In 1807, A Tribe Of The Former Having Quarrelled With Their
Chief, Quitted Their Abode In Their Mountains, And Applied To The Emir
Of Maszyad For An Asylum.
The latter, glad of an opportunity to divide
the strength of his enemies, readily granted the request, and about
Three hundred, with their Sheikh Mahmoud, settled at Maszyad, the Emir
carrying his hospitality so far as to order several families to quit the
place, for the purpose of affording room for the new settlers. For
several months all was tranquil, till one day, when the greater part of
the people were at work in the fields, the Anzeyrys, at a given signal,
[p.153]killed the Emir and his son in the castle, and then fell upon the
Ismaylys who had remained in their houses, sparing no one they could
find, and plundering at the same time the whole town. On the following
day the Anzeyrys were joined by great numbers of their countrymen, which
proved that their pretended emigration had been a deep-laid plot; and
the circumstance of its being kept secret for three months by so great a
number of them, serves to shew the character of the people. About three
hundred Ismaylys perished on this occasion; the families who had escaped
in the sack of the town, fled to Hamah, Homs, and Tripoli, and their
treacherous enemies successfully attacked three other Ismayly castles in
the mountain. The Ismaylys then implored the protection of Youssef
Pasha, at that time governor of Damascus, who marched with four or five
thousand men against the Anzeyrys, retook the castles which had belonged
to the Ismaylys, but kept the whole of the plunder of the Anzeyrys to
himself.
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