CHAPTER XXI.

LIFE AND HABITS OF THE FELLAHÎN.

In the last chapter the Fellahîn have been considered in their religious aspect, and matters connected with the possible origin of their race have been discussed; but we have now to sketch their manners and customs.

The wonderful account given by Lane of the life of townsmen in Egypt, would apply almost equally well to the middle classes in Damascus and Jerusalem; but the life and manners of the peasantry are far more valuable in illustration of the Bible narrative than are those of the townsmen; and for this reason the present sketch, however imperfect, will, I hope, prove of some value, by drawing attention to a people who have been as yet but little studied, and who are often confounded with the Bedawîn, or with the governing nation--the Turks--of whom, perhaps, scarcely a hundred are to be found in Palestine.

A Fellah village consists of from twenty to a hundred cabins, huddled together, generally on rising ground and near water. In the hills the village is built principally of stone, the materials being collected from ancient ruins, and hardly ever, I believe, fresh quarried; in the south the roofs have stone domes, in the north they are of brushwood, supported on logs or beams as rafters, and covered with mud, which requires to be rolled every year. The interiors generally contain no furniture beyond bedding, mats, and cooking utensils; the house has no chimney, and the smoke of the wood fire goes out at the wooden door, or by the unglazed windows. Among the better class of the peasantry a few carpets will be found in use; and a raised diwân, as described in the account of our feast at Jeb’a, occupies part of the room. The village generally has one high house, of two storeys, in its middle, where the Sheikh or hereditary chief lives; booths are erected in summer on the roofs of the houses, where the inmates sleep at night; on the outskirts of the village are orchards of fig or pomegranate, with hedges of prickly pear, and perhaps fine olive-groves; close by is the Mukâm, with its white dome, and round it the shallow graves with rough headstones, between which the purple iris (or lily of Palestine) grows very commonly, while in the better-built tombs a little hollow for rain water is scooped in the covering slab of stone, as an act of charity towards thirsty birds.

In the plains the only difference in the villages is, that the cabins are built of sun-dried brick, and roofed with mud. The bricks are made in spring by bringing down water into ditches dug in the clay, where chopped straw is mixed in with the mud; thence the soft mixture is carried in bowls to a row of wooden moulds or frames, each about ten inches long by three inches across; these are laid out on flat ground and are squeezed full, the clay being then left to harden in the sun. The houses thus built require to be patched every year, and the old roofs are covered in spring with grass self-sown, which withers as soon as the sun becomes strong (Ps. cxxix. 6).

The population of a village averages about four hundred, ranging from thirty or forty, up to a thousand in the well-built Galilean towns. The men are employed in agriculture, the boys tend the flocks, the women cook and fetch water. The first scene on approaching a village is that at the well or spring, to which lithe damsels and portly matrons, scantily clad, bring down the great black or brown jars, returning rapidly with the load of water poised on a pad on the head. The screaming, scolding, and chatter of these crowds of women passes all description; if of one of them the traveller asks for the Sheikh, he still receives the old answer, “Behold, he is before you” (1 Sam. ix. 12).

On entering the village the Ghŭfr or “watchman” (2 Sam. xviii. 24) is next met, and the stranger is brought to the guest-house (Saha), where he is served with coffee, and entertained at the public expense, a small gratuity being given to the Ghŭfr on leaving. The visitor will be struck above all with the power exercised by the Sheikh, or by the elders, and with the respect for age, and for etiquette, leaving the impression of a patriarchal form of society, which really exists among the villagers.

The food of the peasants is almost entirely vegetable, consisting of unleavened bread dipped in oil, of rice, olives, grape-treacle (Dibs), clarified butter (Semn), and eggs, besides gourds, melons, marrows, and cucumbers; in times of scarcity the Khobbeizeh, or mallow, cooked in sour milk or oil, forms an important element. Meat they hardly ever touch, save at the great feast, or at the Kod sacrifices; and their drinks consist simply of water and coffee, both of which they imbibe in enormous quantities. To this diet the beauty of their white teeth, the toughness of their constitutions, the rapidity with which their wounds heal, are no doubt traceable, while the prominent stomachs of the children are due to drinking too much water. Coffee with lemon-juice is also commonly used as a remedy for dysentery.

The costume of the Fellahîn differs in various parts of Palestine, resembling that of the Egyptians in the south, and that of the Lebanon mountaineers in the north, while in Samaria it is more distinctive. The dress of Christians is also entirely different from that of the Moslems.

The typical male peasant dress in Palestine consists of five articles only. On the head is the turban, consisting of a woollen or silk shawl, wound round a red cap (Tarbûsh) with a blue tassel, inside which cap is a second, or perhaps two, felt caps (Libdeh), and within these again is a white cotton skull-cap stitched all over (Takîyeh). The colour of the turban shawl among the richer, or more pious, is white; a Sherîf or descendant of the Prophet wears a green Mukleh, or large turban, and the Samaritan colour for the turban is crimson. In the south of Palestine the commonest kind is striped with yellow and chocolate. This respected head-dress, which is never willingly taken off in public, is drawn down behind the ears, thus causing them to grow out at right angles, or even to become doubled down.

