Travels in Arabia Deserta: Volume 2

TRAVELS

IN

ARABIA DESERTA

VOLUME TWO

TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA BY CHARLES M. DOUGHTY, WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR, AND ALL ORIGINAL MAPS, PLANS AND CUTS

VOLUME TWO

PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LTD., AND JONATHAN CAPE, LONDON AND AT BOSTON, U.S.A., 1921 :

First published by The Cambridge University Press 1888

new

edition, type reset,

January

:

1921

Reprinted September 1921

DS 20*1

1031997

I/.

2,

PRINTED IN GRBAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. I, AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

t.

CONTENTS TO VOL.

CHAPTEK IBN RASHID

Exorcists.

A

desert.

Advantage

of

sick infant son to the

Diseases at Hayil.

Wards

counterfeit

I.

TOWN.

S

A

Curious questioning of the townspeople. He cast out demons. Tke jins. Hayil. Arabs.

II.

PAGE

Moor hakim had

visited

the

Superstitious fears of Christian vaccinator cut off in

the

the profession of medicine. Hamud sends his Nasrany hakim, who cures also Hamud's wife.

The great Kasr.

The guest-chambers.

Hayil house-

The building. S'weyfly. makbara has swallowed up the inhabitants. Deaf and dumb man-atarms of the Emir. Majid shooting with ball. English gunpowder. Gulf words heard at Hayil. Palms and a gum-mastic tree in Ajja. The coming of Mohammed foretold in the Enjil.' Hamud's tolerant urbanity. Another audience. The princely family of Ibn Rashid. Telal a slayer of himself. Metaab succeeded him. His nephews, Telal's sons, conspire to kill him. Metaab dies by their shot. Bunder prince. Mohammed of

the

town.

Artificers.

to

Visit

'

who

He is again upon assurance of peace. and returns to Hayil with the Bunder rides forth with yearly convoy of temn for the public kitchen. his brother Bedr and Hamud to meet him. Mohammed slays (his Bunder. Hamud's the to nephew) speech people. Tragedies in the fled

to er-Riath returns

conductor of the Bagdad pilgrims

Mohammed's speech

:

He

down as Muhafuth. Hamud's nature. Mohammed the Emir is childless. His moderation and severity. The The Shammar state. The princely bounty. Villages and hamlets. dues and taxes and of The horses Prince's public expense government. Castle.

Bedr taken and

sold in India.

Aarab.

slain.

His forces.

The Shammar

in the

Mohammed

Meshab.

Ibn Rashid's

principality

sits

slays the slayer.

forays.

He

"

weakens " the

1

23

CONTENTS.

vi

CHAPTEE

II.

LIFE IN HAYIL. PAGE

The great tribes beyond Ibn Rashid. Akhu Noora. The princely The Prince Mohammed childless. His " Christian wife." Abd families. el-Aziz the orphan child of Telal, and his half-brother Bunder's orphan. The family of Abeyd. A song of Abeyd. Secret miseries of Princes. be Fahd. The poor distracted soul sells his could generous. Abeyd to his father Wealth of Abeyd. Feyd. Sleyman. Abdullah. daughter Hamud's The of Ibn Rashid. daughter. Abeyd's family. government Beginning of the Shammar state. By some the Emir is named Zdlim, a A Christian Damascene tradestyrant. A tale of Metaab's government. of man visits Hayil. Discord among tribes the Emir's domination. The The Moors' garrison in the tower Marid Rajajil es-Sheukh. Imbarak. at Jauf. Their defection and the recovery of Jauf. Tale of the Ottoman expedition against Jauf. Words of Sherarat tribesmen, to the sheykhs in Jauf. Ibn Rashid rides to save Jauf. Ibn Rashid and the Ottoman pasha. Beduins among the rajajil. Men of East Nejd and of er-Riath come to serve the Western Emir. Ibn Saud is " ruined." A messenger from er-Riath. Kahtan tribesmen at Hayil. Their speech. The Wady Dauasir country. Hayzan their sheykh. He threatens to stab the Their graves are crows' and Nasrany. People's tales of the Kahtan. Ibn Rashid's lineage. Kindreds of Shammar. Rashid, eagles' maws.' a lettered Beduwy. A fanatic kady. Dispute with the pedant kady. '

"The Muscovs Gubba.

Study

of

old

possessed the land of Nejd." Inscriptions at Their nomad-like ignorance of the civil

of letters in Nejd.

world.

A

among

the Arabs.

village

Travelled

outrage in the coffee-hall. [Note

:

itinerary

A

prophecy of Ezekiel. Plain words in Hayil. An Winter weather. The coffee-server called before the Emir.

schoolmaster.

men

from Hayil to Kuweyt.]

.....

CHAPTEK DEPART FROM HAYIL The

'

JOURNEY TO KHEYBAR.

Imbarak's words. Town thieves. Jauf Beduins on pilgrimage. The Caravan to Mecca

Persian pilgrimage.' in

Hayil. pilgrims arrives from the North.

formerly by el-Kasim. Hayil.

;

III.

An

Italian hajjy in Hayil.

Murderous dangers

The Kheybar journey. Violent dealing

The Persians passed

Mecca.

Concourse at Imbarak. Ibn Rashid's Seyadin, Beduin pedlars.

in

of

Gofar. Departure from Hayil. Biddia hamlet. Adventure in the desert. village. Eyada ibn " Kasim ibn Barak. Salih the rafik. It is the The Ajjueyn. angels." Wady er-Rummah. Kasim's sister. Set forward again with Salih. The passport.

El-Kasr

Nasrany abandoned at strange tents. The hospitable goodness of those nomads. Thaifullah. Set forth with Ghroceyb from the menzil of Eyada. The Harra in sight. Heteym menzil in the Harra. Lineage

24

46

CONTENTS.

vii PAGE

the Heteym. The lava-field. The division of waters of Northern Arabia. The dangerous passage. The great Harrat (Kheybar). Elof

Hayat,

Cattle paths in the Harra. An alarm near Kheybar. in trouble of mind. Wady Jellas. Kheybar village.

village.

Locusts.

Ghroceyb

The Husn.

An

CHAPTEE KHEYBAR.

76

47

antique Mesjid

"

IV.

THE APOSTLE'S COUNTRY."

The night at Kheybar. Abd el-Hady. Ahmed. Kheybar by daylight. Medina soldiery. Muharram. brought before the village governor.

The

Gallas.

in

Evening

the

Abdullah's tale of the Engleys.

Amm

Amm

soldiers'

The gunner's belt. Sirur. The Nasrany Mohammed en-Nejumy. Aman. kahwa.

Ibrahim

the

kady.

Hejaz Arabic. A worthy negro woman. Brackish soil. Wadies of Kida.

Mohammed's house. Umm The Albanians. Kheybar

genealogy. The Nasrany accused. The villagers in fear of his enchantments. Friendship with Amm Mohammed. Our well labour. His hunting. Kasr en-Neby. El-Asmieh.

Kheybar.

Blood-sprinkling.

Hospitality of the sheykh of the hamlet.

Barrows upon the Harra.

The Husn

Gatunies.

Magicians come to Kheybar to raise treasures.

77105

rock.

CHAPTEE

V.

THE KHEYABARA. witches. Dakhilullah, the Menhel. Ibrahim. Our garden Their custom to labour for each other without wages. House-

Kheybar labour.

The negro villagers are churlish and improvident. Famine in " Kheybar THE LAND'S WEALTH." Antique Kheybar conquered by the Annezy. The ancient partnership of Beduins and villagers. Sirur. The villagers' rights in the soil. Their husbandry is light. Afternoons and evenings at Kheybar. The Asiatic priests' mystery of stabbing and cutting themselves. Villagers going out for wood are surprised by a The work of the Dowla is mere rapine.' Kheybar occupied ghrazzu. The Beduins taxed. A day of battle with the Aarab. Dowla. by the colonel. of a Turkish Perfidy of the Fukara. The Kheyabara sup Vility of their hostile (nomad) partners' camels. The ears of the slain are cut off. The Medina soldiery at Kheybar. The cholera. Wandering hills. building. the land.

'

Fabulous 'opinion, in the East, of Kheybar. Abdullah's letter to the Abdullah's tales. His tyranny at Kheybar. Governor of Medina.

The village kindreds. Abdullah's stewardship. Sedition in the village. Dakhil the post. Aly, the religious sheykh, an enemy to death. The Nejumy's warning to Abdullah, spoken in generous defence of the

.........

Nasrany. The ostrich both bird and camel. saved other strangers.

Amm Mohammed

had 106

1

37

CONTENTS.

viii

CHAPTER

VI.

THE MEDINA LIFE AT KHEYBAR.

Amm

Mohammed's Kurdish

son Haseyn. black fox.

His easy true

A

The kinds

from his youth. His He is a chider at home. Ahmed. The Nejumy a perfect marksman.

family.

religion.

of gazelles.

His

life

of his youth. A transmuter A His burning heart to avenge him. Beduin marksman slain, by his shot, in an expedition. A running battle. He is wounded. Fiend-like men of the Bashy Bazuk. The Muatterin at

His marvellous eye-sight. of

metals.

Damascus.

A

The ignorances

brother slain.

Religious hospitality of the Arabs. Syrian tale of a bear. Christian cities. Mohammed (in his youth) went in a from Medina, to rob a caravan of pilgrims. He saves a

Mohammedan and company,

The Lahabba of Harb, a kindred of robbers. Tales of the life. Lahabba. Imperfect Moslems in the Haj. A Christian found at Medina. A friar in Medina. Another Christian seen by His martyr's death. Mohammed in Medina. Yahud and Nasara. Whose Son is Jesus ? Mohammed answers the salutation of just men, from his tomb. The martyrs' cave at Bedr Honeyn. Dakhil returns not at his time. The pilgrim's

'

'

Amm

Mohammed's good and Abdullah's black Nasrany's life in doubt. " The Dakhil arrives in the night. Atrocious words of Abdullah. heart. of Andalusia the friends and rebels to the Sooltan." not Engleys are An Pasha of Medina. Abdullah's letter. Arabs. English letter to the Spitting of

some account

in their medicine.

