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BEDOUIN TRIBES OF
THE EUPHRATES.

BEDOUIN TEIBES OF
THE EUPHEATES.

LADY ANNE BLUNT.

EDITED, WITH A PREFACE AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
ARABS AND THEIR HORSES,

By W. S. B.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

WITH MAP AND SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR.

h

LONDOX :

JOHN MUEEAY, ALBEMAELE STREET.

1879.

\_All riglits reserved.']

LONDON :
B.'^ADnURY, AGNOV, & CO., TRINTEKS, -VVHITEFRIARS.

LIBRARY

UNIVERPTTy QTT CATJFORNIA
^ SANTA BARBARA

CONTENTS TO VOL. 11.

CHAPTER XVI.

PAGE

Difficulties arise with the Mutesherif— We are suspected of being
spies — Kadderly Pasha — His excellent principles — Turkey the
Land of Freedom — We engage a Bedouin from the I\Iehed to
take us to Jeddan ......... 1

CHAPTER XYIT.

Once more in the Desert — Our guide fails us — Mohammed el Taleb
— We gather manna — Arrested — The Tudmur road — Fox-hunt-
ing— A visit to the Ami'ir robbers — We arrive at PalmjTa. . 17

CHAPTER XVIII.

Politics in Tudmur — A blood-feud— Ali Bey the Circassian — In-
trigues and counter-intrigues — A meeting in camp — The Mudir
lectured on his duties — News of the Anazeh .... 42

CHAPTER XIX.

The odd trick and four by honours — A f;\st forty minutes — The
Consul at last— We start for the Hamad — Song of the desert
lark — A real gliazvi — Looking for the Anazeh— Jcbel Ghorab
— We discover tents — Jedaan —Married for the fifteenth time
and yet not happy — Blue blood in the desert — A discourse on
horse-breeding — We are entrusted with a diplomatic mission to
the Roala 60

vi Contents.

CHAPTER XX.

PAGE

Ferlidn ibn Hcdeb— The Gomussa and tlieir mares — Moliainiued
Duki — A lawsuit in the desert — A tribe of Gazelle hunters —
Beteyen's mare — The Sebaa are attacked by the Koala — A panic
and a retreat — Our new brother, Meshiir ibn Mersliid — Scarcity
of water — "Wo leave the Anazeh camp and make a forced march
toBirSukr 98

CHAPTER XXI.

March under a burning sun — The Welled Ali and their sheep — Wii,
come to the Eodla camp — One hundred and fifty thousand
camels — Sotamm ibn Shaalau receives us — Diplomatic checks
— Sotamm's wife — The Uttfa— IMohammed's clioice — Good -bye
to the Desert 13U

CHAPTER XXII.

Last words — The camel defended — Sotamm in town — Farewells — A

party of Yahoos 152

CHAPTER XXIII.

Geogi'aphy of Northern Arabia — Physical features of the Desert —
^ligi'atious of its tribes— The Euphrates valley — Desert villages
— Some hints for map-makers . 161

CHAPTER XXIV.

Desert History — The Shammar and Anazeh invasions — Destruction
of civilisation in the Eui)hrates Valley — Reconcjuest by the
Turks — Tlieir present position in Arabia — List of the Bedouin
Tribes — An account of the Sabreans 175

CHAPTER XXV.

Physical characteristics of the Bedouin Araljs — Tliey are short-lived
— On certain fallacies regarding them — Their humanity — Their
respect for law— Tlicyare defective in truth and in gratitude
— Their childish lov(! of money — Their hosjiitality — Bedouin
women 198

Contents. vii

CHAPTER XXVI.

PAGE

Eeligion of tlio Bedouiiis confined to a belief iu God — They have no
ceremonial observances — Their oaths — They are -without belief
in a future life — Their superstitious are few — Their morality an
absolute code — Their niarria^'es ...... 216

CHAPTER XXVII.

Political constitution of the Bedouins— Their liberty— Their equality
— Their intolerance of authority — Their rules of warfare — Their
blood feuds 229

CHAPTER XXYIII.

Arab horse-breedmg — Obscurity respecting it — There is no Nejdean
breed — Picture of the Anazeh horse — He is a bold jumper — Is
a fast horse for his size— His nerve excellent, and his temper —
Causes of deterioration — How the Bedouins judge a horse —
Their system of breeding and training — Their horsemanship in-
different— Their prejudices — Pedigree of the thoroughbred Ara-
bian horse .......... 243

POSTSCRIPT.

Scheme of a Euphrates Valley Eailway. — Of river communication.
— The Turkish sytem of government. — Its partial success. —
Its failings — A gi;ess at the future ...... 27

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.

-♦-

Ruins of Palace of El Haddk .... FrontUpieee

FAGB

Palmyra 42

A Council of War 98

Our own Tent, with a A^iew of Mount Hermon . . . 130

Sherifa 243

BEDOUIN TEIBES

OF

THE EUPHRATES.

CHAPTER XVI.

" I must say the man in black clothes seemed to be as fine a man as ever lived in
the world."— Aktemas AV'akd.

Difficulties arise with the Mutesherif — We are suspected of being
spies — Kadderly Pasha — His excellent principles — Turkey
the Land of Freedom — We engage a Bedouin from the
Mehed to take us to Jedaan.

In leaving Bagdad, as we liad done, without
paying a farewell visit to the Valy, we had com-
mitted a breach of etiquette, and in travelling with-
out a buyuruldi a breach of the law, which might
bring us into trouble with the Turkish authorities,
whenever we came again under their jurisdiction.
So we were rather anxious about the reception our
old friend Huseyn might be disposed to give us,
now that we were back at Deyr. AVe had learnt
from the MoUah, in the course of our ride, some
details of the little comedy, which had been played
us there two months before, and were prepared for
finding ourselves in the Pasha's bad books.

VOL. ir. B

2 Bedouin Ti'ibes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvi.

The MoUah, it appeared, had been at De}^: at the
time of our arrival, had seen ns and known of our
wish to visit his chief and, on one occasion, had
actually been waiting in the courtyard of the Serai
to speak to us, when Huseyn, happening to pass
by, had sent him about his business, with the threat
of extreme displeasure if he ventured to show him-
self there again during our stay. We knew then
that our successful visit to Faris w^ould not be a
very agreeable piece of news to our old host ; and
the Serai, Avithout the Consul to suj)port us there,
seemed suddenly changed in our eyes from the
harbour of refuge it had been, to something not
unlike a prison. We had counted throughout on
his presence to set us right with the authorities ;
and now he was not there.

It was necessary however to put a bold face on
it ; so, when shortly after our arrival Huseyn
appeared, Wilfrid in a cheerful voice appealed to
him for congratulations on the success of our enter-
prise. We had seen everything and everybody in
Mesopotamia ; and everybody and everything had
been delightful. Ferhan's sons, Smeyr and Faris,
were the most agreeable people in the world, the
desert had been a Garden of Eden, the ghazu stories
all nonsense, and the country as safe for travellers
as any part of the empire, or of Europe itself, for
that matter. It was only to be regretted that his
Excellency had not been able to make the journey
with us, he would have enjoyed it so immensely.

CH. XVI.] Otw Friend Hiiscyn and his Woes.

Thus attacked, the Pasha could only repeat his
usual exclamation, "Wall! wah ! wall!" and appear
delighted ; though, to our guilty consciences, there
seemed a curious expression not quite of pleasure in
his eyes. "All was Avell that ended well. He
was glad we had met with no accident ; but the
desert was a dangerous place, and the Bedouins
were not always to be trusted. However, we had
returned, which was the principal thing ; and he
would do his best to console us for our fatigues.
Our old rooms unfortunately were occupied, or on
the point of being occupied, by the new Valy of
Bagdad, who was passing through Deyr ; but we
could lodge at the house of a Christian tradesman,

one Z Effendi, where we should still be the

Pasha's guests, and, he hoped, more comfortably
than was possible in his own poor house. For him-
self he had had a miserable time of it, ever since we
went away, perpetual work and perpetual solitude.
He was beginning to pine for home and the society
of his friends at Aleppo ; and Deyr was bringing
him to an early grave."

Poor man ! we were ready enough to believe that
the latter part at least of this little speech was
sincere, for he looked, in the short time since we
had seen him last, considerably aged. His hair
was several shades whiter, and he had grown thin.
So we expressed our sympathy heartily enough, and
said as little as was necessary about our relations
with the official world of Bagdad. It was only our

4 Bedouin Tribes of tJic Euphrates, [cir. xvr.

future plans that gave us anxiety, for it was easy to
see that Ave should find no help from the Serai in
what we were now bent on, a visit to the Anazeh.
We resolved simply to say notliing at all about
them.

Of Mr. S. the Pasha knew nothing, except that
he had heard of him as being at Aleppo a month
before, and expressed great surprise at our expecting
to find him again at Deyr. Kadderly Pasha, the
new Valy, would however arrive in a few hours,
and we should get the latest news. His own son
Zaklvi Bey, was travelling with the Valy, and he
was a friend of Mr. S.'s. So we were fain to be
content with the hope that perhaps the consul also
would be of the party, as, in a few lines that
had been waiting some time for us at Deyr from
him, he had spoken of his journey as a settled plan.
But why had he failed us ? This we could not
understand.

The next day Huseyn was busy with the Valy,
and left us pretty much to ourselves ; and, when we
met again, there certainly was a (j&ae in his mjinner.
Considering the circumstances of the case, the un-
fortunate issue of the war with Eussia, the denuded
state of the garrisons on the Turkish frontier, and
the intrigues and disputes which were agitating the
desert round him, I think it is not surprising that
our persistence in visiting the Bedouin tribes, in
spite of all warnings and all hindrances, should
have aroused suspicions of us in Huseyn's official

CH. XVI.] IVe fall under SiLSpicion. 5

mind ; and I suspect that tlie good man had taken
counsel of his fellow-governor about the course to
be pursued with us ; for on the evening following
that of the Valy's arrival, we received a polite mes-
sage from the latter, begging that we would do him
the favour of calling at the Serai.

Now, if this Valy had happened to be a man of
the old school like Akif Pasha and others whom
one could name, I think it might have fared ill
with us at this conjuncture, for suspicion of us, as
1 have said, was not unreasonable, and the two
Orientals together, taking counsel of each other's
fears, might in the end have plucked up courage to
put a forcible term to our adventures by sending us
back under escort to Aleppo. We could hardly
have complained had they done so. But, fortu-
nately for us, the Valy was a man of a very difte-
rent type from any we had hitherto met in Turkey,
— indeed it would be doing him an injustice to
talk of him as in any way an Oriental ; — and he at
once understood the situation and recognised us for
what we were, mere tourists and sight-seers. His
discrimination saved us.

Kadderly Pasha is a Turk, and a Europeanised
Turk ; yet he impressed me very favourably. He
speaks excellent French ; and we not only had no
difficulty in explaining our position to him and
satisfying any curiosity he may have had as to our
movements, but we also were able to have a very
interesting conversation with him about the general

6 Bedouin Tribes of the EiipJirates. [en. xa-i.

politics of Europe and the Empire. His history, I
believe, is this. As a young man he was taken up
by Vefyk EfFendi, who with Midliat Pasha was
anxious to form a school of politicians in Turkey
with modern views and modern principles. These
loudly professed the doctrine, new to Ottoman ears,
that honesty was the best policy, and carried out, I
believe, their principle fairly. Unfoi^tunately the
band of followers was never numerous,, and Kad-
derly seems to have been the only one who distin-
guished himself in the world. He had educated
himself when past twenty, and after filling various
minor offices, had now been promoted by his first
patron to the rank of Valy.

Kadderly Pasha was straight from Stamboul,
having left the capital not three weeks before, and
had all the contempt, which a European, fresh from
witnessing the great events of history, (for he had
left the Russians at the gates of Constantinople),
could not help feeling for the petty politics of
Arabia. He did not, in ftict, so much as ask what
was going on among the Bedouins, but ignored the
whole matter, afiecting only an interest in the ruins
of El Haddr and the prospects of a Euphrates
valley railway. This European line of thought
suited us admirably ; and we discoursed, as learnedly
as we could, on archaeology and civil engineering,
and a little on the attempted improvements of his
former predecessor and patron Midliat at Bagdad.

On these the Valy spoke as sensibly as a first

en. XXI.] A Disco2trse on Righteousness.

commissioner of works. " Three things," he said,
" are necessary in a governor, who would effect real
good in the department he administers — ' vouloir,
savoir, et j^ouvoir ! ' Midhat had the first and last
qualifications, but not the second. He was a half-
educated man." With regard to another important
matter, he remarked that the first reform wanted
in Turkey was the establishment of real religious
equality. Toleration already existed ; but some-
thing more was required. The law should make no
distinction in dealing with men of different creeds,
any more than with men of different races. Many
races and many creeds were comprised in the Otto-
man Empire.

Wilfrid. " Yet the Mussulman religion invented
toleration many centuries before it was accepted by
the Christian governments of Europe."

Kadderhj. " Say rather, reinvented it, for tole-
ration Avas always the law of ancient Eome. This
was in its day a great step in advance, but Islam
has now fallen behind Christendom. It is time
that religious bitterness should cease in Asia as it
has in Europe."

We did not venture to touch upon the more deli-
cate point of oflicial honesty. We felt that we
might be treading on dangerous ground ; for,
although it w^as difiicult to imagine a gentleman,
with such excellent principles as the Valy's, putting
his hand into the public purse, the chances of our
having hit upon an immaculate governor were so

8 Bedoidii Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvi.

small in Turkey, that it was mere common j^rudence
to say nothing which might offend.

AVe turned the conversation, instead, on the prac-
tical liberty, which undoubtedly exists in Turkey,
and on which we could with sincerity be eloquent.
Wilfrid told the story of a conversation we had
once had with a zaptieh in Asia Minor, which, as it
contains a moral, may be worth relating here. This
zaptieh had been complaining to us of certain offi-
cial malpractices which, although he was himself an
agent of the law, had struck him as needing reform
in his own country, and mentioned the report cur-
rent among his fellows that England was the land
of liberty. " Every one there," he said, " we know
is free and happy, and honest men may do all they
like, without interference from any one." " It is
true," we answered, ''that things with us are not
as they are with you. You, Mohammed, for in-
stance, would not be allowed to take this plough-
share, which you have found in the field, to make
your fire with or turn your horse into this standing
corn to graze ; but all countries are not equally
favoured, and there is liberty and liberty. What
should you say for instance of a land, where a poor
man, travelling along the high road, might not col-
lect a few dry sticks to make a fire at all, or let his
donkey graze on so much as the grass by the way-
side, or even lie down himself to sleep under a
hedge, without being seized by the zaptiehs, dragged
before the cadi, and left to spend the night in

cii. XVI.] Turkey the Land of Freedom.

prison ? " " No, no," said the man "you arc laugh-
ing at me. There is no such country as that, or
people would have gone to live elsewhere long ago/'

Kadderly Pasha was much tickled by this little
story, and agreed with us that the Sultan's subjects
were not altogether so unhappy, only happiness was
one thing and progress was another. Of the poli-
tics of Europe he really sliowed great knowledge,
and even understood something of the state of
parties in England, appreciating accurately enough
the causes of the agitation, got up last year by the
liberals, on the Eastern question. He was polite
enough not to dwell on the vacillating policy of
our Government, thinking only that England was
making a mistake in allowing Turkey to be de-
voured. On the whole we felt that we had been
talking to an agreeable and superior man and one
who would be inexcusable, on any plea of ignorance,
if he failed to do his duty at Bagdad.

An important consequence to us of this conversa-
tion was that it reinstated us in public estimation,
and, especially, in that of Huseyn. He, as a mere
niuteslierif and an Aleppine, was treated witli very
scant courtesy by the Valy, and, in his own house,
only sat down by request, and on the edge of his
chair, in the great man's presence. We, on the con-
trary, were given the best places on the divan, and
conversed familiarly, and as long as we liked, in a
foreign tongue which nobody understood, and which
therefore made the more impression. For what

lO Bedoidn Tribes of the EiLphrates. [ch. xvi.

Tiirkisli is to Arabic, in public estimation, that
French is to Turkish, the language of the superior
race. Although the Valy took his departure next
morning, the prestige of our reception remained ;
and Huseyn was again all that we could wish.

We had not, hitherto, ventured to breathe a word
of the negotiation intrusted to us by Faris, although
the Mollah, who was constantly in and out of the
house, had hinted more than once that it was time
to begin. But we had felt that, until our own
character was cleared up, we should only be pre-
judicing our friend's interests by advocating them.
Now however there was no such reason to deter
us, and we took advantage of the first opportunity
to open the subject. Zakki Bey, the Pasha's eldest
son, had arrived with the Valy ; and Ave found him
a nice boy of eighteen or twenty, with a good in-
genuous countenance, pretty manners, and a fair
education. He was a Kdtih, or clerk in the " Cham-
ber of Writing," a public ofiice at Aleppo ; and with
him we speedily made friends. It was no difficult
matter to interest him in the cause of the Bedouins,
for these to a youth of any imagination must always
have a certain attraction ; and he knew of his
father's recent overtures to Faris, and of the official
friendship which had been begun between them.

" My father," he said quite simply, "is as a father
to all these people. The Bedouins are his children,
and I know that Faris is his especial favourite. If
he would allow me, I would go myself to see your

CH. XVI.] Faris imtst Wait for his Money.

II

friends the Sliammar and set tilings right, but he is
afraid of accidents happening to me on the road."

We told him, then, to explain to his father that
there was great danger of the friendly footing on
which they stood being disturbed by a misunder-
standino-. Faris had done work for the Pasha and
had not been paid for it ; and his people were in a
state bordering on revolt. Zakki was concerned to
learn this, and promised that his father should hear
of it. The Pasha, accordingly, when he came the next
morning, as was his custom, to pay us a visit, began
himself upon the subject. Pie admitted with great
frankness that the sum demanded was really owing,
but declared most solemnly that the treasury of the
Serai was empty. Not a sixpence could be got from
Aleppo, and everybody's pay, his own included, had
long been in arrear. This, I dare say, was true enough.

"Faris,'* he said, "must not suppose that he is
the only man who has been doing work gratis for
the Sultan this year. We are all on the same foot-
ing." He, the Pasha, had otiered him paper money ;
but the Bedouins, stupid fellows, understand nothing
but silver pieces, and he must take patience till the
money (he expected it daily) should come from
Aleppo. He was quite ready to believe that Faris
had the best intentions in the world, and that the
complaints of the Buggara were, as he had assured
us, unfounded ; but the Skeykh was responsible for
his men's conduct, and could keep them in order if
he liked. Everybody in fact must have patience.

1 2 Bedouin Tribes of the EupJiratcs. [ch. xvi.

With this we were oblio;ed to content ourselves, —
reporting the result of our negotiation to the MoUah,
and making him a little present to console him for
the want of better success.

AVe had now our own plans to attend to, for Ave
had been four days at Deyr, and still there was no
sign or word from Mr. S. This is how we set about
it. First of all the spy Nejran had to be dismissed ;
and this was done, without ceremony on either side,
Wilfrid merely bidding him be off, and he replying
" heyfac" (as you please). Then it was necessary
to get news of the Anazeh without exciting the
Pasha's suspicions.

Now Faris when we left him had given us, as a
parting gift, a boy who had been in his service, and
who he thought would be useful to us as camel-
driver, in the place of Nejran ; and tliis boy seemed
suited for our purpose. Ghdnim, for such was his
name, was a strange wild-looking youth, with a
merry smile, white teeth, and a peculiar glitter in
his eyes, which were half green, half hazel, like a
cat's, while long wisps and plaits of hair hung all
about his face in picturesque confusion. There Avas
something singularly attractive in his manner ; and
his voice had a caressing, supplicating tone, which
won our attention at once. He told us he was a
Jelaas, one of Ibn Shaalan's people, but that he had
left his tribe when very young to take service with
Abd-ul-Kerim, as groom or rough-rider, for he was a
capital horseman, and had lived with the Shammar

CH. xvi.] A Bedonin Bard. 13

till Al3d-ul-Kerim's death. He liad shared in the
flight of Amsheli to Nejd, but had returned and
gone to Suliman ibn IMcrshid's tent and lived with
the Gomussa, till his new master too fell a victim to
the Turks, and then Faris had taken him back. He
now desired to return to his own people, but would
follow us meanwhile whithersoever we would.

Our caravan, with the tents and mares, had re-
mained outside the town, for we had taken this
precaution to preserve our liberty of action, in case
of difficulties arising ; and every day we went out
to spend some hours with our camels, and see that all
was going on well with them, and learn the news
from outside. On these occasions Glianim would
bring out a curious little fiddle he had with him,
made of parchment, and a bow strung with horse-
hair, and, on this very unpretending instrument,
would play to us and sing impromptu songs, some
of which were pretty and all exceedingly interesting.
There was one, especially our favourite, which began
" WhenAbd-ul-Kerim was dead and all his tribe were
scattered," and another, whose tune might have
passed in Spain as a Malaguena. At these times
Ghdnim's face had a look almost of inspiration as,
with Imitted brows and trembling lips, he produced
an alternation of chords and discords, worthy of
Wagner himself, and sang the glories of the departed
heroes he had served. With all this, he was an in-
telligent lad and could turn his hand to anything,
and to him we entrusted the mission of finding out

1 4 Bedouin Tribes of tJie Euphrates, [en. xvr.

some agent or friend of the Anazeb, for such there
always are in the towns, and bringing him to us.

He was not long executing the commission, and
on the evenino- of the 22nd, came to us with two
men, one aj^parently a citizen of Deyr, but who
refused to give us his name, and the other a thin
dark-visaged Bedouin, whom Ghanim said he knew
as Ali of the Mehed, a follower and distant relation
of Jedaan himself. These people informed us in a
confidential whisper, for fear of eavesdropj^ers, that
the Anazeh were on their march northwards, and
already within not many days' march of Deyr,
somewhere down in the Hamad, the great plain
which stretches southwards from the Blshari hills,
as far as Jebel Shammar.

This was great news indeed ; and Ali agreed, for
a small sum, two mej idles, to take us to Jedaan, but
cautioned us to say nothing of where we were going
to Huseyn, or to mention that we had seen him,
" For," he explained, " the Pasha is a rogue, and
prevented you from seeing Jedaan before, when he
was close by, and will prevent you again, if he can.
Jedaan knows you were here with the Consul Beg-
last month, and is angry with the Pasha for having
interfered with your visit." It was therefore settled
that we were to start, as' it were for Tudmur (Pal-
myra), and that Ali was to be on the look-out to join
us as soon as we were well out of sight, when we
could alter our course and strike down into the
Hamad, straight for Jedaan. The exact position of

cH. XVI.] Plots and Counterplots. 15

the Anazeh tents Ali either could not or would not
describe, but we thought we should run no risk in
trusting ourselves to his guidance, and we were
determined at all hazards to see the Anazeh and get
away from Deyr.

As it had been settled, so it was done. The next
morning we informed Huseyn that we were tired of
waiting for Mr. S. and must start without him.
It was getting late in the season and hot weather
might be expected to set in ; we had affairs at home,
which would not wait, and we must make the best
of our way westwards. He suggested that Aleppo
would be our nearest road, but this we would not
hear of. The Anazeh, as he himself had told us,
were far away to the south, fighting the Eoala, and
there could be no danger in going to Damascus by
way of Tudmur, and perhaps the Consul might yet
join us there. If we did meet Jedaan on our way,
why, so much the better. AVe had always wished
to see him ; but, in any case, we must be off. We
suggested that it would be a great pleasure to us if
Zakki his son were to join our party. He did not
affect to be pleased at this idea, said he had no
soldiers to send with us, and that the Tudmur road
was c[uite unsafe. He could not possibly allow his
son to go that way ; and he advised us most strongly
not to think of it. But we insisted so pertinaciously
that he said he would see what could be done.

There were some Tudmuris at Deyr, who might
be wDling to go with us, and he would send for

1 6 Bcdonin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. x^-r.

them. A little iieo'otiation at the same time was
entered into, about a certain mare of the Pasha's,
which there had been question, ever since our first
visit, of our buying. Still Huseyn was evidently-
far from pleased, and, though we affected an extreme
unconcern about the arrangements made, it was
evident that difficulties, perhaps troubles, were in
store for us before we could be clear away from
Deyr, It was most fortunate during all these nego-
tiations, that we were no longer in the Pasha's house,
for otherwise we should no doubt have had much
greater trouble in communicating with the Mehed.
As it was, a servant of the house was very fond of
hanging about listening, whenever conversation was
going on ; and our Christian landlord himself, with
his fat mother, dropped in from time to time. I
have little doubt that any information they picked
up went straight to the Serai.

These Christians had the impertinence, on the
night of our arrival at their house, to sit down
with us at table, on chairs, and even to make
conversation before us ; but this was too much,
and we speedily set them in their proper place, which
was on the floor, according to the custom of the
country. We were not ilieiv guests but the Pasha's.
The only trustworthy person in the establishment
was old Mariam, the cook's wife, with whom we left
a letter explaining our plans to the Consul, in case
lie might yet by accident arrive at Deyr. But of
this there now seemed little chance.

CHAPTER XVII.

" With stout iron shoes be my Pej^asus shod,
For my road is a rough one, — flint, rubble and clod."

OwBiT Meebdith.

Once Biore in the desert — Our guide fails us — Mohammed el
Taleb — We gather manna — Arrested — The Tudmur road —
Fox-hunting — A visit to the Amur robbers — We arrive at
Palmyra.

Sunday, March 24. — We have left Deyr, and
are once more in tlie desert, oii7^ oiun desert I had
nearly said, for indeed we are more at home in it
than in the ^ towns ; and yet I feel out of spirits.
This new venture has not begun auspiciously ; and,
hut for Wilfrid, who suffers from the confinement of
indoor life, I would willingly have put off starting for
n few days more, to give the Consul a last chance
of arriving. It is almost necessary to have an intro-
duction to the people we are in search of; and now
we are without one, for Ali the Mehed has failed
us, and it seems very like looking for a needle in a
bundle of hay, to be starting off into the Hamad alone
after the Anazeh. Their whereabouts, even on the
map, we do not know. Still, after waiting till this
morning for the post to come in, and then receiving
no news from Aleppo, it seemed foolish to waste
more time. The caravan road down the river is

U(.

1 8 Bcdotiin Tribes of tJie Etiphraics. [ch. xvir,

open, or the post would not have arrived, foiv
thouQ;h the river has risen nine or ten feet in the
last three days, it has not yet cut the track ; and
the cause of Mr. S.'s delay must be looked for
elsewhere.

Wilfrid, to ensure a start to-day, had the camels-
brouo;ht into the town over-nio-ht, and loaded the
first thino; in the mornino-, and sent them on, with
orders to wait for us just out of sight of Deyr, over
the brow of the hill. He then went to the Serai
and announced our departure. The Pasha affected
at first extreme surprise to hear that we were
leaving him, although Ave had told him of our in-
tention yesterday, and asked in which direction we
were going. " We are starting," Wilfrid said, " on
the Tudmur road, and if Ave do not come across
the Anazeh, Avhom of course Ave should like to see,
AA^e shall go on as far as that toAvn, and so to Da-
mascus. We think that perhaps the Consul Beg has-
been delayed at Aleppo, and may have gone straight
to Tudmur to saA^e time, and that we may find him
there." — Hiiseyn. " But the road is not safe ; it is
impossible you should go alone. You Avould not
find your AA\ay ; there is no Avater, and the country
is inhabited only by robbers." — Wilfrid. "Yet we
came through the Jezireh alone, and no harm hap-
pened to us. AVe are Avell armed and well mounted ;
and you have told us that the Anazeh are far aAA^ay,
fighting the Eoilla in the south. Common robbers-
Avould not A^enture to attack us." — Huseyn. "You

CH. xvn.] Two Gentlemen of Palmyra. 19

must wait at least for tlie caravan which is s^oins:
to-moiTow. I will send for the chief men in it, and
they shall be answeral^le for your safety." — Wilfrid,
" Unfortunately our camels have already marched,
and if we do not set out soon we shall not overtake
them." — Huseyn (to his servants). " Send for the
Tudmuri, and tell them to come to me at once."

The Tudmuri appeared. There were two of
them, respectable, well-to-do people, if one could
judge by their clothes ; the elder, a man of fifty,.
■with a handsome, but, as I thought, foxy face : the
other, a very fine-looking young fellow, with an
out-spoken manner which impressed us fiivourably.
They said it was quite impossible their caravan
could be ready to-day ; but to-morrow they would
be at the Pasha's orders. Wilfrid, however, insisted
that at least we must join our camels ; and, after a
long argument and a private conversation between
Huseyn and the Tudmuri, the younger man was
sent to fetch his mare and told to accompany us, as.
soon as we had had breakfast. This was perhaps
not quite what we wanted ; but, as we were really
in the Pasha's hands about going at all, Wilfrid did
not think it prudent to make any further objec-
tions ; so, after a last meal and the usual farewells
and good wishes exchanged, we rode away for the
second time from Deyr, with a strange mixture of
gratitude to Huseyn for his kindness, and of resent-
ment at his interft-rence with our plans. It was a
great thing however to be gone ; and, in spite o£

20 Bedoidn Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xvn,

the proverb which forbids one saying, " Fountain,
I will never drink of thy waters again," I think w^e
both made a mental resolution to sit at the Pasha's
table no more.

Time however, precious time, had been wasted ;
and, when we joined our camels at the appointed
place, there was no Melied with them. What has
become of him we do not know ; but we think he
must have been scared away by the sight of two
soldiers, Avhom Huseyn has after all thought fit
to send after us. This has interfered sadly with
Wilfrid's peace of mind, and made him very bitter
against Turkish ways and Turkish authority, indeed
against authority of any kind, for in the desert, if
anywhere, one feels that freedom is a right. So,
although the sky overhead was blue and the sun
shone, we marched on in dogged silence, making
ourselves as disagreeable as we possibly could to
the poor soldiers, who, I dare say, are quite as un-
happy at having to do their duty as we are to be
the cause of it.

Hanna, too, is in tlie dumps at having lost sight
of the Euphrates and at this new wilfulness of ours
in going out he knows not whither. Ferhan, honest
man that he is, is stolidly indifferent where he goes,
so long as his camels are fed and he is allowed to
do his duty hj them. Ali, the cavass, is no longer
with us ; he could not resist the glory of going
back to Bagdad in the Valy's suite, and bade us
good-bye some days ago. The Jelaas boy is the

CTT. XVII.] JVc Gather Manna. 21

only merry one of the party, for he is going home.
As to Mohammed, the Tudmuri, we hardly yet
know what to make of him, except that he seems
anxious to oblige and to be of use. He is certainly
an ornamental addition to our party, as he is well
mounted on a grey Shuemeh Shah, and carries a
lance fifteen feet long. He seems more of a Bedouin
than a townsman, and Wilfrid thinks he may be
won over to our plans ; but first we must get rid
of the soldiers, and it is ag;reed that we are to
starve them out by making things as uncomfortable
for them as we can. So they have been told that
they must expect no rations from us, and must keep
watch all night. AVe think that in this way they
may be induced to go home.

We are encamped in a snug wady, about ten
miles south-west of Deyr ; and Mohammed has
been teaching Wilfrid how to find truffles, of which
there are great numbers now. They are found by
dio-oino- with a stick, wherever a crack is seen in the
ground or an appearance observed of a heaving of
the soil, just as one sees over tulip bulbs in the
spring. There, with a little practice, the kemeyes
are discovered, only a few inches from the surface.
They are white and soft, like potatoes, but much
lighter ; and some we found this evening were as
big as both Mohammed's fists. They occur in light
soil, where there are no stones, and prefer rather
high ground. Wilfrid, though a novice in the art,
picked up a dozen or so after we encamped, enough

2 2 Bedouin Tribes of the Btipkrates. [ch. xvh.

to make a meal. They can be eaten raw, but are
much better boiled. It has been suggested that this
is the manna which was eaten in the wilderness.

March 25. — Fortune has favoured us in our plan
«of gettinix rid of the soldiers. A wolf came last
night and prowled about our camp, paying such a
disagreeable amount of attention to a mare and
foal belonging to one of them, that this morning he
begged to be allowed to go back to Deyr. His
-companion, too, followed suit, explaining that he
had only the day before come back from the war in
Armenia, and that it was very hard on him to be
sent out on such an expedition, without even a
single night at home. We sympathised most
heartily with both of them, of course, and readily
agreed to let them go. It was necessary, however^
to give them a paper of dismissal, so Wilfrid wrote
a line in French to Zakki Beg, who understands a
few words of that language, explaining that we
really did not want an escort, and had nothing to
feed the men with, while we had full confidence in
Mohammed as a protector. With this document
and a shilling a-piece for bakshish, they departed
homewards in high delio;ht.

Still Ali the Melied did not make his appearance,
as we quite expected he would as soon as the soldiers
were gone, and the only thing to be done has been
to make friends with JMohammed the Tudmuri,
really a very excellent fellow. This AVilfrid pro-
ceeded to do, engaging him in conversation and

CH. xvri.] The Son of a Prophet. 23

leading it to the subject of the Anazeh, some of
whom, it turns out, he knows or at any rate has
seen ; for he talks about Siiliman ibn Mershid and
his death at Deyr. He was also, he tells us, ac-
quainted with Akhmet Beg the Modli Sheykh,
whom he describes as the finest man ever seen in
the desert, as tall as himself (Mohammed is fuUy
six feet high). Jedaan, he says, is nothing much
to look at, but a wonderful horseman. He knows
nothing, or at any rate will tell nothing of the
present whereabouts of any of the Bedouins, but
says they are sure to pass by Tudmur in the course
of the spring. They do so, every year, on their way
north. He himself is the son of the Sheykh of
Tudmur ; and his family is descended from a certain
prophet, called the Nebbi Taleb, who converted the
villas:es of Tudmur and Arak to Mahometanism ;
but he does not know how long ago. His family
came originally from the Beni Laam, in Nejd, and
established itself first in the J6£ He has relations
still there and is going next year to get a wife from
his own people. About going to see the Anazeh
now, he should have no objection to go with us, but
he does not know where they are. We had better,
he says, go on to Tudmur. His uncle and the
caravan will overtake us to-night.

We had not gone far, when a large caravan of
some two hundred camels came in sight, travelling
from the west towards us ; and we galloped up to
get news. We found they were from Sokhnc, a

24 Bcdo7tin Tribes of the Euph^'ates. [ch. xvn.

village between us and Tudmiir, and bound for
Deyr to buy corn. Mohammed knew some of the
people, who by the way were all armed with guns,
and who got them out for use when they saw us
galloping up ; and an animated conversation ensued
about the price of cereals on the Euphrates. To
each in turn as he came up we put the question,
" Have you seen anything of the Anazeh ? " and
each in turn answered, " Hamdullah ''"' (praise be to
God), we have seen no Bedouins." The last man
in the caravan hailed us from a distance, and asked
AVilfrid if he could give him any news of Faris,
The question was curiously dpropos, and we stopped
and had some conversation with him. He told us
he was the Sheykh of Sokhne and that Faris Jerl)a
was his brother. A month ao'o some of the Jerlja
had taken camels belonging to him in a raid they
made upon the villagers of Sokhne, and he was
going to Faris to get them back in riglit of his
brotherhood. AVe told him, much to his surprise,
that Wilfrid also was Faris's brother, and that he
would find him on the Khabur. He then informed
us that though nothing had yet been seen of the
Anazeh this spring, it was reported that they were
on their way north, not more than three or four
days* journey from Bir, a well and guard-house we
should come to this evening. Wilfrid scribbled a
note to the Consul, telling of the break-down of our

* Spelt as pronounced both by the Bedouins, and by the inhabi-
tants of the desert towns.

cH. XVII.] Women in the Desert. 25

plan tlirougli tlie non-appearnncc of our accomplice
the Melied, and proposing a rendezvous at Sokhne
on our way to Tudmur. This he gave to the man,
who promised if Mr. S. should arrive while he was
at Deyr, to let him have it. We then rode on.

After this we passed no one until about noon,
Avhen we came in sioht of some tents rather out of
our road, and to these we went also to ask for news.
They belonged to a party of Abu Serai, one of the
Euphrates tribes, and I believe, a section of the
Aghedaat, but the men were away, gone with
kemeyes to Damascus, and women only were at
home. These received us very hospitably, bringing
milk and lebben, but could give us no information.
They had come out so far from the river, it seemed,
to gather truffles, for besides those that the men had
taken away to sell, there were plenty of others
sliced up and drying in the sun on the roofs of their
tents. The ^vomen were very merry and good-
humoured, and I think I never saw such swarms of
children. It shows how little real daiis-er there is
in the desert, that these people should be left all
alone with their flocks of sheep, and with only a few
old men and boys to protect them, while their
husbands were away for perhaps a month. Yet
they showed no sign of anxiety.

In the course of the mornimx we had come across
a number of large l)ustards, but they were too wild
to stalk, and now at about one o'clock we entered a
wady (Wady Mefass), cut pretty deeply in the plain.

26 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xvn,

and found there rock pigeons and partridges, show-
ing that there must be water close at hand. Wilfrid
shot three partridges, and in climbing to the edge
■of the ravine cauoht sio;ht of the guard-house of
Bir, lying in the Wady about a mile ahead of us.
We would willingly have avoided the place, for
Mohammed informed us it was occupied, and we
have now a perfect horror of soldiers and the police ;
but it was absolutely necessary we should fill our
waterskins, and the only well for many miles was
there. We are rather afraid still of the Pasha's
suddenly sending after us or coming himself, like
Pharaoh, who repented that he had let the children
of Israel go, and would have liked to hide our en-
campment, but this necessity of water compelled us,
and luckily, as it turned out, for we have obtained
a,uthentic news.

The well of Bir (as you say the "harbour of
Oporto") is an important feature in this part of the
world, for it is the only watering-place between
Deyr and Soklme, and it has been occu^^ied for
some years as a strategical point by the govern-
ment. There is a square guard-house on the usual
Euphrates model, and we found it occupied by a
sergeant and three men. The building was in
rather a dilapidated state, as Jedaan burnt all that
could be burnt in it last winter on his way from
the Bishari hills, which, by the way, we saw pretty
plainly this morning. The well is a very ancient
one, cased with solid stone and about sixty feet

cii. xvii.j L'homme Propose. 27

deep. The water is not particularly good, but, tliey
tell us, never foils. It is drawn by means of a
leathern bucket, but oiie of the zaptiehs having
iiccidentally dropped his ayhdl (head rope) into the
well, climbed down to fetch it Ijy some steps there
are in the masonry. The men were, of course, very
polite and very anxious that we should stop the
night in their barracks, but this we would not do,
as Wilfrid had found a nice grassy spot about a
mile off down the Wady, and there we now are.

As we were pitching our tents, a string of camels
«ame by from the south, and we learned that they
were a party of Abu Kamis Arabs come to fetch
water for their camp, which is a day's march from
Bir, and that only a day's march beyond them are
the tents of the Ajajera, the advanced guard of the
Anazeh, while Jedaan himself with all the Sebaa are
just beyond these. This is indeed good news, and
now we are sorry at having sent the note about
Sokhne to Mr. S. ; but we cannot miss the opportu-
nity, and it is settled we are to go back with the
Abu Kamis to-morrow^ morning, stay a night with
them, and then on next day to the Anazeh. Our
only anxiety is lest the caravan should arrive before
we manage to get away, as there may be soldiers
with it, and they may have orders to keep us on the
Tudmur road. Mohammed, however, seems dis-
posed to go with us, so let us hope that all is well.
In the meantime this is a delightful spot — a hollow
full of deep pasture, where the mares and the white

28 Bedouin Tribes of the Enphrates. [en. xvn.

donkey are feeding. Ferlian is sitting on a point of
rock above, calling every now and then to the
camels ^' Ha-6 ! lia-6 ! lia-6!" whereat they stop
and turn their heads round to listen. Hanna has
got the three partridges in a pot, and is very merry,
while Ghanim has brought up his rebdh and is
tuning it for one of his chants. There are a pair of
kestrels wheeling about, and I think they have a
nest somewhere close by. The evening i& calm, and
we are all in good spirits again.

March 26. — Alas ! alas ! I suppose I must have
forgotten to say " inshallah " when I wrote my
journal last night, for dinner was hardly over and
the mares tied up and our beds laid, when a sound
of shoutino; in the direction of Bir announced that
some people were coming our way. For a moment
we deluded ourselves with the vain hope that it
might be robbers, or merely some of the Abu Kamis
going home, but our hearts misgave us already
that something worse had happened. In a few
minutes, four zaptiehs apj^eared at the door of the
servants' tent, piled their arms in front of the fire,
and sat down. Neither Wilfrid nor I had the heart
to inquire Avhat the meaning of this was, but Mo-
hammed shortly afterwards came to our tent with
the message, which we guessed before it was out of
his lips. The Pasha had sent an express, with
orders that we were to proceed no further, but to
wait for the caravan, which would arrive to-morrow,
and then we should receive further instructions.

cii. XVII.] Arrested I 29

The news sounded very ominously, and Wilfrid
said to me in English, " I suppose we may consider
ourselves under arrest." But to Mohammed and
the others it was necessary to affect a cheerful
willingness to do anything that Huseyn might
think best for our safety ; so Wilfrid went to the
zaptiehs and bade them make themselves at home,
which indeed they had every intention of doing
already, for they had orders to keep guard over us
all night. He learned, in talking to them, that Ali
the Mehed had passed through Bir that morning,
and had stopped, as Arabs always do, for a talk,
and that he had told them of the two mej idles we
had given him, and I daresay a great deal more, —
all which proves that he m-ust be a chatterbox, even
if he has not betrayed us to the Pasha. We w^ere far
too miserable to sleep, but spent the night in vain
regrets at our folly in sending back the two soldiers
so soon to Deyr. They of course had gone back
post-haste to get home and had put Huseyn on the
alert, and he, acting with more promptitude than we
could have expected of him, had sent off this dis-
gusting messenger to stop us. The annoying part
of it is that if we had only waited till we got to Bir
and then sent them away, all would have gone right.
But at the time we did not know the existence of
this guard-house, and we expected Ali the ]\lehed to
meet us, and we had caught at the first chance of
being rid of our tormentors. Full of gloomy fore-
bodings, the least of Avhich was an immediate return

30 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvh-

■under escort to Dcyr, and the worst a summary
execution as Eussian spies, we passed a miserable
night, sometimes dreaming wildly of flight on our
mares, sometimes of bribing the zaptiehs, and some-
times of resistance by force of arms. But in the
morning more prudent counsels prevailed, and we
aOTeed to wait for the caravan and learn the worst.
The worst has proved to be better than we
expected. The order was nothing more than that
we were to keep close to the caravan till we got to
Tudmur, JMohammed and his uncle Hassan being
held responsible to the Pasha for our safe arrival
there. We agreed then to go on for the present in
the direction required of us, trusting to have another
opportunity of eluding our guardians and getting
away ; but for the moment our hopes are frus-
trated. We cannot accompany the Abu Kamis.
Mohammed, who is really a good fellow, makes
very light of the Pasha's order, and as soon as ever
the caravan appeared in sight, said we might as
well go on. It didn't matter so long as we kept on
the Tudmur road, and it was no use waiting for the
others if we had sooner be alone. So on we went,
the zaptiehs making no opposition, Wilfrid now
spoke seriously to Mohammed, told him exactly
what it was we wanted, and asked him to help us.
He promised him at the same time a handsome pre-
sent on the day we should reach Jedaan's camp, and
the Tudmuri without more ado promised to do his
best. He only insisted that at present we must go

cH. XVII.] Mohammed Consoles its. 3 1

on at least as far as Sokline, where we should be
certain to get information, and probably someoiie
who could take us to Jediian. He himself could
not do this without assistance, as he knew no more
than we did where the Anazeh might be, and
had never gone down far into the Hamad. It was
not a place to go to alone, as there was no water, at
least none that could be found by merely looking
about for it. It was very hot, and we had only
two waterskins with us, so we were fain to be
content and wait for better times. This settled,
Mohammed became very confidential, and told us
with much humour, how he had received special
injunctions from the Pasha not to let us out of his
sight. Huseyn's last words to Mohammed, holding
him familiarly by the ear, after the manner of the
great Napoleon, had been, " Mind, whatever hap-
pens, they are not to go near the Bedouins. Take
them straight to Tudmur, and see them on without
any more nonsense to Damascus — and mind, no
Bedouins, no Bedouins !" Mohammed lauo;hed loud
and long at the recollection of this scene, and of the
Pasha holding him by the ear. " They are all
pigs," he added, " these Turks."

