"Where Do The
Five Wadys Flow To, In Your Country?--Do You Know The Grain Of The Plant
Leiledj [Arabic]; And Where Is It Sown?--What Is The Name Of The Sultan
Of China?--Are The Towns Of Hadjar And Nedjran In The Yemen Known To
You?--Is Hadjar In Ruins?
And who will rebuild it?--Is the Moehdy (the
Saviour) yet come, or is he now upon the earth?".
I have not been able to obtain any information concerning the period at
which the Druses first settled in these parts. Min Kadim [Arabic], a
long time ago, was the general answer of all those whom I questioned on
the subject. During my stay at Aaere news arrived there, that a body of
one hundred and twenty Druses had left the western mountains, and were
coming to settle in Haouran.
The Pasha of Damascus has entrusted to the Druses of the Haouran, the
defence of the neighbouring villages against such of the Arabs as may be
at war with him; but the Druses perform this service very badly: they
are the secret friends of all the Arabs, to whom they abandon the
villages of the plain, on the condition that their own brethren are not
to be molested; and their Sheikhs receive from the Arabs presents in
horses, cattle, and butter. While at Aaere I witnessed an instance of
the good understanding between the Druses and the Arabs Serdie, whom I
have already mentioned as having been at war with the Pasha, at the time
of my visit to the Haouran:
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