CHAPTEE GALLA-LAND.

.....

138-164

VII.

MEDINA LORE.

The Abyssinian Empire. Galla-land. Perpetual warfare of (heathen) and (Christian) Abyssinians. A renegade Frank or Traveller at Mecca and Medina. Subia drink. A hospitable widow (at Tayif ). " The Nasara are the Sea's offspring." Wady Bishy. Muharram's death. Sale of Muharram's goods. The Nasrany accused. Aly, the (deadly) Ferra. of the The El-Auazim. Nasrany. Thegif. The Nejumy enemy Gallas

in Hayil.

A Roman

invasion of ancient Arabia.

Aelius Gallus sent by

Augustus, with an army, to occupy the riches of A. Felix. Season of the Haj. Alarms. Tidings from the War. Palm plait. Quern stones wrought by the Arabs. New Alarms. Antique building on the Harra.

Yanba. The Kheybar valleys. Harrats of Medina. The Halhal. The Hurda. Clay summer-houses of W. Aly Beduins. The Kheyabara abAnother Ageyly's death. His grave violated stain from certain meats. of Tales the Jan. A man wedded with a jin wife at the witches.' by '

Medina.

165-194

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

ix

VIII.

DELIVERANCE FROM KHEYBAR. PAGK

Amm

Mohammed's wild brother-in-law. The messenger Medina. The Nasrany procures that the water is increased

Ayn

er-Reyih.

Abu Middeyn, a

A

derwish traveller.

arrives

from

at Kheybar.

letter

from the

Might one forsake the name Mohammed would persuade the Nasrany of his religion, for a time ? All is shame in Islam.'' Abu Bakkar. to dwell with him at Kheybar. The Engleys in India, and at Aden. The Nasrany's Arabic books are

Pasha

of

Violence of Abdullah.

Medina.

Amm

'

stolen

Return of the by a Colonel at Medina. The villagers of el-Hayat. Wedduk.

cheeses.

to

be requited.

Mutinous

'

God

Heteym

Humanity

loves not

sends the cold to each one after

villagers beaten by Abdullah.

Hamed.

camel-thief.

Love and death.

Deyik

Amm

his

cloth.'

Departure from

es-stldr.

Mohammed's Habara fowl.

farewell. Kheybar. tents. over the Harra. Come to Journey Heteym Stormy The March wind. The Hejjur mountains. Eagles. Meet with Heteym. Nasara inhabit in a city closed with iron.' Solubbies from near Mecca. The rafiks seeking for water. Certain deep and steyned wells " were made " God give that by the Jan." Blustering weather. The Harra craters. '

young man (Ibn Rashid) long

life

"

195226

!

CHAPTEE

IX.

DESERT JOURNEY TO HAYIL. THE NASRANY THENCE.

IS

DRIVEN FROM

Eyada ibn Ajjueyn, seen again. Uncivil Heteym hosts. Ghroceyb. Nomad names of horses. Strife with the rafiks. A again. desolate night in the khala. Z6L Come to tents and good entertainment. A rautha in the desert. Hunters' roast. The Tih, or phantom Salih,

thelul in

the Sherarat country. Miithir, a poor Eyad, his person. An Heteymy's blasphemy. Braitshan, a Shammar sheykh. Poor Beduins' religious simplicity. A Beduin boy seeking a herdsman's Bishry.

The first hamlet in J. Shammar. Another grange in the desert. Between the dog and the wolf.' The village el-Kasr. Tidings that the Emir is absent from Hayil. Beny Temin. Hayil in sight. Gofar. place. *

Come

to Hayil, the second time. Aneybar left deputy for Ibn Rashid in the town. The Nasrany is received with ill-will and fanaticism. Aneybar

now an adversary. A Medina Sherif who had seen the Nasrany in Egypt.

is

A Yemeny stranger Tidings of the war, which is

in Hayil.

The great sheykh of el-Ajman. The Sherif. The townspeople's fanaticism in the morning ; a heavy hour. Depart, the second time, with trouble from Hayil. Come again to Gofar. B. Temin and Shammar. 227 ended.

262

CONTENTS.

x

CHAPTEK

X.

THE SHAMMAR AND HAEB DESERTS IN NEJD. PAG

Herding supper of milk. A flight of cranes. An evil desert journey, and night, with treacherous rafiks. Aly of Gussa again. Braitshan's " booths again. Arabs love the smooth speaking." Another evil journey. A menzil of Heteym and parting from the treacherous rafiks. Nomad ;

A

beautiful Heteym woman. Solubba. Maatuk and " of Nasara Life these Noweyr. passengers. Heteym. Burial of the to the books. eastward. Gazelles. CamelHarb, Nasrany's Journey milk bitter of wormwood. menzils. to Harb Come Aarab. Heteym False rumour of a foray of the Wahaby. El-Auf. An Harb sheykh. An Harb bride. Khalaf ibn Nahal's great booth. Khalaf's words. Seleymy Mount again, and alight by night at tents. Motlog and Tollog. villagers. Come anew to Ibn Nahal's tent. Ibn Nahal, a merchant Beduin. His wealth. A rich man rides in a ghrazzu, to steal one camel and is slain. " to another menzil. Poor Aly." Wander Tollog's inhospitable ferij. thirst for tobacco.

"

;

An Ageyly

descried.

A new

face.

A

tent of poor acquaintance.

CHAPTEK

263

294

XI.

JOURNEY TO EL-KASIM Beduin

.

I

BOREYDA.

Set out with Hamed, a Shammary. False report Ibn S'aud and the Ateyba. The digging of water-pits in

carriers.

of the foray of

Ibn Rashid's forays. Solubba. Beny Aly. Semira, anciently Terky, a Medina Beduin. A rahla of Beny Salem. The Atafa. A tempest of rain. Triple rainbow. Lightning by night in the desert. Religious Beduw. A gentle host. A Harb menzil pitched ringwise. Sara mountain. The first village of el-Filrn, a kindred of Harb. el-Kasim. Ayun. Gassa. Watchtowers. Bare hospitality in el-Kasim. the khala.

Dirat Ruwalla.

The deep sand-land and its inhabitants. Aspect of Boreyda. The town. The Emir's hostel. The Nasrany is robbed in the court yard. Jeyber, the Emir's officer. The Kasr Hajellan. Abdullah, the Emir's brother. Boreyda

citizens

;

the best are camel masters in the

tragedies of the Emirs. the morrow for Aneyza.

The town.

Well sinking.

Appendix The Triple Rainbow.

A

to

caravans. Old troubled afternoon. Set out on

Ethel

trees.

.

.

.

295

330

Chap. XI.

Note by Prof. P. G.

Tait, Sec. R.S.E.

330

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

xi

XII.

ANEYZA. PAGE

Passage of the Wady er-Rummah. The (of el-Kasim). finds hospitality ; and enters Aneyza. the forsaken rafik, by Nasrany, The Emir Zdmil. His uncle Aly. The townspeople. of the town.

The Nefud

Aspect Abdullah el-Khenneyny. His house and studies. Breakfast with Zamil. The Nasrany is put out of his doctor's shop by the Emir Aly. A Zelot. Breakfast with el-Khenneyny. Eye diseases. Small-pox in the town.

Aneyza. The homely and religious life of these citizens. Abdullah el-Bessdm. A dinner in his house. The Bessam kindred. Nasir es-Smiry. The day in Aneyza. Jannah. elKhenneyny's plantation. Hdmed es-Sdfy, Abdullah Bessam, the younger, An old Ateyba sheykh Zelotism. The infirm and Sheykh Ibn Ayith.

The

streets of

Women

are unseen.

:

The Nasrany's The Khenneyny. Archeology. The good Bessam. Aneyza. and

destitute.

friends.

A

tale of

Omar, the

first Calif.

.......

The vagabond Medina

CHAPTER

Sherif arrives at

331

364

XIII.

LIFE IN ANEYZA.

A savage tiding from the North. The Meteyr capital 'Ateyba. A Kahtany arrested in the street. crime. Friday afternoon lecture. The Muttowwa. Bessam and Khen" The neyny discourse of the Western Nations. An Arabic gazette. touchstone of truth." The Shaztteh. An erudite Persian's opinion of Rumours The

of warfare.

A

Aarab.

three (Semitic) religions. European evangelists in Syria. An AraAn bian's opinions of Prankish manners (which he had seen in India). inoculator and leech at Aneyza. The Nasrany without shelter.

The

A

Mohammed. The Semitic faiths. Laudanum powder medicine. A message

learned personage.

hammed.

" MoSheykh from Boreyda.

"

Discourse of religion. A Jew's word. The small-pox. Yahya's household. Maladies. A short cure for distracted persons ; story of a Maronite convent in Lebanon. Stone-workers at Aneyza. An outlying homestead.

broker.

at usury. Oasis husbandry. An Aneyza horse Ants' nests sifted for bread. Arabian sale horses ; and the

Money borrowed

Northern or Gulf horses. El-'Eyarieh. The Wady er-Rummah northward. Khdlid bin Walid. Owshazieh. Deadly strife of well-diggers. Ancient man in Arabia. The Nasrany is an outlaw among them. Thoughts of riding to Siddus and er-Riath. The Arabic speech in elKasim. . 365

398

CONTENTS.

xii

CHAPTEE

XIV.

THE CHRISTIAN STEANGER DRIVEN FROM ANEYZA

;

AND

RECALLED. PAGE Rainless years and Handicrafts. Hurly-burly

Beduins from the North.

Yahya's homestead.

Picking and stealing in Aneyza. women and children against the Nasrany. Violence of the Emir Aly, who sends away the stranger by night. Night journey in Come the Nefud. The W. er-Rummah. Strife with the camel driver. murrain.

of fanatic

to

Khdbra

Armed

The

in the Nefud.

riders

of

emir's kahwa.

