deemed inexpedient to have the governor chosen from that sect; for he would in all probability involve the country in the quarrels of his own party, and endeavour from time to time to exterminate his adversaries. A Turk, on the other hand, maintains the balance between them, chiefly by means of opposing the Christians to the Druses. Such has been for many years the policy of the Porte towards these remote de pendencies. Recently three sects have arisen, Djonbelat, Yes beky, and Neked, but the Djonbelat have now the decided ascendancy. They carry every thing with a high hand. Their chief El Sheikh Beshir is a great and wealthy potentate, his income being about 2000 purses, or 50,000l. sterling; and the Emir Beshir can do nothing without his consent; he is moreover obliged to share with him the contributions he extorts from the mountaineers. But the Christians, who are a warlike people, detest the name of Druse too much to submit to a chief of that community. It is said, that to attach the Christians more closely to him, the Emir Beshir and his family have secretly embraced the Christian religion. Mr. Burckhardt has collected several important facts relative to the political cabals and intrigues of this unfrequented region of the world, which our limits compel us to pass over; but it would be injustice to the work, to omit the valuable notices of the Druses, which carry with them every appearance of authenticity and fidelity.

With respect to the true religion of the Druses, none but a learned Druse can satisfy the enquirer's curiosity. What I have already said of the Anzeyrys is equally applicable to the Druses; their religious opinions will for ever remain a secret, unless revealed by a Druse. Their customs, however, may be described; and, as far as they can tend to elucidate the mystery, the veil may be drawn aside by the researches of the traveller. It seems to be a maxim with them to adopt the religious practices of the countries in which they reside, and to profess the creed of the strongest. Hence, they all profess Islamism in Syria; and even those who have been baptised on account of their alliance with the Shehab family, still practise the exterior forms of the Mohammedan faith. There is no truth in the assertion that the Druses go one day to the mosque, and the next to the church. They all profess Islamism, and whenever they mix with Mohammedans they perform the rites prescribed by their religion. In private, however, they break the fast of Ramadhan, curse Mohammed, indulge in wine, and eat food forbidden by the Koran. They bear an inveterate hatred to all religions except their own, but more particularly the Franks, chiefly in consequence of a tradition current among them that the Europeans will one day overthrow their commonwealth: this hatred has been increased since the invasion of the French, and the most unpardonable offence which one Druse can offer to another, is to say to him, "May God put a hat on you!"

Nothing is more sacred with a Druse than his public reputation: he will overlook an insult if known only to him who has offered it; and will put up with blows where his interest is concerned, provided nobody is a witness; but the slightest abuse given in public he revenges with the greatest fury. This is the most remarkable feature of the national character in public a Druse may appear honourable; but he is easily tempted to a contrary behaviour when he has reason to think that his conduct will remain undiscovered. The ties of blood. and friendship have no power amongst them; the son no sooner attains the years of maturity than he begins to plot against his father. Examples are not wanting of their assailing the chastity of their mothers, and towards their sisters such conduct is so frequent, that a father never allows a full-grown son to remain alone with any of the females of his family. Their own religion allows them to take their sisters in marriage; but they are restrained from indulging in this connexion, on account of its repugnance to the Mahommedan laws. A Druse has seldom more than one wife, but he divorces her under the slightest pretext; and it is a custom among them, that if a wife asks her husband's permission to go out, and he says to her "Go,”. without adding, "and come back," she is thereby divorced; nor can her husband recover her, even though it should be their mutual wish, till she is married again according to the Turkish forms, and divorced from hér, second husband. It is known, that the Druses, like all Levantines, are very jealous of their wives; adultery, however, is rarely punished with death: if a wife is detected in it, she is divorced; but the husband is afraid to kill her seducer, because his death would be revenged, for the Druses are inexorable with respect to the law of retaliation of blood; they know too that if the affair were to become public, the governor would ruin both parties by his extortions. Unnatural propensities are very common amongst them.