About two miles from Bir, we came upon the re-
mains of a subterranean aqueduct, leading from the
well, and a large tank, probably of Roman construc-
tion, by which the plain was anciently irrigated, for
in winter there is no want of water underground in
the wady, and here it had been stored. Mohammed

32 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLphrates. [en. xvn.

called it El Khabra. This was no doubt in ancient
times a high road from Palmyra, and, likely enough,
the very one along which Zenobia fled when defeated
by the Eomans. There is now a fairly well-defined
camel-track, as some of the corn traffic between
Bagdad and Damascus passes this way. The soil
was light and sandy, and full of kemeyes, which
every here and there cropj^ed up above ground.
]\Iohammed tells us that they sell for one piastre and
XI half the oke, or two-pence halfpenny the pound, in
Damascus, and two and a half piastres at Aleppo.
This year they are so plentiful, that while we were
pitching our tents last night, Mohammed picked up
a large basketful in little over a quarter of an hour.
I counted them. There were a hundred and two, —
about the size of potatoes, — but a few were very
large, and one measured twelve inches round. He
reckoned them to w^eigh six okes. So that a man
might get a camel load, two hundred okes, worth
thirty-five or forty shillings in the day, but for this
he would have to travel a couple of hundred miles,
and fast too, for the kemeyes will not keep more
than a few days, unless sliced up and dried, when
they last practically for ever. Mohammed only
recollects one season as good as the present one, and
that was when he was a boy twenty years ago. The
heavy rains and snows this winter are probaljly the
cause of the present plenty, at which all the country
is rejoicing. The tribes are now independent of
corn for the year.

cii. xvir.] A Dull March.

We made a rather Ion 2; dull march to-day, and
the sun was very oppressive, so much so that Wilfrid
who rode his delul all the morning was constantly
dropping off to sleep and almost off the camel.
The only amusement was a fox-hunt which Wilfrid
and Mohammed enjoyed in the afternoon without
me. They had a breakneck gallop over rotten
ground for a couple of miles, and came back in
triumph with the skin. It is nearly white. We
are encamped this evening in a great open plain, the
outskirts of the Hamad, having the Bishari hills to
the north-west of us, a long ridge, the continuation
in fact of the Sinjar, which under different names
stretches all the way from M(5sul to Damascus.

March 27. — Passed another caravan from Da-
mascus, fourteen days on the road. They report
that a certain truffle hunter of Tudmur, being down
in the Hamad, met a party of Sebaa Anazeh some
days ago, with two hundred camels they had taken
from the Eoala. Jedaan was said to be coming
north, having, they assured us, " ruined" his enemies.
We are pretty sure, then, to get news of our friends
at Tudmur, if not before. These camel men are not
by any means so anxious to meet the Anazeh as we
are, for they are making their journey now, on the
strength of the Bedouins being away south. I
suppose we are nearly the first travellers along this
road, who have watched for spears on the horizon
with any feelings but anxiety. As it is, I think
even a ghazu would be Av^elcome to Wilfrid.

VOL. 11. D

34 Bedoinn Tribes of the Eiiplirates. [ch. xvn.

Another fox-liunt ; but tliis time an unsuccessful
one, for lie had too much start, and after three
miles at a racing pace, we got among some low hills
where he escaped, though only a few yards in front
of us. The mares do their work in a marvellous
manner, considering that they have to travel every
day and are only grass fed, but Hagar, directly she
sees a fox, goes off, and nothing will stop her. I
follow as I can on Tamarisk, who, though slow, is a
stayer. AVe also saw three gazelles, and tried to get
some houbdras, or frilled bustards, by riding round
them in a circle as we have done in the Sahara, but
here they refuse to hide their heads in the bushes,
and take flight always just too soon. At eleven
o'clock we came to a broad flat wady with white
chalk clifis, in the middle of which was a small pool
of rainwater, rapidly drying up, but still sufficient
for our purpose of filling the skins. Several false
snipes were running along the edge of it, and water
Avao;tails.

After this we left the track, I hardly know where,
and took a point more to the south so as to avoid a
low ridge of hills, which is a sort of spur from the
main ridge towards which we have gradually been
•convergino:. We can see the white chalk cliffs under
which JMohammed tells us the villaoe of Sokhne
(hot) lies, so called, not because it is, as it must be,
a little furnace in summer, but because there are
hot springs. We do not care to go into the village,
but intend to send Ghduim in to-morrow as we pass

ClI. XVII.]

Ghdnim Sings.

35

south of it to get news. "We liave found a splendid
plain of rich grass, where we have stopped, — enough
to feed all the Anazeli camp, if they come this way,
for a week. Mohammed calls it Wadi Er Ghotha,
^nd says there must have been an immense down-
pour of rain some time this year, as he has never
■seen such grass before so far from the hills. Ghiiuim
lias been singing all to-day to a tune which ruus
thus : —

:#_,,>ri5qi:

, V V V

V

-§.- ?^

! V' .-L— :

tti^

n— i^=r->

4

March 28. — A wild blusterino; mornino- and we
half decided on stopping where we were, but the
rain held off, though it blew a hurricane all day from
the west. We sent Mohammed for news to Sokhne,
which was not more than five miles away, and
engaged to meet him again later at a certain pool of
water he said we should find in a certain wady.
This led to our missino; each other, for thouo-h we
found a pool, it was not the right pool, and we saw
no more of Mohammed all day. When we found
he did not join us, we were in no hurry to go on,
so Ave climbed up to the top of a tallish cliff from
which there was a capital view, and where we got a
little shelter under an old wall from the wind. In
front of us, and apparently about three miles off, we
could see the village of Sokhne, a wretched hamlet,

D 2

2,6 Bcdojiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvh..

set on tlie face of a white slope of clialk, wliicli
ended in the cliffs called Uthahek. To the left of it
stood eleven olive trees in a row, showing very
blackly against the white ground. It then occurred
to us that Ave might perhaps find some one in the
village who could take us to Jedaan without going
further, and we sent Ghanim in on the white
donkey. We timed his start and his arrival, for we
could see him all the way ; and, though we had both
calculated the distance at three miles, he did it in
sixteen minutes, for the donkey is extraordinarily
fast, going at a sort of run. Ghd,nim was not long
away, and brought no news that was of any good to
us. Mohammed had been there and was gone, and
nobody could tell anything clear about the Anazeli.
Nearly all the men of the village were away after
kemeyes, and though one person had spoken of
Jediian's being three days' journey to the south, he
either did not know where or was afraid to go with
us. A band of robbers had attacked the village the
night before and carried off horses, camels, and sheep
belonging to a caravan. So, having wasted half the
morning, we went on in the direction of Tudmur,.
that is to say to the south west.

Our way lay up a long broad valley, with a line
of perfectly regular cliffs to our left and tall hills to
our right. Down this the wind blew AA'ith a violence
which I can only compare with a Mistral in the
valley of the Ehone, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that the camels could make head against

.'CH. XVII.] An Oasis, 37

it. It was bitterly cold in spite of all our cloaks
^nd wraps, and we were chilled to the bone. Thus
we struggled on for about ten miles, when we came
to the head of the valley, where there stood the
Tuins of a tower ; and here we again hit upon the
€aravan road, and, immediately afterwards, on ]\Io-
hammed, who had been all over the country looking-
for us and, by his account, must have ridden some-
thing like forty miles. His white mare looked as if
what he said Avas true. He told us that the hills to
our right were the Jebel Amiir, noted for robbers,
and wished us to push on to Arak, another village
some way in front of us, but we have had enough of
struggling against the wind for to-day, and having
come to a place where there is sufficient shelter, we
have stopped. It is horribly cold, and the poor
beasts will have a sad night of it.

March 29. — A good watch was kept all night by
Mohammed and Ghanim, who never seems to sleep
except sometimes on one of the camels in the day-
time, and we made an early start, the wind less
violent than yesterday, and no longer in our faces.
At twelve we got to Arak. Like Sokhne, it is
a wretched little place, containing perhaps fifty
houses, and surrounded by a mud wall, which looks
a,s if a man determined to get in might easily push
it down. Arak's raison d'etre appears in a spring of
indifferent water, sufficiently abundant to irriga.te
some dozen acres of land, now green with barley.
It would seem, according to Mohammed, that there

2)S Bedouin Tribes of the Ettpliratcs. [ch. xyh.

is a chain of siicli little villao;es at irreoular intervals
all along tlie foot of the hills from Damascns to the
Euphrates, oases one may call them. Of these,
Tudmur is the most important. Their existence
must have begun in ancient times as halting-places
on the Palmyra road, and they were very likely of
importance then, but now they represent only just
the value of the land their springs can irrigate.
Like all the villages bordering on the desert, they
are dreary to the last degree, every blade of grass
and every stick of brushwood having been devoured
for miles round them. It is at or near Arak, how-
ever, that Mohammed tells us his ancestor the
23rophet is buried, and he will not admit that it is
not an important place. Mohammed ibn Hanafiyeh
ibn Ali ibn Abu-Taleb, — such is the holy man's
name who converted Arak, then a Kafir town, to
Islam, and from whom our Mohammed AbdaUah
claims descent.

The only interest these little desert villages
have is, that they give one a good idea of what
the towns in Central Arabia must be like. I fancy
there is no clifierence between them and the vil-
lages of the Jof, or indeed of any part of Arabia.
The population, though not quite pure, is mainly
composed of real Arabs, and has little in common
w4th that of the Syrian towns beyond the language.
Mohammed tells us that several of the best families
here and at Tudmur came from the Beni Laam, one
branch of which is settled beyond Bagdad, and

cii. XVII.] We Make Acquaintance with Robbers. 39

another in the Jof. He took us in to drink coffee
with the Sheykh of the viJkxge, a very worthy okl
man, whom we found surrounded by his friends,
and among them a party of the Amur roLbers,
whom ]\Iobammed chaffed considerably about their
profession, asking them why they had not paid us
a visit kist night and saying that the Beg had been
waiting to receive them, and woukl have made them
a present of all his spare bullets. The men laughed
and said tbey wished they had known. As it was,
they had stolen a donkey and a gun from some
passers by. The Amiir are a tribe and not a mere
baud of robbers, nor are they all at war with society;
but they have no Sheykh, and each man sets up his
tent where he likes and behaves as he likes. They
are sometimes joined by deserters and escaped felons,
but not in any great numbers ; and the villages of
Tudmur, Arak, and Sokhne send their camels and
sheep to graze with the more respectable of them in
the spring, and eat and drink with them when they
meet. They are, all the same, a very low tribe
indeed, and neglect even the virtue of hospitality to
strangers. If you dismount at their tents, Mo-
hammed says, they strip and rob you.

Wilfrid was anxious to visit a camp of these
Amur, of which the robbers we had made ac-
quaintance with, said one was close by, so ]Mo-
liammed, who seems to be on good terms with
everybody in the country, offered to go with him.
He had a reason, too, of his own for this, as he

40 Bcdo7iiii Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xa-ii.

wanted to see after a filly he has with the Amiir
at grass, and to order some sheep for our entertain-
ment at Tudmur. The two set off then together,
while I, not caring to go so far out of the road, for
I was tired, went on alone to overtake the camels.
I found them in the plain of Tudmur, across which
we marched steadily all the afternoon. About three
o'clock I saw a horseman galloping from the hills
to our right, hut not quite in our direction, and
guessing by the stride of the animal that it might
be Hagar, I hastened on and found Wilfrid. He
had had a most successful expedition. He and
Mohammed had found the Amur camp, and drunk
coffee with the robbers. He says they are just like
any other Arabs, only that their tents are the
smallest he has seen. All of them had seemed on
perfectly good terms with Mohammed, who had
kissed the men whose tent they stopped at, as if he
had been their Sheykh, and such indeed they had
called him, either out of compliment, or, as Mo-
hammed would make out, because of his prophetic
descent. The filly was found to be well, and Salah,
the Amur in charge of her, had been ordered to
bring her and three sheep to Tudmur the next day.
Then they had galloped on to join us, Mohammed
having long ago been left behind by Hagar, who did
the six miles, for such we calculated the distance at,
in a little over twenty minutes. She is a wonderful
mare.

The ruins of Palmyra now began to show very

CH. XVII.] Longings for Home. 41

conspicuously under the hills in front of us. They
are evidently of the same date as those at El Haddr,
and the modern town occupies the palace just as it
no doubt would at El Haddr, if El Haddr should
be again inhabited. There are a few palm trees
and some gardens beyond it and, still further on to
the south, what seems to be a lake. But I leave
descriptions for to-morrow. It was quite late
before we arrived, and we have had great difficulty
in persuading Mohammed to allow us to camp out-
side the village, instead of enjoying the hospitality
of his father's house. But, by promising an early
visit to-morrow, we have succeeded, I hope, in
assuaging his wrath. We saw a cuckoo to-day
sitting on the ground in the middle of the plain,
and several swallows have come almost into our
tent. Wilfrid, too, has heard a bird sing, he says,
and begins to talk of England in a w^ay I have not
heard him do all the winter. This makes us more
than ever anxious to get on with our mission, for as
such we now look upon it, to the Anazeh, and then
turn our steps homewards.

CHAPTER XYIII.

" With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for them-
selves."— Book of Job.

Politics iu Tudmtir — A blood- feuti — Ali Bey tho Circassian — In-
trigues and counter-intrigues — A meeting in camp — The
Mudir lectui'ed on liis duties — News of the Anazeh.

March 30. — Mohammed's family consists first
of all of liis father Abclallah, Sheykh of the village
of Tudmiir, an old man of seventy, who, as is usual
among the Arabs when they get infirm, gives in to
his son in all things and leaves him practically at the
head of the house. Then there are Mohammed's
two wives, who of course occupy a separate apart-
ment, and his mother and some sisters. He has
only one child, a little girl of three, and is very
downhearted at having no sou, for it is a disgrace
to be what they call childless in these countries,
that is without male offspring. He talks of
going next year iu consequence to the Jof and
getting a third wife of his own people, the Beni
Laam. He complains that there are very few
" noble " families in Tudmur, and hardly any
choice for him of a bride among them, for though
common wives are to be had in plenty, and at
the price of only ten pounds apiece as compared

CH. XVIII.] Mohammed^ s Family.

with the forty pounds payable for one of noLle
hirth, he scorns to ally himself basely, and would
not take a bourgeoise " even as a present." His
mother was a ]\Ioali, though not of the family of
the Sheykhs, and he considers himself at least half
a Bedouin. The " noble families " of Tudmur are
those which trace their origin from the Nejd, having
come in, as we say in England, " with the conquest,"
while the rest are mere Syrians, or, at best, Arabs
from the Euphrates. Of the former Abdallah is
Sheykh, and there is a second king in this Brent-
ford, a Sheykh of the base-born. In old times, that
is to say twenty years ago, before the Turks got
possession of the town, the two classes were at con-
stant feud and often at war. One of Mohamvued's
micles was killed in a fvay of this sort, and most of
his ancestors seem to have met with violent deaths.^''
Abdallah's house, to which we were taken early
this morning, is just inside the gate of Tudmur,
forming in fact almost a part of it, for several of
the rooms, used as stables and for stowing away
goods, are built into the masonry of the old tower.
It commands a fine view of the inner town, which is
to me all the more interestinof from beino- filled with
modern houses, as these from their meanness set
off the ancient walls and temples to advantage.
This inner town was in old times no doubt a forti-
fied palace after the fashion of the building we

* Compare the state of things mentioned by Mr. Palgrave as
existing in the Jof, before its coucLuest by Ibn EashiJ.

44 Bcdoiun T^'ibcs of the Euphrates, [en. x^•II^.

found at El Hadclr, and both must be nearly of the
same date. It is square, and the walls have at
some more recent time been built up again and
patched out of the older Eoman materials, for the
gateway is Saracenic. The effect of this medley,
though architecturally a barbarism, is very pictur-
esque and serves to mark the history of the place.
Some of the blocks of stone are prodigious enough
to move to admiration, even the Tudmuri, who will
have it that they were put there by Siiliman ibn
Dtioud. Others on the contrary affirm that the
English once had possession of the country, long
before the days of Solomon, and were the real
builders of the city. We have constantly been
asked about this latter point of history, both here
and. in JMesopotamia, but are quite una1)le to ac-
count for the belief, which is certainly prevalent, of
England's claim to all this part of Arabia. The
belief would be strong enough to prepare the way
for any new occupation or annexation, if such were
ever projected.

While we were waitino- for breakfast, which
Mohammed was very busy preparing for us with his
wives, his foxy-faced uncle Hassan appeared, having
come in with the caravan from Deyr yesterday
morning. We had seen nothing of him since
leaving Bir, but somehow or another, probably
while we were waitino- in the neiohbourhood of
Sokhne, he had passed us on the road and had
pushed on night and day to get home, for fear of

cii. xviii.] The Jlhidir of Ttidniiw. . 45

uccidents. He was accompanied by the jMudiiv
whom we recognised as our old acquaintance Ali
Bey, the Circassian brother-in-law of the Pasha of
Aleppo. Tlie Mudir seemed delighted to see us, a."?^
Avell he might be, for he is the only foreigner resi-
dent in Tudmur, and cannot speak more than a few
words of Arabic. He poured out at once to us in a
strange mixture of Arabic and Turkish, and in the
ridiculously plaintive voice Circassians affect, his grief
at having to reside in such a place, relating aloud
in the most iiaive way before a mixed audience of
Tudmuri that there was not a soul fit for him to
associate with in the town. As for occupation or
employment there was nothing, nothing that a
gentleman could concern himself with. His duties.
were a degradation, trying to collect taxes from
people who would not pay, and attending to
robbery cases without soldiers or police to support
his authority. He was afraid of the people in the
town, and of the people out of it. On one occasion
he had been attacked by some Amur in the desert
and got his knuckles hurt in the tussle, but he was
well mounted and had got away. If he had known
what a forlorn place he was coming to he would
never have left Aleppo. He had written to his
sister, the Valy's wife, to complain of being treated
thus, and to say that he would not stay another
month in Tudmur for all the gold of Stamboul.
The o'ood-natured Tudmuri listened to this with
rather contemptuous faces, but besought him to

4-6 Bedouin Ti'ibcs of tJic EitpJirates. [ch. xvni.

have patience and trust in God. He did not liow-
ever seem to see things in this light. His only
companion and confidant was the mejlis or tax-
gatherer, a Turk from Erzeroum, long-settled at
Deyr, who wore Constantinople clothes and a fez,
and looked very dirty. With him he every now
and then relieved his mind in Turkish, or made
him his interpreter and go-between with the
Tudmuri. We do not like this man on account
of his villainous face, though Mohammed assures
us that he is a good fellow and a friend of his own.
When we had all sat talking thus in a friendly
way for some little wdiile, and finished our break-
fast, ]\Iohammed, inspired by some evil spirit,
suddenly bethought him of a letter which Huseyn
Pasha had entrusted him with for the Mudir, and,
without consulting us on the prudence of delivering
it, handed it to Ali Bey.'" We saw that a mistake
was being committed, but it was too late to inter-
fere, and we could only watch the functionary's
face as he read it and try and guess its contents.
That they were not altogether to our advantage we
were soon aware, for Ali Bey's manner suddenly
became diplomatic, and he began to talk about the
dano'ers of the desert, the disturbed state of the
Bedouin tribes, ghazus, hardmi and the rest, ac-
cording to the ofiicial formula, and to suggest that

* The Arabs pronounce " Bey " as if it were "written with a g. I
liave therefore spelt it with a y only when it occurs as the title of
a Turkish official.

CII. XVIII

] New Vexations. 47

instead of staying encamped outside tlie town we
should come with all our property to reside in
Abdallah's liouse. In this proposal Mohammed
was of course as our host bound to join, and then
the foxy-faced Hassan chimed in with a suggestion
that we should put ourselves entirely into his
hands ; he would show us everything we wanted to
see, and make every arrangement for us we wished
made, and see us safely on to Damascus. Our
hearts sank at this new turn things seemed to be
taking, and we dared say nothing about the
Anazeh. We have refused, however, to move
from where we are, saying that it Avill be quite
time enoug;h to do that when arrang-ements have
been made for our further journey. At present we
have the ruins to see, and also we expect a friend
to join us from Aleppo, for we still cling to the
hope that the Consul may yet come to our rescue.
Wilfrid, however, is very desponding about it,
and nearly had a serious quarrel this afternoon with
Mohammed. He was in an irritable mood, because
Mohammed had joined with the Mudir in bothering
us with this proposal of moving our camp ; and it
came to a crisis when a townsman, recommended by
Mohammed as an intelligent blacksmith, drove a
lonsf nail into Has-ar's foot, for her shoes wanted
replacing. This made the cup of bitterness run
over, and we left Abdallah's house in anger. Per-
haps it was fortunate that the explosion occurred,
for it led to an explanation, the result of which is

48 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLphrates. [cu. xvin.

that Moliammecl is to say distinctly to-morrow
whether or not he will help us to go to Jedaan.
At present he maintains that there is no news of
the Anazeh at Tudmur, and thinks we had better
go on to Damascus, unless we are prepared to wait
on indefinitely here. We cannot make out whether
this is a fact, or only the roundabout way Arabs
employ in refusing to do a thing. The Arabs are
always like the son in tlie paral)le wlio said he would
go to the vineyard and went not. They never re-
fuse point blank to perform a service.

x\s we were leavinoj the town, the Mudir and
his attendant joined us and politely offered to show
us over the ruins. We went with them as in duty
bound, but we were far too pre-occupied to be
greatly interested, though we made pretence of
counting the columns and reading the inscriptions,
'pouv nous donner une contenance. It was very
hot and the Mudir soon got tired of walking about
in the sun, so at last we have got rid of him, and
are enjoying a few hours of quiet with the tent
looped up, in full hot weather rig, and the comfort-
able sight of our camels and mares, making the most
of their day's rest, in front of us.

Marcli 31. — AVe had a gloomy consultation this
morning, Wilfrid and I, about what was next to be
done. We have come so far and achieved so much
of what we originally put before ourselves as the
object of our journey, that it seems impossible now
we should abandon its comj^letion. Yet luck has

cir. xviic] Hoping against Hope. 49

turned against us, and a barrier of small difficulties,
every day accumulating, bars the way to the last
and most interesting scene of our adventures. It
Vv^ould be too hard, if, after getting up with so much
care and so much success all the minor characters
of our play, Hamlet himself should have to Ijc left
out. Yet we are threatened with the prospect of
finishino' our tour amono; the Bedouins without seeinc;
Jedaan, indeed a lame and impotent conclusion.

The great plain, which stretches southwards l3e-
fore us to the horizon, contains the object of our
hopes, but how are we to reach it ? We could,
indeed, start a] one with sufficient water to last us
for two or even three days, but we might Ije weeks
wandering about before lighting upon the Anazeh
camp. If only we could get information of tlie
direction it would be enough, and we would not
stay a day longer here, l>ut who is to tell us? It
was aOTced at last that AV^ilfrid should make a final
effort with ]\Iohammed, and then, if that fciiled,
that I should remain here with the camp while he
and Ghanim rode in on the two mares to Homs, the
nearest town, about a hundred miles off, to get
information about j\Ir. S., for Homs is a station of
the Syrian telegraph, and perhaps find some agent
of the Anazeh, such as there are in all the great
towns, Avho would assist us. They might be back
in five days, and by that time, who knows but the
Anazeh or Mr. S. might have arrived. AVitli this
plan he Avent in to breakfast at Abdallah's, while [

50 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvm,

stayed, intending to have a morning's rest. But
Wilfrid was no sooner gone, than the inhabitants of
Tudmnr, women as well as men, began to arrive at
the camp, and made themselves so very disagree-
able ])y their impertinence, that I have made up
my mind on no account to be left here alone if
Wilfrid goes to Homs, as he proposes. Fortunately
]\Iohammed's mother and one of his wives hap-
pened to come out to pay me a visit, just as the
whole party of my tormentors were beginning to
svvarm like bees into the tent, in spite of all Hanna
could do to prevent them ; and, thus reinforced, we
manasjed to hold our own. The women told me
that the people of this town are very ill-behaved,
real "men of Belial," and that they themselves
dare not go about alone. They brought me a
present of lebben, and heUdai, a sort of sweetmeat,
of which I am particularly fond.

At two o'clock, Wilfrid came back with the de-
lightful news that everything is once more arranged.
But how many times we have already l)een de-
ceived ! I count on nothing. By way of making-
better friends with jMohammed, AYilfrid yesterday
sent him by Hanna a cloak and a pair of boots,
just as he Avould have done to a Bedouin sheykh ;
and it appears that, though the gifts are of small
value, the compliment has been much appreciated.
On arriving at x^bdallah's house, AVilfrid found a sort
of family council going on, and a letter being read,
which had just arrived l)y a messenger from Deyr.

cii. xviii.] A Conversation in Temple of Situ. 51

They did not tell him at once what it was about,
but by a little manoeuvring, for it is always a
difficult thino; to manao;e a tete-d-tete amono; these
sociable people, he got Mohammed alone, under
pretext of going to see the Temple of the Sun.
This stands inside the present town, and is used as
a stable ; and by good luck he and Mohammed were
allowed to go away to look at it unattended by any
of the busybodies who generally dog one's steps.
When they had climbed to the top of the l;»uilding
and were out of all earshot, Wilfrid spoke seriously
to Mohammed, and told him that we were resolved
at all hazards to go to Jedaan, that we had left
Deyr with no other purpose than to do so, and that
if he, Mohammed, would not go Avith us there, we
must look out for somebody else that would. He
added, ^^'hich was true, that we had taken a fancy
to himself, and that if he would do us this service
we should consider him as our brother. Lastly, he
clinched the argument with the promise of an
immense present, twenty mej idles (nearly 4/.) on
the day that we should set foot in Jedaan's tent.
I don't know which part of the argument con-
vinced him, but Mohammed's manner, Wilfrid says,
changed at once, and he promised that henceforth
he was our servant, to do what we should tell him,
and as a proof of his sincerity, informed Wilfrid
that the ]\ludir's letter had contained instructions
from Huseyn to send us on forthwith to Damascus.
" But," he added, " Deyr is a long way off, and we

£ 2

52 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xviu.

need not pay any attention now to the Paslia, Avliile
as for Ali Bey, lie is a mere ass. All the Tudmuri
laugh at him."

On their way back to Abdallah's house, Mo-
hammed went on to explain that a letter had
arrived this morning from Deyr, which relieved
him of all anxiety to please Huseyn. Wilfrid
naturally supposed that it had contained some dis-
agreeable news, but the contrary is the case. It
appears that there has been a long-standing rivalry
between Mohammed's family and that of the bour-
geois Sheykh, which of them should be acknow-
ledged as Sheykh of Tudmur by the Government.
Huseyn, in whose district Tudmur lies, had been
appealed to by both, and a decision had just been
given, not, as one would have supposed from Mo-
hammed's readiness to act against the Pasha, against
Abdallah, but in his favour. j\Ioliammed seemed
to think that, now the point was gained and nothing
more could be expected, his obligation ceased ; but
this is the common rule among the Arabs, with
whom gratitude is unknown, even as the expectation
of future favours.

Abdallah was at once made confidant of the
arrangement, and became very cordial with Wilfrid,
whom he assured was as a son to him, and then one
visitor after another, until I believe that the Avliole
town knows of it, except Ali Bey. But Mohammed
has undertaken that the thing shall be done, and
says it docs not matter who knows of it. The

CH. XVIII.] Hdnna falls Homesick. 53

most important bit of news, however, is that a man
]\Iohammed sent some time ago to gather truffles in
the Hamad, has come back with the news of the
Sebaa being within three days' march, sixty or
seventy miles, of Tudmur, coming slowly north.
Tlie man states that he saw young Meshur ibn
Mershid, the Gomussa Sheykb, the same who is
said to have killed Ibn Shaalan, and who sent us
the message of invitation when we were at Aleppo.
It seems he is a friend of Mohammed's, who now is
quite as eager as w^e are to be off, for Mohammed
piques himself on his Bedouin connection, and his
friendship with the Anazeh sheykhs, though I Ije-
lieve he does not know Jedaan. We have only the
]\Iudir now to settle with ; and, now that w^e have
the support of Mohammed's family, we need no
longer hesitate to speak plainly of our intentions.
This Wilfrid intends doino; to-morrow.

It is tremendously hot, and the desert to the
south looks like a simmering furnace ; but the truffle
hunter, who came from it with the news and who
was here just now, has pointed us out a little tell
on the far horizon, from which he says that you
can see another, and that from that one you can see
Ibn Mershid's camp, so that it no longer looks to us
the absolutely trackless waste it did this morning.

Ajyril 1. — This morning Hanna came to me in
tears, and announced his intention of leaving us.
He has been ailing for some days with home-sickness,
eats nothing, and I think feels the heat of the sun.

54 Bedottin Ti'ibes of the Euphrates, [ch. xvm.

Moreover, yesterday after dinner lie lieard Wilfrid
say, by way of accounting for ]\Ir. S.'s non-appear-
ance, tliat he thought the Consul must be dead ;
whereupon he rushed out of the tent howling, and
then sat down on the ground, drew his cloak over
his head, and refused to move or speak for the rest
of the evening. Now, he has had terrible dreams
about his children, whom he has made up his mind
he shall never see again, and insists tlmt he must
iTO home at once. It is no use arQ;uiiio; with him,
poor man, and we cannot be angry, for he has
served us three months without a grumble, and put
up with all sorts of hardships, and shown an
amount of courage which could hardly have been
expected of him, mere Christian of Aleppo that he
is. He thinks, too, that we have been deluding
him all along with false hopes of meeting the
Consul, to whom he is attached, and now he says,
" You tell me the Consul is dead! Boohoo ! boohoo ! "

What is really j)i'ovoking is that Ferhan, the
faithful Agheyl, who hitherto has done his duty,
and more than his duty, without a word of com-
plaint, has followed Hanna's suit, and now com-
plains of being overworked, and of having been
deceived into undertaking a journey he never bar-
gained for. Neither he nor Hiinna will go to the
Hamad with us. They have had enough of the
desert, and propose joining a caravan which is
starting for Horns in a few days, and getting home
as fast as they can. AVe hardly know what to do

(11. XVIII.] Mutiny in Camp. 55

or say to all tins, beyond hoping that they will
think it over, and suggesting how many valualjle
articles there will be for division amono- the servants
when the journey is over and the camp broken up.
Money they protest they do not care about. Wliat
good will it be to them if they are taken out to die
in the wilderness ? But I am sure the thought of
the pots and pans he may inherit by persevering to
the end will go far with Hanna, and Ferhdn is too
good a creature to desert us if Hanna stays. So
I have given them till this evening to make up
their minds.

Everything else is arranged. We went this morn-
ing in state to the Mudir's, and he received us with
many apologies in the wretched liovel he inhabits.
It is a ground-floor without flooring, windows, fur-
niture, or anything to make it comfortable, and
looks more like an empty stable than an official
residence. However, Ali Bey is a well-bred man,
<and did the honours of his " serai " with the utmost
politeness. A little comedy then began, the details
of which had been arranged beforehand with Mo-
hammed ; and after the usual compliments and the
usual cups of coffee, Wilfrid informed the Mudir
that we were come to say goodbye, that we had
just heard of the arrival of the Anazeh in the
neighbourhood, and were starting for their camp in
the morning. Ali Bey in his broken Arabic began
to expostulate, but Mohammed and the rest of the
audience, who had been packed for the occasion.

56 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphraies. [ch. xvm

would not allow liim to go on, and overwhelmed
liini with a torrent of words. He had been un-
lucky enough to remark that the Bedouins were
robbers, and this was the signal for loud expostula-
tions from the crowd. " No, no," they called out,
" the Anazeh are quite another thing from the Amur
and the people you, Ali Bey, are accustomed to in the
desert. The English Beg knows better than that."
" But," argued the Mudir, " what does the Beg want
with the Anazeh that he must go off to them
to-morrow. Why cannot he Avait till they come
here % " Wilfrid : " We are obliged to be back in
our own country, and cannot afford to wait, and we
cannot go without seeinsf the Anazeh. In our own
country it is the custom to travel for sight-seeing,
just as in yours for trade. He who sees most gets
most honour (akram), and if I were to return to
my friends and to tell them, ' I have seen Bagdad,
and seen Aleppo, and seen the Shammar in Meso-
potamia, and Deyr and Palmyra, but I did not see
the Anazeh,' they would laugh at me, and my
journey would be a shame (aib) to me." Now the
word a'ih is in constant use, and I may say abuse,
among the Arabs, both in its literal sense and
metaphorically ; as we say in English, " it will be
a shame if you don't give me sixpence ; " and on
this occasion it exactly suited the understandings of
the audience, and they applauded the sentiment
loudly. "You see," they echoed to Ali Bey, "it
will brino- shame on the Be"' if he does not see

o o

cii. XVIII.] lie arg7ic 07ir Case at tlic Scra'i. 57

.Tedaaii." Still the Mudir made a feeble attempt at
opposition, on the score of his having no soldiers to
send with lis as escort. But it was unanimously
voted that soldiers would he quite out of place on
an expedition of this sort. To arrive with an escort
would in its turn bring " shame " on Jedaan, and
that could not be thought of, for Jedaan is a power
in Tudmur. As a last resort, the good man pro-
posed to go himself with us, and we of course had
to express great delight at the idea. But Hassan,
who has been taken into confidence about the
twenty mej idles, took the ]\Iudir aside and told him
in a whisper, that he really thought a man in his
position had other business to attend to than that of
running about after Frank travellers among the
Bedouins, and Ali Bey was quite nonplussed ; so,
like other functionaries overpowered by popular
clamour, lie has washed his hands of anything that
may happen, and has let us have our own wa}'.
Indeed, I do not see exactly how he could prevent
us if he would, and we are to start to-morrow
mornino'.'"

o

The rest of the day we have been spending in
looking at the ruins, which we are now better able
to appreciate than we were yesterday, and in paying
Abdallah a farewell visit, and in making a few pur-
chases. Mohammed has made AVilfrid a present of

* We have siuce heard that Ali Bey did not hold out at his post
more than ten days longer. He was seized with a panic and fled
to Deyr.

58 BedGuin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xviu.

a stone head lie dug up here last year, a relic of no
great value, but authentic. It has probably served
to decorate an arch, after the fashion of the
sculptures at El Haddr. Indeed, the architecture
of both places is singularly alike. Abdallah tells
hie that no Franks have been to Tudmur for the
last two years. Formerly some came every spring ;
but lately, for some reason he cannot explain, they
have not appeared here. Still Palmyra must be too
well known for any description of the ruins to be
necessary. I asked him whether he regretted the
old state of things before the Turkish occupation,
and he told me " No, it was better now, for the taxes
were levied more regularly. When the town was
tributary to the Bedouins, one never knew when
they would be satisfied. The feuds, too, in old
times made life insecure." So even Turkish govern-
ment seems to be better than none at all. The
]\Iesrab, a section of the Eesallin tribe of Sebila
Anazeh, used to levy tax on Tudmur, and exercise
tlie rio'ht of escortino; travellers there, l)ut now all
is changed, and the route from Damascus through
Karieteyn is quite safe. The old man has been
very kind to us all the time we have been here, and
we have taken leave of him with reoret.

A last attempt at delaying our journey has been
made. We were ridino; out of the eate of Tudmur
wdien Hassan met us, and with an air of importance
laid his liand upon my marc's bridle. He bego'ed

(ir. xviii.] A Last Scare. 59

me to listen to Avhat lie had to say, and then in-
formed me in a whisper that had news had arrived
from the desert. A young Tudmm^i had just re-
turned from a truffle-hunting expedition, and had
been robbed and stripped by a party of Roala
whom he had been unlucky enough to meet. Iljn
Shaalan, the Koala Sheykh, was marching in force
ao-ainst the Sebaa, and it would be most dano'erous
for us to 2:0 out at this moment. I did not know
what to make of this story, for Hassan is by way
of being in our interests, and has even talked of
going with us ; but Wilfrid, as soon as he heard it,
pronounced it to be nonsense, and told Hassan to
bring the young man that we might question him.

AVe had not lono- to wait before Hassan made his
appearance, followed by a rather stupid-looking
youth. A very few questions sufficed to show that
the tale had been got up for the occasion, and the
answers w^ere so absurd, that JMohammed from the
very first lost control of himself and burst into a
loud peal of laughter. The laughter was catching,
and soon the whole circle of listeners had joined in
it, including the youth himself, wdio, wdien some-
Ijody took hold of his very respectable mashlahlb
(cloak), asking if that was the cloak the Roala had
robbed him of, no longer attempted to deny that
the whole story was a romance. What Hassan's
object was we could not discover, but he evidently
wished to prevent our starting to-morrow.

CHAPTER XIX.

The odd trick and four by honours — A fast forty minutes— The
Consul at last — "We start for the Hamad — Song of the desert
lark — A real ghazii — Looking for the Anazeh — Jebel Ghorab
— We discover tents — Jedaan — Married for the fifteenth time
and yet not hajipy — Blue blood in the desert — A discourse on
hors(3-breeding — We are entrusted with a diplomatic mission to
the Eoula.

SONG OF THE DESERT LARK.

Love, love, in vain we count the days of Sprinj

idll

T^=^ird

=S:

-»— *-

>— N^>.-^^-

^|-'2=^^^=?— Fid

-*— *-

^"^gE^^^^^l^r^^F^^j

Lost is all love's pain,

Lost tlie songs we sing

I — ^ — « — ^ — i-.^n^— — I — ^> — I-

# , 3

w

1^

r;^r3=t

ifci!:

3:

~¥^^'^~

cir. XIX.] So;i£- of the Desert Lark.

6r

#

:fa S-->s:

,i-H 1 1

3=E=i^^^^3^

Sun - shine and sum

— r-W — l-^ — ;-• — H*-^ -^ — ■** * • *^* ^ '^9 — M

mer ram,

1*i

:iie^3E^

.# «_

m$^^^

:iq:

S

Win - ter and Sprino
_ S N-

a - gain

/ ^m—m — m '

:E-F^^i^

:E^-

Still the years shall bring,

But we die.

^S — S

^ =^I-^^^ — ^ ^-1

_,_:i.__N_;S__> ^ I .

62 Bedotnn Tribes of the Etiphrates. [en. xix.

£iz^

a

35^r-J-

1

His torcli, love, the sun,

b^^r^^tl

:^

-Jfkz=w.

^ziSi^zr^grzigijrt^

.^2ZZ=

J5> ji.^zi^--g--i;g=i^i-| n^zdz-grgrigrzi^zirzl:

Turns to the stor-niy west.

|^^^V^_.S_i,^'— ^

],ike a fair dream be - gun,

^=^i:L^iiii^i^

?-l-^

i^J^i

:=)-

n^5=E

Clian - ging to jest ; Love, while our souls .

it^

l=^3^^iii

II. XIX.] So;i^ of the Desert Lark.

<3;>

, s\iv one. Still lot us sin

the su'.\

;— ^-JK — a

ii#T;i: li^izziz^

Siiiii and for - p^t tlio rest,

And 80 dio.

~: — I

?•- *•

^■ipi'i! -. — AVo lUMtluT o( us slept iiUK-h last
niii'ht, for wo woro [oo imu'h o-xciun at the thouo'lit
of sitnitinLi, aiul too anxious lest, at tlio last moment,
some aee'ulent slunilJ again ilelay us. Al>out two
o'eloek in the nu>rninir, A\ iltViil, who was roaminsi"
nbout, heard a sounJ of n oiees roniiug through the
ilark towards us from {he I own : iiiul. presently
afterwards. Ferhau rhalleng.'il i\w talkers. Our
hearts sank as we heard a reply in Turkish, and
knew that thev nuist be a parly oi' soldiers, the
very thing we most of all teared. Their arrival.
toi\ reminded us disagreeibly oi' what had hap-
pened at r>ir ; and it was in an\ thing but a pleasant

64 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ru. xix.

voice that Wilfrid, gun in hand, asked them who
they were and what they wanted. " Yarash,
yavash,'^ was the answer f ' Gently, gently "). " We
are soldiers from the Beg and we have a message
for yon." " AVhat Beg ? the ]\Iudir ? " " No, no,
the Beg, the C^onsnl Beg. He arrived last night
at Arak, and has sent us on with a letter." Mr. S.
Avas indeed come, and the joy in camp may be
imagined, Hanna in his usual floods of tears em-
bracing Ferhan, and informing all the world that
he had never been able to believe that the Consul
Avas really dead. We, too, were relieved from a
great anxiety, only, as AVilfrid remarked, it was a
little like winning the odd trick after a desperate
fight, and then finding four by honours in one's
partner's hand. ^Ir. S., it appears, had not left
Aleppo till eight days ago, and then had travelled
day and night on the chance of catching us up, and
had at last Ijroken down within fifteen miles of us
at Arak. There we at once decided to go as fast as
our mares w^ould carry us, and, much to the dis-
appointment of our followers, who were already
calculating on another day's rest, we ordered the
tents to be struck, and a march back to Arak at
the first streak of dawn.

It was still nearly dark when we mounted, but
we would not wait lonij^er than for the rise of the
morning star, and started at a gallop as soon as we
had it for a guide. The zaptiehs on their tired
horses made a show of accompanying us, declaring

cii. XIX.] A Tivclvc Mile Gallop. 65

it was impossible they should allow us to go alone.
But Hagar had quite other ideas, and after the first
two miles they dropped behind and were lost to
sight. And now began the longest gallop I ever
took in my life. It was fifteen miles to Arak, and
we never drew rein till we got to the foot of the
hill behind which the village stands. Wilfrid was
resolved to try what Tamarisk could do, and rode
her himself, leaving Hagar to me. For the first
few miles my mare behaved very well, going on at
her easy stride without any unnecessary hurry, and
allowing Tamarisk to keep up more or less beside
her, but after this, although she was not in the
least excited, she would not be kept at any reason-
able pace. She does not mind uneven ground full
of jerboa holes, and went faster and faster, till
soon Tamarisk and Wilfrid were as much out of the
race as the soldiers were, and yet she would not
be steadied. It was only when we came to the hills
and very broken stony ground, fully twelve miles
from where we had started, that I got a pull at
her and at last stopped her. It was by this time
daylight, and I got ofi* and waited till Tamarisk
appeared toiling along gamely behind. She had
been what is called " ridden " every inch of the
way, and yet she was not really tired, only Hagar's
speed had been altogether too much for her. We
were just forty-five minutes doing these twelve
miles, and Wilfrid and I are in such excellent con-
dition that we did not in the least feel our gallop.

66 Bcdoitin Tribes of the Euphrates, [gh, xix.

The last two miles we travelled at a more sober
pace, and the sun appeared as we rode hi through
the stone gateway of Arak.