The body is covered with a long shirt, which is made extremely full, with sleeves down to the knees; this dress is confined by a broad leather belt (Matt. iii. 4), to which a clasp-knife is often hung. The shirt reaches to the ankles, but during a journey the peasant girds up his loins (1 Kings xviii. 46), bringing the hem of the shirt between his legs up to his belt, and thus leaving the legs bare to the mid thigh. The sleeves are often used as receptacles for money, which is knotted up in a corner, while valuable papers are kept inside the Libdeh, and bread or other provisions are thrust between the shirt and the skin, above the belt. The sleeves are often tied together with a cord between the shoulders, leaving the arms bare. The shirt is open in front from the neck to the waist.

The fourth article is the ’Abba--a cloak coarsely woven of wool; those made of better materials are black, with coloured binding, and in summer a very light thin white cloak is used in riding; but the typical ’Abba is striped white and brown (or indigo) in broad vertical stripes; it is cut square, with holes for the arms, and is shaped to the neck behind, being a comfortable, but not an elegant, garment.

The feet are shod with leather shoes, which are generally red, with pointed toes, and a long pointed flap behind. Horsemen, however, wear the red boot to the knee, with a tassel in front.

The richer peasants wear, in addition to other garments, the Kumbâz, or cotton gown, striped in red and purple, or in yellow and white, with narrow vertical stripes; and they even have the Jubbeh, or short cloth jacket: both of these articles are worn by the townsmen.

The Kufeiyeh, or shawl head-dress of the Bedawîn, is worn by the boys and herdsmen in many parts. The shape of the turban also differs in various districts, being very high in the centre of the country, and large in the south. The shawl is sometimes twisted, sometimes laid in flat folds. The enormous turbans once worn are now scarcely seen, though a few old men among the peasant Sheikhs will put them on for great ceremonies.

The dress of the women is, as might be expected, far more varied. In Philistia it resembles that of Egypt--a full blue robe, sweeping the ground, a black head-shawl, and a face-veil hanging from the eyes to the waist, supported by a wooden or metal cylinder, which acts as a clasp, fixing the face-veil to the head-veil. These face-veils are ornamented with a fringe of silver or gold coins. In Gaza and Ashdod the women wear a sort of visor, covering the nose, mouth, and chin, and made of white stuff, ornamented with gold coins.

In the Jerusalem and Hebron hills the dress is less complicated, and is probably unchanged since the earliest times, for it could not well be simpler. The blue shirt is not quite so full as that of the men, but it is rather longer, and the sleeves are pointed. No face-veil is worn, but a heavy white head-veil comes down to the waist, and the requirements of modesty are supposed to be fully met by drawing this over the mouth, or, if the woman’s hands are engaged, by holding the corner in the teeth.

As the traveller advances northwards, through Samaria and Lower Galilee, he meets with another distinct costume: a dress with tight sleeves and fitting the figure, descends half-way below the knees; a chemise is worn under it, having sleeves full at the wrist, and a pair of blue cotton drawers or trousers--peg-topped in shape, tight at the ankle, and fuller above--appear under the dress, which is generally of striped stuff, purple (or pink) and white. A heavy sash is wound round the waist, and a coif or kerchief is tied over the head, while the hair is cut in a thick fringe above the eyebrows. This is the dress of the girls, and that of the matrons sometimes differs only in the headgear, though many of them wear the full white shirt, as in the south, with a black cloak drawn over the head.

The women’s head-dress in Samaria has never, apparently, been very accurately described, but it is of peculiar interest. It is a sort of bonnet, with a horse-shoe shape in front, and on the front are sewn silver coins, lapping over one another, and making a crescent-shaped tire round the forehead and down to the ears. This tire is bound by a handkerchief round the head. It is apparently heavy, and a woman will carry her dowry of perhaps £5 round her face. Seen in profile, it makes the forehead appear high and the back of the head depressed. A crimson face-veil is attached to it, covering the mouth, chin, and breast. There can be little doubt that in these head-dresses we find still in use the “round tires like the moon,” against which the prophet inveighs (Isaiah iii. 18). This costume is the one shown in the illustration.

The women have fine eyes, and the use of _kohel_--a mixture of soot and other substances--skilfully applied to the lashes has certainly a good effect; but the little daubs of indigo or soot, rubbed into punctures which are made by a bunch of needles, forming regularly tattooed patterns on the face, breast, feet, and hands, have anything but a pleasing appearance. A single mark between the eyes is usual, and looks not unlike a patch (Lev. xix. 28).

