Djezzar, for reasons which have already been explained, was
continually changing the governors of the mountain, and each new
governor was obliged to promise him large sums for his investiture. Of
these sums few
[p.200]were paid at the time of Djezzar's death, and bills to the amount
of sixteen thousand purses were found in his treasury, secured upon the
revenue of the mountain. At the intercession of Soleiman Pasha,who
succeeded Djezzar at Akka, and of Gharib Effendi, the Porte's
commissioner (now Pasha of Aleppo), this sum was reduced to four
thousand purses, of which the Emir Beshir is now obliged to pay off a
part annually.
By opposing the Druse parties to each other, and taking advantage of the
Christian population, a man of genius and energy of the Shehab family
might perhaps succeed in making himself the independent master of the
mountain. Such an event would render this the most important government
in Syria, and no military force the Turks could send would be able to
overthrow it. But at present the Shehab appear to have no man of
enterprise among them.
The Shehab marry only among themselves, or with two Druse families, the
Merad [Arabic], and Kaszbeya [Arabic]. These and the Reslan [Arabic],
are the only Emir families, or descendants of the Prophet, among the
Druses.