We found Mr. S. in the act of mounting to
join us, and for a moment, seeing two figures in
white cloaks and yellow turbans riding up to him,
he w^as quite mystified, for our costume is indeed a
mongrel one, partly European, partly Bedouin, and
partly fellah — the result of accident rather than of
choice. It is not wise for Europeans to adopt a
purely Bedouin dress in the desert, as l^y doing so
they lose all the prestige of their nationality, while
on the other hand hats and riding-habits, at all times
unpractical, are impossible in hot weather. A Be-
douin mashlakh worn over a light suit of European
clothes is convenient, and has the advantage of being
the usual dress of travellers in the desert, but the
kefiye or handkerchief, generally added by them as
a protection to the face, is not nearly so comfortable,
and we have adopted the turban instead. Of all
head-dresses this is the most practical in cam-
paigning. It is equally good in hot and in cold
weather, in wind and in rain. It protects the
head from a blow" as effectually as a helmet. It
can be torn up to staunch wounds. It can be
used as a rope or a girdle. And above all it is
a pillow, the most necessary thing for a cam-
paigner to carry with him. The turban, however,
is the badge of the fellah in these regions, and
does not command respect. Turkish officials wear

cii. XIX.] The Pleasures of Talk. 67

the fez only, while the Bedouins fasten their kefiyes
with an aghaal or camel's hair rope. However,
such is our costume, and it puzzled the Consul
not a little.

I don't think I ever really enjoyed talking for
talking's sake till this morning, but we have been
so long without it. We had so much to tell and to
hear, that for a couple of hours at least our tongues
never stopped an instant. Mr. S. had been detained
by the arrival of his successor at Aleppo, and so had
failed us, but to make up had travelled day and night
since, hoping to find us still at Deyr. At Treyf, he
had learned from some zaptiehs that we had started
from Tudmur, and leaving the valley had struck
across the desert straight for this place. It had been
a hard ride, without food or water for the beasts
for many hours. At Arak the horse he rode could go
no further, and the two mares he was brinoins; for
us began to sufier from sore backs, so he had stopped
short at this last stage of his journey, almost des-
pairing of getting up with us after all. It is
fortunate that his messenger arrived when he did, as
three hours later we should have been off to the
Hamad and out of all reckoning. Then there was
political news to hear, the collapse of the Turks
before Constantinople, an armistice, changes of
ministry, and a thousand other things, to say
nothing of a huge bundle of letters from England,
the first we have received for nearly four months.
These, although hungry for news, we have decided

68 Bcdotiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ih. xix.

nor to open now, nor till we are fairly started home-
wards with our faces towards the west. Good news
is not necessary to make ns happy here, and bad
would only make the rest of our journey a torment,
I think it is wiser so.

The new mares are the chestnut Saadeh Toojan
we bought at Deyr, a really splendid creature, who,
except for a wrung wither, does not seem to have
felt the severe journey she has just made in the
least, and a white Hamdaniyeh Simri purchased
for us by Mr. S. at Aleppo. This last mare was
bred in the Nejd, and was given by Ibn Saoud
five years ago to the Turkish governor of ]\Iecca.
He brought her to Aleppo, and gave her in turn
to the chief Ulema there, who has since used
her only as a brood mare, and to carry him
once a day to and from the Mosque in a saddle
of blue and gold. With the exception of this
very moderate exercise, she had done no work
for three years till eight days ago, and as she is
also in foal it is not sur^^rising if she is a little
stiff. I am very pleased with her, however. She
stands fourteen hands two inches, and has the
most extraordinarily beautiful head ever seen, with
the sweetest of tempers. I am delighted to have
got such an exchange for Tamarisk, whose rough
paces have been wearing me out.

At midday our camels, servants, and Mohammed
arrived, Hiinna running on before to kiss hLs
patron's hand, and I need hardly say to water it

cii. XIX.] Domestic Intyigiics. 69

with his tears. The tents have been pitched in a.
wady below the viUage, and we have spent a de-
lightful day showing to understanding eyes our
property in camels, asses, and camp furniture, and
feasting our eyes on the two lovely mares which
are now to relieve the hard-worked Hao-ar and

o

Tamarisk. A new donkey has been bought for
Mr. S. for five pounds, and the zaptiehs have
been dismissed. Mohammed has brousjlit a lono;-
legged Anazeh with him who turned up this
morning at Tudmur, and who is to take us to
Jedaan to-morrow. Fortunately Arak is not much
out of our road to him. The man, whose name is
Jazzer, is as black as a negro, but his features are
purely Semitic, and according to Mohammed his
■colour is only due to the sun ; as to blood he is
"asil." Ghanim has been delighting us all with
his music, but he and an Armenian Mr. S. has
brought with him, have been fighting already over
the new mares. Each of course wants to have the
custody of them. There are three Christians now
in our camp, for the Consul, besides the Armenian
groom Simon, has brought a Christian servant with
him, and these Avith Hanna have laid their heads
together, as people of the same race or religion al-
ways do in the East when they find themselves in a
majority, to bully Ghanim, They came this evening
with a tale against Ghanim of tobacco stolen by
him out of Wilfrid's bag, but we have taken his
part, and reminded them that he is not our servant,

yo Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cu. xix.

but Faris's, and begged them to treat liim as in
some measure our guest, and in any case to keep
tlie peace. Poor Ghanim ! I daresay liis morals as
to property are not quite pure, but lie is a clieerful,
willing boy, and a genius in his way. His rebab is
our chief pleasure in the evenings after dinner, and
theirs too for that matter.

A'pril 3. — Hanna has been entertaining the
Consul's servant Jurji with a hospitality he must
have learned from the Bedouins. Looking into the
servants' tent last night I found Hilnna lying on
the bare ground without a rug to cover him, and
Jurji snugly wrapped up in Hanna's mashlakh,
and occupying the cotton quilt on which he
usually sleeps. I asked Hanna what it meant,
and whether Jurji was ill, but he answered
simply, "Do not ask me to disturb him. He is
my guest."

We started at half-past six, a merry party, for
the Hamad, Jazzer the long-legged Anazeh leading
the way at a tremendous pace on foot. Our course
lay south-east by south, with a saddle-backed tell
on the horizon before us to mark the way. The
morning was beautiful. A fresh j^reeze had sprung
up in the night and cleared the weather, which had
been sultry for the last few days, and we had the
pleasure of riding our new mares. As we crossed
the barren plain, some gazelles were seen, and then
some bustards. This morning, too, for the first
time, we heard the sweet but melancholy whistle of

CH. XIX.] The Desert Lark. 71

the desert lark, a bird with such a curious soug that
I am surprised no fanciful traveller has ever thought
it worth while to romance about it. It is a little
brown bird with a speckled breast which sits gene-
rally on the top of a bush, and every now and then
makes a short flight showing some light feathers in
its wings, and then suddenly closes them and dives
down to its perch. While it does this it sings a
touching melody.

When we first heard it four years ago in the
Sahara we were quite taken in, supposing it to Ije
one of the Arabs w^ith us, whistling to amuse
himself. The quality of the tone is so like that
of the human voice, that we had some trouble
in tracing the song to its right owner. The
birds generally sit in pairs, and it is only one of
them which sings. The song at the head of
this chapter was suggested by it, and by a cer-
tain air one of our camel men was singing the
same day.

Our party now consists of Hanna, Ferhan and
Ghanim, our own men; of Mr. S.'s two servants;
Jazzer the Mehed ; jMohammed, and a certain cousin
of his, Mohammed of Homs, bound on business to
the Anazeh. It is of him that we bought the
donkey yesterday, and now he has laid out two
pounds of its price in the purchase of another
donkey, no larger than a Newfoundland dog on
which he sometimes straddles, with his feet on the
ground — it is difficult to call it riding. AVe had

72 Bedoiun Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xix,

stayed beliind to eat our luiiclieon of bread and dates
and let the camels go on, led by Jazzer, and now when
we had finished our meal they were some mile or so
ahead. It was just about noon, and the mirage in
the middle of the day quickly swallows up even a
caravan of camels on the horizon, or they get hidden
in a dip of the plain, and ours were now out of sight.
Wilfrid and I galloped on to keep up the line of
communication, which it is very dangerous to lose in
travelling in the desert, and it was well we did so,
for by the time we sighted them the rest of our
straggling party was in its turn lost to view. Wil-
frid then sent me on alone to the caravan with in-
structions to stop it while he galloped back to
collect the stragglers. He found them, with the
Consul at their head, following each other c|uite
unconsciously in a line at right angles to that of
our route, and where they would have got to
Heaven only knows. It was all that he could do
to induce them to alter their course, which they still
declared was that which the camels had taken.
This little incident has made us cautious of keeping
together, and has shown us the advantage of having
at least one person well mounted with a caravan, as,
had we all been riding donkeys and beasts of heavy
burden, we should infallibly have now been scattered
hopelessly over the plain.

After this, we went steadily on till sunset, when
we stopped in a broad wady within sight of certain
hills, from which Jazzer assures us we shall see the

cii. XIX.] A Real Ghazii. 73

Anazeh tents to-morrow. We have come about

thirty miles.

GHANIM'S SONG.

V V M M M M V V

-i — - -• — —^ 1 r^ — um

i — r-

April 4. — Jazzer, for some reason unexplained?
altered his course this morning, and started off south-
east ; and, after passing the tell we had seen yester-
day, a line of low hills came in sight, or as they
turned out afterwards, of cliffs, the edge of an upper
table land. Towards this we advanced obliquely,
keeping a good look-out for tents, which we expected
to find in ever}^ hollow, — for a party of Sleb were
known to be in the neighbourhood. About nine
o'clock Wilfrid thought he saw two men, peeping
over a bit of broken ground about a mile off to our
right, and galloped up to them for news, leaving
me with Mr. S., who made me anxious by saying
that it was very imprudent to ride up in this way
to unknown people by oneself, but by this time
AYilfrid was far away and unconscious of criticism.
Besides, I knew he was well armed and mounted,
and would run no unnecessary risk. Mohammed
too had started off to support him as soon as he
saw what was going on.

As it turned out, it was very lucky AVilfrid went
to them, for in about half-an-hour he returned at
full speed to tell us we were going the wrong
way, that the Anazeh had moved away from the

74 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. xix.

camps where Jazzer had left them, and that we
must strike due south. On riding' up he had
found himself suddenly in the presence of ten.
men hidden in a small wady, with three drome-
daries kneeling down so as to be out of sight, and
armed with spears, while one of them had a match-
lock and another a pistol. Four of the party had
come forward, holding their spears in front of them
in rather a menacing attitude ; but without dis-
mounting, and keeping well out of reach, he had
asked them who they were, and what they were
doing. They turned out to be a party out on a
ghazu, but whether from the Fedaan or the Eoala is
still very doubtful. They said they were from the
former, and that they were going to steal camels
from the latter, but the contrary is just as likely.
They seemed good-humoured fellows, and conversed
in the usual off-hand Bedouin way, informing "Wil-
frid that Jedaan was close by, just over the brow of
the hills I spoke of, and saying we were in the
wrong road. Then Mohammed had come up and
cross-questioned them, and they had all sat down
very amicably, Wilfrid even giving them his rifle to
look at. This, which is a Winchester with fourteen
cartridges, is a never-failing source of delight to the
Bedouins. So, wishing them good luck on their ex-
pedition and a hajDpy return, Wilfrid and Mohammed
had departed. The men's last words were that Jedaan
and Mohammed Duki and Ibn Mershid, and Ibn
Haddal were all together just beyond the hill, ^'jerih.

cii. XIX.] Anxious IMomcnts, 75

jerih,^' (close by, close by). AVitli tliis comfortable
news we accordingly put our camels' beads towards
tbe south.

The plain now began to ascend, and, by follow-
ing the line of a long winding wady, we reached the
crest of the hills, and found them, as I said, to be
only the broken edge of an upper plateau. There,
far and wide before us, the level plain stretched out,
unbroken except by one three-peaked hill, higher
than any we had yet seen, and recognised by Jazzer
as Jebel Ghorab or " Raven's Hill," about ten miles-
away to the south. Of tents or camels nothing
at all was to be seen.

The situation required some speediness of de-
cision, as the information given us by the ghazii
party might be false, and we were advancing into a
thirsty land with a \qxj limited supply of water.
Jazzer seemed in doubt whether to continue in the new
direction or to revert to the old one ; and the rest of
the party were of course without knowledge of the
country, or ability to form an opinion, Wilfrid,
however, decided that the hill was our best chance.
It would serve at least as a look-out from which we
might hope to spy out something, and towards it we
steered. He and Mohammed rode on in front, the
rest of the party keeping them just in sight. As
we came near the hill, whicli is of limestone and
capped with three peaks, I could see Wilfrid and
Mohammed like specks upon the top of it. They
seemed to be wavingf their cloaks but I could not

76 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xix.

see more, it was too far a\yay. They came down at
last with melancholy faces, put on for the occasion,
for they had good news to tell. They had gone to
all three peaks in succession, and from the top of the
last, the furthest south, they had made out tents,
many miles away, indeed, yet certainly tents
and certainly the Anazeh, for the black S2:)0ts seen
covered an immense space from east to west, the
nearest lying due south of us. So, in spite of the
heat, which w^as very great, and of the blank look of
the land we were entering, we went on in high spirits.
In a couple of hours we came upon camels
grazing, and learned from the men ^^dth them that
they were the property of the Mehed, Jedaan's own
tribe, and that we should soon come to their tents.
We were the first people from the outside world, I
suppose, that they had seen this spring, yet they ex-
pressed no curiosity or interest in our proceedings,
and seemed to take our arrival as the most ordinary
thing in the world. Of interference with us or our
affairs there was no sign, and when we asked the
way to Jedaan's tent they answered as simply and
as civilly as any labourers would in England in
pointing out the road to the Squire's house. We
passed thus through immense herds of camels for
another hour, and then came upon tents ; and so went
on and on, till, at the extreme end of the camp, we
found the Sheykh's tent, set in the middle of a patch
of purple stock, with several mares and colts grazing
round it. The first person who came out to meet

cii. XIX.] The Prince of the Desert. 77

us was our old ac([uaintance iVli the Mehdd, whom
we liad plotted with at Deyr, aud whose failure to
meet us at the tiysting place outside had been the
cause of all our difficulties. He apologised very
handsomely for having left us in the lurch, and ex-
plained that the Pasha had got wind of our arrange-
ment, and had threatened to hang him, if he did not
go about his business at once.

He told us Jedaan was in the tent and was expect-
ing us; and presently a middle-aged man, rather
shabbily-dressed and rather ill-mounted on an iron
grey mare, rode up to us and bade us welcome.
There was nothing in his manner, features, or
appearance to proclaim him a man of note. His
face was plain and undistinguished, his address
neither very dignified nor very engaging, his smile
a singularly cold one, — only his eyes were re-
markable by a certain glitter they had, and the pro-
jection of the eyebrows over them. He returned
our greeting gravely, and rode almost in silence with
us to the tent. This was Jedaan, the great captain
of the Anazeh, honoured by them with the title of
Emir el Arab. The first words he uttered, after the
usual compliments had been exchanged, were a ques-
tion as to the breeding of my mare, Sherifa, whose
extraordinarily beautiful head seems to attract all
eyes to her. This struck us as rather rude, and I
had expected, considering their old alliance and
brotherhood, a far greater demonstration of pleasure
b}- him towards the Consul. On the whole we are

78 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphratcs. [ch. xix.

not favourably impressed by tliis great man, and
suspect that the position he has achieved in the
desert has turned his head.

Jedaan is a parvenu, and owes all his position to his
own merit as a man of action and a politician. He
began life as a poor man of no very distinguished
family in the Mehed tribe, itself not one of the most
powerful tribes among the Anazeh. Abd-ul-Kerim,
his friend as a boy and afterwards his enemy, helped
him on at the outset, and then his great courage and
brilliant horsemanship brought him into the notice of
his own people, who being great warriors, elected him
their Sheykh. Still for many years he was only
Sheykh of the Fedaan, and it w\as not till Suliman-
ibn-Mershid's death left the Sebaa like sheep without
ii shepherd, that he was recognised as military
leader of the united tribes. The Sebaa elected him
as their Akid, and he has since had it all his own
way with this section of the Anazeh. In appear-
ance, I have said, he is not prepossessing, his features
are coarse, and his manner wants that w^ell bred
finish, which distinguishes the members of families
really " asil." There is still a trace of the old sub-
missive manner of the poor man, under the dignity
of the Sheykh, His smile seems forced, and his
manner hesitating and abrupt, as if heVas not quite
sure of his position. If it w^as not for his eyes he
•would be unrecognisable as a great man, but these
are like a hawk's, piercing, fierce, and cold.

We have sent him his mashlakh and boots, and

cH. XIX.] Fij^st Impressions of yeddan. 79

Hdnna tells us tlkat wlien lie brouo-lit them to the
tent Jeditan bade him hide them, lest the others
should see what we had given, and he be obliged to
part with some of them. How different to Faris,
who gave all away with a perfectly open hand !
When he came to see us afterwards in our own tent,
he said little and went away suddenly. Either he
is pre-occupied, or he has had his head turned by his
fortune, — one has known people in Europe quite un-
bearable for some months after succeeding? to a
fortune, or a title, or simply after marriage. Dinner
was given us in our own tent, lamb and kemeyes,
lebben and dates. The water is very muddy but
quite sweet. It comes from some pools of rain-water
in the neighbourhood, and rain-water is always good.

In the evening, we received visits from Turki
Jedaan's only son, a loutish fellow unworthy of his
father's reputation, and from a certain Faris-ibn-
Meziad, Sheykh of the Mesenneh, whose blood, Mo-
hammed tells us, is the bluest in all Arabia. Then,
before going to bed, we handed Mohammed the
twenty mejidies we had promised should be his the
day we saw Jedaan. " He is not worth it," we
said, " after all ; but never mind."

April 5. — The Anazeh are on their way north,
or rather north-west, and never stay more than a
couple of nights in the same place, so this morning
the tents were struck, Jedaan waiting out of compli-
ment to us to do so till ours were down. By a couple
of hours after sunrise everybody was on the march,

8o Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [en. xix.

and a fine sight it was. The Mehed camp covers
several miles of ground, and the tents are scattered
about, in groups of ten or a dozen, at intervals of at
least a quarter of a mile, so that it is impossible to
make even a guess at the whole number ; but the
line of camels extended as far as we could see on
either side of us, and the tribe is said to reckon a
thousand tents. Jedaan of course rode with us, and,
as it was the first day of our visit, a fantasia was per-
formed in our honour, much in the same fashion as
that to which Faris had treated us, but done with
less spirit. There seems to be none of that personal
affection for Jedaan among his followers that we
found among the Shammar for their Sheykh, and
Jedaan himself is moody and pre-occupied. He
went through his own part of the performance more
as a duty than a pleasure, and it was soon over. I
am glad, however, to have seen him ride in it, as he
is the most celebrated horseman of the desert, and,
mounted as he was to-day on his big horse, he cer-
tainly gives one a fine idea of Bedouin j)rowess.
His seat on horseback is admirable, a more natural
one to Euro^Dcan eyes than that of most Arabs, who
generally sit crouched on the very shoulders of their
mares. Jedaan on the contrary sits well back, and
his legs hang easily from the knee, while his hand
seems to be very perfect. He was riding a horse
celebrated in the tribe, a powerful four year old of
at least fifteen hands, of which we had already heard,
and showed it off" admirably, but I was disappointed

cn. XIX.] Jeddans Horse. 8i

ill tlic animal. He is a bay Keliilaii Aklinis with
three white feet {inuttlahh esli, sinmdl) and a great
splotch of white down the nose. He has a fine
sloping shoulder and powerful quarters, but the
neck is heavy and the hocks set too high. A
charger, in fact, more than a racer.

Jedaan's son Turki joined clumsily in the man-
oeuvres, but it is evident he is no horseman, and,
from some hints thrown out by the people about
him, I fancy he is half-witted. A boor he certainly
is. Jedaan's secretary, Mehemet Aazil, a native of
(Jrfa, also rode with us, and a little pale-faced, grey-
eyed man whom the Consul recognised as an old
acquaintance. He is the Ulema Abd-er-Rahman
Attar, a doctor of divinity from Aleppo, and a man
of considerable influence among the Anazeh, not on
account of his clerical profession, but from the fact
that his father was a horse-dealer and had had com-
mercial relations with them. He seems to be here
on some sort of diplomatic mission, connected witli
the quarrels of the tribes. The Consul tells us that
this Abd-er-Eahman is really a learned man both in
divinity and law, and an honourable man to boot ;
so that, although he talks Turkish, which somehow
grates upon my ears, and has a wretched town com-
plexion, w^e are making friends with him. He seems
a mine of information about desert history and
politics.

The fantasia over, Jedaan got down from his
horse, and mounted the same scrubby filly he met

82 Bedotiiu Tribes of the Eiiph7'ates. [cu. xis:.

■us on yesterday, and saying that lie had business to
transact elsewhere, put us under his son's escort and
rode away to the left. There is evidently something-
brewing, but whether peace or war we cannot quite
make out. I tliouofht the retainers seemed more at
their ease when the Sheykh was gone. A little
attempt at sport was made, a bustard hawked and a
fox coursed ; but the Bedouins here seem to care little
about such things, being in this strangely different
from their relations in the Sahara. The hawk was
a very large one, larger than the peregrine, and well
under command, for having missed his quarry he
came back at once to his master's call. It is very
pretty to see these hawks, perched two together
on the croup of their master's mare, or on his wife's
howda, and keeping their balance with wings
stretched out. The greyhounds while on the march
seemed perpetually at work coursing something or
other, fox, hare, or gazelle, for the long line of
camels acting as beaters puts up everything before
it for miles. The dogs are small, but show great
breeding, most of them l^eing of the so-called Persian
variety, with long silky ears and tails. The march
was irregularly conducted. A group of horsemen
rode first, but followed no particular line, going first
in one direction and then in another, either from the
inability we have noticed in the Bedouins to keep a
straight line, or possibly looking for pasturage and
camping-ground. Every mile or so they dismounted
to talk and wait for the camels, which came slowly

c". XIX.] Secret Griefs. 83

but surely on behind, feeding as they went. Every
time we thought they intended to encamp, but they
still went on, and it was not till ;il)out one o'clock
that Turki finally stuck his spear in the ground and
told us the tents were to be pitched there. The
place chosen is a likely spot enough, a deep wady,
Wady-el-Helbe, some forty feet below the level of
the plain, and one vast bed of grass and flowers.
"VYe have been turning round Jebel Gliorab all day,
*ind it is still in sight five or six miles off to the
north-north-east. It is very hot, and we are sitting
in the sun ^^'aiting for the camels to come up with
the tents; but my mare is kind enough to let me
make use of her shadow, to a certain extent, while
I WTite. She is too gentle to move away.

Evening. — Jedaan's pre-occupied manner is ex-
plained. He was married two days ago and for the
fifteenth time ! He has confided his woes to ]\Ir.
+S., the most prominent of them being the foolish-
ness of his son, who really is it seems half-witted.
Turki is now twenty-four years old, and is of no use
either in peace or Avar, being an idle, stupid lout,
who cannot even ride. This is Jedaan's secret
misery and the cause of all his marriages, for it is
in the hope of a more worthy heir that he has
married over and over again, and now at the age of
fifty-five has just taken to himself a fifteenth wife.
He came to the Consul this evening with an apology
— ''Amdii, Amdn," he said, (" Peace, peace, forgive

me,") and told his troubles. He is also worried and

G 2

84 Bedoinn Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xix.

auxious about the Roala war, ayIiicIi, as Akid of the
Sebaa, he is obliged to cany on, against his private
wishes and his better judgment, and which it seems
is not going on so satisfactorily as might be wished.
He married his daughter Turkya last year to Ibn
Shaalan, the Roala Slieykh, and although she has
quarreled with her husband he seems to consider
Sotamm as a relation. He has no blood feud or
private quarrel with any of the Roala. The cause
of his leaving us to-day was the marriage feast,
which it is customary for the bride's father to give
to the bridegroom on the third day after the wedding.
A young camel is then killed, and all the relations
are invited. Jedaan's new father-in-law belon<xs to-
the Sirhan, a small Anazeh tribe, and is staying
with Ibn Keshish's ffimily, Sheykli of the Khryssa.
The bride is said to be pretty, though thirty years.
of age^and quite an old maid for an Arab girl. The
reason of her being so long unmarried is sin-
gular. It appears that according to desert law a
girl may be claimed in marriage l)y her first cousin,
and even kept waiting year after year until he
chooses to marry her ov set her free ; and so it has
haj)pened in this case. But, Jedaan 1 )eing a powerfid
2)ersonage, the girl's father has been persuaded to
set aside the cousin's rioiit. Jedaan's mother is also
a Sirhau, and it was she Avho really made the
match ; she is very anxious her son should have a
worthy heir, and she left him no peace until she got
]iis consent to her plan. Still, there seems to be

CH. XIX.] A Pool of Rain IVatcr. 85

some doubt as to wlietlier tlic marnao-c is a Icn-al
one.

As soon as our camels liad arrived at the new
lialting-place, and the tents liad been pitched, wi-
went oft' in search of water for our mares, leaving
the lout Turki sprawling in our tent. The mares
had had none yesterday, and were suffering from
want of it in the hot sun. Jedaan's people ^\•erc'
equally without Avater, but they were either too lazy
to fetch it or indifterent about their beasts' comfort ;
and, though they talked vaguely of water being close
l)y, they made no move towards it. So we Avent
tiway by ourselves with Mohammed in the direction
pointed out to us, and about three miles off found a
large pool of rain-Avater, beyond A\d]ich another Be-
douin camp Avas established. The mares, poor things,
Avere very glad to get their noses into the muddy
AA^ater, and Ave thought Avould never stop drinking.
My Nej dean mare, however, is a very curious drinker.
She only puts the tips of her lijDS to the Avater and
takes several minutes sijiping the amount of a.
bucket full, while Hagar thrusts her Avliole muzzle
in and drinks voraciously.

The tents proved to belong to the Motiyaja, one
of the Sebaa tribes, and, when the mares were satis-
fied, Ave Avent on to pay a visit to their Sheykli.
They were only just arrived, and the Sheykh's tent
was not yet pitched, but he received us in that of
his uncle Ali. Ferhan-ibn-Hedel^ is a young man
of tAVO or three and tAventy, and has the most

S6 Bcdoiiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ru. xix.

distinguished manners of any of tlie Bedouins we
have met, Faris only excepted. He is short in
stature, but very slight and graceful, with exceed-
ingly small hands and feet, and a refined, almost
melancholy, countenance of dark olive hue. He
was very poorly dressed, but there was something
in his air which pointed him out to us at once as a
man of rank and birth. His manner to ourselves
was a type of good breeding — quiet, frank, and un-
obtnisive, and full of kind attentions. He apolo-
gised simply, but with dignity, for the poor reception
he was able to give us. His tribe was the one
which had suffered most from the Eoala war, for, at
the very outset, and before hostilities had actually
been declared, they had been plundered by the
Turkish soldiers whom Ibn Shaalan had got to help
him. These had left the Moayaja without so much
as a tent over their heads, and the wretched awn-
ings under which they are now camj^ed have been
given them in charity by the other Sebaa tribes.
All their cooking pots and pans, things hereditary
in a Sheykh's tent, were gone, and it was all they
could do to muster a copper jug to make us coffee
in. They had no bread, only dates and trufiles ;
but, as Ferhan said, " the kemeyes are our bread just
now, and better than the bread of towns."

Of the war he naturally spoke with some bitter-
ness, and of the treacherous attack made upon his
people by Ibn ShaaMn and the Turkish troops.
Their camp had been surrounded while stopping in

•II. XIX.] Desert Grandees. 87

tlie neigliboiirliood of Hanin, and tlicy had only just
managed to escape with most of their marcs and
camels. The war must now go on till they had got
back what had thus been lost. " And Jedaau," we
asked, " what does he wish in the matter V " War
of course," answered Ferhan. " But in his heart ? "
" Ah, I have not seen his heart." The fact is, they
all know that Jedaan is only half-hearted in carry-
ing on the war. We like these ]\Ioayaja par-
ticularly. They are very different from Jedaan's
peo^^le, who are rough and uncivil. These are ex-
ceedingly w^ell-mannered. Ferhan himself reminds
us of the very best type of Spaniard, a grande
cuhierto. His blood, indeed, is considered the best
among the Sebaa, and Mohammed tells us that,
with Ibn Mershid's, it ranks next to that of the
five great families of absolute nobility, the Il,^n
]\Ieziad of the Hesenneh, the Ibn-el-Hemasdi of
the Ibn Haddal, the Ibn Jendal and the Tayiir of
the Eoala, and the Ibn Smeyr of the Welled Ali.
He told us this as we were riding to-day, and I
asked Ferhan if it was correct, and in what this
absolute nobility consisted. He told us it was so,
and that the five families thus distinguished had at
all times killed a lamb for their guests. " The rest
of us have only learned to do so." *

All's tent w\as partly occupied by a filly and a
bay foal, the latter not a week old and very cn-

* Ibn Shaalan's is only a " noblesse d'opce" of some half-dozen
generations, while Jedaan is a parvenu.

S8 Bedo7iin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. \ix.

gaging. It was tied up, as the custom is, by a rope
round the neck, while its mother was away grazing,
and neighed continually. It was very tame, how-
ever, and let me stroke it, and sniffed at my pockets,
as if it knew that there mi2;ht be some suo-ar there.
Ali showed us his mare, (not the foal's mother,) a dark
chestnut, Abeyeh Sherrak, a strong but rather plain
animal, which would pass as a "handsome cob " in
England. Ferhdn's horse pleased us better, a three-
year-old, Hadban IMshetib, which I preferred infi-
nitely to Jedaan's Kehilan Akliras.

The Ibn Hedeb were very anxious to retain us
with them, but we could not risk offending Jedaan,
by leaving him without saying goodbye ; so we have
promised to come again, and rode home to the
Wady-el-Helbe in a storm of Jiail and rain.

A'pril G. — Lightning in the night and a threaten-
\\\<i of rain. Jedaan came to our tent the first
thing this morning, and talked more openly than
he has yet done ; liut I do not like iiim. He seems
a selfish man, entirely occupied with his own
schemes and ambitions, and lets one see many a
little meanness, which Ijctter breeding would have
concealed. The Seljaa, I fancy, do not like him
either ; but they iwed him, for since Suliman-ibn-
Mershid's death they are without a leader, while
Jedaan has military genius. His heart, all the same,
is not in the war, and it is a curious trait of
manners that last winter, while the war was at its
height, Jedaan, the leader of the Sebaa, should have

rn. XIX.] A Domestic Qjiarrcl. 89

married liis daughter to Ibn Sliaaldn, tlie leader of
tlie Eoala. Whether he did this with a poHtieal
motive I cannot make out, nor do I quite under-
stand his present feelings about the marriage. It
turned out badly, and Jedaan's daughter came back
two or three months ago from her husband, saying
that she could not o-et on with him : and vet Jechian
talks of Ibn Shaalan as having claims on him as
his son-in-law. Of tJie origin of the w\ar he irave
us some account. It appears that from time im-
memorial the Sebaa have occupied the plains of
Horns and Hama as their summer pasturage, paying
a sort of rent to the Turkish Government for this
and the right of trading, amounting to six hundred
camels yearly. Last May, however, the Koala, who
have increased and multiplied greatly of late years,
came forward with an oficr of fifteen hundred
camels, and backed it with a present of fifty mares,
to be distributed among the Government officials of
Damascus, Homs, and Hama ; and thus secure of
support, marched in before the Sebaa's arrival, and
took possession. The Sebda, however, came, and a
battle ensued, in which the Eoala were worsted,
whereupon Sotamm - ibn - Sliaalan applied to the
Turks for help ; and, by subsidising the pasha, ob-
tained from him a body of Turkish infantry to
support his people. These came suddenly upon iXxa,
Gomussa and Moayaja, whom they found isolated,
and surrounded them. The Sebda do not seem to
have behaved very heroically, for they made no

90 Bedouin Tribes of the EtLphrates. [en. xix,

resistance to tlie soldiers ; and allowed themselves to
be pillaged. The troops sacked all the Moayaja
camp, captured fifty mares, and drove off a hundred
and eighty camels, besides three thousand sheep.
Since then a war of reprisals has been carried on,
but Jedaan assures us that not more than fifty men
have been killed on either side.

Jedilan's face improves when he is excited, for
then his eyes, which are really fine, light up sur-
prisingly. I proposed to take his portrait, and he
was much flattered at the idea, and sat with extra-
ordinary patience for nearly an hour, and then
called for his secretary, who wrote Jedaan's name
for us underneath the drawing, adding " Emir el
Arab,^' his new title in the desert, with which he is
as pleased as people are with theirs in England.
The portrait hardly did him justice, for it gave the
ruggedness of his features, without their occasional
fire. I was more successful in a sketch I made of
his daughter Turkya, a pretty and interesting
woman, whom I presently afterwards made acquaint-
ance with.

As soon as Jedaan went away, I paid a visit to
the harem, and found there in the place of honour
Jedaan's first wife, Hazznn, the mother of his three
children. The new wife has a tent of her own.
Hazzna was very gracious, doing the honours of
her household, and of course making me sit in
her place. She has greater remains of good looks
than is usual in a Bedouin mother of grown-up

rn. XIX.] Anazch Ladies. 91

cliiklren, so that when, pointing to Tiirki, who sat
in the tent fondling a baby, she informetl me thot
he was her son, I could truly say I was suipiiscd.
Her countenance is agreeable, her manner, though
amial)le, was rather embarrassed, perhaps because she
wore a gorgeous Bagdad ahha of purple and gold
interwoven, a piece of finery to which she seemed
unaccustomed, and the only instance I have seen
among Bedouin ladies of any attempt at smart
clothes. I asked her about the wife of Ibn Shaalan,
on which she turned to a young girl sitting on her
left with a child in her arms and said, " This is
Turkya." I looked and saw a graceful creature
with a most attractive f^ice, though curiously like
Jedaan. Turkya has the same strangely brilliant
eyes, but without her father's hawklike expression ;
and her face, though the features resemble his and
are far from regular, is really pretty. I made
friends with her at once, and asked her to sit
for her portrait. While she sat, one of Turki's
wives (he has three, and several small children)
squatted by her giggling, and trying to make her
laugh, but she behaved very well. IMohammed
Aazil, the secretary, was rather tiresome, with his
incessant flow of conversation, and indeed so were
the assembled company, who took a great interest
in my drawing, continually interrupting me with
their observations. Their remarks, however, were
all of encouragement and approval, and it always
strikes me as showing a natural superiority of in-

92 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphratcs. [<'h. xix.

telligence in Arabs over Europeans, that tlie former
at once understand tlie merest indication of a sketch
or map, which woukl be meaningless to the un-
educated among \\\(t latter.

I found that Turkya's child, a daughter nearly
four years old, was by a former marriage ; her first
husband, a brother of her father's, died mad about
three years ago. It seems that she was so much at-
tached to him that she even now laments his death,
and that she always disliked her second marriage,
and seized the first pretext for escaping from it.
She now says she cannot go back to Sotamm-ibn-
Shaalan, and wants to remain with her own family.
Jedaan has another daughter, still prettier than
Turkya, a lovely little girl of eleven, named Ariffa.
We saw her yesterday, when Faris - ibn - Meziad,
Sheykh of the Hesenneh, who is here on a visit,
brought her to our tent to '\fLirvaj'' ("gaze") at us.

The half-witted Turki sat silent all the while I
was drawino- but when I had finished and was
o-oino; away, he broudit out three or four revolvers
of English and American make to show me. He
seemed to have a particular fancy for handling
these firearms, pointing them recklessly all round,
to the terror of men, women, and children in the
tent, until the secretary took them away from him.
He then made me a little set speech, from which
it appeared that he was not such a fool after all,
for he had evidently shown me these revolvers only
in order to lead up to the request that I would give

cii. XIX.] Jcddaiis Sou and Heir.

liiiii my own. He wanted it for his mother, lie
said, but slie sat by without joining in his entreaties,
and I only repHed that I coukl not spare it, and
taking leave of Hazzna and Turkya returned to our
tent. When I got back I found that AVilfrid had
decided on going on to Ferhdn's camp this after-
noon. Hanna has been complaining of the rude-
ness of the people here, whom he can no longer
keep out of the servants' tent, and wdio make his
life a l^urden to him. Yesterday, he declares, Turki,
with half a dozen of his friends, lay sprawling all
day long on our carpets and cushions, and when
spoken to by Hanna, called him a "pig" and an
"infidel." This, very likely, is an exaggeration, but
Wilfrid thinks we shall be more comfortable with
the Sebaa, who are well-bred people. Jediian's men
have a bad reputation in the desert for everything
except fighting. We have consequently come back
to the pool where we were yesterday, and Avhere we
find our friend Ferlian deliohted to see us a^-ain.
It is certainly a great pleasure to be among such
polite pleasant people as these Moayaja are.

Jedaan was very tiresome at parting, with an
unreasonable request for a revolver, which we could
not spare him, and he showed, we thought, a great
want of dignity in the matter. On the Avliole, we
were anything but sorry to l;)id him goodbye. We
w^ere hardly, hoAvever, out of sight of the Fedaan
camp before Aljd-er-Rahmau, the learned man from
Alej)po, overtook us, and requested permission to

94 Bedouin Tribes of the E^iphrates. [en. xix.

travel with us. He tlien explained to Mr. S. in
Turkisli, tliat lie had a matter of great import-
ance to communicate to us, and proceeded to
disclose a nesfotiation, with which he had been en-
trusted by Jedaan. I cannot understand why
Jedaan should have chosen this roundabout way of
letting us know what he wanted, especially when
lie must have known we should be delighted to
grant his request. It appears, then, that Jeddan
was struck by some remarks I made this morning
on the folly of letting a p»etty quarrel for pasturage
divide the strength of the Anazeli, when the
Bedouins had in face of them so powerful an enemy
as the Turks, and that it had occurred to him I
might be willing to undertake a diplomatic mission
to the Roala camp, which lies on our way to
Damascus, and endeavour to bring about peace
between the tribes. A council is to be called of all
the Sheykhs of the Sebaa and of their allies, and
the terms of peace discussed, with which I am to
go to the Eoala. Jeddan thinks that most of them
really desire to see the war finished, and that if some
arrano-ement can be come at with Ibii Shaalan
about the pasturage of Hama, l^ygone quarrels may
be fors-otten. Of course I am deliij^hted to think
that 1 can possibly be of use in such a negotiation,
which really it would be worth while to succeed in.
Abd-er-Rahman will go with us as second pleni-
potentiary to explain things better than I can, and
we all intend to do our best to make the mission
successful.

en. XIX.] T/ic Goiimssa and their Horses. 95

As a first step wc have sounded Ferlian about liis
feelings in tlie matter, and lie lias explained that,
although it is impossible for him to speak openly
with his people of making peace, yet he feels sure
that they are tired of the war, and he himself is
•quite willing to forget his losses in it. AVe like
Ferhan immensely. He is so straightforward and
.sensible, and shows high-minded ideas on every
subject we have discussed. We have given him a
•cloak and boots, both of which articles, poor fellow,
he is much in want of, and, unlike the rest who
have received these ]^)resents from us, he has put
them on himself, understanding that this pleases us.
The tribe is quite ruined, and the Sheykh's mother
has had to borrow a cooking-pot of Hanna to boil
the lamb in for our dinner. Ferhan is not married,
but lives with his mother jind another widow of his
father's, a pretty quiet woman, who has a child two
3^ears old, Ferhan' s half-brother. His father ]Majun
died two years ago.

Several Arabs of the Gomussa have been here
talking principally about horses, for they are the
great breeders of horses in the desert. Amono-st
•others they spoke of a w^onderful mare, a ]\leleyha,
which they said a certain European had once offered
GOO/, for, when they were in their summer quarters
near Aleppo ; but the manner of his dealing seems
to have impressed them with the idea that he was
.out of his mind, and they would not sell the mare.
They mixde very merry over this. AYe asked them

96 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xix.

tlic usual question about tlie horses of Nejd, and
the existence of separate breeds there, and they
o-ave the usual answers. AVe also asked whether
they had ever heard of a mixture of blood having
Ijeen effected with English or other horses, as some
peoj^le pretend has been the case with the Anazeh
stock. At first they could not understand our
question, but when they did they were rather indig-
nant. " All that is a lie," they said, " and absurd.
Our horses are the same as those of our forefathers,
])efore they came from Nejd, and the same as those
of the tribes which have remained there." None
of them have ever seen or heard of an English
horse, which would of course be a hadwh (mongrel).
All horses but their own were Jcadiskes, not worth
talking about. Abd-er-Eahman, too, whose father
was a horse-dealer, laughed at the notion of a
Bedouin ever allowing his mares to look at an
European horse, and said he had never heard of
any tradition of the kind we mentioned. The
thing would be an impossibility. So I should
think. The only European horses ever brought ta
the desert w^ere some of Mr. S.'s, about twenty
years ago, and they proved an entire failure.
Though of the best blood in England, the Arabs
would have nothing to say to them.

While we were eating our dinner, a very good
one of fried mutton, cakes, and fresh butter, a
beautiful little gazelle was brought for us to look
at. It was a fawn of only a few days old, and had

c'H. XIX.] A New-born Gazelle. 97

been caught yesterday while the tribe was on the
march. It is the prettiest little thing imaginable,
no bigger than a hare, all legs and ears, and great
black wistful eyes. Some chikben had it, tied by
the legs so that it could not run fast, and were
wearing its life away by their rough i^lay. I took
it on to my lap, and it went at once to slee^). Poor
thing, they have given it to a goat to bring up ; but
I am sure it can never live. I wish I could take it
with me.

CHAPTER XX.

" Alarums, excursions, then a retreat." — Shakespeabe.

Ferlian ibn Hedeb — The Gomussa and their mares — Mohammed
Duki — A lawsuit in the desert — A tribe of Gazelle hunters —
Beteyen's mare— The Sebaa are attacked by the Rodla — A
panic and a retreat — Our new brother, Meshur ibn Mershid —
Scarcity of water — We leave the Anazeh camp and make a
forced march to Bir Sukr.

Sunday, Apiil 7. — The name of the pool by
which we are encamped, or rather of the pools, for
there is a succession of them, is Khabra el Mashkiik.
It lies within sight of the Tell el Ghorab, ten mi]e&
perhaps due south of it, and about sixty south-east
of Tudmur. It covers some few acres, but is very
shallow, being dependent for its existence as a pool
solely on the winter rains. According to all ac-
counts, however, there is a series of them running
east and west, and forming a convenient line of
encampments in the direction of Damascus. It
will be along these that we hope to go on now to
the Eoala, who are not more than a hundred
miles away, if report speaks true. They tell us
we shall find encampments of the Sleb on our
road, and learn from them exactly where the Roala
are.

en. XX.] A A fail of Breeding. 99

Ferhan spent the morning with us talking, and
answering the many questions we bored him with,
most agreeably. It was pleasant, too, to see the
way in which he exerted his authority over his
people in keeping them from boring us. Not that
they did anything which was impolite, but the right
of gazing is one which is liable at all times to abuse
in a Bedouin camp ; and, when the youths and boys
edged in too closely round our tent, he would send
them about their business with a good-humoured
word or two which they did not venture to dis-
regard. His manner to them was exactly that of
an elder l^rother keeping order in an unruly house-
hold. We should have liked to stay longer with
Ferhan than this one night, but, now that our di[)lo-
matic mission is seriously decided on, we shall have
to visit one or two more of the principal sheykhs,
and so about ten o'clock we struck our tents, in-
tending to go on to the Gomussa, who were close
by. Ferhan, as we wished him goodbye, seemed
really sorry to part with us, and made us promise,
not unwillingly, that, if ever we come again into
his neighbourhood, w^e will make his tent our home.
I hardly know whether it is their misfortunes and
present poverty which make them so, but these
Moayaja and their sheykh are certainly the nicest
people we have met this side of the Euphrates. A
touch of misfortune is doubtless an excellent thing
for us all.

loo Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xx.

