Fri. 17. [17 February 1905] Nasib came to see me in the morning.
Then I visited the Kaimakam who is a charming person from Tiflis
[Tbilisi], Yusef Effendi by name. We talk French together. They have
a Tabun[?] of soldiers here, but as I make out mostly Druzes. There
is also a telegraph line to Sweida [As Suwayda']. Then I
photographed Nasib and his brother and some others and lunched
with Jad'alla. After which I rode with Nasib and some 10 Druze
horsemen, all armed to the teeth. They were going to a village to the
S to settle a dispute that had arisen with the people of Salkhad. I went
as far as the Wely of El Khudr and then left them and climbed up it with
Mikha'il. There was an old shrine of the usual sort, stone doors.
Inside a tomb like arrangement of stones all covered with coloured
cloths and a stone basin with water. So home and had a talk with the
Kaimakam about a proposed expedition to the Kala'at al Azrak [Qasr
el Azraq]. He tells me that the Druzes are tremendously interested in
the Far E. war because they think the Japanese are Druzes.