The use of henna is common to men and women alike. Henna is a sign of rejoicing, and is not worn in mourning. At a marriage, the tails of the horses and the doors of the house are coloured with it, as well as the faces and hands of the guests. Women colour the nails, the finger-joints, and the palms of the hands. A little henna has rather a pretty effect, being a sort of orange-red in colour.

Bracelets and anklets are worn, the commonest being of coloured glass such as is manufactured at Hebron, or of bad silver; various charms and amulets for protection against the evil eye are also carried.

The dress of the Christians in Palestine differs from that of the Moslems. It consists of a shirt with tight sleeves, a waistcoat of a flowered or embroidered pattern, a shawl neatly wound round the waist, trousers, of blue cotton or of cloth, reaching to the ankles, and of the baggy description commonly shown in sketches; and lastly, they wear a short cloth jacket with tight sleeves, open in front, called Jubbeh, which, as above noticed, is sometimes worn by the richer Moslem Sheikhs, and by the townsmen. The Christians wear the Kufeiyeh in travelling, or the Tarbûsh, with the inner caps, but without the roll of silk or stuff which forms the turban.

The ordinary dress of Christian women is very picturesque; their dark curly hair is confined by a little kerchief folded diagonally with the peak behind. Their jackets of striped or flowered stuff fit tightly to the figure, and show the shirt in front; and they wear the Shintiyân, or trousers, made as full as a petticoat, tied below the knee, and falling in plaits round the ankle--an extremely graceful and pleasing dress.

The above description of Christian costume applies chiefly to the Galilean district, for the Christians are most numerous in Upper Galilee. In Nazareth, where the peasantry are rich, the white Izâr, or enveloping mantle of linen, coming over the head and swelling out like a balloon round the figure, is worn by the women; but this is, properly speaking, the dress of townsfolk, not of the agricultural classes.

The Bethlehem costume is unique. The men, though Christian, wear the turban, and also the Kumbâz, or striped dressing-gown of cotton, which is generally adopted by the upper classes. The dress of the women consists of the full shirt with painted sleeves, but it is made, like Joseph’s coat, of many colours, and has broad squares of yellow or red let in to the breast or sleeves, giving a most striking brilliancy of colour. The girls wear a white veil, the matrons an extraordinary cylinder of felt, not unlike a Greek priest’s cap, generally sewn over with coins, and partly covered by the white veil. This dress is figured in many works (as in the illustrated edition of Farrar’s “Life of Christ”), and needs no further description. A string of coins often hangs from the bonnet under the chin, and more than one poor woman has been murdered for the sake of her head-dress.

There is a class of the peasantry of whom a few words must now be said, namely, the lepers. The common diseases of the country are ophthalmia, dysentery, fever, and liver complaints; but on the whole the peasantry are healthy, strongly-built, and of great strength and endurance. They drive the lepers from their villages, and oblige them to resort to the miserable communities which live, supported by charity on the outskirts of great towns. Loathed and neglected, they drag on a miserable existence, and propagate a diseased race--a reproach to the Government, which does nothing to assist or control them.

The following notes are obtained from the best possible authority--namely, from Dr. Chaplin, at Jerusalem:

Leprosy appears to be a mysterious disease, the origin of which doctors do not know. It is not peculiar to one nation--Norwegians, Italians, Spaniards, Hindoos, suffer from it, as well as Syrians. It is not caused by food, not seemingly due to climate, and temperature has no connection with it. It is doubtful whether it is contagious or hereditary. One curious fact is that townsmen do not suffer from it, though the lepers live close to the towns. From almost every village a few lepers come to the towns, and notably from the Christian village of Râm-Allah.

The ordinary tubercular leprosy is due to the presence of _bacteria_ in the tubercles, and the disease works out from within, not inwards from without. It appears not to be the same disease described in Leviticus, though the white leprosy--a spot deeper than the skin, with white hairs (Levit. xiii. 3)--is still found in Palestine. The name leprosy is derived from El Burs, a corruption of the Hebrew term used for the disease.

No cure is as yet known for tubercular leprosy, for the reason of the presence of the microscopic parasites is not yet discovered. The prevention of this plague, which is now rather on the increase in Palestine, seems to be possible, if habits of greater cleanliness and morality, with more comfort and better food, could be introduced among the peasantry, and if at the same time strict laws were enforced for secluding the lepers in asylums.

This dreadful plague does not become manifest before the age of twelve, nor later than forty-five. The patients suffer pain at first, and, in later stages, much distress; their physical strength and animal life dies out, and they are, in their own words, “like oxen,” without feeling or intellectual power, scarcely conscious of the outer world; their voices become changed to a feeble whine, husky and querulous; their joints and features waste away, and swelling and black discolouration ensue. The flesh decays, until the appearance of an advanced case is ghastly in the extreme; and a raw wound may be burnt with an iron in their bodies, producing only a slightly pleasing sensation. They die finally of leprosy.