Medicine seekers.

Boreyda.

The cameleer returns from Zamil

The emir's blind The town. An

father.

'Aufy.

convey the stranger again to Helalieh oasis. El-Bukerieh. Ride to el-Helalieh. Night Aneyza in the Nefud. at an journey Alight outlying plantation of Aneyza (appointed for the residence of the Nasrany). Visit of Abdullah el;

to

!

A son of Salih. Joseph Khalidy. Khenneyny. Rasheyd's jeneyny. Ibrahim. The Suez had visited Rasheyd Europe Rasheyd's family. Ruin Canal. The field labourers. El-Weshm. A labouring lad's itales. of the Wahaby. Northern limits of Murra and other Southern Aarab. A foray of Ibn Rashid 399427 !

Appendix

to

Chap. XIV.

The 'Ateyba Aarab

427

CHAPTEE XV. KAHTAN EXPELLED FROM EL-KASIM.

WARS OF ANEYZA.

The Wahaby governor driven out by the patriot Yahya. Aneyza beleaguered by Ibn S'aud. The second war. A sortie. Aneyza women The words of Zamil. A strange reverse. Words of Yahya. in the field. A former usurping Emir was cut off by Zamil. Zamil's homely life. The Emir's dues. Well-waters of Aneyza. Well-driving and irrigation. Locusts. The Bosra Evenings in the orchard. The kinds of palms. Violence of Ibrahim. caravan arrives. Rasheyd The The hareem. small-pox. Bereaved households.

visits

his

jeneyny.

The

jehad. Aragather to Aneyza.

The Meteyr Aarab bian opinion of English alms-deeds. Warfare of the town, with the Meteyr, against the (intruded) Kahtan. Final overthrow and Morning onset of Meteyr. Zamil approaches.

Hayzan is slain. The Kahtan camp in the power Moghrebby enthralled among those Kahtan is set free. The Meteyr and the town return from the field. Beduin wives wailing flight of

the Kahatin.

A

of Meteyr.

'

for their dead.

Mohammed

'

?

Mecca caravan

When

the Messiah comes will he bid us believe

The great sheykh is

at hand.

.......

Hamed

the Khenneyny's palm-ground.

in

The departure of the The Nasrany removes to

of the Meteyr. el- Yahya.

428

454

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK

xiii

XVI.

SET OUT FROM EL-KASIM, WITH THE BUTTER CARAVAN FOR

MECCA. PAGE a last farewell. Sleyman, a merchant-carrier at 'Auhellan. The emir el-kdfily. The setting-

Abdullah el-Khenneyny in the kafily. The out. Noon halt.

camp

;

Afternoon march.

The Aban mountains.

Ibrahim,

A

The evening

the

Beduin

emir.

station.

Simum

wind.

Er-Russ.

The

last

Are not these deserts watered watering. An rains ? and Beduins. The landthe monsoon alarm. Caravaners by to the W. er-Rummah. and cameleers. Camels 'Aflf, a scape seyls of well-station. hunters. Caravan to Mecca. Signs paths Wady Jerrir. Mountain landmarks, Thiilm and Khdl. Water tasting of alum. The desert villages.

Harrat el-Kisshub.

rafiks.

Thirst in the caravan.

menzil.

Sleyman's opinion of Engpleasant watering-place. El-Moy : cries in the evening Er-RukTcdba. Beduins. Sh'aara watering. Harrat Ashiry.

Er-RVa.

Es-Seyl

lish shippers.

A

l

aspect of Arabia.

[KuRN EL-MENAZIL].

Head

The caravaners about

of the

to enter

W. el-Humth.

New

Mecca take the ihram.

The ashrdf descend from Mohammed. Arrive at the 'Ayn Mecca is a city of the Tehdma. The Nasrany leaves the (ez-Zeyma). at the before station Mecca and is assailed by a nomad caravan, Nejd The Hatheyl.

;

455488

sherif.

CHAPTEK TAYIF.

XVII.

THE SHERIF, EMIR OF MECCA.

Maabub and Salem.

The Nasrany captive. Troubled day at the 'Ayn. with Mecca caravaners. Return to es-Seyl. The Seyl station. Night journey The Nasrany assailed again. A Mecca personage. An unworthy Bessam. A former acquaintance. 'Okatz. The path beyond to et-Tayif. Night journey. blood of

guest of

Poor women of the Alight at a sherif 's cottage near Tayif. of The town. The Nasrany is Aspect et-Tayif. a Turkish officer. Evening audience of the Sherif. Sherif

Mohammed. Emir

of

Mecca.

The

brother Abdillah. Turkish a Zeyd, Bishy. Harb villages and " kindreds. Salem brings again their booty. A Turkish dinner. What meat is for the health." Three bethels. Mid-day shelter in an orchard.

Hasseyn,

officers' coffee-club.

A

Sherif's

bethel stone.

489517

CONTENTS.

XIV

CHAPTEE WADY

XVIII.

FATIMA. PAGE

His unequal battle with the Kahtan. A second audience The tribes of ashraf. The dominion of the Sherif. Gog of the Sherif. and Magog. The Rdb'a el-Khdly. Tayif is in fear of the Muscov. The " The English are from the Tayif Koreysh. Set out to ride to Jidda. A renowned effigy. The maiden's mountain. dira." A love-sick sherif.

Ghraneym.

New

The Wady Fatima. Tropical plants. The shovel- plough. dates. Another Harra. Bee-hive-like cottages. The Tehama heat. A rich man in both worlds. Mecca-country civil life and hospitality. A word of S'aud Ibn S'aud when he besieged Jidda. A thaif-Ullah. A poor negro's End of the Fatima valley. The Mecca highway to Jidda. hospitality. A wayside Witness-stones. Sacred doves. Apes of the Tehama. Kahwa. Jidda in sight Melons grown in the sand without watering. Eve's grave.' Enter Works and cisterns of Jidda water-merchants. 518 the town. A hospitable consulate. !

...... '

Appendix

to

539

Vol. II.

GEOLOGY OF THE PENINSULA OF THE ARABS. INDEX AND GLOSSARY OF ARABIC WORDS.

.

540542

543690

CHAPTER

I.

IBN RASHID'S TOWN.

He

Curious questioning of the townspeople. A Moor hakim had visited Hdyil. cast out demons. The jins. Superstitious fears of the Arabs. Exorcists. A

Christian vaccinator cut off in the desert. Advantage of the promedicine. Hamud sends his sick infant son to the Nasrdny hakim, fession of who cures also Hamud's wife. Diseases at Hdyil. The great Kasr. The guestchambers. Visit to Wards of the town. Hdyil house-building. Artificers. counterfeit

The mdkbara has swallowed up the inhabitants. Deaf and dumb man-at-arms of the Emir. Mdjid shooting with ball. English gunpowder. Gulf * words heard at Hdyil. Palms and a gum-mastic tree in Ajja. The coming of Mohammed foretold in the EnjiV Hamud' s tolerant urbanity. Another audience.

S'weyfly.

The princely family of Ibn Hashid. Teldl a slayer of himself. Metaab succeeded His nephews, TeldVs sons, conspire to kill him. Metaab dies by their shot. Bunder prince. Mohammed who fled to er-Ridth returns upon assurance of peace. him.

He

is

the

yearly convoy of

again conductor of the Bagdad pilgrims. He comes again to Hdyil with temmn for the public kitchen. Bunder rides forth with his brother Bedr and Hamud to meet him. Mohammed slays (his nephew) Bunder*

Hamud's speech

to

the people.

in the Meshab.

He

sits

Mohammed's speech Tragedies in the Castle. down as Muhafuth. Bedr taken and slain. Mohammed Hamud's nature. Mohammed the Emir is childless. His: slays the slayer. moderation and severity. The princely bounty. The Shammar state. Villages: and hamlets. The public dues and taxes and expense of government. ThePrince's horses sold in India. His forces. Ibn EasMd's forays. He " weakens '* the Aarab. The Shammar principality.

WHEN

I returned in the afternoon

from the ascent of the

Sumra I found it was already a matter of talk The first persons met with approached to ask me, you found there

in the town.

"

What have

anything ? tell us certainly you went to see something yonder, and else wherefore had the Nasrany climbed upon those high rocks, and paid pence for an ass ? " As I passed by the suk tradesmen beckoned to me from the shops, they too would speak with me of the adventure. My former friends durst no more be seen openly in the D. T. n.

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERT A.

2

it might be laid to their charge, that Nasrany's company they As I walked on the morrow in the also favoured the kafir. town, one of the young patricians of those daily about the Emir ;

the most of these complacent young to question me I as might perceive them, through their silken shining gallants, With petticoats, are some of the vilest spirits in Hayil.

came

:

shallow impatient gestures, and plucking my mantle, Khalil, said he, what dost thou here, so far from the suk ? Why wander round about ? what brings thee into this place ? what seekest, what seest thou ? Is Hayil a good town ? the air, is and when wilt thou depart ? As I came again a it well ? in the end who sat of the Meshab saluted me upper Beduwy of the he was Welad Aly sheykhs, and had seen the friendly, Nasrany at el-Hejr. We sat down together, and another came to me of those effeminate young silken Arabs, masking in the insolent confidence of the Emir. The cockerel disdainfully " I him off our cut with Pass on, young man, talk, breaking of The thy ignorance and malevolent speech." my ears ache " left us in man and as he was Khalil, anger, young gone, said the friendly Beduwy, I speak it of fellowship, deal not so believe me they will take up plainly with this townspeople he that now also sent away will not cease to hate thy words, you thee extremely and billah the young man is of their principal here is another houses, and one nigh to the Emir. Ay manner of life, than that to which thou hast been wont in the desert, and we are not here in the desert, neither be these the Beduw:" and himself, a messenger from the rebellious tribe, he seemed somewhat to be daunted in the tyrannical shadow of the place.

many "

'

;

;

!

