I had intended to sleep at Om Ezzeitoun, but I found the Druses
very ill-disposed towards me. It was generally reported that I had
discovered a treasure in 1810 at Shohba, near this place, and it
was supposed that I had now returned to carry off what I had then
left behind. I had to combat against this story at almost every
place, but I was nowhere so rudely received as at this village,
where I escaped ill treatment only by assuming a very imposing air,
and threatening with many oaths, that if I lost a single hair of my
beard, the Pasha would levy an avania of many purses on the
village. I had with me an old passport from Soleiman Pasha, who,
though no longer governor of Damascus, had been charged pro tempore
with the government till the arrival of the new Pasha, who was
expected from Constantinople.
