I Was Informed That These Were Their Only Obligations; And
It Appears Probable, For I Observed Akoul Boys Of Eight Or Ten Years Of
Age, From Whom Nothing More Difficult Could Well Be Expected, And To
Whom It Is Not Likely That Any Important Secret Would Be Imparted.
I
have seen Akouls of that age, whose fathers were not of the order,
because, as they told me, they could not abstain from smoking and
swearing.
The Sheikhs are for the greater part Akouls. The Druses pray
in their chapels, but not at stated periods; these chapels are called
Khalawe [Arabic], i.e. an insulated place, and none but Druses are
allowed to enter them. They affect to follow the doctrines of Mohammed,
but few of them pray according to the Turkish forms: they fast during
Ramadan in the presence of strangers, but eat at their own homes, and
even of the flesh of the wild boar, which is frequently met with in
these districts. It is a singular belief both among the western Druses,
and those of the Haouran, that there are a great number of Druses in
England; an opinion founded perhaps upon the fanatical opinions of the
Christians of Syria, who deny the English to be followers of Christ,
because they neither confess nor fast. When I first arrived at the Druse
village of Aaere
[p.305]there was a large company in the Medhafe, and the Sheikh had no
opportunity of speaking to me in private; he therefore called for his
inkstand, and wrote upon a piece of paper the following questions, which
I answered as well as I could, and returned him the paper:
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