The lepers at Jerusalem live in huts near the south-west corner of the town, inside the wall, and marry lepers, and the disease which reappears in their children thus becomes hereditary.

Turning from this repulsive subject to that of the daily life of the peasantry, we may next notice their marriages, funerals and amusements.

The distinctive physiognomy of each village is extremely striking. In one the people will be good-looking, in another ugly; in each case there is a strong family likeness between the various inhabitants of any one place, which is apparently due to constant intermarriage between the peasants of the same village.

The principal ceremonies connected with weddings are the processions of the bride and bridegroom through the street, accompanied by their friends. The procession of the dower is also accompanied by a band of women, singing, clapping their hands, and uttering shrill cries; but the bride’s fortune among the peasantry is necessarily small, and, as in Italy, a single chest on a mule conveys the whole trousseau.

At Nazareth, in 1872, we witnessed two of these wedding processions, or Zeffehs--one Christian, one Moslem.

First came a group of women clapping their hands in time, and uttering the Zaghârît, or shrill ululations, commonly used as a mark either of joy or of sorrow. Most of them wore over their heads the black cloak with an embroidered border; their palms were dyed with henna, and they had the moon-shaped tire as above described, and tight-fitting bodices of silk, gleaming with red, green, yellow, blue, and purple, in stripes and patches. One woman carried a basket of flowers on her head, with a bottle of wine and a cake. The bride followed, close veiled, dressed in glorious array, mounted on a horse, and supported by three of her female relatives, while two other women held the bridle.

Presently the Zeffeh of the bridegroom passed in turn, consisting of some two hundred of his friends. They were in white, with ’Abbas and with silk Kufeiyehs, or turbans. Many were armed with old brass-bound guns, which they let off at intervals. The shouting crowd went before the bridegroom to the market-place, and there a ring of some hundred and fifty men was formed; they were jammed close together, shoulder to shoulder, clapping their hands and shouting “Alla-lá!” at the top of their voices, their bodies swaying in time, while the best-man, in a green dress, hopped round on one leg, and another man, in a black and purple head-dress, which was tied beneath the chin, his cheeks being reddened with henna, and the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, sprinkled rose-water over the whole circle. A gun was let off, and a sort of proclamation was made, after which the clapping was resumed at a furious pace, the best-man becoming almost frantic.

The procession moved on, and the bridegroom appeared on a horse, with a red saddle and a pad behind; in his hand was a nosegay, and over his head an umbrella. He smoked a cigarette, and a small boy in green was mounted behind him. The women of his family followed, and pairs of male guests danced a sort of Mazurka step beside him. But amid all this ceremonial rejoicing there was no real gaiety, no one had a smile on his face, but all was conducted with oppressive decorum.

On the second occasion--that of the Moslem Zeffeh--the women were preceded by a band of tambourines and kettle-drums, the latter fastened on a boy’s back, and beaten by a man who occasionally hit the drum-bearer instead of the drum. The bride wore a pink veil above the Izâr, and a black face-veil, and she was supported by two women, also veiled. The bridegroom was followed by a man carrying a rush-bottomed chair, on which he sat during the dancing. There were two sword-dancers on this occasion, who went through the usual tame performance, which is more effectively executed by the Bedawîn, as will be seen in the next chapter. I was told that the words of the chorus were “Ya ’Aini! Ya ’Aini?”--“O my eye!” a term of endearment.

The ordinary village Zeffeh resembles those above described, but the dresses are not often so gay as those at Nazareth.

Of the native children there is little to be said; they receive, as a rule, no education, and are neither disciplined nor cared for, the affection of the parents being apparently in most cases small. They learn to curse almost as soon as to speak; and I have seen a boy of six or seven throwing stones at his father with the most vile language. They have none of the gaiety of children; but are as solemn as their elders. To animals they are cruel, and to one another mischievous and tyrannical. As the boys grow older, they are sent out to keep sheep, goats, or cows, and they acquire a wonderfully accurate knowledge of the country round the villages; thus the goat-herds are the great authorities as to the names of ruins or springs.

I have only once seen children in Palestine playing at any game; this was near Samaria, and the sport appeared to be a sort of hockey; but as a rule they seem to do nothing but mischief.

The shepherd-boys, however, have a kind of game called Mankalah, which Lane has already described as played in Egypt, and the holes which they make in the rocks for this purpose are often found on the hillsides, and might considerably puzzle archæologists.

The adults appear to have no amusements; they say themselves, with terrible truth, that they have “no leisure in their hearts for mirth,” being hopeless and spiritless under their hard bondage of oppression, usury, and violence.