Some

friendly persons coming to visit me, after I had flitted " old beyt to the next makhzan, said, Khalil is the " second hakim we have seen in this lodging." Who was the " " hakim in this chamber before me ? a doctor Moghreby, than indeed, [better Khalil,] there was none like him to write

from

my

A

and upon every one he received three reals why, Khalil, write you no hijabs ? Write, man, and the whole town will be at thy door, and every one with two dollars, or three, in his hand. Thou mightest be enriched soon, that now never canst thrive in this selling of medicines, the Arabs desire no mediBut the Moghreby, wellah, holding his hijabs a moment cines. in the smoke, delivered them to those who paid him reals, and the people found them very availing. If such were the Moghreby 's hijabs, is not Khalil a Nasrany, and therefore one who might write even better than he ? Ah how that man was hijabs,

:

!

A MOGHEEBY HAKIM.

3

He cast out the demons of powerful in his reading (spells) and bound the he jan, wellah, in yonder possessed "persons, " Ahl el-aard, What bound he in that corner?" corner."the inhabit under which demon-folk, earth,) they make (the men sick, and the possessed beat themselves, or they fall down, '

'

!

raging and foaming."

Aly el-Ayid, my neighbour in the next houses, who was beholden to me for some faithful (medical) service, brought me a lamp of tallow, saying, He would not have a friend sleep here in the darkness, the demons might affray me and, looking round, "This makhzan, he said, is full of jan (since the Moghreby's casting out so many), I myself durst not sleep But tell me, who has seen these jan, and what in this place."I have seen them, Khalil, some tall, Is their likeness ? and some be of little stature, their looks are very horrible certain of them have but one eye in the midst of their faces other jins' visages be drawn awry in fearful manner, or their face is short and round, and the lips of many jins hang down to their middles." Aly el-Ayid came early on the morrow to my beyt to know how I fared, and seeing not an hour of his tallow But burned, he called me foolhardy to sleep without light. pointing upward, he showed me a worse case, the great beam the load of the earthen heaped was half broken in the midst and ruin and therefore they threatened destruction, ceiling but even that abandoned had lodged none here of late makhzan Hamud had conceded to the Nasrany unwillingly. The wavering branches of a palm which grew in Hamud's orchardgrounds, sliding ghostly in the open casement by night, might, '

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I thought, be the jan of their unquiet consciences. little

Meshab were amiable company.

chirping sparrows of the

more than

other,

my

By day

guests,

and

found professors of exorcism (as before said) at Hayil two vile and counterfeit persons. One of them was a were they man growing into years I had seen him at Abeyd's kahwa, and by certain of his answers he surprised me, and by his knowthis person was a foreigner from East Nejd, ledge of letters but now he dwelt at Gofar. He seemed afraid in that presence to answer me perhaps he durst not speak frankly, or much above his breath. That other was a young man of Hayil, and he came secretly to my makhzan, to learn some mastery in the He asked me, what were my manner art, from the Nasrany. to lay strong constraint upon the demons, and the words of my I

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He had a book too written full of powerful spells, kerreya.' at home, and he sped very well by it, very strong readings for he could cast out the jins more than any person besides.' '

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

4

This was a smooth fellow, Nature had favoured him in a and for his sweet voice the shrew was sometimes called in (he boasted) to sing before the Ernir. That Moghreby, with his blind arts, lived at Hayil in the popular favour, and he had won much silver also to " the lone man they lent a pretty widow to wife, wherefore " should he live without housewifery ? Abdullah, a slave of the a the came to Emir, Nasra"ny upon day with a like proffer, and Galla maiden of his father's houseMajid showed me a pleasant The hold, saying, that did I consent, she should be mine. and and without was modest, gentle unwillingness ; poor girl but because I would not lead my life thus, they ascribed it to the integrity of the Christian faith, and had the more tolerance of me in the rest. Word that the Princes suffered at Hayil, and even favoured the Nasrany was spread by Beduins returning from the capital, into all the next parts of Arabia ; and afterward I came no whither in Nejd, until I arrived at the Kasim villages, where they had not heard of the wandering Nasrany, and by the signs they all knew me. They told me also of a Nasrany (some Syrian by likelihood or Mesopotamian), who years before, coming to Hayil, had taken the people's But Ullah, they said, cut money for pretended vaccination. him off, for he was met with and slain in the desert by the ;

'

'

;

'

Aarab."

my practice of medicine, yet this name proentrance amongst them, and the surest friends. A man of medicine is not found in Nejd ; but commonly they see some Ajamy hakim, once a year, at Hayil amongst the Persian pilgrims. I was called to visit suffering persons ; yet because they would not leave with me the smallest pledge of their good faith, I remained with hardly any daily patients. Hamud now sent to me an infant son, Feysal, that seemed to be of a very good disposition, and was sick of fever and dysLittle

cured

was

me

entery. The child whom they brought to me, languishing and likely to die, I left, when I departed from H&yil, nearly restored I was called also to Hamud's wife in his family to health. I found her clad as other Arabian women in a house. simple calico smock dyed in indigo, her face was blotted out with the heathenish veil-clout ; I gave her a medicine and she in a few days recovered. Of all their ailings most common (we have seen already) are eye-diseases, it is the poorer, that is the misdieted people, who are the sooner affectedand then diseases of the intestines, agues, old rheumatism of the the comtoo often men, Meccawy's religion, ignominy The morbus gallicus is common at Hayil, plain of inability. ;

MALADIES.

5

in the neighbourhood ; I saw many hypochondriacs [they are a third of all the Arabians]. There were brought to me cases of a sudden kind of leprosy ; the skin was discoloured in whitish spots, rising in the space of two or three days in the breast and

and

Cancer was not uncommon, and partial paralysis with atrophy of the lower limbs.

neck.

I

enquired

when was the Kasr founded

?

which though

a certain noble aspect. The wall is near clay-built at the ground, and more than forty feet in thickness eight in height, and seems to be carried about a great space. Upon the public place, I measured this castle building, one hundred and ten paces, with two towers. The doorway of the Kasr, under the tower in the midst, is shut at evening by a rude door of heavy timber, in which is a little wicket, only to be entered stooping and that before dark, is put-to. The wall and foundation of the huge clay building is from old times and was laid by some of the former sheykhs (surely men of ambitious mind) at Hayil, before Abdullah. The Meshab in front is twenty-five paces over, and the makhzans built in face of the castle are nine in number, [v. the fig., Vol. I. p. 587.] To every makhzan is a door with a wooden lock opening into a little court, and beyond is the guest-chamber without door, square and dark, some fifteen feet by twelve feet. If any rubba would have fuel in the cold winter days, they must ask it of the Emir sitting in the public mejlis. Telal built the makhzans, and the great mesjid ; his father Abdullah had ended the The building of the Kasr, only one year before his decease. of the at is in thick clay house-building Hayil disposed layers, in which are bedded, as we saw at Mogug, flat brick-blocks, long dried in the sunny air, set leaning wise, and very heavy, of great strength and endurance. The copes of the housewalling at Hayil, and the sills of their casements, are often finished above with a singular stepped pinnacle (fig., Vol. I. p. 106), which resembles the strange sculptured cornice of the Petra and Hejr frontispices. Their streets I came in then from living long in the wilderness I thought well set out ; the rows are here of onestoried houses. There is no seeming of decay, but rather of is

of

their capital village is newness, and thriving and spending as her well seen, inhabitants, arrayed. Hayil is divided into eleven wards, a twelfth is S'weyfly. All the settlements in nomad Arabia, even the smallest hamlets, with the incorrupt desert about them, have a certain freshness and decent aspect above that which the traveller arriving from the West may :

TRAVELS IN AEABIA DESEETA.

6

Arabians come of the nomad blood are happy (where God's peace is not marred by striving factions) under the mild and just government of their homeand in their green palm islands, they have much born sheykhs

The

have seen in Syria.

village

;

of the free-born

Teyma, the

and

civil

stranger's eye

mind

of the desert.

may mark

At Hayil, and

certain little close frames

set high upon the front walling of many dars, and having the form of right-angled triangles ; he will see them to be timbered

These are shooting-down sconces (like the machicolations of our mediaeval fortresses), for defence of the door

above the doorways. of the household.

for the administration of the town, there are no dues at which is for maintenance of ways or public lighting,

As Hayil

unknown even

at

Damascus

nor so

yet the streets are clean, and draffe

is

much

as for watchmen : cast out into certain pits

and side places. Irrigation water drawn by camel labour from their deep wells, though not of the best, is at hand in sebils arid conduits ; to these common pools the town housewives resort to fill

their pans

and

are not seen

their girbies, and for the household washing. by day in any Nejd villages, but some lost

Dogs hounds which remain without the most oases, will prowl by their streets in the night-time. Of household animals, there the settlements small kine for their sweet milk light plough-beasts, asses for riding and carriage, cats to of vermin, besides poultry. them quit are in nearly

all

and as

The artificers in Hayil are few and of the smiths' caste, workers in metal and wood, in which there are some who turn small and brittle ethelware bowls. Their thelul saddle here is other than that of Teyma and westwards, in which the There is a petty industry among women pillars are set upright. of sewing and embroidering, with silk and metal thread, the mantles which are brought down (in the piece) from Jauf and I saw in the suk fine skeinBagdad, none are made here. silks, folded in printed papers, and such the shopkeepers ofttimes put in my hands to read for them but the language was English and when I found the title it was THE BOMBAY GAZETTE. Their hareem plait the common house-matting of the tender springing palm-leaf, as in all the oases. There are besides a few men of builders' and carpenters' craft, rude workers, nearly without tools, and pargeters in jiss or jips, a gypsum-stone which is brought from the mountain, and found clotted together, like mortar, in the desert sand. The jips, broken and ground to a flour-like powder, they mix with water, and spread it for the border and lining-walls of hearth-pits : ;

!

