He said, "My father, is it right to curse ?" "Oh," said he, "it was only from my lips." "But does not the psalmist say, Keep the door of my lips ?" "That," replied the priest, "is only in the English Bible." Walpole says of the Nusairiyeh women, "when young, they are handsome, often fair, with light hair and jet-black eyes; or the rarer beauty of fair eyes and coal-black hair or eyebrows." When a fight takes place between the tribes, the women, like the women of the Druzes, enter into the spirit of it with demoniacal fury.

During the battle they bring jars of water, shout, sing, and encourage the men, and at the close carry off the booty, such as pots, pans, chickens, quilts, wooden doors, trays, etc.

In the Druze war of 1860, I saw the Druze women running with the men through Aitath, on their way to the scene of hostilities in the Metn.

The Bedawin women likewise aid their husbands in the commissariat of their nomad warfare.
The Rev.Mr.Lyde was the first to undertake direct missionary labors among the Nusairiyeh, and his work has been carried on by the Reformed Presbyterian Mission in Latakiah.

The Rev.J.Beattie sends me the following facts with regard to the work now going on among the women and girls.
The first convert under the labors of Mr.Lyde was Hammud, of the village of Merj, a young man of fine mind and most lovely character, who gave promise of great usefulness.