might not gain the upper hand over them and their power dwindle down to extinction. 63 And those who led the disaffected, their principal men at that time, were the Sheikh Sa'yd Janblāț and the 'Amir Amin Raslan and the Sheikh Khaṭṭār al-'Amād and the Sheikh Qasim and the Sheikh Bashir an-Nakadiyān and the Sheikh Ḥusayn Talḥuq and the Sheikh Yusuf 'Abd'al-Malik and the Sheik 'Uthman Abū 'Alwan and besides these [just] mentioned, the 'Amir Muḥammad, son of the Amir Amin, who was a man of high purpose and great wisdom, without an equal in polite accomplishments and of a pleasant disposition, exceptionally well-informed in the sciences and [the correct use of] language. (P. 24) Of him the poet gives as his opinion: The angels [of the Throne] come forth with a greeting to Muḥammad and the favor of the Merciful follows him.

Acute of intellect, he has been coveting perfections of the mind [though] he united them in himself, but not coveting dinars and gathering them.

May time restore to him the glory of ancient days as to the descendant of al-Kindy his coats of mail were restored!64

And he who repays to men that with which he has been entrusted, may time pay to him that which he has entrusted to it. Thou seest when the envious wish evil to befall a man, seeking his humiliation, that God exalts him.

When God decides upon a thing, it cannot be hindered; and if ✩ He grants a gift, who on earth can prevent Him?

The wealthiest of them [the leaders of the disaffected] was the Sheikh Sa'yd Janblat, who counted with them as belonging to [one of] their greatest families. And the one reputed to be of the highest valor among them was the Sheikh Khaṭṭār, and the one of the most

63 The Governor-General at Bayrut acted probably according to instructions from Constantinople, inspired by British influence which was exercised in behalf of the Druzes. We read already in a letter from Lord Palmerston to Viscount Ponsonby, dated Foreign Office, April 21, 1840: "I have to instruct your Excellency to endeavour at the proper time to persuade the Porte to give to the Druzes such privileges and exemptions as may satisfy their reasonable desires." Correspondence relative to Affairs of the Levant, presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 1841, Part I, Nr 549.

64 A reference to the five coats of mail confided by Imru 'u'l-Qays, the Kindite, to Samaw'al Ibn'Adiyā, which the latter, rather than break his pledge and give up property held in trust for a guest, refused to deliver to Harith Ibn Zalim, commander of an army of the former's old enemy, the King of Hira, though he knew that his refusal meant the death of his son.

compassionate character was the Sheikh Bashir, and the one most conspicuous for his sagacity was the Sheikh Husayn, their support [on whom they relied] for counsel and guidance. And in the year 1844 the Christians and Druzes began again to fight each other, according to their custom. And on this (P. 25) occasion the Christians were victorious and burned many villages of the Shuf in the course of one day, and during the continuation of the war it went on like this at Zaḥlah65 and in the Matn and in the Gharb. And the authority of the government stretched out its hand to the war in the Shūf and interfered between the contending bands, and compelled the Christians to stop. And Mustafa Pasha, 66 commander of the army, went out in the direction of the Gharb and forced the Christians to return [home] and they disbanded the [armed] gangs which they had with them. And when for a while the country had been without a governor, Shakib Effendy67 arrived from Constantinople, to divide it, in obeyance to imperial orders, into two parts. The 'Amir Haydar Abu'lLama 68 was put in charge of the Christians on the northern side, and the 'Amir Raslan 69 of the Druzes on the southern side. So, in this manner, the affairs of the country were (P. 26) settled for a space of years. Yet, the [mutual] hatred hidden in the hearts of the companions of calamities, did not cease [to exist] so that between them [Christians and Druzes] it came to a conflict at Bayt Mary70 in the

65 An almost wholly Christian town which owed its prosperity to Armenian and Greek settlers from Damascus and Homs, who strangely repaid the tolerant attitude towards their religion shown by the Turks. Cf DE LAMARTINE and BURCKHARDT. Zaḥlah is situated on the brow of a hill in a wooded country and thrives on many industries. Among other religious establishments it possessed in 1860 a convent of the Jesuits and was in that region the chief station of the Lazarists.

