Are continually moving from one place to another; in the first
year of their new settlement the Sheikh acts with moderation towards
them; but his vexations becoming in a few years insupportable, they fly
to some other place, where they have heard that their brethren are
better treated, but they soon find that the same system prevails over
the whole country. Sometimes it is not merely the pecuniary extortion,
but the personal enmity of the Sheikh, or of some of the head men of the
village, which drives a family from their home, for they are always
permitted to depart. This continued wandering is one of the principal
reasons why no village in the Haouran has either orchards, or fruit-
trees, or gardens for the growth of vegetables. "Shall we sow for
strangers?" was the answer of a Fellah, to whom I once spoke on the
subject, and who by the word strangers meant both the succeeding
inhabitants, and the Arabs who visit the Haouran in the spring and
summer.
The taxes which all classes of Fellahs in the Haouran pay, may be
classed under four heads: the Miri; the expense of feeding soldiers on
the march; the tribute to the Arabs; and extraordinary contributions.
The Miri is levied upon the Fedhan; thus if a village pay twelve purses
to the Miri, and there are thirty pair of
[p.300] oxen in it, the master of each pair pays a thirtieth.
