation of a popularly elected chamber, however small, it is possible that the dangers which I have indicated might be averted, and that a new and better system of government, under which existing abuses would be remedied, might be inaugurated. In that case the extension of an experiment of colonisation under which all colonists should become, ipso facto, Ottoman subjects throughout Palestine, would be a source of strength to the Sultan's empire. Indeed, if the system upon XXXIV INTRODUCTION. which the colony was administered proved success- ful, it might serve as a model for the rest of Syria and Asia Minor, and might prove a means of illus- trating the inutility of the capitulations which, prac- tically though indirectly enabling a discrimination to be made, as they do now, between two classes of his Majesty's subjects, create a serious obstacle to reform. There would then be no reason why Christians should under some circumstances enjoy protection and privileges denied to Moslems, and under others be the victims of special persecution ; for the same treatment might be applied to them which secured the good government of the colonists without con- sular interference. So long as the rival Christian communities of which there are fourteen in Syria alone, seven Catholic and seven anti-Catholic have power to invoke the foreign protection that suits them, whenever they feel, either justly or unjustly, aggrieved with the Government or with one another, so long will every vilayet be a hotbed of diplomatic and religious intrigue, and the authority of the cen- tral Government be undermined, until at last the fate which has overtaken European Turkey, in conse- quence of foreign interference and agitation in its internal affairs, will be precipitated upon the Asiatic provinces of the empire. Before deciding definitely whether the scheme was a practicable one or not, I found that it would be INTRODUCTION. XXXV necessary to visit the country, with the view of select- ing the district and examining the local conditions ; and even then, provided that a region adapted for the purpose could be found, everything would de- pend upon the disposition manifested by the Porte to entertain the idea. Prior to starting, however, it seemed to be my first duty to lay the matter before the Government, with the view of obtaining their support and approval, and I therefore communicated to the then Prime Minister and Lord Salisbury the outline of the project. From both Ministers I re- ceived the kindest encouragement and assurances of support, so far as it was possible to afford it with- out officially committing the Government. And I was instructed to obtain, if possible, the unofficial approval of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs of the scheme. I therefore proceeded to Paris, and submitted it to M. Waddington, who was suffi- ciently favourably impressed with the idea to give me a circular letter to the French ambassador at Constantinople and other diplomatic and consular representatives in Turkey. I was also similarly provided with letters of recommendation from our own Foreign Office. I would venture to express most respectfully my gratitude and thanks to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and to their Royal High- nesses the Prince and Princess Christian of Schles- wig-Holstein, for the warm interest and cordial XXXVl INTRODUCTION. sympathy with which they regarded the project, and which encouraged me to prosecute it. I would also take this opportunity of tendering my hearty acknowledgments to my numerous friends, Chris- tian and Jewish, who were so kind as to afford me their assistance and advice. It is, however, only since my return to England that I have be- come aware how deep and widespread is the inter- est which has been felt in the successful issue of an undertaking which involves such important phil- anthropic and political results. If the preliminary stage of negotiation with the Turkish Government was not crowned with the success which I had anti- cipated, it must be remembered that I attempted it alone and comparatively unaided. So far from being discouraged, my late experience more than ever con- vinces me that the scheme is in all respects practi- cable, and that it is only necessary for the public to take it up, supported by the Government, in order to overcome the resistance which I encountered at Con- stantinople, and which was due to an altogether ex- ceptional combination of adverse influences. \ Under any circumstances, it is impossible that the region which comprises within its limits the luxuriant pasture-lands of Jaulan, the magnificent forest-clad mountains of Gilead, the rich arable plains of Moab, and the fervid subtropical valley of the Jordan, can remain much longer neglected. Whether we regard it from an archaeological, a commercial, or a political INTRODUCTION. XXXVU point of view, this territory possesses an interest and importance unrivalled by any tract of country of sim- ilar extent in Asiatic Turkey. It remains for Eng- land to decide whether she will undertake the task of exploring its ruined cities, of developing its vast agricultural resources, by means of the repatriation of that race which first entered into its possession three thousand years ago, and of securing the great political advantages which must accrue from such a policy. I have considered that it would be most judicious for the present to refrain from publishing the project of the charter of the company which I submitted to the Turkish Government, after it had been at their request carefully framed and elabor- ated by their own law advisers in such a manner as should, in my opinion, offer the most effectual guar- antees for the just and satisfactory administration of the colony, and the interests of the shareholders, without in any way infringing upon the sovereign rights of the Sultan ; but I hope and believe that it may still form the basis upon which a company may be founded. If the result of my efforts to awaken that interest in the subject which it deserves, and the appeal which this book contains, meet with the response which I anticipate, I shall be happy to co- operate in any plan which may seem best calculated to carry it out. About the middle of February last year I left England for Syria. THE LAND OF GILEAD. CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL AT BEYROUT PREPARATIONS FOR THE START SIDON NABATIYEH THE METAWALIES THEIR RELIGIOUS OBSERV- ANCES THE MELCHITES THE CASTLE OF BELFORT THE SCENERY OF THE LITANY THE MERJ AYUN VIEW OF THE HULEH CAPABILITIES OF THE PLAIN OF THE HULEH RAIL- WAY FROM HAIFA TO DAMASCUS TEL EL KADI BANIAS. Almost immediately on arriving at Beyrout I met my friend and future fellow-traveller, Captain Owen Phibbs, who had resided for four years in the country, through which he had travelled exten- sively. He was thoroughly conversant with the language, and with the manners and habits of the natives, and his great experience subsequently proved invaluable. His love of oriental research, habit of close observation, and familiarity with the country generally, rendered him a most agreeable and instructive companion ; and I was delighted A ,''z\^:{^'/'}': : ,;THE land of gilead. to find that he was free to undertake an expe- dition into a region which was new to him. He entered, moreover, warmly into the project which I had at heart, and which he considered to be both practicable and feasible ; and his opinion inclined towards the country to the east of the Jordan as the part of Palestine where I should be most likely to find such a tract of waste land as I de- sired. We therefore decided, provided that it was found to be practicable, to cross the Jordan at its sources, and traverse the whole region formerly occupied by the half-tribe of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben, and then, crossing over to Jerusalem, return northwards through western Palestine. We should thus have an opportunity of skirting the Belad Beshara, a district in the extreme north of western Palestine, comprised in ancient times within the heritage of Asher and Naphtali, now chiefly occupied by a Metawaly population, and which might prove worth examination. I met no one at Beyrout who was personally acquainted with the Eastern country which we desired to traverse ; and it was therefore not easy to obtain information except from dragomans, who could not be relied upon as to the present mood of the Arabs who range over it, and the possi- bility of traversing it in safety. The impression prevailed that this could only be accomplished by considerable payments in the shape of. black-mail PREPARATIONS FOR THE START. 3 a tax which we did not feel by any means disposed to incur. The best chance of avoiding it seemed to be to travel in the humblest and most unosten- tatious manner possible, to take scarcely any money with us, to throw ourselves upon the hospitality of/ the natives, and to trust to the chapter of accidents and our appearance of poverty to carry us through safely. We therefore decided upon putting only a few pounds in our pockets, taking no tents, and in- stead of a dragoman, a domestic of Captain Phibbs's / who turned out a perfect treasure as cook and factotum and one mule and muleteer for our united baggage, bedding, cooking utensils, and the articles of food which we thought it wise to take in case of necessity. These consisted of a few tins of preserved meat, some Liebig's Extract, tea, coffee, sugar, a ham, some cheese, cakes of chocolate, a bottle of olives, dates, &c. We also took a bottle of spirits of wine and a spirit - lamp, which we found to be the greatest possible comfort : a cup of hot tea, coming at the right moment, saves many a headache, if one is at all susceptible to the sun. H.M. Consul-General, Mr Eldridge, very kindly supplied us with a circular letter addressed to Turkish authorities and officials generally, which insured us attention and civility whenever we came across them, and proved of great service to us. After the usual amount of haggling, the agree- ment was at last signed for the price of the mule, 4 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and a strong, active pony, for myself Captain Phibbs's stable supplying the other two animals and we started for Sidon in the early part of March. At the end of our first day's journey the muleteer pleaded so earnestly for an extra baggage-animal and boy to assist him and bear him company when we went too far ahead, that we added to our cortege, and ended by presenting a somewhat more wealthy and imposing appear- ance than we originally intended. We were hospitably entertained at Sidon by Mr Abela, from whom we obtained a good deal of in- teresting information, which all went to show that there was very little to be expected from the Belad Beshara, where the land was not sufficiently rich, and the country too much occupied, to make it a desirable field for colonisation. We therefore gave up the idea of going as far south as Tibnin, the capital of the district, and decided on making Na- batiyeh the end of our first day's journey from Sidon, and continuing from there in an easterly direction. Passing through productive gardens of orange, bananas, apricots, and olives, which surround the town, we debouched upon a fertile and extensive plain, stretching from the sea-shore to the base of the nearest range of hills, waving with young spring crops, which rows of Metawaly women were busily engaged in weeding; while the ruins of ancient DEPARTURE FROM SIDON. 5 Sidon, which in former days extended for miles from the walls of the present city, bore testimony to the vastness of the population which the great Phoenician mart had attracted to its neighbourhood. Now, the fragments of columns which had once supported temples and palaces were either used as Moslem tombstones, as rollers for the flat house- tops, or lie strewn over the fields or by the side of the road to Tyre, which skirts the shore. We turned off from this to the left in about an hour after leaving Sidon, riding through fields of wheat and beans to the base of the ridge, where the cultivation ceased, and ascended the barren and somewhat rocky slopes, covered with small grey prickly bushes of poterium^ until we reached the crest, from which a lovely coast - view was ob- tained, with Sidon embowered in gardens, and situated on a jutting promontory, in the distance. Traversing this range, which is of a chalk forma- tion, we descended into the valley of the Zaherani, or flowery vale, and crossed the stream by a ford. This valley was sparsely cultivated, but sustained its reputation in the matter of flowers, among the most abundant and beautiful of which were cycla- mens of various hues, besides Iris, asphodels, and anemones. Here the steeper ascent of the second range began, and when we reached Its summit we stopped at the Khan Mohammed AH for luncheon. From this point we obtained our last view of the 6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. sea, and our first of Mount Hermon ; while immedi- ately above us, on our left, the Jebel Rihan reared its highest peak to an elevation of over 6000 feet. We now entered upon a very dreary, uninhabited, and uncultivated tract of country indeed, we seemed to have left the population behind us when we left the coast; and from an agricultural point of view, there was nothing tempting in the district we were traversing. Nabatiyeh was a dry uninviting-looking village, containing about two hundred houses inhabited by Metawalies, and thirty or forty by Christians : the latter lived in a quarter by themselves. The houses are built of blocks of stone a foot square, generally without cement, and large masses lie strewn about in all directions, so that it is alto- gether a hard rocky-looking place, giving one the feeling of living in a quarry. Nevertheless there is a square in the middle, surrounded by arched storehouses and granaries ; and here every Sunday and Monday a fair is held. A fortnight before our arrival, the visitors at the fair, who camp out for the night between the Sunday and Monday, woke to find themselves in presence of an unusual and startling spectacle ; and it still formed the staple topic of conversation in a village where events are rare. Hanging by the neck in the midst of them was a certain notorious character, by name Harab, a robber and murderer of some NABATIYEH. *J celebrity. He was a Metawaly, a man who en- joyed some consideration among his own people, and inspired great terror among those who did not share his religious views. In consequence of the weakness of the central administration at Damas- cus, this man had been for long allowed to pursue his career of violence with impunity ; but when Midhat Pasha assumed the reins of government, he determined to create a wholesome respect for law and order in the country by making a few examples. Therefore, when Harab shot a Druse, because some Metawaly women got alarmed at the presence of some Druses in their village, who were proved to have no evil intentions, Midhat Pasha hung him in the midst of his friends and relations ; and the result was, that we were enabled to travel through a country not usually famed for its tran- quillity, in peace and safety. Nevertheless there is a feud in consequence between the Metawalies and Druses or rather, an old-standing quarrel has been exacerbated ; but it will probably only sim- mer, and seems to be necessary as a sort of vent to let off superfluous steam. We took up our quarters in the house of a certain Hadji Mousa, who spread quilts and mats for us on his mud-floor. The windows were on a level with it, and the doors are often made very small and low, so as to prevent tax - gatherers, zaptiehs, or other enemies, from stabling their horses 8 THE LAND OF GILEAD. inside. After establishing ourselves here, and mak- ing arrangements for dinner, we went out to look about us, and scrape acquaintance with the people. We found the whole male population playing a game of ball in the square ; but we were informed that they only represented a small proportion of what there should have been, as they had been drafted off in large numbers for the war, where they formed part of the regiments which had been sacrificed by Suleiman Pasha at the Shipka Pass, so that few were ever expected to return. We walked down to a fine spring which supplies the town with water, and which is full of sacred fish. Here were picturesque groups of Metawaly women, in the bright-coloured skirts which are a distinguish- ing characteristic of their attire, filling water-jars, and careless about covering their handsome faces beyond holding a corner of their veils in their mouths. They were, for the most part, tall and graceful in figure, and their carriage was perfect. The Metawalies are much despised, and a good deal persecuted, by the Turks, on account of the heresy of their faith. They, like the Persians, are Shiites, but of a purer and more bigoted type. They are supposed by some to be the descendants of the aboriginal races formerly inhabiting Galilee of the Gentiles. In fact, they are, par excellence, the Gentiles, and still occupy in large numbers the extreme north of Palestine, which is called by the RELIGION OF THE METAWALIES. 9 modern name of Belad Beshara, and of which Tib- nin, which was formerly the Metawaly capital, is the chief town. In the days of their comparative greatness this was the seat of their leading family, called the house of Ali es Sughir. According to the Shia doctrine, they assign to Ali, the son-in- law of Mohammed, a rank equal or even superior to that of the prophet himself, considering him an incarnation of the Deity, and believing in the divine mission of the Imaums descended from him. Mehdi, the last of these. Is believed by them not to have died, but to be awaiting in concealment the coming of the last day. In common with some of the Sunnis, they do not consider this event very remote, the orthodox Moslem doctrine being that on that day Christ will reappear to establish El Islam as the religion of the world ; with Him will re- appear Mehdi, the twelfth Imaum who will then be known by the name of " The Guide " and Anti- christ, or the beast of the earth ; while the peoples of Gog and Magog whom some suppose to be the Russians will burst the barrier beyond which they were banished by Alexander the Great. The end of all things will begin with the trumpet-blasts of the angel Asrafil. The first of these blasts will kill every living being, a second will waken the dead. In regard to their final expectation of what is likely to happen to them, the Shiites and Sunnis do not seem to differ very materially, though they 10 THE LAND OF GILEAD. are very bitter in respect of their difference of opinion as to the past. I am indebted to Dr Wortabet of Beyroiirt, whose book on the religions of Syria is now un- fortunately out of print, for the following particu- lars of some of the peculiar customs of the Meta- walies : In prayer they perform their ablutions in a different way from the Mohammedans, using very little water. When they bow to the ground their heads are made to touch a small cake of earth, which they constantly carry with them for the pur- pose, made from the very spot where El Hosain, the son of Ali, and the Shiite martyr, was killed. If this cake happens to be lost, or not obtainable, they use a stone or some other material to remind them of the holy earth on which his . blood was shed. Unlike the Moslems, each prays singly. At the hour of prayer all articles of clothing in which gold is wrought, and gold or silver rings and watches, are laid aside. Many of these rites and ceremonies are also practised by the Persian Shiites ; but they have a remarkable form of marriage peculiar to themselves, which they call the " marriage of privilege." It is a legal and regular engagement, with the usual gift of dowry, but on the strange condition that the marriage tie shall continue for a specified time only say a year or a month. When the stipulated term expires, the conjugal relation ceases absolutely, unless it be METAWALY MARRIAGES. II renewed according to the ordinary and permanent form. The engagement takes place generally with a widow, the thing being impossible with a married woman whose husband is yet alive, and quite im- possible with a virgin, who cannot be blind to the disadvantages of such an arrangement. When chil- dren are the fruit of such a rharriage, the father is bound in every case to maintain them. They have also a form of nominal marriage, which they call the " engagement of interdiction." The proceedings are regular throughout, except the definite stipulation that the husband can have the privilege of only seeing his wife the design of this being to gain free access to a young woman, and her immediate female relatives, in order to wait upon them, confer with them on matters of business, &c., which a stranger could not otherwise obtain. The nominal or interdicted wife can marry at any time without a permission or divorce from her quondam husband. By these convenient modes of marriage, facilities are offered for a man and a widow to go together on a pilgrimage to Mecca, or some other travelling tour, at the termination of which the bond is dissolved ; and so, when a man goes with a female who will not consent to be his wife of " privilege," the matter can be easily arranged by his nominal marriage with her daughter or mother. They avoid, however, these marriages as far as possible, in order to escape the sarcasm and odium of other sects 12 THE LAND OF GILEAD. especially the Mohammedans on their way to the Holy Places. In the course of our ramble we got into con- versation with a Christian youth or, to speak more accurately, a youth who professed the dogmas of the Melchite sect calling itself Christian. They are schismatics from the "orthodox" Greek Church, who joined the Church of Rome about a hundred years ago. They, however, still retain their inde- pendence in some particulars ; they celebrate Mass in Arabic, administer the sacrament in both kinds, and their priests may be married men, though they may not marry after ordination. They are governed by a patriarch at Damascus, and to this sect belong the wealthiest and most aristocratic of the Christians. Our informant told us that all the Christians at Nabatiyeh were Melchites, and that they lived on terms of perfect harmony with the Metawalies ; indeed. Christian sects as a rule, both in European and Asiatic Turkey, hate each other far more than they do the Mohammedans. At the same time, the Metawalies were very strict in protecting themselves against defilement, and are far more particular in this respect in their rela- tions with Christians than Sunnis. For instance, they will not eat meat or bread or anything damp, or drink water that has been touched by a Christian. Our Melchite friend told us that if he asked for a drink from one of his Metawaly fellow- METAWALIES AND MELCHITES. 13 townsmen, he was not allowed to take the pitcher by the handle or to touch the spout with his lips, but was compelled to hold it with both hands by the bottom, and then pour the water down his throat. The Metawalies do not allow the bread of the Gentiles to be baked in the same ovens which they use. They will not touch a stranger if his clothes happen to be wet with water, nor even allow him to enter their houses while in this state, except in cases of extreme urgency, and then often not without considerable difficulty. In eating with others, which they are sometimes compelled to do, they are careful not to eat from the same side of the plate; and after the meal is over, they purify themselves from the contracted defilement by pour- ing water over their mouths. If the Metawalies would only carry their principles of purification a little further, they would derive material, as well possibly as spiritual, benefits from it, for they are among the dirtiest and most squalid of religious sects in the East, and that is saying a good deal. The men have a particular way of shaving under the cheek-bone and chin, leaving the rest of the beard to grow. This, probably, has a religious origin, though their love of bright-coloured garments suggests that vanity may have something to do with it. The Metawalies number about 80,000 souls, and are not by any means confined to this district. I came across their villages afterwards on the 14 THE LAND OF GILEAD. eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon, to the north of Damascus, and they extend in that direction even as far as Horns. In former days, Baalbec was their principal town in the Buka'a, where they were governed by the family of Harafoost, notorious for their crimes as highwaymen. I have also seen their villages on the crests of the Lebanon, in the Maronite district ; and everywhere they possess, in spite of the strictness with which they observe the rites and ceremonies of their re- ligion, a most unenviable character as thieves and robbers. I asked my Christian friend why they were all playing ball instead of working, but he said that both Metawalies and Christians had no agricultural work on hand. They had planted their crops, and they had nothing to do now but idle and amuse themselves till it was time to reap them. He ad- mitted that he himself had done no work of any sort for a month. , The Metawalies feel a strong, secret dislike to the Turkish Government ; and not- withstanding the outward professions of loyalty which they make, all their secret sympathies are with the Persians, to whose country they look as the strong- hold of their religion and the bulwark of their faith. In the Belad Beshara, where we now were, they are governed by Beys of their own sect, by whom, how- ever, they are treated in a very arbitrary manner, and without much regard to the laws of the land. All cases of civil law among them are settled, by CASTLE OF BELFORT. 15 the sufferance of the Turkish Government, according to the principles of Shiite jurisprudence, for which they have lawyers of their own, and a Mufti ap- pointed by the Governor of Beyrout. They believe that they have among them the veritable descend- ants of Hassan and Hosain, the sons of Ali. Both branches reside in the Belad Beshara, and the valid- ity of their claims is recognised in Persia. These families wear the green turban, are extremely sanc- timonious, and are treated with great respect by the Metawalies, out of veneration for their illustrious origin. Indeed, their most illustrious sheikh and spiritual chief was said to reside not far from Nabatiyeh. Our beds on Hadji Mousa's mud-floor, though tolerably free from vermin, were not so soft and comfortable as to tempt us to prolong the night unnecessarily, and we had swallowed our coffee and were in the saddle shortly after daylight. In an hour and a half we reached the precipitous crest of the valley of the Litany, upon the edge of which, a few minutes to the right of the road, stands the old crusading castle of Belfort, a most picturesque and commanding feature of the scenery for miles round. The building is 1 30 yards long from north to south, and 33 yards wide. The walls are still standing, and average from 60 to 80 feet in height ; they are built for upwards of 100 yards along the verge of a cliff, which rises quite perpendicularly from the bed of the l6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Litany, 1500 feet below. The castle itself is 2200 feet above the level of the sea, and can be approached only by a narrow ridge or neck from one direction, so that under the old conditions of warfare it was practically impregnable. Nevertheless Saladin, after a siege of a year, compelled the garrison, under Raynold of Sidon, to surrender. Other travellers have, however, described this ruin so fully, that I will spare the reader any further details. We were now within the ancient limits of Pales- tine, and in territory which had been occupied by the tribe of Asher. Although the portion assigned to it extended far to the north along the crests of the Lebanon, they never seem actually to have pos- sessed land much to the north of Nabatiyeh, which may have been one of the frontier towns ; but the northern border of Palestine is extremely undefined, and it is difficult to determine what were the exact limits of Asher. The castle of Belfort is supposed by some to be the Achshaph mentioned in Joshua as one of the frontier towns. At all events, the Litany was the dividing line between Asher and Naphtali, and on crossing that stream we found ourselves in the heritage of the latter. There are no means of scrambling down the pre- cipitous crags upon which the castle of Belfort Is perched, to the river, and even the circuitous road by which we descended to the bridge was steep enough to make walking more desirable than riding. SCENERY OF THE LITANY. 1/ The view over the stupendous gorge through which the Litany forces its way to the sea, with Mount Hermon in the background, the southern spurs of the Lebanon and Jebel Rihan to the left, and the castle crowning the giddy height on the right, was magnificent ; and it was a marvel to me that tourists on their way from Jerusalem to Damascus, should continue to wander on a beaten track, amid inferior scenery, when a day's journey from it would bring them to a spot where the grandest features of nature are so intimately blended with the associations of history and romance. The modern name of Belfort is Kalat esh Shekif ; and we now left the district, or Belad esh Shekif, of which Nabatiyeh is the chief place, and crossed the Litany or " Accursed," now yellow and turbid, by a picturesque bridge the Jisr el Khardeli. We turned sharp off to the right, from the principal road which leads to Hasbeya and Rasheya, and ascending the other side of the valley, crossed the ridge into the Merj Ayun, a level plain surrounded by hills, eight or ten miles long, and from three to four wide at the period of our visit an unbroken expanse of wheat, beans, and lentils. It is one of the richest tracts of country in Syria, and was formerly cultivated by the tribe of Naphtali, and was then called Ijon. It was taken on two occasions, first by Ben-hadad, King of Syria, at the instiga- tion of Asa, King of Judah ; and on the second occasion by Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria. It is B l8 THE LAND OF GILEAD. now owned chiefly by Sidonians. On the western slope is situated the village of Jedeideh. We did not enter it, but I think I should have made an effort to do so had I known the peculiar characteristic of the inhabitants. Let any man who knows enough of Arabic to be independent of a dragoman, and who wants a guide, apply to the inhabitants of Jedeideh. They are the carriers of the country ; and there ig no remote hamlet in Palestine, and scarcely an Arab encampment to the east of the Jordan, at any rate on this side of the Derb el Hadj, with which they are not familiar. We were perpetually meeting them trudging* behind their loaded mules, in parties of two or three, throughout our travels, and came at last to look upon " Jedeideh men " as a link with civilisation. Skirting the southern edge of the Merj Ayun, we passed out of it at the Druse village of Metulleh. This, with the exception of two on Mount Carmel, is the most southerly settlement of the Druses, and was the scene a few years ago of a tragedy in which thirty persons were massacred, under circumstances not very creditable to the Government who, it appears, feared at the time a Druse rising. The sheikh who was supposed to be the dangerous person, and whose capture was the object of the onslaught, however, effected his escape. At this point a new and most enchanting view burst upon us. At our feet lay the plain of the VIEW OF THE HU LEH. 1 9 Huleh, looking far more fertile and productive than it really is, as much of it is marsh and waste land, that might, however, easily be reclaimed. But sur- rounded as it is with a girdle of noble mountains, with the blue and tranquil waters of Merom gleam- ing in the midst of a setting of richest green, and the Jordan winding away in the distance, as seen from the hills to the north, it is without doubt one of the most attractive views in Palestine. One can hardly wonder at the men of Dan, when they came upon it, being fascinated by the luxuriance of the landscape and its charm of position, and then and there deciding to oust the existing peasantry, and occupy as much of it themselves as had not been already appropriated by the tribe of Naphtali. I felt a longing to imitate their example ; for there can be no question that if, instead of advancing upon it with six hundred men, and taking it by force, after the manner of the Danites, one approached it in the modern style of a joint-stock company (limited), and recompensed the present owners, keeping them as labourers, a most profitable speculation might be made out of the " Ard el Huleh." The lake itself, which was first sounded and surveyed by Mr M'Gregor in the Rob Roy canoe, has an average depth of only eleven feet, and is four miles long by three and a half wide. It might, together with the marshy plain above it, be easily drained ; and a magnificent tract of country, nearly twenty miles 20 THE LAND OF GILEAD. long by from five to six miles in width, abundantly watered by the upper affluents of the Jordan, might thus be brought into cultivation. It is only now occupied by some wandering Bedouins and the peas- ants of a few scattered villages on its margin. At present it is unhealthy, and at certain seasons of the year fever-stricken ; but there can be no doubt that, with drainage and cultivation, it might be made as salubrious as any other part of the country. It would be on by far the most desirable line of railway from Damascus to the coast, and lies itself at an elevation of about 270 feet above the level of the sea. A railway from here to Haifa, by way of Tiberias and the plain of Esdraelon, might be constructed at a com- paratively small cost, as it is almost a dead level the whole way ; while the continuation to Damascus would only involve one engineering difficulty that of carrying it from the plain of the Huleh to the plateau above Banias. The line, however, has re- cently been carefully surveyed by Mr Charles Austin, C.E., who considers it a very practicable route for a railway. There is, Indeed, none other which can be compared with this for connecting the capital of Syria and the grain-producing region of the Hauran with Haifa or Acre, which is the present port of export. The greater part of the plain of Huleh is at the disposal of the Government, and the remainder could be obtained at a price far below its real value. Any railway company obtaining and reclaiming this "THE MEADOW ON THE WATERS." 21 tract would be in possession of a property, after the railway was made, which would go far towards cover- ing the original cost of the line. Descending from Metulleh, we left the Christian village of Abil about a mile to our right. This was Abel of Beth-maachah, where Sheba was over- taken by Joab (2 Sam. xx. 14, 15), and the city was saved by the intervention of a wise woman, who pacified the besieger by throwing the head of his enemy to him over the wall. The inhabitants of the city in those days were so celebrated for their wisdom, that the saying, " Thou shalt surely ask counsel at Abel," had passed into a proverb. It is doubtless identical with the Abel-maim, or " the meadow on the waters," mentioned in 2 Chron. xvi. 4, as having suffered from the raids of the Syrian and Assyrian kings, and was a place of such im- portance that it was styled "a city and a mother in Israel." We now made for the bridge of El Ghajar, which crosses the Hasbany, the northern tributary, and by some considered the chief source of the Jordan. My friend knew the country so well that, although we had no guide, we ventured on short cuts, and soon found ourselves in a Bedouin encampment, which we came upon unexpectedly, as it was concealed in a hollow. The country here was somewhat rough and uncultivated, and is used by the Arabs as grazing- ground for their sheep and camels. Buffalo are also 22 THE LAND OF GILEAD. largely used in the plain of the Huleh for agricultural purposes. We found these Arabs, who are of the Ghawarini tribe, perfectly good-natured and peaceable, though they bear a somewhat doubtful reputation ; and in the case of Mr M'Gregor, of Rob Roy celeb- rity, and more recently of an American lady and gentleman, whom they plundered in this immediate vicinity, they seem to have been unable to resist their lawless propensities. Crossing the Hasbany Jordan by the picturesque old bridge, we found our- selves in the territory of Dan, and in less than an hour after reached the Tel el Kadi, or mound which was the site of the ancient city of Dan. We rested under the shade of the magnificent tree which overhangs this source of the Jordan, and took a plunge and a swim in the fountain as it wells out of the earth with the volume of a full-grown stream. It was an interesting locality, as no doubt whatever hangs over its identity, and there is scarcely another spot in Palestine of equal antiquity of which the same can be said, for it dates far beyond the arrival of the children of Dan, with the idolatrous worship and somewhat irregular priesthood which they estab- lished here. We are informed that they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel. " Howbeit, the name of the city was Laish at the first : " but we find that, according to the Biblical chronology, it was called Dan five hundred years before this event ; for BANIAS. 23 we are told that when Abram heard of the capture of Lot, " he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan." Moses, too, from the top of Mount Pisgah, was shown "all the land of Gilead unto Dan," fifty years prior to the capture of Laish by the Danites, and the consequent change of name. The explanation of this apparent contradiction is probably to be found in the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was revised and partially rewritten after the establishment of the children of Israel in the Holy Land. We were now on the beaten track of the tourist and traveller from Jerusalem to Damascus, and put up for the night at Banias, a spot full of historical association, but which has been too often and elabo- rately described to need any ample notice here. The ancient Caesarea Philippi, it is supposed to have been the most northern point visited by Christ, and one in which He found Himself surrounded by the temples and shrines of an idolatrous worship most repulsive in its character ; for here were celebrated the rites sacred to the god Pan, from which the city took its name : and, to judge by the extensive remains which still exist, and the records of its great- ness and beauty, it must have been one of the most gorgeous centres of mythological superstition. The village, which seems almost buried among the ruins that surround it, is a poor squalid -looking place, 24 THE LAND OF GILEAD. built partially with the huge carved blocks of stone which once adorned the walls of temples or palaces, while fragments of columns or their capitals are abun- dantly strewn around. We were kindly received by the old Sheikh Ismail ; but unfortunately his hospi- tality was not limited to ourselves. First arrived a handsome Druse sheikh, apparently a great friend of our host's, for they embraced with great demonstra- tions of affection, and kissed each other on both cheeks. Then came a soldier, or rather a sub- ordinate officer, who had been at Plevna, and who showed us with pride two bullet-holes in his leg. Then arrived three visitors of distinction from a distant village ; and when night came we found, to our dismay, that they were all beginning to say their prayers and make their beds on the opposite side of the room we had fondly hoped had been placed exclusively at our disposal. Their idea of going to bed consisted simply of stretching them- selves on the floor, throwing off their outside gar- ment, and getting under a quilt ; and they watched with some interest our more elaborate arrangements. As for sleep, it proved out of the question : each one of the five either snored, or moaned, or puffed, or talked in his sleep ; and these noises, diversified with the incessant barking of dogs and a slight sprink- ling of fleas, kept me awake, and indeed to some extent occupied, until the first streak of dawn war- BAN IAS. 25 ranted me in waking my companion and rousing the household generally. An early start was the more necessary, for we were now about to dive into the wilderness beyond Jordan, and our information as to the number of hours it would take us to reach our night-quarters was somewhat vague. 26 CHAPTER II. AIN FIT AN ANSARIYEH VILLAGE THE SHEIKH's HOUSE HIS RETICENCE ORIGIN OF THE ANSARIYEH THE FOUNDER OF TttE SECT THEIR RELIGIOUS TENETS THEIR SOCIAL DIVI- SIONS MARRIAGE AND OTHER CEREMONIES JOURNEY TO KUNEITEREH A CIRCASSIAN COLONY KUNEITEREH MEDJ- LISS AT THE CAIMAKAm's PRESENT CONDITION AND PROS- PECTS OF THE CIRCASSIAN COLONISTS. As far as Banias we had required no guide. Captain Phibbs was so intimately acquainted with the country, that we had not only found our way here without difficulty, but had even made the rash experiment of a short cut successfully. Now, however, we were getting into country rarely visited by any traveller, in regard to which there were the usual exaggerated stories of marauding Bedouins, of the necessity of an escort, and so forth. Fortunately, we had no dragoman to invent impossible dangers for the pur- pose of sharing the black-mail afterwards with the Arab chief, who is put up to demanding it nor had we a long caravan of mules laden with tents and baggage, to tempt the needy nomade ; but we jogged humbly and unostentatiously behind a guide we AIN FIT. 27 picked up at Banias, who said he knew the way to Kuneitereh, followed by Hanna, our trusty cook, mounted on a bright little Arab, and the two mule- teers riding their lightly-loaded animals. We passed out of Banias by its southern gate a massive and . very handsome structure, on which is an Arabic inscription, though the walls are in fact very ancient and crossed the brook of the Wady Za'areh by a stone bridge, which is also partly ancient, and in the walls of which were several granite columns, and followed a path a little to the east of south, which gradually began to ascend the range which forms the eastern side of the Jordan valley. We here left the territory of Dan, and entered that of the half- tribe of Manasseh. After a gradual ascent of an hour, we reached the An- sariyeh village of Ain Fit. As this was the only opportunity we should have of seeing any of the members of this remarkable sect, who for the most part inhabit the little - known mountains between Tripoli and Antioch, we determined to make a short halt here, and try to make acquaintance with some of the inhabitants. The village was so unutterably squalid, that it was difficult to determine by any external indication which was the abode of the sheikh or leading man. The streets were narrow lanes winding between low mud-walls that enclosed small courtyards containing hovels which were gen- erally devoid of any apertures but a low door, and 28 THE LAND OF GILEAD. a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape. The women were, as usual, collected round the spring, and carrying water-jars ; the men were squatting in groups on their heels, where the lanes were wide enough to admit of their doing so, gossiping and staring vacantly at our cavalcade. They showed no inclination to be hospitable, and when we pulled up and dismounted, looked rather disgusted than otherwise. We forced our way, however, unabashed, into the courtyard that contained the two or three miserable huts which, we were informed, belonged to the sheikh ; and fastening our horses leaving them carefully watched, for the Ansariyeh are no- torious pilferers we almost forced the sheikh to appear and receive us, and invite us into his house. It consisted of a single windowless room, in which there was a small charcoal-fire and two threadbare carpets. In common decency, the sheikh was obliged to offer us coffee ; but as he seemed rarely to indulge in that luxury, it had to be first roasted, then pounded, and then made. This was a long opera- tion, and gave us the time we wanted to talk to him. As the Ansariyeh are prohibited by their religion from smoking, we could not return his civility by offering him tobacco. Two or three men of the village now came in, but suspicion and moroseness were the order of the day ; and it was not to be wondered at, considering the extreme con- tempt in which the Ansariyeh are held, both by Mo- AN ANSARIYEH VILLAGE. 29 hammedan and Christian, and the open manner in which the popular aversion is expressed. When we told our guide we wanted to stop in the village, he said, " What is the use of stopping among pigs, who don't fast, and don't pray, and have got no god ? " Perhaps, also, the reticence of our host may have been caused by the presence of a Bedouin and a Druse, who happened to be in the village when we arrived, and whose curiosity tempted them to follow us into the hut. Under these circumstances the sheikh, when he did speak, seemed more inclined to ask than to answer questions. The first inquiry he made was whether we had brought our harems with us. This might possibly have been with a view to trade, for the Ansariyeh have no idea of a woman except as a marketable animal without a soul, and their marriages are all distinct sales for money down, and not indirect ones, as they so often are with us. However, he said nothing to our reply in the negative, but seemed for some time lost in thought at the anomaly of men wander- ing about alone without women, so that it is im- possible to say what train of ideas prompted the question. Then he asked us if English soldiers were not on their way to Damascus. He said he had been told that they were expected to arrive there in a few days. We assured him that there was no truth in the statement ; but it was evidently one which others had heard as well as the sheikh, 30 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and several questions were put as to the probability of a British occupation of the country. The Druse seemed particularly interested, and the others re- marked of him, that they considered him an English- man. " Druses and English are the same as one," they said an observation which the Druse evidently regarded as a compliment, and seemed by his man- ner to wish to make it apparent that his relations to us were different from those of the others ; in fact, we felt rather patronised by him than otherwise. The sheikh told us that there were two other An- sariyeh villages in the immediate neighbourhood, and that the total population of the three amounted to about looo souls ; that they had been settled in this part of the country for about 800 years, and did not keep up much intercourse with their co- religionists in the north of Syria. The presence of the others made it very difficult to do more than talk generalities ; but under no circumstances would it have been possible to extract any information in regard to his religious belief, or even the social habits of the people. They are, if possible, more secret than the Druses in their mysticism, and to some extent profess Mohammedanism as a matter of convenience, and a cloak to conceal their real ctilte. Some say that the Ansariyeh spring from the Carmathians, a mystic sect, who, after the death, in 323 of the Hegira, of Abou Tahir, their last great THE ANSARIYEH. 3 1 chief, rapidly broke up, and soon ceased as a king- dom, the most fanatic of his followers taking refuge in the mountains now named after them ; others, that they are a remnant of some of the old Canaanitish races that fled before Israel in the days of Joshua. They themselves advance, in proof of this origin, the fact that the name of Canaan is still so common among them, and that they have their traditions concerning Samaria, narrating that the Samaritans had found a refuge among them. The name of a Jew is exceeding hateful to them; while, notwith- standing the fact that Christianity so soon found a footing in Antioch, it seems never to have pene- trated into the Ansariyeh mountains close by. There can be little doubt, from the difference of type that exists among them, that they are now of mixed race : they themselves have a tradition of an Eastern infusion, and I imagined that in the women's coun- tenances especially I saw indications of Tartar blood. This was very slight, and their features were for the most part regular and Grecian, clearly distinguish- able from the natives of the country. Some, how- ever, in their northern mountains, are said to have negro features, and crisp, curly hair ; but I did not see any specimens of these. The Ansariyeh, according to Gregory, surnamed Bar Hebraeus, and called in Arabic Abulfaradj, take their name from an old man who appeared in the year of the Hegira 270 (a.d. 891), in the region of 32 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Akab (which Assemani, in his ' Bibliotheca OrientaHs,' considers identical with Kufa), in a village which the inhabitants call Nazaria. This old man, called Nusair, probably after the village, appears to have been the son of a slave of AH, the son of Abou Taleb. His son, Abou Shuaib, was the first great apostle, and was a pupil of Hassan il Askere, the father of the last Imaum, and the chief authority of the sect. Nusair himself declared he had seen Christ in a vision, and the formula in which he announces it runs as follows:^ "I, such an one, commonly believed to be the son of Othman of the town of Nazaria, saw Christ, who is Jesus, who is also the Word, and the Director, and Ahmed the son of Mohammed, the son of Hemaphia, of the sons of Ali, the same also is the angel Gabriel ; and he said to me, * Thou art the Reader, thou art the Truth. Thou art the Camel that retainest anofer against the infidels. Thou art the Heifer bearing the yoke of the believers. Thou art the Spirit. Thou art John, the son of Zacharias. Preach, therefore, to men that they kneel four times in their prayers twice before sunrise, twice after sunset toward Jerusalem, saying each time these three verses : God is sublime above all God is high above all God is the greatest of all. On the second and sixth festival let no man do any work ; let them fast two days every year; let them abstain from Moham- 1 Wortabet's Researches into the Religions of Syria. FOUNDER OF THE ANSARIYEH. 