Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-06-30

they do not use tobacco. wine coffee.
tea or other artificial beverages. They
drink nothing but milk and water and
eat only the fruit of their farms and
the flesh OF their own fiocks. They
make their own clothing. their own
| tools and are almost entirely seIf.de.
pendent and selfsatisfied. They have
rather loose marriage relations. their
men being able to put away their
wives for any whlm and take others
| as their fancy pleases. so that the
families are very much confused A
woman may be the wife of one man
| this month and the wife of another
| six months later. and she may have
the care of the children of several of
her women neighbors. as the off.
spring stay with the father when the
parents separate.
The Druses are farmers and cattle
breeders. They seldom engage In
commercial pursuits or mechanical in
dustries and they will not pay or ac
cept interest on borrowed money. be-
cause they consider 1t contrary to the
teachings of the Bible and the Koran
both Of which they accept They ac-
cept both Jesus and Mohammed as
messengers of God and ministers of
truth. and consider them one and the
same person-the embodiment of the
HOLY Spirit They believe in the
transmigration of souls, and that
there are only so many souls in the
whole world which pass from one
body to another. They are particu-
larly rcmorseless in the observance of
the lex talonis. which is in force
among all the tribes of the
Lebanon mountains and the Arabs of
the surrounding desert. The right of
blood revenge has been recognized in
SYRIA ever since the Mosaic era, and
the vendetta is practiced as rieidly as
in Corsica or Sicily. The Druses
never appeal to the law or ask the
assistance of the police, They them
selves punish people who offend them
on the old Mosaic principle of an eye
for an eve tooth for a tooth. and n
life for life.
Another strange and bloodthirstv |
eect numbering about 100000. are the
NusaIre eveh. who live in the north
orn part OF the Lebanon range and |
also trv to keen their religious doc |
'riues secret They are still supposed |
10 Worship idols Women are denied |
souls and are not permitted to take
mart in or even witness the worship |
Polvramv is practiced and. rs among |
the Druses man can change his |
wife whenever he likes. In their |
A. ,,.;tl A.
and Nusaireeveh are said to be fair
and honorable,
The Arabic Christians belonging to |
the Orthodox Greek church in Syria |
number about 10000. They are un-
der the patronage and protection of
Russia and have a patriarch at Ath
ems. The Catholic Greeks. so-called |
are persons Of Greek origin and an
cestry who have adopted the Roman
Catholic faith The United Greeks
are still another sect. They have |
creed of their own very similar to
the Armenian. The Jacobites are a |
body Of dissenters from the Greek |
church who have adopted the name
and doctrines of Jacobus, monk of |
the Greek church who became bishop |
of Ednesas and died in the sixth cen
turv. There are half dozen 9th
er religious sects of greater or less
strength. Palentine seems to be prolific
of the theological schisms. The
Christians are divided into fourteen
different sacts. while the Mohamme
dams are divided into only three.
Nobody knows the population of |
Syria. There never has been a cen
sus, but 1t is no larger than 1t was
half century ago. and probably less
The death rate keeps along about even
with the birth rate, and the number |
of immigrants that have come into
this country to establish colonies has |
been exceeded by the emigrants who
have gone TO North and South Amer
lea, to Egypt and South Africa and
the ports of the Meditersean.
The area of Syria is about equal
to that of Pennsylvania The popu-
lation is variously estimated at 1.0O0,-
900, to 100000, including that un-
certain and ever changing element,
the Bedouins. who may be in Damas-
Gus today and Egypt month hence,
Damascus is the largest city.
having about 100000 people; Bel
rut. 100000 Aleppo 100000;
Huma 10000; Hama, $4,000;
Jerusalem. $4,000; Tripoli. 35,00O
Jaffa. 10000; Haifa. 10000; Sidon.
10000,
According to the best authorities
there are only 10000 Jews in Pales-
tine and 10000 Protestants.