At Aaere, In
The Year 1809, It Amounted To Fifty Piastres Per Fedhan.
The Sheikh of
Aaere has six pair of oxen, for which he pays no taxes, but the presence
of
Strangers and troops is so frequent at his Medhafe, that this
exemption had not been thought a sufficient remuneration, and he is
entitled to levy, in addition, every year, two or three Gharara of corn,
each Gharara being in common years, worth eighty or one hundred
piastres. Some Sheikhs levy as much as ten Gharara, besides being
exempted from taxation for eight, ten, or twelve pair of oxen.
The third and most heavy contribution paid by the peasants, is the
tribute to the Arabs. The Fahely, Serdie, Beni Szakher, Serhhan, who are
constant residents in the Haouran, as well as most of the numerous
tribes of Aeneze, who visit the country only in the summer, are, from
remote times, entitled to certain tributes called Khone (brotherbood),
from every village in the Haouran. In return
[p.302]for this Khone, the Arabs abstain from touching the harvest of
the village, and from driving off its cattle and camels, when they meet
them in their way. Each village pays Khone to one Sheikh in every tribe;
the village is then known as his Ukhta [Arabic] or Sister, as the Arabs
term it, and he protects the inhabitants against all the members of his
own tribe. It may easily be imagined, however, that depredations are
often committed, without the possibility of redress, the depredator
being unknown, or flying immediately towards the desert.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 382 of 870
Words from 103480 to 103740
of 236498
