'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎547] (638/905)

CHAP. XXI.]
CHRISTIANS OF SYRIA.
547
chiefly in a disposition to make forays, in order to appropriate Manners and
to themselves their neighbours' goods. A short carbine is the ZmS*
principal weapon carried in these excursions, which are made
on horseback; and cruelty is apt to be added to robbery when
an ^ unfortunate traveller happens to fall within their grasp.
Baalbek is almost their only town; but, being an agricultural
people, their villages are numerous. The houses are of clay,
and frequently have a kind of portico, but they are flat-roofed',
and seldom contain more than a single apartment; one end of
which is occupied by the family, the floor being sometimes
raised, and the other by the animals; a row of high conical
baskets of grain being the only separation. A house is set
apart for strangers, that the dwellings and utensils of the
people may not be contaminated. A patriarchal chief regulates
the ordinary concerns of the village under a principal chief,
an Emir of the Harfuth family. As a body, the brave and
warlike Mitaulis are able and willing to resist the weak
governments of the Pashas, when the demands made in the
name of the Sultan are pronounced to be unreasonable.
The Christians consist of a limited number of Armenians, Sects of
whose patriarch resides in the convent of Bezommar, and Christian8 "
Greek Catholics, whose principal seat is at Mar-Hann-Shouar,
where there is a printing press, a library, &c.; there are also
some Syrian Greeks, or Melchites, who have a ritual in
Arabic; a few Jacobites, and the Maronites. The last, who
are the most numerous, chiefly occupy, as we have already seen,
the mountainous district of the Kesruan, together with some
portions of the adjoining tracts ; they use a mixed dialect of
the Arabic and Syriac, and the written character of the last.
Occasionally they live in separate houses, but generally in
stone hamlets or villages, which, owing to their situations, are
usually defensible; each has a chapel and tower, with a bell.
Their ritual is in Syriac, and Kanubin is considered to be the
ecclesiastical capital.
The patriarch has under his jurisdiction 12 bishops, some of The Maronite*.
whom are scarcely above want, and upwards of 200 convents.
The high walls surrounding these extensive buildings contain
kitchens, refectories, dormitories, and the other accompani-
4 A 2