The attack was relinquished until reinforcements came bringing several light field-pieces. Meantime one of the Druze sheikhs, who had received some injury, real or imaginary, had taken one of the terrible oaths in which the history of the East abounds, invoking upon himself the most awful curses, both in this world and in the next, if he slew not Memdûh Pasha with the edge of the sword. In renewing the attack the pasha had recourse to an ancient stratagem of which the Druzes ought to have been aware. He planted the field-pieces at some distance in the rear, behind a little eminence. A party with definite instructions was sent forward. On their approach the Druzes opened fire. The soldiers wavered, broke, and fled. The defenders, believing this to be a real defeat, waxed bolder, and left their rocks to pursue, hoping to turn defeat into a rout. The soldiers simply retired behind the cannon, and immediately fire was opened on the now unprotected Druzes with murderous effect. The issue of the battle was not one moment in doubt; but many were the displays of individual bravery and personal prowess, which shall be related by children’s children, to fan the flame of patriotism in the bosom of youth; to beguile the tedium of the winter days, and enliven the hours of rest from toil among the mountains. One Druze who rode a fine horse charged literally past the cannon’s mouth, slew the gunner with his sword, captured the musket of the fallen soldier, and dashed back, amid a rain of bullets, like one bearing a charmed life. This exploit he repeated three times, inspiring his foes with dread. Yet a fourth time he spurred his charger to the attack. This time he came in the line of fire; but a soldier who had followed him was now between him and the cannon, and the gunner hesitated. “It matters not! Fire!” roared the officer in command, quaking for his own safety. The piece was fired: soldier and Druze hero entered eternity together.
The sheikh who had sworn to slay the pasha saw where the commander stood, and, turning thither, rushed forward wildly, brandishing his sword and hoarsely shouting, “Il yaum yaumak, ya Memdûh; ya Memdûh, il yaum tamût!”—“This is thy day, O Memdûh! O Memdûh, to-day thou shalt die!” Thus threatened, the ranks closed around the general, but the dauntless chief cared not; he would hew down all opposition until the object of his wrath was reached. Nor was his an idle boast. In his fierce onslaught six stalwart soldiers fell beneath his keen blade, and he had even penetrated to the very inmost ring of the pasha’s guard ere he was arrested by sheer weight of wounds piled upon him from every side. He would have died cheerfully had the pasha’s blood mingled with his own. He had almost touched his enemy when the waters of the river of death rose over him and he sank forever. One who stood by severed his head from the trunk with a blow of his sword, and, casting the bleeding horror at the pasha’s feet, exclaimed, “Thus perish all thine enemies, O thine excellency, and those of our glorious sultan!”
Of the numbers who fell on either side we shall probably never obtain complete information. Suffice it to say that the Druzes suffered so heavily as to be practically at the mercy of their conquerors. The latter showed a disposition to take full advantage of their success and exact “the last farthing” of their claims. The Druzes were in despair. It seemed, indeed, as if only ruin were before them. Through the kindly mediation of European consular agents, an arrangement was come to which saved the vanquished from the worst consequences of defeat. Compromise was all the Druzes could now hope for, and they gained more than the most sanguine could have anticipated. Arrears were not to be demanded, and they agreed to pay a tax of about half the amount originally imposed. They were, however, required to receive again the sheikhs of the house of ʿAtrash. On these conditions they might return and dwell in safety, all prisoners taken in war being restored to them. One other condition it must have been hard to accept. They were to be prohibited from carrying arms, save by special licence obtained from the Turkish officials. But they could not well reject terms proposed to them by their mediators and accepted by their conquerors. Thus it happened that where every man one met was loaded with instruments of death, soon almost the only weapon to be seen, save in the hands of soldiers, was the shepherd’s “club,” or naboot, with which the very poor all over the land are wont to defend themselves and attack their foes; and a formidable weapon it is in practised hands.
The Government naturally sought to secure the advantage thus gained. The importance attaching to Suweida as the key to Jebel ed-Druze became apparent. Preparations were immediately begun for the erection of a kalʿat, or fortress, there, by means of which the turbulent spirits might be overawed. Thus another step is taken towards the subjugation of all that district to Ottoman rule. There is no need to suppose that the Druzes acquiesce calmly and finally in this condition of things. It is as certain as anything mundane can be that they simply “bide their time,” and when that time comes, their old, proud, freedom-loving spirit will assert itself again, undimmed and unbroken.
CHAPTER VIII
Bozrah—First Syrian mosque—The physician the reconciler—The “House of the Jew”—The great mosque—Cufic inscription—Boheira and Mohammed—The fortress—Bridal festivities—Feats of horsemanship—History—Origen’s visit—Capture by Moslems.
BOZRAH. BAB EL-HOWA
A Druze peasant who accompanied us part of the way from ʿIry to Bozrah professed to know the country well throughout a wide area, and declared that he could conduct us to a hundred ruins, south and east of Bozrah, as great and beautiful as Bozrah itself. This was exaggeration, of course; but that district beyond Umm el-Jamâl is still unexplored, and we regretted much that we could not accept his proffered guidance. Ere descending into the Wady Zeideh, we came in full view of Bozrah, spreading darkly under a light haze on the plain beyond, like the ruins of a great city that had passed through fire. The massive castle of Salkhad had long been visible, sitting proudly on the very crest of the giant ridge of Jebel ed-Druze, commanding a wide prospect over all the land of Bashan, and far over the inhospitable deserts eastward. The sheikh whom we met at ʿIry pressingly invited us, and fain were we to go and stand upon the most easterly border of the land held by ancient Israel. As this could not be, we satisfied ourselves for the time by gazing at the fine old fortress through the telescope. It forms a magnificent landmark. With this grand old stronghold, and the volcanic cone of Jebel el-Kuleib, just above Suweida, towering high over all, the traveller in the plains need be at no loss to discover his whereabouts. Some of the villages to the right are inhabited by Christians, between whom and their Druze neighbours there is nearly always strife.
Approaching Bozrah from the north, just outside the town, we reach a mosque called el-Mebrak—“the place of kneeling.” Here knelt the camel which bore the Korʾân before Othman ibn ʿAffan, third caliph after Mohammed, on his entering Syria. This determined the spot where the first Syrian mosque should stand. On a basaltic slab within is shown the alleged impression made by the kneeling camel. The house where Mohammed should alight in Medina when he fled from Mecca was indicated by the kneeling of his naqa, or female camel; and there was raised the first Mohammedan mosque in the world. This method of selecting particular spots by the kneeling of the camel is illustrated among other Eastern peoples; for example, among the Jews. They say that Maimonides, the great doctor of the twelfth century, gave instructions, before his death, that he should be laid to rest in the Holy Land. His body was laid on a camel, which, starting from Alexandria, marched day and night until it reached a spot outside the walls of Tiberias. There it kneeled down. With difficulty it was made to rise, but it only moved round in a narrow circle. The phenomenon roused the interest of the spectators. Inquiring, they found that the great doctor’s father was buried there; and they laid his body in his father’s grave!