"My house, gentlemen, and all that it
contains, are at your service."

"Your favour is great, O Sheik!"

"The favour you have done me in visiting my
poor habitation is greater."

And so on, through a string of compliments,
not one of which was, according to Eastern good
breeding, more unnecessary than the prefixing of
"yours faithfully" to a signature would be in
England.

On the divan sat the chief, a fine-looking man
of about five-and-thirty, evidently suffering from
bad health, wrapped from head to foot in a sort
of long pelisse, or dressing-gown, lined with the
finest fur. By his side sat myself and my
companion, both long-bearded, travel-stained, wearing
long riding-boots and tweed shooting-
jackets, holding also wide-awake hats in hand.
Near the divan, but sitting on the floor, were
some five or six secretaries, each having before
him a number of those wonderfully-shaped
pieces of bad Italian writing-paper, upon which
all Arab documents seem bound to be written.
Next to them were two Maronite monks, in
their dark coarse frocks, who had come to see
the sheik on some business or other. On our
immediate left—close to the divan, but not on
it—were the three young relatives of the chief,
who had come out to meet and welcome us.
Further off was a prisoner, with his hands
confined by a log of wood, and guarded by four
armed men. This man was accused of murder
as well as robbery, and the sheik had been
judging his case when we arrived, but he was
not removed from the divan during the ceremony
of our reception, which he seemed to
enjoy as much as anybody present. Beyond the
accused stood cultivators, armed retainers, and
others, of whom those who could not gain
admittance were content to look in at the door.
The windows of the room were large, and
looked out on as beautiful a mixture of cultivated
and wild mountain scenery as the world
can produce, whilst in the court-yard below
armed horsemen were continually coming or
going between the house and various villages
with messages or letters. At the castle gate
four or five men were exercising some fine-
looking greyhounds of the Persian breed, and
close to them two lads were feeding the chief's
hawks and falcons with raw meat.

Although possessed of no education beyond
reading and writing his own language, Sheik
Syud Jumblat is a man of good sound common
sense, and possesses—with perfect truth, I
believe—a great admiration for the English
nation, and particularly for Mr. Wood, late
English consul at Damascus, and now consul-
general at Tunis. The sheik himself, as well
as his father, was for many years a prisoner in
Egypt, during the time that Syria was governed
by the viceroy of that country, and their
property was confiscated for a period of twenty
years, on account of some pretended disrespect
to the then Governor of Lebanon. The
restoration of the family from exile was brought
about by English influence, but they returned to
find their house in ruins, and their estate,
through long neglect, greatly depreciated in
value. The present owner has, within the last ten
years, done wonders towards restoring both his
house and lands to their old value, and already
ranks as by far the wealthiest man in the mountain.
The family of Jumblat is ranked as the
oldest of the Druse houses in Syria, and is said
to be of Kurdish origin.

Next morning we were up early, in order to
be present at a hawking party ordered in our
honour. The Sheik sent us word that, although
not well enough to join the hawking party, he
would, if we had no objection, come down and
take coffee with us before we started; and he
soon made his appearance, clad in the same fur-
lined gown that he wore the previous day. The
conversation turned upon health, when finding
that, although no doctor, I knew something of
physic, our host asked me my opinion regarding
his own case. I soon discovered that the poor
man was suffering from a very greatly disordered
stomach, with slight jaundice, to cure which his
Arab doctor (who resided in the house as part
of his establishment) had bled him about twice a
week for the last three months, until the patient
had become so weak, and had such a disgust for
food, that he could hardly sit up for a couple of
hours together. The remedy in Syria for every
known complaint is bleeding, and confining the
sick to a room from which fresh air is carefully
shut out for days together. I asked the chief's
doctor where he had studied medicine? He
replied that his father had studied the science for
one year at Cairo, but that, dying suddenly, he
had left no one to take his place in the district.
Upon which, he (the son), having found several
medical works among his father's property, had
set up for himself in the same business. I found
out afterwards that his whole medical library
consisted of four volumes, Arabic translations of
Italian medical works printed at Venice during
the latter part of the last century. On questioning
him as to his success in the art, his reply
was that God was great, and that we were all in
the hands of Providence.

OCCASIONAL REGISTER.
WANTED

A FEW MORE DISSOLUTIONS.—We
have all been informed, on the highest
Authority in this country, that the late Parliament
has been dissolved, with the view of obtaining
an expression of public opinion on the important
question of Electoral Reform. Without stopping
to ask too curiously whether the present system
on which the franchise is exercised in England
is likely to lead in a satisfactory manner to the
anticipated result, let us accept the announcement
in the Queen's speech as asserting a
constitutional theory which we are loyally bound to
believe will succeed in practice; and let us
inquire whether there are not a few other
Institutions in this world, besides the Parliamentary
Institution, which might follow the
Parliamentary example, and be usefully enlightened