Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/505

485 DRUSES 485 to wear neither gold nor silver, nor silk, nor brocade ; and although neither celibacy nor retirement from the affairs of the world is either imperative or customary, unusual respect is shown to those who voluntarily submit themselves to ascetic discipline. While the Ockals mingle frankly with the common people, and are remarkably free from what in Europe would be called clerical pretension, they are none the less careful to maintain their privileges. They are distinguished by the wearing of a white turban, emblematic of the purity of their life. Their food must be purchased with money lawfully acquired; and lest they should unwittingly partake of any that is ceremonially unclean, they require those djahels whose hospitality they share to supply their wants from a store set apart for their exclusive use. The ideal Ockal is grave, calm, and dignified, with an infinite capacity of keeping a secret, and a devotion that knows no limits to the interests of his creed. On Thursday evening, the commencement of the weekly day of rest, the members of the order meet together in the various districts, probably for the reading of their sacred books and consulta tion on matters of ecclesiastical or political importance. Their meeting-houses, holoices, halives, or khalwas, are plain, unornamented edifices, usually built in secluded spots, and not unfrequently on isolated eminences. &quot; All have property attached to them, the revenues of which are con secrated to the relief of the poor and the demands of hospitality. In one at Necha, in the Shoof, a lamp is kept burning night and day.&quot; 1 Even while the Ockals are assembled, strangers are readily enough admitted to the holowes ; but as long as they are present the ordinary ceremonies are neglected, and the Koran takes the place of the Drusian scriptures. In has been frequently asserted that the image of a calf is kept in a niche, and traces of phallic and gynsecocratic worship have been vaguely suspected ; but there is no authentic information in support of either statement. The calf, if calf there be, is probably a symbol of the execrable heresy of Darazi, who is fre quently styled the calf by his orthodox opponents. Ignor ance is the mother of suspicion as well as of devotion ; and accordingly the Christian inhabitants of the Lebanon have long been persuaded that the Druses in their secret assemblies are guilty of the most nefarious practices. Of this allegation, so frequently repeated by European writers, there seems to be little evidence ; and it is certain that the sacred books of the religion inculcate what is on ths whole a high-toned morality. Colonel Churchill, in his last volume, asserts that while the majority of the people follow the pure teaching of Bohaeddin, there still exists a party which indulges in the &quot; dark and unscrupulous libertinism of Darazi.&quot; The Druses, like the Arabs, have a high reputation for hospitality, and they give special welcome to the English, whom they regard as their particular friends and allies. Whoever presents himself at their door in the quality of a suppliant or passenger is sure of being entertained with food and lodging in the most generous manner. Volney often saw the lowest peasants give their last morsel of bread to the hungry traveller ; and their only answer to the accusation of imprudence was, &quot; God is great and liberal, and all men are brethren.&quot; Beggary at the same time is altogether unknown among the common people, and the Ockals are not a mendicant order. It would be easy to illus trate by many a striking incident the fidelity with which they keep inviolate the pledge tacitly given to the guest who lias eaten of their bread and salt. Nor is their hospitality unassociated with other virtues. &quot;There was nothing,&quot; snys Lord Carnarvon, &quot; which surprised me more than the self-possession, the delicate appreciation of wishes and feel- 1 Churchill, ii. p. 255. ings, the social ease, and to a great extent the refinement which distinguished the conversation and manners of those amongst the Druse chiefs whom I then met, arid on which no drawing-room of London or Paris could have conferred an additional polish ; : and a similar testimony is borne by Mr Chasseaud, who was brought up in the city of Beyrout, and had abundant opportunities of observation. There is a darker side, indeed, to the picture ; though, after all, while his merits are in the main peculiarly his own, the Druse only gives additional intensity to the ruthlessness and revengefulness of so many of the Eastern nations. Polygamy is not permitted. Among the old feudal families intermarriage is often restricted to one or two houses ; and the daughter of a sheik will rather remain a virgin than bring disgrace on her blood by a mesalliance. The marriage of near relations is naturally the conse quence ; but, whatever may have been formerly the case, it no longer appears to be the custom for brother and sister to wed. All prenuptial arrangements on the part of the woman are conducted by the father, who cannot act, how ever, without her consent. On the wedding day a number of Ockals and a few of the bridegroom s relations go to the bride s house ; the marriage contract is drawn up and read ; and the bride, completely enveloped in a veil, is led off on horseback to her husband, accompanied by her friends, both male and female. As she approaches her future home, the bridegroom s party sallies forth, and a mock contest, with blank cartridge / ensues. Ultimately the bride is successful; shouts of welcome follow her into the harem, where she is received and caressed by the women of her husband s family. After a little she is left alone ; the bridegroom enters, lifts her veil, takes his first glance at his wife, replaces it, and withdraws. The revels continue for several days. 2 Divorce is freely allowed ; but when once obtained it cannot be cancelled, though either party is free to marry again. Births are rarely celebrated with any public or private jubilation. When a sheik dies, all the sheiks in the mountain are at once informed. Next day they assemble, and the dead body is borne forth in an open coffin to meet all those whom it is especially wished to honour. All day long the mourners walk up and down the meclan. or tilt-yard, in parties of fifty and sixty, singing or reciting eulogy or dirge ; and every now and then a number rush into the &quot; lichroom &quot; and kiss the dead man s hands and face and beard. A little before sunset the burial takes place. The women watch afar off, while the men follow silently to the grave. A few passages from the Koran are read by the Ockals, and the ceremony is over. The family mausoleums are built without doorways, and the wall has to be broken down to admit each new tenant. Those who die in the odour of sanctity are buried in their own houses : the tomb is in the form of an altar, and stands east and west, and the body is laid on its side with the face looking to the south. 3 Education, according to Eastern ideas, receives consider able attention among the Druses ; and all their ladies, in contrast to the majority of their countrywomen, can both read and write. The defence and the diffusion of their religion were originally undertaken in great measure by means of little books or treatises ; and from an early period several of the wealthier sheiks have prided themselves on their collection of manuscripts. For a people so small in number, their literature, though almost purely theological, is remarkably extensive a fact which may probably be ascribed to the influence of the Semitic element. In spite of the excessive care with which their manuscripts have been guarded (and they are enjoined if need be to kill any alien found in possession of their sacred books), a considerable 2 Churchill, ii. 292 ; Porter s Giant Citia, of Bashan, p. 296. 3 Urquhart, vol. ii. p. 328.