33 medan ablution; let them not drink strong drink, but of wine as much as they please ; let them not eat of the flesh of wild beasts.' Nazar then went to Palestine, where he infected the simple and rustic people with his absurd doctrines. Then departing, he hid himself; nor is his place known to this day." According to William of Tyre, he was imprisoned for spreading these doctrines ; escaped, and attributed his escape to miraculous agency ; chose twelve dis- ciples, abolished circumcision and the observance of the Ramadan, and finally founded the mystical sect now called after him. Assemani gives the following account of this miraculous escape : The Governor of Kufa, hearing of his doctrines, " commanded to apprehend him ; and having cast him into a dun- geon in his own house, swore that on the following morning he would have him crucified. On the same night the governor, going to bed half intoxicated with wine, placed the key of the dungeon under his pillow : a maid of the household perceiving this, when he was fast asleep withdrew the key ; and pitying this old man given to fasting and prayer, opened the dungeon, set him at liberty, and then re- stored the key to its former place. The governor, going in the morning to the dungeon, and opening it with the same key, and finding no person, imagined the culprit to have been miraculously removed ; and as the maid, through fear, kept silence as to what she had done, the report spread abroad that the old man G 34 THE LAND OF GILEAD. had escaped from prison while the doors were shut. A short time after, having found two of his disciples in a distant country, he contrived to persuade them that he had been delivered by angels from the prison and conveyed to a desert place." I am indebted to Captain Phibbs, who had travelled over the northern part of Syria, and gained much information about the Ansariyeh, for the following particulars, none of which seem to have come to the knowledge of Mr Walpole, who, in his book on * The Ansariyeh,' published in 1 851, gives us absolutely no information in regard to their peculiar manners and customs, and the mysteries of their faith, though he seems to have spent some time among them, and professes to have penetrated all the secrets of their religion. Captain Phibbs was kind enough to place at my disposal his translation of an Arabic pamphlet by a native author, who apparently had exceptional means of becoming acquainted with the Ansariyeh belief. From this it would appear that the Ansariyeh are divided into four tribes : the Kelaziat, who worship the moon ; the Shemaliat, or Northerns, who worship the host of heaven ; the Ribyiat, who worship the air (evi- dently from a word meaning to know secret things or hidden mysteries) ; and the Mouwachesat, who worship the dawn. They all believe in the divinity of Ali, the son of Abou Taleb, and to him ascribe all the attributes of the Godhead. They also accept the doctrine of metempsychosis. Their religion fur- TENETS OF THE ANSARIYEH. 35 ther consists in a knowledge of the mystery of A. M. S., the initial letters for Ali- Mohammed- Suleiman (the Persian), the same who is honoured by the Druses. These three are further called ** the Meaning," " the Name," and " the Door," ?>., Ali, All in All (the Meaning), was manifested in Moham- med (the Name), and made known by Suleiman (the Door). According to the tribe who worship the dawn, the sun is Ali ; according to the Kela- ziat, he is the moon. All the incarnations who have appeared on earth at various times have been different manifestations of the mystic Trinity. Previously, the Ansariyeh lived in the Milky Way in the heavens, but failing in their adoration to Ali, were cast down to the earth. All their energies are now turned to getting back again there, and their ideas of the future life seem to have much in com- mon with modern spiritualists. In fact, it would seem that the initiated are somewhat given to mediumship. Among them, as among the Druses, there are two classes the initiated and the un- initiated. A service in which wine is drunk, and also poured on the ground, takes place on the initiation of a new member. Unlike the Druses, however, where women are constantly allowed to take the highest grade, women among the Ansariyeh are never admitted to religious meetings, though certain ceremonies in which they must of necessity bear a very important part, take place. These are 36 THE LAND OF GILEAD. symbolical of the origin of man, and the productive powers of nature, which are highly honoured and considered sacred among them. In this they have much that was common to the Gnostics of the early Church, and, indeed, we are carried back by it to the earliest worship of which we have any record in this country' that of Baal and Ashtaroth. Their relig- ious meetings take place in secret, at sacred tombs called Mazars, and are shrouded in mystery false- hood and deception towards the outer world being inculcated and practised, so that, if circumstances require it, any other religion may for the time being be outwardly professed by them. Should any of their number divulge their mysteries, it is certain that he would be assassinated ; and from this fact probably arises the name which has been popularly but erroneously bestowed upon them, of Assassins, which more properly belongs to the Ismailians or Hashishins, to whom, however, they are closely allied. That they are, in fact, an offshoot from the Druse sect, may be gathered from the following citation from the Druse Catechism : " How have the Ansariyeh separated themselves from the Unitarians [Druses], and abandoned the Unitarian religion ? " They have separated themselves in following the teaching of Nusair, who said he was the ser- vant of our Lord, the Prince of true believers, who denied the divinity of one Lord Hakim, and made TENETS OF THE ANSARIYEH. 37 profession of believing in the divinity of Ali, son of Abou Taleb." The Ansariyeh celebrate the Christian rite of sacrament, as will appear from the following quo- tation from their Catechism : " Q. What is the great mystery of God ? " A. The flesh and the blood, of which Jesus has said, This is my flesh and my blood ; eat and drink thereof, for it is eternal life. " Q- What is the mystery of the faith of the Unitarians? What is the secret of secrets, and chief article of the true believers ? ''A. It is the veiling of our Lord in light that is in the eye of the Sun, and His manifestation in His servant, Abd in Noor."^ The sheikhs among the Ansariyeh are equal In number almost to the Fellaheen or peasants, and play somewhat the same role as the Ukkuls among the Druses. They instruct the people in their re- ligion, and preserve them from harm by providing ^ Since the above was in type I have had an opportunity of con- sulting the very interesting and elaborate account given of the Ansariyeh and their religion by the late Rev. Mr Lyde, who resided for some time among them in their northern mountains (' The Asian Mystery,' by the Rev. Samuel Lyde). This is the best, and indeed only, analysis of their tenets which, so far as I am aware, has ever been given to the public, and in the main confirms the information furnished me by Captain Phibbs. The close connection which exists between the Ansariyeh and Druse religions is made very evident, and there can be no doubt that the esoteric character of both conceals a far higher theological system than is apparent to the uninitiated inquirer. 38 THE LAND OF GILEAD. amulets and charms on which a verse of the Koran is written " There is no power and strength but in God the most High, the Almighty. O Ali, the all- powerful One!" They are supposed to have the power of curing diseases and madness, and are sup- ported by lands set apart in a manner similar to the Wakouf lands among the orthodox Moslems. Woe to any unfortunate peasant who does not bestow due honour upon them, or who should consult a physician without previously obtaining their permission : should he even speak a word against them, his life would be in danger. The sheikhs are distinguished by a white turban worn round their tarboosh, and called a shasha. The second class is called the Mukkadameen. To them belong the rest of the land that is not set apart as Wakouf, and they exercise the chief authority forests, lands, and houses all being under their con- trol. They take all the produce, the peasant being barely allowed enough to keep body and soul to- gether. They are invariably the perpetrators of all murders and highway robberies, or else share a part of the plunder ; and in the event of the Government following up a thief or murderer, they afford him protection, and facilitate his escape if necessary. The Mukkadameen wear a tarboosh with a long, broad, and heavy tassel, a wide waist-belt of silk, and are never without arms of some sort. The third class are the Fellaheen. They are no better than the slaves of the sheikhs and Mukkada- ANSARIYEH CUSTOMS. 39 meen, all the fruit of their labours being taken from them, so that in many instances they are barely clothed, and subsist on roots and wild herbs, at best their heads are covered with a felt skull-cap, and their bodies with a long cotton shirt as their only garment, with a belt round the waist, of wool, hair, or leather. This, too, is the only dress of the peas- ant women, though among those we saw at Ain Fit some were clothed in long dresses of bright colours, and seemed tolerably well off. Their position soci- ally, however, is degraded in the extreme, and it is said there is no race in the world by whom the women are worse treated than by the Ansariyeh. On the birth of a female child, it is put aside in a corner of the house in a wicker-basket, and covered with a torn cloth, and there left unclothed, without nourishment, exposed, it may be, to the cold wind. Those who survive this treatment are naturally of a strong constitution, and capable of supporting the fatigue and privation they have to undergo for the rest of their lives. At an early age they are sent to carry water from the fountain, and take the goats out to pasture, or bring in a load of firewood. Curses and blows are all that a girl receives from her father and brothers ; and this treatment continues till she is sought for as a wife, when she is sold for a sum varying from five to fifty pounds. No religious ser- vice takes place at marriage. The purchase-money having been paid, the bride is brought to the bride- 40 THE LAND OF GILEAD. groom's house by her family and friends. He with his friends await her approach, and mounting the roof of the house as the bride enters the doorway, he strikes her two blows, one on the right side, and the other on the left, as a foretaste of what she is to expect if disobedient, and as a proof of her being under his subjection. If the marriage takes place among the peasants, a tenth of the money paid by the bridegroom goes to the chief or Mukkadam of the district : even should the marriage take place at a distance, the money has still to be paid to the Mukkadam of the district where the bride was born. No woman can inherit anything in the way of land, money, or goods on the death of her husband or any relative. She is looked upon merely as a means of production, and for service in the house. It is not lawful to instruct her in religion, excepting in one short prayer, the words of which convey no meaning : for the An- sariyeh say that woman is of the seed of Satan the accursed, the enemy of God, and to reveal to her the secret of their faith would be the same as to reveal it to Satan ; and any man among them who attempts to instruct a woman is considered an arch-enemy and opponent of the Almighty. Burial takes place immediately on decease, at times even before the body has ceased to breathe. Bread is then broken and eaten over the new-made grave ; and seven days afterwards, the nearest relation of the * ANSARIYEH CUSTOMS. 4I deceased has to provide a feast for all comers. If too poor, his relatives and neighbours assist with provisions, and much firing of guns and beating of drums goes on. As the soul is supposed to leave the body by the mouth, that is kept open with great care ; and in case of criminals in the hands of the authorities, sentenced to be hung, their friends have been known to beg as a great favour that they might be impaled instead. In the event of lawsuits, they never appeal to the Government, but invariably settle them among them- selves an appeal to the Mukkadam or chief being final ; but that being costly, they prefer calling in arbitrators among themselves. The Ansariyeh are lazy and talkative, excepting about matters concerning their faith, indiscretion in regard to which they visit with severe punishment as in the case of Soloman the Adanite, author of the work on their religion, after he became a Protestant, who, having imprudently ventured to return to the neighbourhood of his own town, Adana, speedily came to an untimely end. Every sort of subterfuge is resorted to by the Ansariyeh to avoid the conscription, in which they in a great measure succeed, through bribes given to the returning officer. In their own mountains, the different tribes and villages are constantly fighting among themselves ; and these quarrels involve a great destruction of 42 THE LAND OF GILEAD. crops and other property, thus increasing the gen- eral misery and poverty which characterise the race. Their total number is estimated at 200,000 souls. It is worthy of notice that, in the year a.d. 1128, the castle and town of Banias, and the surrounding country, fell into the hands of the Jcindred sect of Ismailians or Assassins, as the Ansariyeh are often also called, and became the centre of their power in Syria, until they transferred it, twelve years later, to Massiat. At this time they entered into an alliance with the Crusaders, under Rainier de Brus, for the capture of Damascus, during which Ismail, the Grand Prior of the Assassins, handed the castle of Banias over to the Christian knight retaking it three years later, however, when Rainier de Brus with his sol- diery lay before Joppa with the King of Jerusalem. What amount of fusion existed at that date between the Ismailians and the Ansariyeh it is difficult to determine, but it is a singular circumstance that, according to the tradition which we received from the sheikh of Ain Fit, they had occupied these vil- lages 800 years ; and it is not, therefore, impossible that they were the remnant of the Assassins with whom Rainier de Brus made the unholy compact which resulted in such dire disaster to the Crusaders, on the occasion of their attempt to capture Damascus. One of the other Ansariyeh villages was quite close to Ain Fit, perched just above It, and both were surrounded by fairly cultivated fields and gar- RUINS OF SUBEIBEH. 43 dens. As we ascended above them, we found our- selves amongst scrub oak, and looked back over the plain of the Huleh, with the village of Banias at our feet, and the majestic ruins of the huge old castle of Subeibeh crowning a conical hill. Originally, doubt- less, a stronghold of the Phoenicians, it became in turn a fortress of the Ismailians and the Crusaders, and is the most massive and complete ruin of the kind in Syria. Above all towered snow-clad Hermon. Be- yond the Huleh, the mountains of Galilee closed the prospect, with Jebel Jermak in the distance. The ruins of the crusading castle of Hunin were visible on the opposing ridge, and away to the right the fortress of Belfort reared its lofty walls on the cliff above the Litany. In old days it was said that who- ever held the castles of Banias, Hunin, Belfort, and Tibnin, was master of the whole country. From our present position Tibnin was the only one not visible ; but it was easy to see how completely the fertile plains at our feet were at the mercy of the garrisons of these formidable strongholds, and how difficult they would be of invasion by a foreign enemy. There were traces of an old Roman road which must have connected Banias or, as it was then called, Paneas with the cities of the Jaulanitis, the district we were now entering ; and I observed sev- eral old cisterns of considerable size, some of the masonry of which was still intact. At last we reached the summit of the ridge, where 44 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the woods of Valonia oak gave way to grassy plains ; and in the distance, not far to the right, we observed the principal encampment of the Fudl Arabs an important tribe, numbering 2000 fighting men, who make these their grazing-grounds, and are celebrated for their prowess in war. We were now at an elevation of about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and on our right was a range of conical basaltic peaks averaging from 500 to 1000 feet in height, running in a due north and south direction, and known as the Jebel Hesh. Some of these are wooded on their western slopes with prickly oak and terebinth, and others are high conical grassy mounds. Altogether, the country presented an entirely dif- ferent character from that to the west of the Jordan. At some distance on our left were the lower spurs of Hermon, which finally flatten out into this elevat- ed grass plateau. With the exception of the Arab encampment, we saw no people or habitations for about four hours after leaving the Ansariyeh village ; then we came upon a number of camels grazing, with camel-cloths to protect them from the cold, and looking altogether very different animals from the miserable specimens we had seen at Nabatiyeh, the half-starved property of the Metawaly. The herds- man in charge of these told us that we were close to a settlement of Circassian emigrants ; and shortly after, we found ourselves in the midst of a scene of an altogether novel character. About 300 Circassians CIRCASSIAN COLONISTS. 45 were busily engaged in the first stage of building a village for themselves. They had chosen a site which had evidently been that of a town at some former time, for large square blocks of stone were abundant. Those who had not succeeded in getting a roof over their heads were temporarily sheltered by roughly improvised tents, and all were hard at work making a new home for themselves. They were a fraction of a large importation from Bulgaria, now at Kuneitereh, and most of them came from the neighbourhood of Widdin. In fact, it is not improbable that many of them took some share in the "atrocities." They were quite amiable so far as we were concerned, but were too busy to bestow very much attention upon us, and their residence in Bulgaria had accustomed them to the sight of specimens of Western civilisation, so that we were no novelty. The women and children were hoeing and weeding in the newly-made gardens. The men were either hauling stone in creaking arabas drawn by bullocks a sight which must have been altogether new to the neighbouring Bedouins, who had never seen a wheeled vehicle in their lives or were building the walls of the houses. They were under the management of a chief, who was too busily engaged in a discussion with an Arab to honour us with much of his notice, so we sat under a half- built wall to discuss our luncheon, and look on at this interesting experiment in colonisation. We rode for an hour more over the vast plain 46 THE LAND OF GILEAD. before we arrived at Kuneitereh, and were passed on the way by a most picturesque Bedouin sheikh with poised lance, and kttfeiheh streaming in the wind, as he urged his thorough-bred Httle Arab to his full speed. He was bound to our destination, and we pulled up shortly after him at the door of the massive stone building which formed the resi- dence of the Caimakam ; for Kuneitereh, though a wretched collection of stone huts, is the chef lieu of a district, and derived additional importance from the Circassian immigration, of which it was the head- quarters. It stands in the centre of a grassy plain or steppe, on which no trees are visible, but which is sufficiently well watered to be capable of sustaining a large population. Burckhardt describes Kunei- tereh in his day as being surrounded by a strong wall, containing within its circuit a good khan and a fine mosque, with several short columns of grey granite. Within the last sixty years the wall, the khan, and the mosque have all disappeared, and the place has been abandoned until a few months before our arrival, when 3000 Circassians arrived to people it. On the north side of the village are the remains of an ancient city perhaps Canatha but the ruins consist of little more than foundations. The Caima- kam's house had been recently built, and contained all the Government offices, such as they were. The lower storey was inhabited by horses and Circas- sians, who all camped together in one spacious sort KUNEITEREH. 47 of cellar. The upper was approached from without by a flight of stone steps, leading to a terrace, upon which opened the various rooms. These were dark and dirty, and innocent of any furniture excepting mats and quilts, with now and then a very untempt- ing bed. The Caimakam was a small, sinister-look- ing Turk, rather of the old school ; but he received us with great cordiality, and insisted upon our taking the seats of honour by his side while he presided over the Medjliss which was sitting at the time. The occasion was a most interesting one, and I was glad of the opportunity of seeing the administra- tive system in operation under such peculiar circum- stances. Occupying by virtue of his rank the highest place, was the celebrated chief Hassan Faour, Emir of the Fudl, a very handsome man of between fifty and sixty years of age, with a Jewish type of coun- tenance, and great dignity of manner. Next to him came the Sheikh Mousa, the chief of a tribe of Tur- coman Arabs who have found their way, at some former period, from their Eastern home, probably in the neighbourhood of the Caspian, to the eastern bank of the Jordan. I was sorry I had no oppor- tunity of finding out from the sheikh something of the history of his tribe. He was a man with a very intelligent expression of countenance, and delicate and pleasing features, and rules over a thousand fighting men. Though he spoke Arabic, the tribe retains its own dialect of Turkish. Then came in, 48 THE LAND OF GILEAD. with no small swagger, the Arab who had galloped past us half an hour before, and who turned out to be no less a person than Sheikh Awad al Ahmed, the sheikh of the Naim, the most celebrated among all the Arabs of this region for his valour in the field, and who rules over 4000 fighting men. There were two or three other Arab chiefs of minor importance, and opposite to them on our other side sat a group of Druses with their sheikh, who came from the village of Mejdel es Shems to protest to the local Medjliss against a requisition of charcoal which had been levied upon the Druse population of Mejdel es Shems by the governor or Mutessarif of the pro- vince, resident at Sheikh Sa'ad. There seemed to be a good deal of sympathy manifested with the Druses, but politeness did not warrant our staying to the end of the discussion, so I don't know how it ter- minated ; (but the fact that three or four Arab chiefs should leave their tents to come and take part in a council presided over by a Turkish official, to en- tertain a grievance of Druse peasantry against the governor of the province, was significant in many ways. It is a distinct Indication of a sedentary ten- dency on the part of the Arabs, and of their re- cognition of the advantages of a settled system of government. It is evident that when the chiefs of the tribes become members of the local councils for administering the country, they are to a great extent pledged to good behaviour, while it must add very THE CIRCASSIAN COLONISTS. 49 considerably to their sense of personal importance to exercise functions which invest them with the char- acter of referees or arbitrators in matters of dispute between the governor of a province and the Druses. They regarded us with an interest which we fully returned, and made sundry little complimentary speeches during pauses in the discussion. Then, under the guidance of the Caimakam's secretary, we went off to inspect our sleeping accommodation, which turned out to be none other than the bedroom of that functionary himself, which he vacated for us. The day was yet young, so we went out to in- vestigate the village and its Circassian occupants, for there was no native population apart from these. We paid a visit to Ismail Agha, their head man, and found him a most pleasing and intelligent person. When he found that I had not only been in Circassia, but actually knew his native valley, he became quite demonstrative in his expressions of goodwill, and I only regretted that my Turkish was so limited that the interchange of ideas was attended with difficulty. He had been six years a prisoner with the Russians, and spoke Russian fluently. He also spoke Turkish, Circassian of course, and a little Arabic. He de- lighted to talk of his native mountains, but spoke sadly of his expatriation and the fate of his country- men, allowed no rest, but ejected in a wholesale manner, first from Russia to European Turkey, and now from Bulgaria to Syria. The Circassians have D 50 THE LAND OF GILEAD. such an evil reputation, that to undertake their de- fence, even with the Turks, is an ungrateful task ; but I know few races who possess such noble quali- ties, though they have been subjected to experiences which have tried them beyond their power of endur- ance. It is probable, if a few Highland clans had been dotted about the southern counties of England a hundred and fifty years ago, and told to provide for themselves, that their former habits of life, com- bined with the absence of any sufficient means of subsistence provided for them by Government, would have resulted in their taking what did not belong to them. The chronic condition of warfare in which the Circassians had always lived, engaged in a lifelong struggle for independence against an overpowering enemy, developed in them sanguinary instincts, to which, in fact, they owe their successful resistance during so many years ; while the methods by which the Russians conducted the war were precisely those which they were themselves accused of using in Bulgaria. The severity of the order of the Russian general commanding in Circassia, immediately prior to the Crimean war, is matter of history; and the people could not therefore know the extent to which they were outraging civilised instincts by following the example of their Christian enemies. There can be no doubt that the exasperation following their con- quest and expatriation, their extreme poverty and THE CIRCASSIAN COLONISTS. 5 1 distress, and the close contact Into which they were brought in Bulgaria with people of the same race and religion as their hated and traditional foes, proved a combination of influences more powerful than a high-spirited and almost totally uncivilised people could resist; but they are capable of the strongest personal attachments, and of the most generous and chivalrous instincts. If their ideas as to the value of life and the sacredness of pro- perty differ in degree from those of Europe, it is not because by nature they are greater murderers and plunderers than other people, but because they have lived under circumstances which made mur- der and robbery the necessary conditions to their existence. Ismael Agha said that there were altogether about 3000 Circassians in Kuneitereh and its vicinity, who, although they had only been there a few months, were already establishing themselves in comparative comfort. They were grouped in seven villages, all of which they had themselves built, and had brought enough property with them to purchase a few cattle, so that they were not in absolute want, though some of them were very poor. The Government was still supplying scantily the necessities of those who needed it ; but it is evident that a Government whose resources are not sufficient to buy food for its own army, cannot do much to feed scores of thousands of Circassian and Moslem refugees from all parts of 52 THE LAND OF GILEAD. European Turkey. The chief expressed himself toler- ably well satisfied with his new location. In the first place, there were no neighbours, and there was there- fore no temptation to plunder. In the whole district of Jaulan, which, it is said, once contained three hundred villages, only ten now remain, and these afforded no great stimulus to predatory propensities ; the others had all been abandoned in consequence of Arab raids. The presence of the Circassians did not, therefore, inspire the inhabitants, accustomed to live in terror of the Arabs, with any additional feel- ing of insecurity, but rather the contrary. The Cir- cassians, being a sedentary people, and having pi'o- perty to protect, might be expected to make common cause with them against the Arabs. These latter were, however, being rapidly reduced to order ; and, indeed, the tribes most feared were not those inhabit- ing the Jaulan, but those which made incursions into this rich pastoral country from the eastern deserts. As it is, this region could sustain ten times its pres- ent population ; and in ancient days, when it con- tained, according to Porter, 127 cities, the sites of many of which still remain, the population must have been comparatively dense. There should be no reason therefore, why, if the Circassians are left undisturbed, they should not prosper. Unfortu- nately, they are so much more accustomed to fight than to work, that some time will probably elapse before they acquire habits of industry; while they THE CIRCASSIAN COLONISTS. 53 Still, to a certain extent, regard their daughters as a legitimate source of revenue. Neither parents nor children have any objection to marriage or servitude under these conditions ; and there can be no doubt that the fact that they are always able to dispose of their children to wealthy Turks, has pro- vided them with a means of averting the pressure of famine by reducing their families, and obtaining money for those who were left. At the same time, it is a great question whether, considering the diffi- culties with which they have to contend, their natural improvidence and idleness, and the great dispropor- tion of male to female children, in consequence of the sale of the latter, the race is likely to exist much longer as a distinct people. We wandered afterwards through the village, con- sisting of about a hundred small stone huts ; and everywhere the Circassians whom we met seemed kindly disposed, and ever ready to gossip. Even though their costume was generally more or less in rags, there is a chic about it which remained among the tatters. Their bearing was as proud and independent as if the magazines they carry on their breasts were still supplied with ammunition as if their girdles were still garnished with the hand- some daggers of old, now long since sold for bread, and the rifle with its hairy cover was still swinging at their backs. Their small feet, once cased in the neatest of red leather buskins, were now often bare. 54 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and their head-gear improvised ; but none would ever condescend to wear the red fez. Yet, with all this, their swagger was undiminished. Their fair complexions, blue eyes, and red beards, seemed to establish a sort of kinship with our own race ; and in the manly and somewhat defiant expression of their handsome faces, it was impossible not to feel that there was something sympathetic. We had a discussion afterwards with the Caima- kam's secretary as to the relative prowess in war of Druses, Circassians, and Bedouins. He gave the palm decidedly to the latter, and placed the Circas- sians last. I should have thought that between Druses and Circassians it would have been hard to choose, but that either race would prove more than a match for the same number of Bedouins. I am aware that Circassians do not, as a rule, distinguish themselves as an irregular force attached to a regular army, and my own personal observations during a campaign with the Turkish army in the Caucasus in 1855 were entirely to this effect; but they are under no discipline, and are never supplied with rations. They naturally, under these circumstances, do not think of anything but plunder, and they trust to the army to do the fighting, in which, when their own homesteads are not in question, they do not feel especially interested. But they have performed feats of valour in the guerilla warfare of their own moun- tains which equal anything in the history of the Highlands of Scotland or of the Alps. 55 CHAPTER III. JAULAN JEDUR THE LEJAH ITS IMPREGNABILITY AND STRA- TEGICAL IMPORTANCE WE LOSE OUR WAY ASCENT OF TEL EL FARIS MAGNIFICENT VIEW FIK, THE ANCIENT APHEK AND HIPPOS THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST, AND END OF THE WORLD, ACCORDING TO THE KORAN TSEIL THE MON- ASTERY AND TOMB OF JOB THE LAND OF VZ THE WORSHIP OF BAAL AND ASHERAH THE SITES OF ASHTAROTH AND ASHTAROTH CARNAIM. Jaulan takes its name from the Golan of Scripture its chief city in early days in regard to which we are informed that ** unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer.'* The site of the city has never been satisfactorily identified : the district of which it was the centre formed part of Perea, and belonged at the time of Christ to the tetrarchy of Philip, the brother of Herod. The remaining cities of Jaulan of which we have any record were Hippos, Gamala, Bethsaida, Seleucia, and Sogane. Of these, only Gamala and Bethsaida have been identified. The province ex- tends southwards as far as the Yarmuk or Sheriat 56 THE LAND OF GILEAD. EI Mandur, the ancient Hieromax, and was one of the old divisions of the land of Bashan, the other three being Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Batanea. Intervening between Jaulan and the volcanic re- gion of Trachonitis, and running south - eastwards from Kuneitereh and the eastern slopes of Hermon, is the district of Jedur. It takes its name from Jetur, the son of Ishmael, and was subsequently- known as Ituraea. Standing on the terrace of the Caimakam's house, we looked over the plains upon which " the sons of Reuben, and the Gadltes, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, forty and four thousand seven hundred and threescore, made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab," and took as spoils 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, 2000 asses, and 100,000 men a booty which con- veys some idea of the material wealth of the country and its population in those days. The last^ conflict which took place on the bor- ders of Itursea was one of a very different nature. About thirty miles distant from Kuneitereh, and intervening between the plain of Itursea and the mountains of Bashan or Jebel Druse, lies that remarkable bed of black basalt called by the Ro- mans Trachonitis, which some believe to be the Argob of the Bible though that is by no means satisfactorily established and nowadays known as THE LEJAH. 57 the Lejah. Elevated about twenty feet above the plain, it is a labyrinth of clefts and crevasses in the rock, formed by volcanic action ; and owing to its im- penetrable condition, it has become a place of refuge for outlaws and turbulent characters, who make it a sort of cave of Adullam. The Government of the Porte is unable to exercise any authority here, and its inhabitants know no law but their own. A large proportion of these are Druses, who use the place as a stronghold to resist the conscription, or any exactions of the Turkish Government to which they object. It is, in fact, an impregnable natural fortress, about twenty miles in length by fifteen in breadth ; and when Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt held this country in 1835, he determined to bring it into subjection. Its garrison consisted of 800 Druses. The Egyptian army surrounded the Lejah, and occasionally succeeded in penetrating a short way into it; but after a siege of eleven months, dur- ing which Ibrahim Pasha lost 25,000 men, he was compelled to draw off his troops and acknowledge himself vanquished by the invincible 800. Some years afterwards, Mehemet Kuprisli Pasha attempted to enforce the conscription on the Druses of the Lejah with an army of 1 3,000 men, but was resisted by between 400 and 500 Druses at the south-west angle, and compelled to retire with a great loss of men and some cannon. Since our visit to this neigh- bourhood, Midhat Pasha has become involved in a 58 THE LAND OF GILEAD. dispute with the Druses of the Lejah, against whom he sent a force of 5000 men. The matter was only arranged after a sharp fight in which 300 men were killed and wounded, when a compromise was effected, through the mediation of the chief Druse chiefs of the Lebanon ; and I see that the Turkish Govern- ment have recently had the good sense to select a Druse sheikh to be appointed the local Caimakam, instead of, as heretofore, a Turk, often ignorant of the language, and of the peculiar conditions with which he had to deal. It would be a great im- provement in the administration if prominent men of the locality were more often appointed local au- thorities, instead of corrupt and ignorant function- aries being sent from Constantinople. The import- ance of the Lejah as a strategical point, and of the Druses as its defenders in case of an invasion from the north-east, should not be overlooked. We now proposed to traverse the plains of Jaulan, for the purpose of inspecting their pastoral resources, and exploring a tract of which no very definite account exists. As a guide, the Caimakam gave us a Kurdish zaptieh, who was supposed to know the way to Sheikh Sa'ad, which was our objective point. The sun rose brilliantly on the morning of our start, but an ominous bank of clouds resting just above the horizon, warned us that its splendour was likely to be of short duration ; and we had A MARCH IN MIST. 59 scarcely got under way when a driving mist swept down upon us, and almost induced us to abandon our journey for the day. Our first glimpse of the sun, however, gave us confidence in its power ultimately to disperse the clouds, and we pressed on. To the right, the grassy conical hill of Tultil Surnam rose to a height of 600 or 700 feet above the plain ; and skirting its base, we reached in about an hour an embryo Circassian village, the most southerly of the seven. A biting cold wind whistled down upon us from the snows of Hermon, and there was a slight suspicion of hoar-frost on the ground. So far, the path had been well worn and easy to find ; but after leaving the Circassian village, the fog thickened, and the path diminished in size, until at last we lost it altogether, and wan- dered helplessly in the mist. Luckily the country was flat and open, so that there was nothing to pre- vent our going in any direction we liked, and we were enabled to make some use of our compass ; but it was a great disappointment to find ourselves traversing an entirely new country without being able to see anything of it beyond a radius of fifty yards. That we were often wading knee - deep in the most luxuriant herbage, that we frequently crossed clear little brooks bubbling among the stones, that we sometimes were scrambling over what seemed ancient lava-beds, that now and then we went down 60 THE LAND OF GILEAD. into, grassy hollows from which we climbed out up steep stony sides, so much we knew ; but whether we were passing within a few yards of the ruins of some of the 127 cities that are strewn over the country, whether we were near large Arab encamp- ments, whether the country was all grass and stone, or whether there might be wood to be seen in some directions, and how the hills looked which we knew were to our right, all these were matters which sorely tried our tempers and imaginations. Our Kurdish zaptieh was absolutely obtuse when any- thing like information was concerned, and our efforts to get anything out of him only tried our patience still more. At last we heard the barking of a dog and the bleating of sheep, and following the sound, came upon a Bedouin shepherd sitting on a rock, and looming through the mist like an Eastern idol. He was tending a flock of black -faced, fat-tailed sheep. We asked him to take us to the nearest tents, which we found were only a few yards off. These were only three or four in number ; most of the men were away, and the women were busy making semen. This is a preparation of milk first boiled, then hung, then churned in a sheep-skin by women, who sus- pend it to a stick, and then keep pulling it to and fro until it attains the consistency of clarified butter, when it Is exported to all parts of Syria to be used for cooking purposes, instead of oil, fresh butter, or ASCENT OF TEL EL FARIS. 6l grease. There is quite an extensive business in semen between the Bedouins and the settled popula- tion of the west, and a large trade is done with the Desert, chiefly by Jedeideh men, who go laden with coffee, powder, cloths, and other articles needed by the Arabs, and come back with semen. The Arabs of Jaulan and Jedur own extensive flocks of camels, cattle, and sheep, and the Kurds come here with large droves of horses, destined for Syria, Egypt, and the west generally. They remain on these grazing-lands until the condition of their horses is thoroughly restored after their journey, and then they either drive them on into Palestine, or sell them to traders who come here to buy them. After some little parleying, we persuaded an Arab to guide us to Tel el Paris, the most southerly peak of the Jebel Hesh range, which we intended to ascend if, by the time we reached it, the weather had cleared. He led us with Arab instinct through the mist till mid-day, when, to our intense relief, it cleared, and we found ourselves at the foot of the hill. We had now no further need of his services, so we dismissed him, lunched, and mounted our steeds for the ascent. Tel el Paris is the crater of an extinct volcano, rising some 700 or 800 feet above the plain, which is here about 2700 feet above the sea, or about 400 feet below its level at Kuneitereh. We were not long in pushing our steeds up the steep grassy slope, until, near the top, we found it more to 62 THE LAND OF GILEAD. our minds to dismount and lead them round the rim of the crater on the summit. It was so narrow that, with a high wind blowing, we almost found a dis- position to giddiness. At one point where it flat- tened out a little was a small Arab cemetery ; and we disturbed a jackal engaged on a skull, from which it would appear that it is still occasionally used. The view from this point comprised the whole terri- tory once ruled over by Og, the King of Bashan, and was most interesting. In all directions the eye ranged over a vast expanse of well -watered plain and pasture-land, in places abundantly strewn with basaltic rocks, but still capable of sustaining countless flocks and herds. At the base of the cone was one of the few villages still existing in Jaulan, sur- rounded by a very considerable tract of cultivated land. To the south the steppe stretched away till it was cleft by the winding gorges of the Yarmuk, beyond which the country became undulating and wooded, terminating in the lofty range of the Jebel Ajlun, or the mountains of Gilead. To the south- east and east extended the vast corn-growing plains of Hauran, bounded in their turn by the "hills of Bashan" and the Jebel Druse, now the home of three-fourths of the Druse race, on the plains to the south of which the Israelites found sixty cities with fortified walls and gates. To the north-east, we looked over the pasture-plains of Ituraea, with the VIEW FROM THE CRATER. 63 solitary conical hill of Tel el Hara rising from the midst of them, and forming a conspicuous landmark. In this direction the prospect was bounded by the low range of the Jebel el Mania, thirty miles be- yond which lay the city of Damascus. Walking round our crater, and looking north, we could now see the character of the country we had traversed in the fog a brilliantly green expanse dotted with patches of basaltic rock, with Mount Hermon in the far distance, and, more to the west, the volcanic range of El Hesh, still shrouded in clouds, which also hung over the valley of the upper Jordan. But the most interesting view of all was to the south-west. In this direction the plain was so rocky as in places almost to give it the appearance of a desert. It extended for nearly twenty miles, and terminated abruptly in the precipitous shores of the Lake of Tiberias, its blue waters sparkling in the sun, and behind them the irregular outline of the mountains of Palestine closed the prospect. It was on this plain that the King of Syria met the Israel- ites, when he was told by his servants that the gods of Israel were the gods of the hills, because they had previously beaten the Syrians at Samaria ; but, said they, "let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they." So they chose this plain, and "went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel." Aphek is the modern Fik. We could see through our glasses the small collection of 64 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Stone huts, scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the stones by which it was surrounded, and which form the present village. Here "the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country." After the slaughter of 100,000 Syrians, the remainder took refuge in Aphek, where a wall fell upon the 27,000 that were left. The plateau extending from Fik to the Yarmuk on the south, and the Lake of Tiberias on the west, is described by Mr Merill, of the American Survey, as " generally level, extremely fertile, and, taken together, forming one of the finest wheat-fields in Syria. The soil is of a reddish colour, and quite free from stones." At Fik, which Mr Merill visited, and believes to be identical with Hippos, he found extensive ruins which deserve to be thoroughly ex- amined. He says, " Columns and ornamental work abound, and there are some elegant stone doors, and some Cufic inscriptions." Gamala is, according to Mr Merill, only forty-five minutes distant from Fik ; and here he describes the ruins as being more extensive than at any other place which he had visited east of the Jordan : " Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian cap- itals ; marble, granite, and basalt columns ; ornamen- tal work of considerable variety ; walls, towers, public and private buildings, all fallen into confusion to- gether." ^ Burckhardt travelled across the plain from ^ Palestine Exploration Society. Fourth Statement. January 1877 : New York. ISLAMITIC ESCHATOLOGY. 65 Fik past the base of Tel el Farls, and so on to Tseil, the village to which we were bound, and gives a most careful description of the ruins he passed. He believes the plain of Fik to be the ancient Argob. No modern traveller seems to have followed this route since. According to Mohammedan belief, the plain of Fik may yet be the scene of an encounter pregnant with far more vital consequences to humanity than that between the Syrians and Israelites ; for it is one of the " greater signs " of the approach of the end of the world, and of the resurrection, that Jesus shall appear again on earth according to some, at the white tower near Damascus, and according to others, near a rock named Afik with a lance in His hand, wherewith to kill Antichrist.^ The country im- mediately round the present Fik is such a mass of rock that one can scarcely doubt that this is the spot indicated. Although the belief of Moslems in regard to the end of the world and the final judgment is no mystery to any one who takes the trouble to look for it in the Koran, it seems to be so little known generally, that I may perhaps be excused for allud- ing to it more fully. In the forty -third chapter of the Koran, entitled "The Ornaments of Gold," Mohammed says, "And He [Jesus] shall be a sign of the approach of the last hour, whereof doubt not." ^ Sale's Koran, p. 367. E 66 THE LAND OF GILEAD. And it is the Mohammedan faith that Jesus can thus reappear, inasmuch as He was taken up into heaven without dying by the angels Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel ; and that it was Judas who was crucified in His stead, God having permitted that traitor to appear so like his Master in the eyes of the Jews that they took Him and delivered Him to Pilate. In the fourth chapter of the Koran, entitled " Women," it is said, " Therefore they [the Jews] have made void the covenant, and have not be- lieved in the signs of God, and have slain the pro- phets unjustly, and have said our hearts are uncir- cumcised ; and for that they have not believed in Jesus, and have spoken against Mary a grievous calumny, and have said. Verily we have slain Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the apostle of God ; yet they slew Him not, neither crucified Him, but He was represented by one in His likeness; and verily they who disagreed concerning Him were in doubt as to this matter, and had no sure knowledge thereof, but followed an uncertain opinion. They did not really kill Him, but God took Him up unto Him- self. And God is mighty and wise, and there shall not be one of those who have received the Scrip- ture who shall not believe in Him before His death, and on the day of resurrection He shall be a witness against them." Christ having thus escaped death, and retained His natural body, is enabled to reappear in it, and ISLAMITIC ESCHATOLOGY. 