The Akal are those who are supposed to know the doctrines of the Druse religion; they superintend 'divine worship in the chapels, or, as they are called, Khaloue, and they instruct the children in a kind of catechism. They are obliged to abstain from swearing, and all abusive language, and dare not wear any article of gold or silver in their dress. Many of them make it a rule never to eat of any food, nor to receive any money, which they suspect to have been improperly acquired. For this reason, whenever they have to receive considerable sums of money, they take care it shall be first exchanged for other coin. The Sheikh El Nedjem, who generally accompanies the Sheikh Beshir, in his visits to the Emir, never tastes food in the palace of the latter, nor even smokes a pipe there, always asserting that whatever the Emir possesses has been unlawfully obtained, There are different degrees of Akal, and women are also admitted into the order, a privilege which many avail themselves of, from parsimony, as they are thus exempted from wearing the expensive headdress and rich silks fashionable among them.

A father cannot entirely disinherit his son, in that case his will" would be set aside; but he may leave him a single mulberry tree for his portion. There is a Druse Kadhi at Deir el Kammar, who judges

according to the Turkish laws, and the customs of the Druses; his office is hereditary in a Druse family; but he is held in little repute, as all causes of importance are carried before the Emir or the Sheikh Beshir.

The Druses do not circumcise their children; circumcision is practised only in the mountain by those members of the Shehab family who continue to be Mahommedans.

The best feature in the Druse character is that peculiar law of hospitality, which forbids them ever to betray a guest. I made particular enquiries on this subject, and I am satisfied that no consideration of interest or dread of power will induce a Druse to give up a person who has once placed himself under his protection. Persons from all parts of Syria are in the constant practice of taking refuge in the mountain, where they are in perfect security from the moment they enter upon the Emir's territory; should the prince ever be tempted by large offers to consent to give up a refugee, the whole country would rise to prevent such a stain on their national reputation. The mighty Djezzar, who had invested his own creatures with the government of the mountain, never could force them to give up a single individual of all those who fled thither from his tyranny. Whenever he became very urgent in his demands, the Emir informed the fugitive of his danger, and advised him to conceal himself for a time in some more distant part of his territory; an answer was then returned to Djezzar that the object of his resentment had fled. The asylum which is thus afforded by the mountain is one of the greatest advantages that the inhabitants of Syria enjoy over those in the other parts of the Turkish dominions.

The Druses are extremely fond of raw meat; whenever a sheep is killed, the raw liver, heart, &c. are considered dainties; the Christians follow their example, but with the addition of a glass of brandy with every slice of meat. In many parts of Syria, I have seen the common people eat raw meat in their favourite dish, the Kobbes ; the women especially indulge in this luxury.

Mr. Barker told me that during his two year's residence at Harissa and in the mountain, he never heard any kind of music. The Christians are too devout to occupy themselves with such worldly pleasures, and the Druses have no sort of musical instruments.

The Druses have a few historical books which mention their nation; Ibn Shebat, for instance, as I was told, gives in his history of the Califes, that of the Druses also, and of the family of Shehab. Emir Haidar, a relation of the Emir Beshir, has lately begun to compile a history of the Shehabs, which already forms a thick quarto volume.

I believe that the greatest amount of the military forces of the Druses is between ten and fifteen thousand firelocks; the Christians of the mountain may, perhaps, be double that number; but I conceive that the most potent Pasha or Emir would never be able to collect more than twenty thousand men from the mountain." pp. 200—4.

Mr. Burckhardt explored the ruins of Djerash, a city built

upon both sides of Wady Deir or the river of Djerash. The magnitude and extent of the ancient city are attested by the present ruins. He seems inclined to the belief that it was the ancient Gerasa, one of the principal towns of the Decapolis. But this position by no means agrees with that given to Gerasa by D'Anville, who places it to the north-east of the lake of Tiberias, 40 miles to the north-west of this place. We cannot even abridge the long and detailed examination of these ruins. We have only room to observe, that their style of architecture seemed to belong to the best period of the Corinthian order, the capitals being uniformly ornamented with acanthus leaves; and the whole edifice of the temple, which is minutely described by our Traveller, he decidedly prefers in point of taste and magnificence to every public building of the same kind in Syria, the temple of the sun at Palmyra excepted.