The ordinary amusements of the townsmen are the public readings of romances, the dances of the Egyptian ’Almehs, and games of chess and draughts. Gambling, though considered disgraceful, still is common in towns where low cafés and restaurants exist, but none of these amusements are known in the villages. Once in the Jordan Valley we came across a party of Egyptian dancing girls, journeying from Damascus to their native land, and once in the Lebanon we witnessed the weird performance of some male dancers in female dress, castanets on their fingers, and skirts round their waists, as shown in the illustration taken from a sketch made on the spot; but these performances are very rare, and confined to the wealthier towns, as are also the tricks of conjurers and clowns.

The only sport which may be witnessed among the peasants is the mock tournament of the Jerîd, a combat between two bodies of horsemen, who throw darts or sticks at one another. But the riding is, as a rule, so bad that it has but little interest to an Englishman, accustomed to see better horsemanship. There are often men who ride in front of these cavalcades as clowns; they are called Sutâr, and are dressed in caps to which fox-tails are suspended; the clown, indeed, seems to be the only ideal of comedy which Syrian minds can conceive, their general views of festivity being rather inclined to pomp than to real gaiety.

The last ceremonials to be noticed are those connected with death. Among the Fellahîn they are very simple. The body is buried almost as soon as the breath has left it. Thus, I have seen a boy killed by falling from an olive, and buried within a quarter of an hour. The graves are so shallow that the hyenas often dig up the corpses, and they are only marked by a few stones. The bier, covered with a green cloth, and with the turban placed on it, is followed by the women with shrill shrieks (Zaghârît), and in one instance, near Ascalon, each woman held a handkerchief in her hand, and waved it at the bier as she followed.

Turning next to the ordinary occupations of the Fellahîn, we find them to be an agricultural and pastoral people.

The land tenure in Palestine is of three kinds: Miri, or taxed crown-land; Wakûf, or glebe-land, belonging to mosques and other institutions of a religious character; and lastly, Mulk, or freehold. The taxes of the first two kinds are farmed to the highest bidder. The Mulk-land is of four kinds: first, land inherited since the time of the Moslem conquest; secondly, land legally bestowed from the crown-lands; thirdly, land so bestowed in return for tribute; lastly, tithed lands of which not more than half the produce is due to Government. The Mulk-land is held by private individuals in and round the towns, and pays a now fixed tax to the State.

The lands belonging to the villages which they surround are reckoned by the Feddân, a very indefinite measure, being the amount which a yoke of oxen can plough (or rather two yoke used alternately) working with a single plough for twelve hours per diem during twenty-eight days in the summer and fourteen in the winter. In the hills the Feddân ranges from thirty-six to forty acres, and in the plains from twenty-eight to thirty-six, the soil being richer and heavier. The corn-seed per Feddân is from twenty-five to sixty kilos (Constantinople measure), and the yield per Feddân is about two hundred bushels of wheat, or fifty of barley. The village lands belong in reality to the Crown, and are held in fee-simple, paying tithes and also a fixed tax. They are equally inherited by the sons of a proprietor, but if uncultivated revert to the Crown.

The limits of the lands are marked by valleys, ridges, or large stones, by which also the sub-divisions of the land among the villagers are shown. It is most interesting to note that the word Tahum, used in Hebrew to signify the “limits” of the Levitical cities (Numb, xxxv.), is still employed in the same sense by the peasantry, and in one case a great stone, marking the present boundary of the lands of Es Semû’a (Eshtemoa), which was a Levitical city, is just about the proper distance of 3000 cubits from the village, and is called Hajr et Takhâin, also probably a corruption of Tahum. The village land is annually divided among members of the community according to their power of cultivation.

There is a custom regarding the land which seems of antiquity--namely, the Shkârah, or land which is cultivated by the villagers for any one of their number who is unable to till it himself; thus there is the Shkâret el Imâm, or “glebe of the religious minister,” and Shkâret en Nejjâr, or “carpenter’s portion,” which is cultivated for the village carpenter in return for his services.

The possessions of a village vary from ten to a hundred Feddâns; thus at Abu Shûsheh, for instance, 5000 acres of arable land are held by a place containing some 400 inhabitants.

The ordinary crops are barley and wheat. There are two varieties of bearded wheat, called “hard” and “soft,” the former being considered the best. The yield on the average is six-fold. Oats and rye are unknown, but in addition to the corn, millet, sesame, Indian corn, melons, tobacco, and cotton, are the summer crops; while lentils, beans, and chick-peas, with other vegetables, are grown in winter. Indigo grows wild, and is occasionally cultivated in the Jordan Valley. The land is never allowed to lie fallow, unless through want of labour to cultivate. A rotation of crops is observed, but manure is rarely used. To the list of productions must be added the beautiful and extensive groves of olives, especially noticeable in the low hills, with the vineyards, on the high ridges as at Hebron, where the grape is swelled by the autumn mists, and the fig-gardens, which flourish especially in the Christian district of Jufna and Bîr ez Zeit. Pomegranates, apricots, walnuts, plums, apples, mulberries, pears, quinces, oranges, lemons, and bananas, may be noticed among the fruit-trees which are found in the gardens near springs. The irrigation of the vegetable gardens by means of small ditches trodden by the foot, is another instance of the survival of a Jewish method of cultivation (Deut. xi. 10).