67 rule for forty years at Jerusalem, during which time the paradisiacal condition prophesied in the Bible will be established on the earth. Christ will embrace the Mohammedan religion, marry a wife, get chil- dren, kill Antichrist, die after forty years, and rise again at the resurrection. Nevertheless, Mohammed shall be the first to rise, and he also will become the intercessor between God and man at the Judgment, this office having been previously declined by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus. Among the other signs which are to precede the resurrection, a war is predicted with the Greeks, and Constantinople is to be taken by the posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls shall fall down while they cry out, " There is no god but God ; God is most great." As they are dividing the spoil, news will come to them of the appearance of Antichrist, whereupon they shall leave all and return back. The fourth great sign is the coming of Anti- christ, whom Mohammedans call Al Dajjal. He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters C.F.R., signifying cafer or infidel. They say that the Jews give him the name of Messiah ben David, and pretend that he is to come in the last days, and restore the kingdom to them. According to the tradition of Mohammed, he is to appear first between Irak and Syria. They add, he is to ride on an ass, that he will be followed by 68 THE LAND OF GILEAD. 70, 83 richest and most productive land imaginable, tells its own tale. The Makam possesses a character for sanctity in the eyes of the Arabs, which is its best protection. They seem to regard it with a superstitious awe, and neither levy black-mail upon the inhabitants nor plunder their gardens, whilst it also enjoys immunity from taxation by the Govern- ment. At the top of the mound, and almost sur- rounded by hovels, was an ancient temple sup- ported on nine arches. It is not used for sacred purposes now, but has been a Moslem place of prayer. Prior to this it was evidently a Christian church, as the old belfry and the. internal arrange- ment and shape testify. But there are traces of a yet greater antiquity in its columns and architec- ture ; and there can be little doubt that it has also been a Roman temple, and possibly, anterior to that, a sacred edifice of Phoenician worship. It is about twenty yards square ; and the roof, which is on a level with the top of the mound, is composed of slabs of stone nine or ten feet long, eighteen inches broad, and a foot deep. In the centre of the building is a monolith of black basalt; its base is embedded in the ddbris which has fallen in upon the floor, but which, if it were cleared away, would leave it about ten feet high. The top has been broken off. It is now pointed out as the Sakhrat Eyub, or stone to which job resorted for relief 84 THE LAND OF GILEAD. from his cutaneous affliction, and is for that reason regarded with great veneration by the negroes, by whom it might be advantageously used for the same purpose ; but, as my friend Captain Phibbs suggest- ed, it was doubtless originally a Phallic emblem. Everything points to the extreme probability of the ancient city, the ruins of which no doubt partially composed the present mound, having been a centre of Baal-worship. The old name has been lost, and I have been unable to find any clue identifying it as the site of a known city ; but in the immediate neighbourhood are two villages one now called Ashtereh, and the other Tel Asherah. The for- mer I saw at a distance, but did not visit, as we were assured that no ruins of any kind existed there; the other I will describe presently. It is reasonable to assume that one of these is the site of the ancient Ashtaroth, one of the Levitical cities located in the half- tribe of Manasseh, and given, with its suburbs and surrounding pasture- lands, to the Gershonites (i Chron. vi. 71). Ash- erah is the symbol of the goddess Ashtaroth, the principal female divinity of the Phoenicians, as Baal was the principal male divinity. Both names are frequently used in the plural signifying possibly, when so used, the androgynous character. Thus Baalim may have included Baal and Ashtaroth as one duality ; while Ashtoreth included Baal and Ashtaroth also, as two in one. In the earlier ASHTAROTH. 85 books of the Old Testament, only the singular form, Ashtaroth, occurs, though Baal and Baalim seem to be used indiscriminately. The first we hear of the feminine plural is when Solomon " went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonlans." The original conception, before it became degra- ded into an obscene idolatry, was evidently that of a dual first cause, and may have been derived from a belief In the creative principle Elohlm, the singular of which is Eloah, Indicated In the 26th and 27th verses of the first chapter of Genesis. The word Baal, separated from Its idolatry, simply means lord and proprietor of all ; while Ashtaroth seems to have been either the goddess of the moon, or the planet Venus. Hence her successor in Greek mythology was Astarte, and Baal became looked upon as the sun-god. Strabo mentions the goddess Aphrodite under the name of Attara, which Is probably Identical with Ashtera; and Lieutenant Wilford ^ calls attention to the circumstance that Atavi, the ** Goddess of the Grove" of Hindu mythology, was also called Ash- tara, and that a pyramid in her honour, by name Ashtird-Devi, Is placed by the writer of the Purana on the Call river, in the woods of Tapas. This Ashtard or Atavi is Identical with the goddess Amba, whose consort, Bhava, was the author of existence. ^ Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 389. S6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. The proximity of a village which still preserves without change the name of the symbol of the goddess, can leave very little doubt that the temple containing the ancient monolith at Sheikh Sa'ad must have been originally dedicated to Baal, and the scene of Jewish idolatry. Among the nations left "to prove Israel by," were the Zidon- ians; the Hivites, that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal - Hermon to the entering in of Hamath ; and the Amorites, who dwelt in this very country : and we are told that " they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim and Ash- erah," or, as that word is rendered by the translators, "the groves." If our conjecture that the monolith at Sheikh Sa'ad represents what we suppose it to have done, it becomes one of the most ancient and interesting monuments in Syria, the only one, in fact, so far as I am aware, in existence, which we can still trace as a record, in their own country or its vicinity, of the worship of the Phoenicians. It is about seven miles from Sheikh Sa'ad to Tel Asherah. The road is over a fertile plain, and crosses first the Wady el Lebweh, and then the Wady Yabis. Both these contain affluents of the Yarmuk, but they are occasionally dry in summer. Shortly after quitting Sheikh Sa'ad, we leave on the right, about two miles distant, the village of Ashtereh, standing out on the plain. Just before arriving at Tel Asherah we cross the principal source VILLAGE OF ASHERAH. 87 of the Yarmuk, by the old Roman bridge of nine arches, one of which has fallen in, and has not been repaired now called the bridge of Sira. The Yarmuk at this point is just sinking below the level of the plain through which it has been mean- dering, and in the course of the next mile plunges down a series of cascades into the stupendous gorges through which it winds, until it ultimately falls into the Jordan below Gadara. This river was called Yarmuk by the Hebrews, Hieromax by the Romans, and is now called the Sheriat el Mandhur, from a tribe of Arabs who pasture in its valley. Below the bridge are some ruins probably, from the shape of the foundations, those of a temple; but only a few trunks of prostrate columns and carved entablatures are visible among the large square blocks of dolerite of which it was built. We had two Kurdish zaptiehs with us, whom the Mutessarif at Sheikh Sa'ad had insisted upon our taking as guides and protectors ; but they could not tell us whether this ruin had a name, nor was there a creature in sight whom we could ask. About a mile beyond, on the right, is situated the village of Asherah, crowning a mound or /V^ Blackwood & Sons. Stoji/brds Geog^'^stah* ADVANTAGES OF THE RAILWAY. 303 grims. Such a line, almost following the course of the Hadj road from Damascus to Akaba, would complete- ly supersede it ; and the thousands of travellers who are now annually conveyed under Government escort to and from Mecca often exceeding 20,000 in one year, at a cost to the country of ^80,000 annually could be transported for a tithe of that sum, so far as the Government was concerned, by rail and steamer from Akaba to Jeddah, while the expenses of the journey by these means would prove far less to the pilgrims than by road. The present cost of the pilgrimage to a rich man travelling comfortably in a takktarawan, averages about ^400. The hire of a camel to Mecca and back from Damascus is ^15; for a takhtara'wa7z, ;^ 1 50 ; and for a simple litter, about ^0. The pilgrims' private expenses, there- fore, come to a large item, excluding the enormous charges incurred by the Government ; and the latter could well afford to pay the railway a subsidy, which, in addition to the passage - money charged the pilgrims, would go far towards paying the entire expenses of the proposed line. Besides which, as I have already explained, the abolition of the Hadj on its present system is an absolutely essential measure if the Arab tribes to the east of the Jordan are ever to be reduced to order, and life and property rendered secure. It is needless to point out the advantages in particular which would accrue to the Gileadite colony, which would lie nearly midway between the two seas, and would thus benefit from the commerce 304 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of both. A line of almost equal importance would remain to be constructed in order to complete the system. This would be a branch from the south- eastern point of the Dead Sea to Ismaila on the Suez Canal, a distance of about 220 miles, thus placing Syria and Egypt in direct railway commu- nication, a consummation much to be desired in the interest of both countries. The trade between Egypt and Syria is constantly increasing, but is crippled by the difficulty of transport from the in- terior to the coast. Egypt is now one of the largest and most profitable markets for Syrian produce, sheep and horses, fruits fresh and dry, and even cereals in years of scarcity find a ready sale there ; while there can be no doubt that if travellers could "book" from Cairo by way of Jerusalem to Da- mascus, and pass from one of those highly populated oriental centres to the other in fifteen or sixteen hours, a large passenger as well as goods traffic would be speedily developed, all of which would pass through the whole length of the colony. Such was the future which my sanguine imagina- tion suggested might possibly be in store for the fertile and interesting regions which we had tra- versed. And on the eve of my departure from the Land of Gilead, I felt assured, that though I had failed to contemplate it from Mount Nebo, as I had hoped, I had nevertheless gazed from the highest peak in its mountains over a Land of Promise. 305 CHAPTER XI. WE LEAVE GILEAD ELIAS DAOUD THE PLAIN OF SHITTIM THE JORDAN IN FLOOD JERICHO ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM THE HOLY WEEK AND JEWISH PASSOVER THE JEWISH COLONY OF THE TEMPLE JIFNA THE FAMILY OF ELIAS DAOUD RAPACIOUS TAX-GATHERERS OPPRESSION OF THE MOSLEM PEASANTRY. We had been detained at Salt longer than we in- tended by the report that the Jordan was so swollen by the recent rains that the ferry was not plying. However, there seemed some uncertainty on the point, so we decided to risk it under the guidance of Elias Daoud, whom we preferred to a zaptieh, and who had promised to meet us just outside the town, which, for some reason best known to himself, he seemed to shrink from entering. This was a suspicious fact to which at the time we did not attach the importance it deserved. We were so disgusted with the escort of zaptiehs, that although the route was reported to be somewhat unsafe, on account of the Adwan and Ghawarini Arabs, and there is a regular and pretty high charge made for protection in the case of travellers journeying from U 306 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Jerusalem to Salt, we decided on taking our chance without any protection at all ; and bidding adieu to our kind host, Mr Halil, to whom we had been indebted for several days' hospitality, started for Jericho alone, and picked up Daoud about a mile out of the town, where he was waiting for us with his Arab wife. Considering that he was about to leave her, possibly for ever, I thought his parting with her, which consisted of a few hurried whispers, some- what heartless. He probably consoled her with the assurance that he would soon return ; but he imme- diately afterwards announced to me his ardent desire to be allowed to follow me to the isnd of the world, and to act in the combined capacity of son and servant for the rest of his life. There was some- thing so extremely captivating and intelligent In the manner of this scamp, and he was so full of interesting Information of all sorts, that I confess I shut my mind wilfully against the suspicions that kept cropping up in it. He rattled on with descrip- tions of his adventures In various parts of the world, with Interesting anecdotes of Arab life in its wildest form ; and, above all, professed that he was a far safer guide than any zaptieh, because he was an Intimate friend of the Adwan sheikh near whose camp we should pass, and who was not a man to be deterred from robbing a traveller by the presence of a zaptieh. As the total amount of our worldly wealth at this moment amounted to twelve shillings THE WADY SHAIB. 307 and sixpence, and our luggage consisted of a single change of raiment, together with cooking utensils, bedding, &c., we felt tolerably secure against robbers, unless they should capture us for a ransom an act of daring upon which the Adwan would not venture, as they are too dependent upon the lands which they cultivate, and occupying country between Salt and Jerusalem, are within easy reach of both. So we jogged down the romantic gorge of the Shaib in a very contented frame of mind, delighted with the picturesqueness of the scenery, and the agree- able change in the weather, which had now cleared. The veofetation was fresh and luxuriant after the rain, while the swollen torrent dashed down between a thick fringe of oleanders to the valley of the Jordan. We passed the tomb of a Moslem saint, where goods and valuables deposited by travelling Arabs are considered sacred. Here, according to Elias Daoud, an Arab might leave the valuable plunder which he had just obtained from the British tourist, and go off himself into hiding. It was secure against appropriation by his fellows, and at the end of weeks or months he might return and find it as he had left it. I have only the word of our voluble guide for this story, who probably spoke from his own experience. Meantime the temperature was changing rapidly, and when about mid-day we reached the Seisaban, it was blazing hot. Here Elias looked anxiously 308 THE LAND OF GILEAD. round for the Adwan camp, and I confess I did the same. I think there was a shade of disappointment on his face when he found they had moved. I since have had reason to believe that his one object was to find an Arab camp, whether Ghawarini or Adwan, with whom to divide the Httle that we possessed. Fortunately not a tent or human being was visible. The whole country was irrigated by the waters of the Shaib, and all round its debouchure into the plain were waving fields of young grain, the soil show- ing every sign of fertility. From here to the Dead Sea it extends in a broad, level, unbroken tract covered with a dense thicket, chiefly of tamarisk and acacia, though other larger trees are scattered about. The whole of this rich plain of Shittim is only wait- ing for capital and labour to be converted into one of the richest and most productive regions to be found anywhere. We made our mid-day halt in a small ravine by which what remained of the Shaib, here called the Nimrim, was meandering to the Jordan ; these were in fact the waters of Nimrim, of which the prophet says, " For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate : for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing." Doubtless, as contrasted with what these plains once were, the prophet's description is even now accurate ; but the amount of green we had been traversing, proved how easily the rest of the plain might be restored to its ancient fertility. On a low hill, a WE CROSS THE JORDAN. 309 little to the left, were the ruins of Beth-Nimrah, originally a city of the Amorites, and one of the frontier towns of Gad ; but we had no time to visit them, and pushed on somewhat anxiously to the Jordan, as in the event of a crossing being impos- sible, we had nothing to look forward to but a night in the open air on its banks, with a very short allow- ance of food, and a considerable risk of predatory nocturnal visitors. Scrambling through the dense thicket which fringes the river, we found it boiling down in a turbid yellow flood, but were relieved to find that our call brought forth a ready response from the ferrymen on the other side, and that they showed no hesitation in manning the ferry-boat. Notwithstand- ing considerable difficulty in embarking and disem- barking our loaded animals, one of whom fell back into the river, we were soon all safe on the other side, and made a most futile attempt to bathe in a backwater of mud, for the torrent was too fierce to admit of our venturing out into the stream. Then we pressed on up the steep slippery slope on the right bank, and rapidly traversing the intervening plain, arrived a little before sunset at Jericho. Here we once more came in contact with the signs and evidences of civilisation. A party of Americans, with the star-spangled banner floating over their tents, were encamped above the Ain es Sultan ; and some tourists, under the escort of a 310 THE LAND OF GILEAD. swaggering young Arab sheikh from Jerusalem, had pitched their tent in the back garden of the modest hostelry in which we sought accommodation. The dragoman of the American party was as much amazed to see two unprotected travellers turn up from the eastern side of the Jordan, independent of all guidance by one of his class, as the young sheikh was to observe the absence of any Arab escort. It was a bad precedent for both. When travellers take to exploring the wilds of Arabia with- out either dragoman or Arab sheikhs to take care of them, the trade of these gentlemen, who now usually divide the black-mail and other plunder between them, will be gone. So the young sheikh asked us under whose protection we had come from Salt ; to which we replied " Our own." As he and his family had the monopoly of protecting and escorting travellers between Jerusalem and Jericho, he further wished to know under whose protection we intended to proceed to the former city ; to which we also replied, " Our own " on which we looked very fixedly at each other for a few moments ; but nothing further appar- ently occurring to him to say, he resigned himself to the inevitable evidently with a gloomy foreboding that the palmy days of his occupation were drawing to a close. Meantime Elias Daoud took advantage of the opportunity to illustrate the insecurity of the situ- ation, by surreptitiously appropriating a strap ; at TRAVELLING EXPENSES. 31I least we had good reason to assume later that he was the thief. According to the lowest estimate, to have made the journey which we had accomplished, with a dragoman and tents, would have cost 2 a-day for each traveller, while the amount of black-mail to be paid to the Arabs would have been an indefinite sum, depending on the honesty of the dragoman and the apparent wealth of the caravan. But a party of tourists, travelling in the ordinary way, might con- sider themselves fortunate if they got off with "^0 of baksheesh, in addition to the daily charge per head. Our united expenses, as far as Jerusalem from Beyrout, amounted to a little over 1'], of which thirty shillings had been expended upon our zaptieh escorts for protection. In an ordinary sea- son it would have been less, as horse-feed was nearly double its usual price, owmg to the badness of the crops in consequence of the drought. The next morning Elias suggested that we should deviate from the ordinary route and go to Jerusalem by the Neby Musa, or tomb of Moses, as this was the period of the great annual Moslem pilgrimage ; and he assured us the sight was one well worth seeing. So we rode along the base of the hills in a southerly direction for an hour, and then, when we were about four miles from the Dead Sea, we turned westwards, scrambling up arid ravines till we reached the barren hill upon which the sacred edifice is situated, which 312 THE LAND OF GILEAD. is supposed to mark the last resting-place of the great lawgiver. As, however, this was unquestion- ably to the east of the Jordan, no interest derived from any such association actually attached to it. Indeed the tradition only dates back to the thir- teenth century. It was still too early on the first day of the pil- grimage for pilgrims to have arrived from Jerusalem, but the place was in a bustle of preparation : booths were being erected, cafts and restaurants were being furnished, and inside the great courtyard of the building which contains the tomb, a crowd of people were collected round a well, all actively em- ployed. Into this courtyard Elias entered, beckoning me to follow ; so we dismounted, but had scarcely taken three steps inside when a shout of anger and dismay was set up, accompanied by such hostile gestures, that we beat a speedy retreat, and jumping on our steeds rode away, for it was evident that our profane entry had roused a feeling of indignation which in another moment would have manifested itself most unpleasantly. Whether this was a trap into which Elias tried to lead us designedly, I know not, and did not suspect it at the time. We, how- ever, determined to push on for Jerusalem by our- selves, as there was no difficulty about finding the road, and left him to follow with the two baggage- animals and muleteers Captain Phibbs's servant lending him his pistol for their protection. ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM. 313 During the remainder of our ride we met quan- tities of pilgrims journeying in every variety of orien- tal fashion to the sacred shrine, on horseback and in litters and takhtarawans ; sometimes a mother with a family of young ones, ingeniously piled on the back of a mule ; sometimes a whole female establish- ment, riding astride, guarded by lanky eunuchs, or a fat official sweltering in his uniform under the burn- ing sun, and so at last we reached Bethany, and came along the road leading past the Garden of Gethsemane, now lined on both sides by women in their snowy feridgees squatting on the terraces by the wayside, and watching the train of pilgrims issu- ing from the Jericho gate. For nearly a mile we rode between these chattering bundles of white cotton, and so made our entrance into the sacred city from its most picturesque side, under circumstances of unusual novelty and interest. Three hours later the mules turned up ; but Elias Daoud had stopped to drink at a fountain just be- low Bethany, and from that moment, in spite of the most active search being instituted for him, he and the pistol he had borrowed for our protection disap- peared from our gaze for ever. He was the most plausible and fascinating of scoundrels, and possess- ing, besides, the great qualification of being a Chris- tian, may yet hope to rise, under the enlightened protection of foreign Powers, to a position of afflu- ence and dignity in the country. 314 THE LAND OF GILEAD. I was SO unfortunate as to reach Jerusalem, and to be compelled to remain in it during the greater part of Holy Week. Had I been witnessing the sights and ceremonials of a pagan religion they would have been interesting, as illustrating the various phases of superstition of which the human mind is capable. No doubt, regarded as a purely psychological study, this may be said to have been the case as applied to Christianity, but the interest was of too painful a nature to be gratified willingly. The crowds of pil- grims and devotees calling themselves Christian, who were only kept from flying at each other's throats over the tomb of the Founder of their reli- gion by a strong guard of Moslem soldiers, evidently inspired the latter with a contempt and disgust which one felt compelled to share. Nor can we wonder that the followers of the Prophet who are called upon to protect the degrading rites and superstitions practised in this bitter and fanatic spirit, should regard some forms of modern Christianity as little better than paganism. It is only due to the rival Christian sects to say that they do not confine their intense hatred and intolerance of each other to themselves. There is a short street near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre through which the Christians allow no Jew to pass. Nor does the Turkish Government care to raise a diplomatic question, and excite the religious sus- ceptibilities of the foreign Powers who are engaged THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER. 31$ in reforming the country, by insisting that this street, which is really a short cut and most useful thorough- fare, should be equally open to all classes of its subjects. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the city which stands more in need of reform than any other in Turkey after Constantinople itself, is the one in which the Turkish Government is most powerless, and foreign influence most predominant, and which is called by a figure of speech " holy ! " and that the people whom it would be found most difficult to reform, so far as toleration and orderly conduct are concerned, are the bigoted and fanatical Chris- tians who have established themselves there as the guardians and representatives of its sacred charac- ter, or who frequent it for religious purposes. The Jewish Feast of the Passover, which happened to occur during Easter week, contrasted strangely in its character of isolation, and almost of secrecy, with the contention, hubbub, and masquerade of the Christian festival. I felt it quite a relief on the night of the Passover to find myself away from the din of priests and worshippers, the guest of a humble family in the Jewish quarter, sharing with them the emblematic supper which celebrated their first deli- verance. The only sound which broke the still- ness of the night was the cadence of the chants from the various neighbouring houses, in each of which the feast was being held, which from time 3l6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. to time swelled louder as the doors were opened in remembrance of the flight. I found so strong a belief prevailing that a second deliverance was at hand, more or less miraculous in its character, that I scarcely liked to intrude upon this occasion with the extremely prosaic and mundane idea of a colony which should be based rather upon commer- cial than upon religious considerations. As, how- ever, I should be sorry to be supposed to have the presumption of wishing to interfere with the ful- filment of prophecy, as interpreted either by Jews or Christians ; and as my main object in proposing the scheme has been in some degree to assist the Turkish Government out of a political and finan- cial difficulty, and at the same time to improve the condition of a race who suffer much in various countries, I was able to discuss the project with various Jews in Palestine and Syria on its own merits, and invariably found that they regarded it with favour, provided that they were not themselves intrusted with the entire administration of the affairs of the colony in the first instance, as they were ut- terly wanting in experience, and provided, further, that the conditions of the purchase of land and its settlement were not made too onerous, and that the Turkish Government consented to grant a special rdglement, which should secure the protection of life and property. Those with whom I conversed expressed no doubt that well-to-do and desirable THE TEMPLE COLONY. 317 emigrants would be forthcoming in even too great abundance. It is certainly not among the Jews of Jerusalem that I should look for colonists, with the exception, possibly, of a few among the Sephardim. The Ash- kenazim established there are a useless mendicant class, who are now a burden upon their co-religion- ists, and would be equally so upon an enterprise, where not merely industry, but a small amount of capital would be essential. On our way out of Jerusalem we visited the German colony of The Temple, situated in what some sup- pose to have been the valley of the Rephaim, through which passed the boundary-line between Judah and Benjamin. The branch of the colony located here is under the charge of Dr Hoffman, upon whom we called, and is the result of a divergence of opinion upon an abstruse theological point, which it would not be interesting to discuss here. The main body of the colony, under a different leader, is at Haifa, which I also subsequently visited ; and there is a third section at Jaffa, which, I understand, owing to unhealthiness and other causes, has been almost abandoned. The colonies, both at Jerusalem and Haifa, are, however, financially and commercially prospering. The total number of souls, male and female, of the two branches, Dr Hoffman stated to be about 800 : amongst his own flock were eight families of Mennonites. The houses were well built 3l8 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Stone mansions, each surrounded by its garden, form- ing a little street ; while a splendid stretch of arable land, on which young spring crops were waving, gave a prospect of a fine harvest. The colonists have scarcely any trouble in their dealings with the Government : they are assessed on the value of their crops every year, and pay the money down. It would seem, in fact, that the difficulties with which they have had to contend, and which have so far disturbed their harmony, have been of a purely spiritual kind. We turned off the direct road from Jerusalem to Nablous in order to visit Jifna, the ancient Gophnah, and pass the night there, partly because it was out of the beaten track, and we had heard of a convent at which we hoped to find good quarters, and partly because in the course of our investigations we had discovered that it was the native village of Elias Daoud, and I was anxious to see the other members of that gentleman's family ; moreover, there was just a possibility of our finding him there on a visit. We were cordially welcomed on our arrival by the Catholic priest, who placed a room in the convent at our disposal, and we were delighted with the beauty of the spot we had thus accidentally lit upon. It was remarkable for its fertility and the excellence of the cultivation. The hillsides were carefully ter- raced and thickly planted with vines and olives, and the floor of the valley was a mass of gardens and JIFNA. 319 waving crops. In spite of this seeming prosperity we found the villagers in an extreme state of poverty and destitution. The sheikh of the village turned out to be the brother of Elias Daoud, and we went and sat in his smoke -grimed tenement, on mats, round a fire made on the floor, while he prepared coffee, and gave us the history of his respectable relative. Soon flocked in all " his sisters and his cousins and his aunts ; " in fact the village seemed composed of his relatives. They evidently took a pride in the extreme disreputability of their kins- man, who had been celebrated for his adventurous exploits and his roving propensities since, as a boy, he had deserted his native village ; and they laughed heartily at our experiences. By degrees we won their confidence, and they gave us many interesting details in regard to their own unhappy condition. They had been already taxed once this year, the tax- collector having arrived with his zaptiehs and quar- tered themselves, with fourteen horses, upon them for twenty days ; and then, after they had with great difficulty scraped together the amount of the tax demanded, they could only get rid of them by a present of 500 beskliks, equal to about ^20. Now a horrid rumour had reached them that, for a second time within the year, they were to be called upon for another pecuniarycontribution to the Turkish treasury; and they were in despair at the prospect, for, as it was, they had scarcely enough left them to keep body 320 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and soul together. They had planted wheat crops all through their vineyards in the hope of getting as much out of the land as possible ; but it was a heart- breaking prospect, as the more money they made out of the land, the more they would be compelled to pay. The present method of collecting the taxes opens the door to any amount of fraud and oppres- sion. The dime or tithe of the village is put up to auction. The purchaser is generally a large specu- lator who buys the tithe of a number of villages, and whose wealth makes him all-powerful with the local Turkish authorities, who go shares with him in the spoil. They furnish him with the necessary zaptiehs, and he comes down with them, like a vulture on his prey, on the unhappy peasantry, who, if they get off with a contribution of thirty per cent, instead of the ten which is due, esteem themselves fortunate. The Government gets defrauded even out of its tithe ; for when the auction takes place the local authorities connive at the price for which it is sold, being much below its real value ; the purchaser usually being a man of too much influence and wealth to be opposed by rival competitors. The population of Jifna was composed entirely of Catholic Christians, and they hoped, through the re- presentations of the priest, to bring pressure to bear at Jerusalem to avert the fate which seemed in store. In this respect they were better off than the Moslem peasantry of a neighbouring village, who THE FELLAHIN. - 321 had been as heavily squeezed as they were, but who had no protection of any sort. The priest told us that the propensity of the Christian villages to fight amongst themselves very much aggravated the other misfortunes with which they had to contend. At the moment of our visit there was a blood-feud between Jifna and another Christian village, and last year five men of the latter had been killed ; while only a few days before our arrival 125 olive-trees had been de- stroyed as an act of vengeance. Notwithstanding all which there was something very attractive about the fellahin, they were so cheerful under their miseries, and such a fine, handsome, hospitably dis- posed race. Both Moslems and Christians not un- naturally entertain a most profound dislike of their Turkish masters, considering how they are squeezed for taxes ; and while the former are loyal to the Sultan, as the head of their religion, they are utterly devoid of any patriotic instinct, and would gladly welcome a change of rule which should bring with it greater security for life and property. The late war, and wholesale conscription incidental to it, has increased this feeling, while it has largely contri- buted to the poverty and distress of the people. No fewer than 150,000 of the Arab-speaking population of Syria and Palestine have been withdrawn from the active industry of the country, of which a very small proportion have returned. The Christians, among other privileges which they enjoy, have been X 322 THE LAND OF GILEAD. exempted from this burden. Mrs Finn, in her interesting account of the fellahin, gives a most graphic description of the terrors which the con- scription excites among the Moslem peasantry, and confirms my own observations in regard to the in- ferior position occupied by them. On one occasion she says : " Our Christian fellahah from Bethlehem fully shared in the joy of the Jerusalem Christians that their sons were ineligible. It was amusing to hear her by turns chuckling over and sympathising with the griefs of the Moslem mothers. Indeed, generally speaking, she agreed with her townsfolk, the Christian Bethlehemites, that the Moslems were altogether an inferior people, and worse off than they, who had ever in time of need their sure refuge in the powerful protection of their convents, 'which may God continue to build up.' " It seems rather hard upon the Moslems, whether they be Arab, or Turk, or Slav, that the sympathies of the British public should be entirely withheld from them on the ground that they do not bear the name of Christian, even though they may be of the same race. As a rule the Moslem peasant is, in fact, far more worthy of their sympathy, for he is more oppressed, more honest, more orderly, and quite as industrious. It is true that there are exceptions to the rule as, for instance, among the Circassians and Kurds ; but they form a small pro- portion of the Mohammedan population of the MOSLEM PEASANTRY. 323 empire. The religion of the former is of so vague a nature, that they can scarcely be called Moslem ; and for the latter, who are a savage race of moun- taineers, I claim no sympathy at all. It is for the poor down -trodden Moslem peasantry, devout ac- cording to their lights, whether Arab or Turk, than whom a race braver and more enduring in war, and more patient and well-conducted in time of peace, does not exist, that I would plead. In regard to the sentiments which both Moslems and Christians entertain towards their own Government there is very little difference. I do not see, therefore, why those in England who denounce the Turkish Gov- ernment should make so great a distinction in their feelings towards those who share with them their dis- like of the executive authority. If the result of their Christianity had been to make Christians in any way morally superior to Moslems, I could readily sympathise with the popular British sentiment upon the subject. 324 CHAPTER XII. NABLOUS THE MUTESSARIF DESIRE FOR BRITISH OCCUPATION JENIN MOUNT GILBOA THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON FARM- ING OPERATIONS ON A LARGE SCALE THE GERMAN COLONY OF HAIFA THE HARBOUR ESFIA ACRE TURKISH OFFICIALS TRADE OF ACRE TYRE SIDON. From Jifna we rode to Nablous, the seat of govern- ment of the Mutessariflik, the whole of which is called in Turkish nomenclature " The Belka," though that name, as I before remarked, properly applies to the plains of Moab, and the region extending on the east of the Jordan northwards to the Jabbok. It com- prises, in fact, the exact district proposed for coloni- sation, and it is most inconvenient that it should be tacked on to a province intervening between the Mu- tesseraflik of Acre and the government of Jerusalem, on the west of the Jordan, to which it is not contiguous. The consequence is, that the Caimakam at Salt is so far removed from his superior at Nablous that he is enabled to avoid supervision ; while the Caimakam of Kerak, who also, nominally, owns allegiance to the governor at Nablous, was until lately practically inde- pendent. At Nablous we were most hospitably enter- THE MUTESSARIF. 325 tained by Mr Elkary, a missionary, and shortly after our arrival called on the Mutessarif, who received us with the greatest civility and ceremony. In fact he had somehow conceived the impression that we were persons of " distinction," travelling incognito an ex- tremely inconvenient idea to get abroad if one de- sires to travel economically, and really see something of the country, for it involves increased expenditure, and entails an amount of notoriety which is apt to produce a certain reticence among the timid poorer classes, while the authorities make it their business to throw as much dust as possible in one's eyes. Our entertainer, though apparently a man of some intelligence, evidently did not know as much about the part of the country we had just been exploring as we did ourselves, and we found that very little valuable information was to be obtained from him, though he was anxious to impress upon us the great change which his administration had produced, by reason of his improved management of the Arab tribes, and the greater security which existed in con- sequence a fact which we were ready to admit, for our own experience to some extent confirmed it; but until the country to the east of the Jordan is made totally independent of that of the west, and put under a separate administration, no really per- manent improvement can be introduced there. The Mutessarif insisted upon our being escorted by two zaptiehs on our next day's journey, though we 326 THE LAND OF GILEAD. pleaded hard to be excused the honour, as the road was perfectly safe; but he seemed to consider it essential to our dignity : and after he had compelled us to accept a couple of antique rings which had been found at Kerak, we bade this amiable func- tionary a cordial adieu. We found a very strong impression prevailing at Nablous, as well as in other parts of Syria and Pales- tine, that the occupation of the country by the Eng- lish was imminent ; and an amusing illustration of the readiness of the people to accept such an event was afforded during our stay there, for we were excitedly informed that the first detachment of the English army had just arrived, and in proof of the truth of the assertion we were assured that two officers were already quartered in a French convent, while the men were being billeted in the town. We, as mys- terious persons of " distinction," were evidently con- nected with the event ; indeed there seemed a suspi- cion of our having a somewhat regal character. We went in search of the " troops," and found a large party of exceedingly jolly tars on three days' leave from H.M.S. Rapid, then lying at Haifa, under charge of an officer. The towns-people, who were evidently looking forward to a golden harvest, con- sequent on a change of masters, seemed quite disap- pointed when we explained the mistake. One of the great industries of Nablous is the manufacture of soap, the alkali being brought from JENIN. 327 the eastern Belka, and largely from the neighbour- hood of Jajlis, where we had seen the pollarded trees. There is also an unusual cultivation of cactus, or prickly-pear, on the hills which over- hang the town ; and it occurred to me that in a country so eminently favourable to its growth as Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan, it might be possible to introduce the cochineal as a profitable production. It was a hot seven hours' ride through the barren mountains of Samaria to Jenin. We sent back our zaptiehs shortly after we got outside of the town of Nablous ; but this did not prevent the news of our grandeur having preceded us, and we seemed to in- crease in importance as we proceeded, for we found a guard of honour waiting for us outside the village to escort us to the quarters at the Medjliss which had been provided for us, and where we found the village notables assembled. The Caimakam him- self was absent with 100 soldiers on a raid against the Beni Sukhrs at Beisan, the ancient Bethshan or Scythopolis, distant about thirteen miles. These Arabs, who seemed to have returned to the country since the Caimakam of Ajlun s raid, had come down to avail themselves of the growing crops of the pea- santry, and to levy contributions. We regretted we had not arrived the day before, so as to have accom- panied him ; but as we received intelligence that he had taken twelve prisoners without resistance, and 328 THE LAND OF GILEAD. that the affair was over, we did not think it worth while to go out of our way to join him. We had looked down on the plains of Beisan from Gadara, and did not therefore require to see the country again. It is a magnificently fertile, but at present, owing to a want of drainage, a very feverish and un- healthy tract, very sparsely inhabited, in consequence of the predatory incursions of the Arabs, but suscep- tible in the highest degree of improvement. About 200,000 acres of the best land in Palestine are now lying waste in this neighbourhood, and in the ad- joining Sandjak of Tiberias, which would all doubt- less be brought into cultivation in the event of the formation of a colony in Gilead, as the proposed rail- way would pass through the centre of it, and would bring with it the sense of security which would en- courage emigration and capital. An essential pre- liminary, however, would be a thorough system of drainage. We turned aside from the direct route to Nazareth on the following day, and scrambled up to the top of the isolated mountain of Gilboa. From its rocky summit, upwards of 1 700 feet above the level of the sea, we obtained a most commanding view of the topographical features of the country. Below us, and running north-west for a distance of twenty-four miles, lay the fertile plain of Esdraelon, now almost entirely in the hands of Mr Sursuk, a Greek, of whose farming operations I shall speak presently. From the village of Jezreel, which was at our feet, RAILWAY TO TIBERIAS. 329 the ground trends gradually down to Beisan, which, from our lofty elevation, seemed also almost imme- diately beneath us. Following the brook Kishon from the port of Haifa a railway could traverse the plain of Esdrae- lon to the summit level, which is only about 250 feet above the sea, and thence passing through the gap between the hills at Jezreel, descend into the valley of the Jordan, by a gentle incline the whole way, without a cutting or embankment of any sort. The best line, however, would probably be by the val- ley of Alammalech, the modern Melik, a tributary of the Kishon, and so through the fertile plain of El Buttauf to Tiberias. We looked down upon this line afterwards from the top of the Jebel es Sikh behind Nazareth ; it presents no greater engineering difficulties than that by way of Esdraelon, and the advantage of going to Tiberias is, that a branch could more easily be taken from that point to Da- mascus than from Beisan. However, that is a point upon which competent engineers would have no difficulty in deciding. It is certain that either line could be constructed at a most trifling cost as far as the valley of the Jordan. The most interesting agricultural feature of all this country is unquestionably Esdraelon. This plain was formerly raided over by the Beni Sukhr, who claimed a sort of prescriptive right to it, and were rapidly reducing it to the condition of the valley of the J or- 330 THE LAND OF GILEAD. dan and the country round Beisan, when it fell into the hands of Mr Sursuk, a Greek banker, in 1872, who now owns about seventy square miles of some of the finest land in Palestine. For this I was in- formed that he paid ^^ 18,000, only ;/^6ooo of which ever found its way into the treasury of the Govern- ment. The distinguished Turkish statesman now no more who is popularly charged, either rightly or wrongly, with having pocketed the remaining ;^ 1 2,000, it is not necessary to name. The invest- ment has turned out eminently successful ; indeed so much so, that I found it difficult to credit the accounts of the enormous profits which Mr Sursuk derives from his estate. In the first place, he is his own tithe-farmer. He has over twenty villages on his property, which contain a population of 4000 peasants. He is, perhaps, rather a feudal superior than a proprietor in the ordinary sense of the term, for the peasants exercise a sort of ownership. They pay one-tenth of the crop to the Government, one- tenth to him, and ten mejidies for every feddan of land besides : a feddan is as much as a yoke of oxen can plough in a day, and a mejidie is equal to about 4s. 6d. Besides this, as the peasantry are all in his debt, he is able to lend them money at his own rate of interest, and has complete control of his security. When the village tithes are offered for sale by the Government, nobody is able to compete for their purchase with so powerful a rival, who is at the THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON.. 33 1 same time part owner. He therefore becomes the farmer of them, and is in a position, should either he or the local government officials wish to lend them- selves to any such practice, which I by no means wish to insinuate is the case, to make arrangements which would be far more profitable to themselves than to the Government. It is popularly asserted on the spot that considerably over ^^ 20,000 a-year is extracted from this plain of Esdraelon, in one form or other, by this fortunate speculator. I once heard it put as high as ;^ 40,000. On the whole, I should say that the country has nevertheless benefited by his operations ; the Arabs have been driven out : and although I confess I did not observe that those of his villapfes which I visited seemed more comfort- able or well-to-do than other villages in the neigh- bourhood, they owe it in some measure to the power- ful protection which one rich man can command, that they exist at all. The facts are instructive in many ways. They show how profitable farming in Pales- tine may be made. They prove how quickly capital brings protection, and how easy the Arabs really are to deal with, if they have any proprietor other than a half-starved fellah to deal with ; and it also illus- trates how open the present system of tithe-farm- ing is to possible abuse, and how desirable it would be to substitute for it one of assessment. It is also important to observe that the great success of Mr Sursuk has been due to his employing native labour. 