66 The author means probably the Extraordinary Commissioner of that name, sent by the Porte to inquire into the causes of the disturbances in the opening years of the 'forties. 67 Another Extraordinary Commissioner sent by the Porte to restore order in the chaos created by European interference in the affairs of Mount Lebanon.

68 The Abu'l-Lama' family belonged to the most influential in the Matn and had been converted to Christianity. Haydar Ismā'il died in 1854 and was succeeded by Bashir Aḥmad of the same house, whose appointment caused a good deal of friction, not only in native circles but also between the French and British governments.

69 The 'Amir Aḥmad 'Abbās Raslan who, however, a few years later at the occasion of new troubles between Druzes and Maronites, was deposed by Shakib Effendy and replaced by the more intelligent Amin of the same family. Amin died in 1859 and was succeeded by his son Muḥammad, whose praise has been sung on the preceding page, a scholar, educated in the European way, but no man of action.

70 Nine miles East of Bayrut on the road to the Maronite monastery Dayr al-Qal'a, a name derived from its having been built on the foundations of an old temple dedicated

year eighteen hundred and fifty-nine." Twelve men of the Christians were killed and about twenty of the Druzes, though they [the latter] were greatly in the majority since [a number of sympathisers] from families in the neighborhood had joined them. So their disdain [for a supposed weaker enemy] had played them a trick, the pride of their state of ignorance72 having turned their heads. And they began to watch their chance to remove what was with them of obstruction in the throat [to give vent to their choking rage]. And the governor of the province of Bayrut" was Muḥammad Khurshid Pasha, the most strenuous of men [a zealot] in the [Muhammadan] faith. And he surpassed them all in detestation of the Christians and sided with the Druzes in bringing about the ruin of that nation (P. 27). And he began to cheer them up by strengthening their hearts and raising their spirits, but [this was only a pretence for] he feigned solicitude for [their] security while he incited to contention. And he repaired to Bayt Mary and remained there several days. Now the Sheikh Yusuf 'Abd'al-Malik had attacked some villages in the Matn and burnt down the houses and carried off the [movable] possessions [of the inhabitants]. So Khurshid Pasha left a squad of irregular troops in Bayt Mary and went to al-Mudayrij as if he wished to set the matter right, and he sent men who appraised [the value of] what had been burnt down and ascertained [the value of] what had been carried off [the one and the other] amounting to twenty-nine thousand piastres. But they [the sufferers] received only a small part [of that sum] and the remainder was lost under the excuse of tax gathering [kept on the pretext of its being held for the payment of taxes]. Thereupon the Pasha returned to Bayt Mary where the Druzes were in secret correspondence with him (P. 28) and in nightly and daily intercourse, and after he had gained his end, he returned to Bayrut, the station

to the "lord of the dancing festivals," Jovi Balmarcodi, which the Arabs took for a stronghold. Cf VON KREMER, op. cit., p. 236.

71 August 30. The affray started in consequence of a quarrel between a Druze and a Christian boy about a chicken, as the trouble of 1841 began with a dispute about the shooting of a partridge. Cf CHURCHILL, op. cit., II, 306, and IV, 132, and JESSUP, op. cit., p. 166.

72 Or barbarism: another Muhammadan formula pressed into Christian service. Cf IGNAZ GOLDZIHER, Muhammedanische Studien, I, 219, Was ist unter “Al-Gahilijja” zu verstehen?

