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eastern declivity of the Libanus; Szaffeita (te), and Tartous
). The greater part of the mountaineers are Christians ; in
Bshirrai they are all Christians ; in Akkar, Shara, and Koura,
three-fourths are Christians. The Metawelis have possessions at
Djebail, Dhannye, and Hermel. About eighty years since the
latter peopled the whole district of Bshirrai, El Zawye, Dhannye,
and part of Akkar; but the Turk and Christian inhabitants, exasperated ¬
by their vexatious conduct, called in the Druses, and
with their assistance drove out the Metawelis. Since that period,
the Druses have been masters of the whole mountain, as well as
of a part of the plain. The Emir Beshir pays to the Pasha of Tripoli, ¬
for the Miri of the mountain, one hundred and thirty purses,
and collects for himself upwards of six hundred purses. The
duties levied upon the peasants in this district are generally calculated ¬
by the number of Rotolas of silk which the peasant is estimated ¬
to get yearly from his worms ; the taxes on the mulberry trees
are calculated in proportion to those on the silk. The peasant
who rears silk-worms is reckoned to pay about twenty or twentyfive -
per cent. on his income, while he who lives by the produce of
his fields pays more than fifty per cent.
I obtained the following information respecting the modern history ¬
of the Pashas of Tripoli.
Fettah Pasha, of three tails, was driven out of Tripoli by the inhabitants, ¬
about 1768, after having governed a few years. He was
succeeded by Abd-er-rahman Pasha, but the rebels still maintained ¬
their ascendancy in the town. He had formerly been Kapydji -
for the Djerde or caravan, which departs annually from Tripoli
to meet the Mekka caravan on its return. He made Mustafa, the
chief of the rebels, his Touenkdji, and submitted to his orders, till
he found an opportunity of putting him to death at Ladakie,
whither he had gone to collect the Miri. The town was at the
