 In 1875 Victor Guérin found the village, which he called "el-Mehar", to be a large one with 1200 inhabitants.It was divided into three quarters, with Muslim, Christian and Druse inhabitants.In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine" described El Mughar as a "large stone-built village, containing about 1,100 Moslems, Druses, and Christians, situated on the slope of the hill, with extensive olive-groves to the south and west; a large spring and birkeh
gives a good supply of water."