332 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and to associating the peasants with him as copart- ners on a principle which very soon reduced them to being his absolute dependants and slaves. There is a good carriage-road, about twenty-two miles long, from Nazareth to Haifa, which has been constructed by the German colonists established at the latter place. They supply the monks and other residents of Nazareth with butter, vegetables, and other garden produce, and convey tourists sometimes between the two places ; altogether their enterprise is telling in many ways on the country, and notably in the construction of roads in the immediate neigh- bourhood of Haifa, where the country is flat, and they can be easily made, and in the introduction of wheeled vehicles. Their immediate influence on the town of Haifa itself is very perceptible. The colony is situated about a mile beyond the old town, which contains a population of over 4000, of whom 1 000 are Jews. It is a thriving, growing place, thanks to the proximity of the German colony; and since their establishment about eighty substantial stone houses have been built. We took up our quarters at an excellent little hotel, kept by one of the colonists, and might have imagined ourselves in a small neat German town. Every where the signs of thrift and industry were apparent. The village consists of two streets, of well-built stone houses, each stand- ing separately in its own garden, the streets lined with young trees ; and the most scrupulous tidiness THE HAVEN OF CARMEL. 333 was everywhere apparent. We called on the head of the rival spiritual schism, and found him perfectly- satisfied with the prospects of the colony, and with the progress it had made so far. The number of Germans at present established under the shadow of Mount Carmel is 400, and they cultivate about 1000 acres of fair land, lying between the Mount and the sea ; while up its steep slopes vineyards are terraced, turning its bare rocky flanks into verdure, and giving evidence of what the barren hillsides of Palestine must once have been. These colonists seem to be on perfectly good terms with the natives, whose language many of them speak, and to have no difficulty with the Government Mr Conder, R.E., considers that Haifa possesses capabilities as a harbour superior to any other port upon the coast of Syria. It is the only place at which the Austrian Lloyd's steamboats touch in winter ; and although it is exposed to winds from the north-west, he is of opinion that a mole, at a compar- atively trifling expense, might be run out in continu- ation of the Carmel ridge, constructed of the lime- stone of which the mountain is composed. There are still ruins of an ancient port near this headland. In a recent article in * Blackwood's Magazine,' called " The Haven of Carmel," the subject has been very fully treated ; and it would seem, from the judgment of those who have carefully studied the question, that no better terminus could be found for a railway which should enter the heart of the country, than 334 THE LAND OF GILEAD. this point. The bay of Acre, on the southern shore of which Haifa is situated, is an indention of the coast about three miles in depth ; while exactly opposite to it, on a projecting point, is the town of Acre, distant about eight miles. As I was anxious to look over the high-rolling country to the south of Carmel, we made an expedi- tion to Esfia, a Druse village situated at the high- est point of the range, at an altitude of about 1800 feet above the sea-level. For this purpose we had to retrace our steps for a few miles out of Haifa, passing through the rich gardens which lie east- ward of the town, and the grove of palm-trees which is its most characteristic and distinguishing feature. Then we turned up a wild gorge in the ridge, forc- ing our way by an almost imperceptible goat-track through the dense jungle with which the steep sides of the hill are here clothed. We had sent our servants direct to Acre, and were quite alone, so we were not long before we succeeded in losing ourselves. However, we were rescued from our dilemma by hearing the notes of a reed-pipe be- tokening the presence of a shepherd, whom we bribed to leave his flock and serve as our guide. Behind him we clambered by steep and devious paths to a spot which well repaid the exertions we made to reach It, so wild and romantic was it, hidden away in the recesses of the mountain the vineyards, olive-groves, and gardens, all crowded into a charm- ESFIA. 335 ing glen, where there was a picturesque fountain, round which were a group of Druse women filHng their water -jars, who seemed startled by the sud- den bursting in upon their seclusion of strangers ; for the village is one never visited by the ordinary tourist, and is doubly interesting from the fact that it contains an isolated Druse community who have been located here for hundreds of years, far removed from their co-religionists in the Lebanon and Hau- ran, with whom, nevertheless, they informed us they maintained occasional relations. From here we could look over " The Breezy Land," warmly re- commended by Conder for colonisation purposes ; and a tempting land it looked, accessible to the sea, and, from all accounts, fertile and well watered ; but as there is comparatively little of it actually owned by the Government, it would nearly all require to be purchased from the peasant proprietors, who, although they only cultivate it partially, hold tapoo papers, or would put in claims of ownership. No doubt it could be bought cheap, and would be a desirable district for development, but any attempt at colonisation here would be on a much smaller scale, and would not be susceptible of the same administrative autonomy as the unoccupied country to the east of the Jordan. The whole population of the village gathered round us when we dismounted in the middle of it, to refresh ourselves with the food we had brought 336 THE LAND OF GILEAD. in our pockets, and we at once observed a marked difference in the type and manner of the peasantry from that of the other villages. There were, how- ever, a few Christians resident in Esfia. On our way back we had a magnificent view over the plain and bay of Acre, with the ranges of the Galilee moun- tains beyond ; and plunging down to it by a very precipitous descent, were once more thrown upon our own instinct of locality to find our way. This led us into a perfect wilderness of sand-dunes, amid which, to the great distress of our poor horses, we floundered knee-deep in the loose sand in what seemed likely to be a vain attempt to reach the sea-shore. This, however, we at last succeeded in doing, and were only too thankful to cool ourselves by plunging into the waves. Then spurring on our jaded steeds, we reached Acre almost as tired as they were about sunset. Acre is the seat of government of the Mutes- sariflik ; and the governor, even more empress^ than his colleague at Nablous, no sooner heard of our arrival, than he sent to announce his intention of paying us a visit. We received him at the French convent, at which we had put up, with all the state we could muster, and were on the whole favourably impressed by his apparent desire to do his duty, and improve the condition of his province. The appearance of an Englishman in search of in- formation, and with letters enjoining civility on the TURKISH OFFICIALS. 337 authorities, suggests to their minds, in the existing state of relations between Turkey and England, a reform inspector of some kind, and they are conse- quently extremely anxious to impress upon him their determination to remedy abuses, abolish corruption, and introduce a new order of administration. With a suppressed and somewhat mysterious air of official dignity, the casual traveller might exercise a very wholesome influence on the minds of the more timid and impressionable functionaries. Now and then, doubtless, he would come across one of the old school, who would resent his interference fiercely, and treat him with the most profound contempt, if not insult ; but the general tone of those with whom I came in contact led me to believe that, under the apprehension which exists of the English Gov- ernment being likely to exercise an active, and, if necessary, forcible supervision over the internal ad- ministration of the country, a very decided impres- sion might be produced upon the local authorities by properly authorised English officials, the more especially as the people of all classes, religions, and races, have fixed their hopes on England as their deliverer from the evils of the administration under which they are now suffering ; but the conviction must be produced that if remonstrances are disre- garded, stronger measures will be resorted to. The Mutessarif told us that the combined effects of the withdrawal for the war of so large a proportion of Y 338 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the labouring population of the cattle disease, which had been raging virulently in some parts of his pro- vince of the unusual drought and of the necessity of squeezing taxes out of the people for the pur- pose of supplying the demands from Constantinople, had produced an unparalleled amount of misery, which he had found himself powerless in any way to mitigate. He was extremely anxious to see a railway constructed from the bay of Acre into the interior, and considered that Haifa would be a better terminus for it than Acre, not merely because the harbour was superior, but because, owing to Acre being a fortress, it was incapable of extension. In- side the walls, three-fourths of the town are taken up by barracks and Government buildings ; and out- side, no building is allowed to be built which would interfere with the fortifications. He had applied for permission to extend the town beyond the walls, but it had been refused. Nevertheless Acre remains from old tradition the emporium of the grain trade from the Hauran, and during the season from 4000 to 5000 camel-loads of grain arrive daily. Tyre and Tripoli are also great grain emporia, but Acre far surpasses either of them. If a railway, such as I propose, existed, Haifa would become the great depot on the coast for the whole of the interior. No doubt great quantities of sheep and cattle would also be sent down to it from Jaulan and the grazing- lands in the interior for exportation to Egypt and TYRE. 339 Other markets. Another curious article of traffic for which a railway is eminently adapted, are basalt grindstones from the Lejah. These now come on the backs of camels, principally to Tyre, where I saw a collection of them ; but as one forms a camel-load, they become pretty expensive by the time they reach their destination. The Mutessarif was strongly in favour of the line going by the plain of El Buttauf rather than by the plain of Esdraelon. Tyre, which we reached on the following day, is a most attractive little town, with a charming back country; but it does not possess the same elements of commercial prosperity, nor is its port so easily capable of reconstruction as its neighbour and ancient rival Sidon. Here the mercantile community is more active, and has struggled man- fully with the commercial difficulties with which they have had to contend. In former days the great industries were tobacco and silk, which they produced and exported in large quantities. The trade of Sidon in both articles has now been almost completely extinguished. The heavy duties put by the Government upon tobacco, even when ex- ported from one port in Turkey to another, has entirely ruined the tobacco cultivation, and Sidon now only grows enough for its own consumption. The silk trade has been seriously checked by the opening of the Suez Canal, which brought Eastern silk into ruinous competition with that which the 340 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Sidonians were able to produce. They now chiefly depend for their exports upon the lovely and exten- sive gardens which surround the town, and in which olives, oranges, bananas, and apricots are the prin- cipal objects of cultivation. All fruit, however, grows magnificently in the neighbourhood of Sidon ; and its annual export to Egypt alone, chiefly of fresh and dried fruit, is over 2,000,000 piastres. It is esti- mated that the port could be reconstructed at an expenditure of only ;^30,ooo, and there can be no doubt, if this be so, that it would well repay some enterprising English capitalist to undertake the work ; for in spite of the factitious prosperity of Beyrout, which has no harbour at all, Sidon would then, from its proximity to some of the most fertile regions in the Lebanon, spring into importance and attract a shipping trade on which dues could be levied which would amply repay the investment. Though not included within the ancient limits of Palestine, Sidon will probably be comprised within the future boundaries of this interesting country as its destiny begins to unfold itself. I have touched but lightly on my return journey from Jerusalem to Beyrout, for I scarcely diverged from the beaten track of tourists ; and the whole of Western Palestine has now been so thoroughly ex- plored and examined by the officers engaged in its recent survey, that little remains to be said about it. There can be no doubt that, in spite of its barren COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT. 341 and unpromising aspect in parts, this country is capable of great development ; indeed it is, with the exception of the Lebanon, the only province of the Turkish empire in which, of late years, a certain progress has been made ; and I believe that the successful creation of a colony to the east of the Jordan, connected with the sea-coast by a railway, would infallibly bring a stream of immigrants and a flow of capital into Western Palestine, under the in- fluence of which it would speedily become one of the most productive and fertile provinces of the Turkish empire. 342 CHAPTER XIII. EXCURSION FROM BEYROUT AIN ANUB A DRUSE ASSEMBLY DRUSE CHARACTER THEIR DIPLOMACY A SILK FACTORY THE VALLEY OF THE DAMUR PROSPERITY OF THE LEBANON ACCOUNTED FOR DER EL KAMR THE MARONITE PRIEST- HOOD BETEDDIN FEATS OF HORSEMANSHIP A NOISY WEL- COME ARRIVAL AT MUKHTARA. The traveller whose experience of Syria has been confined to its seaboard, and who has been con- tented to gaze at the snow-clad summits or barren- looking spurs of the Lebanon from the deck of a steamer or the veranda of a Beyrout hotel, can form no conception of the gems of scenery which lie buried in the wildest recesses of the range, and of the peculiar charm which its more remote and inac- cessible valleys possess. Even the road which tra- verses the mountains from Beyrout to Damascus fails to convey any adequate idea of the country which is to be found on either side of it, and which can only be explored by those prepared to encounter the hardships and discomforts which must always attend travel in a region where highways and hotels are unknown. In the first journey which I under- A ROAD IN THE LEBANON. 343 took in the Lebanon these inconveniences were, however, reduced to a minimum, and I was fortu- nate in visiting one of its most interesting and beau- tiful districts under auspices exceptionally favourable. One of the most powerful and well known of the Druse chiefs invited me to pay him a visit ; and as he was about to entertain Mr Eldridge, H.M.'s Consul-General for Syria, the latter was so good as to propose that I should form one of his party an offer which I thankfully accepted. It was on a hot April afternoon, two days after my arrival from Sidon, that we left Beyrout by the Damascus road in two carriages, traversing for a couple of hours the productive and beauti- ful gardens which surround the city, until we came to the spot where further progress in wheeled ve- hicles became impossible, and we found our horses waiting to carry us up the steep mountain -path which led to our night -quarters. We wound up- wards through groves of olives and mulberries, through gardens where peaches and apricots were in full bloom, where the fig-trees gave promise of a luscious harvest, where the whole atmosphere was redolent of the delicious odours of orange and lemon trees white with blossom ; along terraces where grain crops were waving, and the dark green of scattered pine-trees contrasted with the brighter foliage ; across sparkling rills of purest water gushing from the hill- sides, where women were filling their water -jars 344 THE LAND OF GILEAD. before nightfall ; while the view of the rich plain we had left, bathed in a sunset haze, grew ever more extended as we mounted higher, and the tints which played over it more exquisitely soft and varied, as the rays became more widely diffused. We were now entering the essentially Druse dis- trict of Esh-shuf, which is governed by a Caimakam appointed by the Governor-General of the Lebanon, selected from among the leading Druse families, and who is recognised as the official head of the Druses in the Lebanon. The present occupant of this im- portant position is the Emir Mustapha Ruslan, still a young man, and the head of a family which, if it does not wield the most powerful influence in the Lebanon, enjoys the distinction, where questions of precedence are involved, of ranking above all others by virtue of the title of Emir which is vested in the head of the house a circumstance which no doubt largely influenced the Governor- General in making the appointment. We were to pass the night at the residence of this high functionary ; and as we approached the village of Ain Anub, or " Fountain of Palms," in which his house is situated, he came out to meet us riding a handsome Arab gaily caparisoned, and accompanied by about twenty mounted retainers and village notables. The path was so rocky and narrow that we could only scramble along it in single file ; and as we AIN ANUB. 345 approached the village, it was bordered with roses and pomegranates. The villagers came out to meet us in the dusk, standing in a row, and touching the ground in low salutation as we passed, until we pulled up at the archway which formed the entrance to our host's abode an extensive two-storeyed edi- fice, built against the steep hillside, the flat roofs of the lower apartments forming terraces on which the upper or principal rooms opened. These ter- races commanded a wonderful view of coast -line and fertile valleys, and of Beyrout itself, with its gardens on one side and sand-hills on the other, stretching out on its promontory seaward. The reception-room, fitted with divans, was soon filled with a crowd of visitors, consisting of the sheikhs of the neighbouring villages, who had come here to make the Consul -General acquainted with their views in regard to certain questions of internal politics in which they were interested. Ever since the Druse nation was saved from extinction by British intervention and the firmness and skill of Lord Dufferin, they have looked upon the English as their natural protectors and allies. I have met individual Druses travelling in other parts of Syria who, finding I was an Englishman, at once called themselves countrymen ; and they are generally con- sidered, both by Christians and Moslems, to be identified to a peculiar extent with the British : hence the influence of the British Consul, if judi- 346 THE LAND OF GILEAD. ciously wielded, can be all-powerful ; and they nat- urally come to him as their guide, philosopher, and friend, to expound their grievances if they have any, to make known their wishes, and if there is any internal question or difference of opinion among themselves, to endeavour to enlist him on their side. The matter which on this occasion they came to discuss was evidently one which interested them warmly ; but they approached it somewhat circuit- ously, and only after a long preamble consisting chiefly of compliments. Three or four of the prin- cipal speakers rang the changes on these for some time, skilfully drawing nearer to the point by de- grees, like the sportsman who tries to approach an animal by going round it with constantly dimin- ishing circles, hoping thereby to lull the suspicions of his prey until he has got within shot. With a little practice these Druses would make first- rate diplomats ; and I would suggest to the Foreign Office whether, considering how much need there is in that department of the special qualities which the Druses possess in so eminent a degree, it might not be advantageously recruited from this source. Under a bold, frank, manly exterior, they conceal the utmost subtlety and cunning, and have a cap- tivating way of deceiving which quite redeems it from anything base or unworthy. They are in- debted to their religion for this art, and from early youth are trained to economise truth, and to dis- DRUSE CHARACTER. 347 semble both with Moslem and Christian in respect to their creed. They have one moral standard in their dealings with each other, and another which governs their intercourse with the rest of the world. Dissimulation is recognised by their religion as a laudable acquirement, and the necessity for it has doubtless been forced upon them by the peculiarity of their position. A mere handful of believers in tenets which, if they were generally known, would expose them to attack and persecution, they have learnt to become all things to all men, and even profess a sort of Mohammedanism among Moslems, just as they would with equal readiness profess Christianity did circumstances require it, whilst they were secretly nourishing a supreme contempt for both religions. They have a proverb which exactly expresses this tendency : " A man's shirt," they say, " does not change the colour of his skin." Hence they can transform the seeming of the outward man with great facility ; but it is very difficult to see beneath the shirts and to discover the colour of the moral epidermis. From the extremely bold and independent character of the race, it is probable that, were they powerful enough, they would scorn the devices to which an instinct of self-preservation has driven them to resort. Their Jesuitism, not having proselytism for its object, is not so much an inherent trait of their character as a growth upon it, and differs from that of Christians who practise 348 THE LAND OF GILEAD. arts of this description in the name of religion, as the cunning of the wild animal does from that of the poacher who is setting snares for him. We can excuse, and even admire, the one, while we have no sympathy with the other. Thus a Druse, though he may be as wily as a fox, is the very opposite of a sneak ; and his bold eye, and open and almost defiant countenance, are evidence that he attaches no idea of shame to proficiency in the arts of decep- tion which he practises. Our friends at Ain Anub, when they did get to the point, seemed to think that a great deal was to be done by a constant reiteration of it. After one chief had made his statement, which you felt meant something more than it openly expressed, another one would suddenly seem struck with an entirely new notion, and make identically the same statement in slightly varied language, with the same innuendo at the back of it ; and this would go all round the circle, until, out of the slight varia- tions, it dawned upon one what the hidden idea, to which none of them had given plain utterance, really was. As I listened to them, it occurred to me that these men would not only do for diplomatists, but would make excellent members of Parliament, and even Cabinet Ministers. Their faculty for saying one thing while meaning another, or for meaning more or less than they said as circumstances might require, was equal to anything I ever heard from the A KHAMSIN. 349 Treasury bench ; while they possessed that impertur- babiHty of countenance and immobiHty of expression which so many distinguished parHamentary leaders have vainly struggled to acquire. I was for some time a most interested listener, and was peculiarly struck by the fine physique and proud bearing of many of the sheikhs. They kept hammering away at the same point so much, that latterly I got somewhat bored ; but possibly that was the best way of carrying it. The patience of our Consul-General seemed, however, inexhaustible ; and as his experience in " the mountain " has been great, he understood exactly what they were driving at, and they probably obtained as much satisfaction as was deemed desirable. We sat down ten to dinner, which our host served to us in European style, his chef evidently being an artist of some pretensions ; and our sleeping accommodation was equally civilised. Unfortunately it came on to blow a khamsin in the night, and the heat was insuffer- able the hot wind whistling through every crevice, and so withering us up, that in the morning we felt disinclined for any exertion, and decided upon post- poning our departure till next day. This was a great opportunity for the sheikhs, who came and rehearsed the scene of the evening before over again. The only way to pass the day was to lie and pant in the shade, and look at the view ; but in the afternoon I mustered energy enough to mount 350 THE LAND OF GILEAD. my horse and ride up to the village of Shimlan, sit- uated near the top of the range, about 3000 feet above the sea-level, and commanding a still more magnificent prospect. Here one of the largest silk factories in the Lebanon is in full operation, and I was glad of the opportunity of examining the pro- cess. Unfortunately, the cocoon, which once gave the Lebanon silk its great superiority, no longer ex- ists, and has been replaced by those introduced from Japan, which are larger in size but inferior in tex- ture to those which have suffered extinction. Still, the silk industry is almost the only one in the pro- vince which is flourishing, and is indeed the staple product of the country. Its manufacture furnishes employment to some 6000 hands, to say nothing of the agricultural labour involved in the growth of mulberry-trees, the picking of the leaves, and so forth. Our road next morning lay across the ridge down into the valley of the Damur, which flows through a wild gorge towards the sea. We now lost sight of the coast, and our gaze wandered instead over the lovely valley beneath us, with villages nestling amid brightly varied foliage, or clinging to the sides of rugged rocks, their flat roofs sometimes supported by pillars and resting on arches, which gave them a peculiar and often elegant appearance. We de- scended into the gorge by a steep and very bad road, and then crossed the river which here wildly A FLOWERY VALE. 351 dashes between overhanging crags by a picturesque bridge called Jisr el Kadi. We met an old lady on it closely veiled, riding astride on a donkey, who, recognising the leader of our party, screamed out in a cracked voice, " God bless the Father of the Druses ! God bless England and give her victory !" with many other warm expressions of goodwill. In- deed I found the Druse women far more eager poli- ticians than Eastern females usually are, and very demonstrative in their way of expressing their sym- pathies. The hillsides were carpeted with wild flowers, among the most beautiful and conspicuous of which was the cyclamen in various shades, and growing in great abundance. Anemones, asphodel, iris, broom, and many other flowers were in full bloom, and the air was fragrant with scent. Near the river I observed a quantity of myrtle. Clamber- ing up the side of the opposite hill, we soon reached a spring in an olive -grove, which had been fixed upon as our mid-day resting-place ; and here we en- joyed that delightful hour of repose, the pleasures of which are familiar to every traveller who has ridden much in hot countries. The only drawback to it is that it has an end, and that a moment comes when one has once more to face the sun and the fatigue. We climbed another ridge, and descended upon a valley more thickly populated and richly cultivated than the one we had left one of the most beautiful, as it is one of the most fertile, districts in the Leb- 352 THE LAND OF GILEAD. anon. When one has been riding, as I had for some weeks previously, over the barren hills and wretched cultivation of thinly populated Western Palestine, it is impossible not to be struck by the contrast which the Lebanon presents, and which points its own moral. The comparative prosperity which the country enjoys is clearly to be attributed to the administra- tive concessions which were granted to the Lebanon after the massacres. No doubt the population is more civilised and enterprising than in many other parts of the Turkish empire, and their industrious habits are largely due to the fact that the area is so limited, and so thickly peopled, that every foot of land has to be cultivated ; but apart from this, there is a material wellbeing apparent, which is the result of the special privileges which have been granted to the people, and which exempts them from that vexa- tious interference from Constantinople that paralyses good government in so many of the other provinces of Turkey. The baleful influence of the corrupt centre thus extends to the extremities, and all efforts of the local authorities, however well intended, to reform abuses, are neutralised by the intrigues of those who fatten upon such abuses, and share the plunder which they derive from them with influen- tial politicians at Constantinople. No sooner is this most unhealthy bond of union severed than the pro- vince thus disconnected begins to improve. Under DER EL KAMR. 353 the rule of even a tolerably good governor, its indus- tries begin to revive ; flagrant abuses, no longer pro- tected at headquarters, are remedied ; and the people, masters to some extent of their own destinies, enjoy a security of life and property to which they have heretofore been strangers, and which encourages their spirit of enterprise. These signs of prosperity were conspicuously apparent as we approached the large town of Der el Kamr, which lays claim to the distinction of being the capital of the Lebanon. It is situated on a steep hillside, but every inch of the slope is terraced and cultivated with vines, mul- berries, fig and other fruit trees, and grain. There is not enough corn raised, however, to supply the wants of the population. The town contains from 7000 to 8000 inhabitants, and the houses were su- perior in construction and architecture generally to anything I had yet seen in the Lebanon. In former days Der el Kamr was a great Druse centre; but the Druses were driven out of it at the time of the massacres, and have now established their head- quarters at Baaklin, a village six or seven miles distant, and just hidden from view by the ridge of the other side of the valley. Although in the middle of a Druse district, Der el Kamr is almost exclusively Maronite, and was in a great state of ferment on the day of our arrival, for news had just been received of the pardon, under very humiliating conditions, of one of their leading z 354 THE LAND OF GILEAD. bishops, who had been exiled about a year before by the Governor-General, Rustem Pasha, for intriguing against his Government, and making himself generally obnoxious. As the entire Maronite population in the Lebanon only numbers about 150,000 souls, and as their spiritual welfare is confided to one patriarch, ten bishops, and some 7000 or 8000 monks and priests, it may be readily imagined that the ecclesiastical pot is kept perpetually on the boil, and that a large sup- ply of hot water is always gushing forth from this dis- proportionately large clerical reservoir. It is an in- disputable fact, and one susceptible of verification by any one who likes to take the trouble, that through- out both European and Asiatic Turkey, just in pro- portion as the clerical element preponderates in a Christian community, whether it be Catholic or Greek, are intrigues rampant, are quarrels instigated, and atrocities perpetrated. Where the proportion is so very large as in the Lebanon, even a massacre becomes possible ; and although upon the last occa- sion the slaughter recoiled upon those who instigated it, the instigators do not seem to have taken warning. The old fanatical influences are still at work, and are a source of endless trouble and difficulty to the un- fortunate Governor-General, even though, as in the case of the Lebanon, he must be himself a Christian. When he manifests impartiality, he is accused of impiety; while his attempts to control the passions of his fellow-Christians are stigmatised as treachery RUSTEM PASHA. 355 to a religion which professes to be one of brotherly- love. There has not for some time been a Governor- General of the Lebanon who has displayed greater firmness, tact, and impartiality than Rustem Pasha, the present occupant of that high office, and he has consequently to struggle against the whole clerical in- fluence of the country. His task is rendered doubly difficult from the fact that the Maronites are under a special French protectorate ; and although the pres- ent Government of France is not disposed to exercise its influence in favour of clericalism, the whole Cath- olic party in France is always ready to espouse the cause of the Maronite priesthood, doubtless from con- scientious though mistaken motives ; and this strong sympathy is apt to develop political consequences which call for the exercise of the greatest tact and moderation on the part of the diplomatic agents both of France and England in this quarter. Fortunately, when a healthy understanding exists, as has been the case for some time past, between the Governor-Gen- eral of the Lebanon and the Consuls - General of England and France, these disturbing influences can be controlled, for the population, when not worked upon by their priests, desire nothing more than to be allowed to live in peace and harmony with their Druse and Moslem neighbours ; and it is wonderful, considering the violence of the passions which were aroused less than twenty years ago, and the scenes 356 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of bloodshed to which they gave rise, how much good feeling existed among the peasantry, in spite of the never-ceasing efforts of their spiritual advisers to destroy it. This arises possibly from the fact that, with an increase of prosperity, the influence of the priesthood is somewhat on the wane ; while the un- blushing effrontery with which they amass wealth and drain the country for the maintenance of their ecclesiastical establishments, does not tend to increase their popularity. In Der el Kamr there was a de- cided clerical and anti-clerical party ; and although the clerical party was the strongest for the residence of the aggrieved bishop was in the immediate neigh- bourhood of the town, and his local influence was therefore considerable I was surprised, on convers- ing on the matter with some of its inhabitants, to find how very decidedly his conduct was condemned, and how warmly the action of the Governor-General was supported. We were met before entering the town by a mounted deputation, who formed an escort. Among the notables were several who spoke French, and there was altogether an air of civilisation about the place which one hardly expected to find in a remote valley of the Lebanon. A good carriage-road, about two miles long, connects Der el Kamr with the palace of Beteddin, the summer residence of the Governor- General, who, unfortunately for us, was absent on the occasion of our visit. The town and the palace stand BETEDDIN. 357 facing each other on opposite sides of the valley. Both are about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and the view of each from the other is strikingly picturesque. The rambling palace of Beteddin is perched on a projecting promontory, and forms an imposing object as one ascends to it from the bottom of the valley. As we clattered up to the gateway we received quite a magnificent reception : two hundred men all Lebanon militia, but as well set up and uniformed as any line regiment were drawn up, and presented arms as we passed into the large outer court, which is at once a parade-ground and prin- cipal entrance to the palace ; round it are barracks for 600 men, prisons, the military store departments, and various offices. Passing through a gateway ornamented with frescoes and mosaic-work, we enter another courtyard, and here I was strongly reminded of the old palace of the Tartar Khans at Baktshi Serai, in the Crimea. It was surrounded by apart- ments and galleries, and a fountain played in the middle indeed there was a wealth of water every- where throughout the palace. Then we passed through still another gateway, more elaborately decorated with carving and Arabesque work, which led us into an inner court. This had formerly been the harem, but the Governor-General had made it his private apartments and reception-rooms. Here we were entertained with coffee and sherbet by the officer in command of the troops, and we talked over 358 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the politics of the Lebanon past and present, and of the history of the palace, and its builder in particular. As it is little more than fifty years since it was com- pleted, this history does not go very far back, and the influence of the stirring events of which it was the scene still strongly colours the politics of " the Mountain." The Druses, like the Highlanders of Scotland, with whom they have many national char- acteristics in common, are essentially feudal, and their history resolves itself into a record of perpet- ual struggles for supremacy between rival chiefs or heads of clans. During the last century the two most powerful families in the Lebanon were the Shehab and the Jumbelat. In those days it used to be said that the Shehab were the brains, the Jumbelat the purse, and another family, distinguished for its valour in war, the sword of the Druses. The Shehab are said originally to have come from the Hauran in the time of the Crusaders, and to have settled at Has- beya, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, where they acquired great power and influence. About 200 years ago they moved to this part of the Lebanon, and took an active share in the clan warfare which was continually going on between the principal families. By degrees they acquired an almost para- mount influence, and in 1789 the since celebrated Emir Beshir, then chief of the family, was chosen as head Sheikh of the Druses. At this time the author- THE SHEHAB AND THE JUMBELAT. 359 ity of the Porte in the Lebanon was little more than nominal, and the Christians were unable to compete in warlike prowess with the Druses, who practically governed the country. As, however, the Druses were constantly fighting among themselves, the Maronites could always make their influence felt by allying themselves with one side or the other ; and the Emir Beshir, in order the better to conciliate them, professed to have strong Christian tendencies, and allowed it even to be supposed that he was a thor- ough Christian at heart. His great rival was the Sheikh Beshir, of the Jumbelat family a man who, in addition to his great natural gifts, possessed im- mense wealth, and wielded a corresponding influence. At first the Emir Beshir found it to be for his interest to keep on good terms with his powerful rival, the Sheikh Beshir, waiting for the day to come when his schemes were so far matured, and his power sufficiently consolidated, that he might take a line of his own. In furtherance of his project, he went to Egypt to seek the alliance of Ibrahim Pasha; and when this was secured, and he found himself able to defy his rival, the smouldering fire burst forth, and^ a fierce contest ensued, which was decided on a plain which I afterwards crossed and the Emir Beshir, assisted by the Egyptians, was victorious, and succeeded in capturing the Sheikh Beshir, whom he sent as a prisoner to Acre, where he was strangled, and his property confiscated. 360 THE LAND OF GILEAD. The Egyptians having thus, with the aid of the Emir Beshir, obtained a foothold in the Lebanon, proceeded, in order to secure themselves there, to disarm the Druses ; for although the Sheikh Beshir had been conquered, a large party remained faithful to his cause, and vehemently opposed to the allies of the Emir Beshir. In order to keep them in check, Ibrahim Pasha armed the Maronites, while the Turks instigated the Druses to revolt against the Egyptians, and the allies of Turkey supplied them with arms for this purpose. When the final struggle between the Turks and Egyptians culminated in the defeat of the latter, owing to the assistance rendered to the Sultan by England, the Emir Beshir, who had remained faithful to the Egyptians, was captured and sent as a prisoner to Malta in an English man- of-war. After this the Maronites and Druses took to murdering each other, which they continued to do with more or less energy until i860, when the great massacres took place, and caused that intervention on the part of the Western Powers which resulted in the administrative autonomy of the Lebanon, and in the arrangement which has secured to this once turbulent region twenty years of comparative peace and prosperity. It was in the palmy days of the Emir Beshir's rule that he built the palace of Be- teddin, which, however, he only occupied for a few years after its completion, and soon after his capture it began to fall into disrepair. His widow had no [ BETEDDIN. 361 funds to keep it in order, and it was bought not very long ago by the Turkish Government, and con- verted into the residence of the Governor-General. The beautiful decorations in some of the rooms prove the Emir Beshir to have been a man of taste. The marble carvings of the wainscotings are most elaborate and highly finished, bordered with Arab- esques and mosaic -work ; while the ceilings are supported by light, graceful columns. At one end of the garden, cypresses and wee'ping-willows indi- cate the spot where the first wife of the Emir lies buried ; and near it is the Turkish bath, all in marble, now out of repair, but equal in decoration to any- thing of the kind to be found elsewhere. The gar- den and terraces command a magnificent view of the broad winding valley, clothed with wood or terraced with vineyards. The extensive stables under the palace would afford luxurious accommodation for a whole cavalry regiment, though at present they are only occupied by about fifty dragoons. All the military accoutrements are home made ; and I saw some tailors actively at work on sewing-machines in the store department, which also contained the arms and ammunition for the force. It was a pleas- ure to be in a country where life and property are protected by the people themselves. The hateful Kurdish zaptieh and lawless Bashi-Bazouk are here unknown. All the mounted police are furnished by the Lebanon itself, are properly paid, and kept in 362 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Strict discipline by the present Governor- General. The taxes are so very much too light that the Lebanon is a financial burden to the Porte. The method of their collection is regulated by the condi- tions of *' the settlements " arrived at after the mas- sacres ; the people are thus spared the infliction of the two curses of Turkish rule the foreign police- man and the tax-gatherer. On the top of the ridge behind Beteddin lies the small plain upon which the battle between the Emir Beshir and the Sheikh Beshir was fought. Here we were met by a deputation of horsemen from Mukhtara, led by the young Sheikh Nejib Jumbelat, the eldest grandson of the Sheikh Beshir, and con- sequently the head of the family. He was a good- looking young man, mounted on a handsome Arab gorgeously caparisoned ; but he apologised for the steeds of his retainers, as he said the best horses at this season of the year were all out at grass. This, however, did not prevent one of them from executing an equestrian ** fantasia " on the battle- plain, to the great admiration of the rest of the company, as he was celebrated for his skill in horse- manship. Dashing forward at full gallop, he made his long lance whirl rapidly round the neck of his horse and his own body, till it spun like a Catherine wheel ; then he twisted it with surprising rapidity round his own neck ; then made it spin sideways, first on his right side and then on his left, keeping PALACE OF MUKHTARA. 363 his horse meanwhile in full career, while both hands were more or less engaged in performing these feats with the lance, which he only once dropped in an effort to surpass himself. Some of these men are extremely expert in playing th.e.jereed, and the game sometimes waxes earnest as hard knocks are given and received ; but unfortunately they were not suf- ficiently well mounted to exhibit their skill and prowess on this occasion. We now descended into another, and if possible more richly cultivated, valley than either of those we had already traversed, and the view from the top of the ridge before we commenced the descent was so striking as to compel a halt. At our feet, embedded in foliage and situated on the angle of a bold pro- montory, formed by the confluence of the two streams Awati and Kharabeh, stood the palace of Mukh- tara, more imposing for situation and more pictur- esque in its architecture than even Beteddin. Away to the right, its pointed crest, streaked with snow, towering among the clouds to a height of 6100 feet, rose the lofty Tomat Niha ; and on the plateau, about half-way up the mountain, lay the town of Yezzin. It is situated on the edge of a cliff, over which the stream which supplies the town with water precipitates itself in a fall of 1 50 feet. We could see the thin white streak in the distance as it foamed down to join the Awati. This river, which is the ancient Bostrenus, falls into the sea about a mile to 364 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the north of Sidon. At its confluence with the Yez- zin brook stand four columns of Egyptian granite, four feet thick and thirteen feet high, probably Phoe- nician. The main range of the Lebanon, averaging from 5000 to 6000 feet in height, dotted here and there with stumps of fir or cedar, but otherwise rugged and barren, closed the prospect immediately in front of us. The whole view was gloriously illu- minated by the setting sun ; and the tinted roofs and white balconies of Mukhtara, crowded with spectators in anticipation of our arrival, with its tributary vil- lages nestling amid luxuriant foliage, gave an air of comfort and civilisation to the scene, which con- trasted most agreeably with the desolate - looking range behind. After a short and steep descent we reached the village of Jedeideh, where the whole population turned out and lined the roadside, wel- coming us with low salutations ; and then from the opposite side of the valley burst upon our ears the strange wild cadence of hundreds of voices chanting the song of welcome. Plunging down into the gorge, thickly wooded with oaks, poplars, and chestnut-trees, we crossed the rushing torrent by a picturesque bridge ; but its roar failed to deaden the chorus which was now approaching, as groups of men, sing- ing and clapping their hands frantically, came crowd- ing down to welcome us. As we wound up the zig- zag path leading to the palace the scene became more and more dramatic in its effects. First herald- A DRUSE WELCOME. 365 ing US with their triumphant shouts, as with the agihty of mountaineers they sprang up the steep hillside, went the footmen ; then came the caval- cade with sword and spear and flowing robes of bright colours ; and now groups of women in white veils, with only one eye exposed, came trooping down the village paths, to swell the procession and add their shrill greetings. When the piercing zalghoot bursts from some hundreds of female throats for the first time, one's immediate impression is that all the women in the place are being beaten by their hus- bands, for it ends in a kind of wail, hardly expressive of joy or triumph ; but it acts upon the nerves of the men as the pibroch of a bagpipe does upon a High- lander, only, doubtless, far more effectively ; and, indeed, these Druses are accustomed to be stimu- lated very much, not merely by the voices, but by the eye of beauty. It is true it is only one eye a Druse woman never shows more than one eye but probably from the fact that the rest of the face has to be judged by this single orb, they throw more expression into it than the Western female can con- centrate in two ; at all events, these Druse women certainly do play a very much more active part in affairs generally than women who hide their faces do elsewhere. No sooner did they set up their shrill screams than the men began to sing more madly, and clap their hands and fire off guns more wildly. As we passed beneath latticed windows more women 366 THE LAND OF GILEAD. looked out, and sprinkled rose-water over us, and made long shrill speeches to us, which I could not understand, but which I am told consisted of bless- ings and praises ; and a boy came and poured coffee under our horses' feet as a special mark of honour and respect; and so at last, half stunned with noise, we arrived under the lofty walls of Mukh- tara. Built against the steep hill, Mukhtara has a fa9ade five storeys high, with curious projecting stone stair- cases, ascending from one storey to the other on the outside, and a terrace and fountains on the fourth storey, where light graceful columns support the blue-domed roofs, and where a large crowd was now gathered, while the women were clustered like flies upon the balconies and stairs. Here we were met by the second brother, Nessib Bey, and con- ducted up to the terrace, where all the most distin- guished neighbours were gathered, and where we were shown our sleeping apartments, and the pre- parations which had been made for our accommoda- tion. On two sides of the large quadrangular ter- race were reception and dining rooms ; in the centre of each was a fountain of the clearest water. On the third side were the sleeping apartments ; while the fourth was open, and from its lofty elevation commanded a splendid view of the wild yet fertile valley. This court was surrounded by light columns, and in the centre of it was another fountain. We THE SPIRITUAL CHIEF OF THE DRUSES. 