As we moved away, we came across a mass of
men, women, and camels moving more or less in our
own direction, and found, on inquiry, that they
were the Welled Ali, an Anazeh tribe, usually
friends of the Eodla, but who have sided with the
Sebda in their present quarrel. Their sheykh,
Mohammed Dukhi ibn Smeyr, is a man of consider-
able importance and enjoyed, I believe, the protec-
tion of the British Consulate at Damascus some
years ago, in an intrigue he set on foot to get the
monopoly of conducting the IMecca pilgrims as far
as Maan ; so we had hardly appeared among his
people before we received a polite message from
him hoping that we would go no further than to
his tents, which he was about to pitch not three
miles from our late encampment. Presently after-
wards, the sheykh himself rode up and repeated the
invitation, and, although we had already sent word
to Ibn Mershid of the Gomussa to announce a visit,
we could not well refuse this new invitation. Be-
sides, we were anxious to make Mohammed Dukhi's
acq[uaintance. So our tents have been pitched with
his.

Mohammed Dukhi ibn Smeyr is a man of about
fifty. He is short and thick set, wears a grizzled
beard, and has little dark twinkling eyes, expressive
of some humour. His face, though not a disagree-
able one, hardly inspires one Avith full confidence,
and he is said to have committed acts of cruelty
and treachery in his day. To us, however, he is

CH. XX.] JMohannncd Duk/ii. lOi

charming, but in the ehil)oratc Turkish fashion
rather than as a Bedouin, making us long speeches
full of compliments, and j^i'otesting his desire to
serve us. We were in some difficulty about a cloak
for him, for, when we left Deyr, we did not expect
to make acquaintance \vitli any of the great sheykhs
but Jedaan, and the only one we had left we were
reserving for Beteyen ibn Mershid, sheykh of the
Gomussa. Mr. S., however, who knows the Ibn
Mershids well, offered to explain matters with them
if we would send the cloak we had with us to j\lo-
hammed Dukhi, for he was a stranger to us all. It
was a handsome cloak of Karyeteyn make, dark
blue and white, but without gold embroidery, and
we sent it as usual by Hanna ; but, to our surprise,
Mohammed Dukhi sent it back again, coming him-
self immediately after to our tent to explain that it
was quite unnecessary for travellers so far down in
the Hamad to send presents to anyone ; that we
might want it for others or for ourselves, and a
good deal more which came so very d j^^ojws, that
we guessed it must have been suggested to him by
Hdnna. How this was I do not know, but we
have had considerable trouble in persuading our
host to keep the gift. He has been sitting with us
most of the afternoon, relating tales of the different
Europeans he has seen, for the Welled All have
their summer quarters near Damascus, and are in
constant communication with the town. It is to
this, I suppose, that he owes his fine manners. As

UNIVEP.v^TTY OF CALIFORNIA
Q.'. VTA TIARRARA

I02 Bedouin Tribes of the Enphrates. [ch. xx.

a young man he enjoyed a considerable reputation
as a warrior, but he lost one of his arms in the
wars, and now is satisfied with giving advice on
military matters. We sounded him about the
prospects of peace with the Eoala, and he ex-
j^ressed himself, for his own part, indifferent in the
affair. If, however, there is any more fighting, his
jDeople shall help the Seliiia. He has promised to
see them through it, and considers they have been
badly used by the Koala ; but he has no personal
quarrel with Ibn Shaalan, and should be glad if
matters could be arrauQ-ed. He would like to see
the mutesherif of Hama punished, for it was he
who was to blame for all the troubles which he had
got up in order to fill his own pockets. The
conduct of the Turks towards the tribes was
" abominable."

All day long people have been bringing horses
and mares for us to look at, for we have given out
that we wish to exchano;e Tamarisk for somethins^
better, and a very interesting sight it has been.
The Welled Ali themselves are not remarkable for
their horses, but we saw one very pretty grey horse,
Seglawi Jedran of Ibn Nederi's breed, which had no
defect but that of size. It was only fourteen hands.
A Gomussa, however, came in later with a magnifi-
cent three-year-old, a Samhan c] Gomeaa, a bay
with black points. This is the most powerful animal
we have yet seen. He stands fifteen hands, and
has tremendous forearms and quarters, though still

cH. xs.] Betcyeji!s Mare.

10'

coltisli. His action was less good, tliougli it is
difficult to judge from tlie extremely bad riding
of the man who brought him. Horses, in the
desert, are always ill-broken compared to the mares,
for they are seldom used for riding purposes. But
our chief delight Avas to follow, when IJeteyen
ibn Mershid, sheykh of the Gomussa, rode up to
Mohammed Dukhi's tent to pay a visit. He had
just purchased from one of his people the " bridle-
half" of a three-year-old mare, an Abeyeh Sherrak,
xmd was riding her home when he heard that we
were at Mohammed Dukhi's tent. The mare is so
much more remarkable than the man, that I must
describe her first. She is a dark bay, standing-
fifteen hands or over. Her head, the first point an
Arab looks to, is a good one, though I have seen
finer, but it is perfectly set on, and the mitbakh,
or join of the head and neck, would give distinction
to any profile. Her neck is light and well arched,
the wither high, the shoulder well sloped, and the
quarters so fine and powerful that it is impossible
she should be otherwise than a very fast mare. Her
length of limb above the hock is remarkable, as is
that of the pastern. She carries her tail high, as all
well-bred Arabians do, and there is a neatness and
finish about every movement, which remind one of
ii fawn or a gazelle. We are all agreed that she is
incomparably superior to anything we have seen
here or elsewhere, and would be worth a king's
ransom, if kings were still worth ransoming.

I04 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xx,

Beteyen has paid fourteen camels for his share in
the mare, which, at the rate of £5 a camel, gives
£70, besides £20 in money, making a total of £90 ;
but this sum represents in reality two-thirds of the
whole value, because the " holder of the bridle," as
the partner is called who keeps and rides the mare,
has the right, if he wishes, of buying up the re-
maining interest in her for half the sum he has
already paid. The mare, then, may be reckoned as
having cost Beteyen no more than £135, and the
sheykli has every reason to be pleased with his
bargain.

Beteyen ibn Mershid himself is less interesting.
He is a worthy elderly man, well bred as an Ibn
Mershid can hardly help being, but not in any way
distinguished. His face is weak and colourless and
answers well to the reputation he bears among the
tribes, that of a man quite unfit to command the
Sebaa in troubled times like the present. We can
easily understand that, with such a sheykh at their
head, the Gomussa have been willing to accept
Jed dan as their real leader, parvenu as he is. It
is the misfortune of the Sebaa that just now they
are without a capable head, the older sheykhs with
the exception of Beteyen being dead, and the young
generation not having yet had time to distinguish
itself and gain the influence necessary to com-
mand the tribe in war. The office of Akid, or
military leader, is an elective one and dependent
wdiolly upon personal merit and influence. Ferhan

en. XX.] A Desert Laiu-siiit. 105

ibn Hedeb, charming and sensible as he is, wants
the dash necessary for such a position, while Meshur
ibn Mershid, Sviliman's nephew, who is talked of as
likely some day to do great things, is still a boy.
Beteyen then is nominally in command of the tribe,
but Jedaan is their real leader by necessity rather
than choice.

The reason of Beteyen's visit was that he might
be present at the decision of an important suit,
which is being tried, and wdiich has been referred
to Mohammed Dukhi as arbiter. It is nothing less
than an action brought against Jedaan by his new
wife's cousin, a young man of the Sirhan, for her
recovery, on the plea of his not having consented to
the marriage. The case is a very curious one, and
we are much interested in the decision, because if
given against Jedaan it will be a remarkable instance
of the power of law among the tribes. Jedaan is, at
the present moment, omnipotent here, while the
cousin is a person of no influence and is talked of
by everybody as a wrong-headed youth, who has
behaved ill to the girl and deserves no countenance.
Yet it is thought that he will gain his suit. The
girl, as I have said, is nearly thirty and the cousin
only twenty-three ; so that his claim to her cannot
be considered as anything but one of interest.
He has refused to marry her himself, or rather put
it off from year to year, till the girl's father was
tired of waiting^. Jedaan seems not to have known
of the existence of this cousin till after the mar-

io6 Bcdoiiiji Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xx.

riage was arranged, and then to liave thought that
it would be merely a case of " damages " at worst.
But the cousin has demanded the girl herself of the
father, or four other daughters in her stead, a pre-
posterous claim, but one which it seems can legally
be made. As a compromise, the father is willing to
give his only remaining daughter in place of the
one just married ; but the cousin will not hear of this,
and, by way of asserting his right, ran one of the
old man's camels through with his spear. The
whole matter has been referred to ]\Iohammed Dukhi
for decision, and the sheykh's tent is crowded to
hear the verdict.

Abd er Kahman, as a learned jurist of Aleppo,
is especially interested in this lawsuit and has ex-
plained it to us, most fortunately, for we could not
understand it Avithout him. AVhat is now being-
discussed is the preliminary argument whether the
case is to be tried by Bedouin or Mohammedan law,
and, though nobody supposes but what the Bedouin
law must prevail, an attempt is being made to sub-
stitute the other in Jedaan's interests. Abd er
Eahman, who knows the Mussulma,n law, has been
consulted, and has very likely suggested this line of
action to Jedaan, for according to it i\\(^ father's
offer of a second daughter would be held sufficient
reparation, on the principle that " an injured man if
replaced in the position held before injury, ceases to
be injured." The cousin however appeals to Bedouin
law, which would either annul the marriage or at

oil. XX.] A Divorce Suit. 107

least give liim the girl's dowry (two tliuusmid
piastres in this instance).

Reports have come in of a ghazu from the liodla,
so we have been recommended to keep on the alert
to night.

A'pril 8. — A heavy shower has fallen and re-
freshed us all. No news of the Roala, but every-
body seems a little anxious.

Mohammed Dukhi after all shirked deciding the
lawsuit himself, and has referred it to three arbi-
trators, chosen as in England by the parties to the
suit. One of these has been objected to on either
side, and the third, afraid of the responsibility,
has declared himself unable to decide, without
reference to the slieykh of the Sirhan, who is some-
where down in the Jof, hundreds of miles away.
So the case stands over till he can be summoned.'"'

We have all marched together to-day some
eight or nine miles, old Mohammed Dukhi with his
youngest child, a boy of six years old, ridiug a deliil.
While on the march we overtook the Gonmssa
and joined a party of them. Amongst them was a

* The sequel, we have ascertained, was as follows : — It was
finally agreed that the case should wait the arrival of the bride's
tribe. The betrothed cousin then brought forward his complaint
for judgment by the Sheykh, who decided that, the bride having
taken no step to oblige her cousin to keep his promise and marrj'
her, his right remained valid. This was signified to Jedaan, who
at once put the bride on a camel, and sent her to the !^heykh of
the Sir-hiin. A great wedding was solemnised, Joddan being one
of the guests, and no ill will on either side marred the cordial
enjoyment of festivities for three whole days.

io8 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xx.

young man mounted on a ratlier sliowy colt, which
he told us was a Jilfan Stam el bdulad, and he
introduced himself as a son of Mijuel the Mesrab,
who is well known at Damascus as the husband of
an English lady. He was extremely polite, invited
us to his tent and begged us if we went to Damascus,
to go to his father's house. His tribe, the Mesrab, is
a very small one, and moves about with the Gomussa,
having hardly a separate existence, if it is not
indeed part of the Gomussa or Eesallin. The sheykh,
Mijuel's elder brother, a funny little old man of
anything but distinguished appearance, we met later
in Beteyen's tent. The young man himself goes
every winter with the tribe to the Hamdd, but
spends the summer at Damascus or Homs, in either
of which towns his father has a house. As regards
his ste23mother we have constantly heard her
spoken of in the desert, and always in terms of
respect. She is a charitable person, and a provi-
dence to her husband's people, supplying them with
money, arms and everything they require. Mijuel
himself is talked of as a supremely fortunate man, the
possessor of boundless wealth, though some think
his marriage a mesalUancc, as the lady is not of
Arab blood, consequently not asil (noble).

Presently after this, we came upon Beteyen, whose
tent was being pitched in a wady, the entrance to
some broken hilly ground lying north of our line of
march. Here we alighted. There is water some-
where close by, in another of the series of pools I

en. XX.] Gazelle Hnniers.

109

have mentioned, and we have sent all our animals
to drink and the skins to be filled.

We have been much interested this afternoon in
a family of Sleb who are staying in the Gomussa
camp. The head of the family Hut3ran il^n Malck is
considered the principal slieykh of the Sleb, and as
such is allowed to sit in Beteyen's tent, but the
others remain outside. He is a man of thirty or
thereabouts, with a dark not very prepossessing coun-
tenance, and a rather sensual look. He is dressed as
an Arab, and mio-ht be taken for one at first sio;lit.
Two younger men, however, his relations, are exceed-
ingly good looking, with delicately cut features,
and the whitest possible teeth. There is a boy too
who is perfectly beautiful, with almond-shaped eyes,
and a complexion like stained ivory. A little old
woman, not more than four feet high, and two girls
of fourteen or fifteen, the most lovely little creatures
I ever saw, complete the family. They are all very
short, but in perfect proportion, their hands and
feet exaggeratedly small, and all have a strange half-
frightened smile, and an astonished look in the eyes,
which remind one rather of wild creatures than of
men and women. Indeed, they go about the camp
as if expecting every minute to have to run for
their lives, and I am sure they would do it like
gazelles. Their dress is made entirely of gazelle
skins, and consists of a long garment reaching to
the ankles, something in the style of the Arab
mashlakh, but with sleeves reaching to the wrists

iio Bcdoitin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xx.

and sometimes drawn over the hands ; a capote
attached to it covers the head and part of the face,
so that muffled up they look Hke the pictures one
sees of Greenlanders — only the covering here is for a
protection from the sun rather than the cold.

The Sleb have no horses or camels, only a few
goats and donkeys. On the latter they ride, not
astride but sideways, with a deliil saddle and double
crutch, men and women alike. The women have
none of the Arab modesty, and make no jDretence of
covering their faces, but go about the camp with
their male relations, on begging tours, all together, as
gipsies do in England. It is impossible to believe
that these people can be Arabs, though the Bedouins
here declare them to be such, and Abd er Rahman
calls them Mussulmans ; but all admit that they are
something quite different from themselves, that they
have customs and practices of their own which no
Bedouin would tolerate, that they eat hedgehogs
{gmnjit) and tell fortunes, and are of such base
blood that no Bedouin however poor would marry
one of their women, a remarkable thing when one
considers how very beautiful they are. That it is
so we ascertained from Hueran himself, wdio said
simply enough, " We would give our daughters to
the Arabs if they would take them.''

The Sleb are the true children of the Hamad,
never leaving it summer or winter, but following the
herds of gazelles as they migrate north and south.
On these they live, making their food, their clothing,

cii. XX.] T/ic sic I) — a Strano;c Tribe. 1 1 r

'c>

and their tents out of the creatures they catch or kill.
We are anxious to see more of them, and find out if
possible who and what they are. That they are not
mere gipsies is as certain as that they are not mere
Arabs ; but we suspect them of having the same origin
with the gipsies, that is to say, that they came
originally from India. The extreme smallness of
their hands and feet, their low stature, and the
clearness of their dark complexions favour this
notion. It is quite possible that one of the tribes,
which left India and are now known as Bohemians
or Gipsies in Europe, may have stopped on the way
and settled, if their wandering life can be called set-
tling, in the Desert. We have agreed with Hueran
that he shall show us the way to the Eoala camp.
His people are camped somewhere on the line of
pools towards Damascus, and he will be naturally
going that way. The Sleb take no part in the
Bedouin quarrels, and are molested by neither party,
so that we can travel safely with them. To-morrow,
if all goes well, we shall start.

To-day, like yesterday, has been spent looking at
mares and horses. Several very fine ones have
been brought for us to look at, for, though there is
no idea of our purchasing, we have expressed a wish
to see all we can. The finest are a Dakhmeh em
Amr and a Risheh Sherabi, both belonging to out-
side breeds, but very perfect specimens. The Eishch
is a bay with four white legs, three years old, and
fully fifteen hands high, a great, powerful mare ; the

1 1 2 Bedonin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xx.

Dakhmeh a picture of beauty, but smaller. ]Mr. S.
has been trying to persuade Beteyen to transfer liis
new purchase, Abeyeli Sherrdk, to us, but I fear it
will be without success. He at first said lie would,
but afterwards recalled his assent, on the plea that
just now, with the Rodla war on his hands, it would
not look well for him to part with a useful mare. It
is probably a matter of money, and we have too
little with us to be able to offer a really over-powering
price. Some Englishmen, who visited the Gomussa
near Aleppo a few years ago, seem to have impressed
them all with the idea that it is as easy to get
£500 as £50 from a European.

We were sitting in our tent lookino; at the horses
which were brought us from time to time, when a
young man of a most agreeable countenance came
and sat down in front of it, after saluting Mr. S.
At first we did not know who he was, but presently
he explained that he was IMeshiir ibn ]\Iershid ; and
]\Ir. S. recognised him as the son of one of his oldest
friends, Mitbakh, Suliraan ilm Mershid's elder
brother, and we made him come and sit by us.
This is the young man who was said to have
murdered Ibn Shaalan in his own tent, and who
had sent us the invitation we received at Aleppo
quite at the beginning of our travels. The circum-
stance interested us, and we asked him what his
feelino; was about the war, and whether he wished
it to go on. "" Ouf,^' he answered, ("certainly,")
" it must." " But you and your people have

CH. XX.] A Young Hero, 1 1 3

suffered from it already. Have you not lost
enough tents, and mares, and camels V " We
must get them back," he said. " And your lives ?
was not Ibn Shaalan killed in the war ? " " Yes,
Jedaan ibn Shaalan." " He was killed, — and hj
whom \ " " Oh, by one of the Anazeh." ''Wliich V*
Meshiir would not answer. " We know it was you
who killed him." " Well, it was clone in battle,
and with the spear. Look — it went in at his back
and came out here," pointing to his right side.
" He was dead directly. When he fell I took his
mare, but I would not keep her. I let her go, and
she followed her companions. I took another mare
the same day, but I let them both go."* Meshiir
told us all this with the most good-humoured boyish
face, contrasting strangely with the deeds he de-
scribed. " Jedaan," he said, " was just my age, (" el
mesqiiin," poor fellow,) and was a fine horseman,,
but it was fated. He was Sotamm's nephew, and he
makes the fifth of the family we have killed in com-
pensation for my father's death." Mitbatkh ibn
Mershid was killed by five men of the Koala tribe,.
and this is why Meshtir claimed five lives of the-
latter. But if the price of blood had been paid, it
would have been for only one life.

I took Meshur's portrait, and while doing so a
middle-aged man rode up and saluted Mr. S., who
recognised him as a certain Seyd ibn Barghash, who

* It is considered a chivalrous thing for a Sheykh to let go th&
mare of an enemy lie has killed.

VOL. II. I

114 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xx.

bad done liim a good turn some years ago. The
incident was as follows : The King of Italy had sent
an agent to Aleppo to buy horses, and the Italian
consul there had beo-o-ed Mr. S.'s advice and assist-
ance in the matter. Abd er Rahman was employed
by them to negotiate for a jDarticular horse they had
seen and approved. He set out with the money,
about £100, to pay for it, and was attacked near
Tudmur by a party of thirty-six Gomussa out on a
ffhazLi. Abd er Eahman in vain be2:2;ed to be
allowed to pass, saying, " I am sent by the English
consul for a horse," but they, not knowing
him, would have robbed him had not Seyd ibn
Barghash, Avho was of the party, and was a friend
of Mr. S.'s, insisted on their letting him go un-
molested.

Beteyen and Meshur have both been to Hlyel in
the Jebel Shammar, and give exactly the same
account of the horses of Nejd as everyone else has
given. I need not repeat it. Ibn Rashid, they
say, buys his horses from them. As to the winter
migration of the Anazeh, it is not true that they
ever get as far south as Jebel Shammar. They stop
north of the Nefiids, perhaps three or four days'
journey from the hills, but they sometimes go there
on ghazus, or on business to the towns. Ibn Eashid,
however, is not friendly with them, being by birth
a Shammar.

We were talking over the purchase of his mare
with Beteyen, when a messenger from his tent

CH. XX.] A Threatened Attack. 1 1 5

arrived, begging him to return there at once, as a
ghazii from the Eodla had been seen and an attack
might be expected. At first we thought it niiglit
be one of those little dramatic incidents arrani>-(.'d
beforehand when negotiations are going on, either
to enforce an argument, or to interrupt it at a con-
venient moment. The more so as Beteyen did not
at once take notice of t^lie summons. It was not till
several men had ridden up hurriedly to his tent, and
dismounting, stuck their spears in the ground, and
shouted impatiently to him to come, that he rose
with a sigh, as if unwillingly, to face the necessity
of action. He is, in fact, a poor creature, and it is
easy to see that his people have no great respect for
him. They spoke to him now in a peremptory tone
one would not expect to hear used towards a shcykh,
and still he dawdled, while Meshur, at the first word
of fighting, had jumped to his feet and was gone.
We did not follow Beteyen, not wishing to be in the
way Avhile important matters v/ere being discussed,
but we could see a great coming and going about
the Sheykh's tent, and presently IMohammed Dukhi
came to wish us good-bye, l^efore going to look after
his own people. The little speech he made, was a
model of Oriental politeness. He begged us not to
forcret him, and asked Wilfrid to be his vakil, nxissl,
or representative, with me to remind me of him, but
that, if I required any service of him at any time,
then I should require no wassi, but had only to give

mv orders Mohammed Dukhi, though too artificial

^ 1 2

1 1 6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xx,

in his manners to please me, is evidently a man of
character. The way he treats and is treated by his>
people is quite a different thing from Beteyen's.
The Welled Ali are kept by him in capital order,,
and no one dares sit down in the sheykh's tenty
unless he be of a certain rank. Mohammed Dukhi's
peremptory "gum, gum," ("get u^:), get up,") is-
heard the moment an unauthorised person takes^
that liberty. With Beteyen, they all do just as
they like, and he is too mild and timid to make a
remark.

Beteyen's harem, to which I paid a visit, inter-
ested me on account of the history of the principal
personage in it. The hatoun Fey d eh was the wife
of Suliman ibn Mershid, after Avhose death she
married his cousin, Beteyen. She is a daughter of
Mohammed el Faris, brother to Sfuk, and uncle to-
Ferhan Pasha, Abd ul Kerim and Faris. She
seemed dehghted to talk to me about her own
people, the Shammar, and spoke of Faris as " a
sweet boy." I liked her, but the j^leasure of my
Adsit was spoiled by her second child, Hazah, a boy
of two, beginning to cry for a coffee cup and refusing
to be comforted or silenced. He made such a noise
that we could hardly hear ourselves speak. Besides
the spoilt baby. Fey deb has a boy of five, named
Adudn, a nice little fellow ; both these are Siili-
man's children. There were so many tiresome
people sitting round in the tent, that even without
the noise I could not have got much talk out of

CH. XX.] The NigJit before the Batik. 1 1 7

Feytleh, and indeed I was extremely glad when I
saw Hanna coming to say that the Beg wanted to
speak to me at our own tent.

The ghazii story is not a sham this time. Scouts
have come in announcing the approach of a large
body of horsemen, a thousand they say, with ad-
vanced parties of men on dromedaries, armed with
muskets. One party of fifty are reported to be
quite close. They were seen in a wady, just ov^er
the brow of a hill not two miles off, yet, such
seems to be the helplessness of the Gomussa for
want of a chief, that no attempt is being made to cut
off this small party, nor any preparation for meet-
ing the enemy till Jedaan shall arrive. Messengers
have been sent off post haste for him, and other
messengers to call in outlying sections of the trilje,
and w^arn them to keep with the main body. ]\Ieshur
is the leading spirit in this, young as he is, and
Beteyen is quite put aside. For our own part, we
have contented ourselves with tethering our mares
at the tent door and having everything ready for a
sudden march. We are rather in an exposed posi-
tion, being at the extreme edge of the Anazeh camp
with no tents between us and the threatened danger ;
but Ghdnim, who is a Eoala, assures us that the
ghazii will not meddle with us, and we are anxious
only for our mares. Wilfrid is hoping to see some-
tliino; of the battle, which seems imminent for to-
morrow morning. Beteyen 's camp is thronged with
people coming and going, and from every tent wo

U 8 Bedouin Tribes of the EtipJirates. [en. xx.

can hear the war .sono; chanted in unison. The
Gomussa chant is as follows :

V V V

*r -K— • — ^^*— ^— •— :*-

" " 1* fk

iizt

V-F=i£=S^

W^0—^-»

t=it^:

:^ i^t?^

or sometimes a third lower

V V V V V

tliat of the Moayaja major instead of minor

ESE

v.__vv_^ V ^ V.

zhz

-Ji~i^

=•-?-

-^v

fz:*:

j^=?sr>-f-

^S^

and that of the Welled Ali less melodious

-8— ^-^— g*-

:t?=5£

or thus

The rhythm of the two first chants, the Gomussa
and Moayaja, is extremely fine ; that of the third,
which I cannot write otherwise than by seven
quavers in the bar, produces an odd effect, and
sounds incomplete.

A'pril 9. — Something very like a panic has seized
the Gomussa camp. The day had hardly begun to

CH. XX.] A Panic and Retreat.

119

dawn Avlien every tent was struck, and a precipitate
retreat commenced across the hills. AVe sent Mo-
hammed to the Sheykh's tent, to ask what was going
to be done, and all the answer was that he must
join Jedaan, who was somewhere " out there " to the
north. The Goniussa were in such a huny that we
soon found ourselves left alone ; but AVilfrid, who had
ridden to some risino- o-round in the direction of the
reported enemy, coming back without having seen
anything, we determined to have our coffee comfort-
ably, and made Hanna light his fire while the
camels were loading. He was rather flurried, l)ut
did as he was told. To the north, guarding the
line of retreat, we could still see parties of horse-
men occupying the heights, and there was no danger
of our not catching up our friends. We were very
unwilling to go after them, for their march is quite
out of our way, Ijut the Sleb have disappeared with
the rest, and we had no choice but to follow. Be-
sides, we are still hankering after Beteyen's mare,
which we should be sorry altogether to give up
hopes of.

As we were sittins; drinkino; our coffee with the
camels just loaded, a horseman appeared from the
south, and for a moment we thought it one of the
enemy, but it proved to be Meshiir who had ven-
tured out alone to reconnoitre. He had seen nothing,
but advised us not to stay any longer so far from
the main body, and then rode away to join the
men on the hills. So we mounted and followed the

I20 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch, xx.

wady, along which Beteyen and his people had tra-
velled. An Arab march is slow, even when at its
quickest ; and in an hour or so we came upon the
stragglers, and then upon the main body. We rode
up a height, and from it saw the wonderful sight of
twenty or thirty thousand camels, with a propor-
tionate number of horsemen and footmen, converg-
ing by half-a-dozen winding wadys, towards a
central plain commanded by a high tell on which
the horsemen were o-atherino;. It was difficult to
understand why so vast a host should have been
scared by the report of even a thousand horsemen.
The plan of campaign, if plan there was, seems to
have been to concentrate the forces in an open place,
for when first threatened with attack the tribes were
scattered in a number of wadys out of sight of each
-other, and were in danger of being beaten in detail.
■Still, we cannot yet understand why a body of
horsemen equal or superior to that of the Roala was
not sent out against them. Every tribe and every
.section, on the contrary, retreated with its own
escort, and no attempt was made to-day at taking
the off'ensive. This has disappointed us, for we
expected better things of Jedaan. Our camels are
such good walkers that from being last we soon
joined the head of the column at which we found
Beteyen, mounted, not on his mare as a sheykh
should have been at such a moment, but snugly
on his delul, with his favourite child in a pannier
beside him and a black slave squatting behind.

CH. XX.] Bedouin Tactics. 1 2 1

We tliouglit lie seemed rather ashamed of liim-
self, Lut it is evident he is not a man of war,
A little further on we overtook Mohammed Dukhi
in a similar position, keeping guard over his sliee]»,
for the Welled Ali have their sheep with them, and
these are always sent to the front on a mareli.
JVlohammed Dukhi has the excuse of his lost arm,
and at least he shows energy in council. The thing,
however, struck us as unworthy of a man of his
reputation.

About a mile beyond the tell, and in sight of the
Tudmur hills, Beteyen stopped, and the Gomussa
tents soon made a Ijrave show on the level plain they
have chosen, with the Welled Ali in front of them,
and other tribes arrivino- from the east and south-
east. It was terribly hot, and we had a disagreeal^lc
hour's waiting in the sun before the tents were
pitched, and then we discovered that there was no
water, nor had we brought any with us in the hurry
of the retreat. This is most annoying as it hampers
our movements in every way, and will oblige us pro-
bably to make a forced march to-morrow. If it
was not for Beteyen's mare, which we still hope to
get, we would not stay here now, but go Ijack to
the pools we have left. AVe have not come more
than twelve miles to-day.

While waiting in this ^^'ay, young ]\Ieshur came
in from the rear with information that the Eoiila
had retreated, at least from our part of the line,
and everybody was delighted at the news. Still

122 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLphrates. [en. xx.

no attempt was made at followiDg them, even with
a small party of horsemen who might have clone so
without any danger, the Gomiissa being so much
better mounted than the Koala. All this is from
want of a trusted leader. As Meshur said : " We
are like sheep here without a shepherd." The great
tent, however, was at last pitched, and our own close
by, and towards it horsemen came riding in from
all points of the compass. It was a grand oppor-
tunity for looking over the Gomussa mares, and
one we did not neglect. It is not worth while
mentioning all we saw to-day, but amongst others
was brought the dam of our coveted Abeyeh, a fine
old brood mare, though less handsome than her
daughter. Many of the best shaped animals were
fearfully disfigured with firing, while others had
hopeless backs, and others again feet ruined by long
standing in the iron fetters used l:>y the Arabs to
prevent stealing. With all the real merit, however,
of these mares, there were hardly a dozen which
could be called first-class, and not one equal to the
Abeyeh, or more beautiful than our own Saade.

At last, a body of thirty horsemen arrived,
headed by Jedaan on his Kehilnn Akhnis. His
face wore a curious expression, partly of satisfaction,
partly of disgust, and we read it to mean the con-
tempt he felt for his allies, and the pleasure at find-
ing himself so necessary to them. Satisfaction at
the result of the day's manoeuvres he can scarcely
have, for it now turns out that, although the Eoala

cH.xx.] A Neiv Brother. 123

have retreated, it has not been empty-handed. The
demonstration made ai^ainst the Gomiissa was in all
probability a feint, for the main body of the enemy
fell upon an outlying section of the AVelled .Vli wlio
had disregarded Mohammed Dukhi's orders to close
in. From these they have taken a thousand camels,
losing, however, some mares, and a man killed.
Mohammed Dukhi is very angry, but why was he
not at the head of his men 1 A council of war has
been going on all the afternoon in Beteyen's tent,
but nothing is likely to come of it. AVe are getting
rather ashamed of our friends.

The only man among the Gomussa is young
Meshiir, and we look upon him as the future leader
of the tribe. As we were sitting with him and
Beteyen in our tent this evening, Wilfrid began
admiring some silver-hilted pistols he was wearing
at his girdle, and which he told us had belonged
to Suliman ibn IMershid, his uncle ; and without
more ado he unbuckled them and handed them
to AVilfrid, insisting that he should keep them.
AVilfrid was pleased at the manner in which he
did this, but answered that he could not accept
them, unless Meshiir would in turn accept his
revolver, and, moreover, become his brother. Both
proposals were very joyfully accepted, and the oath
was exchanged in presence of Beteyen, who looked
on the while rather crest-fallen at the honour done
to his nephew. Meshiir has since this been exceed-
ingly nice and affectionate to us, and has shown us

£ 24 Bcdoitin Tribes of the EtLphrates. [ch, xx.

all sorts of attentions, besides coming to dine with
ns in our tent this evening. I fear, however, that
the incident will not have improved our prospects
with Beteyen of getting his mare. But no matter.
Before o^ivins; Meshiir the revolver, Wilfrid made him
promise that he would never use it against Faris.
This Meshur readily did, for, he said, Faris and he
were already friends, though they had never met.

Ghanim has been round all the camps with the
mares, to beg for water, and got a little here and a
little there, but the Anazeh seem to give themselves
very little trouble about carrying water with them.
The only person who had any quantity to spare
was Ibn Kardush, sheykh of the Mesekha. Others
had given milk or lebben, which the mares drank,
but they like water better. The Sleb have dis-
appeared from our camp, so our plan of going with
them has fallen through. It is very tiresome. We
shall now have to make a long march nearly due
north, to a well called Boharra, not ten miles south
of Tudmur, and all out of our way — but water we
must have to-morrow.

Aiyril 10. — We have had a long thirsty march to-
day, though not altogether a dull one.

1 am sorry to say that we did not part friends
with Beteyen. He was jealous, I suppose, of the
favour Meshur has found in our eyes, and of the
presents we have given him, and at parting this
morning, he made a sort of begging speech to ]\Ir,
S., who told him he ought to be ashamed of himself

<!H. XX.] A Rusk for lValcj\ 125

for making it. AVe had already promised him the
cloak, due to his position as Sheykh, as soon as we
should be able to buy liim one, but he was not
satisfied. I am sorry all the same that j\lr. S.
should have spoken to him as he did, for he
told him his request was only worthy of a fellah.
Meshur, who was present, very properly took his
uncle's part, but Beteyen would not be appeased.
Of course all nesfotiations for the mare are now at

o

an end, but I care more for the disairreeable thousfht
that we have made an enemy — our only one — in
the desert.

We marched a little earlier than the rest of
our neighbours, and soon got clear of the Go-
mussa, and travelled on during the day with an
advanced party of Welled AJi, who were hurrying
on to the wells with their sheep, now two days
without being watered. These Welled Ali shep-
herds are a rougher set than the Sebda, and were not
over-polite. I think with a little encouragement in
the way of timidity on our part, they might even
have become aggressive, but Ave were too well
mounted and too well armed to be afraid of them.
The plain to-day was covered Avith hares, which
jumped up before us as the great line of camels,
sheep, and horsemen swept it like an army of
beaters. These were pursued ]3y greyhounds, and
by Wilfrid on horseback, who coursed and shot two
alone on Hagar. She is quite frosli again in spite
of the heat and the scarcity of water, nnd enjoyed

126 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xx.

the galloping amazingly. We were travelling all
day towards tlie hills, at the foot of which the well
was said to be, and our impatience and the fast
pace of our camels carried us in front of the whole
Anazeh army. Their march was indeed like that
of a flight of locusts, as it covered perhaps ten
miles in breadth, eating up every green thing before
it. Green things just here were scarce enough,
though every now and then we crossed a wady with
some good grass. We had been told that we should
see a ruined tower, and that the wells would be
found near it, so we pushed on till we were quite
alone, and our day's march must have been close
on forty miles.

It was half-past three when we at last reached
the delightful shade of the ruin, the first build-
ing we have seen since leaving Arak. It seems
to have been a convent once, in the days when
Palmyra was a city, for there is a cross cut
on the stone lintel of the gateway, and we have
discovered cells and the foundations of a church.
It must even then have been a solitary place,
though perhaps the lower Damascus road may have
passed near it. There are several wells, with a
good supply of water, and one can make out the
traces of ancient fields or gardens in the wady,
watered from these. Now, all is desolate enough.
A pair of rock pigeons and some kestrels are the
only inhabitants. The tower is square and of good
cut stone, in the same style as the old buildings of

vH. XX.] Meshiir follozus to say Good-bye.

12

Palmyra, wliicli is not more tlian twelve or fifteen
miles off. Mohammed, of course, knows the place,
and calls the tower Kasr Hazim ; the wells, Sakr.
These are deep, and it was tantalising to be
unable to get at the water before the camels arrived,
for we had left them some way behind, in our
anxiety to get a drink.

While "waiting under the ruined tower, and half
asleep, w-e suddenly heard the Arab war chant, and
looking up, saw a horseman cantering over the hill
behind us, lance in hand. For a moment we Avere
mystified into thinking he might be an enemy, but
he was alone, and, as he drew near, I thought I knew
his voice. Presently we recognised ]\Ieshur on his
grey mare, come to wish his brother a last good-bye.
We were very much pleased to see him, for it
showed a good feeling on his part to have left his
people to pay us a visit, as the tribes have halted
several miles short of the wells. We asked about
his mare, and he told us she was a Hadbeh, and
very fast, which we can well believe, for she is
extremely handsome, and has a fine way of moving.

She is twelve years old, though she does not look
it, and, as he says, they grew up together and have
never been parted, and it was mounted on her back
that he killed Jedaan ibn Shaalan last year. He
entreated Wilfrid to take her as a j)resent, she was
all he had worth giving ; but this of course could
not be.

Meanwhile the camels arrived, and, ^^•hiIe the

128 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xx.

tents were pitching, a frightful wrangling arose
among the servants. The chief disputants were
Ghanim and Ferlian, ayIio, before we could inter-
fere, had come to blows. IMeshur rushed in and
separated them, pushing Ghanim back, who had
already drawn his knife and was looking " ugly."
On inquiring into the cause, it appeared that Ferhan
Avas tired of havino- the whole work of the camel-
driving thrown on his shoulders, and had been
exasperated at last by Ghanim's riding the chestnut
mare, when we were out of sight, after a gazelle,
in spite of the sore back she has lately had. The
Christian servants of course took part against
Ghanim, but of that we took no notice. Wilfrid,
however, made Ferhdn affirm on oath all that he
had said, and then Ghanim admitted that it was
true, and Wilfrid told him to leave the camp. He
went away in dudgeon, and sat for an hour or so
on the top of the tower, but then came down and
begg-ed me to intercede for him. Meshur, too,
spoke in his favour, and, as we really like the boy,
AVilfrid consented to forgive him if Ferhan would
declare himself satisfied, and Ghanim would j^romise
there should be no more trouble. Ferhan, who is
the kindest-hearted creature in the world, readily
agreed to this, and Ghanim gave the promise in
the usual form, " ala rdsi" — '"on my head be it,"
so the matter has ended. I am glad of it, as it is
the only quarrel we have had on the journey.

We have been entertaining Meshur with all the

en. XX.] We read ojir Letters. i 29

hospitality we can command, and he has dined
with us, but woukl not stay the night. There
would be danger for him, he said, to stay away so
far from his people, on account of the blood-feud
he has with the Ibn Shaalan. I have given him a
silver handled knife as a keepsake, telling him that
it belonged to my grandfather and greatgrandfather,
which has made him value it the more, and now
he has mounted his mare and cantered back the
way he came. He is a brave, warm-hearted boy,
and, unless he is overtaken by fate in his wars and
blood-feuds, will be a great man some day.

The water here, when first drawn, tastes of rotten
eggs and sulphur, but improves on standing in the
air. It seems to be quite wholesome.

We have now bade good-bye to the Sebaa, and
having our heads set, as the Arabs say, towards
home, Wilfrid has agjreed that the moment is come
for reading; our letters : so I leave off in fear and
trembling, to do so, for we have had no news from
home since the 20 th of November, nearly five
months ago.

CHAPTER XXI.

How the earth biims ! each pebble underfoot
Is as a living thing with power to wound.
The white sand quivers ; and the footfall mute
Of the slow camels strikes but gives no sound,
As if they trod the air, not solid ground.
'Tis noon ; and the beasts' shadows even are fled -
Back to their feet ; and there is fire around,
And fire beneath, and, overhead, the sun.

March under a bm-ning sun — The Welled Ali and their sheep — We
come to the Koala camp — One hundred and fifty thousand
camels — Sotamm Ibn Shaalan receives us — Diplomatic checks
— Sotamm's wife — The Uttfa — Mohammed's choice — Goodbye
to the Desert.

April 11. — Tliank God! our news is all good
news, and we can go on liglithearted now to the
end of our journey, enjoying the prospect thoroughly
of the delights of home.

We left the Bir Sakr this morning, just as the
flocks of the Welled Ali were beffinnino; to arrive.
Poor creatures ! they have had no water these three
days, and have been driven in their thick winter
fleeces at least fifty miles under a burning sun. We
did not stop to talk long with the shepherds, but
made away south-west in the direction of Damascus.
Everyone assures us that we shall meet the Roala
on the road, or at least a party of Sleb, who will
tell us where the Roala are. Then Mohammed has

> ^ • .1

Y \i>,iM^

en. xxr.] Quails and Cuckoos. i^i

a vague knowledge of the country for some miles
farther yet, and a black slave from Beteyen's tent
is with us, recommended by Mcshiir to our protec-
tion. He, too, knows something of the road. Our
way lay up a wady between two well-marked ridges,
and at nine we passed a ruined khan on the old
Palmyra road, called according to Mohammed, Halbe.
The country is covered with scadet poppies, camo-
miles white and yellow, irises, and a sort of pink
aster, all in the greatest profusion, as if in a flower
garden.

We have stopped for the night in a dry water-
course thick with grass, in which quails are calling,
and I can hear a cuckoo not far oft', sitting probably
in a solitary hetdn tree, the first of the sort we have
seen in the Desert. The betiin is a kind of ash, and
common enough along the dry river beds of tlie
Sahara. Here they call it hiitton. The evening-
is oppressively hot. Ghanim has begun singing to
his rebab something about the " harh Ihii Shaaldn,"
the Eoala war. Our march to-day was eighteen
miles.

Mohammed has climbed to the top of the ridge
to our left, and has come back with the news that
he has seen camp fires in the plain beyond.*

Ap7il 12. — Another terribly hot morning, but
about noon a strong wind sprang up from the north-
west, tempering the power of the sun, and it was
fortunate, for we had to wait two hours without

* This must liaye been Ibn Sliaalun returning from his ghazu.

K 2

132 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [ch. xxr.

shade at a well. We had been overtaken in the
course of the morning by a couple of men mounted
on a dromedary, who had been sent after us by
Meshur to show us the way. They were Eoala who
had gone to the Sebaa in the suite of their Sheykh's
wife, when she had chosen to return to her father
Jedaan ; and it shows how liberal the Bedouins are,
in their toleration of individuals while at war, that
these men had been living for some weeks in Je-
daan's tent, at the very moment that their master,
Ibn Shaalan, was advancing against him. Now they
were being sent back without so much, I believe, as
a pledge not to reveal secrets. The truth is, in
Bedouin strategy as in Bedouin politics there is no
possibility of secrecy. Every member of the tribe
has a right to know everything that happens, and,
from the very publicity of what goes on, there is no
fear of spies. It is useless to try and conceal the
truth, so no attempt to do so is made. The black
slave was very ill to-day, and lay in a half torpid
state on his camel, with his head hanging down
over its shoulder and exposed to the full glare of
the sun. But this is all the comfort Arabs expect
to get when they are ill. They somehow manage
to sleep in this position without falling off

At the well we were overtaken also by a small
party of Welled Ali, driving a hundred or so of
sheep and lambs l)efore them for the Easter sales
at Damascus. I cannot think many of them will
arrive there alive, for the weather is prodigiously

CH. XXI.] March 2mder a Bummjr Suji.

hot and they arc making forced marches. A good
many lambs are already dead, and they have given
us one which, as we are short of provisions, we are
glad enough to take. When the shepherds see that
a lamb can go no farther they cut its throat, and
then the meat is lawful eating, though it would
not be so if the animal had died of its own
accord.

We should hardly have found the well if it had
not been for the Eoala, as it lay in a very unlikely
place and, not having been used this year, had no
tracks leading to it. It is very deep, sixty feet, as
we measured by the rope used; but the water is
sweet and good. Its name is Busep-i. All the
beasts, camels as well as mares, drank copiously,
my mare, the most abstemious, not being content
with less than four buckets full. The Welled Ali
shepherds have insisted on keeping company with
us, in the lioj^e of getting through the Roiila country
under our protection ; but their attempt to go
through at all is to me inexplicable. They have
with them, besides the sheep, fifteen camels and a
nice looking mare and foal, all lawful prize of
war !

