They Sent Hither A Garrison Of
Turkish Soldiers, Composed Of Janissaries And Spahies, Under The Command
Of An Aga, Who
Was to be the military commander of the town; while the
civil government was placed in the hands of the
Sheikh el Haram, or Aga
el Haram, the prefect of the temple, who was to correspond regularly
[p.392] with the capital, and to have the same rank as Pashas in other
towns. With the exception of a short period towards the end of the
seventeenth century, when the Sheikh el Haram and the whole town fell
under the jurisdiction of the Sherif of Mekka, this mode of government
continued until the period of the Wahaby invasion. An Aga was at the
head of a few soldiers, some of whom were in possession of the castle;
and the Aga el Haram, who also had a small train of soldiers, was the
nominal chief of the town. But great abuses had prevailed for the last
century: the military commander was no longer chosen by the Sultans, but
by his own people, and there were no longer any Turkish soldiers, but
only the descendants of those originally sent hither, who had
intermarried with the natives. This Aga had become the real master of
the town, and his party was spread over all the first families. He had
no other soldiers than the rabble of the town itself, and was chosen by
the first officers of the garrison, whose employments were still kept up
by their descendants, as they had been settled in former times, although
the greater part of them had renounced the military profession.
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