When I First Arrived At The Druse Village Of Aaere

[P.305]there was a large company in the Medhafe, and the Sheikh had no opportunity of speaking to me in private; he therefore called for his inkstand, and wrote upon a piece of paper the following questions, which I answered as well as I could, and returned him the paper:

"Where do the five Wadys flow to, in your country?--Do you know the grain of the plant Leiledj [Arabic]; and where is it sown?--What is the name of the Sultan of China?--Are the towns of Hadjar and Nedjran in the Yemen known to you?--Is Hadjar in ruins? and who will rebuild it?--Is the Moehdy (the Saviour) yet come, or is he now upon the earth?".

I have not been able to obtain any information concerning the period at which the Druses first settled in these parts. Min Kadim [Arabic], a long time ago, was the general answer of all those whom I questioned on the subject. During my stay at Aaere news arrived there, that a body of one hundred and twenty Druses had left the western mountains, and were coming to settle in Haouran.

The Pasha of Damascus has entrusted to the Druses of the Haouran, the defence of the neighbouring villages against such of the Arabs as may be at war with him; but the Druses perform this service very badly: they are the secret friends of all the Arabs, to whom they abandon the villages of the plain, on the condition that their own brethren are not to be molested; and their Sheikhs receive from the Arabs presents in horses, cattle, and butter. While at Aaere I witnessed an instance of the good understanding between the Druses and the Arabs Serdie, whom I have already mentioned as having been at war with the Pasha, at the time of my visit to the Haouran: seeing in the evening some Arabs stealing into the court-yard of the Sheikh's house, I enquired who they were, and was told that they were Serdie, come in search of information, whether any more troops were likely to be sent against them from Damascus. It is for this kind of treachery that the Fellahs in the Haouran hate the Druses.

[p.306] The authority both of the Druse and Turkish village Sheikh is very limited, in consequence of the facility with which the Fellahs can transport themselves and families to another village. I was present during a dispute between a Christian Fellah and a Druse chief, who wished to make the former pay for the ensuing year at the rate of the same number of Fedhans that he had paid for the preceding year, though he had now one pair of oxen less. After much wrangling, and high words on both sides, the Christian said, "Very well, I shall not sow a single grain, but retire to another village;" and by the next morning he had made preparation for his departure; when the Sheikh having called upon him, the affair was amicably settled, and a large dish of rice was dressed in token of reconciliation.

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