April 13. — No abatement of the heat. The
sheep go with their tongues hanging out, poor
things, and their owners have shorn some of them
in the hopes of saving them. Soon after Ave started,
we passed between two high hills, Keukle lo the
right and Rummakh to the left. The Koiila told

134 Bedotiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxi.

us this story of them : — There was a great warrior
who, from his skill with the spear, ruimnh, was
called Rummakh. He lived on this hill and kept
a wife on the opposite hill, and another on a third
still farther on. The name of the first was Kokhle,
because she blackened her eyes with kohl ; but the
name of the second was Ada. Ada was the favourite
wife, and I quite expected the story to have gone
on to say that one day, vexed with their perpetual
quarrelling, Rummakh had run them both through
the body with his spear, when the Roala stupidly
stopped, and said they had forgotten the rest
of it.

AVe have made a brisk march all day, doing quite
three and a half miles in the hour, and beguiled by
the assurances of the Koala that their friends were
close at hand. About two o'clock Wilfrid fonnd a
small hole in the limestone rock, holdinsr a few
bucketsfull of rain-water, which we gave to our
mares, and then we came suddenly on some people
filling their goatskins from a larger hole of the same
sort a mile farther on. We have been eight hours
on the march, and must have got over thirty miles
of ground ; and now, although the Roala are really
close by, we have stopped just short of them in a
beautiful wady full of grass, sending on Ghanim
and the two men on the deliil to announce our
arrival at Ibn Shaalan's tent. Mr. S. recommends
this on the score of our dignity, and I am glad of
it for the mares' and camels' sake, who are now sure

cii. XXI.] The Rodla arc Generous. 135

of a good evening's meal. The site of a Bedouin
camp, if by any chance they have happened to
occupy the same ground more than two nights, is
generally eaten as bare as a board, and unexpected
guests suffer in consequence. We have killed a
centipede in the tent quite six inches long. Glianim
calls it "OmArba oarham" (the "mother of forty-
four"), alluding to its legs. A dozen or so of the
Koclla have come to our camp from their own,
which they tell us is close by, just over the brow
of a low hill. They are in high delight at the suc-
cess of their ghazii, for Ibn ShaaUn came back
yesterday, and to-day they have been dividing the
spoils.

While we were entertaining them with coffee,
who should come up but the Welled Ali shepherds.
The chief man of our new guests, one Abu Ghid-
deli,'" asked who they were and whether the sheep
were ours. " They have followed us," wc said, " but
they are not ours ; we do not interfere." We ex-
pected an instant raid to follow, for indeed the
Roala had every right to the prize ; but Abu Gliid-
deli only laughed. "31a ikhdlif" he said, " nakhiia
shebdat" (" Never mind, we have all had enough").
So here they are still unmolested.

Ghanim has returned. The first words Sotamm
said to him, when he heard who we were and whence
we had come, were " Have they brought my wife

* Abu Ghiddeli is the owner of the best strain of Maneghi
blood known, better even than Ibn Sbeyel's.

136 Bedouin Tribes of t lie Etiplwates. [cu. xxr.

back to me ? " He sent word, however, to say
we were welcome, and to excuse himself from
coming to meet us, on the score of fatigue. His
tent is fully eight miles away.

Sunday, April 14. — To-day we have seen the
most wonderful spectacle the Desert has to shovv^ —
the Eoala camp. We came upon it quite suddenly,
as, crossing a low ridge of rising ground, we looked
down over the plain of Saighal and saw it covered,
as far as the eye could reach, with a countless multi-
tude of tents and men and mares and camels. In
the extreme distance, at least ten miles away, lay
the lake of Saighal glittering white in the sun ; and
the whole space between it and where we stood
seemed occupied, while east and west there was at
least an equal depth of camp. We have estimated
the whole number of tents at twenty thousand, and
of camels at a hundred and fifty thousand ; and, at
the sight, I felt an emotion of almost awe, as when
one first sees the sea. Nothing that we have seen
hitherto in the way of multitude approaches to this.
The Sebaa, with their allies, may be as numerous,
but they have not a fourth part of the Roala camels,
nor have we on any occasion seen them all collected
thus in one place. It gave us, too, an immense idea
of the real size of the tribe thus congregated, to find
that, travelling at our usual pace, it was more than
two hours before we arrived at Sotamm's tent, which
stood, they told us, in the centre of the camp, and
that durinsf all our route we were never a hundred

cH. XXI.] Hundred & Fifty TJiousand Camels. 137

yards away from a tent. Sheep there were none,
however, except high up on the slopes of the sur-
rounding hills, and we were struck by tlie compa-
ratively small number of the mares. Camels seemed
everything, and of these herd after herd we passed
through, of a hundred, and five hundred, and a thou-
sand strong. The tents themselves are smaller than
those of the Sebaa, and only the Sheykh's is an
imposing one. It is set on nine poles, and is per-
haps a hundred feet from end to end. Of creature
comfort, however, it is as destitute as the rest of
them. A bit of carpet and a few camel saddles are
all its furniture, with two tall coffee-pots and a
coffee ladle, two yards long set upon wheels. Per-
haps a hundred people were seated in the tent. A
little dark-faced man of aljout thirty, much pitted
with small-pox and Avearing a pink cotton kefiye,
received us as we dismounted, and with some diffi-
culty we recognised in him tSotamm ibn Shaalan,
the Sheykh of the Roala.

The family of Ibn Shaalan, though not accounted
of the oldest nobility, has nevertheless the greatest
hereditary position of any in the Desert. Sotamm
can boast that by right of birth he rules over a
population of at least twenty thousand souls, and
can bring five thousand men into the field. How
the family first acquired its position I have not
been able to find out, but they have held it now
for so respectable a number of generations, that the
sheykhdom is hereditary with tliem, the Ibn Jeudals

138 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxi.

and Tayars notwitlistanding * Among the Sebda,
and the other Anazeh, there is nothing of the sort,
for each section there of the tribes has its own inde-
pendent sheykh, and Jedaan's position with them
is merely a personal one. Only the Jerba family
in Mesopotamia can at all compare with the Ibn
Shaaliins in importance, while in wealth and power
the Koala stand far above the Shammar. With all
this, Sotamm himself does not appear to have much
influence with his people. It is easy to see that he
is weak and irresolute, a mere puppet in their hands.
He is not even their akld or military leader, which
he could not fail to be, if he had any of the qualities
necessary for the position. The Akid of the Eodla
is a little old man named Hamid, Sheykh of the
Majil, a section of the tribe. It was he that led the
ghazu the other day, not Sotamm, though Sotamm
was of the party.

Our reception here has been polite and amiable,
but not particularly cordial. Sotamm complains of
being tired and knocked up with his campaign and
has left us alone most of the day. In the afternoon,
however, he came with Sheykh Hamid, the Akid,
to pay us a visit, and we took the opportunity to
open negotiations witli him on the subject which
most interests us, our diplomatic mission from
Jediian. Before leaving the Sebaa, Abd er Eahman,
the Aleppine Doctor of Divinity, w^ho is my fellow

* Compare the account of the Drayhy ibn Chaldan in the Eecit de
Fatalla Sayeghir, as given by Lamartine.

en. XXI.] Tf^e propose Terms of Peace. 1 39

plenipotentiar}- in this matter, got special instruc-
tions from Jeddan as to terms, and we are authorised
now to propose an arrangement on the following
basis :

1. Peace shall be made.

2. All claims for losses by either side shall be
considered settled.

3. Ibn Shaalan shall withdraw his claim to the
pastures of Homs and Hama.

4. The Sebaa will receive the Eoiila as guests in
the Upper Desert, where there is room for all.

These very fair terms we have proposed this after-
noon to Sotamm and the Akid, supporting tliem
with all the aro;uments we could command. I told
Sotamm that a man in a great position, such as his,
should give an example of wisdom to his people, and
not be led away by the mere lust of glory, which
makes fools of the common sort of men ; that he
must know that an aimless war like this, between
two Anazeh tribes, was ruinous to both of them ;
that the camels he seized to-day would be taken
from him to-morrow, for the fortune of war was
always turning ; that the only people who really
profited by such fighting were the Turks, the
enemies of them all, and that he should know better
than to play into the hands of Pashas and Mute-
sherifs. Sotamm assented to all tliis, admitted that
the Turkish Government were primarily to blame in
the cparrel, but maintained that the war must now
go on. His people wished it and he could not con-

1 40 Bedouin Tribes of the EnpJi7'ates. [ch. xxi.

trol them. The Akid was much more favourably
disposed for peace. He is an old man and has seen
many wars, and knows how little good and how
little glory comes of them, but his business was not
to decide such questions for the tribe, only to lead
them when they chose to fight. As to the pashas
it was impossible to do anything with them without
presents, and the tribe wanted commercial advan-
tages with the towns, which could only be procured
by paying handsomely.

/. " And yet, if the Anazeh were united, it would
not be the sheykhs who would bring gifts to the
pashas. Then, Sotamm, instead of sending mares to
Hama, would himself receive pensions and robes of
honour. It was by the quarrels among themselves
that the Anazeh lost their hold over the towns
which used to pay them tribute, and now the Turks
have it all their own way. They have not even
to fight, for the Eoala do that business for them."

Sotamm. " My people do not understand these
things. They find it more profitable to be friends with
the Government and do what the Pasha tells them."

/. "And that is, to make war with their brethren.
You will be sorry for it some day, when the Turks
drive you all back to Nejd the way you came."

Sotamm. " I can only do what my people wish.
They want the plains of Hama for their camels,
which have increased, thank Grod, and multiplied
these last four years, so that the Hamad cannot any
lonQ;er contain them."

CH. XXI.] Fruitless Diplomacy. 1 4 1

/, " The Sebaa consent to receive you as guests
in the Upper Desert. There is room there for all of
you."

Sotamm. " Yes ; but the Turks no not wish us to
make peace."

This was the burden of his tale, and it is evident
that he is too weak to lead or govern his people.
The Akid, however, has consented to argue the case
with the principal sheykhs of the tribe, and they
are now sitting in a circle on the ground about a
hundred yards off, in council on the proposals.

Besides Sotamm and the Akid, we have had a
considerable circle of visitors off and on at our tent.
Their principal talk was of the ghazu, which they
consider a very successful one. They were only five
days away altogether, and had eighty miles to march
each way, the return journey being of course im-
peded by the captured camels they had to drive. It
was certainly their camp fires Mohammed saw from
the hill above Buseyri. We were surprised to hear
that the Rodla, powerful as they are, can only
muster a thousand horsemen on an expedition of
this sort. But they explained the matter by telling
us, that now they managed their fighting in another
way, which they found more effective. Instead of
mares, most of them now ride deliils and take fire-
arms with them, sitting two on each camel and back
to back. This mounted infantry goes by the name
of seyman, and of them four or five thousand can
be mustered. Only a few, however, accompanied

142 Bedouin Tribes of the Ettphrates. [en. xxr.

this late ghazu, and these only in the capacity of
scouts. The ten men with their deluls, crouched
in the wady, whom AVilfrid came across the day
we arrived at Jedaan's camp, were undoubtedly a
party of them, sent on before to get news, and spy
out the weak points of the Sebaa line. All the
Jelaas are here together now in the plain, a thing
that does not happen once in twenty years, — all with
the exception of five hundred tents under Tellal, a
cousin of Sotamm's, who has quarrelled with the
sheykli and stays behind near Jebel Shammar this
year. The quarrel is, I believe, a domestic one, in
which their wives are principally concerned. It is
very difficult to get at the true number of the Koala
tents, some saying five thousand and others twenty
thousand. The Bedouins seem to have no idea of
counting, and generally exaggerate, yet Wilfrid is of
opinion that twenty thousand is nearer the mark.
A hundred and fifty thousand seems to be a fair
guess at the number of their camels. The thousand
camels captured this week have been divided among
those who took part in the ghazii, and may be dis-
tinguished by the fetters which they have on their
forelegs to prevent their straying homewards. There
are also in camp a great many black camels from
the Nejd. These are smaller, scraggier, and give
less milk than the common sort. They are held in
less estimation.

Amongst others, Sotamm's little boy came,
brought by his nurse, a very pretty child of four

en. XXI.] Peace or War'? 143

years old, named Maiisur (Victorious), with plump
rosy clieeks and a friendly disposition, not at all
sliy as the children here generally are. He walked
across the tent all alone to give me a kiss. Hamid
the Akid has come 1)ack with Abd er Rahman to
give us news of the council of war, for I fear it can
hardly be hoped to be one of peace, though nothing-
has yet been settled. It appears that Sotamm has
received a letter from Jevdet Pasha, the new Valy
of Damascus, which he has got Abd er Rahman to
read for him. It is a very curt epistle, forbidding
the Roiila to go any further north this year than
where they are. But it concludes with these words,
" if you have anything to say to me on this score,
I will see you at Damascus and listen patiently."
This, Sotamm, and everyone else, take to be on the
Pasha's part, ",9a maniere de tirer une carotte."
The new Valy, it is said, is " hungry," and must
have his share. So Sotamm is making ready to
go off to Damascus to-morrow with presents in
his hand, and is more than ever determined to
follow up his game with the Turks. I fear it is
useless arguing further, even on the ground of
personal danger to an Ibn Shaaldn in Damascus, for
Sotamm knows, or should know, that he runs no
sort of risk there. It is only sheyklis of individual
eminence who are in any danger. Later, Sotamm
himself joined us, and w^e tried our last counsels.
He listened very politely, and appealed almost
pathetically to us to excuse him, if he could not do

144 Bcdoidn Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [en. xxr.

all we wished. He liad no quarrel with Jeddan
though his wife had left him, and the Sebaa have
suffered more than his own people in the war ; but
he must wait and see which way the Roala wished
to go. At present they wished him to make this
journey to Damascus. They could not stay where
they were, for the grass was all eaten up, and they
must cross the hills to-morrow towards Jerud, while
he would go with us straight to the town. He was
really pathetic in his lamentation about the manner
in which he is obliged to sacrifice his own interests
to the wishes of his people. He must become poor,
that they may grow rich ; lie must find mares and
camels, to satisfy the hunger of the Osmanlis, that
the Roala may trade freely with the townspeople
and felhiliin, — and soon he will be ruined. I have
not much respect for Sotamm, but I cannot help
liking and pitying him. He is only weak.

"We have had a most sumptuous dinner this
evening, and there is singing and dancing going
on in our neighbourhood, in honour of some feast of
circumcision.

April 15. — ^While the tents were being pulled
down and the camels loaded, I had half-an-hour s
conversation Avith Ghiowseh, Sotamm's first wife, the
one with whom Jedaan's daughter has quarrelled.
Fortunately, everybody but we two was busy, so
we could talk without being interrupted by the
busybodies, w^hich generally surround one in the
women's tent. Ghiow^seh is pretty, slight and small

CH. XXI.] Sotaimn s Domestic Life. 145

featured, and though very nice to me, looked as if
she might have a temper of h(.'r own. She has
more wits than most Arab women have, and can
carry on a conversation further than is usual with
them, — for they generally come to a dead stop
when they have asked how far away my honi(i
is, and how many children I have had. Ghiowseh,
on the contrary, showed an interest in hearing what
I had to say about our travels and the people we
had made acquaintance Avith in the desert. She was
especially curious about the Shammar women,
asking whether they were as pretty as people said,
and Avhether they were well dressed and neat and
clean. Sotamm is her first cousin, and she rules
him with a rod of iron, not suffering any other
woman to stay long in his tent. She has got rid of
two that I know of, and seems determined to hold
her ground, in which she will probably succeed as
she is Mansiir's mother. The child was with her,
and made himself very agreeable, begging his
mother not to let me go away but to keep me with
her. I gave him a little whistle, and plaited a bit
of string for him to hang it by round his neck,
and he was much delighted when I showed him
how to blow it. He was not like most Arab chil-
dren, who are always clawing at everything they
can reach, and asking for sugar, but was quite Aveli
behaved and well mannered. Of course, however,
he was very dirty, all the children being kept so liy
their mothers for fear of the evil eye. The tent at

146 Bedoiiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxi.

last came down almost over our heads, and we had
to get up, so I said good-bye, and Ghiowseh pro-
mised the child should not forget me.

The last thing loaded by Ibn Shaalan's people was
the xittfa, a gigantic camel howda, used by the
Koala whenever they expect a pitched battle, and
then only. It is a huge cage of bamboo covered
with ostrich featliers, and probably as old as the
date of their first coming from Nejd, for ostriches
are not found, I believe, north of Jebel Shammar.
A delul carries the idtfa^ in which a girl is placed,
whose business it is to sing during the fight, and en-
courage the combatants by her words.* She needs
to be stout-hearted as well as stout-lunged, for the
battle generally groups itself round her, in attack
and defence. The Roala have a superstitious feeling
about her defence, and the enemy a corresponding
desire to capture her, for it is a belief that with
the loss of the iittfa the Roala tribe would perish.
Formerly, each large Bedouin tribe had one of
these, but now, perhaps from a scarcity of ostrich
feathers and the difficulty of renewing them, the
iitfj'a and the custom attached to it have dis-
appeared, except among the Roala and, I believe,
the Ibn Haddal.f To-day it was carried empty on
the back of a fine she- camel.

* This TJttfa figures in the fantastic description of the forty
days' battle given by Fatalla Sayeghir, and justly ridiculed by
Mr. Palgrave.

t Mr. Palgrave mentions its existence among the Ajman, a tribe
esat of Jebel Shammar.

CH. XXI.] The Rodla move Camp. 147

AVe liave seut our mares cand donkeys for water
to the lulls wliicli rise north of the plain, here
called " Jebel Euak," where there is a spring of
excellent water, Bir Shedeli, and they have not
yet returned, though all the Eoala tents are do\vii
and the march begun. Sotamm out of politeness
kept his own tent standing to the last, Init now he
cannot wait any longer, and has come to wish us
good-bye. AVc are to meet him again to-night or
to-morrow, but he has to see his tribe across the
liills first, and will then join us on the road, and go
with us to Damascus. I watched him riding away
with a few followers, and four mares, and a delul
with her foal, which he is taking as gifts to the
Pasha. The mares were nothing very remarkable.
Now they are all gone.

It is a very curious feeling to perceive the plain
gradually emptied of its inhabitants (we can still
watch them streaming by half-a-dozcu different
passes up the hills), and to find all this tumultuous
camp suddenly fallen into silence, and ourselves
alone in the desert. Except the trampled pasture,
there is not a trace of the people who are gone, for
the Arabs leave nothing behind them, not even the
scraps of paper one finds in Europe after a pic-nic.
Only two camels, probably of those lately captured
and too lame to go further, remain for the next
person who likes to appropriate. One of them
Ghanim is very anxious to drive off and sell at
Damascus, but this Wilfrid will not allow.

148 Bcdo7iin Tribes of the Eziphrates. [ch. xxr.

Evening. — We did not get away till nearly ten,
and have only travelled five hours, half of them, at
least, through what was the Edala camj) last night,
so that the whole space occujDied by the tribe cannot
have been less than twelve miles across. It was not
till we got clear of this, that the camels found any
grass to eat, and we then let them feed as they
went, for they have had little the last twenty-four
hours. As we followed along the foot of the Euak
hills, a white cloud gradually appeared over the
horizon in front of us and, as it took shape, became
transformed into a mountain. It was the snow-
covered head of ]\Iount Hermon, our first sight of
the promised land. Then we knew that Damascus
must be straight l)efore us, and not far off.

We have stopped under shelter of a ruined khan,
the first sign of approaching civilization ; and there,
in a bed of thick rich grass, we are spending a happy
afternoon, having seen our last of the Bedouins.
This Avill be our last night in the desert, and we
must make the most of it. There are some curious
volcanic mounds close by, differing from any we
have hitherto seen, — outlying specimens, perhaps, of
the tells of the Leja. On one of them Wilfrid haS'
shot a hare, and we are to have a feast to-nio-ht to
celebrate Mohammed's promotion to the rank of
brotherhood, with which it has been determined to
reward him for his tried fidelity and loyal service.
We have long debated whether he was worthy of
the honour ; for the brotherhood is not a thing to be

CH. XXI.] MohaniiuciTs Choice. 149

lightly undertaken, or undertaken at all, except with
men of a certain distinction, and jSloliammcd's
position as a Tudmuri seemed at first to put him
altogether out of the category of eligible persons.
It is, however, a time-honoured practice, even with
the greatest desert sheykhs, to take the oath with
the sheykhs of towns, and Mohammed's Lirtli as
eldest son and heir apparent to the sheykhdom of
Tudmur has to be considered, while his descent
from the Beni Ldam and the prophet Taleb raise
him altoo'ether above the common herd of villao;e
felldhin. As a final test, and to prove whether he
was wholly worthy, ]\Ir. S, had been deputed to-day
to tempt him with money, a crucial test indeed
with Bedouin and citizen alike in Arabia, and he
had come out of it unscathed. The choice was
given him whether, in reward of his services, he
should be sent home to Tudmur with a handsome
Bum in mej idles, or as the friend and brother of the
Beg. Mohammed did not hesitate, but emphati-
cally exclaimed, " If the Beg were to fill my kefiyeh
with white pieces, yet I would hold it as nothing to
the honour of being his brother." So, then, it has
been settled, and the oath taken in our presence,
and to-night Mohammed for the first time will sit
down and eat with us in our tent. In taking
the oath, he added to the usual phrases one new to
us, " lei akliiv miii yomi " (" to the last of my
days "). He seems duly impressed with the solem-
nity of the occasion.

150 Bcdotiiii Tribes of tJic FAipJirates. [ch. xxr.

Sotamm has not made his appearance, and we do
not expect now to meet him, till we get to Da-
mascus.

A'pril 16. — The weather has broken up, but no
matter. AVe are just at the end of our journey.
In the night I saw a fine lunar rainbow, the moon
shining against a heavy shower. The whole bow
was visible, but the colours were indistinct.

Soon after ' starting, we passed a small outlying
Eoala camp, but without alighting. Two of the
horsemen belonging to it joined our party and rode
a mile or two with us, but we could get no infor-
mation from them, as the younger was shy, and the
elder had an impediment in his speech, which made
him imj^ossil^le to understand. Then we parted
company, they passing over hills to the right to
join the main body of Eoala at Jerud, we keeping
straight towards ]\Iount Hcrmon, or Jebel-esh-
Sheykh, as it is called. At ten o'clock we reached
the first cultivated fields and some fine Greek ruins,
and, a little further on, a })lentiful spring of living
water, such as we had not seen for weeks. It
seemed unnatural, if not impossible to find so much
water starting out of the ground. Immediately
afterwards the village of Dumeyr was reached, the
furthest outpost of civilization towards the desert.
It is a flourishing place, surrounded with gardens
and fields of corn. Countrymen with pale faces
and wearing turbans appeared, riding donkeys in-
stead of camels, and answering our salutations, in

en. XXI.] Goodbye to tJic Dcscii. i 5 i

wheat sounded to our ears an affected lis]), with tlie
Syrian '' marahubhay AVe were once more with-
in the pale of Ottoman law, that half-way house
between desert freedom and the chains of Euro]ic.
Lastly, we met a man in Frankish clothes, with
rings on his fingers and speaking French, who told
us he was dragjoman to a forcio-D Consulate. AVe
hardly knew with what face to look at him, so bare

and bald and skimjoily clothed he seemed.

* * * =;;= * * *:

The next morning ^ve rode into Damascus.

CHAPTER XXII.

" Their shape was very singular and deformed, which a little discomposed me, SO
that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them better,"— 4 Voyage to the
Jluiii/hnJinms. — Swift.

Last Words — The Camel defended — Sotamm in town — Parewells —
A party of Yahoos.

A FEW words now will complete my story. We
■vvere a week at Damascus, waiting for money to
•cany us liome, for we had spent nearly all we had,
and depended on the sale of our camels to make up
the sum required. Ferhan and ]\Iohammed between
them arranged this admiraljly, and we found our-
selves, in a few days, with a clear profit of fifteen
shillings on each beast that wc had purchased at
Bagdad. Tamarisk, too, was disposed of with but
trifling loss, and the other three mares were left
with Mr. S. for embarkation later on for England.
The white donkey realised precisely the sum she
had cost us, £16, at starting, and well worth
the money she was to her new purchaser. It was
not till tjuite at the end of the journey, that she had
shown signs of fatigue, and then only under the
aggravation of eighteen stone on her back. During
the whole march she had not tripped once or
stumbled.

We shed a tear or two at parting with our

cii. XXII.] The Camel Defended. 153

camels, such tears as people shed who dismiss good
servants on reducing their establishment. These
honest animals had done everything required of
them without complaining, T had almost said with-
out a word. It makes me angry, remembering the
docile affectionate beasts they were, to read such
rubbish as travellers write about the evil disposition
of their race. A certain writer, for instance, who
ought to know better, devotes a page or two of his
book on Arabia to an essay on the wickedness of
the camel's heart, which to one who has had ex-
perience of the real creature, uubrutalised by "hard
blows" and "downright kicks," is strange to un-
derstand. The camel, whatever his faults, is cer-
tainly not ill-tempered, and his roaring is as little
terrible to any but cockney ears as the lowing of a
cow. Eoaring is his manner of si>eech, and need
frighten no one. The fact is, the camel alarmed,
or overloaded, or overworked, appeals in this way
for mercy to his owner, and, if the traveller, annoyed
by the noise, will look under the saddle l)efore
mounting, he will generally find there just cause for
the loud complaints his poor beast makes. A young
unbroken camel roars from terror, so does one
wounded by the saddle. Many a time I have been
made aware by my camel's voice, or by the mute
appeal of his face turned to me and nudging my
elbow, that the saddle required re-stuftiug, and
more than once that it was time to dismount if I
did not wish to risk a foil. AYas there ill-temper or

154 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xxn.

want of sense in this? Much as I love horses, I
liold them on both these points below the camel.

Let anyone, who doubts this, take camels and
horses on a journey and see how each will act. The
horse, if not restrained by his rider, will begin the
day with a frolic, heels in air, and end it in a
shambling jog, stumbling and wearied out. If care-
fully ridden, however, he will last through the day,
and come in hungry at night, and hunger is what
the traveller loves best to see in his beast ; so he
turns him loose to feed. Not at all ! Bucephalus
has seen a rival, and Avith a snort and a scream he
is at him hoof and tooth. The grass may be sweet,
but fighting is sweeter ; and, unless his master inter-
vene, there is little chance of his being fit for another
day's journey. At some risk he is seized and bound,
tethered we will say to a stout peg, and before
morning, if he have not broken loose, he will be
found inextricably entangled in his halter, starving
because he cannot get at the grass, and with the
rug, given him by his master, to keep him warm,
dislodged by his attempts to roll, and hanging from
the surcingle. His master comes to feed him, and
spreads his cloak upon the ground, and heaps up
corn before him. The horse takes a mouthful,
turnino; round the while to bite his flank, and
scattering half upon the ground. Then in another
instant he has pawed the heap into mire beneath
his hoofs.

Meanwhile, the " stupid, ill-tempered " camel,

CH. XXII.] Parczcc/ls. i z

D.->

liusbanding his power, lias marelied all day, keepino'
at a uniform pace like a trained pedestrian, mile
after mile, hour after hour ; and, the journey ended,
he walks off to feed. He knows time's value, and
loses not an instant, careful only to keep his fellows
in sight, and listening for his master's call. At dusk
he stops and, turning his head at a sudden flash, sees
the camp fire lighted, and knows that it is time for
bed. He slowly makes his way to camp, kneels
down of his own accord to receive his portion of
beans, or his ball of cotton seed, and chews the cud
without moving till morning. Which of these two
creatures has shown the neater sense durino- the
day ? Which the most temper ? But enough. I
have lost my own.

After these mute partings, farewells more solemn
had to be made. Hanna, Ferhiin, Ghanim, Mo-
hammed, and Mr. S., each in his turn, and in his
degree, cost us a pang, Ghanim was the first to
go. At Damascus he was evidently out of place,
and the very first day got into trouble there, and
was disarmed by the police of a certain iron mace it
had been his pride to carry. This disgusted the boy,
and he took the opportunity to leave us, ingratiating
himself with his legitimate chieftain; by singing songs
to him in honour of the Koala war. There, under
the name of Bender (for he thought it becoming,
like Abram, on so great an occasioii to change his
name), and clothed in a fine abba and kefiyeh, the
proceeds of our bakshish, he strutted about the

] 56 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxn.

town — tlie vain, nnstable, interesting creature he had
ahvays been — and disappeared at last with his new
master. Hanna was made happy with cooking-pots
and pans to his heart's content, besides receiving
double pay for all the months he had been in our
service. He wept copiously for the last few days
preceding our departure, and in a perfect torrent of
tears when the day itself came. Ferhaii was less
demonstrative, yet every bit as sincere. He was the
only one of our servants who asked for nothing but
his wages, and who took all that was given him over
and above, as a gift from heaven. He did not count
his money, but affirmed that he would follow us to
the world's end, and I believe him.

]\lohammed, as agreed, recived no pay, but was
rewarded with the rifle and Avith sundry small
articles he had not the strength of mind to help
asking for. To the last he remained the same good
humoured intelligent fellow we had always found
him, and, now he has become " the Begs brother,"
I believe he would follow our fortunes to the end
of the world. He has promised to go with us
next winter to the Jof, where we are to help him
in the choice of a new wife from his own people,
the Beni Laam, a girl of noble blood, and one worthy
to marry a descendant of the prophet Taleb. Abd
er Rahman, who though not our servant had served us
in divers ways during the last fortnight, received a
servant's reward. Money, he had learnt by long
experience, was a more substantial blessing than

CH, XXII.] Sotanuii leaves Jiis Alarcs. 157

glory, and he had laughed, in his quiet way, not a
little at Mohammed's romantic choice. But we re-
membered that he was but an Ulema of Aleppo, and
the son of a horse dealer, and Ave do not withdraw
our esteem from him on that account.

Sotamm came more than once to visit us in the
garden, where we were encamped at Damascus, aud
seemed pleased, poor man, to sit down at the door
even of our European tent. He felt that we were
in some sense Bedouins like himself. Each time
we found him paler and more dejected, for the
Bedouins languish quickly in town air, and at last
he suddenly went 1jack to the desert. At the time,
we could learn nothing of his interview with the
Valy, for he was always accompanied and closely
watched by an official, and therefore reserved with
us, and we, having done our duty in the cause of
peace, pressed him no further. But we know now
that he went back without his mares to the tril3e,
and that the difficulty as to the march of the Eodla
northwards was satisfactorily removed. Quite lately
news has reached us that Sotamm is once more in
the old quarters of the Sebaa, the pastures of Homs
and Hama, and that he is supported there by the
Government. So I fear Ave must consider that our
diplomatic mission failed. Whether the Sebaa Avill
sit down under their loss of territory, or Avhethcr
new raids and fio-hts Avill follow Ave do not A'ct
know, but I intend perhaps to add a postscript to my
last chapter, with the " latest news " of the Desert.

158 Bedo7d]i Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxu.

Of our journey home it will be unnecessary to
say anything, for, from the day of our arrival at
Damascus, we felt that its interest for us had
ceased, and that the rest was only an annoying
delay. We got over our first meeting with our
countrymen with as good a face as we could com-
mand, but we own it shocked us. We were not
prepared for the vast change a winter spent among
the Arabs would make in our tastes, our prejudices
and our opinions. It was at Beyrout that we met
the first wave of European life. We had found the
inn there deserted, and had dined in peace, sitting,
it is true, at a table instead of on the floor, drinking
our water out of glasses, and eating with knives
and forks instead of with our fingers, but hitherto
there had been nothing to excite our surprise or
shock our feelings. As we were sitting, however,
on a divan at the end of the dining-room, drinking
our cofiee in all the solemnity of Asiatic repose, a
sudden noise of voices and loud laughter resounded
through the house, and presently the door burst
open, and a tumultuous throng of men and women
clad ill trousers and coats, or in scanty skirts and
jackets, according to their sex, but all with heads
uncovered, and looking strangely naked, rushed
across the floor. There may have been a dozen of
them in all. Their faces were flushed and excited,
as if they had been drinking wine ; and they passed
in front of us without pause or salute to the upper
end of the room, and there, with no further cere-

cH. xxii.] A Party of YaJioos. i c^9

mouy, flimg tliemselves each into his cliair. The
dresses, voices, gestures and attitudes of these men
and women struck us as not only the most gro-
tesque, but the most indecorous we had ever seen.
The women were decked out in the most tawdry
and unseemly manner, and one girl among them
had a quantity of golden hair hanging quite loosely
down her back. Some of the men were close
shaven on the chin, and others wore spectacles.
They threw themselves, as I have said, in the
grotesquest attitudes into their chairs, and at once
began chaffering with a scoundrel crew of Jew
pedlars who had followed them in, and who, while
exhibiting their trumpery wares, cast evident eyes
of contempt, even they, on the undignified strangers.
The conversation, which I am ashamed to repeat,
was conducted partly in English, partly in limjua
Franca, and consisted principally of insidts ad-
dressed to the pedlars, varied with cajoleries yet
baser and more odious. The objects chaffered for
were sham Oriental weapons, sham turquoise orna-
ments and fir-cones from the Lebanon. Wilfrid
beckoned a servant, and inquired of him what
manner of people these were that had been ad-
mitted to the house. " Cook's tourists," we thought.
"Their manners are proverbial, and perhajjs they
have been dining out." " Oh no," replied the
man ; " these travellers are English milords of
distinction. They arrived last night in a yacht
from Malta." Yes, these were the "asil" of our

i6o Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [cii. xxir,

own countrymen. I am glad Mohammed did not
see them.

Our journey is over, and we are once more in
England, with no more tangible record of our
winter's adventures, and of the friends we made
in the desert, than Meshiir's pistols hung up over
the chimney-piece of the hall, and half-a-dozen
Arabian mares grazing in the park outside. Sherifa
is one of them, with a pretty bay colt at her heels,
while Hagar seems to enjoy galloping and jump-
ing; hurdles on Enoiish o-round. Mohammed's sura,
liajar, the stone head from Palmyra, lies on a table
among whips and umbrellas, the nucleus of a col-
lection of antiques, and letters have arrived from
Aleppo announcing the great news of the day, the
alliance of Jedaan and Faris.

All is finished but the last few serious chapters,
with which Wilfrid proposes to end this book for
me. In them the information we picked up during
our travels will be embodied, and, though he sa}'^
they will probably be dull, I trust they may not be
Avithout practical value.

CHAPTER XXIII.

" A greater part of the earth hath ever hccn peopled than liath been
known or described by geographers." — Sir Thomas BHOW^yE.

Geogi-apliy of N'orthern Arabia — Physical features of the Desert —
Migrations of its tribes — The Euphrates valley — Desert
villages — Some hints for map-makers.

Arabia is usually represented on our maps as
being bounded to the north by a curved line, starting
from the head of the Persian Gulf and endino; at
the Gulf of Akaba. Its vertex is placed by most
geographers in latitude 34°, or a few miles south of
the ancient city of Palmyra. This, in the days of
the Eoman empire, no doubt represented pretty
accurately the limits of fixed authority southwards
towards the Peninsula. The line of the Euphrates
was at that time guarded, and a military high road
connected the river with the hills al)0ve Damascus,
shuttino; out the Bedouin tribes of Arabia from the
pastures of Mesopotamia and of the upper " Syrian
Desert." Within the limits thus traced, settled life
was secure acrainst marauders, and the common
law of the empire prevailed. But it is many cen-
turies now since the Euphrates ceased to be the
real boundary of Arabia, or the high road passing

1 62 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiplwates. [ch.xxhi.

tlirouoji Palmyra a barrier to its tribes. It is time,
therefore, that the imaginary line traced by ancient
geographers should disappear from our maps.

Northern Arabia at the present day embraces
the whole district between Syria and Persia, and
extends northwards as far as latitude 37^, the lati-
tude of Orfa and Mardin. IMesopotamia, Irak, and
the plains north of Palmyra, are now in every re-
spect part of Arabia, forming, with the Hamad, a sin-
gularly homogeneous whole, uniform in its physical
features and in the race which inhabits it. The
Shammar, the Anazeh, and the Montefik tribes are
as purely Arabian as their kinsmen of Nejd, and
the villagers of the Euphrates and the Jof as those
of the Hejaz and Yemen. It is probable, indeed,
that the o-reat camel-ownino- tribes of the Northern
Deserts represent the ancient civilization of Arabia
far more closely than do the Mussulman popula-
tion of the south, and are more nearly connected
in thought and manners with the patriarchs of
primaeval history, from whom both claim to
descend. Be this as it may, Arabia has no other
limits now than those of the desert.

The physical features of the desert are those of a
vast plain, or succession of plains and plateaux, so poor
in soil and so scantily watered, that no cultivation
is possible within its hmits except by irrigation.

Its surface has at one time been, in all likelihood,
the bed of an inland sea, for the surface soil is still
composed in part of a layer of shingle, in part of

cH.xxiii.] Physical Features of the Desert. 163

a sandy loam covering the substratum of clialk or
con2;lomerate.

Roughly speaking, tlie district is without moun-
tains, streams or fresh-water lakes, for the two
great rivers which cross its north-eastern angle
neither affect nor are affected by the country they
traverse. They cut through the plain, as it were,
like stran«jers, and have nothinof in common with
the desert above them. The only considerable
chain of hills is that which connects Damascus with
Mosul, and which, under the successive names of
Jebel Ruak, Jebel Amur, Jebel Abd ul Aziz, and
Jebel Sinjcir, forms a continuous line at right
angles to the Euphrates. This line marks the
difference of level in the plains north and south of
it, with a corresponding diversity of vegetation.
Above the hills, permanent sheep pasture is found ;
below them, camel pasture only.

It is strange that modern map-makers, and es-
pecially the German, should in their anxiety to
improve on ancient models have abandoned so
marked a natural feature as this range of hills,
which the older geographers w^ere careful to give ;
and it is a poor exchange to find in its stead, the
old blank spaces of the desert filled up with new
landmarks either wholly imaginary or out of all
proportion to their real value. There is nothing
more irritating to the traveller, endeavouring to
make his way across the desert by the help of one
of these German maps, than to find a number of

.M 2

164 Bedouin Tribes of the EjipJu^ates. [cH.xxnr.

insignificant tells and wadys figuring on it as hills
and watercourses, — and this for no better purpose
than that the map should look more maplike to the
eyes of the engraver.

I have traced one or two of these improvements
to their source. Thus, in 1872, a Prussian lieu-
tenant, named Thielman, crosses the Hamad from
Bagdad to Damascus, and, being a conscientious
officer, notes down all that he sees on his way. He
observes, amongst other things, a certain range of
hills (the broken edge, most probably, of a plateau
or table-land), and he asks his guide "What is
that ? " " El berriye," answers the Agheyl, " the
desert," meaning thereby that he sees nothing he
recognises ; and in the next edition of Kiepert's
Hand Atlas, Jehel el Berrie appears as a mountain
chain. In another map, Jebel Rudk figures as a
single peak ; and in a third, Tudmur stands in a
valley. The fact is that, with the exception of the
Euphrates, which was surveyed by Colonel Chesney
forty years ago, no part of Northern Arabia has yet
been professionally examined. ]\Iap-makers, then,
would do well to imitate Mr. Stanford, who, in
default of reliable information from modern tra-
vellers, sticks courageously by the old traditions.
His map looks bare but is accm^ate, and is the only
one we have found of any use.

But to resume : The physical features of the
desert are those of a plain clothed with aromatic
shrubs, stunted but woody, of which wild lavender

cn.xxiii.] Summer Qiuirtcrs of the Anazeh. id

is a good type. The varieties of these are numerous,
but their value as pasture is very unequal, some
being excellent for camels, others for sheep, and
not a few being absolutely worthless. On the better
soils, too, after rain many kinds of grasses and
flowering plants are found, while in the Northern
j)arts of Mesopotamia and the Upper "Syrian"
Desert the country is not very different to look at
in spring-time from the great rolling downs of AVilt-
sliire, where these have not been ploughed up. Only
the resemblance is superficial, for there is no per-
manent turf in any part of the desert. It is in
these upper plains that the Bedouins congregate in
the spring, shear their flocks, and hold commercial
intercourse with the towns ; for here, even during
the extreme heats of summer, sufficient pasture of
one sort or other is found for their cattle. When
in June the grass " turns white " and is withered,
new leaves appear on the wild lavender and its
kindred shrubs; and the first autumn rains bring
back a fresh growth of greener food. Nor is water
ever wanting. In seasons of great drought the
Euphrates and Tigris valleys are always open, and
then receive the whole population, whose camels
find pasture in the great tamarisk l^eds fringing the
rivers.

With the first frosts the Anazeh move south-
wards, and by December not a camel is to be found
north of the hill rano^e. The reason of this is not
entirely nor directly due to the cold. Camels will

1 66 BedotLin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn.xxnr.

stand a vast amount of hard weather, but as soon
as the shrubs lose their leaves, not being close
feeders like the sheep, they find no pasture suited
to them, and wander southwards to latitudes where
the shrubs are evergreen. The tribes, residing all
the year round north of the hills, keep only sheep.
The camel-owning Bedouins are perpetually on the
move, the Anazeh wandering as far south in winter
as to within a few days' march of Jebel Shammar,
which geographers generally place in latitude 28°.
They have, then, an extreme range of some ten
degrees, and in exceptional years may travel two
thousand miles between November and May.

The calving time for camels is in February and
early JMarch, when the Anazeh are at the extreme
southern limit of their wanderings, so that the milch
animals have the advanta2;e of feedino; on certain
succulent bushes of wdiich the ghurkudd or, as Mr-
Palgrave writes it, the gJiada is the most esteemed.
It is a thorny tree growing perhajDs five feet high,
with a reddish stem and green fleshy leaves, re-
minding one, by its way of growing, a little of dog-
wood. Immediately, however, after the calving has
begun the tribes move again towards the north,
travelling from eight to ten miles daily, and keep-
ing pace pretty closely with the growth of the grass,
camomile, and other plants their camels love. Their
rate of marching never exceeds two miles in the
hour, the pace of the youngest camel.

At this time of year, if the season is a favourable

cir. xxiii.] The Hanidd in Spring. 167

one, the Hamad is one of the most heautifiil sights
in the world, a vast unduLiting phun of grass and
flowers. The purple stock which predominates on the
better soils gives its colour to the whole country, and
on it the camels feed, preferring it to all other food.
The hollows are filled with the richest meadow
grass, wild barley, wild oats and wild rye, the haunts
of quails, while here and there deep beds of blue
geranium (I)ohattery) take their place, or tracts white
with camomiles. On the poorer soils the flowers
are not less gay ; tulips, marigolds, asters, irises and
certain pink wallflowers, the most beautiful of all,
cousins each of them to our garden plants. For it
was from the desert doubtless that the Crusaders
brought us many of those we now consider essen-
tially English flowers. Through this, as through a
garden, the vast herds of camels with their attendant
Bedouins move slowly all the spring, and the mares,
starved during eight months of the year, foal and
grow fat upon a certain crisp grass which grows
amongst tlie purple stock, fine and dry and sweet
as sugar. No sheep accompany these southern
journeys. Those that belong to the Auazeh are
left behind in the upper plains with the Weldi
Aghedaat and other tributary tribes, who keep them
till their owners return. Sheep require constant
watering, and in the Hamad wells are scarce. As
soon as calving has commenced milk is plentiful in
the camps, and water is little thought of even for
the mares, who will go many days with nothing but

1 68 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxm.

this to drink. There are however wells in certain
places, and in others pools of rain water more or
less abundant according to the season. Their posi-
tion is well kno^^^.l to the tribes. By the middle
of April the sun begins to show its power, the pools
are exhausted, the grass has grown yellow and shed
its seed, and all this wealth of pasture disap2)ears.
Then the trilies cross the hills, rejoin their flocks
and enter into treaties with the towns. Shearing
jjegins in May, and the three year old colts and
camels find purchasers, and the year goes round
again.