367 sat down to dinner, a party of fourteen. Besides the two brothers Jumbelat were several of the principal family retainers, and the spiritual chief of the Druses. To me this was the most interesting personage pres- ent; a man of not more than forty years of age, he is looked up to by the whole nation for his saga- city and personal piety. He was a silent, reserved man, of unusually dark complexion, a thoughtful brow, and extremely soft eye and gentle expression. There was a dignified repose of manner, a perfect self-possession, and, withal, a keenness of intelligence in his bearing, which w^ere well calculated to impose respect. Although he had been only recently ap- pointed to fill the important position he occupied, he had already won golden opinions ; and the fact that he owed his nomination chiefly to the influence of our own Consul-General illustrates in a striking manner the exceptional position which England occupies among the Druses. When the occupant of this high office enjoys the respect and esteem of the nation, his authority among them becomes almost paramount ; and it is important, therefore, that his personal relations with the chief British political authority should be of a cordial nature. Though enjoying the highest consideration among thfe chief families of the Druses, it is not necessary that their religious head should be himself noble ; on the con- trary, this man's father, who had wielded immense influence in the same capacity, was of humble origin. 368 THE LAND OF GILEAD. He was universally beloved and regretted, having recently died at a great age. So far as I could judge, his son seemed likely to prove a most worthy successor. Though the appointments of the dinner- table were European, the repast itself was thor- oughly characteristic. After soup came a whole sheep, stuffed with rice and seeds from the cone of the pine (it had been boiled in lebe^i, or sour milk) ; then there was couscoussu, or stuffed cucumbers ; then egg-plant, also farci; with other preparations of meat and vegetables all very palatable and an excellent pudding. I observed that the sweet part of the repast seemed the most popular among the natives, who possessed a great capacity for dispos- ing of it. After dinner came toasts, and the health of the Queen and the Consul-General, and prosperity to the family of Jumbelat was drunk. The wife of the eldest son was at the moment in an inter- esting condition, and the hopes of the family were centred on the result. She had already had six children four girls and two boys ; but both the boys had died, and the family was without an heir. The anxiety of the whole neighbourhood was intense on the subject. I therefore ventured to propose as a toast the health of the lady ; and as I did not see that there was any reason why one should not drink to the health of a child not yet born, I coupled with it that of the infant. Perhaps it was some- what premature to anticipate the sex, but I felt that THE JUMBELATS. 369 the exigencies of the occasion required it, and so we drank to the future son and heir. I am happy to say that we were fully justified in so doing by the result. When we went back into the court- yard we found that it was brilliantly illuminated with coloured lanterns. The neighbouring villages had responded to the display, and numerous lights twinkled among- the foliage on the hillsides ; while bonfires were lighted on their summits, to which we replied with a display of rockets. Some more notables had arrived during dinner, and we found that a sort of levde was still to be held before we could seek repose. Over coffee and narghilds we listened to their professions of devotion to England and to the Jumbelat family. They were profuse in their expressions of esteem for Mr Eldridge, our Consul-General, and gratitude to him for the protection he had accorded, and the benefits he had been able to confer upon the house of Jumbelat; and they seemed most anxious to im- press upon me, as a stranger, the great power and influence in the Lebanon of my hosts. Indeed, the Jumbelats appear to occupy among the Druses very much the same position that the MacCallum More did in old time among the clans in the High- lands, and, like the Campbells, they have their rivals and enemies, and lose no occasion to strengthen themselves politically. They enjoy the special pro- tection of England ever since Lord Dufferin rescued 2 A 370 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the family from beggary and ruin. The two brothers were then children ; the once magnificent property of their grandfather, the Sheikh Beshir, had, as I have already described, been confiscated ; and after the massacres, the family seemed in a fair way to become altogether extinguished, when our High Commissioner took compassion upon them, and succeeded in recovering some of their property, placing the lads under the special guardianship of the Consul-General. From that time their affairs have been managed, and the young men themselves have been brought up, more or less under British supervision. They are now once more one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, family in the Leba- non ; and as they feel they owe it all to England, their devotion and gratitude are unbounded, and this sentiment extends naturally throughout the whole dis- trict, in which their influence is supreme. This ac- counts for the extreme cordiality of our reception, and for the warm demonstrations of goodwill of which we were the objects. In an interesting conversation which I had with the spiritual chief, he assured me that the Druses of the Hauran, together with those of the Lebanon, were one in sentiment ; that they all acknowledged him as their religious superior; that in the Hauran they were as devoted to England as they are in the Lebanon, and that at any moment that the Queen gave the word, they were ready to turn out 25,000 fighting men who would go to war OUR DRUSE ALLIES. 371 for her in any cause. Since i860 a large emigration has taken place from the Lebanon to the Hauran, and it is estimated that the Druse population of "The Mountain" is now not above 13,000, while the Hauran contains about 50,000. Altogether the Druse nation numbers probably between 70,000 and 80,000 souls, and constant communication is kept up between the two parts of the country in w^hich they are settled. The day may come when it may be well to remember that we have a warlike people in Syria absolutely devoted to us, and only longing to prove that devotion in acts. No doubt they believe that they would derive ultimate advantage from a cordial co - operation with England. All alliances are, in fact, based on this anticipation ; but there are degrees of loyalty and degrees of fighting capacity, and England may look far before she would find a recruiting-ground which could furnish so brave and loyal a contingent as the country of the Druses. So firmly are they penetrated with the closeness of their relations to England, that I was surprised to find how many knew a little English, that language being the only foreign tongue they ever learn. The brothers Jumbelat spoke and wrote it with ease. The family now own about twenty villages, and can put into the field from five to six thousand fighting men. I was astonished to learn that about half their tenants and retainers were Christians. 372 THE LAND OF GILEAD. They were not to be distinguished from Druses except by the absence of the white turban, and jpined in the manifestations of joy as heartily as the Druses themselves. One of the brothers told me that they were careful to make no distinction be- tween Christians and Druses in their treatment of them that they all lived most harmoniously toge- ther ; and certainly, so far as demonstration went, the popularity of the family seemed unbounded among their own followers, whether Druse or Christian. After the levSe was over, the mother of our hosts came to pay us a visit. Indeed she was really our hostess, and controlled the affairs of the family. To her tact and ability, aided by British assistance, is largely due the restoration of its fallen fortunes ; and it was easy to perceive, after a few moments' conversation, that she was by no means an ordinary person. She was dressed in Druse costume, cut away exceedingly in front her ample bosom con- cealed by a gauze under-garment, and on her head a veil, one corner of which she held before her mouth, but evidently more from habit than from any real desire to conceal her features, her age and long intimacy with the Consul- General render- ing her somewhat indifferent in this respect. In her expressions of welcome and solicitude about our comfort, she did the honours as one accustomed to rule, and ^2l^ grande dame jusqit au bout des angles. After the fatigue and excitement of so long a BIRTH OF A SON AND HEIR. 373 day, I was not sorry when at last the moment came for retiring to rest, though, as it turned out, that rest was destined to be of short duration ; for at about two o'clock in the morning I was awoke by a shrill scream, apparently from a room in the immediate neighbourhood, which made me start in alarm lest some dreadful catastrophe had occurred. It was followed by another and another, and in a moment I recognised that it was the zalghoot. I at once inferred that the expected event had occurred, and that it was a boy ! Not for the birth of any female infant would the Druse women have set up such a scream of rejoicing : a girl indeed would have been considered a profound misfortune, and the congrat- ulations which we were prepared to shower upon the head of the happy father would in that case have been converted into condolences. It was evi- dent there was to be no more sleep for any one that night such a bustle, and a hurrying to and fro, and shrill screaming went on until dawn, when enthusiastic clansmen began firing off guns under the young mother's window, just at the moment when she most needed quiet. So as sleep was no longer possible, I rose with the first peep of day, to see how the birth of a young Druse chief was cele- brated in the heart of the Lebanon. To the left of the terrace, and thirty or forty feet below it, was a court through which flowed a stream of sparkling water into a square cistern, near which stood two 374 THE LAND OF GILEAD. or three handsome trees. The roofs of the buildings which enclosed this court were crowded even at this early hour with women, who were looking down and screaming their applause at the picturesque groups as they came trooping in, firing their guns and wav- ing them in the air, to join in the dance of triumph. In the centre of the court the crowd had formed a circle, and in the midst of it danced a lithe active figure in bright attire, who, waving his drawn sword in one hand and the scabbard in the other, was per- forming a sort of war-dance to the music of loud sing- ing and clapping of hands, accompanied by squealing pipes, and drums made after the fashion of Indian tom-toms. Every now and then men rushed out of the crowd and fired their guns into the tank. Sometimes the volleys poured into the water literally lashed it into foam. What with the loud chanting, the discordant music, the perpetual firing, the clap- ping of hands, and the screaming of women, the clamour became almost deafening. All this time, as the more distant villages sent in their contingents, each led by its headman, the crowd kept increasing and the hubbub waxing louder. More circles were formed, in some of which two performers danced and went through a sort of mock combat, changing their step and the measure of their sword-cuts with the time of the music, which itself changed as the village poets arrived and circulated scraps of paper on which were written songs appropriate to the occasion. DRUSE FESTIVITIES. 375 Seated on the ground as spectators were the Ukkul or " initated," and the Uwhahid who aspire to a still greater degree of sanctity. The Druse is always to be distinguished by the white turban wound round his tarboosh or fez ; but the learned in the mysteries of their religion wear, in addition to this, an abeih or wide-sleeved cloak with black and white stripes. They were too grave and reverend seigniors to take any more active part in the festivities than that of silent and approving spectators. They abstain from excesses of any kind, never taste wine or tobacco, and preserve a severe and sedate deportment upon upon all occasions. In conversation they never use a bad word, or oath, or even an expression which the most fastidious taste of the country does not pro- nounce to be perfectly proper. Indeed, all the Druse men are distinguished for their abstemiousness and moderation, as their women are remarkable for their virtue ; and although upon this occasion the fes- tivities were kept up until the evening, and must have been participated in by about two thousand persons of both sexes, there was no unseemly boister- ousness or excess of any kind, nor, so far as I know, was any beverage stronger than coffee provided by the munificent hosts who had during the day to feed this immense crowd. Mutton and rice were the staple articles of diet, and I am afraid to say how many sheep were killed and how much rice was con- sumed. After the novelty of the scene had worn 376 THE LAND OF GILEAD. off, it must be admitted that the dancing became somewhat monotonous, and the noise wearisome and confusing. I thought of the poor sick woman in whose honour it was all done, and contrasted these deafening demonstrations with the straw -strewn street which insures quiet to the London fashion- able patient under similiar circumstances. Once the performances were varied by a sort of burlesque, and a group of men and women, pre- ceded by capering men fantastically dressed, and performing on pipes and drums, appeared. Some of the men were disguised as women, one especially represented a bride, and another a decrepit old hag. The latter, nearly bent double, carried a basket and a knife, while from her forehead projected the Druse horn a part of female attire which has now entirely fallen into disuse. She was supposed to be an alle- gorical representation of "the past;" "the present" was symbolised by the handsome young bride, who, attended by one of her maidens also a youth in girl's attire ^ proceeded to execute a fantasia not unlike a nautch-dance in the middle of the group, while the old woman kept getting in the way, dig- ging up roots with her knife and putting them in her basket, performing various sly antics all the while, and keeping the spectators in a high state of mer- riment, the more especially when she and a man dressed as a buffoon had a passage of arms in which the latter got decidedly the worst of it. The women, who were looking on from the balconies of the pal- DIVORCE AMONG THE DRUSES. 377 ace and the neighbouring roofs, seemed especially to enjoy the fun, and in their excitement occasionally afforded me a glimpse of the other eye. Indeed, I had more than once an opportunity of seeing a re- markably pretty face ; but as a rule, the Druse women veil their beauty more jealously than Turkish wo- men, while in other respects they seem to take a far more active share in the affairs of life, and to enjoy a considerable amount of independence. On the other hand, divorce consists in the simple formality of a man saying to his wife that she had better go back to her mother. After this has been repeated three times, she has nothing for it but to return to the bosom of her family a custom which it is evident must serve as a wholesome check upon mothers-in- law. Considering the great facility of the operation, it is much to the credit of the Druses that divorce among them is not so common as it would be if they were English, and had to apply to a judge for it. In the eyes of our venerable hostess and her two sons our visit seemed quite an auspicious event : it had served as a sort of signal for the appearance of the long-wished-for son and heir. In consequence of the confidence with which I had proposed his health the night before, I think I was suspected of having exercised some sort of occult influence, and enjoyed a corresponding amount of consideration. At all events, I had the privilege of seeing not only the old lady and heaping upon her my congratulations, but a young married daughter, who was dressed in 378 THE LAND OF GILEAD. European costume, and whose veil was not too thick or jealously worn to conceal her fair features. I tried, later on in the day, to get my friend the spiritual chief into a quiet corner, and converse with him on the subject of his religion. But I found the one task as hopeless as the other. The noise pene- trated everywhere, but the holy man was impene- trable, and skilfully evaded all approach to the mysterious topic, so I was forced to have recourse to other sources of information ; and I am chiefly indebted to Dr Wortabet of Beyrout, who formed one of our party to Mukhtara, to Captain Phibbs, and to Mr Chirol, with whom I afterwards travelled in the country of the Maronites, for the particulars contained in the following chapter in regard to the particular character of Druse theology. MUKHTARA. 379 CHAPTER XIV. ORIGIN OF THE DRUSE RELIGION THE IMAUMAT CONNECTION OF DRUSE THEOLOGY WITH CHINA THE ORIGIN OF EVIL THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS DRUSE VIEW OF CHRIST THE FOUR MINISTERS OF TRUTH THE DAY OF JUDGMENT CEREMONY OF INITIATION SECRET ORGANISA- TION DRUSE WOMEN AIN MATUR. In the preface to the Baron Silvestre de Sacy's book on the Druse Religion, which was pubHshed in 1839, he tells us that it was written forty years prior to that date, but that he deferred publishing it in the hope of receiving from the East fresh Druse MSS. which might throw further light upon their doc- trines. This hope not having been realised, he finally decided to publish the only elaborate account which exists of their religion, and which is, consequently, more than eighty years old. He derived his infor- mation principally from the four volumes of Hamza's treatise on the Unity of God in the National Library in Paris ; besides which, he refers to some MSS. which are in the Vatican, and in the Bodleian Li- brary at Oxford. During the wars waged by Ibrahim Pasha and 380 THE LAND OF GILEAD. the Maronites against the Druses in the years 1837- 1842, and more especially during the massacres of i860, some more of their sacred books have come to light, which have been carefully studied and ana- lysed by Dr Wortabet, whose thorough knowledge of Arabic admirably fitted him for the task, and a rdsum^ of their contents was published by him in a work now out of print.^ It is supposed that with this addition to the exhaustive and elaborate treatise of De Sacy, which fills two volumes, we are in posses- sion of the whole body of that Druse theology which has been so carefully guarded for so many years from profane investigation. Mr Chirol, however, from a study of the influences under which their religion was evolved, and from hints which he suc- ceeded in obtaining from conversation with initiated Druses, is of opinion that their theology contains arcana which are only dimly shadowed forth in the outward expression of them contained in the sacred books ; and that the latter possess an internal mean- ing, similar to that with which Swedenborg has in- vested the Bible, known only to the Uwhahid, who themselves belong to a grade of initiated superior to the Ukkul. And this is the more probable, because one of the fundamental dogmas of the founders of the heretical sects was the allegorisation of the Koran, which is called Taweel, or the interpretation, in contradistinction to Tanzeel, or descent, which is ^ Researches into the Religions of Syria. ORIGIN OF THE DRUSE RELIGION. 381 used for the literal meaning of the words of the Koran. Religion, according to this teaching, did not consist in external observances (viz., '* Zakir," or " the outward "), but in the internal feeling (" il Batin," or " the inward ") ; hence the numerous sects which pretended to the knowledge of the inner meaning of the Koran were called " Batineel." The Metawalies of the present day take their name from their belief in the " Taweel." It is said that this inner meaning pertains to the Bible, and to all sacred books ; and therefore, as no doubt their own sacred books are- included, no one who is not a Uwhahid, even though he be in possession of the whole body of Druse theology, can know its hidden mysteries. The history of the origin of the Druse religion seems to be pretty well ascertained. When Ebn Saba, whom Makrizi and other writers suppose to have been of the Jewish race, and who lived in the first century of the Hegira, promulgated the doctrine that Mohammed had left the Imaumat to his son-in- law Ali, the husband of Fatima, he found in Persia a population whose previous theological tendencies were essentially of an esoteric character. Accord- ingly, out of the great Shiite sect which then arose, and which has since divided Islam with the Sunnis, numerous mystical sects sprang into existence, all turning more or less upon the question of Imaumat succession. For it was held, very much upon the principle which characterises the Christian dogma of 382 THE LAND OF GILEAD. apostolic succession, that the divine attributes at- taching to the Imaumat could only descend through a direct succession of Imaums. This doctrine natu- rally suggested, later on, interminable and compli- cated questions of pedigree, upon which the succes- sion depended, of which the most prominent were : the occult infusion of divinity into Imaums ; their disappearance from objective vision ; the existence of latent or silent Imaums ; the transmigration of souls ; the allegorical interpretation of the Koran and other sacred books ; and the reappearance upon earth of the Imaum, in whom the Deity would finally descend, without, however, being thereby incarnated ; for these sects held the Sabian doctrine, as explained by Shehrestani, " that there is a descent of the divine essence, or a descent of the Deity, and a partial descent, or a descent of a portion of His essence, according to the degree of preparedness of the per- son." The second and third centuries after the Hegira were consequently prolific with Batineel sects, of which the most prominent were the Motazales, the Carmathians, and the Djamis, which were all more or less pervaded with these mystical dogmas, of which the Ismailians, the Ansariyeh, and the Druses are the best known modern representatives. The actual founder of the Druse sect, who is now adored by them as the last and most perfect of the ten manifestations of the Deity in human form, was one of the Fatimite Khalifs of Egypt, so called on ac- HAKIM. 383 count of their pretended descent from Fatima, the wife of AH and daughter of Mohammed. The Fatimite Khahfs were IsmaiHans, or followers of Ismail, the son of Jaafer the Just, the sixth Imaum, who died a.d. 765, leaving Moussa, his second son, as his heir and suc- cessor, Ismail, the eldest son, having predeceased him ; but many of the sheikhs refused to recognise Moussa, declaring that the Imaumat could only pass to the eldest son. Moussa was finally assassinated in A.D. 799 by the Khalif Haroun al Raschid. The Druses, the Ismailians (or Assassins during the time of the Crusades), and the Ansariyeh, are all follow- ers of Ismail ; but it was not till two hundred years after his death that the Druses became a distinct sect. At that time, or at the close of the tenth cen- tury, there reigned in Egypt a certain Khalif called Hakim the Strong, who declared himself to be a man- ifestation of the invisible Imaum, and to be as God upon the earth ; basing his pretensions on the fact that he was a descendant of Abdullah Ibn Maimun, who had successfully assumed the part of the de- ceased Ismail, on the theory that the Imaumat was never extinguished, but at times latent in the persons of various providential representatives. His preten- sions were supported by a Persian emigrant then in Cairo, named Mohammed Ben Ismail el Durzi ; in- deed they were inspired by him, and were afterwards adopted by a man of remarkable ability, a certain Hamza-ibn-Ali, surnamed Al-Hadi, or the director, 384 THE LAND OF GILEAD. who was the chief author of their sacred books. Hamza, in fact, claimed all the credit of the discovery of the divine character of Hakim, and soon acquired a complete ascendancy over the mind of that prince, who was in reality a monster of depravity, and his pretensions were naturally considered blasphemous by his Moslem subjects. To meet the opposition which they excited, he did his utmost, at the instiga- tion of Hamza, to curry favour both with Christians and Jews ; and, in order to win them to a recognition of his claims to being the Messiah whom they ex- pected, granted them complete religious liberty, and many other privileges. Durzi meantime was first discredited, then reported to have been murdered, and finally, with the conniv- ance of Hakim, who probably felt that he owed him a debt of gratitude, succeeded in escaping to Syria, where he established himself on the western slopes of Hermon near Hasbeya, and began to preach the new faith. Within a mile and a half of the town is the Khalwet el Biyad, considered to this day the central shrine of the sect, from which, in 1838, the sacred books once preserved there were carried off by the Egyptians. His doctrines were at once ac- cepted by the inhabitants, who carried them to their comrades in the Lebanon, who were thenceforward known as Druses, or followers of Durzi. He was afterwards excommunicated, and enjoys no credit among the Druses, though his name still remains ; DRUSE CONNECTION WITH CHINA. 385 but Soloman, another Persian who followed him to Syria, and became a teacher among them, is still held in much honour. The nation or tribe, whichever it may have been, that accepted the doctrines of Hakim, had not long previously arrived from the north of Syria, chiefly from the Jebel-el-Ala, near Aleppo, where some still remained, and a quarter of the city is actually called to this day the Hana Jumbelat, after the family with whom I was now staying. They had, no doubt, be- come strongly tainted with the Ismailian doctrines prevalent in these parts, and were therefore predis- posed to receive the teaching of El Durzi. Hakim, whose cruelty and ferocity amounted to insanity, was finally murdered by his subjects, whom his crimes had driven to desperation. According to the Druses, however, who deny his notoriously bad character, he did not die, but was translated, and his soul went to China, whither it has since been followed by the souls of all pious Druses, who are supposed to be occupying in large numbers certain cities in the west of China, and preparing for the great event which the Druses believe to be now impending. This connection of their theology with China is probably due to the affinity which seems to exist between the esoteric side of Buddhism^ and that of the Druse religion, the fundamental principle of 1 In Benjamin of Tudela's book of travels, there is a curious notice of Druses having been met with in Ceylon. 2 B 386 THE LAND OF GILEAU. which would appear to be an enhghtened and spir- itual pantheism all things created being emana- tions from the Deity, tending through the influence of sin towards imperfection, but which, by the moral necessity for the final triumph of goodwill, gradu- ally reascend by a process of regeneration, until all things will become absorbed in and identified with the divine nature. The similarity of this doctrine with the teaching of Sakya Muni will at once be recognised ; indeed there can be little doubt that the Magians and Sabians of Persia were impregnated with Buddhist mysticism as well as with the teach- ing of the Zend-Avesta, for we have records of a Chinaman resident in Balkh in the sixth century who translated some of the sacred books of Buddha into Arabic. Taylor says that the Shiite notion of an Imaum (which the Druses share) " is precisely the same as that which the Thibetians form of their Grand Lama, and the Burmese of their Bodhisa- watas." ^ It was probably some doctrinal connection of this sort which induced the Mystics, who came from Persia to Egypt, and who founded the Druse sect, to propagate the belief, firmly rooted in the minds of the Druses, that in a latent or veiled way all Chmamen, unconsciously to themselves, are in- ternally Druses. The oneness and pervasiveness of the Deity is the prominent feature of the Druse religion. Be- lieving that God is everything, and that nothing ^ Taylor's History of Mohammedanism, p. 192. THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 387 exists which is not Him, their idea of the highest degree of perfection in reHgion is a mystical absorp- tion of the thinking and feeling powers of man in the unity of God. Hence they call their religion Unitarianism, and its followers Muwahadeen or Unitarians. It grapples boldly with the problem of creation and the origin of evil ; the theory being that the Deity created from His own essence of Light an intelligent principle or being, who is called the Universal Mind. The complacency with which the Universal Mind, being a free moral agent, regarded himself, constituted a sin, and hence there emanated from him the opposite principle to Light, and the Darkness thus evolved became also a free moral agent, known as " the Antagonist." This was evi- dently derived from the Carmathian theory, in which Yezdan, the principle of Light, thinks within him- self, " If I had an antagonist, how would it be ? This thought was evil, and unsuitable to the nature of light, and darkness was the result of this thought, which was called Ahriman." ^ Both the Carmathian and Druse theories have evidently had their origin in the old Persian religion, in which the beings or principles of Ormuzd and Ahriman represent Light and Beneficence and Darkness and Malignity respec- tively. In order to assist the Universal Mind in the struggle which now took place between the principles of Light and Darkness, God evolved from them the Universal Soul, which sided with the Universal Mind, ^ EI Shehristani on Religions and Sects. 388 THE LAND- OF GILEAD. and seems to have represented the feminine prin- ciple ; for the Soul, being acted upon by the Mind and the Antagonist, brought forth " the Founda- tion," who afterwards became the companion of the Antagonist, and took the part of Evil against Good. The Soul now conceived ag^ain and brought forth " the Eternal Word." From the Word emanated " the Preceder," in whose component parts the light prevailed over the darkness ; and from the Preceder came " the Succeeder." These five the Universal Mind, the Universal Soul, the Word, the Preceder, and the Succeeder became the Ministers of Truth, and the Antagonist and the Foundation the Minis- ters of Error. Human souls having, like the Word, been conceived through the impregnation of the Universal Soul by the Mind and the Antagonist, are composed of the conflicting elements of light and darkness, or good and evil. They are immortal, and never suffer any change in their essence, nor are they capable of such change. They are exactly the same as to their personal identity and number as they were at the first period of their creation, but keep in a perpetual state of transmigration from one body to another. Indeed the final creations in the department of matter were human bodies to serve as tenements for souls, which were created in the various stages and forms of development and organisation that they appear in at the present time. " Thus all at once the world was populated with infants and THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOUI.S. 389 grown-up persons of all ages and sexes and ranks in life, residing in various countries, speaking different languages, occupied with arts, sciences, and every other pursuit which attracts the attention of man." ^ The idea that the human- race originated from a primal pair the Druses ridicule as an absurdity. Their theory as to the creation of matter, generally through the action of the male and female principles of light and heat, is too elaborate and recondite to enter upon here. The arguments upon which they base their belief in the transmigration of souls are so curious that they are worth quoting. Many, they say, are born to a life of doomed suffering and misery, while others enjoy an opposite condition of health, affluence, and happiness. Now this cannot be consistent with the goodness and justice of God, unless on the supposition that their moral actions during the migration in a previous body had been such as to necessitate the present dealings of God with them. In arguing this point with Christians, they produce two passages from the New Testa- ment which, in their opinion, conclusively prove it. The first is where the Saviour said that John the Baptist was Elijah. The second is the inquiry of the disciples, with regard to the man who had been born blind, whether he had sinned or his parents ; for li/ie had sinned, so as to have been born blind, he must have been in a previous body. It is affirmed that ^ Wortabet's Researches, &:c. 390 THE LAND OF GILEAD. instances are not wanting in which a person among them is conscious of the connections and circum- stances which had been his lot in a former body, and that these professions in some cases have been thoroughly tested and found to be true. Dr Wor- tabet relates the following incident as one among many others of the kind which are current among the Druses : A child, five years old, in Djebel el A'ala, complained of the life of poverty which his parents led, and alleged that he had been a rich man in Damascus ; that on his death he was born in another place, but lived only six months ; that he was born again among his present friends, and desired to be carried to that city. He was taken there by his relatives, and on the way astonished them by his correct knowledge of the names of the different places which they passed. On reaching the city, he led the way through the various streets to a house which he said had been his own. He knocked, and called the woman of the house by her name ; and on being admitted, told her that he had been her husband, and asked after the welfare of the several children, relatives, and acquaintances whom he had left. The Druses of the place soon met to inquire into the truth of the matter. The child gave them a full account of his past life among them, of the names of his acquaintances, the property which he had possessed, and the debts which he had left. All was found to be strictly true, except a small sum DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS. 391 which he said a certain weaver owed him. The man was called, and on the claim being mentioned to him he acknowledged it, pleading his poverty for not having paid it to the children of the deceased. The child then asked the woman who had been his wife whether she had found a sum of money which he had hid in the cellar; and on her replying in the negative, he went directly to the place, dug up the treasure, and counted it before them. The money was found to be exactly of the amount and kind of specie which he had specified. His wife and children, who had become considerably older than himself, then gave him some money, and he returned with his new friends to his mountain home. The Druses differ from the Ansariyeh in believing that souls only migrate into human bodies, while the latter hold with the Manicheans that wicked souls pass into the forms of brutes. The most prominent and interesting feature of the Druse religion, however, is the belief which they hold in common with kindred sects, in the constant recurrence of divine and ministerial manifestations. Before the appearance of Adam, according to their theory, the world had existed for many thousands of years ; the Deity and the Antagonist had both mani- fested themselves upon it, and had disappeared, the one leaving seven Ministers of Truth, and the other seven Ministers of Error. The latter having taught error under the guise of truth, the Ministers of Truth 392 THE LAND OF GILEAD. were obliged to adopt their nomothetical laws out- wardly, while secretly they understood them only in an allegorical sense. It became necessary, there- fore, that God should manifest Himself a second time, which he did in the human form of Adam. This manifestation continued a thousand years, and was followed by many others. The design of these incarnations was a gracious condescension on the part of God to meet the frailty of man, who is in- capable of beholding the transcendent glory of the essence of the Divinity. Their number is said to have been ten greater, and sixty-nine minor manifestations. After each greater manifestation there were seven religions ; after each religion, there were seven min- isters ; and the mission of each minister continued one hundred thousand years. After the second greater manifestation, in the form of Enoch, the "Word" appeared, who left, again, seven ministers of truth, they being succeeded by seven teachers, whose names were Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Moham- med, another Mohammed, and Said. These are all manifestations of the Antagonist. Their religions, literally understood, are false, but interpreted alle- gorically are true ; and hence the true believers have adopted them outwardly during the prevalence of each. This curious idea is illustrated by the following extract from the Catechism of the Druses, quoted by Dr Wortabet, in regard to what they hold concerning Jesus and His religion :^ 1 The following is the appreciation of De Sacy, with respect to DRUSE VIEW OF CHRIST. 393 " Q. What do we say concerning the Gospel which Christians hold ? ''A. That it is true, for it is the sayings of the Lord Christ, who was Salman el Pharisy during the life of Mohammed, and who is Hamza the son of Ali not the false Christ, who was born of Mary, for he was the son of Joseph. ** Q. Where was the true Christ when the false Christ was with the disciples ? ''A. He was among the disciples. He uttered the truths of the Gospel, and taught Christ the son of Joseph the institutes of the Christian religion ; but when Jesus disobeyed the true Christ, He put divine manifestations, and especially to the person of Hakim. There results, it seems to me from these statements, that the divine humanity of the Deity was one and always the same in His different manifestations, although He appeared under different forms; that the Deity and the human form which serves Him as a veil, are so united, that the actions and words of the form are truly the actions and words of the Deity ; that the merit of faith consists in believing that the Deity, in rendering Himself accessible to sense by the form which serves Him as a veil, does not cease to be infinite, incomprehensible, inaccessible to the senses. First, that notwithstanding the diversity and the successions of His manifestations there is in respect of Him, neither succession of time, nor any numbers ; that the divine human- ity of the Deity is antecedent to all created things, and is the proto- type of the human form ; that the manner in which men see Him in the figure with which He clothes Himself, is proportioned to the degree of purity in each ; that it was necessary that Divinity should thus manifest itself under a human form that men might be able to acquire a full conviction of His existence, and that the divine justice might recompense those who should have believed, and punish those who should have been incredulous ; and lastly, that the last manifes- tation, under the name of Hakim, is the most perfect that of which all preceding manifestations were in some sort but the daybreak and the sketch." 394 THE LAND OF GILEAD. hatred into the hearts of the Jews, so that they crucified him. " Q. What became of him after the crucifixion ? "A. They put him into a grave, and the true Christ came and stole him, and gave out among men the report that Christ had risen out of the dead. " Q. Why did He act in this manner ? "A. That He might estabHsh the Christian reh- gion, and confirm its followers in what He had taught them. " Q. Why did He act in such a manner as to establish error ? "A. So that the Unitarians (Druzes) should be concealed in the religion of Jesus, and none of them might be known. " Q. Who was it that came from the grave and entered among the disciples when the doors were shut? " A. The living Christ who is immortal, even Hamza the servant and slave of our Lord. " Q. Who brought the Gospel to light and preached it ? " A. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. " Q. Why did not the Christians acknowledge the unity of God ? " A. Because God had not so decreed. " Q. Why does God permit the introduction of evil and infidelity ? THE FOUR MINISTERS OF TRUTH. 395 ^'A. Because He chooses to mislead some from, and guide others to, the truth. " Q. If infidehty and error proceed from Him, why does He punish those who follow them ? ^'A. Because when He deceived them, they did not obey Him. " Q. How can a deluded man obey, when he is ignorant of the true state of the case ? *' A. We are not bound to answer this question, for God is not accountable to His creatures for His dealings with them." ^ During the life of Christ the Druses believe that the real Christ was concealed under the form of Lazarus (the ''Mind"), and that the four apostles, as they call Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were manifestations of the remaining four Ministers of Truth viz., the Soul, the Word, the Preceder, and the Succeeder. These, after the " Mind," are the noblest of all created beings. During the period of creation, they were spiritual causes ; during the period of the nomothetical religions, they were allegorical teachers ; during the divine manifestations, they were religious ministers ; and at the resurrection, they will be truthful witnesses. The particulars of this latter period, according to Dr Wortabet, are the followinof : "It will be ushered in by war between the Mo- hammedans and Franks or Christians, in which the ^ Catechism appended to the book called ' Course of Time.' 396 THE LAND OF GILEAD. former will attempt to or actually burn the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The Christians will then seek the help of the king of the Abyssinians, who will then be an incarnation of the Antagonist (or Antichrist), and, in retaliation, march against the Caaba In Mecca. The Mohammedans, to protect the place, will also march to that city, and then, while both the belligerent armies are preparing for a great conflict, sudden news will be brought to them of a mighty army coming from the East against them. This new army will be under the command of the Universal Mind (or the true Christ), and will consist of two millions and five hundred thousand of Chinese Unitarians, divided Into five divisions, commanded severally by the four minis- ters viz., Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Hamza. The only course left to the Christians and Moham- medans will be to give up the war among them- selves, and unitedly to surrender to this new and invincible king. Their kings and princes will there- fore carry rich presents, and advance uncovered to the approaching army. Passing the four divisions and their four commanders (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), they will come up to the division which forms the rear, and which is commanded by Hamza, the Universal Mind (or true Christ). On drawing near to him they will fall prostrate on the ground, and pray that their presents may be graciously received, and they clemently treated. Their presents will be THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 397 received, and they will be commanded to walk before him to Mecca. Their arrival at that place will be on Wednesday, the eighth day of the Mohammedan month, Ze el Hadj. The next day will be the day of judgment ; and Friday, which, according to Islamic reckoning, will be the day of sacrifice, will be the time appointed for the massacre of the infidels. On Thursday morning, at sunrise. El Hakim will appear in the human form which he had assumed at the last manifestation in Egypt, and, mounted on his white ass, will take his place on the top of the temple El Caaba, carrying a drawn sword of gold. With a loud and terrific voice he will recount the number of his manifestations in the human form, the numberless proclamations which issued by his com- mand, touching his unity and the duty of all to wor- ship him, and the obstinate rejection of them by the infidels. By his command thunders and tornadoes from heaven will descend and demolish the Caaba, and raze its very foundations. The five ministers will then sit in judgment on thrones of gold, studded with the most costly gems, under canopies of the richest silks, bespangled with rubies and pearls. The believers will be graciously received, their sins will be overlooked, and rich presents of clothes, weapons, and horses will be given them. The king of the Abyssinians will be bound by a chain, and carried about the world, until he reach a certain place, where his head will be cut off in a basin of 398 THE LAND OF GILEAD. gold. At the same time, the beHevers under the four inferior ministers will travel all over the world, killing the infidels, destroying their governments, plundering their treasures and riches. This is the resurrection." The dates from which the Druses predict the near approach of this important crisis in the world's his- tory are the following : They reckon nine centuries as the time which shall intervene between the last divine manifestation and the day of judgment, and they say, as the woman with child is delivered in the ninth month, so in the ninth century after the incar- nation of El Hakim must these things come to pass. Another sign which is recorded in their sacred books is, that the F' ranks, or Christians, shall outgrow the Mohammedans in strength, and shall prevail over them ; and when the superiority of the former shall become evident from the facts and events of history, the end will be near. Now, if it is recollected that w^e are approaching the end of the ninth century since the last manifestation of Hakim in the year A.D. loio, and that the late collision between Chris- tendom and Islam has culminated in a war which threatens the Turkish empire with dissolution, and the disastrous consequences of which on Islam gen- erally have yet to be developed, it will be easy to imagine the intense degree of expectation raised by these events in the minds of the Druse nation. The invading wave of Christian influence rolling over the ENGLISH UNITARIANS, DRUSES. 399 European provinces of Turkey is already felt in the eastern portion of the Sultan's dominions. It has swept over the Khanates of Central Asia, until it has broken upon the colossal empire of the far East, upon which are centred the hopes of the Druses. Now that Russia has come into collision with China, and we may hear any day of Chinese legions swarming over the extended and imperfectly defended frontiers of Southern Siberia, the predic- tions of the sacred Druse books seem to them in a fair way of fulfilment, and the Druses are eagerly wait- ing for an Armageddon in which they believe them- selves destined to take a prominent part.^ They do not, however, arrogate to the Chinese and themselves the exclusive monopoly of their religion, or the bene- fits that are to flow from it, but hold that large num- bers of true believers are disguised by professing false religions in all the kingdoms of the world. At one time they supposed, from the friendly attitude which British officials held towards them, that the whole British nation were Druses ; and if they have now given up this hope, they still retain the idea that a considerable body of believers exists among them, who are represented chiefly by the sect known in England as Unitarians. In consequence of this, the whole British nation will enjoy the special favour 1 Two or three Druse villages in Carmel lie about twelve miles dis- tant from Megiddo, which some suppose to be the Armageddon of the Revelation. 400 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of Hakim. Christianity generally they regard as the religion of the Antagonist, or as being the inversion, under a specious garb, of true Christianity in other words, as Antichrist. When a Druse desires to be initiated into his religion, he is required to bind himself solemnly by the following covenant : " I, , the son of , in sound reason, and with my full consent and pref- erence, do now absolve myself from all sects and religions which contradict the religion of our Lord El Hakim of infinite power, and do acknowledge that there is no adored God in heaven, or existing Lord on earth, except our Lord El Hakim (may his name be praised !). I do give up myself, soul and body, unto him, and undertake to submit to all his orders, and to know nothing but the obedience of our Lord, who appeared in Egypt in the human form. I shall render the homage due to him, and to none else, whether past, present, or expected. I submit to whatever he sees fit to decree respecting me. I shall keep the secrets of my religion, and speak of them to none but Unitarians. If I ever forsake the religion of our Lord, or disobey any of his commands, may I be absolved from the adored Creator, and cut off from the privileges of the minis- ters ; and I shall justly deserve immediate punish- ment." The rite of induction is performed by the Ukkul, when they simply place the books of wisdom into his hands. The performance of holy ceremonies DRUSE PRAYER. 