The population of the Haouran is computed by Burckhardt, exclusively of the Arabs who frequent the plain, the mountain, and the Ledja, at about 50 or 60,000, of whom 6 or 7,000 are Druses, and 3,000 Christians. The Turks and Christians have the same mode of life, and in their dress, manners, &c. resemble the Arabs. They seldom quarrel, but when discords happen, the Christian fears not to strike the Turk, or to execrate his religion, a crime which in every town of Syria would expose the offender to death.

6

'Hospitality to strangers,' observes Mr. Burckhardt, is another characteristic common to the Arabs, and to the people of the Haouran. A traveller may alight at any house he pleases; a mat will immediately be spread for him, coffee made, and a breakfast or dinner set before him. It has often happened to me, that several persons presented themselves, each begging that I would lodge at his house; and this hospitality is not confined to the traveller; his horse or camel is also fed, the first with half or three quarters of a moud (about 19 lbs.) of barley, the second with straw. But I was often dissatisfied, because less than a moud is not sufficient for a horse on a journey, which, according to the customs of these countries, is fed only in the evening. As it would be an affront to buy any corn, the horse remains ill fed. On returning to the house of the Sheikh, after my tour through the desert, one of my Druse guides insisted upon my taking my horse to his stables instead of the Sheikh's; when I was about to depart, the Druse brought my horse to the door, and when I complained that he had fallen off in the few days I had remained there, the Sheikh said to me, "You are ignorant of the ways of this country; if your host does not feed your horse well, insist upon his giving him a moud of barley daily; he dares not refuse it." It is a point of honour with the host never to accept of the smallest return from a guest; I once only ventured to give a few piastres to the child of a poor family at Zahouet, by whom we had been hospitably treated, and rode off without attending to the cries of the mother, who insisted upon my taking back the money." p. 294.

In the summer of 1812, Mr. Burckhardt being desirous of obtaining further knowledge of the mountains to the east of the Jordan, and particularly of visiting the almost unknown districts to the east of the Red Sea, resolved to pursue the perilous route from Damascus to Cairo, in preference to the more beaten track through Jerusalem and Ghaza. Having assumed the most common Bedouin dress, and the most simple equipment, he mounted a mare, which he says was not likely to excite the cupidity of the Arabs, and on the 18th of June left Damascus. Our Traveller's details of this journey are well worthy of notice, but we have little space for them. But as neither Shaw, Clarke, nor any other traveller into Palestine, has minutely described Tabaria (the ancient Tiberias), we think it incumbent upon us to extract a part of his description of it.

It stands close to the lake, upon a small plain, surrounded by mountains. It is hot and unhealthy, as the mountain impedes the 'free course of the westerly winds. Little rain falls in winter, and the temperature appears to be nearly the same as that of the Dead Sea. Tabaria with its district of ten or twelve villages, is a part of the Pashalik of Akka. The Christian church is dedicated to St. Péter, and is said to have been founded on the spot where St. Peter threw his net. There are about 4,000 inhabitants in Tabaria, one fourth of whom are Jews. The Christian community consists only of a few families, but they enjoy great liberty, and are on a footing of equality with the Turks. The difference of treatment which the Christians experience from the Turks in different parts of Syria, is very remarkable. In some places a Christian would be deprived of his last farthing, if not his life, were he to curse the Mahommedan religion when quarrelling with a Turk; while in others but a few hours distant, he retorts with impunity upon the Mahommedan, every invective which he may utter against the Christian religion. At Szaffad, where is a small religious community, the Turks are extremely intolerant; at Tiberias, on the contrary, I have seen Christians beating Turks in the public Bazar. This difference seems chiefly to depend upon the character of the local government. That of Soleiman Pasha of Akka, the successor of Djezzar, is distinguished for its religious tolerance; while Damascus still continues to be the seat of fanaticism, and will remain so as long as there are no Frank establishments or European agents in that city.

*

The pilgrim Jews, who repair to Tiberias, are of all ages from twelve to sixty. If they bring a little money with them, the cunning of their brethren here soon deprives them of it; for as they arrive with the most extravagant ideas of the holy cities, they are easily imposed upon before their enthusiasm begins to cool. To rent a house in which some learned Rabbin or saint died, to visit the tombs of the most renowned devotees, to have the sacred books opened in .. their presence, and public prayers read for the salvation of the new comers, all these inestimable advantages, together with various other