S'WEYFLY; A PLAGUE-STRICKEN VILLAGE. this dries quickly to a that will bear the fire.

hard white

7

crust, shining like marble,

The wood and hay gatherers who go far out into the wilderness, are Kusmdn, laborious foreigners from el-Kasim the nomad-spirited townspeople of Jebel Sham;

mar

are not good for such drudging labour.

went out of Hayil another day towards S'weyfly. Beyond Wasit I walked by fields where men were labouring, and one threw clods at the Nasrany, but the rest withheld him I went on between the two Samras, and beside the wide seyl bed, being there half a stone-cast over. The soil is now good loam, no more that sharp granite grit of Hayil the dates are good, they are the best of the country. The first houses I found to be but waste walls and roofless, and the plantations about them forsaken the languishing palm-stems showed but a dying crown of rusty leaves. I had not perceived a living person in these fields, that were once husbanded upon both sides of the large-bedded torrent. The pest, which destroyed the Jebel villages, came upon them after a year of dearth, when the date harvest had failed, and the price of corn (three sahs to the real) was risen more than twofold. Strange it seems to us, used to public remedies, that in none of the merchants, more than in cattle, nor in the Prince himself, was there any readiness of mind to bring in grain from a distance the Moslem ever makes and death in numbness some religion part of the human understanding. The waba being come upon them there died in two months in this small village two hundred persons. The few which remained at S'weyfly were feeble even now, and had lost their health, so that it was said of them They might hardly bear the weight of their mantles." The cruel disease seized upon men sooner than women and children. At length I came where a few persons were loitering abroad *' I saluted them in passing, and asked Who has here a coffee" and where are the inhabitants ? house, They saw he was a stranger who "enquired this of them and responded with a desolate irony, I went forward They lie in yonder makbara where I heard the shrilling of a suany. A woman (since the men were dead) was driving that camel-team at the well. It is all their wells are brackish, and eight fathoms here to water sweet water to drink must be fetched from Hayil for money.' Brackish water in a sweet soil is best for the palm irrigation but if the palms be rooted in any saltish or bitter earth, as at Kheybar, they have need of a fresh irrigation water and always for some little saltiness in the soil or water, palm-plants thrive the better. Such water to drink is very unwholesome in these I

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

8

climates, and was a cause they think of so many dying here in the pestilence. In old time, they say, when S'weyfly was ancient Hayil, the wells in this part were sweet, that is until the new planting above them had spent the vein of good water. One led the stranger in hospitable manner to the best house which remained, to drink coffee. We entered a poor clay room, long unswept, and in the sun a swarming place of flies ; this was their kahwa. The three or four ghastly looking and weakly speaking men who followed us in to drink were those that survived in the neighbourhood and it seemed as if the nightmare lay them. yet upon Kindly they received the guest, and a tray was presently set before me of their excellent dates. The ;

hospitable and gentle humour, the Beduw than Hayil townsit seemed to them that the stranger was the people. Enough would not cavil with a guest or question of his hakim, they

S'weyfly are said

villagers,

to

for

this

resemble rather

religion.

Whilst I sat with them ftt the coffee, there entered, with his sword, a deaf and dumb young man, I knew in one of the Prince's armed : and with vehement Hayil, rajajil

whom

and mauling cries he showed us he was come out from Hayil to seek me. The poor fellow had always a regard of me in the town, and would suffer none to trouble me. I have seen him threaten even Majid in my chamber with angry looks, and shake his stick at the princeling boy, who too much, he thought, molested me. He now made them signsdrawing the first finger across his throat that he feared for me so far abroad. All the way homeward the poor man blamed me, as if he would say " Why adventure so far alone, and thou art in danger to be waylaid ? " I made him signs went to visit sick people, that were in need of medicines. Lower where we passed he showed me smiling a few palm trees and a field which were his own. I heard he was a stranger (as are so many of the Emir's men) from el-Aruth. signs

At my first arriving was not of their

I

'

when they beckoned to him that he religion, quickly signified his friendly should pray as the rest.' The poor Speechless at Hayil,

counsel that I uttered his soul in a single syllable, Ppdhppah ; that is nearly the first voice in children and dumb creatures, beginning in M-, B-, W-, which is all one. This P is not found in all the large Arabic alphabet, but any foreign taken-up words having in them that initial letter they must pronounce with F- or else with B-. All his meaning was now well understood

by the people

movement

of Hayil

;

very they made him kindly answers with

of the lips, as in speaking,

and

of his wistful life-

SHOOTING AT A MAKK.

9

but if comparison, he could guess again their minds forth of and chatterany mocked, with great bursting Ppdhs ing, and furious eyes, and laying hand upon his sword, he threatened their lives, or suddenly he drew it forth rattling, to the half, in the scabbard. Of his long sufferance of the malice of the world might be this singular resolution in him, to safeguard another manner of deaf and dumb person. He rode in the band upon his thelul, and served very well, they said, in the Prince's ghrazzus. As I returned to town I met with Majid and his company carrying guns in the fields, his uncle Fahd was with them. Thus they went out daily, shooting with ball at a white paper set up in an orchard wall at a hundred and twenty paces. I sat down with Fahd to see the practice ; their shots from the long Arabic matchlocks struck at few fingers' distance all round the sheet, but rarely fell within it. The best was when he one was for Ghranim, amongst them, looking through spectacles, he would send his ball justly at the first shot into the midst of the white this firing with the match does not unsettle the aim. They shot with powder Engleysy,' of a tin flask, whereupon I read in a kind of stupor, HALL, DARTFORD There are many sea-borne wares of the Gulf-trade seen at Hayil, and the people take as little thought from whence they come to them, as our country people of China tea-chests ; long

:

;

*

!

European are many things of their most necessary use, as the husbandmen's spades and crowbars, pigs of lead with the their clothing is calico English stamp, iron and tinning metal ;

of Manchester

and Bombay.

All their dealings are in foreign

reals of Spain, Maria Theresa dollars, and Turkish crowns mejidy gold money is known more than seen among them. They call doubloon the piece of 5 Turkish pounds, English sovereigns ginniydt or bintu, and the 20 fr. piece lira fransdwy. For small silver in the Hayil suk they have Austrian

money

;

;

sixpences, and certain little gross Persian coins, struck awry, and that for the goodly simplicity of the workmanship resemble the stamps of the old Greek world. With the love of novelty which is natural even to Semitic souls, they are also importers with their foreign merchandise of some Gulf words, especially from the Persian, as they will say for a dromedary shittr, rather

than of their own wealth in the current Arabic,

(hajin,) thelul,

rikab, (haduj), mdtiyah, rohbl, hdshy, hurra. Majid invited me, if I stayed till winter, to take part in their hunting expeditions in Ajja. Then the young franklins

and men

of Hayil, and even the Princes, go out to the mountain to shoot at the bedun, driving asses with them to carry their

TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

10

out a week thus and trust to shooting the game for their supper. In many small wadies of Ajja are wild palms watered by springs, or growing with their roots in the seyl ground. The owners are Beduin families which come thither only in the time of the date gathering : the date is smaller than the fruit of trees which are husbanded. There grows a tree in Ajja, named el-arar, from which flows " a sort of gum-mastica, it resembles the tamarisk." Ajja isa of than the sister mountain and score miles greater, longer, Selma. Hamud I saw daily ; I went to dine with him again, and " as we sat in the evening, he said to me, Is there not somewritten the ? in of Mohammed thing Enjil, Nay, nothing,, and I know of it every word."But is there not mentioned that a prophet, by name Hamed, should come after and " " that is Mohammed ? I answered shortly again No, there is not." Hamud startled, he believed me, his humanity persuaded him that I could not intend any offence and that were without remission towards the religion. I said further r If such were found in the Enjil, I would be a Mosleman ; do you read this word in the koran Hamud did not an-

water

they commonly stay

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;assed es-Sh'aara, as if >e at Mecca by mid-day

we had :

stood still. The caravan would I must leave them now in an hour, and

Lothing was provided. We passed by a few Beduins who were moving upward

312

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

484

and hungry looking wretches their little the camels of this loaded was upon country. I poor with saw the desolate valley-sides hoary standing hay these mountains lie under the autumn (moonsoon) rains and among all white the steep rocks were mountain sheep of the nomads the than in Now kind other and of fleeces, great sheep Nejd.

light-bodied, black-skinned

:

stuff

;

wady we passed through

a grove of a treeof green puff-leaves 1 like strange canker weed (el-'esha), the leafy bubbles, big as grape-shot, hang in noisome-looking This herb is of no service, clusters, and enclose a roll of seed. the but or to man cattle country people gather the they say, to the a Persian pilgrims ; and the medicine, sap, and sell it, for Beduins make charcoal of the light stems for their gunpowder. There met us a train of passengers, ascending to Tayif, who had set out this night from Mecca. The hareem were seated in litters, like bedsteads with an awning, charged as a houdah upon camel-back they seemed much better to ride-in than the side in the midst of the

full

;

:

cradles of Syria.

was now to pass a

whose pretended divine law is no refuge for the alien whose people shut up the ways of the common earth and where any felon of theirs in comparison with a Nasrany is one of the people of Ullah. I had looked to my pistol in the night and taken store of loose shot about me If my since I had no thought of assenting to a fond religion. hard adventure were to break through barbarous opposition there lay thirty leagues before me, to pass upon this wooden thelul, to the coast by unknown paths, in valleys inhabited by I would follow down ashraf [sherifs], the seed of Mohammed. the seyl-strands, which must needs lead out upon the seabord. But I had no food nor water and there was no strength left in me. Ibrahim who trotted by, gazed wistfully under my kerchief and wondered (like a heartless Arab) to see me ride with tranHe enquired, " How I did ? and quoth he, seest thou quillity. yonder bent of the Wady ? when we arrive there, we shall be in And wilt thou then provide for me, sight of 'Ayn ez-Zeyma"-" " " " as may befall ? and he rode further I saw not Ay, Khalil Abd-er-Kahman he was in the van with the companions. The thelul of one who was riding a little before me fell on a an accident which is withstone, and put a limb out of joint, out remedy Then the next riders made lots hastily for the meat and dismounting, they ran-in to cut the fallen beast's throat and began with their knives to hack the not fully dead In this haste and straitness, they carved the flesh in the carcase. skin and every weary man hied with what gore- dropping gobbet I

circuit in

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MECCA A CITY OF THE TEHAMA.

