mit themselves to ascetic discipline. While the Akils
mingle frankly with the common people, and are remarkably free from
clerical pretension, they are none the less careful to maintain their
privileges. They are distinguished by the wearing of a white turban,
emblematic of the purity of their life. Their food must be purchased
with money lawfully acquired; and lest they should unwittingly partake
of any that is ceremonially unclean, they require those Jahels, whose
hospitality they share, to supply their wants from a store set apart for
their exclusive use. The ideal Akil is grave, calm and dignified, with
an infinite capacity of keeping a secret, and a devotion that knows no
limits to the interests of his creed. On Thursday evening, the
commencement of the weekly day of rest, the members of the order meet
together in the various districts, probably for the reading of their
sacred books and consultation on matters of ecclesiastical or political
importance. Their meeting-houses, _khalwas_, are plain, unornamented
edifices. These have property attached to them, the revenues of which
are consecrated to the relief of the poor and the demands of
hospitality. In the eastern Hauran, there are hill-top shrines
containing each a black stone, on which rugs, &c., are hung, and these
seem to perpetuate features of pre-Islamic Arabian cult, including the
sacrifice of animals, e.g. goats. They are held in reverence by the
Bedouins. The women assemble in the _khalwas_ at the same time as the
men, a part of the space being fenced off for them by a semi-transparent
black veil. Even while the Akils are assembled, strangers are readily
enough admitted to the _khalwas_; but as long as these are present the
ordinary ceremonies are neglected, and the Koran takes the place of the
Druse Scriptures. It has been frequently asserted that the image of a
calf is kept in a niche, and traces of phallic and gynaecocratic worship
have been vaguely suspected; but there is no authentic information in
support of either statement. The calf, if calf there be, is probably a
symbol of the execrable heresy of Darazi, who is frequently styled the
calf by his Orthodox opponents. Ignorance is the mother of suspicion as
well as of superstition; and accordingly the Christian inhabitants of
the Lebanon have long been persuaded that the Druses in their secret
assemblies are guilty of the most nefarious practices. For this
allegation, so frequently repeated by European