Such is the physical aspect of the desert. There
remains to be described that of the two great rivers
which traverse it, and which introduce two new
features strange to Arabia, running water and trees.'"
The valleys are so nearly similar that a description
of one, the Euphrates, will suffice for both. The
Euphrates when it appears at the edge of the desert
is already a full grown river, as large as the Danube
at Belgrade, and flowing at the rate of four and
a half miles an hour. Its waters are turbid, but
sweet and pure as the water of the Nile. Like the
Nile too they have a certain fertilising quality in

* To say that trees are strange to Arabia is not perhaps quite
accurate, for the acacia and the "betun" are found, there in the
wild state, and the date palm of course is numerous "wherever there
is or has been a village. But they are suffiicently rare for the
generic word sejjereh to be almost always understood of fruit trees.
A tree in common parlance, unless further explained, means a palm
tree or a fig, an apricot or a pomegranate tree.

cH. xxin.] The E7iphrates J'^alley. 169

irrigation, superior to that of most rivers, and leave
a deposit of good mould where they have passed.
In early times and till Avithiu the last five hundred
years the Upper Euphrates Valley was a rich
agricultural district, supporting its rural popula-
tion as well as the commercial inhabitants of its
numerous wealthy towns. For two centuries how-
ever no pLjugh, it may almost be said, has turned a.
furrow on its shores. The fields have lain fallow,
and have been pastured by the Bedouins, and the
lower lands within reach of the annual inundation
have become one large jungle of tamarisk.

Further down, the river changes its aspect, the
valley grows narrow, and groves of palm trees take
the place of tamarisk beds, while the desert comes
down to the very water's edge. Here villages are
found, reduced no doubt from their ancient import-
ance, but still occuppng the sites they held in
Biblical days : — Uz, the city where Job dwelt, Hitt
and Jebbeli the home of the Hittites and Jebusites,
and others perhaps less easy to recognise, but of
as great antiquity. Hitherto, the river has cut its
way as if by violence through the surrounding
country, flowing through a valley which it has
scooped out for itself two hundred or three hundred
feet below the level of the plain, and having as
little natural connection with it as a railway travers-
incr an ao-ricultural district in Enoland. It receives
nothing from the neighbouring lands in the way of
tributaries, nor does it give anything out of its own

1 70 Bedouin Tribes of tJie Euphrates, [(.u. xxm.

valley in irrigation. Its way of life is not tliat of
tlie desert. It carries with it its own vegetation,
its own birds, and its own beasts. If the gazelle
creeps down to drink at its waters in summer it
is by night, and she soon leaves the valley. The
sandgroiise fly over it but hardly stop, and only
the little desert partridge seems common to both
sides of the cliff. On the other hand its lions
and Avolves and jackals rarely leave the valley, and
its wild boars keep close within the tamarisk beds.
Its birds are those of Europe or of Asia Minor, the
partridge, the francolin, the magpie, ducks; geese,
snipes, woodcocks. All these abound l^y the river,
but are never found even a mile beyond its
precincts.

Lastly, there is more than the usual differences
which varied occupation gives, between the men of
the valley and the men of the desert. These last
rarely descend to the river except in the seasons
of orreat drouoht, or when bent on crossino- it to
make a foray on the opposite shore. The pasturage
of the upper plain is better suited to their camels
than is that of the richer valley, and during great
part of the year, though they arc encamped within
easy reach of it, the river is to them as if it was not
there. There are hundreds of the Anazeli who have
never seen the Euphrates. On the other hand the
fellah tribes, vith their horned cattle and their
attempts at cultivation, stick closely to the valley,
while the citizens even of such purely desert towns

cii. XXIII.] Desert Villages. i ; j

as Deyr and Ana speak with terror and almost
under their breath of the Choi.

The Euphrates was so accurately surveyed by
Colonel Chesney, that nothing is wanted by the
modern traveller beyond a revision of the names
of places. These, if they were ever correctly given,
have now nearly all been altered, and since the
Turkish occupation of the valley new places of im-
portance, military or otherwise, have sprung up
requiring notice on the map. The Tigris survey is
far less accurate, but for that Colonel Chesney
was not responsible, while his map of the desert
is entirely useless. He places Tudmur fifty miles
south, and El Haddr thirty miles west of their real
positions.

Except on the line of the two rivers Northern
Arabia possesses nothing which can be called a town,
and only a few villages which are in fact oases. In
the south these are surrounded by palmgroves ; in
the north by gardens or open fields of corn, whose
acreage is dependent exactly on the amount of water
apphcable to irrigation. Those described by Mr.
Palgrave as existing in the Jof seem to be fairly
flourishing, but further north there is nothing till
w^e come to the line of hills dividing the upper from
the lower plains. Along the foot of these a few
miserable villages are scattered, occupying the site
each one of a scanty spring, and owning from fifty
to a hundred acres of irrio-able land. These are
usually surrounded by a mud wall, pierced with

172 Bcdoiiiu Tribes of the Btiphrates.iQw.-s.^iu.

a single gateway, and the houses inside l^uilt equally
of mud are low and flat roofed. They may contain
populations of from two hundred to five hundred
persons each, and are the most wretched places that
can well be conceived. The neio^hbourhood of a
desert village is always bare and pastureless, having'
been trodden down and grazed over mercilessly for
generations. The principal of these are Karyeteyn
and Tudmur, west of the Euphrates, and the
Sin jar villao-es east of it. I have marked their
positions on my map as Stanford gives them, for
his geography is fairly accurate. The Upper
Desert with the hills contains in all about a dozen
of these small places, and the Sinjar country as
many more.

On the rivers there is the same diversity of ap-
pearance between the villages of the north and those
of the south. The latter surrounded with date-
palms have a prosperous, the former drag on a miser-
able existence. The reason of this may be found
in the fact that the Bedouin seldom or never inter-
feres with date cultivation. The land occupied by
palm groves is unsuitable for pasturage, and he does
not grudge it to its owners, whereas the open fields
of wheat and barley are a continual temptation for
his flocks. Thus it is that while Ana and the palm
villages have only suflered from loss of trade, the
towns of the Upper Euphrates have been utterly
ruined. North of latitude 34° the rich valley of the-
Euphrates can boast no more than half-a-dozen

cu. XXIII.] Palm Villages of the Eitpln-atcs.

villages * maintaining a sort of deatli in life, and it
is only witliin the last few years that a little culti-
vation has been once more attempted under Turkish
protection, Deyr, the only remaining village at the
■date of the Turkish occupation in 1862, owed its
-existence to the position of its cornfields on an island
protected by the river. Of Bussra and the riverine
villages below Bagdad I will say nothing, as I have
not visited them. They are besides well known.
The holy cities of Kerbela and Meshid Ali are fairly
flourishing places, and the right bank of tlie Sliatt
el Arab, occupied by the Montefik tribe has been
described to me as the best cultivated region of the
whole valley. There are also a few small oases west
of the Euphrates, the chief of which, Kubeza and
Shedadi, are markets much frequented by the
Bedouins.

As regards our own travels, I fear we have been
able to add little to the general stock of knowledge
on geographical matters. The ancient Greek city
of El Haddr, although little known to Europeans,
has already been described by ]Mr. Ainsworth who
.saw it about 1840, and it has since been visited more
than once by j\Ir. Layard, and by at least one other
English traveller. Our route across Mesopotamia I
believe to be a new one, and the Sneyzele and Om-
inuthsiabeh lakes will now be marked for the first
time on any map. We have ascertained too that

* I do not of course mean here to include in the term " Upper
Euphrates" any part of the river beyond the limits of the desert.

1 74 Bedotim Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxnr.

tliere is no branch of tlie Kliabiir called the Sinjar,
nor indeed any such branch at all. So that should
disappear from the maps. The southern waters
from the Sinjar hills terminate all in the Subkhas
or salt lakes. In the Hamad, beyond fixing the
position of the Jebel Ghorab, which I see on
Kiepert's map seventy miles south west of its actual
position, and ascertaining the existence of a line
of fresh-water pools supplied by rain each Avinter
between the Ghota, near Damascus and the Eu-
phrates we have done nothing of any value. The
routes between Palmyra and Damascus are too well-
known to need other remark than that the Jebel
Euak is no separate peak, as some make out, but a
name o;iven to the southernmost ridg;e of the main
chain of hills, and that the plain of Saighal contains
a large fresh-water lake. I have marked, however,
the position of certain springs and wells for the use
of future travellers. I fear none of this will allow
us to claim a R. G. S.'s medal.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Desert History — The Shammar and Anazeh invasions— Destruction
of civilisation in the Euphrates Valley — Eeconquest b}-- the
Turks — Their present position in Arabia — List of the Bedouin
Tribes — An account of the Sabteans.

The modern liistoiy of Northern Arabia may be
considered as commencing with the conquest of that
country by the Shammar Bedouins of Nejd, under
their leader Faris, about two hundred years ago.

Until that time the Ottoman Empire, inheriting
the traditions of its predecessors Eoman, Greek,
Saracen and Tartar, had maintained its southern
frontier at the line of the Euphrates and the mili-
tary highroad connecting Bagdad with Damascus,
Within this limit, the inhabitants of the desert were
the Sultan's subjects, and the common law of the
Empire prevailed. Mesopotamia and the Upper
Syrian Desert were at that time inhabited by various
shepherd tribes, some of them Arabs of the first
invasion under the Caliph Omar, others of Kurdish
origin, pushed forward hj the counter invasions
from the north in the 13 th and 14th centuries, and
one of mixed race, the Moali, which owes it exist-
ence according to tradition to the following curious
accident.

1/6 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv.

In the days of the Damascus Caliphate, a certain
son of the Caliph was sent on an embassy to the
court of Justinian the second at Constantinople, and
attracted there the notice of the Empress Theodora,
who honoured him with her affection to the extent
that, when he left her court, she determined to give
him an independent position in his own country.
She sent him away therefore with substantial pre-
sents and a large number of male and female slaves,
enablino; him to found the tribe which has been ever
since known as the ]\Ioali or 'property tribe. As
evidence of the truth of this story, it is certain that
the Bedouins of pure race look down on the rank
and file of the Moali, while they hold in high honour
the family of its sheykhs, giving them the title of
Beg, otherwise unknown in the desert.'"'

These Modli occupied the right bank of the
Euphrates, and the Tai, a pure Arab race, the upper
plains of Mesopotamia, while, subject to them, were
the Weldi, the Aghedaat, the Jiburi, and the Had-
dadin, whose descendants still exist in reduced
circumstances along the valleys of the Euphrates
and Tigris. The valleys themselves, though already
partially ruined by the Tartar and Ottoman con-
quests, were still agricultural districts, and througli
them the trade with India passed. Benjamin of
Tudela, our only authority as to their condition in
the Middle Ages, describes them as containing

* Niebulir gives El Bushir as the family name of tlie Modli
Sheykhs.

cii. XXIV.] The Shammar Invasion.

I 77

numerous flourishing towns, of whicli Jilber and
Ealiaba on the Euphrates alone, had in his day a
population, besides their other inhabitants, of four
thousand Jews, while Tudmur had two thousand,
El Haddr, fifteen thousand, and Okbera on tlie
Tigris, ten thousand. Most of these cities ha^-c
now entirely disappeared. What their exact con-
dition may have been five centuries later we have
no record to inform us, but it seems certain that
their final overthrow dates only from the Shammar
conquest. This occurred in the middle of the 1 7th
centur}^

Almost exactly two hundred years ago, Sultan
Mahomet IV. beino^ then eno-ao-ed with the siege of
Vienna, the southern frontier of his empire was over-
run by these Bedouins, who had already marched up
from the Nejd and occupied the Hamad. They
found the frontier unguarded, took and destro3'ed the
city of Tudmur, and Ijroke up the line of its desert
communications with Bagdad and Damascus. They
then crossed the hills, defeated the Modli, the most
warlike of the tribes of the Upper Desert, and re-
duced the lesser ones to submission. The valley of
the Euphrates Avas next swept clear by them, and the
towns made tributary to themselves instead of to
the Sultan. The last vestiges of cultivation dis-
appeared from the right bank of the river, and
Bedouin law became supreme as far north as Bir esli
Sheykh. During tAventy years, however, so the
Arabs say, the Moali carried on the war for their

1/8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxiv.

pasturage and, though ultimately ruined, managed
at one time to gain considerable advantages. On
the pretext of a conference they inveigled the Sham-
mar chiefs to their tents, and while they were eating
slew them there. This great crime is still remem-
bered throughout the desert in the saying " Beyt el
Modli heyt el A-ib." {" The tent of the Moali is the
tent of shame.")

Nevertheless, at the end of twenty years the
Shammar conquest was complete, and the Moali
were reduced to the last extremity ; but then a new
invader appeared upon the scene, and at once turned
the fortune of the war. This was the Anazeh,
another tribe of the Nejd, who, hearing the report of
the rich pastures acquired by their predecessors, had
come to share in the spoils. The Moali sided at once
with the new comers, and together they drove the
Shammar across the Euphrates. These, finding in
Mesopotamia a still richer land before them than
what they had lost, abandoned the " Syrian " desert
to the Anazeh, subdued the Tai, and eventually
crossing the Tigris carried their raids to Mosul and
the Persian frontier. The towns on the Tigris were
treated as those on the Euphrates had been, and
even Bagdad itself was threatened.

It is strange that during the progress of these start-
ling events the Ottoman Government seems to have
looked on in apathy, and made no effort to control
the invaders. The Pashas of Mosul and Bagdad
contented themselves with mendino; the w^alls of

<ir. XXIV.] The Anazeh Invasion. 1 79

their cities and waiting patiently for events. The
commerce of the desert ceased entirely, and caravans,
abandoning the old direct routes, now followed the
long road which passes outside tlie desert through
Mardin and Orfa, and did so in fear and tremljliug.
Meanwhile the Montefik, and the Beni Laam, had
occupied Irak; and the Avhole country between
Syria and Persia, a few isolated towns excepted,
became a portion of independent Arabia. This state
of things continued unchanged down to our own
day.

The fortunes of the Bedouin tribes are continually
changing in the desert. A succession of lucky
breeding seasons for their camels brings wealth, and
the courage or Avisdom of a Sheykh importance to
a tribe, so that one year it may be this, and another
that tribe which appears in the ascendant. But the
general superiority of the Shammar and Anazeh
over the minor tribes has never been called in ques-
tion since they first appeared in Northern Arabia.
The Anazeh have it all their own way in the
Hamad, and as far north as Aleppo, and the Sham-
mar are supreme in Mesopotamia. The war which
began between them so long ago has gone on ever
since, not always actively, for there have been
seasons of truce ; but peace has never been made
between them, and raids of Anazeh into the Sham-
mar country, and of Shammar into the Anazeh may
be counted on with as much certainty every summer
as the appearance of swallows in ]\Iay. Both tribes

i8o Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv,

as far as one can guess their history, have had their
ups and downs. The Shamniar have been strong
enough within the memory of people yet living to
threaten Bagdad with sack ; and if any credence
can be placed in '' Fatalla's " recital, Ibn Shaalan of
the Eoala Anazeh invaded Persia not seventy years
ago. It is of course impossible to give anything
like an account of their fortunes and downfalls.
The Anazeh have long ceased to be a united tribe,
if they ever were one, and this has saved the Sham-
mar, who are far less numerous, from destruction.
Still, on the whole, fortune seems to have been
against the latter, as may be guessed from the in-
feriority of the horses they now possess, nothing in
desert life so clearly proving good fortune in Avar as
the presence of a large number of fine mares in the
camp of a tribe.

With regard to the Anazeh conquest, it is certain
that only a portion of the tribes now found in the
Upper Desert accompanied the first invasion. As
far as I can learn, the earliest invaders Avere the
Fedaan and the Hesenneh, then, and till quite re-
cently the most important, if not the most numerous,
of the tribes. The Ibn Haddal, Sebda and Welled
Ali came next. Then at a long interval the Rod] a,
AAdio appeared for the first time in the latitude of
Damascus about the end of last century, Avhile the
Towf and Erfuddi only left Nejd so lately as tAventy
years ago.

Such, according to tradition, has been the history

CH. XXIV.] RcconqtLest of the Euphrates. 1 8 r

of Northern Arabia for nearly two hundred years.
A new era, however, has now quite recently been-
begun ; and within the last sixteen years the Turkish
Government has recovered a part, at least, of the
territory lost so long to the Empire. In 18G2, the
heyday of reform and activity in Turkey, when,
after the Crimean war, ended some time before, the
Porte found itself in possession of a large army and
plenty of money, Omar Pasha, then Governor of
Aleppo, at the head of a considerable number of
troops marched down the valley of the Euphrates
and took military possession of Jaber and Deyr, the
only two inhabited villages then existing on the
Upper Euphrates. Deyr was at that time inhabited
by certain fellahin Arabs, partly descended from the
original founders of the town in the days of the
caliphate,* partly recruited from Mosul and Orfa,
who, having long enjoyed a semi-independence
under Anazeh protection, resented the interference
of the Turks, and defended their town stoutly. But
Omar Pasha had brought artillery with him, and
took the place by storm, and this was all the re-
sistance he met with. A garrison was placed in
Deyr, and guard-houses were built at intervals
between it and Aleppo. Deyr became a Pashalic
under the Valy of Aleppo, and the Upper Valley
of the Euphrates was declared to be once more 2)art
of the Empire. The Anazeh seem to have contented

* Deyr mu?t be older than the Mussulman era, for its name,
signifying " convent," jioints to a Christian origin.

1 82 Bedotiin Tribes of the Enphrates. [m. xxiv,

themselves with plundering the caravans which
now beojan to pass down the valley, and without an
effort abandoned their claims on the towns. The
policy so successfully begun was completed a few
years later by Midhat Pasha while governor of Bag-
dad. It was he who continued the line of guard-
houses as far as Eumddy, and made of Ana for
Bagdad what Deyr has become for Aleppo, — the
head-quarters of a detached military force in pos-
session of the Euphrates route. Caravans have
since that time passed in more or less security down
the valley. At the same time possession was taken
of the few towns existins^ on the Tio;ris.

Great efforts have been made since then to en-
courage the small tribes to cultivate the soil, and
south of Bag;dad with a certain amount of success.
Protection is now given to the Delim, Shammartoga,
and Albu Mohammed to irrigate the river l^anks
and grow wheat ; and I have heard, though I cannot
vouch for it as an eye-witness, tliat the Montefik, a
large and powerful Bedouin tribe occupying Irak,
have recently become industrious fellahin. Ferhd,n,
too, Sheykh of the Shammar, has been honoured
Avith the title of Pasha by the Government, and for
a yearly stipend of £3000, has engaged to transform
his own Bedouins in like manner into honest
peasants. At Bagdad we heard flourishing reports
of tlie success of this arrangement, but on exami-
nation found them to be based on the meao-erest of
facts. Ferhan, it is true, had collected a few hun-

• 11. XXIV.] Asian Pashas Scheme. 18

clred Arabs at Shcrghat, some of them Shammar,
but the great majority outcasts from the .liburi,
and other low tribes of the Tigris, and with them
had for some two years past made pretence of culti-
vating the valley. But pretence it merely Avas, for
during the whole of our journey among the Sham-
mar we saw nothing like cultivation, even in the
neighbourhood of Ferhdn's camp.

A still less successful scheme has been that of in-
ducing the Anazeh themselves to become peaceful
subjects of the Porte. With this view Asian Pasha,
during his term of office at Deyr, marched a large
body of troops against a section of the Sebiia, whom
he found encamped in the valley of the Euphrates,
and, having surrounded them, announced that it wns
the will of the Sultan that they should give up their
nomadic life and pursue a more loyal mode of exist-
ence, as cultivators of the soil. The Bedouins, to
whom nothing could be more distasteful, or indeed
insulting, than such a proposal, at first demurred,
but findinof themselves threatened with the loss of
their camels, and having no option given them by
the Pasha, at last consented and, under the soldiers'
superintendence, constructed long rows of mud-
houses in various parts of the valley. In these,
to their unutterable disgust, they had to make a
pretence of living, and did so as long as the soldiers
kept guard over them, a matter of three months,
when, finding his men wanted elsewhere, the Pasha
at last withdrew them, and the Bedouins without

1 84 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxiv.

delav returned to tlie desert. Several of these mud
villages may still be seen in tlie valley, roofless and
tenantless, the only result of Asian Pasha's ex-
periment.

There are many, however, who are of opinion that
in time the Porte will succeed in its efforts, and
without doubt it would be a great advantage for the
security of the country if some hold could be gained
over the Anazeh and Shammar which should bring
them within the power of the law, for as long as
they have no fixed abodes the Government, even
supjDorted by the most powerful army, can neither
levy tribute on them nor enforce its decrees against
them. It is only now and then that the Bedouins
allow themselves to be surprised, as the Sebda were
by Asian Pasha. They are usually well informed
of all that happens or is going to happen in the
towns and, on news of any expedition moving
in their direction, hastily decamp. Once in tlie
desert, no troops in the world could control them.
Scattering into small groups, their track becomes
speedily lost in the waterless inhospitable plains.

With the small tribes it is easy to deal. They
are nomadic only to the extent of moving about
with their tents and their sheep a few miles further
up or further down the valleys, but they never go
far from the rivers. They are already aware of
some of the advantages of living under settled au-
thority, Turkish though it l>e, and now that they are
secured against systematic molestation from the

CH. XXIV.] The Indtistriotts Tribes. 185

desert they are beginning to plougli and sow corn.
They cling, however, all of them, to their Hocks and
herds, and as long as this is the case it is better to
leave them in their tents than to try and make
them live in houses. Nothing is more wretched
than a pastoral life in fixed dwellings.

The most prosperous of the tribes are those which,
while remaining purely nomadic, have either never
been or have ceased to be troublesome to their
neighbours. I have generally remarked that, where-
ever cattle and buffaloes are found, there the tribes
are peaceable and flourishing. The Jiburi on the
Tigris, and the Subbkha on the Euphrates, are good
types of an honest, industrious, but purely pastoral
race, living w^ith their cattle all the year round in
the same district, and making as good subjects as a
Sultan need have. The Haddadin too are an excellent
example of what pure nomades may be. These keep
only sheep, with the exception of a few camels for
transport duty, and have a just reputation in the
desert for honesty and good manners. The citizens
of Aleppo and Mosul entrust their sheep every
winter to them and seem contented with the ar-
rangement. The Haddadin are the most prosperous
tribe we visited. The Weldi, further west, have a
similar reputation for honesty, but, owing to some bad
years lately and the extreme exactions of the Aleppo
Government, they have been much impoverished.

With proper encouragement and light taxation,
the northern desert might maintain a large and

1 86 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv.

wealthy pastoral population. It was never intended
for any other. Indeed I doubt if it would not be
an economical mistake to encourao;;e the cultivation
of all the lands which could possibly produce a crop*
For full use to be made of the desert all the year
round, some reliable pastures should be reserved for
seasons of drought and for the extreme heat of sum-
mer. I believe the occupation of these in Algeria
by European farmers has not been on the whole an
advantage to the colonial revenue. What should
be the aim of a wise government in Northern
Arabia is, not to force its nomades to settle down as
villagers, but to encourage the warlike tribes to give
up their wars. This can only be done by showing
them the advantages of peace, and giving security
to all who do not wish to fight. Rich people,
Bedouins or others, have little temptation to high-
way robbery.'"'

At the present moment then the Turkish Govern-
ment again holds the Euphrates and the greater
part of the Tigris valleys, with the plain of Irak
southwards from Bagdad. It also has got possession
of certain isolated points in the desert itself. Tud-
mur has been occupied and is now administered by
a Turkish Mudir, and tribute is levied on aU the
small towns and villages of the Jebel Amur and
Sinjar. Caravans under escort can now pass with

* The French have succeeded as admirably by such a policy in.
the Sahara as they have failed lamentably in their agricultural
schemes for Algeria.

cii. XXIV.] Tabic of Population. 1S7

tolerable safety from Aleppo to Bagdad by the
Euphrates road, and from Damascus to Deyr. But
except along these lines the Bedouins still hold
their own, and, although our safe passage through
then- territory has proved, that travelling in Meso-
potamia, even without escort, is not so impossible as
many suppose, yet a party of Bagdad merchants so
journeying would hardly have l;)een permitted to
pass unmolested. The vast majority of travellers
still prefer the roundabout but securer route through
Diarbekr and Mosul.'"'

As to the comparative numbers of the Shammar
and the Anazeh, I have always heard the same pro-
portion given, three to seven ; I therefore take it to
be correct, though the actual figures mentioned by
my informants have ranged from thousands to tens
of thousands. With the numbers themselves it is
more difficult to deal. But, keeping the proportion
above given, and allowing for all exaggerations, I
think twelve thousand or twelve thousand five
hundred Shammar to tJiirty thousand Anazeh tents
will not be very far from the truth. This, at four
persons to a tent, would give fifty thousand to one
hundred and twenty thousand souls in all.

The followinor is a table of the Shammar tribes as

o

given me by a committee of Arabs, Bedouin and

* "While I write the following news reaches me :— " Aleppo
July 30. Both banks of the Euphrates are unsafe. A caravan
was robbed of £3000 the other day near Mieddin."

1 88 Bedotmi Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv.

Fellahin, at Sliergliat, and revised by Faris him-
self:—

SJiammar Tribes of Jlesopofamia, all jDure Bedouins, owning
camels and mares, and carrying the lance. They acknowledge
the authority of one supreme Sheykh, who is also Sheykh of
the Jerba, and is descended from their chieftain, Faris, who led
them from the Nejd in the 17th century. Their present chief
is Ferhan ibn Sftik ; but a portion of the tribe, perhaps one
fourth, has seceded from Ferhan, and lives under the rule of
his brother Faris. The Shammar of Mesopotamia are a branch
of the Shammar of Jebel Shammar, and still preserve relations
of consanguinity with these. They migrate north and south
according to the season, but do not go further south in winter
than the latitude of Ana. They exact tribute from the
smaller tribes of Mesopotamia, and are independent of Turkish
authority : —

Jerba ...

. . Ferhan ibn Sfrik

TENTS.

... 2000

Hathba

. . Mohammed ibn Nigledand . .

... 500

Asslan ...
Saekh ...

.. Miittany

.. Mezer

... 400
... 500

Aleyan ...

. . Ersan ibn Dais

... 300

Abde ...
Chedada
Ghaet ...

.. Ferdi ibn Shereyn

.. Bedday

.. Beddr

... 1000
... 300
... 500

Drerat ...

.. Heza ibn Hezmi

... 500

Feddara

. . Gai abou Jeyt

700

Amut ...

. . Sotann ibn Arnut

... 1100

Affarit...
Menieh...

. . Murrthy ibn Sheh(3ni
.. IbnRasham...

... 500
... 800

Sabit ...

.. Jezzar el Alihdeb

... 1000

Lahebi ...

. . Hassan el Droiish ...

... 400

Sdeyt ...
Hammara

.. Mezer

.. Galla ed Diiaba

... 400
... 400

Besides smaller

sections ...

In all, about ..

... 700

... 12,000

en. XXIV.] Shamniar Tribes. 189

Allies and Tributaries of the Shamniar, independent, for the
most part, of Turkish authority : —

TKNT.S.

1. Zoba, a Bedouin tribe, owning camels and mares,

and carrying the lance. They occupy Southei-n
Mesopotamia as far as the junction of the rivers.
Their present Hhcykh is Zahir el Hamoud ... .0000

2. Haildadin, a pastoral tribe ; rich, peaceable, and

honest, owning few camels or mares. They are
entrusted by the fellahin of Mosul, Orfa and
Aleppo with sheep to pasture during the winter.
They occupy Upper Mesopotamia, north of the
Sinjar hills. Their Sheykh is of the family of
IbnWm-shan 2000

3. Tai, a pure Bedouin tril)e, formerly very powerful

in Upper Mesopotamia, and allied to the Tai of
Central Arabia. They o\vn camels and mares,
and carry the lance ; but are peaceable and rich.
They have numerous flocks of sheep. Their
present Sheykh, Abd er Rahman, is considered
of very nol^le family ... ... ... ... 1 000

4. Ghess, or Jess, a warlike tribe, but not of pure

Ai-ab blood. They own camels and mares, and
carry the lance ; occupying the extreme north-
west of Mesopotamia. Their Sheykh's name,
Abdullah lOOU

5. Alhu Hamid, a small semi-Bedouin tribe, occupy-

ing the countiy between Jebel Hamrin and JcIk'I
Sinjar. Their ' Sheykh, Feriian looO

6. Jibiiri, a rich fellahin tribe, owning no camels or

mares, and for the most part unarmed. They
occupy the Tigris above Tekrit, and the Kluibur,
where they pastm-e large herds of buffaloes and
cattle. They are hospitable to strangers, Ijut
take money for what they give 1 < >"( ►

7. Ajiiari,Q, smaller tribe, resembling the Jibm-i ... 1000

1 90 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv.

TENTS.

8. Jcrtfa, a pastoral tribe on the Euphrates, near

E,owa, in part fellahin ... ... ... ... 500

9. Buggura, like the Jerifa, but further north ... 800

The followiDg is a list of the Anazeh tribes in
the geographical order of their summer quarters from
North to South.

Anazeh Tribes of Nortiiem Arahia, all of them pure Bedouins,
owning camels and mares, and carrymg the lance. They exact
tribute from the small tribes west of the Euplirates, and are
independent of Turkish authority. They omti no supreme
Sheykh, and are often at war mth each other. Their range is
from Aleppo in the north, to Jebel Shammar in the south.

1. Feddan, the most warlike tribe of the desert; a

rough, nncivilized people, owning few camels
and few breeding-mares, and depending for these
mainly upon plunder. They are divided into
the following sections, each under its own
Sheykli : —

TENTS.

Melied. Sheykh, Jedaan 1000

Shmeyldt 1000

Ajajera 1000

Kltrgssa. Naif ibn Keshish 1000

N. B. — There arc two families of the Fedaan, Ibn Sbeni
and Abu Snun, who are rich, and possess many mares. They
take no part in the wars of their tribe, paying instead a tax to
the tribe.

2. SeMa. Wealthy in camels and mares, of which

last they possess by far the best in Arabia. They
are a Avell-bred, courteous people ; hospitable and
honest. They fight only in self-defence. They

en. XXIV.] Aiiazch Tribes.

191

arc divided into the following- sections, cacli
under command of its own Sheykh : —

TBNTS.

GomUbssa. Beteyen ibn Mcrshid ... 1000

Remlliii ... ... ... -,00

Abadiit ... ... ... ;,()()

Dvcim ... ... ... r»00

Menekha. Ibn Kardiish 500

Modyuja. Ferhan ibn Hedeb 500

Ammamt ... ... 500

N. B. — The Mmah, Sheykh jMohammed, is a section of the
Eesallin.

TENTS.

3. Ihn Hdddal, a numerous and po^vcrful tribe, whose

Sheykh, Abd ul Mekhsin ibn Heniasdi, is con-
sidered the noblest in point of blood of any in
the desert {Ibn Meziad of the Hesenneh only
excepted).* They are rich and powerful and
possess numerous mares 4000

4. Hesenneh. Once the leading tribe of the Anazeh,

but destroyed by a combination against them
about sixty years ago of the Sebaa and the Roala.
The family of their Sheykh, Faris ibn Meziad, is
accounted the noblest in point of blood of any
in the desert. The tribe now lives under Turkish
protection near Damascus, and number perhaps 500

5. Roala, or Jeldas. The most numerous, wealthiest,

and most powerful tribe of the Anazeh. Though
the whole tribe is generally known as the Rodla,
this name only properly applies to a single sec-
tion. The family of their Sheykh, Sotamm ibn
Shaalan, is the most important, tliough not the
most ancient, in the desert. In it the slieykhdom

* The Ibn Haddal and the Sebaa according to Burckhardt wore
originally part of one same tribe called the Bishar, whence pro-
bably the name Jebel Bishari below Deyr.

192 Bedotnn Tribes of the Ettphratcs. [ch. xxiv.

TENTS.

of the Jelaas is hereditary. The Jelaas at the
j)resent time possess but few mares, as they have
partly abandoned the use of the lance for that of
fire-arms. They o^ni 150,000 camels. The
Jelaas came from Xejd about seventy years ago,*
and still preserve close relations with Jebel
Shammar, where they still occasionally return in
winter. They are now at war with the rest of
the Anazeh 12000

6. Welled AIL An ancient tribe allied with others

of the same name in Central Arabia, and with
the Ouled Ali of "Western Egypt. They have
many camels and mares ; and until lately had
charge of the pilgrim caraA'ans starting for
Mecca. Their Sheykh, Mohammed Diikhi ibn
Smeyr, holds a high position in the desert ... 3000

7. Sirhdii, a tribe of the lower Hamad, which rarely

comes north. They have, I believe, few mares,

and are httle knoAvii ... ... ... ... ?

8 and 9. Erfnddi, Sheykh, Eeja, and Toicf, only seen
in the Northern Desert within the last twelve
years ; little known ... ... ... ... ?

Allies and Tributaries of the Anazeh.

Modli, formerly a powerful and warlike tribe, not of
pure Arab blood, though the family of the
Sheykhs, descended from one of the caliphs, is
held in high repute. Predatory and um-eliable ;
but ancient allies of the Fedaan and Sebaa ... 1000

Weldi ; honest shepherds, like the Haddadin ; have
a few good mares, no camels ; defend themselves
if attacked ; a respectable tribe ... ... ... 1000

* Compare Burckhardt, Fatalla, &c.

cii. XXIV.] Independent Tribes. 193

TEKTS.

AfudcUi, or ErfuddU, a cattle-breeding tribe like the
Jilniri, but inhabiting the jungles of the
Euphrates, where they make to themselves huts
of tamarisk boughs. They are honest, peaceable
people, and are armed with short spears and
matchlocks against the lions which frequent the
river; — perhaps ... ... ... 400

Ahu Serai, Ahu A'amis, Delim, some fellah, and others,
tributaries to the Anazeh, but also under Tm-kish
protection ; peaceful shepherd tribes, inhabiting
the right bank of the Euphrates. The Delim
have sometimes good horses ... ?

Ind^imxdent Tribes of the Ujyper Desert and Hamdd.

LeMj), a predatory tribe between Aleppo and Hama ;
hard riders ; robbers ... ...

Amur, a small tribe of shepherds and robbers in the
Jebel Amur ... ...

Beni ScdrJchr. Called by some an Anazeli tribe ; but I
do not l)elieve this. They live south of the
Hauran, and do not migrate. It has l^een sug-
gested that they are Jews, the tribe of Issachar

7. Aduan, a predatoiy tribe, east of the Jordan.
They have a bad character in the desert. Sheykh,
Goblan ...

Sherarat, a numerous trilic, pm-ely Bedouin, and in-
habiting the Wady Sirhan, and thence south-
wards as far as Nejd. They have no mares,
breed dromedaries, and have a bad reputation ...

Aluin, Sheykh, Mohammed Abunjad. A small tribe
allied to the Sherarat. They inhabit the Wady
Araba, and the neighbourhood of Petra

Slel), a tribe of Indian origin, inhabiting the Hamad,
and going far south into Nejd. They come as

VOL. II. 0

194 Bedotnn Tribes of the Euphrates, [cn.xxiv.

far north in the summer as Ti'idmur, following
the gazelle, on which they live. No camels, and
but few sheep. They breed asses, and sell them
in all the frontier towns ft'om Queyt to Aleppo.
Are accounted ignoble by the pure Arabs, and
have a bad reputation on account of a certain
caravan they misled in the desert twenty years
ago and plundered ;* but are in general a harm-
less, wild people, who take no part in the desert
wars.

Tribes under tlte partial control of the Pashalih of Bagdad.

TENTS.

MoJitefik, a numerous and powerful tribe, partly
Bedouin, partly fellah, inhabiting Irak and the
right bank of the Euphrates below Hillah. Their
Sheykh is generally appointed by the Pasha of
Bagdad. This tribe, though formerly purely
Bedouin, now cultivates the plains of the Low^er
Euphrates, and has become rich and prosperous.
Present Sheykh, Nassr 8000

Beni Loam, another pure Bedouin tribe, lately turned
fellah, but not to the extent of the Montefik.
They inhabit the left bank of the Tigris, and
across the frontier as far as into Persia ... ... 4000

3Iaaddn, a large half-Bedouin tribe, inhabiting Irak

and the southern Tigris valley ... ... ... ?

Alhu 3Iohnmmed, the same ... ... ?

Shammartufja, the same ... ... ... ... ?

Bi'dta, the same ... ... ... ?

There are also numerous small tribes and sections
of tribes about Bagdad, but none of them deserve
notice except the Sahceans, now found only in the

* See Palajrave.

cii. XXIV.] The Sabccans. 195

neighbourhood of Souk esli Shiokli, a village on the
Shatt el Arab below Hillah, and numbering in all
about 3000 souls.

According to the Sabaaan traditions, which date
from the creation of the Avorld, their history has been
as follows : Before the time of Noah, they say, all the
world was Sabsean, believing in one same unseen
God, and speaking the same language. Noah liad
four sons, Shem, Ham, Yaman, and Japhet, who
some time after the flood began to speak each a
separate language, Shem only, preserving that of his
father (they know nothing of the tower of Babel),
The Sabaeans are the true descendants of Shem, and
to the present day have preserved the ancient tongue
unchanged. In it their hook is written, and it is
described as a sort of Syriac. The Sabseans first
settled in Egypt, being the same Egyptians over
whom Pharaoh ruled when he oppressed the children
of Israel. The present tribe claims descent from
Ardewdn, a brother of the Pharaoh who was drowned
in the Red Sea. They subsequently founded a
kingdom at Damascus which lasted till two hundred
years after the death of their prophet, John the
Baptist (three hundred and sixty-eight before the
Hejira). Then they removed to Bagdad, where they
flourished until the Caliphate was overthrown by the
Tartars. At that time they possessed four hundred
churches, but these were then destroyed, Tamerlane
carrying away all their books to Ispahan, where
it is believed they still exist. They themselves

196 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv

were dispersed over Irak and probably el Hasa^
and are now reduced to the three thousand souls
mentioned.

As regards their religion, which, in fact, is the
only interesting, or for that matter, authentic part of
the story, they say that they worship the Almighty
God, the maker of light and darkness, whom no one
has seen at any time. Their principal religious ob-
servance is Baptism, which they say was instituted
by God in the garden of Eden, Adam being himself
baptised " in the name of the first life, the second life,
and the third life," all three names of the Almighty^
but this baptism fell into disuse, and was restored
by the preaching of their prophet, John the Baptist.
They acknowledge no other prophet, and take no
account of the Old or New Testament histories, except
to the extent of believing that Christ was the Holy
Ghost made visible to the world, but not God. They
believe in a resurrection of the body, a day of judg-
ment, and the reunion of every man to his wives.
If unmarried the men will receive new wives, the
number allowed in this world being four. They
have a sacrament of unleavened bread and wine, of
which their priests alone partake in private, and
according to certain secret rites. This they believe
to have been also instituted in the garden of Eden.
As to their rite of baptism, they say it must be
performed in running water, when it will wash away
sin and ensure salvation. They baptise the children
when thirty days old, but the rite is constantly re-

CH. XXIV.] The Sabcsan Religion. 197

newed, the priests baptising tliemselves once a
week. They fust thirty-six days in the year, ab-
staining from meat, and have four festivals, New
Year's day ; the feast of St. John ; the fifth day after
the anniversary of their baptism ; and one called
D^hmeh Dimas, of which they do not profess to
know the meaning".

I got these details from Dr. Colvill, at Bagdad,
who knows their Sheykh. He considers their
religion a bastard form of Christianity, and interest-
ing mainly as an instance of the survival of the
Christian tradition in Arabia.*

* Compare Niebulu-'s list made in 1768, and Burckhardt's at
the beginning of the present century.

CHAPTER XXV.

Children of Shem I First-born of Noah's race,
And still for ever children ; at the door
Of Eden found, unconscious of disgrace
And loitering on while all are gone before ;
Too proud to dig, too careless to be poor,
Taking the gifts of God in thanklessness,
Not rendering ought, nor supplicating more,
Nor arguing with Him if He hide His face.
Yours is the rain and sunshine, and the way
Of an old wisdom, by our world forgot.
The courage of a day which knew not death ;
Well may we sons of Japhet, in dismay,
Pause in our vain mad fight for life and breath,
Beholding you. — I bow and reason not.

Physical characteristics of the Bedouin Arabs — Thej' are short-
lived— On certain fallacies regarding them — Their humanity —
Theii- respect for law — They are defective in truth and in
gratitude — Their childish love of money — Their hospitality —
Bedouin women.

The Bedouin Arab of pure blood is seldom more
than five feet six inches high ; but he is long-limbed
for his size ; and the drapery in which he clothes
himself gives him full advantage of his height. In
figure he is generally light and graceful. Indeed, I
cannot recall an instance to the contrary, unless it
be in Mohammed Dukhi, Sheykh of the Welled Ali,
who is rather thick-set. Actual fatness is unknown

CH. XXV.] Premature Decay. 199

among the pure Bedouins ; and when tliey see it in
others they look upon it with contemptuous pity as
a deformity.

As younoj men, the Bedouins are often o-ood-
looking, with bright eyes, a pleasant smile, and
very white teeth ; but after the age of thirty the
habit of constantly frowning, to protect the eyes
from the glare of the sun, gives their faces a fierce
expression, often quite at variance with their real
character. Hard training, too, and insufficient food
have generally by that time pinched and Avithered
their cheeks, and the sun has turned their skin
to an almost Indian l)lackness. At forty their
beards turn grey, and at fifty they are old men. I
doubt if more than a very few of them roach the
age of sixty.

The reason for this premature decay must l)c
looked for in their way of life. From childhood up,
they have been in hard training, eating 1)ut once a
day, and then sparingly, and sleeping on the ground.
This ensures them high health and a full enjoyment
of all their faculties, at the time, but uses the body
rapidly ; and a certain " staleness " follows, which
the Bedouins acknowledge by withdrawing early
from all unnecessary exertion. There is little work
in the desert for men which needs to be done ; and,
once the love of enterprise and excitement over,
there is no reason for any but the poorest to go far
from his tent.* Political intrigue or a love of

* Sport is seldom a sufficient inducement. None but the cliildron

200 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxv.

hoarding take the place of physical action. The
ghaziis and marauding expeditions are left to the
conduct of younger men ; and the rest of the
Bedouin's days are spent in idleness. The reaction
is quickly felt. Men of forty, especially those in a
high position, complain of indigestion, of rheuma-
tism, or other maladies caused by inactive life. Of
the first positive disease they die.

A man, who falls seriously ill, has as little chance
of recovering as the wild animal has, in these open
plains. Doctors do not exist, nor is there any
knowledge, among the Bedouins, of herbs. The sick
man is obliged, whatever his condition, to move
with the tribe as it moves. He is set upon a camel,
and clings to it as best he can, in sun or rain or
wind, often with his head hanging down lower than
his heels, and only prevented from falling by the
occasional helj^ of his sons or the women who walk
beside him. In the tent he lies surrounded by his
friends, who, very Job's comforters, talk to him till
he dies. Wounds, too, in spite of the healthy con-
dition of body Avhich a spare habit gives, are often
fatal from want of knowledge or merely from want
of quiet. The Bedouin prefers to die thus, and
meets his end without fear. In certain families it
is considered a point of honour not to die, as we
should say, " in bed." In youth, however, ill-health
or defective powers are unknown ; and, for enjoy-

seem interested in it, though hawks and greyhounds are kept in all
the principal tents.

cit. XXV.] Faculty of Sight. 20 r

ment of living, a Bedouin in all probability gets as
much out of his few years as we do out of our
many.

