DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0259
HOLY LAXD, AND CYPRUS. 225
history and religion; and Pococke describes them as a rem-
nant of Israel, who fled the wrath of Moses after the destruc-
tion of the molten calf, which is still said to be an object
of their worship. It was an agreeable thing to see Chris-
tianity again take the lead in a Mahometan region of the
East; and I could observe a marked superiority in the style
and manners of the Maronites over the Druzes.
The town of Deir-el-Kamr was supposed to contain
five thousand inhabitants, chiefly Maronites, -who carried
on considerable manufactures of silks for vests: very little
tribute was paid for the ordinary expenses of the country,
as the emir possessed lands affording him an ample revenue
for all his wants in peace. In time of war, his signal,
repeated by fires lighted on the mountains, was communi-
cated with the other parts of his principality, and in the
space of a very few hours thirty thousand men armed with
musquets could be assembled. The specimen I saw of the
a victim to popular fury; but a disciple of the latter, named Hamza ben Ahmud,
propagated his opinions with an indefatigable zeal in Egypt, in Palestine, and
along the coast of Syria, as far as Sidon and Berytus. His proselytes, it seems,
underwent the same fate as the Maronites, and were obliged to take refuge in
Mount Libanon; and thence come the Druzes: and it appears they got this
uame from the surname of their founder, Mahommed ben IsmaeJ, being El
Dorzj.
2 G
history and religion; and Pococke describes them as a rem-
nant of Israel, who fled the wrath of Moses after the destruc-
tion of the molten calf, which is still said to be an object
of their worship. It was an agreeable thing to see Chris-
tianity again take the lead in a Mahometan region of the
East; and I could observe a marked superiority in the style
and manners of the Maronites over the Druzes.
The town of Deir-el-Kamr was supposed to contain
five thousand inhabitants, chiefly Maronites, -who carried
on considerable manufactures of silks for vests: very little
tribute was paid for the ordinary expenses of the country,
as the emir possessed lands affording him an ample revenue
for all his wants in peace. In time of war, his signal,
repeated by fires lighted on the mountains, was communi-
cated with the other parts of his principality, and in the
space of a very few hours thirty thousand men armed with
musquets could be assembled. The specimen I saw of the
a victim to popular fury; but a disciple of the latter, named Hamza ben Ahmud,
propagated his opinions with an indefatigable zeal in Egypt, in Palestine, and
along the coast of Syria, as far as Sidon and Berytus. His proselytes, it seems,
underwent the same fate as the Maronites, and were obliged to take refuge in
Mount Libanon; and thence come the Druzes: and it appears they got this
uame from the surname of their founder, Mahommed ben IsmaeJ, being El
Dorzj.
2 G