March 8 , 1858 .] 
DESERT EAST OF THE HAURAN. 
179 
curious theory they have with regard to China. I may first say that the 
general feature of their religion is that they believe in one God essentially. 
They believe the Deity to be incarnate ; they believe he has been incarnate 
several times. They believe that the first and noblest creature of the Deity is 
a principle they call Universal Intelligence, which has likewise been incarnate ; 
but they never talk of this subject. They believe in the transmigration of 
souls. They believe that a good Druse will have a reward hereafter, and that 
the soul of a bad Druse will go into the body of a camel or a dog. But, 
with regard to rewards, they believe they will go into China. They believe 
that China is peopled with Druses. Whenever I met them they began to ask 
me about China very eagerly. I was afraid to inform them that we were at 
war with China, lest I might suffer from our fighting with the departed spirits 
of good Druses. They universally told me that they came originally from 
China, and they seemed to know that China is beyond India. Now the name 
of China is totally unknown to the Arabs of the desert, and the more peace- 
able inhabitants of Syria. It is only heard among the educated in great cities ; 
however, Druses not only know its name, but they have a confused notion of 
where it is situated. They believe they came from China, and that after 
death they shall assemble again there as in Paradise. With regard to the 
worship of the calf, I can say nothing, because they never worship nor pray in 
public like the Mahomedans, and they are especially careful not to talk about 
religion. But since you ask me about this, I may mention one point in which 
I take great interest. There is at present a large opening for missionary 
labour among the Druses. They are bound to us English by particular ties, 
and at the present moment a missionary or a teacher would be received by 
them with open arms ; he would not only not be molested, but would be 
treated with the greatest kindness, and schools might be organized which one 
day might be most valuable as a centre-point, in Hauran especially, for mis- 
sions to the Moslems and to the people round about. From certain kindnesses 
and protection they received from Mr. Wood, our late Consul at Damascus, 
they are deeply indebted to the English, and now is the time for commencing 
such a work. 
Dr. Ph. Barth, f.r.g.s. — With regard to the inscriptions, Mr. Graham has 
called our attention to a Phoenician monument which has lately been found, and 
he said he thought there was some similarity between the letters of the inscrip- 
tion found by him and the inscriptions on the stones in these remarkable 
cities. It is very strange that many of those letters are entirely identical with 
the letters still in use with the Berber tribes of North Africa. The Berber 
tribes have an alphabet, and many of their letters are identical with the 
Phoenician letters. I find among these letters of Mr. Graham many forms 
which are entirely similar with the forms of the Berber alphabet. It only 
remains a question whether these signs represent the same letters as in the 
alphabet still in use among the North African tribes ? With regard to the 
existence of Greek inscriptions, I would observe that their existence is alone 
not sufficient proof of their antiquity, because Greek inscriptions are found 
throughout the whole of Syria and Asia Minor. It is necessary to look at the 
shape of the letters to determine the antiquity of the inscriptions. Greek 
inscriptions were used down to the end of the fifth and sixth century. I do 
not know whether the inscriptions spoken of are of older date. Perhaps Mr. 
Graham will give us some information with regard to that point. 
Mr. Graham. — First, I must state that Dr. Barth misunderstood me in 
saying that I supposed the inscriptions to be similar to the Phoenician. I said 
Sir Henry Rawlinson thought so. I do not think they are Phoenician. In 
comparing them with Phoenician, I can only identify for certain one letter ; 
in both cases it is the round 0 — that is, supposing mine to be Semitic. But 
supposing it not to be Semitic, there is not then even that identity. The 
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