The first agricultural operation is that of ploughing, which is commenced in autumn at the time of the first rains, and again continued in spring for the later crops. The first period is about the end of November, the second in March and April. According to Mr. Bergheim, the first day of the autumn ploughing varies from the 17th of November to the 14th of December.

The plough is of the most primitive kind, very small, with a coulter like an arrow-head, and a single handle like that of a spade, with a cross piece, which is held by one hand, while in the other the ploughman has a stick with a nail at the end, used as a goad. To this pointed spade (as the plough may be called) is attached a long pole, which connects it with the heavy yoke of the cattle. The furrow is extremely shallow, and the instrument, indeed, only scratches the upper soil, leaving virgin earth untouched below. There are generally two ploughs which follow one another, the first perhaps harnessed to a single camel, the second to two small oxen, or to an ox with an ass (Deut. xxii. 10).

The sower follows the plough, and scatters his seed, not only into the good soil of the furrows, but partly among the thistles and artichokes which grow rank in the unturned soil, partly on the beaten path beside the field, partly among the rocks and stones which crop up in patches amid the arable ground (Matt. xiii 3--8).

The barley harvest begins in the plains in April, and continues in the hills as late as June. The stalk of the corn is very short, and the stubble is left comparatively very long. The men sit on their haunches to reap, the sickle (Seif) being not unlike our own. The handfuls thus cut are tied round with a stalk, forming little shocks (Ghamûr), and these are stacked in bundles, and then loaded in nets on camels, and carried to the threshing-floors (Beiyâdir or Jurûn) at the villages. An ancient custom--to which the peasantry can assign no origin--is observed in reaping; the corner of the field is left unreaped, and this is given to the “widows and the fatherless;” this corner is called Jerû’ah, and in the same way a bunch of wheat is left on the ground to be gleaned by the poor and helpless (Lev. xix. 9, 10). These gleanings are threshed by the women separately (Ruth ii. 15--17).

The threshing-floor is a broad flat space, on open ground, generally high; sometimes the floor is on a flat rocky hill-top, and occasionally it is in an open valley, down which there is a current of air; but it is always situated where most wind can be found, because at the threshing season high winds never occur, and the grain is safely stored before the autumn storms commence. The size of the floor varies, from a few yards to an area of perhaps fifty yards square, and rich villages have sometimes two such floors. The grain is thrown down, and trampled by cattle, or by horses attached to a heavy wooden sledge made of two boards and curved up in front. A boy stands or sits on this, and drives the horse. A number of recesses are sunk in the under side of the sledge, and into these small rough pieces of hard basalt (Hajr es Sôda) are let, which, acting like teeth, tear the corn. This instrument is called Môrej, and is supposed to be that mentioned by Isaiah (xli 15) as “having teeth.” The name is the same as the Hebrew Moreg, and the name Jurn, applied commonly to the threshing-floor, is the Hebrew Goran.

In other cases two or four oxen are yoked together and driven round the threshing-floor. I have seen them muzzled, though this is rare (Deut. xxv. 4).

The threshed grain is collected on the floor in a conical heap (Sôbeh), and is winnowed by tossing it with a wooden shovel, or with a three-pronged wooden fork. The wind scatters the chaff, and the grain falls round the heap, and it is afterwards sifted.

A tithe from the threshed grain is still set apart for the Derwîsh or village priest, as for the Levite of old (Num. xviii. 21), and is called Tazukki, or “alms.” The custom is, however, gradually dying out.

The corn is stored in underground granaries, which are carefully concealed, and form traps for the unwary horseman. These granaries (Metâmîr) are often under the protection of the Mukâm, and are therefore excavated near that building. They are circular wells, some four or five feet deep, and the mouths are closed with clay like that used for the house-roofs.

The olive crop seems to require but little attention from the peasants; the land is ploughed twice or thrice each year, but the trees are neither manured nor pruned, and hence they only bear the full crop every other year. In October the fruit is ripe, and the trees are beaten with long poles, or shaken--much to their injury, and the fallen fruit is gleaned. It is said that the plague of locusts has more than once proved a subsequent blessing, because the olive-trees were eaten down and thus pruned, and yielded a plentiful harvest in the following year. The oil is pressed in two kinds of mills; one called M’aserah, from its “squeezing;” the other Matrûf, with a cylinder of stone placed vertically in a cylindrical stone case, and revolving in it, iron bars being fitted like spokes into the cylinder.

