4J HORMUZl) EASSAM, ESQ., ON EI13LICAL LAND^^, TIIElIt 



are of the same nationality as the Droozes. Their num- 

 bers are reckoned to be about 200,000 souls. They are to 

 be found mostly on the range of mountains called Libanus. 

 They are most fanatical, and have more monastic institu- 

 tions, in comparison to their numbers, than any Roman 

 Catholic country in the world. Formerly in the district of 

 Kusrewan, where they predominate, a Protestant was not 

 allowed to settle, and very seldom escaped injmy or insult 

 when even merely passing through the country as a traveller. 

 It is now of course quite the opposite, because the general 

 friendly intercourse between different nationalities in the 

 east and west has almost nullified the open fanaticism, 

 though doctrinal and sect hatred still exist in the heart of 

 the ignorant classes of the Maronites against those who are 

 opposed to them in matters of faith. The Maronite church 

 is really not unlike that of the so-called Syrian Catholics, 

 who are to be found in Mossul, Baghdad, and Syria. They 

 both retain their liturgy in Syriac, and have the same ancient 

 rites and ceremonies. 



The native Christians of Egypt are called, as it is supposed, 

 Copts from the Greek word Argobtos, used in the Septuagint 

 for Egyptian. They are no doubt descended from the 

 ancient Hamites. Through their intermingling with other 

 nationalities like the Greeks, S}Tians, and Arabs, their blood 

 is more or less impregnated with Semitic as well as Grecian 

 connexion. Formerly their language was akin to the old 

 Egyptian, as the Hebrew to the Chaldee or Aramaic. It 

 continued till the tenth century, when it was to a large 

 extent absorbed by Arabic ; and by the seventeenth it had 

 ceased to be spoken, and existed only in their rituals as it is 

 at present. They belong to that branch of the Christian 

 Church commonly called " Monophosite," which means 

 that they believe in one nature in Christ, which is the 

 essential doctrine held by the Abyssinians, Armenians, and 

 the Syrian Jacobites ;* but as I intend to touch upon the 

 so-called heresies of the fifth century before I conclude, I must 

 go on to give a short account of this interesting community. 



At the time when the Eutychian or Monophysite heresy 

 was condemned by the general council of Chalcedon, 

 in A,D. 403, the Coptic nation with the Abyssinians and 

 Nubians adhered to the error, and so keen was the con- 

 tention between them and the Greek church that thev 



Followers of Jacob Barradeus. — Ed. 



