University of Houston, 4333 University Drive, Houston TX 77204-2000, (713) 743-1050.
© 2013 University of Houston. All rights reserved.
| Title | Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Vol. 2 |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
|
| Publisher | D. Appleton and Company |
| Date | 1883 |
| Description | Index: Phoenicia and Lebanon / by the Rev. H. W. Jessup -- The Phoenician plain / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- Acre, the key of Palestine, Mount Carmel and the river Kishon, Maritime cities and plains of Palestine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Lydda and Ramleh, Philistia / By Lt. Col. Warren -- The south country of Judaea / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- The southern borderland and Dead Sea / by Professor Palmer -- Mount Hor and the cliffs of Edom, The convent of St. Catherine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Sinai / by the Rev. C. P. Clarke -- The land of Goshen, Cairo, Memphis, Thebes, Edfu and Philae / by S. Lane-Poole. |
| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
|
| Genre (AAT) |
|
| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
|
| Original Item Location | DS107 .W73 v.2 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1703789~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Exotic Impressions: Views of Foreign Lands |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/exotic |
| Repository | Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/william-r-jenkins-architecture-art-library |
| Use and Reproduction | No Copyright - United States |
| Identifier | exotic_201304_015 |
| Title | Page 10 |
| Format (IMT) |
|
| File Name | exotic_201304_015_024.jpg |
| Transcript | I0 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE. traveller. The Turkish Tartar postmen, however well armed, were often shot by Nusairiyeh brigands in these dreary thickets. At the time of our visit a Greek merchant had built a house and was living here, and we spent the night unmolested. Not the least interesting feature in this region is the people who now inhabit it—the Nusairiyeh. They are justly regarded as the jcendants of the old Canaanites, never converted to Judaism, Christianity, or Islamism, but retaining the old Baal and star worship of the Canaanites, with their sacred shrines in groves on ery high hill," and at the same time having borrowed various features from both Christians. Muslims, and Jews. Ali is their God. When they speak of Allah they always mean Ali. They practise circumcision, use wine at their sacrament, a secret rite bound by terrific oaths, and their principal prayer is a series of dire curses upon all other sects. Their present name was derived from Abu Shuaib ibn Nusair in 840 a.d. They are a secret society with mysterious signs and passwords. When one of the initiated dies they believe that Mars or Jupiter descends and takes his soul to the sky, where it becomes a star in the " Darub et tibban," the 4k Milky Wa They believe, in transmigration, and that the souls of Muslims pass into donkeys, of Christians into swine, of Jews into monkeys, and of Nusairiyeh into other men. Women are not allo\ to be initiated into their secret rites, nor even attend their worship. " Devils we from the sins of men, and women from the sins of devils." The soul leaves the body through the mouth, and hence death by hanging is regarded by them with horror. The Turks look upon them as Kafirs, or infidels, and hence for ages have persecuted and oppressed them in most cruel manner, driving them to desperation. Blood revenge and highway robber) common. At present they are somewhat better treated, but their fertile mountains have b< turned almost into a wilderness. Native writers on the Nusairy religion insist that the initiated sheikhs offer their wives to their guests when visiting each other, but this is not confirmee! by credible testimony. Physically they are a fine race. Some of their sheikhs are men splendid personal appearance, and their girls and boys who have enjoyed the advant education in the Christian schools at Laclikiyeh have proved themselves equal to any c of Syrian Arabs in intellect and capacity. South of Tartus we meet but few villages of the Nusairiyeh, and on entering the Lebanon district beyond Tripoli we find only a Mohammedan, Christian, and Druse population. Crossing the broad and fertile plain of Akkar, we reach Tell Arka, on a river of the same name, where dwelt the Arkites. The Tell is evidently the site of the old Arkite capital. Fragments of columns, sarcophagi, and blocks of stone lie scattered on the slope and in the deep rocky gorge o( the river. A four hours' ride from this point takes us along the seasli across the Nahr el Barid, and thence to the famous "' Ain el Bedawy," or "Sheikh el Bedawy," known as the k< Moscpie of the Sacred Fish." Just below the road, down a slope and in the edge of the rich green gardens and orchards of the Tripoli plain, is a circular birkeh, or pool, into which flows the clear sweet water of a fine fountain. The pool isabo one hundred feet in diameter, and the water two or three feet in depth. In it are hundr fat light-coloured fish, from three to twenty inches in length, resembling river bass. I u€) |