40 1 of this nature, and the secret religious meetings of the Ukkul, are held every Thursday evening (accord- ing to Eastern computation, Friday) in small, square, domed buildings, which may be seen plentifully scat- tered over the hillsides. These are called kkalwets, and will accommodate at most thirty or forty per- sons. To these stances women are admitted, accord- ing to the injunction of Hamza, who says, " You should, moreover, instruct your sisters in the faith, but let them be secluded by a partition, and let them not lift up their voices." Nevertheless it is said that many Druse women are very learned, and it is cer- tain that they are not uncommonly very devout, and that the teaching of their religion has a very marked influence not merely in the development of their in- telligence, but in the propriety of their lives. The following is a specimen of a Druse prayer : " Praise to thee, O Thou whose grace is invisible ! Praise to thee, O Thou who hast the best names ! Praise to thee, O Thou whose greatness is inim- itable ! I pray thee, O God, the most generous of hearers, through the five [ministers] and through the three [ministers] who submitted themselves to Thee, to grant me purity of heart, prayer in my tongue, pardon to my end, a sufficiency of righteous provision, and a translation to a pure and holy taber- nacle not to the tabernacle of a wretched infidel. I pray not for a reversal of Thy decrees, but that grace may accompany them. O Thou whose com- 2 c 402 THE LAND OF GILEAD. mands none can put away, and whose decrees none can frustrate, Thou art the High, and Thou art the Great ! " In these khalweis they also chant epic poems. There was one just under the house at which we stayed at Ain Anub on a Thursday even- ing, and at nightfall I watched for the flicker of a light, and listened for the strains of a hymn for they sing a millennial anthem, chanting the advent of Hakim and his armies from China, and their triumph over Moslem and Christian unbelievers ; but though it was the night of their meeting, neither light nor sound issued from the mysterious little building. Here also they discuss politics and the interests of the nation. They have secret signs of recogni- tion, and are in fact organised as a powerful political as well as secret society. In order to provide for a universal union of sentiment and action, two or three distinguished khalwets, which have constant communication between each other, take the lead by common consent. Of these the principal are the one near Hasbeya, one in the Jebel Druse, and one at Baaklin, the village near which we had passed on our way to Mukhtara. From them information and orders are issued to the minor khalweis, and from them the news is spread to the local meetings of every village. This order of proceeding is so well kept up, that in time of war there is a general secret understanding pervading the whole community, from THE EMIR FAKR-ED-DIN. 403 which a series of acts ensue that are sanctioned by the highest dignitaries of the Druses, and which form an integral part of the general policy adopted by them. This organisation they have already once turned to formidable account, and it may be that they are yet destined to play an important part in the destinies of the country. As brave as they are subtle, skilled in the use of firearms, with a spirit of independence which has never brooked oppression, and which the Turkish Government has sought rather to cajole than to control, loyal to their friends and merciless to their foes, nothing but their inferi- ority in point of numbers has prevented them from exercising a supreme influence in Syria. The Druses never engage in trade as a sole means of livelihood, but always have more or less landed property, which they cultivate, and from which they derive their living. The money which they get in exchange for goods, when they have reason to apprehend it was obtained in some im- proper way, they always exchange with some Chris- tian or Jew. During the whole period of their existence as an independent nation or sect, ex- tending over an epoch of nearly a thousand years, the Druses have only produced one man of real celebrity. This was the Emir Fakr-ed-din, who ruled over the Lebanon in the early part of the seventeenth century. This remarkable man an- nexed Beyrout and Sidon, threatened Damascus, 404 THE LAND OF GILEAD. and extended his sway as far as the Lake of Tiberias and Mount Carmel, where the Druse vil- lages, which I visited, still exist. He was finally- captured by the Turks near Jezzin, brought to Con- stantinople, and decapitated. Another very singular personality among the Druses was a princess of the house of Ruslan, who last century governed most successfully a part of the Lebanon. She heard and judged cases, sitting behind a curtain, and her deci- sions gave great satisfaction. This circumstance furnishes a striking illustration of the exceptional position which women occupy among the Druses, of which I had personal evidence in the deference paid to the mother of my hosts. In physique the Druses have nothing in common with the Bedouin Arabs, from whom they are sup- posed by some to be descended ; while others, with far more reason so far as their stature is concerned, consider them to be the modern representatives of the ancient house of Amalek. Polygamy does not exist among them ; and as I have before remarked, they are exceedingly jealous and strict in their rela- tions with w^omen. It is doubtless owing to the fact that Druses do not indulge in a plurality of wives, that woman exercises so much more influence in the family than in polygamous countries. Although so carefully veiled, there are no harems in the Turk- ish sense, and the windows of my bedroom opened on a yard surrounded by kitchens and offices always DRUSE WOMEN. 405 crowded with busy, active, and talkative women, doubly fussy in consequence of the important event which had taken place, and evidently controlling matters to their hearts' content. I could even pass through the midst of them without causing that con- sternation and general stampede which would have been the case had they been Turkish women. In my walks abroad this was still more strikingly the case : instead of that shrinking, cringing manner which the Moslem female thinks fit to exhibit in the presence of a stranger of the other sex who in fact feels guilty of an impropriety if he dares so much as to address her the Druse woman boldly talks to him from behind her veil, daringly, and yet not immodestly "fixing" him with her one eye, and evidently much too proud to be a victim to bash- fulness or timidity. Strolling alone through the vil- lage in the afternoon, to get away from the noise and see a little of the surrounding country, I came upon many groups of females, all in holiday attire, talking and laughing merrily, who, when they saw me, gave a scream of welcome, and then in most winning tones showered blessings upon my country and myself. Now and then one would come for- ward and present a rosebud, so that I had quite a little bouquet before I had gone very far. They seemed far more anxious to conceal their faces than the upper part of their persons, which the peculiar cut of their costume somewhat lavishly displayed. I soon got 406 THE LAND OF GILEAD. clear of the houses and followed a steep path down to a roaring brook, embowered in foliage, which, later in the day, I ascended to a most enchanting spot, where it tumbled over the rocks from a height of some thirty feet into a cool grotto, which I found was a favourite picnic resort of the Jumbeldts, and where a clear pool formed a tempting bath. Climb- ing up the steep hill on the other side, amid magni- ficent chestnut-trees, I came to a spot from which there was a good view of the palace, with its tall cypress and chestnut trees standing boldly out on the shoulder of the hill, and I sat down to sketch it, but was soon surrounded by a group of villagers returning from the fete, who would not hear of my going back until I had paid a visit to their village, which turned out to be nearly an hour distant. I was amply repaid, however, by the extreme beauty of the walk, and the hospitality of the reception which I received. They took me to the house of the old sheikh, who was very ill, and, I fear, will never rise from the bed upon which he nevertheless insisted upon receiving me. Here I was regaled with coffee and lemonade, the room soon becom- ing full of guests ; and we made the most laugh- able struggles to understand each other, the eternal friendship of the English and the Druses being the theme upon which our conversation centred, for any attempt to get much beyond compliments and expressions of mutual admiration ended in confusion. AIN MATUR. 407 Here, too, the women came to the doors, and both they and their hubands insisted that I should keep on paying visits, which, as it would have involved an endless absorption of coffee, I was obliged to decline ; but I went up to the flat roof of the highest house and revelled in the glorious prospect. This was the village of Ain Matur, celebrated, as I after- wards heard, for the turbulence and independence of its inhabitants. On more than one occasion, it would seem, they had acquired an unenviable noto- riety. But I can only speak of them as I found them; and if I experienced at last some difficulty in making my escape, it was from nothing more dangerous than hospitality. Altogether, Mukhtara and its neighbourhood pos- sessed so much fascination, that it was with regret I found myself unable to accept the invitation of my kind hosts, and prolong my stay over another day. I was obliged to leave the rest of the party here, and push on by myself to Damascus. The route I proposed to take was one very little traversed, and it was neces- sary to find a guide in the village who knew it. I can imagine no more delightful headquarters for excur- sions than Mukhtara. Not only does the scenery possess a special charm of its own, but ruins, all of more or less antiquarian interest, are scattered over the country ; and the remains of ancient art lie buried among the beauties of nature. Our last evening was spent in comparative calm. 408 THE LAND OF GILEAD. The villagers, exhausted with their exertions, had gone home ; the young mother and child were doing well, in spite of all they had gone through ; and considering how little rest we had any of us en- joyed for the last thirty-six hours, there was a general disposition to retire early. As I intended to start before my hosts were up, I took a cordial leave of them, and not long after sunrise on the following morning found myself alone en route, with Mukhtara, now silent, behind me, and before me the towering peaks of the Lebanon, across which lay my day's journey. 409 CHAPTER XV. ASCENT OF THE LEBANON RANGE THE BUKa'a AITHI AN IN- HOSPITABLE RECEPTION AN EDUCATED SYRIAN ARRIVAL AT DAMASCUS A GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION THE BAGHDAD POST- MEN DHUMAYR WEDDING FESTIVITIES AT ADRA DERVISH MIRACLES SERPENT - EATING KNIFE-STABBING AND IMPER- VIOUSNESS TO FIRE THE DERVISH SHEIKh's EXPLANATION A DAMASCUS THEATRE THE ARAB OPERA OF " AIDA." The first part of the road from Mukhtara to Damas- cus is little better than a staircase. The faculty of climbing, which is inherent in Lebanon ponies, en- ables them to overcome difficulties that would seem insurmountable in civilised countries ; and although it was often necessary to dismount and drive my pony before me, he scrambled up the steep moun- tain-side like a goat, too well pleased to be rid of his burden to make any objections to the path he was called upon to travel. Even up here, amid overhanging rocks, and on the precipitous hillsides, every inch of available ground was cultivated, chiefly with vines. These are neither trellised nor dwarfed into standard bushes, but trailed over the rocks : the grapes are thus kept out of what little soil there is, and ripened by the heat of the stone. 4IO THE LAND OF GILEAD. This cultivation extended for about an hour, and ceased at the village of Khorabeh, the highest in- habited spot in the valley, and the limit of cultiva- tion. Here I found some traces of ancient ruins, the remains of walls composed of huge blocks of stone, some arches still standing, and all the indi- cations of what may have been, in the time of the Crusaders, or possibly before that time, a frontier fort. We still had some more climbing to do before making a sharp descent into a wild, desolate valley ; and then we found ourselves at the foot of the high- est range of the Lebanon. It was a long, dreary pull up the steep mountain- side, with nothing to relieve the fatigue except the views back over the country I had left. All around was bleak and barren : the path was so little tra- versed that it was a mere track ; and I did not meet a soul after leaving Khorabeh till I reached the first village, at the foot of the mountain on the other side. At the summit of the pass, which I estimated at about 6000 feet above the level of the sea, I crossed a patch of snow, and then, with a last look westwards, eagerly pressed on to the view which I knew was awaiting me in the opposite direction. The last few minutes before reaching the crest of a high mountain-range when one has no idea of what is to be seen beyond is always a period of most agreeable suspense and anticipation ; and when the glorious panorama unfolds, and the extensive THE BUKAA. 4II landscape bursts upon one in all its novelty and beauty, how amply does it compensate for the mon- otony and fatigue of the ascent! From the point where I was then standing, Coelesyria lay mapped out at my feet. To the right, the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon closed the prospect ; and from its shoulder, stretching away northward, was the range of the Anti-Lebanon. Immediately below, the plain of the Buka'a, dotted with villages, and watered by the Litany, gradually tapered to the gorge by which that river forces its way to the sea, through the Lebanon range, while it spread out, in all its rich luxuriance, in the opposite direction, as far as Baal- bec, fifty miles distant. Map in hand, I could re- cognise every village, and stood no longer in need of a guide, although I kept him with me for my night quarters, though still distant, were almost vis- ible. Then we plunged down the precipitous de- scent, and once more found ourselves in the midst of an abundant vegetation and a busy population. Travellers by the main road to Damascus and Baalbec are so familiar with the Buka'a that I will spare them a description of it, though I descended upon it by a little-known route, and entered it to the south of the tourist's track. After a delightful plunge In the turbid waters of the Litany for the heat of the valley after the snow-tipped ridge struck so sharp a contrast that a bath was doubly grateful I pushed on into the 412 THE LAND OF GILEAD. spurs of the Anti-Lebanon, reaching, a little before dark, the Christian village of Aithi, where I had some difficulty in finding accommodation. It was an inhospitable, uninviting place ; and in this re- spect contrasted most unfavourably with the Druse quarters I had just left. The people first stared at me, and then quarrelled over me, the dispute being, so far as I could gather, who should not have the honour of entertaining me as a guest. After one or two vain attempts had been made to induce me to accept accommodation which an Irish pig would have scorned, I finally found my way to the best- looking house in the village, which turned out to be the sheikh's. As that dignitary was absent, I was somewhat coldly regarded by the female part of his establishment, who, however, at last consented to put me up, on the distinct understanding that I was not to turn them out of the only decent room in the house, but share it with them. This prospect was by no means tempting, considering the operation which one fat woman was performing upon the head of another, the generally " insecty " look of the place, and the number of babies which were promiscuously lying about and squalling when they were not en- gaged in sustaining nature. So I wandered about helplessly, making vain attempts to force myself upon the hospitality which was to be liberally paid for of the owners of the best houses I could find ; but I received nothing but grunts and scowls, until AN "educated" SYRIAN. 413 a dirty Greek priest with an eye to the main chance, came to my rescue, and offered to turn all his women out of a relatively sweet apartment, have the mud floor watered, swept, and matted, and abandon it to me for my sole use and occupation for the night. I was thankful to close with the offer; and half-a- dozen women were soon busily engaged sweeping, cleaning, and cooking, while all the neighbours came in to stare at so unusual a visitor. As I had some difficulty, in the absence of any inter- preter, in making myself understood, the priest, who was very voluble, and absorbed with a desire for imparting information, triumphantly announced that there was a Syrian schoolmaster in the village who could speak English, or, at all events, had been educated in a missionary school ; and he shortly returned with a very ill-favoured and unhealthy youth, who, on the strength of his advanced state of civilisation, seized me by the hand, and loudly exclaimed, " Good morning ! " though the sun was just then setting ; then pulling out an English and Arabic pocket dictionary, and studying it for some time, he said, in a peremptory tone, " Can you eat a hen ? " I had already, before his arrival, ex- pressed my willingness to attempt this feat ; but he was too proud of the tremendous effect his learning had produced on the bystanders to hide his talent under a bushel, and kept on repeating the question from time to time. It was his supreme effort. He 414 THE LAND OF GILEAD. said a good deal more, it is true, apparently under the impression that it was English, as he repeatedly referred to the book ; but the sounds which he pro- duced were inarticulate and vague ; and he after- wards became so troublesome by his insistance that I should communicate with him by means of his dic- tionary, which he had great difficulty in reading, that I requested him to return to his pupils, if he had any. So far from his taking the hint, he established himself in my room for the evening ; and even after I had politely pointed out the word " kick," as a hint that there were several ways of leaving a room, he resolutely declined to move until I showed him the point of my boot, and indicated, as good-naturedly as I could, by signs, the method of its application, when he went out in high dudgeon, and I heard him abusing me all down the street. I have since learnt generally to detect at a glance Syrians who have re- ceived the advantages of a smattering of education, by the extraordinary insolence which distinguishes them, and a presumption and familiarity which are not at all justified by the very limited extent of their accomplishments. Other visitors I had who were by no means so offensive ; and they sat and gossiped as I dined on " hen," and took me out and showed me the ruins of a Roman temple, in the centre of the village, manifesting a good deal of intelligent interest in their inquiries as to what its original use might have been. The chief industry of Aithi is pottery- RUINS OF AIN KENIA. 415 ware ; and jars and pitchers, made of the excellent clay in the neighbourhood, find a ready market in Damascus, As the village is more than 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and I had still a slight ascent to make, the keen north wind struck chill when I started at six o'clock the following morning, though April was already far advanced. Crossing smooth grassy hills, I came unexpectedly, in about an hour after leaving my quarters, upon remains, which I stopped a short time to examine. They are near a spring called Ain Kenia, and consist of ruined walls still standing to a height of three or four feet, composed of huge blocks of stone, and which apparently en- closed two temples, each 20 yards by 16. In one were two prostrate columns and a carved capital ; in the other, two fragments of columns still standing. I have not been able to discover the Roman name of the town of which these ruins were the remains. Half an hour later, after traversing a pretty but poorly cultivated country, I reached the village of Jedeideh, on the Damascus road ; and five hours afterwards, found myself amid the shady groves on the banks of the Barada, and surrounded by all the indications of proximity to that queen of oriental cities, Damascus. I was most kindly received at Damascus by Mid- hat Pasha, then Governor-General of Syria, who en- tered warmly into the project for the colonisation of 4l6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Gilead, which I submitted for his approval. I was detained three weeks elaborating it under the super- vision of his Highness ; and I was encouraged, by the high appreciation which he seemed to entertain of the advantages of the scheme, to hope that I should find its merits as cordially recognised at Constantinople. I was not sorry to avail myself of the oppor- tunity which my stay at Damascus afforded, of making some excursions in the neighbourhood. With my friend Mr Austin, on a geological errand bent, I started one morning by the Aleppo gate, and following the broad road which leads to Horns and Hamath and, if one follows it far enough, to Aleppo and Constantinople reached in a couple of hours the large village of Duma. Here we met the avant-garde of a large caravan which was arriving from Baghdad ; and I gazed with no little interest at the uncouth riders, who seemed as joyous as the crew of a ship just arriving in port after a long voy- age. They had left the main body of the caravan behind them, while they went on to make prelimi- nary preparations, and were, doubtless, eagerly an- ticipating the pleasure of plunging into the delights and dissipations of Damascus. At an empty barrack a little beyond Duma the road to Aleppo and Palmyra turns to the north, while we continued on the Baghdad road, through richly cultivated country, though the gardens and fruit-orchards which embosom Damascus here ceased; SUNSET IN THE DESERT. 417 but the Merj or irrigated plain, thickly populated, extends away to the " Meadow Lakes," some ten or twelve miles distant to the south-east. We skirted its northern margin, our road leading us along the base of the sterile range of the Jebel Kalamun. We galloped over the short grass pasture-land where wild liquorice was growing in great abund- ance, to the village of Adra, where a large number of the Agidat Arabs were encamped and pastur- ing their flocks. They are a sedentary tribe of amiable herdsmen ; and we sent over to the tents for a guide to lead us to the particular part of the Jebel Abu Ata which we wished to investigate. In an hour and a half after leaving Adra, under the guidance of the Arab, we crossed an ancient water-course leading to some extensive ruins which I had not time to visit, and reached a ruined khan. All cultivation had ceased, and we traversed a desert covered with flint, onyx, chalcedony, agate, and other pebbles which had been subjected to volcanic action. We scrambled over this diflicult country till night- fall, along narrow wadies, up dry torrent-beds, and across serrated ridges. On one of these I perched myself while the sun was setting my friend was otherwise engaged and revelled in a bath of colour, as the slanting rays seemed literally to burnish the barren hillsides, and their shadows fell encroachingly on the richly tinted desert, which changed its hues as it receded, until its horizon was lost in the haze, 2 D 41 8 THE LAND OF GILEAD. out of which the burning heats of the day were fad- ing. Below me, a little to the east lay the village of Dhumayr, the last permanently inhabited spot on this side of the Euphrates ; beyond it stretched the illimitable desert ; barely visible in a southerly direc- tion was the water-line of the marshy lakes called Bahret el' Atebeh, in which the ancient rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, lose themselves. Beyond them, again, is the long volcanic range of Tuhil el Safa, a series of extinct craters, situated in a district, only portions of which have as yet been explored at different times by M. Waddington, Mr Wetzstein, and Captain Burton. They form the centre of a notoriously wild and lawless region, which the Government has vainly attempted to re- duce to order by the establishment of a military post near a spot called the Derb el Ghazawat, or Road of the Robberies, on account of its insecurity ; but it is a road nobody travels, as it leads nowhere : there is nothing beyond but unexplored desert, excepting the three interesting ruins of El Diyura, which are situated on its nearest margin. Looking in a south- westerly direction, the eye wandered over the broad green Merj. An expanse of corn-field and pasture, and dotted with numerous villages and encampments, it is bounded by the low barren range of the Jebel- el- Aswad or Black Mountain, far behind which again, and a little more to the east, the lofty summits of the Jebel Druse, the home of nearly three-fourths of THE BAGHDAD POSTMAN. 4^9 the Druse nation, bounded the prospect. To the far west, the gardens of Damascus concealed all view of the glittering city which nestles in their shade, but contrasted wondrously in their soft colouring with the brilliant copper tints of the desert ranges by which they are surrounded. Behind all, majestic Hermon reared its snow -clad crests, glowing with crimson light, and so completing a panorama un- rivalled in the richness of its hues, and the striking contrasts which its principal features presented. The village of Dhumayr, which lay on the plain below, two or three miles distant to the eastward, is the point at which the Arab express courier, after a nine days' and nights' journey across the desert, delivers up his mail. The wild Bedouin who performs this dangerous, solitary, and fatiguing jour- ney, rarely enters the two centres of Eastern civilisa- tion, between which he furnishes a means of com- munication. For him the fragrant gardens and well- stocked bazaars of Damascus have no attraction ; or perhaps he fears that he might be seduced by them, and avoids the temptation. Be that as it may, he stops on the verge of the desert, at either end of his route, and swings on his lithe dromedary to and fro over its arid wastes, catching such snatches of rest as he may at the scattered oases and widely sep- arated wells where he stops to refresh his camel. With the coppery sky scorching him by day, and the changeless blue above him at night ; rarely 420 THE LAND OF GILEAD. knowing the shelter even of an Arab tent ; carrying with him the dates and rice sufficient to last him for his journey ; exposed to perils from thirst and sand- storms and predatory Arabs, to whom the fleet ani- mal he rides is a sore temptation, he is, without doubt, the most bizarre and exceptional postman in existence. One wonders whether he has really ever fathomed the mystery of his occupation, or found out why he should thus be kept constantly oscillat- ing between the opposite margins of the desert with a bag ; whether he knows what is in the bag, or, if he does, can form any conception why people in Da- mascus should care to know what people are doing in Baghdad, for he can never have experienced the sensation of wanting either to receive or to send a letter. It is probably with a considerable feeling of scorn and contempt that he ministers to this morbid craving for imparting and receiving useless informa- tion. Then, again, what opportunities for profound reflection he enjoys ! Rarely exchanging a word with his fellow -man, yet constantly battling with hidden dangers always on the alert, and yet never varying the eternal monotony of sky and desert the mystery of existence must present the problems which civilisation has failed to fathom, in an entirely new light to him for ever perched on the back of a dromedary. For all we know, he may have framed a theory of evolution depending on '* environment," by which, when the fittest is called upon to survive. "THE BLESSINGS OF CIVILISATION." 421 he may remain the sole representative of the human race. Meanwhile the types of the highest state of civilisation, blasds with its discoveries, are driven to suicide, and find life monotonous because it is made up of " buttoning and unbuttoning ; " but he who is never called upon to do either the one or the other, serenely leads the most monotonous existence of all. Yet no thought of self-destruction from ennui ever enters his mind as he jogs backwards and forwards over the dreary waste with the bag which he de- spises. Except, possibly, the gentlemen who prefer being stage-coachmen to any other existence, and daily leave the White Horse Cellar in all weathers throughout the London season, who is there who is likely to have attained to the calm elevation of his philosophy ? And even these do not carry a post-bag. It is sad to think that the day may not be far dis- tant when the occupation of this interesting speci- men of humanity will be gone ; when the shrill scream of the locomotive, piercing the still air of night, will scare the jackals who now make it re- wound with their plaintive cries, and introduce the Baghdad postman to " the blessings of civilisation," of which he has till now been deprived. Flying across the desert by the Euphrates Valley Railway, tightly wedged between a set of cardsharpers in a third-class carriage, he may possibly look back with a smile of pity to his dromedary days ; but it is a 422 THE LAND OF GILEAD. question whether he will be a better or a wiser man, especially if, to relieve the monotony of the journey, his companions initiate him into the mysteries of their vocation, or make him its victim. Let us hope that his instinct may teach him, if he would "evolve" into higher conditions, to telegraph for his drome- dary to meet him at the next station, and to fly upon it to the uttermost recesses of his beloved desert, where, once more encompassed by the serene atmo- sphere of philosophical contemplation, he may reflect that, though he heard much among his fellow-pas- sengers of the "blessings" and the "vices" of civili- sation, there is still enough honesty left in Christen- dom to have refrained from the mockery of such a phrase as the "virtues of civilisation." What re- lation may exist between its " vices " and its " bles- sings " is a subject which may be recommended to the earnest and thoughtful consideration of the Baghdad postman. I regretted very much that we had made arrange- ments with the sheikh at Adra for spending the night there, for I should have much preferred sleeping at Dhumayr, where I could distinguish the outline of a building rising high above the flat tops of the houses of the village. This was probably the Corinthian temple described by Dr Porter as being in a very complete state of preservation, the roof alone having fallen, and perhaps unique in its de- sign. It bears an inscription showing it to have WEDDING FESTIVITIES. 423 been built in the reign of the two Philips, a.d. 246. About two miles farther east are the prostrate ruins of a small town and strong fortress. Indeed there can be little doubt that the whole of this region is only waiting a thorough exploration to reveal many- still unknown relics of its former civilisation. Un- fortunately, our researches had for their object dis- coveries more in accordance with the practical and utilitarian age in which we live, and we had not time to spare to trouble ourselves about the past ; so we reluctantly decided to return to Adra, and ulti- mately reached the house of the sheikh, tolerably tired after fourteen hours in the saddle, on very limited sustenance, and quite ready, therefore, for dinner. What was our dismay to find, as we rode into the courtyard of his comfortable dwelling for he was a well-to-do sheikh that he was giving an entertainment in celebration of his daughter's wed- ding ! The yard was full of a dancing, yelling crowd of invitds ; the roofs were thronged with female spectators, who also squatted on their heels round the court, and applauded the dances in which they were not allowed to take part. These consisted in the men forming a circle, or sometimes a half-circle, and pressing against each other as closely as pos- sible, so that the movement of the ring should be absolutely simultaneous, and then dancing round in measured and somewhat monotonous step. The music was composed of drums and pipes, and made 424 THE LAND OF GILEAD. a deafening and most discordant clamour. As the musicians changed the time, new steps were intro- duced, but none of them were graceful ; and con- sidering that it was ten o'clock at night, and we were famishing for want of food, we did not regard the performance with the interest and admiration that we should have shown under the pleasing in- fluences of digestion. At last the inevitable pillaff and leben, or sour milk, made their appearance, and we formed a rival attraction to the dancers, as we proceeded to dispose of our meal in the presence of the company. It was no use attempting to go to sleep until the entertain- ment was at an end ; and it was past midnight before we were enabled to stretch our weary limbs on the coverlets that had been spread on the floor, and seek repose in peace and quiet, except from fleas. In the morning there arrived a fantastic dervish armed with a whip, and a boy dressed as a girl with castanets, and two musicians with a drum and a sort of banjo, and their performances soon attracted a crowd, though they were neither refined nor edify- ing. The boy was dressed and danced very much after the manner of a nautch-girl in India, only rather " more so," while the dervish cracked his whip and acted the part of a somewhat immoral buf- foon so we were not tempted to linger longer than was absolutely necessary to swallow our morning coffee ; and bidding adieu to the happy father of MYSTICISM AT DAMASCUS. 425 the bride, who had treated us with the greatest hos- pitahty, we turned our faces homewards, and the same afternoon reached Damascus. Mrs Burton, in her charming work, ' Inner Life in Syria,' has described so fully the fascination which clings to this patriarch among the cities of the earth, that she has left little to the traveller whose experi- ences have been limited to weeks instead of years. But even in that short time he becomes conscious of an aroma, if one may so express it, peculiar to itself, a halo of mysticism, as well as of antiquity, which seems to pervade its fountained courts, its mazy bazaars, its fragrant groves, its rushing waters, and surrounding ruins. It is a concentration of what Kinglake calls "the splendour and the havoc of the East ; " and if its fading splendour and present havoc fail to furnish the key to the mystery of its long existence, they at least invest it with an unrivalled charm of association, carrying us back to the days when the traditions of religion are lost in obscurity, and arts were professed, and mysteries practised, which in these days would be deemed superstitious, but which in- olden time formed the foundations upon which men's theological belief was built. As it has been at all times a centre of occult knowledge, I was anxious to learn its existing phase ; and though my opportunities were too limited to enable me to make inquiries in the particular direction in which I had reason to believe facts of interest were to be dis- 426 THE LAND OF GILEAD. covered, I succeeded by means of the police in making the acquaintance of a personage of some celebrity in his way. This was a certain Sheikh Ruslan Aboutou, who lived in a quarter of Damas- cus known as the Meidan. It is a curious projec- tion from the city, extending for a mile and a half in a southerly direction in a long narrow line like the handle of a frying-pan supposing the pan to represent the city itself and owes its shape and existence, doubtless, to the fact that by this road the Hadj or pilgrimage leaves Damascus for Mecca, and so shops, and dwellings, and storehouses have sprung up on each side of it, until they terminate at the Bawwabet Allah or God's gates. Here dwell a most strange assortment of characters. There are dervishes and the hangers-on of the Hadj, Arabs from the desert, Druses from the Hauran, Mollahs, and corn merchants for it is a great grain depot tumble -down dwellings of vast dimensions and ghostly in their dilapidation, mosques, and low-class hammams and cheap khans ; while strings of camels arriving from distant oases, accompanied by wild- looking Bedouins, mingle with flocks of sheep driven by Kurd shepherds. On the right-hand side of the street, which is unusually broad, and about half-way down it, was situated the house of the sheikh an unpretentious building with a small courtyard, in which were two or three orange -trees, and over- looked by the flat roofs of the neighbouring houses. DERVISH MIRACLES. 42/ We arrived here one afternoon, a somewhat larger party than was wise, perhaps, considering the nature of the spectacle that was reserved for us ; but the attraction proved too tempting for some ladies who were visiting Damascus to withstand, though it is not likely they will ever repeat the experiment. The sheikh received us at the door of his courtyard, which was already tolerably full of native specta- tors, and of persons who were to take part in the performances; while many veiled women, who had apparently got notice that the sheikh was going to exhibit his powers, crowded the surrounding roofs. We took our seats on a divan in an apartment, one side of which was open to the court, while from the others doors led into the house ; from their slightly open chinks and crannies issued the murmur of women's voices. The sheikh himself was a tall handsome man of about fifty, with a short, well- trimmed, iron-grey beard, a bright intelligent eye, a somewhat hooked nose, and a mouth which, when he smiled, lighted up his face with a decidedly pleas- ing expression. After the usual preliminary politeness of pipes, sherbet, and coffee, he went into an inner room, and reappeared with a bundle of iron skewers, very much resembling those used by cooks for trussing meat. Beckoning to a wild-looking dervish stripped to the waist, whose wandering eye had an evil look in it which the rest of his countenance did not belie in 428 THE LAND OF GILEAD. fact it was only redeemed from being villanous by a sort of glare of insanity he made him open his mouth, and proceeded with the utmost coolness to pass a skewer from the inside through each cheek, so that the points could be seen plainly protruding. He then performed a like operation on a remarkably handsome youth of about sixteen, whom I afterwards found was his son, and whose large, clear, hazel eye was calmly fixed on mine while his cheeks were being pierced, nor did a line of his countenance in- dicate that he was conscious of the slightest pain. Not a drop of blood flowed in either case. The two victims stood before us with their mouths pressed back, and the projecting skewers showing the points through their cheeks, with as much apparent com- fort as if it was the normal condition of their being. Leaving them in this attitude, the sheikh again dis- appeared into his room. This time he returned with a small square box, drawing back the sliding lid of which he extracted a scorpion of unusual size, its vicious tail curling and striking its own back as it writhed between his fingers. This he handed to another dervish, clothed and looking more in his right mind than his skewered comrade, who instantly dropped the lively reptile into his mouth, and crunch- ed it with great apparent gusto. As he was as large as an ordinary land-crab, it was a big mouthful, and seemed to whip up into a sort of lather as he chewed it. His countenance as he went on munching was SCORPION -EATING. 429 SO impassive that I could not judge whether live scorpion is nice or not : probably it is an acquired taste. Another dervish joined in the repast, and dis- posed of a smaller one with equal equanimity. I now suggested that we were satisfied in regard to the skewers, and that the company generally would feel more comfortable if they were extracted. It is decidedly unpleasant to have two men with their cheeks trussed staring at you while others are eating live scorpions. Their mouths were so pressed back that they seemed to be grinning inanely ; but I should think the effect of a real joke would have been disagreeable. I longed to try and make them laugh, to see whether it would not hurt them ; but there is probably no such thing as a dervish with a sense of humour, and an Arabic joke was beyond me. The sheikh, too, would probably have been offended, for he went through the whole performance with the greatest solemnity, taking long, deep inspir- ations as he muttered incantations in which the name of Allah occurred frequently, before he touched the skewers ; then with a dentist-like twitch he jerked them out. The points were bloodless, and the out- side of the cheek showed only a slight induration, like that of a cicatrised wound ; there was no redness or inflammation. The sheikh now once more returned to his room and brought out a larger box, which he opened, and drew forth from it several snakes of all sizes. These 430 THE LAND OF GILEAD. began to wriggle about the floor in a disagreeable manner, with an overpowering attraction apparently for the legs of foreigners. However, the sheikh charmed them in the usual manner, and they soon all curled up submissively ; then taking one about two feet long by the tail, he held it up in a manner so tempting that it proved irresistible to a tall, per- fectly insane-looking dervish, who was afflicted with a sort of St Vitus's dance, and who, rushing forward out of the crowd, gave a loud yell, snatched the twisting snake out of the sheikh's hands with both of his, gave it a sudden violent jerk which snapped it in two, and plunged the bleeding and palpitating end into his mouth. This was a signal for a general scramble ; the half-naked dervish who had been skewered seized hold of the other end, and secured at least six inches all to himself. The men who had eaten the scorpions joined in voraciously, and in two minutes the entire animal had disappeared, and the human beings who had eaten it were wiping their bloody chops with much apparent relish. The tall St Vitus's dance man, indeed, seemed to become intoxicated with delight or some other emotion, and went into a sort of convulsion, from which he was only restored by the most intense effort on the part of the sheikh, who seized his head between his hands, pressing it violently as he took long breaths, and the veins swelled in his forehead with the con- centration of his magnetic or other forces, as he re- EATING LIVE COALS. 43 1 peated the formula of incantation, and finally restored his disciple, of whom he was evidently proud, to comparative calm. With the exception of the skewer affair, there was nothing very wonderful in all this ; for, after all, the power of a man to make a beast of himself may be pushed to a very consider- able length before it becomes inexplicable, so I was relieved to see preparations for experiments of a dijfferent nature. A brazier of burning charcoal was brought in, and the charcoal fanned into a blaze. The sheikh then went through an invocation, and suddenly with his bare feet jumped upon it and stood there for nearly a minute, the lurid flame curling round them. The moment he got off, the serpent-eaters rushed forward and filled their mouths with the red-hot charcoal, which was again fanned, the smell of burning flesh becoming powerful and sickening as they crunched the glowing morsels. Live coals are possibly the antidote to snakes after you have eaten them ; but the general effect of all this strange diet was begin- ning to have a powerful influence upon the nerves of some of the lady spectators, who protested that they were unable to witness further horrors. A man now stepped forward, stripped to the waist, with a skin almost as fair as a European's. His face had none of that expression of fanatical insanity which character- ised some of his fraternity, but was calm and some- what commonplace. The sheikh reappeared armed 432 THE LAND OF GILEAD. with a skewer of larger dimensions than he had thrust through the cheeks of the first victims, to the end of which was attached a heavy iron ball, and pro- posed to run it through the man's throat from the front, bringing it out at the nape of his neck. At this there was a general scream of horror and dis- may. In vain did the sheikh protest that the opera- tion would be absolutely painless, and show us the indurated spots on the opposite sides of the man's neck through which the instrument was in the habit of passing, while the man himself smiled with a bland expression of disappointment at being deprived of a pleasure to which he was apparently looking for- ward. The repugnance of some of our party was not to be overcome, and the sheikh turned with an expression of contempt to make preparations for what was to follow. Pushing the same dervish's waistcloth down an inch or two he revealed a row of cicatrices which made a semicircle extending round his body. He then drew a curved knife about eight inches long and nearly two broad from a sheath, and proposed to plunge it to the hilt in his stomach. It had a short wooden handle about four inches in length, and there was no possibility of the blade slipping back into the handle. But here again he was stopped by a cry of horror from the ladies. This time the man himself earnestly joined his pro- testations to those of the sheikh ; his credit seemed at stake, as the women on the house-tops began to THE DERVISH SHEIKH. 433 chatter, and there was a general look of dissatisfac- tion on the part of the spectators in the courtyard. I examined both the scars and the knife. The former were thin beautifully healed incisions ; the latter as sharp as a razor and of the finest steel. I am very sorry that veracity compels me to leave this most interesting experiment to the reader's ima- gination. 'The party had now made up their minds to leave the place, and seemed to have no other idea than a hurried escape from its precincts ; so we made rather an ignominious exit, leaving the sheikh be- wildered and somewhat indignant at our pusillani- mous conduct. I asked him, however, to pay me a visit on the following day, which he did, and I had a long interesting conversation with him. He said he was the hereditary descendant of the founder of the Order of Bedawi, of which he was now the spiritual chief, and which numbered about 10,000 dervishes. These were scattered throughout Islam, and claimed adherents in all classes of society. He named one of high rank. The order was secret to a great extent, and there were those who openly professed to belong to it, as well as those who could exercise the special powers which attach to it with- out its being generally known. The founder of the order was a certain Sheikh Said Ahmed el Bedawi, who lived about two hundred years ago, was a Moslem of great reputation for sanctity, and Is 2 E 434 THE LAND OF GILEAD. buried in the Church of the Crusaders at Tantah in Egypt. The Sheikh el Bedawi had been in- itiated into these mysteries, having naturally a won- derful faculty for acquiring them ; but the present sheikh did not profess that they had originated with him. He said that the power to perform these wonders dated back to an unknown period, and came from still further east; and that it was the same power which had been exercised by the sages, seers, and magicians of the Bible and other sacred books : that such powers were not confined to his order, though they exercised them in a more won- derful manner than the other miracle-working sects. These consisted of the Sukki, founded by the Sheikh Said Ibrahim ; the Kilani, founded by the Sheikh Awal-abd-el-Kader ; and the Rifai, founded by the Sheikh Ahmed el Rifai. He said that these were good men and devout Moslems, and that the faculty which their disciples possessed, depended on the purity and morality of the lives which they led. It was not, however, necessary to be a Moslem in order to be a member of the order, though practically none but Moslems were members of it ; but a belief in the Sheikh Bedawi as the source of such power was absolutely necessary so far as his sect was concerned. I then asked him in regard to the rites of initiation, and his own experience and training. He said that from his earliest infancy he had been educated by his father, as he was then educating CABALISTIC FORMULA. 435 his son, to exercise the powers which were heredi- tary in the family ; that they were to be cultivated by much intense prayer and concentration of will. He then repeated the prayers and modes of invocation. I think he had some suspicion that I might become a neophyte, so earnest was he in his definition of the necessary process. Drawing long and deep breaths, he muttered, or rather whispered, in an attitude of the most intense internal concentration, the formulae. Becoming more and more abstracted as he did so, he said, as he stopped suddenly, that were he to go on a little longer he should fall into a trance ; that when he was in a trance state he saw and conversed with the Sheikh el Bedawi, but it was never permitted to him to reveal what passed at these spiritual interviews ; that those who wished to become disciples must learn this method of prayer and concentration ; that they must also swear to the seven nomothetical precepts of Mohamme- danism, which are indeed purely ethical, and apply to all religions and that they must rigidly practise these virtues ; that they must finally take the in- itiatory draught which imparted the healing power to the saliva, whereby incisions could be made, and the flow of blood prevented, by wetting the finger with the tongue and instantly pressing it on the wound. The draught was prepared by a cabalistic formula, which he wrote for me in my pocket- book, being inscribed on a piece of sugar, which 436 THE LAND OF GILEAD. was then melted in water, with the proper form of invocation. He declared that the water became thus charged with a special virtue, and imparted to the drinker healing powers, which he retained so long as he remained faithful to his vows. He ad- mitted that these practices were not recognised by the Koran, and were even opposed in theory to the general teaching of Mohammedanism ; but he said they were permitted for a special purpose, and this was to convince unbelievers that the powers claimed by seers and holy men of old were not mere fables, but were actual facts and the basis of the religious belief; that he was specially instructed never to exhibit his powers for the gratification of mere idle curiosity ; and that if he attempted these manifestations from any but the highest motives, and in obedience to internal directions received from the Sheikh Bedawi, they would prove fatal ; but that when done in an orderly manner, and from a reli- gious motive, they caused no pain and were attended with no danger. He further said that the pecu- liar strength of the Bedawi lay in their power of dealing with fire ; and that if I would stay in Da- mascus long enough, he would show me men go into a fiery furnace, which he had in his house for the purpose, and come out as unscathed as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego after a similar experience. I afterwards conversed with a very learned Mos- MOSLEM ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF MIRACLES. 