485

to hang it at his saddle bow ; and that should be their supper-meat at Mecca they re-mounted immediately, and hastened forward. Between the fall of the thelul, and an his

hand had gotten,

!

end of their butchery, the caravan camels had not marched above Now I saw the clay banks of 'Ayn eztwo hundred paces with thiira and where, I thought, in few Zeyma green be likewise made a bloody spectacle. minutes, my body might We rode over a banked channel in which a spring is led from one Besides the fields of corn, here are but to the other valley-side. and a dozen stems of sickly palms the rest were few orchards the people of the hamlet are dead for fault of watering read the I under altitude, my cloak, 2780 feet. Hatheyl. Here is not the Hejaz, but the Tehama and, according to all Arabians, Mecca is a city of the Tehama. Mecca is closed in by mountains, which pertain to this which we should call a middle region nevertheless the heads of those lowland jebal border may be seen from the sea) reach not to the brow (whose of Nejd. [At el-Hejr, we found all that to be called Tehama which lies W. of the Aueyrid, although at first 3000 feet high, and encumbered with mountains v. Vol. I. p. 417.] In the (southern) valley-side stands a great clay kella, now ruinous which was a fort of the old Wahabies. to keep this gate of Nejd and here I saw a first coffee-station Kahwa (vulg. of the Mecca country. This hospice is but a shelter Gahwa) of rude clay walling and posts, with a loose thatch of palm branches cast up. Therein sat Ibrahim and the thelul rHers of our kafily when I arrived tardily, with the loaded camels. !

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Sleyman el-Kenneyny coming forth led up my riding-beast by the bridle to this open inn. The Kusman called Khalil ! and I but Abd-er-Eahman met me with a careful face. alighted " I heard a savage voice within say, He shall be a Moslem : " and saw it was some man of the country, who drew out his bright khdnjar ! Nay answered the Kusman, nay not so." I went in, and sat down by Ibrahim and Abd-er-Kahman " to a that we have found one here It is me, whispered godsend, who is from our house at Jidda for this young man, Abd-elHe was going up, with a load Aziz, is a nephew of my father. of carpets, to et-Tayif but I have engaged him to return with thee to Jidda only give him a present, three reals. for some in the Kahwa would it has been difficult Khalil, make trouble they heard last night of the coming of a but by good adventure a principal slave of the Sherif Nasrany is here, who has made all well for you. Come with me and thank him and we (of the kafily) must depart immediately." I found a venerable negro sitting on the ground who rose to ;

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

4 86

me by the hand his name was Ma'dbub. Ibrahim. Sleyman, rest of the Kusman now went out to mount their theluls

take

:

and the

;

when I looked again they had ridden away. The son of Bes" Mount and Abd-el-Aziz sam remained with me who cried, " " Let me first fill the girby." There mount behind Khalil !

;

J:

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"

water lower in the valley, only mount." I Mount, man and as he was up I struck-on the thelul but there was said no spirit in the jaded beast, when a short trot had saved me. I heard a voice of ill augury behind us, Dismount, dismount Let me alone I say, and I will kill the kafir." I looked round, and saw him of the knife very nigh upon us who with the blade in his hand, now laid hold on the bridle. "Ho Jew, come down ho Nasrany (yells this fiend) I say down I was for moving on and but my dromedary was weak I had then overthrown him, and outgone that danger. Other persons " were coming, Nokh, nokh ! cries Abd-er-Kahman, make her kneel and alight Khalil." This I did without show of reluctance. He of the knife approached me, with teeth set fast, " to slay, he hissed, the Yahudy- Nasrany "; but the servitor of the sherif, who hastened to us, entreated him to hold his hand. I whispered " then to the son of Bessam, Go call back some of the kafily with their guns and let see if the guest of Aneyza may not pass. Can these arrest me in a public way, without the hadud ? But he whispered, " Only say, (borders of the sacred township). Khalil, thou art a Moslem, it is but a word, to appease them and to-morrow thou wilt be at Jidda thou thyself seest and wellah I am in dread that some of these will kill thee."" If it please God I will pass, whether they will or no." Eigh Khalil said he in that demiss voice of the Arabs, when the tide is turning against them, what can I do ? I must ride after the kafily; look! I am left behind." He mounted without '

is

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more

A

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and forsook

his father's friend

among murderers.

Mecca cameleers, that (after their night throng march) were here resting-out the hot hours, had come from the Kahwa, with some idle persons of the hamlet, to see this novelty. They gathered in a row before me, about thirty together, clad in tunics of blue cotton. I saw the butcherly sword-knife, with metal scabbard, of the country, jambieh, shining in all their greasy leathern girdles. Those Mecca faces were black as the hues of the damned, in the day of doom the men stood and their silent, holding swarthy hands to their weapons. The servitor of the Sherif (who was infirm and old), went back out of the sun, to sit down. And after this short respite the mad wretch came with his knife again and his cry, that he would and I remained standing silently. slay the Yahudy-Nasrany of loitering

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SALEM AND MAABUB.

487

was a sherif for thus I had heard Maabub name these persons of the seed of Mohammed are not to be in the and have a spoken against,' public opinion, privilege, above the common lot of mankind. The Mecca cameleers seemed not to encourage him but much less were they on my part. his fellows in this violence were one [The sherif was a nomad or two thievish Hatheylies of the hamlet and a camel driver, his rafik, who was a Beduwy. His purpose and theirs was, " " merit having murdered the kafir a deed also of religious to possess the thelul, and my things.] The him

villain

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When he came thus with his knife, and saw me stand still, with a hand in my bosom, he stayed with wonder and discouragement. Commonly among three Arabians is one mediator ; their spirits are soon spent, and indifferent bystanders incline to lenity and good counsel I waited therefore that some would I but there was no man. open his mouth on my behalf looked in the scelerat's eyes and totter-headed, as are so many but, heaving up his poor nomads, he might not abide it khanjar, he fetched a great breath (he was infirm, as are not few in that barren life, at the middle age) and made feints with the weapon at my chest so with a sigh he brought down his arm and drew it to him again. Then he lifted the knife and measured his stroke he was an undergrown man and watching his eyes I hoped to parry the stab on my left arm, though I stood but faintly on my feet, I might strike him away with the other hand and when wounded justly defend myself with my and break pistol, through them. Maabub had risen, and came and in haste and drew away the robber sherif lamely again " ? Salem What is this, he said, sherif holding him by the hand, Kemember Jidda you promised me to do nothing by violence bombarded and that was for the blood of some of this take heed what thou doest. They are the stranger's people that is slain of them send great battlewho for one Engleys, and beat down a city. And thinkest thou our lord the ships :

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Sherif

thee, a bringer of these troubles upon him ? against the life of this person, who is guilty was he found within the precincts of Mecca. neither crime, sherif Salem, for Hasseyn (the Sherif Emir of Mecca)

would spare

-Do thou nothing no

of

-No

!

our master's sake. Is the stranger a Nasrany ? he never denied " be there not Nasara at Jidda ? Maabub made him promise peace. Nevertheless the wolvish nomad sherif was not so, with a word, to be disappointed of his for when the old negro went back to his shelter, he apprey and swore by Ullah that now proached anew with the knife would he murder the Nasrany. Maabub seeing that, cried to

it

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TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

4 88

and the bystanders made as him, to remember his right mind him. Salem hinder would being no longer countenthough they his so God gives and anced by them, spirits beginning to faint horn suffered to be himself to the shrewd cow a short persuaded. " But leaping to the thelul, which was all he levelled at, At least, !

He

'

cries he, this is ndhab,

rapine

!

flung

down my

coverlet

from the saddle, and began to lift the great bags. Then one but of his companions snatched my headband and kerchief others blamed him. A light-footed Hatheyly ran to his house others (from the backward) plucked at with the coverlet the Mecca cameleers stood still in this hurlymantle my all in and having no more need, I took patience burly. Maabub here under the tropic, I let go my cloak also. ;

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came limping again towards us. He took my saddle-bags to and dragging them apart, made me now sit by him. Salem repenting when he saw the booty gone from him and that he had not killed the stranger, drew his knife anew made toward me, with hard-set (but halting) resolution aphimself

;

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pearing in his squalid visage, and crying out, that he would put to death the Yahudy-Nasrany : but now the bystanders with" I tell thee, Sherif Salem, that if thou held him. Maabub : have any cause against this stranger, it must be laid before our lord the Sherif thou may'st do nothing violently."-" Oh but this is one who would have stolen through our lord's " Thou canst accuse him he must in any wise go country." before our lord Hasseyn. I commit him to thee Salem, teslim, in trust : bring him safely to Hasseyn, at et-Tayif." The rest about us assenting to Maabub's reasons, Salem yielded, saying, I hope it may please the Sherif to hang this Nasrany, or cut off his head and that he will bestow upon me the thelul." Notwithstanding the fatigue and danger of returning on my steps, it seemed to make some amends that I should visit !

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et-Tayif.

CHAPTER

THE SHERIF, EMIR OF MECCA.

TAYIF. Maabub and Salem. journey with caravaners.

XVII.

The Nasrdny Return

to

l

Troubled day at the Ayn.

captive.

The Seyl

es-Seyl.

station.

