The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-03-15
Tenure Of Land in Syria.

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During nay residence In Damascus
tried one or two villages in the neighbor-
hood as a summer retreat, and at length
fixed .uPen a,lvillage called Maraba, as
being at a convenient distance from the
city. to ride there in the morning and re
turn at night. Finding, however, that
the native houses were scarcely habitable
I determined to have small house built
close to, yetnot overlooking, the village.
To carryol1 my plan Ishad first of all to
apply to the Vail for permission to do 50.
His Hig1ness, with an oIitburst of Ori-
entail liberality, declared his readiness
to give me not only a piece of ground
but a garden as WE'LL This / declined
with thanks knowing the value of such
an offer, but showed him on paper the
spotI had chosen, consisting Of a barren
rock, a4dsasked him toisend a,competent
person to the place to examine the site
and value it, and at the same time see
from the plan that none of my windows
would overlook my neighbors. In the
course of few days | received a notice
that commission of six officials would
meet me on the spot and settle the mat
ter at once. iIi provided das luneeon al
fresco, to WHICH the Sheikh of the village
was invited to negotiate on the part Of
the villagers. aAfter a long preamble,
setting forth the value of land in general
and Of this spot IN particular, he offered
atEleRgths to sell the site 1000 piastres
(arpiastre is equal to. 2d). Fifty pias-
tres, ~ wrote down the scribe. 'fBy the
life gef5your father 1T lis too littler-say
5000" Seyenty-five," said the scribe.
SSdy I,000-by Allah it is worth 5000;
but Allah is great.3 One hundred pias7
tres was the sum agreed to at last, and [
had the permission to begin building at
once. When the house was half finished
an order came togstnp, on the ground
that it, was built. over the tomb of a
Moslern1 saint, and that the departed
spirit might not relish the vicinity noff
Christians and ayenge himself by doing
us Some bodily harm for which the Va1f
would be, responsiblea AFTER great
deal of trouble and investigation his
Hfghness was convinced that the ex-
istence 7slleh tomb was a myth. The.
next charge brought against me was that
while I pretended to build house I was
in reality building a convent in the midst
OF Mohammedan population. | had a
hard struggle to. convince him that
Protestants had no such Institutions.
Now all these charges had been trumped
up by the officials in the hope of FeceiY-
ing the usual bfibe, which l was deter
mined not t0giVe -4haviug made UP my
mind to carry the business through hon
iestly and legally. One more effort was
made to annoy me, or5ratherl to force me
to give the customary 'backsheesh," viz. :,
that the house was built over road
leading from thesvilIage to the stream, to
the great inconvenience of the villagers.
The Consul had at length to interfere !;
the Government engineer was sent to in
ivestigate the matter and report upon it,
which was to the effect that there was no
Ivestlge of road or footpath in the vicinity
of the house. After this I was left in
peaceful possession so far that no one
could turn me ought of the house, but,
not having the title-deeds, could scarce
.ly expecti to find a purchaser, in case l.
wished to sell it. Ny next effort was to
secure the necessary papers. Month after
month | applied in vain for them |, The
Governor pretended to be shocked to hear
that his orders had not been carried. out,
he sent for the scribe and threatened him
with. his fereest displeasure if such an
act of negligence should ever again be
reported against him. The scribe pleaded
Iasprained wrist as an excuse for the de-
lay, but by the life of the Prophet. he
would write the document at once. /
took hastyldaNenfI tEreN Vail and rushed
off after the scribe, determined not to
lose sight Of him again; he had, however,
disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed
him up. These scenes were repeated over
and over again, tili-at the1end of twelve
months, having to leave Damascus, had
to sell the House at great loss, not hav-
ing the title deeds. The purchaser, the
American Vice-Consul, trusting to his
official position, hoped to be able to Sue.
ceed where had failed / have no
doubt but that by following the usual
Oriental custom of backsheesh, and di-
Eiding g10 or E20 among the officials,
everv}ohstacle would. have been removed
to my obtaining the title deeds of a prop
erty for which I paid the sum Of 16s. 3D.
ReU. W. Wright, in Goitenporaryl ReofewI
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