Much has been talked of the wonderful faculties
of sight and hearing possessed by the Bedouins, but
I have not remarked that they excel in either. On
the contrary, short-sight is common among them ;
and the ordinary Bedouin sees and hears no better
than the ordinary Italian, Greek, or Spaniard. We
were ourselves constantly appealed to by them when
trying to distinguish objects at a distance. In the
same way their faculty of finding their way across
the deserts has been much exaggerated. Bedouins,
of course, know their own district well, and that
district is often a large one ; but, once take them
out of it, and they are very nearly helpless. An
Anazeh cannot, as a South American gauclio does,
make out his course by sun and wind, and keep it
day after day till he arrives at the point intended.
He travels, on the contrary, from landmark to land-
mark ; and, where these fail, he depends entirely
on the information he may gather from shepherds
or at tents. If the country be uninhabited, he is
frightened. Living always in the desert, the Be-
douins yet speak of the Choi or Berriye in terms of
awe. They could never understand how it was that
we ventured without guides into unknown lands.
Of keeping a straight course for a wliole day they
seem incapable, for they are unable to calculate the
gradual motion of the sun round them. The only

202 Bcdoitin TiHbes oj the Euphrates, [en. xxv.

man we met who could do this was the little old
Shammar who accompanied us across ]\Iesopotamia ;
and he w^as almost blind. When a tribe is on the
march it goes hither and thither, to left and right,
but never straioht to its destination. There is some
mental obliquity in this.

The Bedouins have no great appearance of mus-
cular strength ; but they are singularly active and
enduring. They are fast walkers and fast runners,
and on horseback are untiring. As horsemen, how-
ever, according to the ordinary rules and as com-
pared with some other races, they are not pre-emi-
nent. Only a few of them have really good seats,
while of their hands it is difficult to judge, as they
ride only with the halter. They display little skill
in showing off a horse to advantage, and none what-
ever in husbanding his powers. Their only notion
of galloping a horse is to vide, him, with arms and
legs, from start to finish ; but they are dexterous in
turning him sharply and in taking advantage of the
ground in pursuit or flight. Their great merit, as
horse-breakers, is unwearied patience. Loss of
temper with a beast is not in their nature, and I
have never seen them stiike or ill-use their mares
in any way. Patience is indeed one of the most
characteristic qualities of the Bedouin.

Courage, though held in high estimation, is not
considered essential with the Bedouins, even in a
Sheykh. "God has not given me courage," they
will sometimes say, " and I do not fight," just as an

en. XXV.] Trut/i. 203

English hunting man will admit having " lust his
nerve." Their fellows pity rather than laugh at
such people. The young men, however, are usually
fond of enterprise, and will start on maraud big
expeditions for glory quite as readily as for gain.
Hard blows are often exchanged, and most Bedouins
have wounds to show ; hut no idea of shame is con-
nected with the act of running away, even if the
fugiti^'es are in superior force.

The Bedouin is essentially humane, and never
takes life needlessly. If he has killed a man in war
he rather conceals the fact than proclaims it aloud,
while murder or even homicide is almost unknown
among the tribes. He feels no delight, like men of
other races, in shedding blood.

Truth, in ordinary matters, is not regarded as a
virtue by the Bedouins, nor is lying held shameful.
Every man, they say, has a right to conceal his own
thought. In matters of importance, the simple
affirmation is confirmed by an oath, and then the
fact stated may be relied on. There is only one
exception to the general rule of lying among them.
The Bedouin, if questioned on the breed of his
mare, will not give a false answer. He may refuse
to say, or he may answer that lie does not know ;
but he will not name another breed than that to
which she really belongs. The original reason of
this is, perhaps, that among themselves there is no
deception possible, for secrets do not exist in a
Bedouin camp, and each man knows his neighbour's

204 Bedotiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch, xxv.

mare as well as lie knows his own. But the rule,
however occasioned, is now universally admitted ;
and I have noticed repeated instances in which
truth on this point had Ijeen scrupulously told, when
there were no witnesses present, and to the disad-
vantage of the teller. " What is the breed of your
mare ?'' I have said, to a poor man who has brought
his beast expecting me to buy it. " Shuemeh," he
has answered. — "Not Shuemeh Sbah then?" —
" No, Shuemeh ; " and this, although knowing that
the money value of the former would be three times
that of the latter. The rule, however, does not hold
good on any other point of horse dealing. The age,
the cjualities, and the ownership of the horse may
be all falsely stated.

With regard to honesty, the pure Bedouin stands
in marked contrast to his half-bred brethren. Among
these thieving is the rule, nor is the term liar ami,
thieves, ill-taken when applied to them. The Kurdish
and semi-Kurdish tribes of Upper Mesopotamia
make it almost a point of honour to steal, but the
pure Arab accounts it disgraceful. Acts of petty
larceny are unknown among the Anazeh and Sham-
mar. During the whole of our travels we never lost
in this way so much as the value of a shilling.
Highway robbery, on the other hand, is not only
permitted, but held to be a right ; and travellers,
passing without proper escort from or introduction
to the tribes, may expect to lose their beasts, goods,
clothes, and all they possess. There is no kind of

cii. XXV.] Lazi).

205

shame attacliecl to such acts of rapine, more than
in ancient times was attached to the plunder and
enslaving of aliens within the Eoman frontier. By
desert law, the act of passing through the desert
entails forfeiture of goods to whoever can seize
them.*

A respect for law is indeed one of the leading
features of the Bedouin character ; but it must Ije
understood of their own law only, not of Turkish or
European law. These they despise. Justice indeed,
substantial justice independent of persons, is no-
where more often appealed to nor more certain of
attainment than in the desert. The poor man there
never suffers wrong, as a i^oor man; and all
cases are decided according to the strict meaning of
the law, it is impossible to say the letter, for it is
unwritten. Petty cases are disposed of daily l^y the
Sheykh of the section or tribe, much as a country
magistrate deals with, questions of vagrancy or
affiliation, while more important matters are re-
served for the special decision of a superior or
stranger Sheykh, or else for arbitration by tlu-ee,
seven, or twelve jurors. I know of a case thus
decided by jury, which will serve as an excellent
illustration of the kind of disputes raised, and

* " According to Eoman law, iu its more improved state, an alien
with whose country the relations of friendshii^ and hospitalitj' did
not exist, was not technically considered an enemy, liosth, yet his
person might lawfully be enslaved and his in-operty confiscated if
found on Eoman territory."— Wheaton's Law of Nations.

2o6 Bedotdn Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxv,

the way of deciding them. The case was as
follows : —

lu one of the Sebaa tribes, all mares of the
Maneghi breed taken in war are, by immemorial
custom, the right of a certain family, of which the
Sheykh is usually a member. Now it happened
that a fine Maneghieh mare had thus been taken in
a skirmish by a poor man of the tribe, who at the
same time had lost his own mare ; and the Sheykh
had seized her by virtue of his privilege. The poor
man protested, and the case was brought for deci-
sion before twelve elders, chosen for the purpose.
The poor man argued that the mare taken was in
fact his own mare, for in taking this one he had lost
her. The Sheykh pleaded immemorial custom.
After much consultation, the jury, admitting the
Sheykh's general right, nevertheless gave judgment
in favour of the plaintiff, and ordered the mare to
be given to the poor man. Another curious case
was the one we witnessed among the Welled Ali,
where the right to Jedaan's wife was in dispute.

What is stransfe in these courts is that there is no
officer of any kind to enforce the decisions. Public
opinion alone compels obedience to the law. In
extreme cases, and as the utmost penalty of the law,
the offender is turned out of the tribe. In cases of
homicide, the law leaves it to the family of the
deceased to do itself justice, for revenge is a duty
with all his relations within the second degree.
The slayer himself may be slain, or, what is con-

CH. XXV.] The Law of Blood. 207

sidered even more satisfactory, tlie chief man among
his relations, also within the second degree, on the
principle of " you have killed my cousin, I will kill
yours," A death purges a death ; and the hlood
feud ends. But sometimes it happens that, instead
of the slayer or his cousin, a second member of the
injured family is slain. Then two deaths will be
required, and the feud may continue for years
before the balance is reached. The oblio-ation of
vengeance is so sacred that men will travel great
distances to find out the enemies of a murdered
relation. Mohammed ibn Taleb told us that,
when his uncle was killed by one of the hostile
faction of Tudmur, a man of the Beni Liiam came
all the way from the Jof to avenge him. The
feud, however, may at any time be extinguished by
the payment of fifty camels, or £250, for each death.
These blood feuds are the only cases of deliberate
bloodshed known in the desert, and they are rare.
They have an excellent effect on public morals, as
they make men chary of shedding blood. A homi-
cide not only has to fear the vengeance of his
enemies, but the anger of his relations involved by
him in the quarrel ; and it is probably due to this
apparently barbarous law that even robbers and
outlaws seldom take human life. As an instance of
the extreme moderation of Bedouin practice I would
cite the following. It happened not many years
since :

A young Frenchman, M. Dubois d'Anger, was

2o8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxa%

travelling with liis servant, wlio had been a Zouave,
from Aleppo to Tudmur, and fell in with a large
party of the IMesekha tribe. He and his servant were
well armed, and, as the Arabs rode up to them,
the Frenchmen dismounted, and, without question,
opened fire. The Sheykh's mare was killed by a
ball, but the Arabs were not touched. These charged
down on the two Frenchmen, who made a gallant
resistance, but, the Zouave being killed in the
scuffle, his master surrendered. The Arabs, though
much incensed at the death of the mare, which was
a valuable one, contented themselves with stripping
their captive and letting him go. The assault on
his part had been unprovoked ; and there are few
countries where the penalty would not have been a
severer one.

The weakest point of the Bedouin character is
undoubtedly his love of money. This is not merely
the careful gathering together of wealth, but a love
of the actual coin, the " Avhite silver pieces," which
he prefers to gold. The love of money, as money,
seems to be natural to the human race, and strong
in inverse proportion to its practical value. Thus
all children have a passion for money, as soon as
they can grasp the idea of ownership, preferring it
to any plaything that can be offered them. Yet it
is practically valueless to them. In the same way,
the Bedouin, living in the desert all the year round,
and having no need of things that money can give,
or the opportunity even of spending it, will travel

cir. XXV.] Bedouin Love of Money. 209

great distances, and give himself infinite toil and
trouble to acquire a few pieces, the value of which
in camels or sheep he would not be at the pains to
collect. In like manner a sheykli, wlio would not
suffer himself to be tempted by more practical offers
of ad^^antage, will often forget his dignity at the
sight of coin. It is by trading on this weakness
that the Turks have gained many of their " diplo-
matic triumplis " in the desert.

In spite, however, of their love of money the
Bedouins are not clever commercially. The offer
of buying their property is always a little distasteful
to them, in some cases insulting ; and they have
no better principle of dealing than to increase the
price demanded in strict proportion to the supposed
willingness of the purcliaser to buy. It often
happens, for this reason, that a horse or a camel,
which they begin by refusing to one purcliaser, will
afterwards be sold to anotlier at a third of the
original price. The commercial spirit, however,
differs considerably in the different tribes. The
Eeni Sakhr, for instance, though accounted pure
Bedouins, are said to be as thorough traders as the
Jews themselves ; and, among the Anazeli even,
there are well-known commercial tribes. These,
however, are not the most esteemed.

Public opinion, though acknowledging the de-
lights of wealth, .always respects a man who is
indifferent to them. The great sheykhs are usually
liberal of their property, distributing largely among

2IO Bcdomn Tribes of the Euphrates, [cji. xxv.

their adherents the prizes made in war, or the
presents they receive from strangers. The young
are more remarkaljle in this way than the older
men ; and Faris, the Shammar chief, who represents
the highest traditions of the past, keeps nothing for
himself either in the way of presents or prizes. All
goes to his retainers. Much, too, as the Bedouins
love money, they will not accept it, except under
special circumstances, from strangers living under
their tents ; — and this brings us to their great
virtue, their hospitality.

Hospitality to the European mind does not re-
commend itself, like justice or mercy, as a natural
virtue. It is rather regarded as what theologians
call a swpernatural one ; that is to say, it would
seem to require something more than the instinct
of ordinary good feehng to throw open the doors of
one's house to a stranger, to kill one's lamb for
his benefit, and to share one's last loaf with him.
Yet the Bedouins do not so regard it. They look
upon hospitality not merely as a duty imposed by
divine ordinance, but as the primary instinct of a
well-constituted mind. To refuse shelter or food
to a stranger is held to be not merely a wicked
action, an offence against divine or human law,
but the YQYj essence of depravity. A man, thus
acting, could not again win the respect or toleration
of his neighbours. This, in principle, is the same in
all Arab tribes, Bedouin or not ; but the particular
laws and obligations of hospitality among them

cii. XXV.] BcdotiiiL Hospitality. 211

differ widel}-. Tlius, tlio Jibuii, the Agbciluat,
and other fellahin tribes, give liospitality, l)ut they
accept payment for it ; while the lowest tii])e of
all, the Amur, will rob the stranger who comes to
their tents, and count their hospitality as beginning
only from the moment of his eating with them.
Among pure Bedouins this virtue has a far wider
meanino-.

A stranger once within an Anazeh or Shammar
camp, unless he be a declared enemy, the member
of a hostile tribe, is secure from all molestation ;
and even an enemy, if he have once dismounted and
touched the rope of a single tent, is safe. The
ordinary stranger is at perfect liberty to go where
he will and dismount where he pleases. He usually
selects the largest tent, for its size signifies the
wealth of the owner. There he may remain, housed
and fed, as long as he will, the limit of such hos-
pitality in respect of time being quite indefinite.
T have not been able to get any one to fix its
duration. Nevertheless, I suspect that, in the tent
of a sheykli or great man, there must be some
rule as to this. I never heard of such a case;
but I imagine that, after a few days, some friend
or dependent of the host gives a hint to the
intruder that it is time to move on; or, among
the poor, that the host himself comes forward
with the tale of an empty larder as an excuse
for urging departure. But this is merely a sur-
mise. In ordinary cases the guest stays but one

)• 2

212 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates. [<n. xxv.

night, and then departs, no greetmg or form of
adieu or thanks being considered necessary on
leaving.* In no tent, however poor, couhl money
be offered in payment for lodging or for common
food ; but we have sometimes been asked to pur-
chase the lamb or kid with which we were to be
feasted. In such cases the fiction is preserved of
the animal being procured from another tent.

After a lengthened stay with a Sheykh, it is
customary to give a crown piece to the coffee-maker,
and perhaps another to the cook, if cook there be,
both usually negro slaves, with a smaller silver coin
to whoever holds your horse's stirrup at mounting.
To the great man himself presents may be offered,
but only at arrival, so as not to bear the appearance
of being a payment. A cloak, a pair of boots, and
a bag of sugar for the women, is the usual gift ;
but coffee-beans and tobacco are always acceptable.
A pistol, too, is a welcome present ; but it would
not be accepted by a great man, unless he had an
equivalent to give in return. In all these matters it
is necessary to calculate carefully the rank of the
host and that of the guest, to avoid giving offence.
A poor man is received in the same way as a rich
one ; but the latter is expected to bring a cloak, if
the visit be paid to the chief Sheykh of a tribe.

* Gratitude for hospitality is not expected and never shown.
Indeed, the French proverb is very applicable to Bedouin morals,
which says, " La neeessitu ayant hni, I'ingratitude rentre dans
ses di'oits."

CH. XXV.] Bedouin Sobriety.

These presents arc ahvtiys of lionour, not of ('molu-
meut ; unci are generally j^assed on at once to
friends and dependents, that there may be no doubt
as to the purity of the Sheykh's motive. Poor
travellers often stay for weeks at a single camp,
passing from tent to tent, and being always well
received.

The Bedouins are hot-tempered, but they seldom
allow their passions to pass wholly beyond control.
It is not often that a quarrel leads to more than
words, or that a knife is drawn in anjjjer. One ex-
cellent reason for this is their sobriety. No drink
stronger than Ichhen* or sour milk, is known
among them, and they look upon the use of all
fermented liquors as disgraceful. A Frank even,
who should take Avine or spirits with him to the
desert, would forfeit all their respect. Brutal
crimes have no place in the catalogue of Bedouin
sins.

So far, I have spoken only of the men. Of the
Bedouin women a shorter description will be enough.
In person they are proportionately taller than the
men, and it is not unusual to see the older of them
fat and unwieldy. As girls they are pretty, in a
Avild picturesque Avay, and almost always have
cheerful, good-natured faces. They are hardworking

* Although no European doctor will admit that sour milk can
be in the least intoxicating, the Bedouins look upon it as at least
a stimulant ; and we, who travelled without anj- other, camo at
last to re";ard it as such.

2 1 4 Bcdouhi Tribes of the Euphrates, [cu. xxv.

and harclworkecl, doing all the labour of the camp :
fetching wood and drawing water, setting and
pulling down the tents, milking the ewes and she-
camels, preparing the lehben, (a rather toilsome
work,) and cooking the dinners. They live apart
from the men, but are in no way shut up or placed
under restraint. In the morning they all go out
to gather wood for the day, taking a camel or a
donkey with them ; and, whenever we have met
them so employed, they have seemed in the highest
possible spirits. They enjoy a good deal of society
amongst themselves, going about together to each
other's tents, and taking their children with them.
They have, besides, the society of their male rela-
tions in the nearest degrees ; and their position is
by no means one to be pitied. They do not seem
to think of complaining of it.

No people are so kind to children as the Bedouins
are. The son of a Sheykh is nursed and played
with and petted by the men in the Sheykh's tent
all day long ; and children are never scolded or
ill-used. Among the better l;)red Bedouins the
boys are carefully brought up, and have very
pretty manners. When quite young, and till they
are three years old, however, they are kept dirty
and ill-dressed, which gives them a slovenly appear-
ance ; but this is done purposely, to preserve them
from the evil eye. Later on they are as clean as
most of their elders, which is not, perhaps, saying-
much.

CH. XXV.] The Social Position of Women. 2 1 5

In mental qualities the women of the desert are
far below the men, their rano-e of ideas bcinor ex-
tremely limited. Some few of them, however, get
real influence over their husbands, and even throuo-h
them over their tribes. In more than one Sheykh's
tent, it is in the woman's half of it that tlic politics
of the tribe are settled.

CHAPTEK XXA'I.

" There is hoije of a tree, if it be cut doTrn, that it will sprout again, and
that the tender branches thereof will not cease " * * But man dieth, and
waateth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? " — Job.

Eeligion of the Bedouins confined to a belief in God— They have
no ceremonial observances — Their oaths — They are "without
belief in a future life — Their superstitions are fevr — Their
morality an absolute code — Their marriages.

With the single exception of a belief in God,
inlieritecl from the earliest times, the Bedouins pro-
fess no religions creed whatever ; neither have they,
it may almost be said, any superstitions. No peojDle
in the world take less account of the supernatural
than they do, nor trouble themselves so little with
metaphysics.

Their belief in God is of the simplest kind. It
hardly extends beyond the axiom that God exists ;
and, if, as some have affirmed, they connect the idea
of Him with the sun or with the heavens, no trace
of such an opinion has come under my notice,
'' God is God," they say, and it very simply ex-
presses all that they know of Him, AVho and what
and where He is, has not, I should think, ever been
so much as discussed among them. Of a divine
revelation they seem to have no traditions, nor of
any law divinely instituted. God is the fate to
which all must bow, the cause of the good and of

en. XXVI.] Bedouin Ideas of God. 217

tlie evil in life, of the rain and of the sunshine,
of the fertility of their flocks, and of the murrains
Avhich sometimes afflict them. But they do not
seek to propitiate Him with prayer, nor complain of
His severity when they sufier. They neither bless
nor curse Him, nor do they regard Him with love
or fear. If He have any personal relation Avitli
themselves it is as the silent witness of their oaths,
the name to which they appeal in their disputes.
But even thus, they expect nothing at His hands,
neither protection from wrong nor punishment if
they are forsworn.

Prayer, as an outward act of religion, is not
practised by the pure Bedouins ; and, even in those
tribes which have become tainted with the ]\Ia-
hometanism of the towns, it is reserved chiefly for
the eyes and ears of strangers. The Shammar, alone
of all the nobh tribes we visited, possessed a mollah ;
and his duties with them were in no way of a
priestly character. The reason of his presence at
all must be looked for in the semi-Turkish character
of their late Sheykh, Sfuk, — whose son, Faris, though
a man of the noblest birth, and the highest character^
still recites his prayers daily. With this almost
single exception, the practice of religion may be
taken as the sure index of low morality in a tribe.
The degraded fellahin of Irak are fanatically Shia
and conform to most of the Mahometan rules.
Among the Anazeh I do not rememljer having
noticed an instance of prayer.

2 1 8 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxvi.

Though in no sense religious, the Bedouins, like
all Arabs, make frequent use of the name of God,
generally as a mere form of speech, but occasionally
to emphasize a declaration. " HamduUah," " Insh-
allclh," and the like expressions are in their mouths
all the day long, but these certainly have less of
serious meaning in them than the corresponding
" thank God," and " please God," with us. " Mash-
allah," — " as it pleases God " — has, perhaps, a slight
tinge of superstition mixed with its meaning. It is
used to correct expressions of admiration, for fear of
ill luck. Thus it would be considered impolite and
a little dangerous to remark upon the beauty of a
mare w^ithout adding " mashallah," and we have
more than once been corrected for this by the owner
of the animal.

The only solemn use made of the Divine name is
when an affirmation is to be strengthened by an
oath. Then the right hand is raised, and Allah is
invoked. A statement thus emphasized may in all
instances be relied on from a pure Bedouin ; but I
have not been able to discover that their fidelity is
enforced by any fear of consequences. Among the
low Felkihin tribes, who profess Mahometanism, false
oaths are of common occurrence. The Bedouin's oath
is in fact an appeal to honour, at least as much as to
religion ; and this may be further seen in the corre-
sponding form of affirming a promise, " aala rasi,"
("on my head be it,") where no name of God is used.

There is, however, one solemn act, to which God

cii. XXVI.] The Oath of Brotherhood. 219

is really called as witness, and which has a true
religious character with those who make it, the oath
of brotherhood. This is essentially the covenant
which Abraham made with Abimelech at Beersheba,
and binds those who take it in all respects to act as
brothers. Aid and assistance must be given in case
of private quarrels, and, if contracted between
sheykhs, in case of war. Neither the sheykh nor
his people can commit any act of hostility against
the people of a brother sheykh, nor can cattle be
retained if robbed from a brother. It often happens
that in a raid camels or sheep, belonging to a
brother, are taken with the spoil of the enemy. In
this case, on appeal made, they are at once restored.
Moreover, if brothers, belonging to hostile tribes,
happen to meet in battle, they may not engage or
take part directly against each other, and must
choose other combatants.

The oath of brotherhood is never lightly taken or
with other than a serious intention. The form of
words is repeated in a grave voice, and no allusion
to it of a trivial nature would be tolerated, either
before or after the act. Two witnesses must attest
it, though it is only necessary for one to be actually
present. The other may be informed of it im-
mediately afterwards. I have never heard of an
instance where the oath has been broken.

Though usually contracted in consequence of
some real sympathy between the swearers, an alli-
ance of this sort is sometimes made between the

2 20 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [rii. xxvi.

sheyklis of tribes for political motives, or even for
motives of advantage. Two slieykhs will thus
swear brotherhood as the preliminary to a peace ;
and, on the other hand, most Bedouin sheykhs
have brothers among the sheykhs of the desert
towns, who are often of pure Arab blood, and who
recomise the rules of Desert honour. In this latter

o

case the oath is of great service to both parties, to
the Bedouin in the town and to the townsman in
the Desert.

The oath binds those who have taken it in every
respect as brothers, except in the matter of marriage,
for there is no prohibition of marriage between a
brother and his brother's sister.

A belief, then, in God, certainly exists among
the Bedouins, though the only active form of it is a
submission to the Divine will. It stands in sins:ular
correspondence with the religion of the ancient
patriarchs. At the present day, no doubt, it is but
a vague reflection of the ancient faith, and depends
as much upon custom as every other belief or preju-
dice of the Bedouin mind. AVe w^ere pointed out in
the Shammar tents certain men, the Zediye, who,
the Arabs explained to us, were distinguished from
themselves for two reasons. The first was that they
prayed to the devil, and the second that they
wore their shirts cut square at the neck. Those who
told us this made no distinction m importance
between the two peculiarities.

With the belief in God, relio;ion in the desert ends.

CH. XXVI.] The Rcligwn of Job. 221

The kindred faitli, so essential to our ownhap})incss,
that in a future life, seems to have no places in the
Bedouin mind. Like Job, the Bedouin looks upon
the grave as a " land of darkness which is darkness
itself," and it enters not into the scope of his wishes
to hope for anything beyond. It is difficult for a
European to put himself into the position of one
who is content to die thus, who neither believes nor
despairs because he does not believe. The Bedouin
knows that he shall die but he does not fear death.
He believes that he shall ])erish utterly, yet he does
not shudder at the oTave. He thinks no more of
complaining than ^ve do because we have not wings.
In his scheme of the universe there has never been
room for a heaven or a hell.

The words I have quoted at the head of this
chapter are precisely the expression of the Bedouin's
thought, if he thinks of death. But in fact he thinks
little or nothing about it. His way of life prevents
this. In Europe we suffer from the malady of
thought, quite as much in consequence of our idle
habits as from an excess of intelligence. The
Bedouin, in his youth, has no time for idleness ; he
is constantly employed. A life spent in the open
air, a thoroughly healthy condition of body, a spare
diet, and hard exercise, are not conducive to serious
thought, or to that melancholy which leads to
reflection upon things unseen. AYe ourselves had
ample proof of this during our travels. Our minds
were busy all day long with the things before us.

22 2 Bedouin Tribes of the Eitphrates. [ch. xxvi.

Of tlie past and of the future we thought little, but
of our immediate prospects of dinner much. As we
sat hour after hour in our saddles, watching the
horizon turn slowly round us, or marking the sun's
progress by the shadows of our camels' necks, we
acknowledged that we could not think. Our hopes
were bounded by the Avell which we might reach at
evening, our fears by the low line of hills which
might conceal an enemy. The interest of the
moment and the bare pleasure of living absorbed all
our fancy. A vivid present shut out past and future,
and even in moments of danger we had not time for
the thouo'ht of death.

Thus it is with the Bedouins in youth ; but in
old aofe, even when health fails them and their
strength, they are no better circumstanced. A
Bedouin may perfectly well pass all his days from
the cradle to the grave and never have spent a single
one of them alone. His life is a life of society.
In the outer tent, if he be a rich man, no hour ot
the day nor any day in the year, will he find less
than half a dozen friends or dependents ; while in
the inner tent, women and children, slaves and
relations are constantly present. If he is a poor
man, he will sit all day in the tents of others. No
Bedouin rides, even for a few miles, alone ; and
like his mare, if he finds himself without his fellows,
the bravest is frightened.

Another reason too why in Europe we so greatly
appreciate and fear death, is that all of us have at

CH. XXVI.] Absence of Superstitions. 223

some time or otlier of our lives stood face to face
with it. In the desert, no one comes back from
such an interview, for the first serious iUness kills.
The Bedouins know that they Avill die because they
have seen others die ; but they have never known
what it is to be in the jaws of the lion. Thus, with
the terror of death the necessity of another life ceases.
It does not present itself to their imagination, and
their fancy has never taken wing beyond the grave.
Of superstitions I have noticed singularly few in
the desert, and none that will stand the test of a sacri-
fice of real advantao-e. The Bedouins have indeed
certain prejudices as to colour and markings in their
mares, and account this lucky and that unlucky ;
but none would reject a good animal for a mere
fanciful reason. They have no lucky days or lucky
months. They attach no omen to the path of birds
in the air or of beasts on the plain. Tliey dream
no dreams, and see no apparitions. They dress,
indeed, their children in black, and keep them un-
washed for fear, they say, of the evil eye ; but I
would as soon account for it by the common reason
— custom. Their ejaculations, too, are mildly su-
perstitious, but no one would quarrel with another
for using or not using them. The fact is, they care
exceedingly little about these things and a great
deal for material advantage.*

* The boy Ghanim, who travelled with us, wore au amulet on
his arm, which he had brought from Jebel Shammar as a protec-
tion from bullets ; but he was ashamed to have it seen.

2 24 Bedouin Tribes of the Eitphrates. [en. xxvr.

In morality tlie Bedouins differ from ourselves as
widely as in religion. With us morality is deduced
from certain divinely instituted laws, but with them
it is accepted as a natural order of things. They
make no appeal to conscience or the will of God
in their distinctions between right and wrong, but
appeal only to custom. This is right, l^ecause it
has always been accounted right, that wrong for a
similar reason. "We keep our oaths,'' they say,
" because we are Bedouins. It would be a shame
to us if we did otherwise. The Turks break their
oaths, because they are Turks. To them it is no
shame." The Bedouin rules, with respect to wine
and forbidden meats, are accounted for in the same
way. " The Sleb," they say, " eat the hedgehog ;
we do not." It is hardly more than a matter of
statistics.

That they have, however, very strong principles
of right and wrong is evident on the face of it, as
is the support given to morality by public opinion.
No man in the desert admires or approves the evil-
doer, even if he be successful. The shame clings to
him still in spite of his power or of his wealth.
Courage, hospitality, generosity, justice, — these are
virtues which always command respect in the desert ;
and although lying and thieving, under certain re-
strictions, carry with them no penalty in public
reprobation, other crimes which we in our laxity
tolerate are not forgiven so easily. Breach of trust
and dishonesty, so universal in modern Europe, and

en. XXVI.] Bedouin Morals.

--D

so little coiiJcmnccl there, are considered by the
Bedouins pre-eminently shameful. I do not think,
incredible as it may sound to English ears, that the
Bedouin exists who, if trusted with money by a
friend, would misemploy it. The Weldi and Had-
dadin are entrusted every winter by the citizens of
Aleppo and Mosul with thousands of sheep, for
which they account satisfactorily in the spring to
their owners. The Bedouin system of joint owner-
ship in a mare would be impossible in a country
where honesty between man and man was not a
general rule. In all the tribes, it constantly happens
that widows and orphans succeed to considerable
properties in camels and sheep, but nobody supposes
them to be in any particular dangerofsufiering wrong
at the hands of their relations. The Agheyl are pro-
verbial for their unimpeachable honesty ; and there
is no man among them who might not be trusted
with large suras of money. That there are rogues
in the desert is probable, but dishonesty is not, as
in modern Europe, the rule. It is the very rare
exception. The thieves for the most part hang
together, and form small tribes apart from the rest ;
these are composed of men Avho have been turned
out by their fellows, and of whom nothing good
can be expected. In the large tribes persons of
known dishonesty are not tolerated.

In the same way injustice on the part of those in
power is almost impossible. Public opinion at once
asserts itself ; and the sheykh, who should attempt

2 26 Bedouin Tribes of tlie Euphrates, [ch. xxvr.

to override the Law, would speedily jfind himself
deserted.

Although great latitude is allowed by Bedouin
law in the point of marriage and divorce, immorality,
in the technical sense of an offence ao-ainst those
laws, appears to be far less common tlian with Euro-
pean nations. It is, of course, difficult for a mere
passing stranger to get information on these points,
but I should say, from all that I have heard, that
conjugal infidelity is most uncommon in the desert.
There are several reasons for this. In the first
place, every one in a Bedouin tent, women as well
as men, must live constantly en evidence, and it is
difficult to conceive how an intrigue could be com-
menced or carried on. The women have no right
to speak to any man but their nearest relations, and
could not do so without twenty witnesses to repeat
what had happened. The connivance of sisters,
mothers-in-law, and servants would be necessary for
any woman who designed a violation of the marriage
law. Then divorce is so easy and simple a process
that punishment would at once follow, the slightest
suspicion of a real cause for complaint being more
than sufficient reason. A woman may be sent back
to her parents without other form than that of the
husband's saying to her before witnesses, " You are
divorced/' or even without any form at all ; and she
has an equal right to leave him, with or without reason.
The ill-assorted marriages then generally end within a
few months of their being contracted ; and there is no

en. XXVI.] TJicir Marriages. 227

excuse left for intrigue, on the ground of domestic
unhaj^piness. The men, too, affect an extreme indif-
ference to the charms of female society, possibly-
more than they feel ; l3ut the fact proves that no
credit is attached, even among the young and
thoughtless, to what are called " successes." Indeed,
extreme attention to women is always looked down
upon by the Arabs as effeminate and "Turkish."
Mohammed ibn Taleb, who had been away from his
house for a month, when I asked him if he was not
anxious to get back to his wife and children, re-
plied, as if mortified at a charge of weakness, " ^\Tiy
should I wish it? I have hardly yet left home."
Open licentiousness is unknown in the desert.

The poorer Bedouins seldom have more than one
wife at a time, thouo-h there is no restriction in their
law on that head. Nor do the rich often contract a
second marriage, as long as the first remains a happy
one. A woman who pleases her husband and hasborne
him sons is pretty safe against the introduction of
new women into his tent. The common cause of
disagreement is when the wife fails to give a son to
her husband, for the lack of male heirs is considered
not only a misfortune, but a disgrace among the
Bedouins. Then, after two or three years, the hus-
band is pretty sure to contract a new marriage,
sometimes sending back the first wife to her parents,
or more commonly retaining both. Where this is the
case, and especially after repeated failures to obtain
male issue, quarrels and disagTcements will arise

2 28 Bedotiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxvi.

between rival wives. In such cases it is not unusual
to see a woman leave her husband for the reason that
she cannot agree with the elder wife, for the first
married generally retains her position as mistress of
the household, and often abuses it. It is, however,
remarkable how little jealousy is generally shown,
even where several wives have to live together. To
European ideas all this is of course ver}^ distasteful,
but custom sanctions their position to Ai^ab women,
and there is nothing in the least degrading to them
in the fact that they are not alone in the tent;
while their quarrels seem to have no deeper founda-
tion than those which divide the members of an
ordinary Enghsh household.

Women, in the desert, have their rights, which
are respected ; and they do not complain that they
are ill-treated. It has not yet occurred to them
that they should be placed on an equal footing with
their husbands or their brothers. They are hard-
worked and happy.

CHAPTEE XXVII.

Political constitution of the Bedouins — Their liberty — Their
equalitj' — Their intolerance of authority— Their niles of war-
fare— Their blood feuds.

The political organisation of tlie Bedouins is
extremely interesting, for it gives us the purest
example of democracy to be found in the world, —
perhaps the only one in which the watch-words of
liberty, equality, and fraternity are more than a
name.

Liberty indeed is the basis of the whole system,
and not national alone but individual liberty, unfet-
tered by any restrictions of allegiance either to king
or state. The individual Bedouin owes no duties
even to his tribe, of which he cannot rid himself by a
simple act of will ; nor does he submit to any limita-
tion of the sovereign right he possesses over his own
person, except by his own free act and in his own
interests. If dissatisfied, he can at any time retire
from the society he belongs to, without question
asked or fear of penalty. His position reminds one
rather of that of the member of a political club tlian
of a subject or citizen. As long as he is with his
tribe, he must conform to certain rules, and he takes
part in all its deliberations, but he can at any time
withdraw from its authority, if he finds his opinions

230 Bedouin Tribes of the Enphratcs. [ch. xxvn.

in a minority or his independence hampered. No
one therefore in the desert has the least cause to
complain of tyranny, for the remedy is always at
hand. Thus it constantly happens that, when party
feeling has run high in a tribe, the minority, instead
of submitting their opinion to that of the majority,
retires from the main body and lives apart, without
the secession being treated by these as an act of
treason or hostility to the state. Even a single
individual may retire unquestioned, to pitch his
tents where he will ; and in time of peace it is rare
to find more than fifty or a hundred families living
together in daily intercourse. Even when there is
war, it is rather the fear of being attacked in detail
than any duty towards the tribe which keeps its
members together. The Eoala, while we were with
them, were assembled to the number of twelve thou-
sand tents on the plain of Saighal, for war was going
on, but they told us that five hundred tents had
remained in Nejd, when the main body marched
north, owing to a disagreement between a certain
sheykh and the supreme sheykh of the tribe, Ibn
Shaalan. They spoke, however, with no bitterness
of the secession, though it had weakened them in
an hour of danger, nor did they question the right
of the minority to do as it pleased.

The individual then is the basis, from which one
should start in a review of the political system of
the desert. Each man's tent, to paraphrase the
English boast, is his castle, where he is free to do

CH. XXVII.] Individual Liberty. 231

as he likes, without let or hindrance from his neii^h-
hours, while he has the additional advantao-c over
the Englishman that he can remove his house and
set it up again wheresoever he pleases. In it he is
free of all control, whether from tax-gatherer or
policeman, and he is obliged to contribute nothing,
not even his services in time of war, to his neighbours.
It is however immensely to his advantage to yield a
little of this absolute independence, for the sake of
protection, for he cannot practically live alone, or he
would be pillaged by the men of other tribes, who
have a natural right to despoil him.

He lives, then, except in rare instances, with his
tribe, and takes part with them in the common de-
fence, bringing his spear, when required, to swell the
ranks of the defenders. He takes part too with his
fellows in acts of war and robbery, which he could not
do alone, and submits to the general laws and regula-
tions which are necessary to every society. He has
not, however, though a poor man, the feeling that
he is amenable to laws made by others, not for his
own but for their interests.

The system of government is a simple one. Each
tribe or section of a tribe is under the nominal rule
of a sheykh, chosen by vote ; and there is no quali-
fication recjuired either in the electors or the elected.
Common prejudice, nevertheless, is in favour of the
supreme power being entrusted to members of
certain families ; and the sheykh is usually chosen
out of these. A certain amount of wealth is neces-

232 Bcdoiiiii Tribes of the Euphrates, [rn. xxvn,

sary too in a slieykh, for on him the principal
burden of hospitahty falls ; and the qualities for
governing, which seem to be hereditary everywhere,
are fully recognised as such in the Desert. The
son, the brother, or the uncle of their late sheykh
is the man usually chosen to succeed him; and
nothing but extraordinary aptitude for command
can raise a new man to this position. Real power
there is but little in the hands of the sheykh,
though many thousand men nominally obey him.
The truth is, he represents only the united will of
the tribe ; and in political matters he has to follow
rather than lead public opinion. A very bold or a
very clever sheykh may for a time become vested
with real power, but this is in virtue not of his
position but of his character. A weaker man is
merely the representative of his tribe, and such a
one seems generally preferred.

The sheykh has many duties and few advantages.
On him falls the trouble of deciding small cases of
dispute, quarrels between wife and husband, disputes
as to ownership in a camel or a sheep. He has to
transact the political business of the tribe, to sign
the letters that are sometimes written by the public
scribe, who is often a townsman, to receive strangers,
and above all to keep open house at all hours for his
people. He it is who is called in to stop quarrels,
by the authority of his presence, and to rebuke dis-
turbers of the peace. His main privilege is to lead
the tribe from camp to camp, fixing by the position

cH.xxvii.] The Position of Shcykh. 233

of his own tent the ever-chano-inG: site of the rest.
He has, too, certain extra shares in 1)ooty taken, and
of course the place of honour at all meetings, and
the presidency in councils of war. He cannot, how-
ever, levy the smallest tax on his own authority, or
decide on any matter of important interest, nor has
he any thing in the way of body guard or police to
enforce his authority. His orders in small matters
are obeyed, because public opinion is on his side.
Where it is otherwise, they are made no account of.
In most tribes, however, considerable outward re-
spect is shown to the chief whom they have chosen.
The men rise when he enters their tents, and show
hun the kind of familiar deference paid by well
brought up people to their fathers. It is seldon"
that he abuses this position. Airs of authority and
command are not tolerated by the Bedouins, and are
seldom assumed by their Sheyklis. It is not con-
sidered well bred either to affect distinction of dress,
or magnificence even in arms ; and the only man we
saw with any such pretension was Jedd,an's half-witted
son, Turki, who wore a shirt of chain armour. The
Sheykhs, however, may be usually distinguished by
the possession of a sword, an old Damascus weapon
in a shabby scabbard, inherited from remote an-
cestors, but the only real superiority shown by them
is one of manner. Good breeding and good birth
are nearly always found together in the Desert.
Jedaan, powerful chieftain as he is, shows his rough
heels in his want of manner.

2 34 BcdoiiiiL Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvn.

For certcain families the tribes sliow an almost
fanatical respect ; and, wlien a member of one of
them happens to be also a great man, his influence
is nearly nnbouncled. In these cases he has real
power. Abd id Kerim, Sidiman ibn Mershid, and
Feysul ibn Shaalan were of this class ; but there is
no one at the present moment who can be named
with them.

In principle, all the members of a tribe are equal,
and the poorest shepherd will speak to his sheykh
as to a relation, and by his Christian name, but
this equality is tempered by the prejudices of birth.
Wealth of itself has little power to win respect, but
high Inrth, descent from certain well-known heroes
or families of traditional good breeding, is immensely
thought of. As the Anazeh or Shammar is superior
to the Jiburi or the Haddadm, so is the Ibn Jendal
or the Ibn Hemazdi superior to the ordinary Anazeh.
Ibn Meziad of the Hesenneh, though a poor man,
has the choice of all the slieykhs of the Desert for
his sons-in-law, and can command a dowry of fifty
camels. I will give a list of the families most
esteemed, in the order of rank generally assigned
to them.

The Ibn ^Meziad of the Hesenneh.
The Ibn Jendal of the Koala.
The Ibn Tayar of the Roala.
The Ibn Henuizdi of the Ibn Haddal.
The Ibn SmejT of the Welled All.

cu.xxvii.] Bedotdn Nobility. 235

These five, they say, have from all time killed a
lamb for their guests. Next to these come :

The Ibu Si'iik of the Jerba Shamiuar.

The Sheykhs of the Tai.*

The 11311 Hecleb of the Moiiyaja.

The Roos of the Mehed.

The Ibn Mershid of the Gomussa.

The Sheyklis of the Moali ;

and others which I cannot enumerate.

The Ibn Shaalan of the EoaJa have but a noblesse
d'epee ; and Jedaan is a iKiTveim.

These however are but social distinctions. Poli-
tically and before the law, all members of a tribe are
equal, whether high or low born, rich or poor, the
only exceptions to this rule being perhaps certain
families who are allowed some small privileges in the
distribution of spoils of war.

To ascend, next, from the individuals composing
the tribe to the tribe itself, it may be stated gener-
ally that the same sovereignty, which these possess,
is possessed also by the tribe. Each tribe, in fact,
is a separate nation with its own rights of peace and
war, and its own political independence. Some of
them, such as the Roala or the Shammar, are strong
enough to stand alone, but most remain grouped
together by ties of ancient consanguinity or for
mutual protection. Thus the Sebaa consists of

* The family of the Tai Sheykhs and that of the Jerba Shammar
are probably equal to the five first mentioned. But I have given
them in the order I heard them named among the Anazeh.

236 Bedojiin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xxvn,

seven independent tril^es, each owning its separate
Slieykh, and bound together by ties of blood. Each
is accounted the equal of its neighbour, and they
recognise no common civil authority. They have,
however, from time immemorial marched together,
and in war time fiwht under a common leader. The
same may be said of the four tribes of the Fediian,
while a still wider consanguinity embraces these
and other tribes, including the Koala itself, in the
great clan of Anazeli. It is many years however
since the Anazeh fought together under one common
leader. The Shammar, though divided into twenty
different sections, each owning a Sheykh, acknow-
ledge one supreme chieftain common to them all,
Ibn Sfiik of the Jerba tribe. The Jelaas tribes, in
like manner, acknowledge Ibn ShaaMn.

In time of Avar, the authority of the Sheykh,
except in civil matters, is superseded by that of a
military commander, chosen entirely for his personal
merits by the tribe, who becomes at once their
leader and commands the obedience of all, even of
the Sheykh himself. This officer is called the Akid
or Agid, (whence the English " guide "), literally
the leader ; and he is entrusted with all military
operations and plans, ghazus, excursions and re-
treats. He is often the Sheykh himself, but not by
any means always so. Sotamm ibn Shaalan, who
is certainly Sheykh of the most powerful tribe in
the desert, is not their Akid ; and the seven tribes of
the Sebiia are at this moment so destitute of mili-

cii. XXVII.] The Lazus oj IVar. 237

tary talent among themselves, that they have been
obliged to take Jedaan, a mere outsider, as their
commander. AVar is so habitual a state of thino-s
among the tribes, that the Akid is a person of the
highest importance. On him depend the riches
and prosperity of all, and he is treated with the
greatest deference.