437 lem on the subject, who confirmed what the sheikh had said in regard to the innovation upon the pure precepts of his rehgion which such practices in- volved ; but he remarked, somewhat slyly, " Where would Christianity be without the belief in the pos- sibility of such powers ? These men do not claim more than has been claimed at all times and in all religions, and they are necessary to prove to unbe- lievers that their creeds are not built upon fables ; it is only natural that the Power which established them upon these supernatural foundations should keep them alive by manifestations of the same char- acter. Why should such exhibitions be permitted to start a religion and not be continued to maintain its existence ? The only reason why such powers die out of a religion which once possessed them is because the faith of its adherents has dwindled away. Hence Christianity can no longer exercise them, even though in your Bible it is said they should be retained ; but Moslems, though no such promise is made to them, are able to prove to believers in the Koran that in the degree in which they practise its virtues can they manifest divine powers. Hence it is, that though I have nothing to do with such sects myself, I feel that they have their use, and I believe in the truth of their miracles." Mr Chirol, who was with me upon this occasion, afterwards witnessed a similar performance at Aleppo, when he saw the knives plunged into the bodies 438 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of dervishes, leaving only a cicatrice without any effusion of blood, and was unable to discover any deception in the matter. ) I also met an English medical man afterwards who had lived all his life in the East, and who told me he had repeatedly seen both the operations which I had missed, and had had abundant opportunities of ex- amining the piercing the throat with the skewer, and the plunging the knife into the stomach ; and he was utterly unable to explain how it was done without causing death, much less the effusion of blood, or to account for it by any trick or sleight-of-hand opera- tion. In fact the danger, as my Moslem friend ob- served, of refusing beyond a certain point to trust the evidence of one's own senses, is that we believe in what are termed miracles, and occurrences far more wonderful, upon the evidence of the senses of persons probably more easily deceived than our- selves, who lived ages ago. Thus, if in these days the curative power of saliva, the subduing of ser- pents, scorpions, and other " deadly things," the im- perviousness to fire, and the healing of a sword-cut by a touch, are nothing more than a trick by which the most acute and intelligent observer may be de- ceived, the modern religious sceptic is fairly entitled to maintain that the same trick was known to fan- atical religious impostors for the last two thousand years or more. It is evident, therefore, that there must be a limit to the scepticism of one's own senses AN ARAB OPERA. 439 and those of others, or one would be left without any- ground for believing in anything. Among other novelties which have been intro- duced into Damascus since the arrival there of Mid- hat Pasha as Governor-General of Syria, is an Arab theatre upon semi-civilised principles. I went there one night with his Highness, and was surprised at the modern aspect of the house. There was a ticket- seller at 2l guichety and a house neatly arranged with seats, which were well occupied by an exclusively male audience. In the front row were the seats re- served for the Governor-General's party ; while the orchestra consisting of a man who played an in- strument like a guitar, another who played one like a zittern, another who played a native clarionet, another who sang, and another who drummed were placed in a recess to the right of the stage. The curtain was inscribed with an Arabic motto, and rose and fell with irregular jerks ; the scenes did not change ; and the actors sang, or rather chanted, their parts. The play was the original story, which Verdi has adapted, and the plot of which he has consider- ably altered, of " Aida." The leading actor, who per- formed the part of the general, was a man of con- siderable dramatic power, clad in a coat of mail with a most fantastic helmet, which at the opening scene partly concealed his face, and whose lower extrem- ities were clothed in thick white hose. He stalked about the stage unceasingly in his stocking-soles. 440 THE LAND OF GILEAD. swaying his body in a measured and not ungraceful manner, so as to keep time with the cadence of his voice, which was expressive of his varied emotions and by no means unmusical. The Egyptian king's daughter, who was in love with him, and the Abys- sinian king's daughter, whom he makes a prisoner in war, and with whom he falls in love, thus nearly breaking the other one's heart, were both boys dressed as girls, who acted their parts with great feeling and cleverness, considering their youth. In- deed it was difficult to tell that they were not girls. They were picturesquely attired in oriental costumes, the one as a slave, the other as a king's daughter ; but the other female attendants wore semi-Europe- anised dresses which were by no means becoming. The king of Egypt was a splendidly arrayed mon- arch, after the style of the conventional Sardanap- alus ; and he did the Eastern potentate to perfection. Indeed the whole performance was far more skilfully executed than might have been expected, though of acting, in the strict sense of the word, there was none : it was recitation, now plaintive, now impassioned, and, in the case of one character, jocose ; but the per- petual motion of the players, who move rhythmically about the stage all the time, grows somewhat mon- otonous to the foreigner accustomed to more lively action. The audience, however, seemed thoroughly to enter into the spirit of the piece, and appreciated the jokes keenly. During the entr'actes the Arab THE BALLET. 44 1 band played the wild discordant music with which all Eastern travellers are familiar, and which is to be heard any day in the cafis and gardens of the city. The ballet was of the tamest description, and con- sisted of the most wearisome repetition of little steps. It was in every respect strictly proper, and was danced by the youths who represented the prin- cess's ladies. The whole affair was an experiment which seems likely to succeed, and on the whole, was a pleasing if slightly dull performance. 442 CHAPTER XVI. START FOR BAALBEC AND MALULA WADIES AND SAHARAS TOUR- IST VANDALISM AT BAALBEC CROSS THE ANTI - LEBANON TUNNEL ENTRANCE TO MALULA' ITS ROMANTIC POSITION THE SYRIAC LANGUAGE GREEK MONASTERIES THE CONVENT OF SEDNAYA THE MIRACLE-WORKING MADONNA MENIN RETURN TO DAMASCUS START FOR ZAHLEH ITS PICTURESQUE SITUATION CROSS THE LEBANON MEZRA'a ABDULLA, THE SON OF JIRIUS THE PRIEST. There lies to the north-east of Damascus, and a httle to the right of the road which leads from that city to Aleppo, a town rarely visited by the foreigner, and which possesses a special interest as being the only place left in the country where the old Syriac or Aramaic language is still spoken. It was known to the ancients as Magluda, and is called in these days Malula. Finding it could be reached in one day from Baalbec, by a road which was not generally known, I was glad to accept the invitation of our Vice-consul, Mr Jago, to make the trip with him. We took the usual route to Baalbec, by way of the picturesque spring of Ain Fijeh, sleeping the first night at the lofty village of Bludan, which has been used by Damascus consuls as a retreat from the heat SEDUCTIVE SHADES. 443 of the city, ever since Sir Richard Wood first made it a sanitarium. The pecuHar characteristic and principal charm of the scenery which immediately surrounds Da- mascus, consists in the vivid contrasts which it pre- sents. At one moment one is riding over an arid desert, where the eye is wearied with the mon- otony of desolation, where the rocks scorch and sand blinds, and the sun glares fiercely down upon the panting wayfarer; and just when it has grown almost intolerable you reach the precipitous edge of the Sahara, and plunge in a few moments into a perfect bath of the brightest green, where clear waters are plashing, birds are singing, leaves are rustling, and the most delightful shade woos you to its cool recesses. The trees are brilliant with fruit-blossoms, and the whole atmosphere is fragrant with their delicious perfume. What wonder if you linger amid these tempting groves of apricots, peaches, figs, almonds, pomegranates, mulberries, walnuts, and tall poplars ? The ground is too val- uable to be allowed to produce a useless tree ; those which are not fruit-bearing are almost exclusively poplars, used for building purposes. Even the villages are placed on the edge of the desert, so that people may not waste the ground which it is possible to irrigate by living on it. Little runnels of water trickle in every direction in these cool seductive shades, which, however, like other attractions to the 444 THE LAND OF GILEAD. senses, are not altogether without their danger, for the sudden change from the heats of the desert to such enchanting but damp spots, is Hkely to produce a chill and its attendant fever, a fact which it is difficult to realise as one plunges into the crystal fountain where it wells in a full torrent from its source as at A in Fijeh as cold as ice, and foams away to give life and sustenance to the thousands who live upon the abundance produced by the lands which it waters. For the time, at all events, invig- orated and refreshed, we scorn all sanitary consider- ations, and brace ourselves once more to meet the fatigue and the drowsiness which the desert sun pro- duces after our relaxation. And so we jog wearily on to our night quarters, which invite us to a repose more grateful, if possible, than the last. Bludan is situated at an elevation of 5000 feet above the sea, so our night was most refreshingly cool. On the following day we descended into the burn- ing plain of the Buka'a, and were not sorry to see at last the tall trees and abundant vegetation which surrounds the grandest monument existing of a de- parted civilisation. The modern tourist, probably animated by a sentiment of spite at the conscious- ness of being such a pigmy as compared with the giants of art in those days, has taken to practising with a revolver at that more delicate tracery which is so far above his reach that he cannot destroy it with a hammer. Why he should of late have be- TOURIST VANDALISM. 445 come consumed with a passion for putting fragments of Baalbec upon his mantelpiece when he gets home, it is difficult to conceive, for the mind of the Cook's tourist in these matters is unfathomable ; but certain it is, that within the last three years there has been such wholesale destruction with pistols going on, that most of those exquisite medallions, which a few years ago formed the chief glory of Baalbec, are completely effaced. The capitals of the Corinthian columns seem to make good targets for practice of this sort. You can aim at a particular fluted leaf, and have the pleasure of chipping the others all round until you bring down with a crash the par- ticular piece of moulding you want. Then carved architraves are nice things to blaze away at, and the nose of an empress on a medallion forty feet above your head requires good shooting. I made inquiries on the spot as to the kind of people who were the best shots, and was informed that the American tourist carried all before him. This, however, I cannot speak of from personal knowledge; but I think the old practice of decorating the magnificent remains of a civilisation so superior to ours with one's name, was a more touching way of paying homage to them, than battering them to pieces with firearms and carrying off fragments as the evidence of one's aesthetic tastes. It is needless to suggest that it would be very easy to get a piece of stone anywhere and label it " Baalbec ; " and I venture 446 THE LAND OF GILEAD. to recommend that fragments from a neighbouring quarry should be carved and kept for this purpose, and sold to the tourist. It would be an additional source of revenue to the Turkish Government at a moment when its finances are sorely in need of assistance. On my return to Damascus I called the attention of the Vali to the destruction of Baal- bec by the appliances of modern civilisation, at the hands of the race which has taken the reform of the Turkish empire so much to heart, and sug- gested that these ** Baalbec atrocities " might be put an end to if a fee was charged, and a guard put over the ruins. If the Christian tourist was first made to pay, and then watched, the " unspeakable Turk " might possibly keep him in some sort of order. The modern town of Baalbec is a more than usually flourishing place. The Christians are getting all the land into their hands, and are gradually ousting the Moslems, who, having no European Powers to protect them, are generally throughout Turkey the most hardly used class of the population. In the immediate neighbourhood of Damascus, it is true, the case is reversed ; but away from the seat of government the Mohammedan peasantry are decid- edly, as a rule, less well off, and have more burdens to bear and oppression to endure than their Chris- tian neighbours, in whose favour humanitarian sym- pathy has been so largely and exclusively enlisted. As, however, the popular candidate, who expounds THE NEBY KOKAB. 447 on this subject to the ordinary British voter from a platform, seems to understand it so much better than people who have lived and travelled in the country, it would be presumptuous in me to allude to it at any greater length. At Baalbec we met Mr Chirol, who arranged to accompany us on the following day on our ride to Malula. About a mile and a half from Baalbec there is a beautiful and abundant spring, which is enclosed in a large basin, and is called Ras el A in. It was the last inhabited spot we were to see for some hours, and with a heavy heart I turned my back upon the majestic ruin, whose most attractive features cannot long survive the attacks that are being made upon them. Our way led up a wild desolate wady, which reminded me of the Pass of Glencoe. We were travelling almost due east, and were breasting the western slopes of the Anti-Lebanon, which we were to cross by a pass at an elevation of about 7000 feet above the level of the sea. Our day's march pro- mised to be a long and fatiguing one, so we had started early, and pushed forward after our nimble guide with as much expedition as the stony track which did duty for a road would allow. After a scramble of an hour and a half we reached the Neby Kokab, where there was a stream which repeatedly lost itself and reappeared as it dashed down a gully, colouring the stones with its strong mineral pro- perties, and where, in a wild spot, there was the 448 THE LAND OF GILEAD. tomb of a departed saint covered with relics. The steep hillsides here were not altogether barren, and in places the scenery was picturesque and even grand. Arbor-vitse grew abundantly, intermingled with a few oaks ; while in the crevices of the rocks grew small, flowering, thorny shrubs and forget-me- nots, and the Syrian speedwell blended its blue tints with bright pink and purple flowers, whose name was unknown to me. When at last we reached the summit, it was not to find ourselves on the crest of the rido^e with a panoramic view beyond, as we expected, but on the edge of a rocky plateau, covered with broad patches of snow. We had frequently to dismount in order to cross these, as the crust was scarcely strong enough to bear our horses without the riders, and in places the drifts were deep. The path was merely nominal, and practically we found our own way between or across them, coming occasionally upon patches of green, the result of temporary pools and streams formed by the melting snow, and fur- nishing pasture to occasional flocks of sheep, tended by wild-looking shepherds, who bivouacked in these cold regions in the summer, and who stared at us in amazement, as specimens of an unknown race. We only came across two or three of these herds- men, and, with that exception, there were no signs of human life. The country was wild, craggy, and desolate in the extreme, but it had the immense THE SAHARA. 449 merit of being cool ; and we quite regretted finding ourselves, after an hour and a half of this description of travel, gradually descending on the other side over arid wastes, till we reached, in six hours from Baal- bec, the squalid Metawaly village of Zibdy, perched in a barren amphitheatre of rocks, perforated with caves, and of most uninviting appearance. The peculiar Mohammedan sect which inhabit it were notorious for their lawless character and thieving propensities, and we were not tempted to investigate it closely, as they looked ragged and scowling, but pushed on over the parched table-land beyond, under a blazing sun. There seemed no limit to the waste of desert upon which we had now entered, till sud- denly, by one of those freaks of natural conformation which characterise the country, we came unexpect- edly upon a ravine through which flowed a small stream, fringed by a margin of green corn-fields. It was the Wady Zaarur a cleft in the Sahara ; and when we had dived down into it, watered our thirsty steeds, and scrambled up on the other side, we could look back to the mountain-range beyond and see no sign of verdure or cultivation. Towering behind us, and a little to the right of the pass by which we had traversed the Anti-Lebanon, were the peaks of Nabi Baruch and Tala-al-Musa, rising to a height of 7900 and 8700 feet respectively; while away to the north, and just peeping from behind the shoulder of the low sand-range upon which we stood, we could 2 F 450 THE LAND OF GILEAD. see the trees and orchards of the village of Yabrud faintly visible in the afternoon haze. Yabrud is the Jabruda of Ptolemy, and a bishop of Yabrud is mentioned as having been present at the Council of Nicsea. There is a Greek church here of great antiquity, which is said to have been built by the Empress Helena; and near the town is the ruined castle of Kasr Berdawil, a colonnade of which is half preserved. I was sorry to be unable to visit these interesting and little-known remains, but they do not lie far off one of the roads leading from Damascus to Aleppo, by which they are the most accessible. We crossed this road before reaching Malula, and from it looked down upon a rocky sandstone ridge, which had been cleft as if by a knife. Our guide pointed to it and said *' Malula ; " but beyond the walls of a monastery at the entrance to the gorge, we could see no sign of human habi- tation. The rugged conformation of the sides of the ruptured rock as seen from this point was strik- ingly picturesque. We descended towards the mon- astery, but turned sharply to the right just before reaching it, and found ourselves on the brink of a yawning gulf which opened at the base of the cliff. It seemed impossible to plunge Into the chasm on horseback, so we dismounted and let our beasts find their own way. The well-worn steps in the rock proved that it had been a sort of staircase used by animals from time immemorial, and our sure- SINGULAR CHASM. 45 I footed ponies did not hesitate to make the descent, while we scrambled down after them. We soon found ourselves in a sort of tunnel, the smooth rock rising to a height of 150 or 200 feet on each side, and closing in upon us to such an extent that we could only here and there see a strip of sky. The passage in places was not more than three feet wide, so that two animals could not have passed ; and side chasms and crevices opened up into the rock, which was full of caves, while gigan- tic masses had fallen and got jammed in the huge cracks. Altogether it was the strangest and most weird entrance to the abode of man that I had ever seen ; and my curiosity was excited to the highest pitch as we followed it for about a hun- dred yards, when we came to another flight of stone steps, up which we clambered, and then emerged upon a scene of singular quaintness and beauty. The town seemed hived upon the steep jagged sides of an amphitheatre of rocks ; the houses were perched one above another, the at roofs of those below forming the balconies and courts of those above, and sometimes the most easy mode of access from one to the other. From the rear of the upper- most tier of houses the cliff rises precipitously to a height of about 200 feet. We scrambled now up steep steps, now through tunnels partly of natural rock, partly artificial, amid crags, caverns, and fissures, until we were told that we had arrived at the house 452 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of the sheikh, where a number of women were col- lected to receive us, and immediately began to bustle about and prepare a room for our reception. We stabled our steeds in a cave, and went out to see the place before it was too dark, threading our way amid the labyrinthine alleys which wound up and down and in and out of the rocks and houses. MALULA. Below us the gorge expanded into a richly-cultivat- ed well-watered valley, where fruitful gardens sup- plied the town with their wealth of produce. We crossed the clear stream which gushed from the mountain-side amid the most luxuriant verdure and under overhanging foliage, and looking back could gain a better idea of the singular conformation by MALULA. 453 which we were surrounded. We found that a fissure in the range corresponding to the one by which we had dived into the town, cleft the rocks further to the north, thus making a craggy precipitous shoulder be- tween the two, where the rocks and houses mingled in grotesque confusion. There was a sort of tunnel entrance by this chasm, similar to the one which we had traversed, and at its cavernous mouth was perched the orthodox Greek monastery of Mar Thecla. In this cave a chapel has been built in which is shown the spot where St Thecla suffered martyrdom. She was a disciple of St Paul, accord- ing to the legends, and fled to this place to escape from her infidel father. Her picture is in the niche where they say her body lies. There is a Greek inscription on it, saying that she was the first martyr of her sex, and contemporary with the apostles. The monastery on the top of the rock at the point we had descended was the Greek Catholic mon- astery of Mar Serkis. The monks are celebrated for the excellent wine which they manufacture. All round were ancient rock-tombs, and the caves which in old time were occupied by hermits. In the days of Sir John Mandeville, who visited Malula at the end of the fourteenth century, it seems to have been a nest of hermits, who have long since died out ; but from time immemorial it has been es- teemed a place of great sanctity, and the monasteries to this day are much resorted to on certain religious 454 THE LAND OF GILEAD. festivals by pilgrims from all parts of Syria, and have in consequence become immensely wealthy. There are only two Moslem families in the town, which is otherwise exclusively Christian, of the or- thodox or Greek Catholic persuasion. It is a curi- ous thing that the women of these two Moslem families do not cover their faces, thus falling into the custom of the majority. The converse of this is to be seen in all Moslem towns where there are only a few Christian families, and where the Chris- tian women adopt the Moslem custom of veiling themselves rather than appear singular in their dress. Malula contains nearly 2000 inhabitants, and the whole population, together with that of the two small neighbouring villages of Bakha and Jubadin, speak the old Syriac. A few rites peculiar to the ancient Jacobites are still observed here in marriage ceremonies, both by Moslems and Christians, though the latter now belong to the orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches. In the course of our rambles we met a priest, who told us that he always per- formed the service in the Syriac language. I listened with great interest to the musical sounds of this almost extinct tongue. It is probably very nearly identical with that spoken as the colloquial language of Palestine in the time of our Lord. It was the language in which He taught, and therefore possesses associations of a character to which no other tongue can lay claim. When we returned to MALULA BY MOONLIGHT. 455 our eyrie for the night, the women were gabbhng in it with great volubility. They told us that most of the inhabitants could speak Arabic, but th^t they always used Syriac in their familiar intercourse, though it was not taught in the school. It is to be feared, therefore, that in a few years it will have taken its place in the list of dead languages. The sheikh himself was absent, but the door of the women's apartments opened upon the roof, which formed our dining-room, and exhibited a curious domestic scene, the children lying asleep, innocent of attire and the females, whose relationship to the sheikh I could not exactly discover, pursuing their maternal and other avocations, entirely regard- less of our presence. We lingered long on this in- teresting house-top, for the light of a brilliant moon shed its soft lustre over the wild scene, and the ghostly shadows of projecting crags and pinnacles melted into the gloom of the cracks and caverns. At last the glimmering of lamps and the sound of voices gradually died away into a sort of fantastic stillness, until we almost expected to see phantoms emerge, and a life in keeping with the weird sur- roundings take the place of that which had gone to rest. Our way next morning led down the cultivated valley for a short distance, and then turned to the right through groves of pistachio-trees, the cultiva- tion of the nut being one of the principal industries 456 THE LAND OF GILEAD. of the place. The hillsides were also covered with vine and shumach trees. From the latter is made the yellow dye with which the leather of slippers or babooshes is coloured. For three hours we rode over a dreary but partially cultivated plain, keeping along the base of a low serrated range of sandstone ; while to the left, the burning plain stretched away to the Jebel Abul Ata, from the southern slopes of which I had already looked across the desert which extends to the Euphrates. The convent of Sednaya, perched on a crag, which is surrounded by the village of the same name, was a welcome sight, for it was to be our mid-day halt ; and leav- ing our ponies at the foot of the long flight of stone steps that leads up the side of the rock to the con- vent, we obtained admittance from the nuns, and were shown by the lady superior into the apart- ment provided for the reception of guests. It was a delightful, airy room, commanding an extensive view in all directions ; and from an adjoining roof we were indiscreet enough to try and peep into the nuns' quarters, which formed one side of a long, narrow courtyard. With the exception of two or three elderly females, our curiosity was not grati- fied the young ones, if there were any, remaining in seclusion. The old lady who did the honours, and gave us some excellent wine and other com- estibles, informed us that the convent contained forty nuns ; that it was 1 500 years old ; and that, MIRACLE- MONGERS. 457 at certain times of the year, it was one of the most frequented resorts for pilgrims in Syria. This is due to the virtues of a miracle-working Madonna, whose picture is in the church, and who possesses the special faculty of increasing the population in cases where a wife incurs the disgrace of having no offspring, or only daughters. Hence female dev- otees, desirous of making their lords happy, flock hither in great numbers, and, according to popular account, with great success, and the convent profits pecuniarily in consequence. Traffic of this peculiar description is not confined in Syria to religious establishments, but the exploi- tation of feminine credulity is successfully carried on by individual miracle-mongers, who are supposed to possess the art of dealing with this mysterious problem of nature. A celebrated professor of it not long since accumulated a large fortune and acquired a great reputation by a very simple trick. Upon being applied to for assistance, he invariably pro- phesied the wished -for result, at the same time writing, in an obscure corner of the house, a pre- diction to the effect that the coming event would not be a son, but a daughter. If it turned out a son he said nothing of the written prediction, and passed for a great seer ; if, on the other hand, a daughter arrived, he explained that he was well aware that such would be the case, but not wishing to hurt the feelings of the parents by an unneces- 458 THE LAND OF GILEAD. sarily premature disappointment, he had contented himself with writing it secretly, and now trium- phantly revealed the written prophecy. The con- vent church contains some wretched pictures, for the most part too obscene to be described, and ren- dering it a particularly inappropriate place, one would imagine, for women to worship in. The picture of the Virgin, possessing the miraculous power, is supposed to have been painted by Luke the evangelist ; and it is popularly believed by those who reverence it to consist half of stone and half of flesh ; but nobody cares to verify this statement, as to look upon the image portrait is said to produce instantaneous death. The ecclesiastical writers of the Greek Church identify Sednaya with the ancient Danaba mentioned by Ptolemy, and also recorded as the seat of a bishop in the ' Notitiae Ecclesiasticse.' In a Greek convent which I once visited in Mol- davia, the comparative seclusion practised by the nuns of Sednaya did not exist ; and I have no doubt that, had we been able to prolong our visit, their coyness here would have worn off We were obliged, however, to content ourselves with an hour's rest, during which we entirely exhausted the lady supe- rior's conversational resources. On the east side of the rock on which the mon- astery is situated are some ancient rock-cut tombs, and further down on the slope is a square tower, evidently very ancient, probably Roman, and per- MENIN. 459 haps a tomb ; it is known as Mar Butrus er Rasul, or the Apostle Peter, and stands on a basement of three steps. It is 30 feet square and 26 feet high. Each wall consists of ten courses of finely - hewn stone. On the south side is a small aperture sur- rounded by a moulding, and closed with an iron door, which was locked. After some trouble we found the guardian, who let us in ; but except a few poor modern pictures and some goods which had been put into it, apparently as a warehouse, it was empty. The roof was vaulted. As we passed through the somewhat squalid village we saw a wed- ding-party. The bride was a pretty girl, dressed in a very becoming jacket, trimmed with gold em- broidery ; her forehead and neck were hung with coins and jewellery, and her skirt was of bright scarlet. Her attendant maidens were similarly dec- orated and attired, and they formed a bright and picturesque group. After an hour and a half of hot ride across the Sahara we suddenly dived into the refreshing pool of green verdure, on the edge of which is situated the vil- lage of Menin. A copious fountain of crystal water welled from the base of the cliff, with volume enough to be applied to mill purposes at its source, and to be subdivided into innumerable streamlets for irri- gation. Under the shade of a grove of tall poplars all the women of the village were assembled, each with a spinning-wheel, chatting in picturesque groups 46o THE LAND OF GILEAD. by the side of the gurgling stream, and very much interfering with our bathing operations for it was impossible after our hot ride to resist a plunge into this delig^htful fountain. In the cliffs overhead were numerous rock-tombs and chambers ; while the re- mains of what was probably once a temple, proved that from ancient times the attractions of the "source" of Menin had been appreciated. The valley widened as we rode down it. The temperature had sensibly changed for the better. In places the road passed between damp banks on which grew creepers, ferns, and mosses, while walnut and fruit trees lent a most grateful shade. We could scarcely realise the fact that half an hour before we had been on a desert without a patch of green visible, so potent is the magic touch of water. We luxuriated in these de- lightful shades for a couple of hours, and then once more the scene changed and we entered a savage gorge, along the rocky side of which the water was carried in an aqueduct. It is so narrow that we had to ride along the natural bed of the brook which carried off in winter the superfluous water. This romantic chasm, devoid of all vegetation, separates the range of Jebel Kasiun from that of Jebel Kala- mun, and at its outlet we reach Berzeh. A Moslem legend makes this the birthplace of Abraham ; while, according to another tradition, it is the point to which he penetrated when he pursued the captors of his brother Lot " unto Hobah which is on the left of DEPARTURE FROM DAMASCUS. 46 1 Damascus," and succeeded in rescuing him. It does not seem to me in the least to answer the descrip- tion ; but the whole neighbourhood of Damascus is so replete with Biblical association that the uncer- tainty in regard to detail can never deprive it of the peculiar interest which every salient feature must possess. As the evening shadows were lengthening we found ourselves once more on the verp^e of that vast expanse of green, in the centre of which the domes and minarets of the brilliant city were glit- tering in the setting sun ; and spurring our willing steeds over the well-worn roads which converge to it as a common centre, we regained, in another hour, its comparative civilisation. Having, under the supervision of Midhat Pasha, elaborated a scheme for the colonisation of that dis- trict of his vilayet which I had fixed upon to the east of the Jordan, and received his Highness's assurances that if I could get it approved at Con- stantinople he would offer me every assistance in his power to carry it out, I had nothing more to detain me at Damascus, and started with Mr Chirol on my return to Beyrout by way of the Kasrawan, and some of the wildest and most picturesque valleys of the Lebanon. In order to avoid the heat of the day, we rode by moonlight to Shtora, a village and post-station which lies upon the French diligence route, half-way between Damascus and Beyrout. It is situated at the foot of the eastern slope of the 462 THE LAND OF GILEAD. Lebanon, and on the edge of the great valley or rather plain of the Buka a. A road practicable for wheeled vehicles leads from here along the plain to Baalbec, distant about forty miles a pleasant road, for the first hour skirting the lower Lebanon spurs, and winding between hedges of roses in bloom and through richly cultivated country. We turned off from it before it became hot and dull, at the village of Muallaka, celebrated as containing the mortal remains of Noah, whose tomb is shown to the credulous stranger. Its dimensions are 104 feet long by 10 broad, and it conveys some idea of the size of the human race before they evolved backwards as it were to their present dimensions. We did not, however, visit his tomb, which is much reverenced both by Christians and Moslems, but turned into the gorge down which plunges the brawling Berduni, to the picturesque town of Zahleh. The towns of Muallaka and Zahleh meet in this gorge, which is scarce a mile long the former spreading out at its debouchure, and the latter clinging to the steep sides of the valley, where it widens above the gorge. Muallaka is a purely Moslem village, while Zahleh contains a population of 15,000 inhabitants, amongst whom there is only one Moslem family. The narrow street which separates these contiguous towns forms also the boundary of the province. Muallaka is in the vilayet of Syria, and is governed by Midhat ZAHLEH. 463 Pasha from Damascus ; while Zahleh is the largest and most important town in the province of the Lebanon, and is governed from Baabda, the seat of administration of Rustem Pasha. As we approach it, we are at once struck by the absence of minarets, and the presence of domes and crosses, for it boasts of no less than eighteen churches, with a fanatical, fighting population, of whom two-thirds are Greek orthodox, and one-third Maronite, who all vehem- ently oppose the introduction of Protestant mission- ary schools. There is one notwithstanding, presided over by an English lady. In i860 the turbulent propensities of the inhabitants were fully gratified, for the Druses came down upon them, and the place suffered terribly. It is a lovely, peaceful -looking spot now, with its well-built whitewashed houses picturesquely clustering upon the steep hillsides, their piazzas and balconies with their high columns perched one above the other ; while the Berduni, issuing from a romantic chasm in the Lebanon, plunges down to the second gorge below, turning in its impetuous course a quantity of corn-mills, and irrigating a small flat area which is hemmed in by the steep surrounding hills, and is thickly planted with tall poplars. Thither we descended to seek a cool retreat from the noonday sun, and found our- selves in a labyrinth of intersecting streamlets and rope- walks. Higher up, where the valley becomes narrow, enterprising purveyors of public recreation 464 THE LAND OF GILEAD. have erected cafis, where the citizens resort in the cool of the evening, and, perched on stages over the torrent, sip " mastic " or raki^ and eat raw gherkins to stimulate their palates, singing their uproarious and discordant native songs while they play draughts or dominoes. The streets are so steep and rough that it is far easier to walk than to ride ; but there is, in fact, nothing of interest to see in Zahleh beyond the extreme beauty of its position, and its general air of prosperity and comfort. As Zahleh does not boast of any place of enter- tainment for strangers, we were put up by a private family ; and from the roof of the house, or rather the house below ours, revelled in a charming view while the ladies of the establishment were preparing our repast. They were two good-looking sisters, both married ; but she who was our hostess blushed at the disgrace which she felt attended her admission, when, in answer to our inquiries, she told us she had no children. Her sister, who was ostentatiously nursing a fat baby, looked at her with compassion, and I think tried to make some excuse for this omission ; but although my friend and travelling companion was a tolerable Arabic scholar, he felt hardly up to pursuing the subject. They gave us an excellent dinner, and the neighbouring gossips gathered round to see us eat, sitting on their heels, and gazing at us admiringly. The furniture of a Syrian house is limited to mats, and quilts, and cushions ; and the CHRISTIAN CUPIDITY. 465 attitude of its occupants, when they are not on their heels, is necessarily more or less recumbent. Ours was invariably so as, until one is accustomed to it, heels are uncomfortable to sit upon perma- nently. So far as the charms of female society are concerned, a Christian's house is a more amusing one to lodge in than a Moslem's, but then you have to pay for it. It is much more difficult to satisfy the pecuniary expectations of Christians than of Mos- lems : indeed, one would imagine that it was rather the Koran than the Bible which denounced the love of money as being the root of all evil so much keener are Christian than Moslem cupidities ; but as the result of a more enligfhtened financial selfishness is a higher state of civilisation, I suppose it should be encouraged. Unless we can stimulate the Moslem to devote his whole energies to preying upon his neighbour, and can increase his greed for money and his necessities generally, the cause of reform in Turkey is hopeless. I am not now speaking of the bureaucratic class, who have been either educated in Europe or taught by contact with enlightened for- eigners how " to turn an honest penny," but of the simple peasantry and provincial folk generally, who are not mixed up in administrative vices, and who suffer from the absence of those avaricious instincts which enable Christians to thrive and prosper when the Moslem earns but a scanty living not because he is less industrious, but because he is less covet- 2 G 466 THE LAND OF GILEAD. ous and astute. These considerations occurred to me on the following morning, as my charming and agreeable hostess pouted indignantly at the ridicu- lously large present she received in proportion to the service she had rendered. The unsophisticated Moslem where Cook's tourists have not penetrated and introduced civilised ideas would have been bowed down with gratitude with half the amount. Zahleh stands at an elevation of about 3000 feet above the sea -level, and from it we immediately began to rise ; for we were clambering up the shoul- der of the Jebel Sennin, the snow-clad mountain so familiar to those who gaze at the Lebanon range from the balconies of the hotels at Beyrout, and which attains an altitude of over 8300 feet. We soon left the vineyards behind us for Zahleh is the most important wine-growing place in the Leb- anon and toiled up the steep grassy slopes for an hour and a half, until we found ourselves among patches of snow, and over 6000 feet above the sea. Here rhododendrons in full bloom were abundant, while violets and forget-me-nots peeped out from between the rocks. From the ridge we had a mag- nificent view back over the Buka'a and Ccelesyria ; while at our feet lay stretched the wild gorges and valleys of the Kasrawan district, which we were about to explore, with the sea in the dim distance. We kept along this ridge in a northerly direction, with snowy Jebel Sennin towering above us on our THE WADY SENNIN. 467 right, for some time before we began to descend into the grand amphitheatre of the Wady Sennin. Here rocks rose precipitously all round, and streams dashed tumultuously down them, ultimately to join the Nahr-el-Kelb or Dog River. We scrambled along the narrow ledges, looking down giddy heights, until we came to a precipice formed by an extra- ordinary mass of cracked limestone : it was rent by deep fissures to its base, while it projected in crags and pinnacles of the strangest form, amid which our path led. These crags were curiously fluted and honeycombed by the action of the weather; and here and there a crevasse yawned beneath our feet with apparently no bottom. The grey of the rock, and the fantastic forms of its gigantic masses, con- trasted wonderfully with the dark-green of the pine- foliage which mingled with it; while lower down, expanses of light -green mulberry cultivation indi- cated that we were once more approaching the abode of man. After a delicious bath in a crystal stream, we crossed another ridge, and over the whole side of the hill we were descending, we saw well-built, com- fortable-looking houses scattered, peeping out of masses of luxuriant vegetation, and inviting us to a mid-day halt, of which we began to stand in need. This was the village of Bestimka. We had scarcely entered it before we were most warmly but not dis- interestedly pressed by a well-to-do householder to dismount in his garden. He spread mats for us 468 THE LAND OF GILEAD. under the shade of his fruit-trees, supphed us with sour milk, which, together with the viands we had brought with us, served for our lunch ; and we could not help contrasting the ease and comparative wealth with which we were surrounded, with the more pov- erty-stricken and squalid aspect of the villages in which we had been lately sojourning in the Anti- Lebanon. For the remainder of the afternoon our ride was enchanting : along terraces covered with mulberry, amid crags down which cascades dashed and to which pine-trees clung, between hedges of roses, and under the shade of wide-spreading walnut-trees, till we found ourselves in another noble amphitheatre, the lower portion of which was richly cultivated ; and in the midst of its gardens we looked with in- terest on our night-quarters the village of Mezra'a. We had not met many travellers during our day's" march, but our first question had always been when we did meet one, " How far is it to Mezra'a ?" and our second, " Who is the best man there to go to for lodging ? " We never received two replies in the least degree similar to the first query; while every one seemed to concur in the opinion that for hospi- tality there was no one to compare with Abdulla, the son of Jirius the priest. So, on entering the village, we immediately made inquiry for Abdulla, and half- a-dozen volunteers to find him were soon forthcom- ing ; for it seemed well known that at that moment ABDULLA, THE SON OF JIRIUS. 469 he was not at home. Soon he appeared, a hand- some, pleasant -featured man, delighted at the im- portance with which our arrival invested him, and well pleased, no doubt, to show us the magnificence of the accommodation which he could place at our disposal. It turned out to be nothing less than an entire mansion, newly built, and which, though it was neatly furnished with mats, had never been occupied. We stabled our horses in the lower floor, while we ascended to the upper by a flight of steps on the outside, leading to a veranda commanding a delightful view. Three or four spacious rooms opened out of this, and of one of these we took possession, while Abdulla, the son of Jirius the priest, sent for some women-kind from his father's house, which seemed to be his present abode. After- wards, when we became more intimate with him, he explained to us that he was to be married next year to a young lady in the neighbourhood, and that he had built this house in anticipation of the happy event. In the meantime, he introduced us to his sister, who came carrying a basket of ten- der mulberry-leaves for the whole female popula- tion was engaged in providing for the wants of the young silk-worms ; and having seen our room made comfortable, we started off under our host's escort to pay a visit to Jirius the priest himself There is no street or collection of houses grouped closely together in these higher Lebanon villages. 470 THE LAND OF GILEAD. but they are for the most part scattered among mulberry -plantations over the hillsides. Mezra'a contained about 1500 inhabitants, and its gardens and vineyards covered a considerable area. The silk -culture forms the principal industry of the in- habitants. At the period of our visit the worms were just out, and infinitesimally small. Only the youngest and tenderest leaves were being gathered for them, which girls were neatly and tightly pack- ing away in hand -baskets, while others were en- gaged in the less elegant occupation of smearing large flat trays with cow -dung; and before each house numbers of these trays were drying in the sun, preparing to be the first home of silk-worms. When we arrived at the house of Jirius the priest, his daughter brought us out a trayful to inspect. The old man himself was seated on his balcony smoking a narghiU, and enjoying the soft evening air and the lovely view. He was a venerable patri- arch, retired from active sacerdotal functions, and apparently spending a peaceful old age in the bosom of his family. The whole population of this village was Maronite ; and strolling through it we came upon one of the churches a massive square building, which had been in old time a Metawaly fort. We were joined here by the priest who officiated in it, a jovial, middle-aged man, who turned out somewhat of a wag, and who appeared to be esteemed not so much for his saintly character as for his wealth THE MARONITE PRIESTHOOD. 