‘The strategic importance of the Euphrates valley railway’ [‎18] (195/204)

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Maronites, and ruled by a separate governor, Franco Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , an able
officer, independent of the Wali. After crossing the Lebanon and de
scending into the plain of the Bukaa (Cselesyria) civilization, Christi
anity, and all free communication with the outer world, are left behind ;
as are comforts, luxuries, and society, whilst the traveller is completely at
the mercy of Beyrout as to how much or how little he may receive of
the necessary help such as man should give to his fellow-man. P or
safety he is self-dependent on his own personal courage and his know
ledge of the East, and woe betide the hapless one who has no friend
at Beyrout, or whose Consul-General may be a little sick, or selfish
or ill-tempered, or otherwise ill-disposed. He steps forth into the
solemnity of Orientalism, which increases upon him during
the sometimes dreary and barren 72 miles journey, and he
finds himself in the heart of Oriental life in the city of
Damascus. This Orientalism is the great charm of " the Pearl of the
East." She is still pure and innocent of anything like Europeanism.
However much the wanderer may dislike it at first, the life so grows
upon him that, after a time, to quit it would be a wrench. But this is
what makes the demi-semi-fashionable ot Beyrout hate Damascus, with
a spice of fear, knowing nothing of her attractions ; whilst she, on her
side, lazily despises the effeminate and, to her, luxurious and feeble
Beyroutine. Damascus, I have said, is the heart and capital of
Syria, the residence of the Wali and his entourage, who rule
Syria' who fear the strong and who oppress the weak, who persecute
Christians, who starve the people, and who fill their own pockets. If
his Excellency died to-morrow the voice of Syria would go up to heaven
in one loud cry of execration, embodying the popular curse upon a
departed tyrant's soul, "May the Lord have no mercy upon your
resting-place ! " Here also are the head-quarters of the army and police,
the chief majlises or tribunals, which represent our Courts of Law ;
business institutions and transactions have also their place in Damascus,
and, being a " Holy City," I need not say that it is the religious chef
lieu. _
Syria has always been cursed with races, tribes, and faiths enough to
split up the country, and to cause all manner of confusion. 1* or instance,
the Moslem is the national religion. There are the Moslem Sunnites, or
orthodox of four schools, viz., the Hanifi, Shafii, Hanbeli, Maliki :
the Shieh heresy locally called Metawali (of these most are Kurds) :
the Nusayri (also Shiites), but their faith is little understood. The
Nowar, or Gipsies, are self-styled Mohammedans. Besides these there
are Shadilis or Shazilis (Dervishes), Persian " Babis," Chaldean \ ezidis,
Ismailiyehs (Shiehs) from different parts of the East, and Wahhabis,
who keep themselves in the background. The Bedouins, who are as
the sands of the deserts they inhabit, are also Moslems.
After the Moslems, but conforming with them, come the Druzes,
who are divided into Akkal and Juhhal; which simply means
" the wise men' : and " the foolish (young) men," as the former lead a
more rigid life than the latter. Their belief is more or less a mystery ;