The olive grows slowly, and there is no doubt that many of the trees round Shechem and Gaza are of great age. At Gaza the natives say that not a single olive-tree has been planted since the Moslem conquest of the land; and indeed, traditionally, they refer the oldest of the trees in the great avenue to the time of Alexander the Great. The name Rûmi, or “Greek,” sometimes applied to the olives, appears to be connected with this tradition. It seems possible that the first statement, that olives have not been planted at Gaza since the Moslem conquest, may be true, for the tree rarely dies, but when the trunk decays, fresh stems spring from the roots, and a group of olives takes the place of a single tree. The old olives are surrounded by an army of suckers (the “olive branches” of Scripture--Ps. cxxviii. 3), and these, as the parent stem decays, grow strong and tall in its room, so that the grove perpetuates itself without any trouble on the part of the owners.

The olive-tree is the glory of Palestine, and one of the chief sources of wealth to the peasantry; the cool and grateful shade endears it to the traveller, and many a time have our tents been protected in stormy weather by the broad boles. The shade of the fig-tree is considered unhealthy by the Syrians, as producing ophthalmia, but that of the olive is a favourite shelter.

The pastoral employments of the Fellahin occupy a good part of their attention; the young men, as in Jacob’s time, are the shepherds and cowherds, and are often found far from home. In spring the rich pastures of the plains and of the Jordan Valley attract the flocks, which are driven down to temporary settlements known as ’Azbât. An arrangement is sometimes made with a Bedawîn tribe to protect the flocks, and in other parts there are lands in the desert recognised as belonging to the villagers. The sheepcotes along the edge of the Judean desert are generally caves (1 Sam. xxiv. 3), and in these the boys sleep with their charges at night, especially during the lambing season, which occurs early in spring.

The diminutive size of the oxen is striking, and the dry climate seems to dwarf most of the domestic animals, sheep, goats, and horses being all small. There are several breeds of goats; one (the mohair goat) long-haired and white, with enormous horns, is seen rarely; the other is the ordinary black or piebald breed, with shorter hair. The sheep are less numerous, and are generally driven with the goats. In the plains, however, they are better able to find food; and in Philistia especially, the fat-tailed Syrian breed affords excellent mutton. The way of fattening sheep for a feast is curious. A child will sit with its arm round the animal’s neck and feed it with mulberry leaves from a bag, almost pushing them down its throat. The name given to the fatted sheep is Kharûf.

Scarcely less important to the villagers than the flocks are the camels, which supply the place of carts and waggons. These animals give but little trouble, as they pick up any thorny shrub for food. In spring they are clipped, and covered with tar and oil, as a protection against insects. Their black appearance, after the tarring, is ludicrous, and their odour is then even more offensive than usual.

Such, slightly sketched, are the occupations and daily pursuits of the Fellahîn. It is almost unnecessary to point out how every act of their lives, not less than every word of their mouths, contains some echo of the old Bible times. Their peculiar habits are handed down from so remote a period that they themselves--being accustomed, with the ordinary conservatism of Orientals, to tread, without a thought of change, in their fathers’ steps, have forgotten the origin of many of their customs. They can only say: “It is from ancient times;” “It always was done so;” “Our fathers did thus.” And as in their worship so in everything else, they repeat mechanically the actions of their predecessors.

Their ordinary expressions are so like those used in the Bible, that one seems to step back out of the present century to the days of Abraham, when living in the more remote villages, far away from hotels and dragomans. “As the Lord liveth” is still a common oath, and the villagers address the stranger as “my father,” or “my brother,” and salute him with the words, “Peace be unto thee.”

It is easy to look alone on either the dark or the bright side of the peasant character; the lights and shades are strongly marked, and a partial experience would probably lead to a one-sided estimate, according to the temperament of the observer; but the truth seems to be, that a people with naturally fine qualities have been degraded, and entirely ruined, by an unjust and incapable government.

The whole of Southern Syria is under the Wâly of Damascus, and Palestine is under the Mutaserifs of Acre and Jerusalem, who are appointed by that Wâly. These provinces are again subdivided, and Kaimakâms or lieutenant-governors, are placed in such towns as Jaffa, Ramleh, Jenin, etc. The change of the Wâly generally results in the entire change of all these various authorities, and the Wâly used to be replaced perhaps once in six months, perhaps oftener. Thus even if a capable and just man were appointed, he had no time to carry out any plans he might form, and his successor probably reversed everything that he had done. The stipends paid were also so inadequate, that it was impossible for any of the governors, or sub-governors, to live on them alone. The consequence almost invariably was that the governor “eat,” as the peasantry call it; sometimes he eat little, sometimes much; but there is only one man--Midhat Pacha--against whom one never heard this accusation made. The rulers had no interest in the prosperity of the country, or in improving the condition of those they ruled; their only idea was to enrich themselves, and to lay up for that rainy day which must come when the Wâly was changed, unless they could induce his successor to keep them in their posts.

