CHAPTER VIII
THE LEBANON
During the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection tour to
investigate the ravages of the insect in Syria. With an official
_boyouroulton_ (passport) in my pocket, I was able to travel all over
the country without being interfered with by the military authorities. I
had an excellent opportunity to see what was going on everywhere. The
locusts had destroyed everything from as far south as the Egyptian
desert to the Lebanon Mountains on the north; but the locust was not the
only, nor the worst, plague that the people had to complain of. The
plundering under the name of "military requisitions," the despotic rule
of the army officers, and the general insecurity were even more
desolating.
As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to find consolation and
brighter prospects in the independent province of the Lebanon. Few
Americans know just what the Lebanon is. From the repeated allusions in
the Bible most people imagine it to be nothing but a mountain. The truth
is that a beautiful province of about four thousand square miles bears
that name. The population of the Lebanon consists of a Christian sect
called Maronites and the Druses, the latter a people with a secret
religion the esoteric teachings of which are known only to the
initiated, and never divulged to outsiders.
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