Their Dress Is The Same As That Of The Fellahs To The W. Of
Damascus; They Seldom Wear The Keffie, And The Grown Up Men Do Not Go
Barefoot Like The Other Fellahs Of The Haouran.
I have already mentioned
that their chief resides at Soueida, of which village he is also the
Sheikh.
On the death of the chief, the individual in his family who is
in the highest estimation from wealth or personal character succeeds to
the title, and is confirmed by the Pasha. It is known that on the death
of Wehebi el Hamdan, the present chief, who is upwards of eighty,
Shybely el Hamdan, the Sheikh of Aaere, will succeed him. The chief has
no income as such, it being derived from the village of which he is
Sheikh; and his authority over the others goes no further than to
communicate to them the orders of the Pasha. In manners these Druses
very much resemble those of the mountains of Kesrouan.
[p.304]The families form clans almost independent of each other; and
among whom there are frequent quarrels. Insults are studiously avenged
by the respective families, and the law of blood-revenge is in full
force among them, without being mitigated by the admission of any
pecuniary commutation. They all go armed, as do the Turks and Christians
of the Haouran in general. Few Druses have more than one wife; but she
may be divorced on very slight pretexts.
With respect to their religion, the Druses of the Haouran, like those in
Mount Libanus, have the class of men called Akoul (sing. Aakel), who are
distinguished from the rest by a white turban, and the peculiarity of
the folds in which they wear it. The Akoul are not permitted to smoke
tobacco; they never swear, and are very reserved in their manners and
conversation. I was informed that these were their only obligations; and
it appears probable, for I observed Akoul boys of eight or ten years of
age, from whom nothing more difficult could well be expected, and to
whom it is not likely that any important secret would be imparted. I
have seen Akouls of that age, whose fathers were not of the order,
because, as they told me, they could not abstain from smoking and
swearing. The Sheikhs are for the greater part Akouls. The Druses pray
in their chapels, but not at stated periods; these chapels are called
Khalawe [Arabic], i.e. an insulated place, and none but Druses are
allowed to enter them. They affect to follow the doctrines of Mohammed,
but few of them pray according to the Turkish forms: they fast during
Ramadan in the presence of strangers, but eat at their own homes, and
even of the flesh of the wild boar, which is frequently met with in
these districts. It is a singular belief both among the western Druses,
and those of the Haouran, that there are a great number of Druses in
England; an opinion founded perhaps upon the fanatical opinions of the
Christians of Syria, who deny the English to be followers of Christ,
because they neither confess nor fast.
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