The Amount Of
The Khone Is Continually Increasing; For The Arab Sheikh Is Not Always
Contented With The Quantity Of Corn He Received In The Preceding Year,
But Asks Something Additional, As A Present, Which Soon Becomes A Part
Of His Accustomed Dues.
If the Pasha of Damascus were guided by sound policy, and a right view
of his own interests, he
Might soon put an end to the exactions of the
Arabs, by keeping a few thousand men, well paid, in garrison in the
principal places of the Haouran; but instead of this, his object is to
make the Khone an immediate source of income to himself; the chief
Sheikhs of the Fehely and Serdie receive yearly from the Pasha a present
of a pelisse, which entitles them to the tribute of the villages, out of
which the Fehely pays about twenty purses, and the Serdie twelve purses
into the Pasha's treasury. The Serdie generally regulate the amount of
the Khone which they levy, by that which the Fehely receive; and take
half as much; but the Khone paid to the Aeneze chiefs is quite
arbitrary, and the sum paid to a single Sheikh varies according to his
avidity; or the wealth of the Fellahs, from thirty and forty piastres up
to four hundred, which are generally paid in corn.
These various oppressive taxes, under which the poor Fellah groans, are
looked upon as things of course, and just contributions; and he
considers himself fortunate, if they form the whole of his
[p.303]sufferings:
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