The fathers go a
shooting alone in their monastic habits to several hours distance from
the convent, without ever being insulted by the Turks.
I was told that
about thirty years ago the padre guardiano of the convent was also
Sheikh or chief justice of the town, an office for which he paid a
certain yearly sum to the Pasha of Akka; the police of the place was
consequently in his hands, and when any disturbance happened, the
reverend father used to take his stick, repair to the spot, and lay
about him freely, no matter whether upon Turks or Christians. The
guardian has still much influence in the town, because he is supposed,
as usual, to be on good terms with the Pasha, but at present the chief
man at Nazareth is M. Catafago, a merchant of Frank origin, born at
Aleppo. He has rented from the Pasha about twelve villages situated in
the neighbourhood of Nazareth and the plain of Esdrelon, for which he
pays yearly upwards of £3000.[The villages in the Pashalik of Akka are
all of the description which the Turkish law calls Melk. They are all
assessed at certain yearly sums, which each is obliged to pay, whatever
may be the number of its inhabitants. This is one of the chief causes of
the depopulation of many parts of Syria.] His profits are very
considerable, and as he meddles much in the politics and intrigues of
the country, he has become a person of great consequence.
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