73 That is, the province of Sayda, which had Bayrut for its capital.

76

[capital] of his province. And on the ninth day74 of March of the year eighteen hundred and sixty, the monk Athanasius75 was killed, who was the superior of the convent of ‘Ammiq" and belonged to a Greek Catholic religious order. And his murderer was a man of the Druzes of Kafr Qatrah,77 named Muḥy ad-Din Abu Tīn,78 but at that moment the murderer was not known. The Christians being roused to anger, complained of their case to the Pasha and the consuls, and the Pasha promised them a strict investigation and rigorous punishment, but by skillful manipulation the matter was kept dragging along between nights and days [indefinitely]. Meanwhile one of the Druzes was killed in an inn, named the Khān ash-Shyāḥ,79 and his murderer was not known because he had been killed at night and remained (P. 29) forsaken [undiscovered] until morning. And they [the Druzes] suspected the Christians of having murdered him as the Christians suspected them of having murdered the superior of the convent of 'Ammiq. So they began to kill every one they met in a lonely place or on the road and in course of time this thing took [such proportions] between the [marauding] bands that the roads and paths became quite unsafe and the dangerous and perilous places were many. Now there lived in the country of Ḥaurān a man of mighty heart and eloquent tongue. Prominent among his equals [in rank], a companion [possessor] of flocks and domestics, servants and attendants, he belonged to the notable Druzes in that region, who had great faith in him. His name was Ismā'il al-Aṭrash and in courage and strength he was

74 The seventh day of March according to the evidence produced at the alleged murderer's trial.

75 Athanasius Naum, killed by strangulation.

76 To the West of Dayr al-Qamar near the Nahr ad-Dāmūr. 77 Also situated in the Munaṣif.

78 In the papers concerning his trial, ordered at the instance of Khūry Augustin, Athanasius Naum's successor as superior of the convent of 'Ammiq, he was called Mahi ad-Din Shibly. Though he denied to the last being guilty of the murder and the theft of some of the wealthy monk's money and valuables, and no sufficient evidence of his connection with the crime seems to have been produced, he was condemned to death because several Christians declared that during the subsequent sack of Dayr al-Qamar they saw him in one of the plundering bands.

79 Called Khānu'l-Kas'a in the Druze account of the events which precipated the civil war, presented as an appendix to the petition, dated August 17, 1860, of the gentry and commonalty of the Druze nation to H. M. Queen Victoria. The victim was a Druze muleteer, whom a posse of Maronites fired upon as he slept, then cut into pieces with their swords and left "strewed about."

like the speckled wolf. When now [the aspect of the relations] between the [several] religious communities in the Mount had become grave and (P. 30) the live coals of dissension began to glow and blaze, the Druzes [of the Mount] sent him a messenger and urged him to come to them, requesting his help and assistance [adding] that all of them guaranteed the people to be as one hand [of one mind in their determination] to fight. And after he had occupied himself with their letter and understood the meaning of their address, he answered their call by accepting it [consented to their request]. So he sent [word] to them, saying that he would come to them with men on foot and men on horseback and [all] valiant heroes. And when this answer reached them and they realised the gist of [his] communication, their breasts expanded and their backs stiffened, and that same day they commenced to complete their preparations, rejoicing in [their] success and the attainment of their desire.

(P. 31) SECOND CHAPTER

Narrative of the troubles and disturbances which occurred in alMatn and as-Sahil.

When the consuls of the Powers at Bayrut saw this mischief growing, they considered it probable that there would be war in the country and they desired of Khurshid Pasha [some] despatch in the extinction of the fire of discord before its flaming up. And replying to them with regard to this demand, he promised them to go himself and take the direction of the affair. And on the twenty-eighth day of May of the year eighteen hundred and sixty of the Christian Era, which concurs with the year twelve hundred and seventy-six since the Flight, so he sent to al-Hazmīyah about five hundred [men] of the

80 The Muhammadan year 1276 began on July 31, 1859.

81 Al-Ḥāzmīyah is situated about three miles from Bayrut on the road to Damascus and about half that distance beyond "the grove" (of pines) planted by the famous Fakhr ad-Din to protect the city against the sand blown towards it from the arid plain between the coast and the foot of the hills. Known for centuries as the last resting-place of the learned Fāris ash-Shidyaq, it now contains also the grave of Franco Nasry Pasha, the second governor of the Lebanon under the new régime, who died February 11, 1873.