Night

The Nasrdny

A Mecca pilgrimage. An unworthy Bessdm. A former acquaintThe path beyond to et-Tdyif. Night journey. Alight at a sherifs Poor women of the blood of Mohammed. Aspect of et-Tdyif. cottage near Tdyif. The Nasrdny is guest of a Turkish officer. The town. Evening audience of Emir the Sherif. Mecca. The Shenf Hasseyn, of Sherifs brother Abdillah. Turkish officers' coffee-club. A bethel stone. Zeyd, a Bishy. Harb villages and Salem brings again his booty. A Turkish dinner. " What meat is kindreds. for the health." Three bethels. Mid-day shelter in an orchard. assailed again. ance. 'Okatz.

THUS, Maabub who had appeased the storm, committed me He made the thieves bring the things that they to the wolf had snatched from me but they were so nimble that all could not be recovered. The great bags were laid again upon the and the throng of weary thelul, which was led back with us Kahwa and their old repose. to the shadows camel-men dispersed Maabub left me with the mad sherif and I knew not whither !

;

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he went. Salem, rolling his wooden head with the soberness of a robber bound over to keep the peace, said now, It were best to lock up my bags.' He found a storehouse, at the Kahwa sheds and laid them in there, and fastened the door, leaving me to sit on the threshold the shadow of the lintel was as much as might cover my head from the noonday sun. He '

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me we may

Well, Salem (I said), how now ? I hope wistfully. " Wellah, quoth he after a silence, yet be friends." " I thought to have slain thee to-day The ungracious nomad

eyed

!

hated

my

life,

because of the booty

;

for afterward he

showed

Salem called me curious of my religion now more friendly, " Khalil, Khalil " and not Nasrany. He left me awhile and there came young men of the place to gaze on the Nasrany, as if it were some perilous beast himself to be

little

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TEAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

490

"

Akhs look at him been taken in the toils. this is he, who had almost slipped through our hands. What think ye ? he will be hanged ? or will they cut his throat ? Auh come and see here he sits, Ullah curse his father Thou cursed one akhs was it thus thou wouldst steal through " Some asked me, "And if any of the beled of the Moslemin ? us came to the land of the Nasara, would your people put us to " death with torments ? Such being their opinion of us. they in comparison showed me a forbearance and humanity After them came one saying, he heard I was a hakim and could I cure his old wound ? I bade him return at evening and I would dress it. Thou wilt not be here then cries the savage wretch, with what meaning I could not tell. Whatsoever I " for thou art a kafir, the son answered, they said it was not so of a hound, and dost lie." It did their hearts good to gainsay the Nasrany and in so doing it seemed to them they confuted that had

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his pestilent religion. I was a passenger,

I told them, with a general passport the Sultan's government. One who came then from the Kahwa cried out, that he would know whether I were verily from the part of the Dowla, or a Muskovy', the man was like one who had been a soldier I let him have my papers and he went away with them but soon returning the fellow said, I lied like a false Nasrany, the writings were not such as I affirmed.' Then the ruffian for this was all his drift demanded with flagrant eyes, Had I money ? a perilous word so many of them are made robbers by misery, the Mother of misdeed. When Salem came again they questioned me continually of the thelul greedily desiring that this might become their booty. I answered shortly, It is the BessamsV He says el-Bessdm ! are not the Bessam great merchants ? and wellah meluk, like the princes, at Jidda

of

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Salern, who was returning from a visit to Mecca, had heard by adventure at the Kahwa station, of the coming down of a Nasrany at first I thought he had it from some in the Boreyda " caravan. It was not from them of Boreyda, he answered, Ullah confound all the Kusman and that bring us kafirs billah last year we turned back the from this Boreyda kafily :

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-The Kasim kafilies sometimes, and commonly the caravans from Ibn Rashid's country, pass down to Mecca by the Wady Laymun. I supposed that Salem had some charge here and he pretended, that the oversight of the station had been committed to him by the Sherif.' Salem was a nomad sherif going home to his menzil but he would not that I place."-

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THE 'AYN EZ-ZEYMA. should

call

sherifs

take

him Beduwy. it

very hardly

if

491

have since found the nomad any name them Beduw and much I

;

would the ashraf that are settled in villages be named fellahm. Such plain speech is too blunt in their noble hear" a nomad sherif told me this friendly, It is not well, he ing less

:

they are ashraf."

said, for

Now Salem

me

bade

and led to an arbour of boughs, in whose shadow some of the camel-men were slumbering out the hot mid-day. Still was the air in this Tehama valley, and I could not put off my cloak, which covered the pistol yet I felt no extreme heat. When Salem and the rest were sleeping, a poor old woman crept in who had somewhat to say to me, for she asked aloud, Could I speak Hindy ? Perhaps she was a bondservant going up with a Mecca family to et-Tayif, the Harameyn are *full of Moslems of the Hindostany speech it might be she was of India. [In the Nejd quarter of Jidda is a Some negro bondsmen, spital of such poor Indian creatures.] that returned from their field labour, came about the door to look in upon me I said to them, Who robbed you from your and ? own land I am an Engleysy, and had we friends, your met with them that carried you over the sea, we had set you The poor black free, and given you palms in a beled of ours.' men answered in such Arabic as they could, They had heard tell of it and they began to chat between them in their African language. and One of the light sleepers startled and rolling his eyes he swore by Ullah, He had lost sat up through the Engleys, that took and burned a ship of his partners.' I told them we had a treaty with the Sooltan to supI lied, responded more than one ferocious voice press slavery. the Sooltan forbid slavery ? did when, Nasrany, Nay, he may But said for the another lie not.'the Nasara truth, speak he lies exclaimed he of the burned ship. By this you may rise,

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know

if

I lie

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when

come

I

to Jidda, bring a

bondman

to

my

Konsulato and let thy bondservant say he would be free, and he shall be free indeed Dog cries the fellow, thou liar :

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there not thousands of slaves at Jidda, that every day are be they not all made bought and sold ? wherefore, thou dog free ? if thou sayest sooth and he ground the teeth, and shook

are

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his villain

hands

in

Salem wakened

my

face.

late,

when the most had departed

:

only a

few simple persons loitered before our door and some were bold to enter. He rose up full of angry words against them. Away with you he cries, Ullah curse you all together Old woman, long is thy tongue what should a concubine make ;

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TRAVELS IN AEABIA DESEETA.

49 2

Ullah curse thy father and up, go forth, thou slave ? This in hither come shall a bondman holy seed of Mohamthe med had leave to curse poor lay people. But he showed talk

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a fair-weather countenance to me his prisoner perhaps the sweet sleep had helped his madman's brains. Salem even sent for a little milk for me (which they will sell here, so nigh the besides a real but he made me pay for it excessively city) for a bottle of hay, not worth sixpence, which they strewed down to my thelul and their camels. Dry grass from the valley-sides above, twisted rope-wise (as we see in the Neapolitan country), is sold at this station to the cameleers. and an ancient man entered It was now mid-afternoon he spoke long and earnestly with Salem. He allowed it just the booty also was good to take a kafir's life, but perilous to it were take he said, but perilous ay, all this, quoth the honest grey-beard, striking my camel-bags with his stick, is But thou Salem bring him before Hasseyn, and put torn' a (pelf). " not thyself in danger.' Salem : Ay wellah, it is all t6m'a but what is the most torn' a of all ? is it not the Nasrany's face ? " is not this torn' a ? I rallied the old man (who look on him was perhaps an Hatheyly of the hamlet, or a sherif) for his that the Nasara are God's adversaries.' His wits opinion, and he listened a moment to my words, were not nimble " I can have no dealings with a then he answered soberly, " so he turned from me, and said kafir, except thou repent " to Salem, Eigh how plausible be these Nasranies but beware of them, Salem I will tell thee a thing, it was in the Egyptian times. There came hither a hakim with the soldiery wellah Salem, I found him sitting in one of the orchards

now

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Salaam aleyk ! quoth he, and I unwittingly answered, Aleykom es-salaam ! afterward I heard he was a akhs but this is certain, that one Moslem may Nasrany chase ten Nasara, or a score of them which is ofttimes seen, and even an hundred together and Salem it is ifhin (by the " Ullah ! Well, I hope Hasseyn will bestow permission of) " the on me thelul was Salem's nomad-like answer. Seeing some loads of India rice, for Tayif, that were set down before the Kahwa, I found an argument to' the capacity of the rude camel-men and touching them with my stick en" What sacks be these ? and the letters on them ? if quired, any of you (ignorant persons) could read letters ? Shall I tell you ? this is rice of the Engleys, in sacks of the Engleys and the marks are words of the Engleys. Ye go well clad though only hareem wear this blue colour in the north but what tunics are these ? I tell you, the cotton on your backs was yonder

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SET OUT FOR TAY1F.

493

spun and wove in mills of the Engleys. Ye have not considered that ye are fed in part and clothed by the Engleys Some the most found that I said well. Such talk contradicted helped to drive the time, disarmed their insolence, and damped the murderous mind in Salem. But what that miscreant rolled in his lunatic spirit concerning me I could not tell I had caught some suspicion that they would murder me in this '

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If I asked of our going to Tayif, his head might turn, place. and I should see his knife again ; and I knew not what were

become

Maabub.

They count

thirty hours from hence to et- Tayif, for their ant-paced camel trains : it seemed unlikely that such a hyena could so long abstain from blood. Late in the day he came to me with Maabub and Abd-elAziz ; who had rested in another part of the kahwa surely of

!

had been right worth in them (there was none in Abd-el-Aziz), they had not left me alone in this case. Maabub told me, I should depart at evening with the caravan men and Then Salem, with a mock zeal, would so he left me again. have an inventory taken of my goods and see the spoil he called some of the unlettered cameleers to be witnesses. I drew out all that was in my bags, and cast it before them but " El-flus, el-flus ! cries Salem with ferocious insistance, thy money thy money that there may be afterward no question, " show it all to me, Nasrany Well, reach me that medicine box and here, I said, are my few reals wrapped in a cloth " and made watch fires The camel-men gathered sticks flour and took and kneaded water, dough, and baked they for it was toward evening. 'abud under the ashes At length I saw this daylight almost spent then the men rose, and lifted the loads upon their beasts. These town caravaners' camels march in a train, all tied, as in Syria. My bags also were laid upon the Bessam's thelul and Salem made me mount

if

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with his companion, Fheyd, the Beduin, or half-Beduin master of " Mount in the shidad Khalil Nasrany." [But these camels. thus the radif might stab me from the backward, in the night !] !

