Druze nation. But their very
politeness confounds you. The old Druze women are masters of a pious
religious phraseology. "We are all sinners." "The Lord's will be done."
"Praise to His name." "He only can command." "The Lord be merciful to
us." "He orders all things," and yet they will lie and deceive, and if
not of the initiated class, they will swear in the most fearful manner.
The Okkal cannot swear, smoke or drink, but they tell a story of a
village where the people were all Okkal, and things having reached a
high pitch of excitement, they sent for a body of Jehal or the
non-initiated to come over and swear on the subject, that their pure
minds might be relieved! When they talk in the most affectingly pious
manner, and really surpass you in religious sentiment, you hardly know
what to do. Tell them God knows the heart. They reply, "He alone is the
All-knowing, the Searcher of the hearts of men." You shrink from telling
them in plain language that they are hypocrites and liars. You _can_
tell them of the _personal love_ of a personal Saviour, and this simple
story will affect and has affected the minds of some of them more than
all logic and eloquent refutation of their foggy and mysterious
doctrinal system.

They respect us and treat us politely for political reasons. During the
massacres of 1860, I rode from Abeih to Beirut in the midst of burning
villages, and armed bodies of Druzes passed us shouting the war song "Ma
hala ya ma hala kotal en Nosara," "How sweet, oh how sweet, to kill the
Christians," and yet as they passed us they stopped and most politely
paid their salams, saying, "Naharkum Saieed," "May your day be blessed,"
"Allah yahtikum el afiyeh," "God give you health!"

When a Druze Sheikh wishes to marry, he asks consent of the father
without having seen the daughter. If the father consents, he informs
her, and if she consents, the suitor sends his affianced presents of
clothes and jewelry, which remain in her hands as a pledge of his
fidelity. She is pictured to him as the paragon of beauty and
excellence, but he is never allowed to see her, speak to her, or write
to her, should she know how to write. His mother or aunt may see her or
bring reports, but he does not see her until the wedding contract is
signed and the bride is brought to his house.

The following is the marriage ceremony of the Druzes. It is read by the
Kadi or Sheikh, and in accordance to the Druze doctrine that they must
outwardly