CHAPTER III.—Hasbêya to Mount Hermon.
Hasbêya is a small town beautifully situated some 2,000 feet above the sea, on the western side of Hermon, in an amphitheatre of hills well cultivated and inhabited by Maronite Christians, Druses and Moslems, all very fanatical, hating and fearing each other intensely, and not, as far as the Christians are concerned, without cause, for here they were treacherously massacred by the Druses in 1860. They were decoyed into the Konak, or Governor’s Castle, by the Turkish commander under pretence of protection, induced to part with their arms, and then the Druses being admitted men women and children were massacred without mercy. The French army of the Lebanon avenged these cowardly murders partially, and but for the milder (and doubtfully humane) counsels of the English, would have done so effectually. We saved the Druse scoundrels from their just fate then, and consequently they are quite ready to repeat the crime now. This our rulers would do well to remember that maudlin sentimentality is often another name for weakness and not true mercy which is frequently obliged “to be cruel to be kind.” Orientals do not practice and do not understand undeserved clemency. The Christians in the Anti-Lebanon feel the effects of a too lenient policy, and are periodically in a panic about their ruffianly neighbours, and the Moslem feeling too is often inflamed against Christians, the old rumour that the five kings of Europe (as the great powers are called) are about to depose the Sultan and upset Islamism, being for fanatical purposes often revived. This rumour was one of the causes which led to the rebellion of Arabi in Egypt. If Arabi had not been crushed, there would probably have been a general rising of Arabic Islam against the Ottoman Caliphate and European interference—and it may come yet. The Ottomans are no longer a nation—they are quite effete—but the Arabs are as vigorous a race as they were in the days of Alexander the Great and Mahomet. The Arabs and the Jews, the children of Abram’s two sons, are destined to endure for ever distinct races in the midst of a heterogeneous world, everlasting monuments of the truth of the Bible story.
Hasbêya is thought by many to be the Hermon and Baal-Gad of the Bible, but others identify the latter with Baalbec. We will not attempt to decide that on which many doctors differ. We lodge in one of the best houses at the head of the valley, near the Konak. A sort of stretcher, much resembling an oriental bier, is hastily run up for us as a place to sleep on. Round the room and in the courtyard below we see ranged a number of immense jars, each large enough to contain one of the “forty thieves,” some in fact could have accommodated two. We find them to be mostly full of new wine, which is rather too rich and luscious to take much of. Just as the day is dawning an oriental maiden enters our room and makes for one of the jars (to get something out of it) and we are forcibly reminded that we are in the land of the “Arabian Nights.” Next day, after about three hours toiling over mountain paths, we pass the mouth of the Wady-et-Teim, in which is the source of the Hasbâny, the highest and most northerly source of the Jordan, the Banias and Dan branches of which it joins just above the waters of Merom, or Lake Huleh, after running almost parallel with them for some distance. We crossed this stream lower down by an old Roman bridge on our way from Kadesh to Dan and Banias.
THE DRUSES.
The Druses make the Hasbâny Valley their religious centre, as their prophet, Ed Darazi, is supposed to have been born there. Their religious books having been lost (or rather stolen by the Egyptians), their religion, which is of more recent origin than Mahometanism, is traditional only, and it is difficult to say what it really is, but it seems to have been founded on an ancient form of freemasonry. It consists of several degrees. The Druses hate Moslem and Christian pretty equally, but are more tolerant of the former, with whom they often associate for the purpose of plunder, but they would murder either without compunction. At the same time, with an appreciable regard to expediency, their religion allows them to live under whatever creed is supreme. They have, since the 1860 massacres, migrated in large numbers from the Lebanon to the Hauran, east of Jordan, which they hold practically independent of any Government whatever, although nominally subject to the Turkish Sultan. They are distinguished by white turbans. Lebanon being now a separate pashalic, under a Christian governor with a native Christian army, the Druses would find it more difficult to occupy that district now than they did in 1860; but in Anti-Lebanon they are more formidable. When a fanatical Mahommedan wishes to annoy a Druse (as was done by our muleteer in our presence) he calls him “a worshipper of the calf.” This is curious, as the golden calf set up at Dan was only a day’s march from here. The Druses have no mosques or temples, but worship in a room outside a village, and only the higher initiated members are admitted to the whole performance or allowed to learn what is known of their sacred records, which are imparted by oral instruction only, and never reduced to writing. Very few indeed are acquainted with all the mysteries of their religion, and to the higher degrees no man under 30 is ever admitted, the women, we think, never. The most sacred shrine of the Druses is a secluded cave half-way up Hermon, and there only the most secret rites are performed. A pretty ride of about six hours brings us to Rashêya.
Rashêya, the Syrian Heliopolis, or City of the Sun, is finely and healthily situated high up on the slope of Hermon. I have never been mobbed in any Eastern town as I was here, a European being quite a rara avis. Men women and children cluster round me, and even crowd into my little room to stare at me and touch my clothes, prompted, I suppose, by either curiosity or superstition or both; many seem to think me a medicine man, and bringing sick children ask me to touch them; but unfortunately I am not a doctor. A few of the younger women, having confidence in their good appearance, beg of me to draw their portraits, but my first sketch soon puts the other fair candidates to flight. Two or three enterprising young ladies, clasping my hand in theirs, entreat me to take them back with me to England and make them members of my family. I have to explain to them that the social system of the West does not allow of any such extensive adoption as that of the East. We have often been asked by mothers to take their children and bring them up as Feringhees, but think that in most cases this is done to frighten the children. The Rashêya folk are strong healthy-looking people, but have a barbarous habit of tattooing their bodies (which is seldom seen in the East), the hands especially with stripes looking like the seams of gloves. We have, as usual, the floor only to sit and sleep on. We are beginning to be quite clever at squatting à la Turc, but must admit that we think chairs, tables and beds more comfortable. The Rashêya Christians in 1860, were, as in Hasbêya, decoyed into the castle by the Turks, and by them basely betrayed to the Maronite Druses, who massacred man, woman and child.
Mount Hermon, we believe, has not been ascended to the summit by any Englishman for some years. It is called by the Arabs the Snowy Mountain: misled probably by this the text books on the subject boldly assert that its summit is perpetually covered with snow, but this is not the case, nor is it so even with the loftier peaks of Lebanon, on the opposite side of the plain. From Hermon the snow disappears some two months at least, and although we find it cold there is not a trace of snow anywhere. The bare white limestone sides of mountains are often mistaken at a distance for snow, but few travellers ever attain the summit, and hence the perpetuation of the perpetual snow fable.