471 Abdulla informing me, in an undertone of the deepest respect, that he was worth a sum equivalent to ^4000, and was the richest man in the village. Indeed Maronite clergy as a rule, unlike the priest- hoods elsewhere, are the richest class in the country ; and it is doubtless largely owing to this fact that they exercise so powerful a political influence on their flocks. When, in addition to controlling the consciences of their congregations, they can also control their pockets, it is evident that, by a judici- ous system of spiritual and temporal squeezing, they may increase both their capital and their influence to any extent. Individually, they are often large landed proprietors ; while, collectively, the Church owns a most undue proportion of territory. From the ridge on which we sat under the shadow of the village church, we could see one episcopal residence, and several convents and monasteries, all occupying the most beautiful sites ; for it must be owned the Church has an eye for the picturesque, and all representing large landed possessions, and accumulated wealth. To live upon their flocks like leeches, and to stimulate their religious bigotry and fanaticism, seems to be the principal function of the Maronite priesthood. No doubt there are excellent and devoted men among them, but all the practical difficulty of administering the Lebanon is created by the Church ; and a turbulent bishop, whom it had been found necessary to exile, was, at the time of 472 THE LAND OF GILEAD. my visit, keeping the whole country in a ferment. The priest took me into the lower part of the curious old building which was now used as a church, and showed me the vault which in old times served as a place of refuge for the defenders. It had been sup- plied with water by a subterranean passage, which had fallen into disrepair, and it communicated with the room above, which was now the church, by a trap-door. The walls were several feet thick, and composed of huge blocks of stone. My reverend guide, who had been smoking and laughing some- what boisterously at his own jokes, now took me round to the door of the church, laid his cigarette temporarily on the door -sill, and with an instan- taneous change of manner, proceeded to kneel and pray vigorously while I inspected the internal decora- tions, which were of the rudest description. Out of consideration for his cigarette I did not stay long, so as to enable him to finish his prayers and return to it before it went out a feat he succeeded in achiev- ing, picking it up as well as his jokes at the point where he had been temporarily obliged to suspend them for devotional purposes. On our return to our lodging we found a sumptu- ous repast prepared for us ; and Abdulla, the son of Jirius the priest, had provided wine of the best, and turned out to be of a most convivial temperament, and much discomposed at the comparative rapidity with which we despatched our meal ; for he had evi- BRITISH OCCUPATION. 473 dently anticipated making a night of it in feasting and drinking. He ate principally with his fingers, which was possibly one reason why he could not keep up with us ; but then he also talked incessantly, and was extremely interested in political matters, and especially desirous to know whether Syria was not about to be occupied by England or France, or pos- sibly by both. Throughout the Lebanon, the idea seems firmly fixed in the minds of the people that they are to pass shortly under the domination of a Western Power, a prospect they look forward to with great eagerness. The Maronites would natu- rally, for the most part, prefer that that Power should be France ; but the Greek orthodox and the Druses would hail with delight the advent of a British army of occupation. The entire Maronite population of the Lebanon does not exceed 150,000. Abdulla told us that there were many persons in the village who owned property to the amount of ^1000 ; and, indeed, gave us to understand that he had more than that himself. On the whole, he professed him- self satisfied with the regime under which he lived, admitting that he enjoyed protection of life and property, and had nothing to complain of. His idea of a French occupation was merely based upon the vague notion that it would bring more money into the country; but it seemed to me that the Maronites had quite as much money as was good for them, con- sidering how fond they were of it, and how easily. 474 THE LAND OF GILEAD. notwithstanding, they allowed themselves to be robbed of it by the Church. A small boy came and danced and sang before us ere we finally turned in ; and the usual group of ad- miring females lingered to the last moment, while Abdulla disappeared reluctantly, evidently feeling that it might be long ere he should be able again to provide himself with such a good dinner, in his own house, at somebody else's expense. For his hospi- tality was equal to that of a first-class hotel, so far as prices went, though they took the form, not of paying a bill, but of making presents ; so that in our cordial adieux the next morning, we were able to keep up the fiction that we had been indebted to him for a generous and disinterested hospitality, and parted from him as from one who had conferred upon us deep and lasting obligations. 475 CHAPTER XVII. RUINS OF KALAT FAKRA THE NATURAL BRIDGE MAGNIFICENT SCENERY AFKA THE TEMPLE OF ADONIS WE ARE BENIGHTED ARRIVAL AT GHAZIR NIGHT QUARTERS POLITICAL DISCUS- SIONS MARONITE VIEWS ECCLESIASTICAL CUPIDITIES THE NAHR-EL-KELB INSCRIPTIONS DEPARTURE FROM BEVROUT. For an hour and a quarter after leaving Mezra'a, we continued to ascend through vineyards, mulberry- plantations, and wheat-fields carefully irrigated upon the steep hillsides, till we reached an elevation of above 6000 feet, when the cultivation nearly ceased, and on its verge, amid a pile of limestone crags, came upon the ruins of Kalat Fakra, which, con- sidering their extent and importance, do not seem to have received the attention they deserve. A few hundred yards to the left of the limestone rocks, and standing by itself, was a large square tower, partly ruined, which was possibly an old Roman fort, on the portal of which appears an inscription that contains the name of the Emperor Claudius. The huge masses of rock that separate this tower from the temple, which has been carved out of them, are most fantastic in form, and in places one is 4/6 THE LAND OF GILEAD. almost at a loss to know what is natural and what artificial. The temple, the walls of which are composed of the solid rock, is twenty yards by forty, and its area is now filled with fragments of columns, carved blocks, and square masses of stone. The facade apparently consisted of a portico supported by six massive columns. The carved pedestals of three of these are still standing, but the columns themselves are broken and prostrate. The outer court was thirty yards square, and a portion of the side walls was composed of the natural rock in situ. A row of smaller columns, all in fragments, formed the fa9ade. About a hundred yards to the south, near a small stream, were the remains of another smaller building, the lower portion of the massive walls of which were still standing. It was divided by a transverse wall, one enclosure, which was pro- bably the inner temple, being seven yards square ; the other was the outer court, ten yards square. On the borders of the stream were massive stones in such a position as to suggest that a reservoir had in ancient times existed here ; and all round were strewn fragments of columns and carved blocks. We lingered longer over these interesting remains than we should have done had we realised the length and difficulty of the journey before us, and we suffered for it later in the day ; but my com- panion could not resist a sketch, and I found abun- dant occupation in making the rough measurements. KALAT FAKRA. 477 which, however, are only approximative, as I had no tape, and it was impossible to pace areas so filled up with huge masses of rock that it was necessary liter- ally to climb across them ; and I did not then know that they had been examined and described by M. Ernest Renan. The temple, according to an inscrip- tion which he copied, is dedicated to ^eo5 /xeytcrro?, " The Great God," and dates from the year a.d. 43. Kalat Fakra was supplied with water led over a low hill from the Neba-el-Leben, or milk spring, about two miles distant. We followed the conduit to this spot, and found a magnificent stream gushing out of the base of the precipitous limestone range with a force and volume sufficient to turn a dozen mills. From here it dashes down in a roaring cata- ract till it disappears from view in a limestone chasm, where it precipitates itself in a fall of about a hun- dred feet. One can walk up to this fall from below, but the rocks almost meet overhead, approaching each other so closely just below the fall, that an active man with good nerves could easily spring across. It was, in fact, a feat which would have been eminently tempting in the days of one's youth ; and even at a more mature period of life, I felt doubtful whether one ought to resist the instinct which seems implanted by nature of risking one's neck for the fun of the thing. But the object which from this point riveted our attention was the Jisr el Hajar, a huge natural bridge which spanned the 478 THE LAND OF GILEAD. gorge a hundred yards or so below the chasm, at an elevation of about a hundred feet from the bed of the torrent. The gorge here is about a hundred and fifty feet across, and the bridge itself is so broad and level that a good carriage-road could be made over it. It is, in fact, a flat piece of limestone rock, from ten to fifteen feet thick, but on the under side it is so perfectly arched as almost to seem artificial. The regular path leads across this bridge, but we had deviated from it in order to visit the spring above. Below the bridge the stream dashes down between precipitous walls of limestone by a series of cascades until it reaches the valley far below, where it is divided into streamlets for irrigating purposes ; and the luxu- riant hillsides bear testimony to its fertilising influ- ence. The whole scene was inexpressibly grand and interesting, and well worth a journey in itself. I am indebted to Mr Chirol for the accompanying sketch. When we add to this wonder of nature and the ro- mantic scenery which surrounds it, the interest that attaches to the remains of an ancient civilisation which lie thickly strewn in the immediate vicinity, it is a matter of surprise that the attractions which they afford should have been allowed to remain so neg- lected, and that, in these days of enterprising travel, this part of the Lebanon should still be compara- tively so little known and explored. For half an hour after leaving the natural bridge we traverse a wild rocky country to the Neba-el-Asal, or honey r SHOBRAH. 479 spring, a magnificent jet of water which gushes out from below the road. It is neither so full in volume nor so picturesque in its source as the milk spring, but it contributes a copious water-supply to the rich valley below. Both these springs are sources of the Dog River, or Nahr-el-Kelb, which was called by the Greeks the Lycus, or Wolf River, and which empties itself into the sea about ten miles to the north of Beyrout. We now traversed a wild desolate region till we came to a patch of cultivation surrounded on all sides by precipitous craggy hills called Shobrah. There are no houses here, but the peasants come up and cultivate it from the nearest village, frequently camp- ing overnight. We scarcely see how we are to get out of this walled-in vale, so steep are the hills all round ; and although we are at an elevation of about 6000 feet above the sea, the mid-day sun is blazing down upon us, and glaring upon the white rocks up which we are to scramble. It is not a tempting prospect, but there is evidently no escape, except by sheer climbing ; so we dismount and reluctantly brace ourselves to the effort. For nearly an hour do we toil up the abominable apology for a path, driving our ponies before us the flat plates of iron with which they are shod scraping and slipping over the smooth sloping surface of the rock till we reach the crest, and then are blandly informed by our guide that he has lost his way. This would have 480 THE LAND OF GILEAD. been excusable in a guide whom we had brought from a distance for goat - paths are not easily- distinguishable from real ones on these wild moun- tain - sides ; but inasmuch as we had taken great trouble at Mezra'a to find a man who knew the country, and as we were now not above six hours distant from his permanent home, we felt justly- indignant, perhaps more so because we were so excessively tired and hot with a climb, part of which we now began to find was unnecessary; so we had to hark back, passing two very curious punch-bowls, which were perfectly round and looked like craters of extinct volcanoes. We had actually reached the snow, but we were rewarded by a mag- nificent view over the valley of the Adonis or Nahr Ibrahim, and slightly consoled by a curious and very picturesque bit of scenery which we should not otherwise have seen. When we got back to the place where the right path diverged we had a second climb to the crest, and then commenced a descent more villanous if possible than the road by which we had mounted. We now began to long for signs of a habitation and a halting-place : there can be no doubt that the most exquisite scenery to a certain extent loses its charm if one looks at it on an empty stomach. In places during our journey to-day there had been almost a carpet of wild flowers. Where the rocks gave them room they bloomed luxuriantly. THE GORGE OF THE ADONIS. 481 Many of them I did not know by name, but I recog- nised the burnet, the sword-flag, especially among the young crops, where there were any and wild flax, and a fine specimen of Persian iris. When we got to the bottom of the hill we found ourselves upon a ledge or natural terrace ^overlooking the gorge of the Adonis, and along this we rode for an hour and a half to the head of the valley ; for above all things we had set our hearts upon seeing Afka, once the abode of the Goddess of Love, and the source of the Adonis ; and we had determined not to linger by the way, even to eat, until we had reached it. And when at length, on turning the angle of a pro- jecting spur, the sacred, or perhaps, more properly speaking, the profane, spot burst suddenly upon us, it was impossible to withhold an exclamation of aston- ishment and delight ; and we felt it incumbent upon us to pause, even at the expense of suffering nature, in order thoroughly to take in the marvellous and unique beauty of the scene. We found ourselves on the lip of a bowl from which the river issued through a gorge, and which was almost completely surrounded by sheer cliffs, varying in height from one to two thousand feet, their crevices filled with snow, and here and there a hardy pine clinging to the jutting crags. A couple of hundred feet below us the small circular area was a mass of vegetation, consisting chiefly of walnut, oak, and juniper trees ; while there were patches of cultivation appertaining 2 H 482 THE LAND OF GILEAD. to a squalid Metawaly village, just peeping out from under the foliage at the head of the gorge. By the side of the stream near the base of the cliff a clump of walnut-trees indicated the site of the once cele- brated temple ; and close to it was a picturesque bridge, from under which the torrent plunges in a mass of foam, and then precipitates itself in three cascades into the gorge below ; but the most remark- able feature is the main source itself, which issues from a deep cavern in the side of the cliff by a fall of about forty feet. It is joined by two other smaller streams, which also break their way out of the side of the rock at some height above its base, forming altogether a combination of springs so singular for situation, and surrounded by such a weird and fan- tastic natural formation, that it was no wonder it appealed to the aesthetic imaginations of the votaries of Venus, and became the scene of a touching mytho- logical episode. It became worse than this ; for in this temple of Apheca, beneath the crumbling walls of which we halted for our scanty meal, those rites sacred to the goddess took place, which at last be- came so impure that the temple itself, which, ac- cording to Lucian, who visited it in the days of its celebrity, was built by Cinyras, was destroyed by the Emperor Constantine. Where we lunched on the margin of the brook it was clear as crystal, falling in pellucid cascades from its three-fold source ; but it is said that it is occasionally coloured red with THE ADONIS. 483 mineral matter, which the ancients regarded as the blood of Adonis, shed by the wild boar before he was sought for and resuscitated by Aphrodite. While the cult of the goddess had its seat at Apheca, that of Adonis took place at Byblos, the modern Jibeil, situated about four miles to the north of the mouth of the river which bore the name of the god. There can be little doubt that the legend sprang from the early Phoenician worship of the dual principle. For Byblos was said to have been founded by Baal Kro- nos, a Phoenician monarch ; and it is not difficult to trace the connection between the early Canaanit- ish religion of Baal and Ashteroth with the myth of Osiris and Isis and the legend of Venus and Adonis. Aphek, in the land assigned by Joshua to, but never occupied by, the tribe of Asher, has been identified with Afka, or Apheca. We regretted that we had not time thoroughly to explore a spot so enchanting in itself, and invested with traditions and associations of so interesting a character. Unfortunately we had lingered too long over the ruins of Kalat Fakra in the morning ; and the delay involved by the subsequent loss of our way had made it problematical whether we should succeed in reaching our night-quarters at all. This would not have signified had we kept our baggage -mule with us, but we had sent him by a short cut to the town of Ghazir, which we had fixed upon as our sleeping - place ; and we now found ourselves, late 484 THE LAND OF GILEAD. in the afternoon, still many hours distant from that spot, with every prospect of having to rough it out on the mountains. There was a Metawaly village, it is true, scarce a mile distant ; but the bigotry, squalor, and dishonesty of the Metawalies form a combination so little tempting that the hillside would have been preferable. So we determined to make a push for Ghazir, and reluctantly turned our backs upon the mystic grove amid which the walls of the temple are crumbling. In places these are standing to a height of ten or twelve feet from the ground ; and the blocks of which they are composed are so massive that there is no reason why they should not continue to remain as they are until they are toppled over by an earthquake. We had hoped to explore the valley of the Adonis itself, but our guide told us there was no possibility of taking a horse through the narrow gorges and chasms by which it forces its way to the sea. He said that even on foot it was difficult and dangerous climbing. But I have no confidence in his accuracy, and would recommend the examination of this valley to the tourist in search of the picturesque. The paths from Afka seem to keep along the tops of the hills on either side ; and to our intense disgust we found ourselves, instead of following the stream as we expected, retracing our steps along the ridge for an hour, and then, instead of plunging down into the gloomy gorge, we turned away from it. We saw A ROUGH MARCH. 485 enough to tempt us sorely to linger where we were for the night, and make an exploratory dash in spite of the guide in the morning; but unfortunately I was due at Beyrout to catch a steamer, and could only gaze wistfully over a landscape whose secrets have only been partially explored as yet by Renan and one or two other travellers. Still we had no reason to complain ; for though our path led us away from the precipitous sides of the gorge of the Adonis, it wound over a shoulder, from the crest of which the view in the evening light was one of exquisite beauty ; and from it we descended into a smaller valley, where pendulous forests of oak clung to the hillsides, and the limestone formation cropped out in the strange fantastic forms common to a dolomite region. We had to scramble down stone stairways, the descent seaward now becoming rapid and trying to man and beast. In mercy to ourselves and our animals we dismounted, and one secluded nook again almost induced us to halt ; for, nestling among the rocks which enclosed a perfect garden of vines, mulberries, and fruit-trees, were the picturesque abodes of the Maronite peasants, who had settled themselves here high up among the mountains in a tiny amphitheatre, sheltered by woods and rocks, and hidden away from the busy world in a corner of their own. And now, as we traversed another belt of wild uninhabited country, the night began to close in, and In the growing dark- 486 THE LAND OF GILEAD. ness the natural obstacles seemed to assume greater proportions. Every peasant we met added on an hour to the distance still to be traversed, and at last we became so sceptical as to our whereabouts, that we took one of them for an extra guide. We had now crossed over from the valley of the Nahr Ibrahim or Adonis into that of the Nahr Maamilten, a thickly populated and luxuriantly cultivated dis- trict, the beauties of which were concealed from us by the darkness ; but the numerous lights which twinkled on the hillsides all round, bore testimony to the density of the population. At last, after fifteen hours of saddle and foot scramble, the welcome sounds of a chorus of barking dogs indicated our approach to a large town. For the last hour the descent had been rocky and precipitous in the extreme, and it was a marvel how our ponies found their way in the darkness along the dangerous ledges and over the steep slippery rocks. But our troubles were not at an end : it was between nine and ten at night, and we had still, in a town of about 8000 inhabitants, to find our mule. We made for the monastery to which the muleteer had been directed, and where we hoped to find accommoda- tion ; but after much knocking and shouting, a surly half- dressed ecclesiastic put his head out of the window, and grufily told us that the monastery was full, and that he had sent away our muleteer hours before, and he did not know where he had gone. BENIGHTED. 487 We tried at one or two good-looking houses where the inhabitants had not gone to bed, but they were sleepy and disinclined to be hospitable ; and we wandered helplessly about in the dark, objects of suspicion and distrust to innumerable noisy curs. At last a priest, who spoke French, came and took compassion on us. He had a friend, he said, who would take us in, and another friend who would go in search of the muleteer. So he took us to a very nice house, the occupants of which were a young man and a young woman and a baby. The baby was the young man's, and the young woman was his sister-in-law, who was performing the duties of wet- nurse as an act of sisterly accommodation. The wife was not visible, but they both seemed extreme- ly anxious to make us comfortable, and sent out to wake up the chemist and buy us tea. We were to share their apartment with them ; but as it was a large one, and the baby was of an amiable and easily soothed type, that did not much matter. In fact, under the circumstances, there seemed no im- propriety in our occupying the same room with the young man and his sister-in-law quite the con- trary. I half suspected the priest intended to join us, he seemed so very much at home ; and we made ourselves as agreeable as wearied, famished men, in the worst possible temper at there being no imme- diate prospect of food, could do, when suddenly the news arrived that the mule with all our raiment and 488 THE LAND OF GILEAD. provisions had been found. Our hearts bounded with joy ; but our hosts, as the prospect of well-re- munerated hospitality vanished, became despondent. We were received with open arms in our new quar- ters, and had quite a levee after dinner, notwithstand- ing the advanced hour of the night. The priest turned out a most enlightened and intelligent man ; and as we were here at the very headquarters of Maronite feeling and sentiment, it was interesting to hear his political opinions, and those of our host and his neig^hbours. I found they differed considerably from those of their religion with whom I had already conversed. As a rule, the instinct of the Maronite is to consider that his religion should be the dominant influence in the Lebanon, and that, practically, the governor- general of the province should be the servant of the Maronite episcopate. Ever since they have en- joyed the special protectorate of the French, their pretensions have become thus exaggerated ; and it is only of late, since a republican form of govern- ment has modified the clerical influence in the ad- ministration of the foreign affairs of France, that the more intelligent section of the Maronltes see that they had better enjoy the privileges which now insure them protection and material prosperity, than struggle for an influence which would only increase religious animosities In the Lebanon against them. Notwithstanding the special relations which exist MARONITES. 489 between England and the Druses, who are the traditional enemies of the Maronites, the latter are most anxious to cultivate the friendship of the British Government ; for the more intelligent among them cannot conceal from themselves that, in the present state of France, even French interests in the East might be sacrificed to the intensity of anti-cleri- cal animosity, and the Maronites would find them- selves abandoned by their present protectors, on the ground that the tie which binds them to France is rather an ecclesiastical than a political one. The disposition which has recently manifested itself in England to rush to the rescue of any sect in Tur- key, provided that it bears the name of Christian, and can draw up petitions complaining of ill-treat- ment by the Turks, has encouraged the Maronites to believe that, on the sentimental ground of " Cross against Crescent," they would find the sympathies of the Liberal party in England ready to pro- nounce in their favour, and undertake, if neces- sary, a religious crusade in their behalf. Indeed, among other sects as well as the Maronites, I found the idea prevalent that a British occupation of Syria was probable. And they indulge in the vague hope that such an occupation would benefit them, and might possibly lead to their ultimate independence ; but what race or religion would dominate in the end they are unable to decide each naturally thinks his own would though they cannot deny that much 490 THE LAND OF GILEAD. bloodshed must necessarily precede any such result, and that in the meantime they have practically nothing to complain of. My hosts and the priests informed me that popular feeling in Ghazir was pretty equally divided between those who were satisfied with the political condition of things as they are, and with the administration of the exist- ing governor-general, and those who desired to see a change in the executive which should give them a larger share of political power. He believed, and rightly, that any attempt on the part of the Maron- ites to grasp at more than they have got, would bring them into dangerous collision with other sects, and might lead to injury to the Church. The fact is, the Maronite priesthood is so much better off than any other priesthood in the world, that the less attention they attract to themselves the better. They are all-powerful among their own flocks. Prac- tically every Maronite community is self-governing, and the ecclesiastical interest is dominant. To want to extend that influence over Druses and Greeks would be suicidal, and this the more sensible per- ceive. But the more ambitious among the bishops are absorbed with a craving for complete rule, and are never satisfied unless their control of the gov- ernor-general is supreme. In conversation with Maronites, I failed to discover one substantial cause of grievance. In no part of the world is a peasantry to be seen more happy and prosperous ; and how- THE MARONITE CHURCH. 491 ever much the Turkish Government may be to blame in its administration of the Moslem part of its population in other parts of Syria, there can be no doubt that the Maronites of the Lebanon are far better treated than they would be in any country where the head of the State professed the Greek instead of the Mohammedan religion. No doubt this has been due to external pressure, which West- ern Powers would not dare to apply to a European Power under similar circumstances. On the other hand, it is only fair to give the Maronite Church its due. It carefully feeds and pampers the goose that lays the golden egg. If it knows how to squeeze a pliable peasantry, it is far too wise to oppress or tyrannise over them. Hence Church farms are eagerly sought for, because in good years the tenants get as large a share of the produce as on private estates ; while in bad years the liberality of their priestly landlords insures them against the misery too often in store for ordinary farmers. It is a question, therefore, whether they are not better off, treated as children by a priesthood which de- spoils them with foresight and discrimination, than they would be if left to take care of themselves, a prey to the competitive plundering of the uncon- trolled lay usurers of Christian sects generally. As, with the exception of England, there is scarcely any country in Europe which enjoys such complete re- ligious toleration as Turkey, it is evident that a small 492 THE LAND OF GILEAU. sect has great opportunities for favourable develop- ment, provided it can be exempted from the onerous pecuniary burdens which the embarrassed financial condition of the empire have rendered necessary. Since the special regulations of 1 860 have imposed upon the Maronites a tax far too light considering the resources of their country, they have, in spite of clerical absorptiveness, been happy and prosperous ; but it would be absolutely impossible to deal with all the religious sects in the country in this excep- tional manner, considering the present state of the Turkish exchequer. The two problems, the solution of which underlies all reform in Turkey, are those of religion and rev- enue. They are both problems which can be far more satisfactorily settled on the spot than from Constantinople ; and hence it is that the surest method of introducing reform is by a process of decentralisation. Without giving to other vilayets the exceptional privileges which the Lebanon enjoys, the power of the vali or governor-general of each province might be increased, while his responsibil- ity to the central government would be proportion- ally augmented. The vilayet might be periodically assessed according to its resources, but the method of collecting the revenue would be a matter for the local government to determine. A provincial ad- ministration, presided over by an intelligent gov- ernor-general, would be far more competent to TURKISH REFORM. 493 reform exlstino- financial and sectarian abuses than a fluctuating ministry at Constantinople, liable to be acted upon by influences brought to bear by intriguers from those distant provinces hostile to the action of the governor -general. Each vali would then feel that his reputation was at stake. He could not plead interference from Constanti- nople as an excuse for religious persecution or a deficient revenue. If he failed to remedy abuses and give satisfaction he would be alone to blame, and could be at once withdrawn, and the empire would be consolidated by the removal of just causes of discontent springing from intrigues by which powerful men In the provinces can resist any at- tempt to reform abuses upon which they thrive at the expense of the poorer part of the population. Many of the evils from which poor Christians suffer arise from the oppression of their wealthy co-religionists. And the Moslem governor is unable to assist the poor Christian in his struggle against the rich one, because the latter has influential friends among the Christian effendis at Constantinople, who support him against the Moslem vali. Of the two, the Christian governing element at Constantinople Is, In some respects, a greater obstacle to reform than the Mohammedan ; for the Moslem is a more tolerant man In his treatment of rival Christian sects than those rival Christian sects are of each other ; while in the provinces there Is no Moslem priesthood to 494 THE LAND OF GILEAD. fatten upon the peasantry of their own religion, nor do rich Moslems squeeze the Hfe-blood out of their co-reHgionists as rich Christians do. The power of Christians in Turkey, and especially at Constanti- nople, to co-operate in the work of reform, if they chose to exercise it, is very great ; for they fill high offices in every department of State, and take a most active share in the government of the empire. Unfortunately they are the class most open to the corrupt influences which maintain abuses. It is not, therefore, either for them or their co-religionists to denounce as incorrigible oppressors those whose efforts to introduce reform they most persistently thwart. One or two instances which have come under my own immediate notice will illustrate the influence for evil of the rival sacerdotalisms as they exist in Turkey. A Protestant was murdered not long since under circumstances which left no moral doubt in the minds of those who investigated the case, of the guilt of the man suspected of the crime. I assisted in col- lecting the evidence, and went through it carefully with those who were charged to examine into the attendant circumstances. The chain of proof was so strong that the man was arrested, and upon one occasion I attended the 7nedjliss, upon which the Christian members preponderated, when he was brought up for examination. The prisoner was born of Christian parents, belonging to the ortho- RELIGIOUS ENMITY. 495 dox Greek Church, but in early life had come to England, where I had seen him twenty-five years previously, a specimen convert to Protestantism, and making a very good thing out of his conver- sion. His only hope of escape now consisted in a recantation of this error, and in the profession of an ardent adherence to the Church of his fathers. Conviction then became impossible. The bishop and the entire *' orthodox " community of the place in which the murder had been committed took the case up. The head of the police, who was a Mos- lem, but open to influences, which are doubly power- ful where the salaries of officials are not regularly paid, was won ; the Christian members of the fnedjliss did not dare to incur the hostility of their co-religion- ists by an impartial administration of justice when the murdered man was a Protestant, and the mur- derer a member of the orthodox Church, who had renounced the errors of Protestantism. One or two of the Moslem members proved themselves incor- ruptible, but they were unable to bring out the facts of the case, because not only the witnesses, but some of the officials who had been charged with the prose- cution of it, were threatened by the bishop with his spiritual displeasure if they ventured to press further in the matter ; one, consequently, withdrew alto- gether. And in spite of the most active exertions of those who desired to have a fair trial, which should elicit the truth and bring the criminal to 496 THE LAND OF GILEAD. justice, it was found impossible to proceed with it with any such hope or expectation, and the man was ultimately released on bail, with a verdict which amounted to not proven. Christians allege that it is difficult to bring a Moslem to justice who has murdered a Christian ; but it is still more difficult to bring a Christian to justice who has murdered one of a rival sect, if the sect of the murderer predom- inates in the community. On one occasion I was travelling with a friend in another part of the coun- try when he was robbed by a guide who belonged to the Catholic Church. He had originally been " orthodox," but found it convenient to change his religion ; and he had actually been in the service of a Catholic archbishop. It was rumoured that he had been dismissed by his Eminence for misconduct. We put the necessary machinery in motion to have the man caught, and his character and antecedents investigated. It occurred to me that the archbishop could throw considerable light on the subject, and I suggested to the official who was most energetically prosecuting his researches, that we should apply for information and assistance to the head of the Church to which the thief belonged, and in whose service he had been. I was astonished to find my proposal scouted as most injudicious, "Why," said the in- telligent and experienced functionary, " the thief is a convert ; and so far from helping us to find him, the archbishop, if he knew we were after him, would CHRISTIAN ANTAGONISM. 497 do all he could to screen him ! " For the credit of the archbishop, I hope this was a libel on his char- acter; but whether it was one or not, it came to pretty much the same thing. We were afraid to risk the experiment in consequence of the notorious manner in which Christian ecclesiastics in Turkey- perpetrate injustices and screen crimes, in order to gratify their religious animosities, or to promote their sectarian ends. So far as the Turks are concerned, the most hopeless feature of their case lies in the fact that the wealth of the country is in the hands of their bitterest enemies. It is only natural that, secretly, all Christians, no matter what their position^ rank, or sect, should wish for the overthrow of the dominant religion, and that they should take advan- tage of the power which their financial resources give them, to encompass the destruction of the Moslem, either by corrupting or impoverishing him. Hence it is that Moslems instinctively fear all schemes of reform which shall increase the power of the Chris- tians ; and the Christians who are officially em- ployed by the Government are not anxious to see reforms inaugurated, if the result is to improve the administration generally, and so to consolidate the Turkish empire by the prevention of abuses which they now exploiter to their own profit. Our late experience in Cyprus is an illustration of this. There can be little doubt that Christians are to be found in that island, who, if they were asked which rule 2 I 498 THE LAND OF GILEAD. they preferred, British rule or Turkish, would un- hesitatingly reply in favour of the latter. The Maronites derive their name from a certain heretical monk named Maron, who is said to have lived about 400 years after Christ, and whose heresy consisted in the dogma that Christ was animated by one will only. As the Catholic Church knew to the contrary, his followers, though otherwise Romanists, were compelled to form a sect of their own, and were only subjected to the authority of the Pope about the year 1600, after a Collegium Maronitarum had been founded at Rome, where a number of Maronite scholars distinguished themselves. A thorough in- vestigation as to the nature and composition of the will of the Saviour appears to have enabled them to arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to the Pope ; and a reconciliation took place, from which they have, ever since, derived great political benefit and many substantial advantages. The Maronite Church still possesses many special privileges, including that of reading Mass in Syriac, which answers quite as well as Latin, as nobody can understand it, except at the village of M alula, as I have already described. The inferior clergy also retain the right to marry. The patriarch is elected by the bishops, subject to the approval of Rome. The monasteries in the district round Ghazir, and in the district of Bsherreh, are, some of them, very handsome, and contain about two thousand monks. GHAZIR. 499 In some of them are printing-presses for their litur- gies and other works. Ghazir is beautifully situated at an elevation of twelve hundred feet above the sea, and about four miles distant from it by the road. There are an abundance of churches and monasteries in the town and its neighbourhood. The Italian Capuchin and the Jesuit monasteries occupy the finest situations, and from both magnificent views are to be obtained : to the east, looking up the valley by which we had descended the night before ; and to the west over the Bay of Juneh, round which richly cultivated hills teeming with population rise in a verdant amphi- theatre, reminding one of the Bay of Naples, while a village resembling Sorrento juts out on a pro- montory at the other end of the bay. A zigzag carriage-road has been constructed from Ghazir to the beach, though it is difficult to see for what pur- pose, as no wheeled vehicle, as yet, can approach either end of it. We were very glad to find a mark of civilisation affording such a contrast to the paths over which we had been recently scrambling; and still more pleased to be galloping over the hard sea-beach, halting only at a too tempting spot to take a plunge into the waves. We were now on the highroad from Tripoli to Beyrout, and in a couple of hours after leaving Ghazir reached Nahr- el-Kelb. I was here on familiar ground, but I was glad of the opportunity of visiting it again. The 500 THE LAND OF GILEAD. river, which we had already seen at the wonderful springs that form its source, here forces its way through a picturesque ravine ; and high up on the face of the cliff is an old aqueduct, its arches buried in creepers, mosses, and damp vegetation, while the river itself is spanned by a picturesque bridge ; and the road, after crossing it, is hewn out of the rock, and overhangs the sea as it winds its way round the projecting promontory. Near the bridge there is an Arabic inscription on a large slab of rock, announc- ing that it was restored by Sultan Selim I. (son of Bajasid II.), the conqueror of Syria, in 1520. There is also, not far distant, on the other side of the stream, a Latin inscription cut in the rock, informing us that the pass was hewn by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Here, too, are those nine different rock - carved sculptures which have furnished a fruitful theme of speculation to antiquarians ; but there can be little doubt that they record the progress of conquering armies. Three have been recognised as Egyptian, and six as Assyrian. Sir H. Layard regards the Assyrian sculptures as the work of Sennacherib, whose name he has deci- phered in the nearly obliterated inscriptions. Not being an antiquarian, I was only able, with positive certainty, to recognise the one recounting the tri- umphs of the French army in Syria under General de Hautpol. In consequence of the length and depth of this latter inscription, and the somewhat DEPARTURE FROM BEYROUT. 501 submissive attitude of the Assyrian king, who looks as if he was offering something to the French gen- eral, that officer has succeeded in conveying to the casual observer the impression that the achieve- ments of his soldiers far surpassed those of a more ancient period, and has thus left an imperishable memorial of the present grandeur of his country. On the day after my return to Beyrout I left it by steamer for Constantinople, and arrived in that city towards the end of May. 502 CHAPTER XVIII. POLITICAL. I CONFESS I arrived at Constantinople from Syria sanguine that a project, the merits of which had been cordially recognised by the Governor- General of that province, to which it specially applied, would commend itself to the Turkish Government, and that they would at once perceive the political and financial advantages which might be derived from it. By initiating a measure of this character, the Sultan would have manifested a desire to introduce reforms in a part of his dominions in which he was anxious to anticipate the exercise of any interference on the part of England under the Cyprus Conven- tion. While, in addition to increasing the pecuniary resources of his empire at a time when the ex- chequer stood sorely in need of replenishment, his Majesty would, by taking the lead in a policy which had for its object the restoration of the Jews to the land of their ancestors, have secured their power- ful influence in the journalism and finance of Europe and America, and have acquired sympathy and sup- KHAIREDDIN PASHA. 503 port from a large section of the British pubHc who are now bitterly hostile to his religion and adminis- tration. And here I would remark that the advan- tages of an alliance with the Jewish race, to any Power likely to become involved in the impending complications in the East, which may possibly in- volve a general war, appear to have been altogether overlooked by European statesmen. It is evident that the policy which I proposed to the Turkish Government might be adopted with equal advantage by England, or any other European Power. The nation that espoused the cause of the Jews and their restoration to Palestine, would be able to rely upon their support in financial operations on the largest scale, upon the powerful influence which they wield in the press of many countries, and on their political co-operation in those countries which would of necessity tend to paralyse the diplomatic and even hostile action of Powers antagonistic to the one with which they were allied. Owing to the finan- cial, political, and commercial importance to which the Jews have now attained, there is probably no one Power in Europe that would prove so valuable an ally to a nation likely to be engaged in a European war, as this wealthy, powerful, and cosmopolitan race. I was the more disposed to hope for a favourable issue to my efforts, because at this time Khaireddin . Pasha was Grand Vizier, than whom a more honest, patriotic, and enlightened statesman has not for many 504 THE LAND OF GILEAD. years filled that high office. Nor was I disappointed with the liberal views and clear perception which characterised his appreciation of the administrative necessities of the empire and of the advantages to Turkey of a Jewish alliance. He perceived at once the merits of an experiment that might be made susceptible of further application if its success should be proved on a small scale ; and I had no difficulty in framing a measure which, while it guaranteed the sovereign rights of the Sultan, and met the require- ments of Turkish susceptibilities, should at the same time contain all the guarantees necessary for the protection of the colonies from the existing abuses o( Ottoman rule.^ 1 The scheme was also favourably commented on in some of the local papers. I annex a translation of an article from the ' Semaphore d'Orient:' < " The project of Mr Oliphant consists in detaching from the ' Mutessariflik ' of Nablous the province of Belka, upon the left hand of the Jordan, there to found, with the aid of foreign capitalists, a colony where, in the first instance, the Jewish subjects of H.M. the Sultan would be invited to dwell, as well as any Jews who might de- sire to establish themselves upon their ancestral soil. They would bring their business intelligence, their industry and their wealth to bear upon the new enterprise, and would give it an energetic and en- lightened impulse. It is, above all, to those Mussulman refugees whose fate is the source of constant uneasiness to the paternal gov- ernment of the Sultan, that Mr Oliphant looks to furnish the popular working element of the youthful colony. By transferring to the Belka some thousands of these sober, enduring, hardy and experienced agriculturists, the success of this great 'model farm' would be in- sured, and the happiness of these unfortunates, most of whom wander about homeless, hungry, and without occupation, would be secured, OFFICIAL CORRUPTION. 505 Unfortunately the great qualities of Khaireddin Pasha were precisely those that led to his down- fall. No man in his position could hope successfully to contend with the corruption which pervades the and all the temptations arising from an idle state would be removed from them. "There is certainly no question of creating an independent pro- vince still less Jewish principality. On the contrary, the colonists would become Ottoman subjects, if they were not so already, and the colony would be governed by an Ottoman governor, according to the general laws of the empire, excepting in certain points wherein the Sublime Porte would be good enough to make some slight conces- sions necessitated by the enterprise. " The principal objects of Mr Oliphant's project are to restore to cultivation lands replete with fertile soil, well watered and richly wooded, which are now abandoned to small nomadic tribes from which the empire derives neither material, political, nor fiscal assist- ance. The new project, on the other hand, would benefit the imperial treasury by the payment of an important sum as the price of the pur- chase of the land of the colony, as well as by the augmentation of the revenues of the colonised province. The neighbouring lands, too, would profit by the impulse given to agricultural interests, as well as to industry and commerce, by the new enterprise, which would form a ' model farm ' destined to serve as an agricultural example to the whole empire, and to assure a refuge for the Moslem refugees. It would also insure to Turkey European sympathies, by offering, under the asgis of the Sultan, an asylum, secure from political and religious passions, to a laborious and docile race which is still persecuted and oppressed in certain European countries. Finally, it would permit the Jews to acquire landed property in their historical fatherland, and thus satisfy the longings which many of them feel for the drawing closer of the ties which bind them to the cradle of their race. " The works of public utility which belong to the scheme of this project comprise a railway from Haifar to the Jordan near the Dead Sea which might ultimately be prolonged to the Gulf of Akaba on the Red Sea. " Mr Oliphant's project, far from aiming at the constitution of a 506 THE LAND OF GILEAD. administrative system of Turkey, and, above all, to sweep out the Augean stable at Constantinople, with- out the support of the Sultan ; all the worst elements of the bureaucracy and the official class were arrayed against him, and the most strenuous efforts were made to prejudice him in the mind of his sovereign, and to secure his overthrow. It became clear to the " ring" oi backsheesh-vciOVi 1 NIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c Der volume after the third day overdue, increasing to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in denumd max, be renewed if application is made before expj^0d. NOV SO19S20 DEC ITIK MAS ,X5 1921 NOV 2 5 1983 fc. ^'^.Tci 6-3i JBRAP.Y USg ONtY FEB 4 1BB7 CIRCUL.ATI."'fl PEPT I^ECEIVED BY B 41987 RCUiATION DEPT, CIRC gt?^4 f uiipnanx^ Land of