I said, I

would

sit

and was too weary to maintain words prevailed for all Arabs tender even in their enemies. Yet Salem life,

back-rider

;

My

myself in the saddle. the infirmity of human

was a perilous coxcomb his hearing, he made me

;

!

for

if

anyone reviled the Nasrany in and felt for his knife again.

cats' eyes

we departed

and the Nasrany would be hanged, by just judgment of the Sherif, at et-Tayif all night we should pace upward to the height of the Seyl. in and was the the villain, in his superstition, saddle; Fheyd In this wise

as they supposed,

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TRAVELS IN AEABIA DESERTA.

494

of the Nasrdny ! Though malignant, and yet more human a kindness in him for understandremained there greedy, he and went to his camels to dismounted, ing that I was thirsty fetch me water. Though I heard he was of the Nomads, and his manners were such, yet he spoke nearly that bastard Arabic of the great government towns, Damascus, Bagdad, Mecca. But unreasonable was his impatience, because I a weary man could not strike forward the jaded thelul to his liking, he thought that the Nasrany lingered to escape from them A little before us marched some Mecca passengers to et-Tayif, with camel-litters. That convoy was a man's household : the goodman, swarthy as the people of India and under the middle He went beside his age, was a wealthy merchant in Mecca. hareem on foot, in his white tunic only and turban to stretch which were very well made and breathe his tawny limbs himself in the mountain air. [The heat in Mecca was such, that a young Turkish army surgeon, whom I saw at etTayif, told me he had marked there, in these days, 46 C.] but when the Our train of nine camels drew slowly by them smooth Mecca merchant heard that the stranger riding with " a Nasrany Akhs the camel-men was a Nasrany, he cried, " and with the horrid inurbanity of their (jealous) in these parts " " Ullah curse his father and stared an me religion, he added, with a face worthy of the koran

was adread

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The caravan men rode on

their

pack-beasts eating their Salem, who lay stretched nomad-wise on a camel, reached me a piece, as I which beginning to eat I bade him rememwent by him " that from henceforth there was bread and salt between ber, " and see, I said, that thou art not false, Salem." us, Nay, The sickly wretch sufwellah, I am not khayin, no Khalil." fered old visceral pains, which may have been a cause of his

had made.

poor suppers, of the bread they ;

humour.

splenetic

bade

me

He bye and bye blamed my nodding

"

;

and

and look up Close not Awake, Khalil I tell thee thou mayest not slumber thine eyes all this night these are perilous passages and full of thieves, the a moment that steal on sleepers awake thou must not sleep." Hatheyl The camels now marched more slowly for the drivers lay slumthus we passed upward through the bering upon their loads sit fast.

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weary night. Fheyd left riding with me at midnight, when he went to stretch himself on the back of one of his train of nine and a driver lad succeeded him. Thus these unhappy camels men slumber two nights in three and yawn out the daylight hours, which are too hot for their loaded beasts at the 'Ayn ;

:

station or at the Seyl.

NEW TEOUBLE AT THE

SEYL.

495

The camels march on

of themselves, at the ants' pace. driver the lad, who now sat in my saddle, quoth " Towards morning, we both nodded and beware of thieves slumbered, and the thelul wandering from the path carried us under a thorny acacia happy I was, in these often adventures of night-travelling in Arabia, never to have hurt an eye My tunic was rent I waked and looking" round saw one on What is that ? quoth the strange foot come nigh behind us. man, and leaping up he snatched at the worsted girdle which

"

Khalil

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I shook my fellow-rider awake, and struckwore in riding and asked the raw lad, If that man were one on the thelul Didst thou not see him among them ? of the cameleers ? but this is a thief and would have thy money." The jaded The man was presently thelul trotted a few paces and stayed. his me behind purpose might be to pull me again nigh but were he an Hatheyly or what else, I could not down If I struck him, and the fellow was a cameleer, would tell. that the Nasrany had beaten a Moslem ? they not say, He would not go back and the lad in the saddle was heavy I found no better rede than to show him my with sleep. I took this for an extreme ill fortune but so he pistol at heard we should rest the rising of the went his way. I the planet was an hour high, and the day morning star where I alightdawning when we reached the Seyl ground ed with Salem, under the spreading boughs of a great old I

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acacia tree. There are many such menzil trees and shadows of rocks, in that open station, where is no Kahwa : we lay down to

slumber, and bye and bye the sun rose. The sun comes up and the sleeper must shift his with heat in this latitude round. Khalil (quoth the torwear shadows as the place, mentor) what is this much slumbering ? but the thing that " thou hast at thy breast, what is it ? show it all to me." I it is infamous to search have showed you all in my saddle-bags said a hoarse voice behind me, he a man's person."- -" Aha has a pistol ; and he would have shot at me last night." It was a great mishap, that this wretch should be one of the cameleers and the persons about me were of such hardened malice in their wayworn lives, that I could not waken in " Salem : them any honourable human sense. Show me, with" out more, all that thou hast with thee there (in thy bosom) There came about us more than a dozen cameleers. The mad sherif had the knife again in his hand and his old " Show me all that thou hast, cries he, and leave gall rising, ;

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nothing

;

or

now

will I kill thee."-

-Where was Maabub

?

whom

TRAVELS IN ARABIA DESERTA.

496

in him was the faintness had not seen since yester-evening Kemember friends. the bread and salt and ineptitude of Arab " " Show it all to me, which we have eaten together, Salem or now by Ullah I will slay thee with this knife." More bysome of them standers gathered from the shadowing places " in the him what us hack cursed one Let cried out, morsels, " " Have patience hinders ? fellows, let us hack him in morsels a moment, and send these away." Salem, lifting his knife, cried, " But thee Except thou show me all at the instant, I will slay " them I Let none think a little from said, retiring rising and which I drew from my bosom. to take away my pistol I What should I do now ? the world was before me if the miscreants come me and I Shall fire, upon thought, no shot amiss ? I might in the first horror reload, my thelul and if I could break away from more than was at hand a score of persons, what then ? repass the Ki'a, and seek which Sh'aara again ? where 'Ateyban often come-in to water I with no at adventure and met ride though failing I might man in the wilderness, in two or three days, it were easier to end thus than to be presently rent in pieces. I stood between my jaded thelul, that could not have saved her rider, and the sordid crew of camel-men advancing, to close me in they had no fire-arms. Fheyd approached, and I gave back pace for there was but he opened his arms to embrace me pace a moment, I must slay him, or render the weapon, my only and my life would be at the discretion of these defence There was not wretches. I bade him come forward boldly. time to shake out the shot, the pistol was yet suspended from I

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neck, by a strong lace Fheyd seized the weapon their lives and the booty

my

I offered the butt to his

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they were now in assurance of he snatched the cord and burst and they spoiled me Then came his companion Salem it. and first my aneroid came into their brutish of all that I had hands then my purse, that the black-hearted Siruan had long worn in his Turkish bosom at Kheybar. Salem feel!

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ing no reals therein gave it over to his confederate Fheyd ; which when they to whom fell also my pocket thermometer found to be but a toy of wood and glass, he restored it to me again, protesting with nefarious solemnity, that other Then these robbers sat than this he had nothing of mine down to divide the prey in their hands. The lookers-on showed and reviling and threatening me, a cruel countenance still await Salem's seemed to rising, to begin hewing in pieces the :

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Nasrany.'

Salem and

his confederate

Fheyd were the most dangerous

FHEYD.

497

Arabs that I have met with for the natural humanity of the Arabians was corrupted in them, by the strong contagion of the government towns. I saw how impudently the robber sherif attributed all the best of the stealth to himself Salem turned over the pistol-machine in his hand such Turks' tools he had But as he numbered the ends of the seen before at Mecca. bullets in the chambers, the miscreant was dismayed and thanked his God, which had delivered him from these six He considered the perilous instrument, and gazed on deaths me and seemed to balance in his heart, whether he should not cried prove its shooting against the Nasrany. "Akhs akhs some hard hostile voices, look how he carried this pistol to kill the Moslemin Come now and we will hew him piecehow those accursed Nasranies are full of wicked wiles meal how many Moslems hast thou killed with that pistol ?" thou My friends, I have not fired it in the land of the Arabs. thou earnest with a knife to Salem, remember 'Ayn ez-Zeyma kill me, but did I turn it against thee ? Render therefore thanks to Ullah and remember the bread and the salt, Salem.'* - He bade his and I drudge Fheyd, shoot off the pistol dreaded he might make me his mark. fired the first Fheyd shots in the air the chambers had been loaded nearly two but one after another they were shot off, and that was years with a wonderful resonance in this silent place of rocks. Salem said, rising, "Leave one of them!" This last shot he reserved for me and I felt it miserable to die here by their " barbarous hands without defence. Fheyd, he said again, is all sure ? and one remains ?" Salem glared upon me, and perhaps had indignation, that 1 did not say, dakhilak : the tranquillity of the kafir troubled him. When he was weary, he went to sit down and called " You hear the savage words me, Sit, quoth he, beside me."of these persons remember, Salem, you must answer for me to the Sherif." 'The Sherif will hang thee, Nasrany! Ullah curse the Yahud and Nasara." Some of the camel-men said, Thou wast safe in thine own country, thou mightest have continued there but since thou art come into the land of the Moslemin, God has delivered thee into our hands to die so perish all the Nasara and be burned in hell with your I said to them, good fellows Look for father, Sheytan." the most fault is your ignorance, ye think I shall be hanged to-morrow but what if the Sherif esteem me more than you who If you deal cruelly with me, you revile me to-day all, will be called to an account. Believe my words Hasseyn will receive me as one of the ullema but with you men of the D. T. ii. 82 ;

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