Not the least corrupt of these dignitaries was the Kâdy, but with this difference--the Pacha or Kaimakâm affected no special piety or principle, regarding the state of affairs with jovial cynicism; but the Kâdy was a religious character, a judge whose statute book was the Koran, who had been a Sokhtah (or, as we say, Softa), an “inquirer,” taught in the school of the ’Ulema at Constantinople. He wore a white turban, and said his prayers regularly; he had paid a high price for his appointment, and expected some return for his capital. Thus the land was cursed not only with tyrannous governors, but with corrupt and unjust judges.

The system of government is simple. The only duties are to collect the taxes, and to put down riots, which constantly occur. The crown-lands are farmed to the highest bidder, who, I believe, occasionally under-farms the taxes. Soldiers are sent to collect the money, and the crop is assessed before reaping. This is one of the most crying evils in the land. In order to save the overripe grain, the peasant is often obliged to give away half of it, as a bribe to those whose duty it is to assess the tax, and who deliberately delay so doing until the last moment.

The Miri tax has been definitely fixed, without regard to the difference of the harvests in good and bad years; this again is a crying evil, and leads to the ruin of many a village. At Kurâwa, in 1873, the people told me, with tears in their eyes, that the olive crop had been so poor that the value was not as much as the amount of the tax about to be collected.

The taxes are also very unevenly assessed. In one case 4000 acres paid £140; in another, 6000 acres paid £65; in a third, 3000 acres paid £320.

The taxes are brought into the towns by the Bashi-Bazouks; sometimes the Kaimakâm will himself make a tour to collect them, and he, with all his followers, is received as an honoured guest, and fed and housed at the village expense. The soldiers also live at free quarters, and exact money under a variety of pretexts from the luckless villagers, who have no man to speak for them.

There is a third evil, almost as fatal to the prosperity of the land--the conscription, which often carries off the flower of the bread-winning population. The number taken from a village varies, and as a punishment, the whole adult male population is sometimes marched off in irons to the head-quarters. Few of the poor fellows, who are thus torn away from the weeping women, ever see again the dark olives and the shining dome of their own hamlet, or come back to plough their yellow fields, and tend the red oxen or the black goats in their far-off native land. Hurried away to Europe, or to Armenia, they lead a miserable life, receiving but little pay, and bullied by ignorant officers. There is no sadder sight than that of the recruits leaving a village in Palestine.

In spite of the appointment of Midhat Pacha as Wâly in 1879, the abuses of local government were little affected, and the designs of this honest and patriotic statesman were thwarted by the venality and obstinacy of his subordinates.

Under such a government it can scarcely be a matter of surprise that the Fellahîn should be lazy, thriftless, and sullen. They have no inducement to industry, and, indeed, as one of the better class said to me, “What is the use of my trying to get money, when the soldiers and the Kaimakâm would eat it all.” There is only one way of becoming rich in this unhappy land, namely, by extortion. If in the time of Christ the country suffered as much as it does now, from unjust judges and tyrannical rulers, what wonder that to be rich was thought synonymous with being wicked, or that it should be Lazarus only who was considered fit for Abraham’s bosom?

The improvidence of the Fellahîn is very great, and is due principally to a feeling of uncertainty as to their immediate future. Living is cheap enough, and I have heard of a family of five who spent only twenty-five pounds in a year. But the peasantry are eaten up by usury; their very clothes are bought with money borrowed at forty or fifty per cent; and a company which would lend money at twenty per cent would be a boon to the villagers, if it could induce the government to assist it in collecting the interest.

The self-government of the peasants is a reproof to their foreign rulers. Naturally a docile people, they obey their Sheikhs and elders implicitly, and have notions of equity, as well as of charity and mutual helpfulness among neighbours. Their moral code is theoretically strict, especially as regards the women. In the bottom of a valley west of Beit ’Atâb, is a curious cavern with a stalagmitic gallery round it, which is called Mughâret Umm et Tûeimîn--“cavern of the two side galleries.” At the end of it is a great well-shaft in the rock, some sixty feet deep. It is said that a woman pronounced guilty by the elders is brought to the cave and cast down this horrible well. A similar cave exists in the Anti-Libanus, and a similar use is there made of it. In spite of this, the stories told by lepers and others make it clear that the Fellahîn are as immoral as they well can be.

The above sketch is intended rather to draw attention to a people well worthy of study than to form an exhaustive account of their manners and customs. In language, in dress, in religion, and in customs, they represent in the nineteenth century a living picture of that peasantry amongst whom Christ went about doing good; and, indeed, the resemblance is equally striking when they are compared with the earlier inhabitants of the land, from the days of Samuel downwards; and the parallel is so remarkable that it seems justifiable to dub the Fellahîn by the simple title of “modern Canaanites.”