It will be necessary now to explain something of
the causes and conduct of military operations in the
desert.

The wars of the Bedouins are neither bloody nor
obstinate, though peace may not be formally made
for many years. The Anazeh and Shammar hold
themselves, however, to be natural enemies ; and no
peace is supposed j)c)ssible between them. There
may, indeed, be periods of truce, but these last only
so long as the adventurous spirits on either side
choose to remain quiet, and do not hinder ghazus
and marauding parties being sent across the border.
Occasionally individual Sheykhs may come to terms ;
and it is reported only this summer that Faris
Sheykh of the northern Shammar, being pressed by
superior forces under his brother's command, has
made an alliance with Jedaan, Akid of the Sebaa ;
but if true, this is an unexampled event.

The wars which break out between different
sections of the Anazeh are more transitory. These
are usually commenced at the instigation of the
Turks, whose motto, "divide and rule," leads them
to interfere in desert politics. A quarrel is not

238 Bedouin Tribes of the Eiiphi^ates. [ch. xxvn.

difficult to make. A certain tribe lias prospered
and grown rich in flocks and herds, so that it begins
to feel itself cramped for want of space. The Pasha
of Damascus or Homs has heard of this, and sends a
polite message to the Sheykh, inviting his attend-
ance at the Serai. There he is received with a robe
of honour and amiable attentions, and is dazzled,
as all Bedouins are, with the power and wealth of
settled life. The Pasha asks after the welfare of his
tribe, and condoles with him on the lack of pasture,
suggesting that there are rich plains further on,
occupied indeed by another tribe, but sufficient for
both. The Sheykh is flattered and pleased at the
idea of Government protection, which the Pasha
speedily promises. He returns with presents in his
hand to his tents, and tells his people that he is
the friend and protdge of the Valy. They readily
accept the idea of the new pastures and send him
again to the town, this time with a mare for the
Pasha's use, and a few dromedaries for his servants.
Terms are soon made between the Turk and the
Bedouin ; and, on a certain sum paid, the pastures
are declared by the Pasha to belong to the Sheykh.
These are invaded, and war is the result. A few
men are killed on either side, and a few mares
taken. Then the Turk retires and leaves his friend
the Sheykh to fight it out alone.

Such has been the history of half the Bedouin
wars of this century, and will be of many more, for
history repeats itself in the desert with surprising

CH. XXVII.] Act of Surrender. 239

rapidity. AYar, however, is not there the terrible
scouro-e it is amono; civilised nations. The idea
of civilised war is to kill, burn, and utterly destroy
your enemy till he svibmits, but a milder rule is
observed in the desert. There the property of the
enemy, and not his person, is the object of the
fightins;. It is not wished that he should be de-
stroyed, only ruined, the extreme penalty of defeat
being the loss of flocks and herds, of tents, tent-
furniture and mares. Beyond this Bedouin war-
fare does not go. The person of the enemy is sacred
when disarmed or dismounted ; and prisoners are
neither enslaved nor held to other ransom than their
mares. It is very seldom that personal animosity
is shown on either side ; and no blood is needlessly
shed. In the shock of battle a few spear-wounds
are exchanged by the more ardent youth, but no
man is killed except by accident. Indeed, it is
held to be a clumsy act to kill outright, for the
object of the fighting is sufficiently obtained by
merely dismounting or wounding the enemy. The
battle consists, as in heroic times, of a series of single
combats, in which the weaker usually flies and is
pursued by the stronger. Then it becomes a ques-
tion of speed with the mares, and of doul)ling and
dodging with their riders. The chase has led the
two combatants, it may be, far from the battle ; and
the pursued begins to fail. He throws himself to
the ground and calls '' daUl ! " " I yield ! " Then
the pursuer, taking the camel-hair rope, called the

240 Bedoiiin Tribes of the Euphrates. [cH.xxvir.

agJiaJ, which is a part of his head-dress, and which
in fighting he has hung over his shoulders (for the
Bedouins fight bare-headed), he throws it round the
neck of the suppliant, and by this act proclaims him
captive. His arms and mare then become the pro-
perty of the captor ; and, even if rescued later, the
prisoner can take no further part in the fight. If,
with his surrender, his mare is captured, he is then
let go, to find the best of his way back to his own
j)eople on foot ; but, if the mare escape or be rescued,
then the prisoner must accompany his captor to the
tent of the latter, where he is hospitably entertained,
but held to ransom until such time as the mare can
be delivered. Afterwards he is free to depart.*

The reason why life is seldom taken in war must
be looked for, partly in the fact that firearms are
not in general use, partly in the custom of claiming,
on the conclusion of peace, damages for each death.
A tribe which has a balance of fifty lives to account
for, may have a heavy ransom to pay at the end of
the war. The mares taken are also sometimes re-
stored by the articles of the peace ; but this is not
usual. The captors of them are generally anxious
to sell or exchange them with tribes not concerned
in the war, so as to aA^oid the possibility of such
restoration. When accounts are settled the blood
money, liak el dam, is paid in camels, — fifty I believe,

* Sometimes the prisoner, on taking oath before two witnesses
that he will send his mare, and always if he have no mare, is at
once released.

cii. XXVII.] Death of Mitbakh, 241

for each death, as in tlie case of homicide ; 1 )ut the
individual shayer is not personally liable for the
amount, which is levied on the whole tribe. Deatli
in war does not entail a Ijlood feud with the family
of the deceased ; but, if a man is killed in war by
one with whom he is at feud, his death is held to
count in the quarrel.

Though this is the usual humane rule in war, yet
it appears that the life of the Sheykli of a tribe may
occasionally be taken without his " daliil " being-
accepted. Thus Meshur's father, Mitbakh-iljn-
JMershid, was slain by a party of Koala, who met
him in superior force while the Sebaa and the
Eoala were at war. jMitbakh fled, and being well
mounted would no doubt have escaped, but that his
mare tripped in a jerl3oa-hole, and fell with him.
Then, though disarmed and dismounted, several of
the Eoala fell upon him and cut him down. Tliis,
however, is a very unusual instance, and so is what
followed ; for the Sebaa were so enraged at their
chief's death that they hamstrung the mare, which
had caused his fall, and which had followed them
in their flight. In this case a blood feud has been
the result between the Ibn Mershids and the Ibn
Shaalans, a fact which seems to show that the death
of Mitbakh was considered irregular. Five lives of
the Ibn Shaalans have been taken in return for it,
the last by our young friend Meshiir only a few
months ago. A Sheykh's life counts for no more
than that of any ordinary person, but on this occa-

242 Bcdcmhi Tribes of the Eiiphrates. [ch. xxvir.

sion five lives were claimed, because five men of the
Eotila had talvcii part in killing ]\Iitbakli.

The tales of throat-cutting told by Mr. Palgrave
and others may be true of the tribes he visited, but
are not true of the Auazeli or Shammar. The re-
port of j^risoners having been thus murdered by the
Eoala, which reached us at Aleppo, turned out on
investigation to be entirely unfounded, and the
event justified the disbelief in them at the time l)y
all who knew the Bedouins.

cS.g

CHAPTER XXAaiT.

ON HORSES.

"A neighing quadruped, used in war, and draught and carriage."

Jonssoy.

Arab horse-breeding — Obscurity respecting it — There is no Xojdean
breed — Pictui-e of the A.nazeh horse — lie is a bokl jumper — Is a
fast horse for his size — His nerve excellent, and his temper —
■Causes of deterioration — How the Bedouins judge a horse —
'Their system of breeding and training — Their horsemanship
indifferent — Their prejudices — Pedigree of the thoroughbred
Arabian horse.

CoxsiDERiNG the obscuiity in wliicli the whole
subject of Aivab horse-breeding is hidden in Eng-
Land, I trust that I shall be excused for venturing
to give a slight sketch of this interesting subject.
It was one that eno-ao-cd our attention more than
an}' other on our late journey, and which we took
;.cspecial pains to understand in principle as well
as in detail.

It is sino'ular that former travellers should not
have attempted this. Niebuhr and Burckhardt, ex-
haustive as they generally are, are silent here, or tell
us little that is correct, while latei' travellers, either
from lack of interest or lack of knowledge, ignore

K 2

244 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvni.

the subject altogether. Mr. Palgrave, in his con-
tempt of all things Bedouin, disposes of the Anazeli
horses in a few sentences, which reveal his little
ac(|uaintance with his subject, and repeats a fan-
tastic account of the Royal Stables at Riad and
the tale of a distinct Nejdean breed existing there, a
talc which so far as I could learn no Bedouin north
of Jebel Shammar believes a word of. Mr. Palo-rave
must have been deceived on this point by tlie towns-
men of Riad, for the northern Bedouins know Ibn
Saoud perfectly by name and know of his mares.
But they all assert that the Riad stud is quite a
modern collection, got together by Feysul and ac-
quired principally from themselves. Abdallah-
il)n-Feysul-ibn-Saoud still sends to the Anazeh
for additions to it from time to time ; and I know
of one instance in which he sent four mares from
Riad as far as Aleppo to a celebrated horse standing
there.

General Daumas's book on the horses of the
Sahara does not do more than touch on those of
Araljia ; and, with the exception of an Italian work
which I have heard of, but which is out of print, I
know of nothing on the subject better than Captain
Upton's pamphlet called " Newmarket and Arabia.''
This, with some really interesting facts and generally
correct notions, is but a sketch taken from informa-
tion gained at second hand. The pamphlet, as far
iis it relates to Arabia, consists mainly of a discussion
as to Avhat sort of horse it was Noah took with him

cij. XXVIII.] 77/c' Original Home of the Horse. 245

into the ark, and where the Iiorsc went after Ik,' \v;is
let out of it.* '

Not to go back so far as that, I think Ave may
be content with accepting the usual lielief that
Arabia was one of the countries where tlie liorse was
originally found in his wild state, and where he was
first caught and tamed. By Arabia, however, I
would not imply the peninsula, wliicli, according to
-every account we have of it, is not at all a country
.suited to the horse in his natural condition. There
is no water above ground in Nejd, nor any pasture
lit for horses except during the winter months ; and
the mares kept by the Bedouins there are fed, during
part of the year at least, on dates and camel's milk.
Every authority agrees on this point. The Nejd horses
are of pure blood, because of the isolation of the ])enin-
sula, but Nejd is not a country naturally fitted for
horses, and the want of proper food has stunted the
breed. Nejd bred horses are neither so tall nor so fast
.as those of the Hamad, although the blood is the same.
Dr. Colvill, who went to Riad in 1854, assures me
that he saw but one single mare durinoj the whole
of his journey there and back, and that that Avas a
small insignificant animal. He has seen, however,
ponies of thirteen hands in El Hasa which he de-

* Since writing the above I have been shown an article in
Fraser's Mcujazine of September, 187G, in which Captain Upton
corrects his original impressions about Arabian horse-breeding,
in consequence of a visit paid by him to the Sebaa, Moali and other
tribes in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. The account thus corrected
is exceedingly good, though it still contains not a few mistakes.

246 Btdo'iiin Tribes of tJic Eut>hratcs. [m. xxvin.

scribes as "little lions/' of great power and beauty;
the "tattoes" of the Indian market.

It is not then in the peninsula of Arabia, where
water is only to be had from wells, that the original
stock can have been found, but rather in Mesopo-
tamia and the great pastoral districts bordering the
Euphrates, where water is abundant and pasture
perennial. I Avas constantly struck, when crossing
the plains of Mesopotamia, with its resemblance to
Entrerios, and the other great horse - producing
regions of the Eiver Plate. Here the wild horse
must have been originally captured, (just as in the
[)resent day the ivdhash or wild ass is captured,) and
taken thence by man to people the peninsula.

Later on, invasions from the north seem to ha^'c
brought other breeds of horses to these very plains,
members perhaps of other original stocks, those of
the Piussian steppes or of Central Asia. These we
find represented on the Chaldean bas-reliefs, and
still existing in the shape of stout ponies all along
the northern edge of the desert— animals disowned
by the Bedouins as being horses at all, yet service-
able for pack work, and useful in their way. This
Chaldean type, from whatever source it springs,
stands in direct contrast wdth that of the true Aral)ian.
It is large-headed, heavy-necked, straight-shouldered,
and high on the leg — a lumbering clumsy beast, fit
rather for draught, if it were large enough, than for
riding ; and in this way the ancient Chaldeans seem
to have chiefly employed it. The desert, however.

cii. xxYiii.] Description of the Arabian. 247

lias ahways preserved its own breed intact ; and
wherever the Bedouin is found, whether in Nejd or
in the Hamad or Mesopotamia, the same animal,
with the same traditions and the same prejudices
concerning him, is to be found. It is of this animal
only that I propose to speak.

The pure bred Bedouin horse stands from four-
teen to fifteen hands in height, the difference de-
pending mainly on the country in which he is bred,
and the amount of good food he is given as a colt.
In shape he is like our English thoroughbred, his
bastard cousin, but with certain differences. The
principal of these is, as might be expected, in the
head, for Avhere there is a mixture of blood the head
almost always follows the least beautiful type of the
ancestor^. Thus, every horse with a cross of Spanish
blood will retain the heavy head of that breed,
though he have but one-sixteenth part of it to fifteen
of a better strain. The head of the Arabian is larger
in proportion than that of the English thoroughbred,
the chief difference lyiug in the depth of jowl. This
is very marked, as is also the width between the
cheek-bones where the Enofish horse is often defec-
tive to the cost of his windpipe. The ears are fine
and beautifully shaped, but not very small. The eye
is large and mild, the forehead prominent as in horses
of the Touchstone blood with us, and the muzzle
fine, sometimes almost pinched. Compared with the
Arabian, the English thoroughbred is Eoman nosed.
The head, too, and this is perhaps the most dis-

248 Bedouin Tribes of the EiLpIirates. [cn. xxvm.

tino-uisliinn^ feature, is set on at a different an2;le.
When I returned to England the thoroughljreds
seemed to me to hold their heads as if tied in with
a bearino: rein, and to have no throat whatever, the
cause perhaps of that tendency to roaring so common
with them.

The neck of the Arabian horse is light, and I
have never seen among them anj^thing approaching
to the crest given by his pictures, to the Godolphin
Arabian. The shoulder is good, as good as in our
own horses and the wither is often as high, although
from the greater height of the hind-quarter this is
not so apparent. The forearm in the best specimens
is of great strength, the muscle standing out with
extraordinary prominence. The back is shorter than
it is in our thorouo-hbreds, and the barrel rounder.
The Arabian is well ribbed up. He stands higher
at the croup than at the wither. The tail is set on
higher, but not, as I have heard some people say, on
a level with the croup. Indeed, the jumping bone,
to use an Irish phrase, is often very prominent.
The tail is carried high, both walking and galloping;
and this point is much looked to, as a sign of breed-
ing. I have seen mares gallop with their tails as
straight as a colt's, and fit, as the Arabs say, to hang
your cloak on.

The hind-quarter in the Arabian is much narrower
than in our horses, another point of breeding, which
indicates speed rather than strength. The line of
the hind-quarter is finer, the action freer, and the

<,H. XXVI II.] His speed and Paces. 249

upper limb longer in proportion than in the Englisli
racehorse. The liocks arc larger, better let down,
and not so straight. The cannon bone is shorter.
The legs are strong, but with less bone in pro})ortion
than back sinew. This last is perhaps the finest
point of the Arabian, in whom a " breakdown "
seldom or never occurs. The bones of the pastern
joints are fine, sometimes too fine for strength, and
the pastern itself is long even to weakness. Its
length is a point much regarded by the Arabs as a
sign of sjoeed. The hoofs are round and large, and
very hard, though, from the barbarous method of
shoeing and paring of the foot practised by the
desert blacksmiths, a strano-er midit doubt this.
The toe is often cut ludicrously short, out of
economy, to save frequent shoeing.

The only defect of the Arabian as a racehorse,
compared witli our owm, is his small size. Inch for
inch there can be no question which is the faster horse.

It is commonly said in England that the Arabian
has but one pace, the gallop ; nnd in a certain sense
this is true. Trotting is discouraged by the Bedouin
colt-breakers, who, riding on an almost impossible
pad, and without stirrups, find that pace inconvenient.
But with a little patience, the deficiency can easily
be remedied, and good shoulder action given. No
pure bred Arabian however is a high stej)per. His
style of galloping is long and low, the counterpart
of our Enoiish thorouo-hbred's. He is a careless but
by no means a bad or dangerous walker. It is con-

250 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [rn. xxvm.

sidered a great point of breeding that a horse should
look abont him to right and left as he walks ; and
this, combined with the great length of his pasterns,
makes him liable to trip on even ground, if there are
slight inequalities in his road. I have never how-
ever seen Inm even in dano-er of fallino-. The horse
is too sure of his footing to be careful, except on
rough ground, and then he never makes a false step.
The broken knees one comes across are almost al-
ways the result of galloping colts before they arc
strong enough over rocky ground, and, though a
fearful disfigurement in our eyes, are thought nothing
of by the Bedouins. The reputation, so often given to
the Arabian, of being a slow walker, is the reverse of
true. Though less fast than the Barb, he walks
Avell beyond the average pace of our own horses.
His gallop, as I have said, is long and low, and faster
in proi^ortion to his Itaiyht, than that of any other
breed. If one could conceive an Arabian seventeen
hands high, he could not fail to leave the best horse
in England behind him. As it is, he is too small
to keep stride with our race-horses.

The Arabian is a bold jumper, indeed the boldest
in the world. Though in their own country they
had had absolutely no knowledge of fences, not one
of the mares we brouoht home Avith us has made
any difficulty about going at the fences we tried
them at. One of them, the evening of her arrival
in England, on being let loose in the park, cleared
tlie fence which is five feet six inches high. We

(11. xxviii.] IIis Pozi'cj's of Endurance. 251

pulled clown the lo^Ye^ rails after this, and walked
her Ijack under the top one, a thick oak rail which
Avas several inches higher than her wither. An-
other, though ouly fourteen hands two inches, clears
seven yards in her stride over a hurdle. The mare
I rode on the journey, carried me over the raised
watercourses by the Euphrates in the cleverest way
in the world, otf and on without the least hanoino;
or hesitation, and always \\\\\\ a foot ready to bring
down in case of need. As hunters, however, in
England, they would all l)e too small for any but
children to ride, and their want of comparative
heio'ht at the wither would be a serious defect.

Of their galloping 230wers, as compared with those
of English tiioroughbreds, I cannot speak from expe-
rience. I do not, however, suppose that over three
miles, the lono-est Eno-lish race, an Arabian would
have much chance against any l)ut quite inferior
animals. Over five miles it might lie different, but
over twenty I am convinced that none but very
exceptional English horses, would be able to go with
them. The Arabians seem capable of going on for
surprising distances, under heavy weights, without
tiring ; and they have the advantage of being able to
stand almost any amount of training Avithout going
"stale." The thorouo-hbred Anazeh horse will ti-ain
as fine as any English racehorse. Be this as it may,
there is no doubt that the pure bred Arabian possesses
extraordinary powers of endurance. On a journey
he may be ridden day after day, and fed only upon

-0^

Bcdoiiin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. sxvin.

grass. Yet lie does not lose heart or condition, and
is always ready to gallop at the end of the longest
march, a thing we have never ventured to propose
to our horses on any previous journey.

In disposition the Arabians are gentle and affec-
tionate, familiar indeed almost to the extent of being
trouljlesome. They have no fear of man whatsoever,
and will allow anyone to come up to them when
grazing, and take them by the head. If they happen
to be lying down, they will not move though you
<-ome close to them. They are not to be intimidated
.1)y any lifting up of hands or sticks, for they do
not understand that you can hurt them. It often
amused us in the desert to see the mares come up
to their masters and use them, as they would one of
themselves, for a rubbing-post. This extreme gentle-
ness and courage, though partly the effect of educa-
tion, is also inherited, for a colt born and brought
up in the stable is just as tame. It never thinks, as
Eno;lish colts do, of runnino- round behind its dam
for protection, but comes at once to anyone who
enters the box.

I have never seen an Arabian vicious, shy, or
showing signs of fear. They do not wince at fire-
arms, though they are not at all accustomed to
them ; and in England no railway train or sudden
noise gives them the least alarm. In this they are
veiy different from Barbs, Turks, and all other
foreign horses I have had to do with.

There is among English people a general idea that

cii. XXVIII.] Favourite Coioiws.

-Dv>

grey, especially flea-bitten grey, is tlic commonest
Arabian colour. But this is not so anion o- the Anazch.
Bay is still more common, and white horses, though
fashionable in the desert, are rare. Our white Ham-
daniyeh mare, Sherifa, which came from Nejd, was
immensely admired among the Gomussa for the sake
of her colour almost as much as for her head, A\'hicli is
indeed of extraordinary beauty. The drawing at the-
beginning of this chapter is her very faithful portrait.
Perhaps out of a hundred mares among the Anazeh
one would see thirty-five bay, thirty grey, fifteen
chestnut, and the rest brown or black. Eoans, pie-
balds, duns, and yellows, are not found among the
pure bred Arabians, though the last two occasionally
are among Barlxs. The bays often have black points
and generally a white foot, or two or three white
feet, and a snip or blaze down the face. The chest-
nuts vary from the brightest to the dullest shades,
and I once saw a mottled brown. The tallest and
perhaps handsomest horse we saw Avas a Samhan-
el-Gomeaa, a three-year-old bay with black points,
standino' about fifteen hands one inch. He was a
little clumsy, however, in his action, though that
may have been the fault of his breaking. He had
bone enough to satisfy all recjuirements, even those
of a Yorkshire man, but showed no sign of lacking
cjuality. AVith very few exceptions, all the hand-
somest mares Ave saAv were bay, Avhich is without
doubt by far the best colour in Arabia as it is in
England. The chestnuts, as with us, are hot tem-

2 54 Bedouin Tribes of the Enphr cites, [ru. xxvm.

pered, even violent. Black is a rare colour, and I
never saw in tlie desert a black mare which I
fancied. In choosing- Arabians I should take none

o

but bays, and if possible bays with black points.

It must not be supposed that there are many first-
<;lass marcs among the Bedouins. During all our
travels Vv'e saw but one which answered to the ideal
we had formed, an Abeyeh Sherrak of the Gomussa.
Nor were there many which approached her.
Among the Shammar we saw only two first-class
mares, among the Feddan perhaps half a dozen,
and among the Eoala, once the leading trijje in
horse-breeding, none. The Gomussa alone, of all
the Anazeh, have any large number of really line
mares. We had an excellent opportunity of judg-
ingf, for we were with the Gomussa when ho-htino;
was going on, and when every man among them
•\vas mounted on his mare. I do not consider that
we saw more than twenty ^' fok el aali," or, to
translate it literally, "tip- top" mares, nor more
than fifty which we should have cared to possess.
I doubt if there are two hundred really first-class
mares in the whole of Northern Arabia. By this I
of course do not mean first-class in point of blood,
for animals of the purest strains are still fairly
numerous, but first-class in quality and appearance
as well as blood.

I cannot help suspecting that a certain amount
of deterioration has taken place within the last
fifty, perhaps the last twenty years. There is no

til. XXVIII.] Causes of Dcoencracy. 255

doubt that in the early years of the present
century, the Roala were possessed of immense
numbers of mares, and had the reputation of
having the monopoly of some of the best strains of
blood. It was to their Sheykh, Ibn ShaaMn, whom
he called the " Prince of the Desert," that Abbas
Pasha sent his son to be educated, and from them
that he bought most of the mares, of which he
made such a wondei'ful collection. Yet from one
cause and another the Ebala, thoue^h still rich and
powerful, have now no mares to speak of. They
have within the last few years abandoned the old
Bedouin warfare with the lance, and taken to fire-
arms. Horses are no longer indispensable to them,
and have been recklessly sold. The Shammar of
Mesopotamia have suffered for the last two genera-
tions by the semi-Turkism of thisir Sheykhs, Sfuk
and Ferhdn, and have been divided by internal dis-
sensions to such an extent, that their enemies, the
Anazeh, have greatly reduced them. Ablms Pasha
also bought up many fine mares from among them
at extravagant prices ; and they now have not a
single specimen among them of the Seglawi Jedn'in
Ijreed, for which they were formerly famous. TJic
Montefik in the south, once also celebrated for tlieir
horses, have allowed the purity of their breed to be
tampered with, for the sake of increased size, so
necessary for the Indian market which they sup-
plied. It was found that a cross-bred animal of
mixed Persian and Arabian blood, would pass

256 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxvm.

muster among the English in India as j)ure Arabian^
and would command a better price from his extra
height. The Persian or Turcoman horse stands
fifteen hands two inches, or even, I am told, sixteen
hands ; and these the Montifik have used to cross
their mares wdth. The produce is known in India
as the Gulf Arab, but his inferior quality is now
recognised. Lastly, among the Sebaa themselves,
who have maintained the ancient breeds in all
their integrity, various accidents have concurred in
diminishino; the number of their mares. Several
seasons of drought and famine, within the last
fifteen years, have reduced the prosperity of the
tribes, and forced them to part with some of their
best breeding stock. Many a valuable mare was
thus sold, because her owner had no choice but to
do so or to let her starve, while others, left " on
halves " with inhabitants of the small towns, never
returned to the desert. Mijuel, of the Misrab, told
me of a mare of his, which he had been obliged to
leave in this way with a townsman, and which,
from having been left standing a whole year in a
filthy stable, had become foundered in all four feet
and could not be removed. Finally the continual
wars, which for years past have devastated the
tribes, have caused an immense consumption of
horses. AVhen a mare is taken in war she is usually
galloped into the nearest town, and sold hurriedly
by her captor, for what she will fetch, for fear of
her being reclaimed when peace is made. While

CH. xxYiM.] Erj'oiicons Principles in Breeding. 257

we were at Aleppo, mares were thus every day
brought for its to look at, terribly knocked about,
and often with fresh spear-wounds gaping on Hunk
or shoulder.

Besides all these reasons, the Bedouin system of
breeding, as at present practised among the Anazeh
and Shammar, must have had a degenerating effect
upon their blood stock, which is only now beginning
to show its results. That this system has in most
of its features been the same from time immemorial
in Arabia, is no doubt true, but there is one point
on which it is more likely the practice has been
modified by recent circumstances. In former times
when the tribes were rich and prosperous, it cannot
be doubted, but they kept a larger proportion of
horses as compared wdtli mares than is now seen.
At the present time there can hardly be more than
one full-grown horse kef)t for stud purposes to
every two hundred mares. Indeed, the proportion
is probably far smaller, and this fact alone is suf-
ficient to account for much of the barrenness and
much of the inferiority of the produce, comj)lained
of in the desert. In England such a proportion
would not be tolerated. Then, if there be any
truth in the doctrine that in-and-in breeding is
wrong, this too may be looked upon as an increasing
evil in the desert. The Shammar have long been
separated from the rest of Arabia, and, though
occasionally recruiting their breeding stock by cap-
ture from the Anazeh, they have been for a couple

258 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvm.

of liundred years practically cut off from all com-
munication with other horse-breeders. They have
despised the horses of their Kurdish and Persian
neighbours too thoroughly to allow any infusion of
blood from them, and thus have been forced to
breed in-and-in during all these generations. The
Anazeh, too, though not so absolutely severed from
Central Arabia, have, since the reduction of Jebel
Shammar by the Wahabis, been precluded from
free communication with the peninsula, and have
become more and more isolated ; and the evil has
been exaggerated by the extraordinary fanaticism
shown Ijy both Anazeh and Shammar in favour of
certain special strains of blood which monopolise
their attention. At the present moment all the
blood stock of the Anazeh tribes must be related in
the closest degrees of consanguinity. That this
fanaticism operates most injuriously there can hardly
be a doubt. The horses bred from are not chosen
for their size or their shape, or for any quality of
speed or stoutness, only for their blood. We saw a
horse with a considerable reputation as a sire,
among the Aghedaat, for no other reason than that
he was a Maneghi Iledruj of Ibn Sbeyel's strain.
The animal himself was a mere pony, w^ithout a
single good point to recommend him, but his blood
was unexceptionable, and he was looked upon with
awe by the tribe.

These two j^oints then, the insufficiency of stud
horses and in-and-in breeding, may be looked upon

< H. xxviu.] How a Bcdoitin judges a Horse. 259

as exceptional, yet adequate causes of degeneracy
anion 2; the rank and file of the Bedouin horses
north of Jebel Shammar,

It is difficult to understand how it happens that
the pure Arabian race should have in fact retained
as much of its good quality as it has. In all agos
and in all parts of Arabia, to say nothing of the
points I have already mentioned, an unpractical
system of breeding has prevailed, due in part to
prejudice, and in part to peculiarities of climate and
soil. To begin with, there has been the extra-
ordinary prejudice of blood I have spoken of, and
which, though doubtless an excellent one as between
pure Arabians and " kadishes," is hardly valid as
between the different strains of pure blood. An
inferior specimen of a favourite strain is probabl}'
preferred all over Arabia to a fine specimen of a
lower strain, or rather of a less fashionable one.
Thus the Bedouin's judgment of the individual
horse itself, when he does judge it, is rather a guess
at his pedigree than a consideration of his qualities.
In examininor a horse, the Bedouin looks first at his
head. There, if anywhere, the signs of his parentage
will be visible. Then, maybe, he looks at his colour
to see if he have any special marks for recognition,
and last of all at his shape.

Of the speed of the animal, though nmcli is
talked of it, it is seldom that anything accurate
is known. The Bedouins have no set races by
which they can judge of this, and the relative

26o Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvnr.

merits of their mares can hardly be guessed at in
the fantasias where they figure. Even in war it
is rather a question of endurance, than of speed,
Avhich is the better animal ; and, where a real
flight and a real pursuit takes place, the course is
so seldom a straight one, that it is as often that
the best trained or the best ridden mare gets the
advantage, as the one which really has the speed.
A mare, celebrated for speed in the desert, is as
often as not merely a very well-broken charger.
The Bedouins have, moreover, no idea, even if
they had the intention, of riding their horses so as
to give them full advantage of their stride. They
must be very hard pressed indeed, if they keep on
at a steady gallop for more than a mile or two
together. Their parties and expeditions, even where
haste is necessary, are constantly interrupted by
halts and dismountings ; and a steady pace all day
long is a thing not to be thought of. They go,
however, immense distances in this way, cantering
and stoj)ping and cantering again, and are out
sometimes for a whole month together, during which
time their mares are very insufficiently fed, and
often kept for days at a time without water. They
are also exj)osed to every hardship in the way of
climate, heat, and cold, and pitiless wind. The
mares then, depend rather on stoutness and long
endurance of privations, than on speed, for finding
favour with their masters.

The education they receive, no doubt, prej)ares

nr. XXVIII.] Early Training and Education. 261

them for this, but at the same time it interferes
with their growth, and prevents them from develop-
ing the full powers of strength and speed they
might otherwise acquire. The colt, as soon as it is
born, and this may be at any time of the year (for
the Bedouins have no prejudice in favour of early
foaling), is fastened, by a cord tied either round
the neck or round the hind leg above the hock, to
a, tent-rope, and kept thus close to the tent all
day, its dam going out the while to pasture.
The little creature by this early treatment becomes
extraordinarily tame, suffering itself to be handled
at once and played with by the children. It is
fed, as soon as it can be made to drink, on camel's
milk, which the Bedouins pretend will give it the
endurance of that beast ; and, at any rate by the
end of the month, it is weaned altogether from
the mare. The real reason of this can hardly be
the good of the foal, but the necessity of making-
use of the mare for riding. The Bedouins allow
at most a month before and a month after foaling
for rest. The colt then has not the advantage we
think so essential to proper growth, of running
with its mother during its first season. It con-
tinues, however, quite tame, and, as soon as it is a
year old, is mounted a little l)y the children, and
later on by any boy who is a light weight. The
Bedouins declare that, unless a colt has done really
hard Avork before he is three years old, he will
never be fit to do it afterwards ; so in the course

262 Bedouin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [en. xxvm.

of his third year he is taken on expeditions, not
perhaps serious ghaziis, where he would run some
risk of breaking down or being captured, but on
minor journeys ; and he is taught to gallop in the
fiixure of eiixht, and chano;e his lesrs so as to otow
supple. This treatment is indeed a kill or cure
one ; and, if the colt gets through it, there is
little fear of his breaking down afterwards. It
is seldom that one sees a three-year old without
splints, though curbs and spavins are not common.
I have seen several animals with the shauk bone
permanently bent, through hard work when very
young. I agree, however, with the Bedouins, in
believing that to their general health and powers of
endurance this early training is necessary. The
fillies go through the same course of treatment, and
themselves become mothers before they are four
years old. The colts are sold off when opportunity
offers to the townsmen of Deyr, Aleppo or Mosul,
as the case may be, or to dealers who come round
to the tents of the tribes, during their summer stay
in the extreme north. The best are usually taken
by the townsmen, as the dealers, especially those
who supply the Indian market, seldom or never
purchase hadud colts. These cost about three
times as much as the others, and it is easy to forge
a pedigree. The townsmen, particularly those of
Deyr, who are almost Bedouins themselves, know
tlie difference well, and care for nothing but the
l)est. Others are sold to the low tribes, who take

(■II. xxviii.] The Bedoiiin on Horseback. 263

them iu to the towns for further sale, as soon as
they have broken them. The fillies are generally
kept in the tribe.

Of diseases there are few among the Bedouin
horses. I have never heard of an instance of roar-
ing, and only once of liroken wind. An accident
known as "twisted gut," is, however, rather com-
mon, and some other diseases of an inflammatory
nature which prove suddenly fatal. Horses, mares,
colts, and all alike are starved during great part of
the year, no corn being ever given, and only camels
milk when other food fails. They are often with-
out water for several days together, and in the most
piercing nights of winter they stand uncovered,
and with no more shelter than can be o;ot on the
lee side of the tents. Their coats become lono; and
shaggy, and they are left uncombed and unbrushed
till the new coat comes in spring. At these times
they are ragged-looking scarecrows, half-starved,
and as rough as ponies. In the summer, however,
their coats are as fine as satin, and they show all
the appearance of breeding one has a right to ex-
pect of their blood.

The Bedouin never uses a bit or bridle of any
sort, but instead, a halter with a fine chain passing
round the nose. With this he controls his mare
easily and effectually. lie rides on a pad of cotton,
fastened on the mare's back by a surcingle, and
uses no stirrups. This pad is the most uncomfort-
able and insecure seat imaginable, but fortunately

264 BedoiUn Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvm.

the animals are nearly always gentle and without
vice. I have never seen either violent plunging,
rearing, or indeed any serious attempt made to
throw the rider. Whether the Bedouin would be
able to sit a bare-backed unbroken four-year old
colt, as the gauchos of South America do, is ex-
ceedingly doubtful.

The Bedouin has none of the arts of the horse-
dealer. He knows little of showing off a horse,
or even of making him stand to advantage, but,
however anxious he may be to sell him, brings him
just as he is, dirty and ragged, tired, and perhaps
broken-kneed. He has a supreme contempt himself
for everything except blood in his beast, and he
expects everybody else to have the same. He
knows nothing of the simple art of telling a horse's
age by the teeth, and still less of any dealer's trick
in the way of false marking. This comes from the
fact that in the tribe, each colt's age is a matter of
public notoriety. We avoided, as much as possible,
having direct commercial dealings with our friends
in the desert, but, from all we heard and the little
we saw of such transactions, it is evidently very
difficult to strike a satisfactory bargain. As soon as
one price is fixed, another is substituted ; and, unless
the intending purchaser rides resolutely away, there
is no chance of the l)argain being really concluded.
Once done, however, and the money counted and
re-counted by half a dozen disinterested friends, the
horse or mare may be led away. I do not think

en. xxviii.] Pedigree of the Arabian Horse. 265

the Bedouins have in j^eneral much personal love
for their mares, only a great deal of pride in them,
and a full sense of their value.

As I have already said, they will not tell a false-
hood in respect of the breeding of their animals, a
habit partly due to the honour in which all things
connected with horseflesh are held, partly, too, no
doubt, to the public notoriety of the breed or breeds
in each family, which would at once expose the
falsehood; and public opinion is severe on this
head.

Having premised thus much of the general
characteristics of the thoroughbred Arabian, 1 will
now explain what I have been able to discover of
his pedigree.

PEDIGREE OF THE ARABIAN HORSE.

Tradition states that the first horse-tamer was
Ismail-ibn-Ibrahim, or Ishmael, wdio, after he Avas
turned out of his father's tents, captured a mare
from among a herd which he found running wild,
''mini tmhash'' (like the wild ass). The Emir
Abd-el-Kader, in confirming this stor}^, told me
that the children of Ishmael had a mare from this
principal stock which grew up crooked, for she had
been foaled on a journey and, being unable to
travel, had been sewn into a hhourj, or goat's-hair
sack, and placed upon a camel. From her descended
a special strain of blood, known as the Benat-el-
Ahivaj, or " daughters of the crooked," and tliis

2 66 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvnr.

was the first distinction made by the Bedouins
among their horses.

Tlie Benat-el-Ahwaj, or Aluvaj, as it is more
commonly called, may therefore be considered the
oldest breed known. I have never heard of it in
the Arabian deserts, but the Emir assures me that
it exists under that name in the Sahara ; and that
the breeds now recomised in Arabia are but ramifi-
cations of this original stock.

It is difficult to give more than a guess as to the
antiquity of the names now in use. The five
breeds known as the Kliamsa are not possessed by
tlie tribes of Northern Africa ; and it is therefore
probable, that at the time of the first Arabian con-
quests (in the 7tli and 8th centuries of our era),
they had not yet Ijecome distinguished from the
general stock. The Emir, however, does not doubt
of their extreme antiquity, and I think it is cer-
tain that the Kehilans must have been contem-
porary with Mahomet ; for a breed called Koklani
exists in Persia, and we may fairly suppose it
to have been brought there by the early Arabian
invaders. It has not, however, been kept pure in
Persia.

The Kehilans, then, we may presume, were an
early sub-breed of the Ahwaj, receiving their name
from the black marks certain Arabian horses have
round their eyes ; marks which give them the
appearance of being painted with kohl, after the
fashion of the Arab women. Or, indeed, " Kehilan "

rii. XXVIII.] NiebiLlir quoted. 267

niay he merely a new name for tlie Ahwaj, used
first as an epitliet, but afterwards superseding the
older name in Arabia. This supposition is favoured
by Niebuhr, who evidently treats tlie Kochlani, as
he calls them, as the generic name of the pure
Bedouin race, as contrasted with the Radishes or
town horses of the peninsula.

"The Kochlani," he says, "are reserved for riding
solely. They are said to derive their origin from
King Solomon's studs. However this may be, they
are fit to bear the greatest fatigues * * *. The
Kochlani are neither large nor handsome " — (It must
be remembered that Niebuhr was a Dane, and took
his ideas of beauty in all probability from the great
Flanders' horses ridden by our ancestors. The
Eastern breed in his day, more than a, hundred
years ago, was liardly yet quite established even in
England), — " but amazingly swift ; it is not for their
figure, but for their velocity and other good qualities
that the Arabians esteem them. These Kochlani are
chiefly l^red by the Bedouins settled between Basra
Merdin and Syria, in which countries the nobility
never choose to ride horses of any other race. The
wiiole race is divided into several families, each of
which has its proper name ; that of Dsjulfa seems
to be the most numerous. Some of these families
have a higher reputation than others, on account of
their more ancient and uncontaminated nobility.
Although it is known by experience, that the
Kochlani are often inferior to the Kadischi, yet the

268 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [cu. xxvm.

mares at least, of tlie former, are always preferred,
ill tlie hopes of a fine progeny.

" The Arabians have indeed no tables of genealogy
to prove the descent of their Kochlani ; yet they
are sure of the legitimacy of the progeny ; for a
mare of this race is never covered unless in the
presence of witnesses, who must be Arabians. This
people do not indeed always stickle at perjury ; but
in a case of such serious importance, they are careful
to deal conscientiously. There is no instance of
false testimony given in respect to the descent of a
horse. Every Arabian is persuaded that himself
and his whole family would be ruined, if he should
prevaricate in giving his oath in an affair of such
consequence.

" The Arabians make no scruple of selling their
Kochlani stallions like other horses ; but they are
unwilling to part with their mares for money.
When not in a condition to support them, they dis-
pose of them to others, on the terms of having a
ushare in the foals, or of being at liberty to recover
them after a certain time.

" These Kochlani are much like the old Arabian
nobility, the dignity of whose birth is held in no
estimation unless in their own country. These
horses are little valued by the Turks. Their country
being more fertile, better watered, and less level,
swift horses are less necessary to them than to the
Arabians. They prefer large liorses, who have a
stately appearance when sumptuously harnessed.

cH. XXVIII.] N'o lurittcu Pcdigj'ccs. 269

It should seem that there are also Kochlani in
Heclsjas and in the country of Dsjof ; but I doubt if
they be in estimation in the domains of the Imam,
where the horses of men of rank appeared to mc
too handsome to be Kochlani. The Endish, how-
ever, sometimes purchase these horses at the price
of 800 or 1000 crowns each. An EnMish merchant

o

was offered at Bengal twice the purchase-money for
one of these horses ; but he sent him to England,
where he hoj^ed that he would draw four times the
original price."

I have given this extract almost in, extenso, as it
is interesting in spite of some blunders, which are
easily explained by the fact that Niebuhr never
visited the great horse-breeding tribes. It shows,
at any rate, that the names of the breeds were at
that time as clearly established as now, and that
these are in no wise a mere modern invention, as
some assert, got up by horse-dealers for the benefit
of Englishmen in India. The notion of such an
imposture is not to be entertained by anyone who
has conversed, even for half an hour, on horseflesh
with a Bedouin. The fanatics about breedino- are
not the English but the Bedouins themselves ; and
it is inconceivable these can have been converted
by any conspiracy of horse-dealers. An equally
absurd idea, also current in India, is that the
Anazeh breed has within the last sixty or seventy
years received an infusion of English blood. Some
talk of English thoroughbred horses, left by the

270 Bedouin Tribes of the EiipJirates. [en. xxvni.

French under Napoleon in Egypt, others of horses
introduced into Syria forty years ago, but nobody
who knows anything of the Anazeh can for an
instant conceive that the existence of any number
of Eno;lish thorousfhbreds at Damascus or Cairo,
would have the slightest influence on their own
breeding stock. By the Anazeh the finest horse
that ever ran at Newmarket would be accounted a
mere kadish, and would not even be looked at for
stud purposes. ■"'■

But to resume. The Kchihins, whenever first so
called, have been without doubt a recognised breed
in Arabia for many centuries, and were in all pro-
Ijability the parent stock which produced the other
four great strains of blood, which with the Kehilan
make up the Kliamsa. These also have existed as
distinct breeds in Arabia from "time immemorial,"
but whether that means one hundred or five hun-
dred, or a thousand years, it is quite impossible to
say. The common belief of their descent from the
five mares of Solomon is of course a fable,"]* and is
not much talked of in the desert itself.

* Some thorouglibreds brouglit by Mr. Skene to Aleppo oigbleen
or twenty years ago were laughed at bj'^ tbe Arabs even of the
towns, and no one dreamed of sending his mares to them. Preju-
dice was too strong. We took great pains, while travelling with
the Anazeh, to ascertain what they knew of our English thorough-
bred stock, but with the exception of !Mi". Skene's they had never
heard of any, and laughed heartily at the idea of any mixture with
them or other kadishes having been permitted.

f Abd-el-Kader told me that these five mares were Bvnat-d-
AhivaJ, purchased by Solomon of the Ishmaelites, and that one of

cii. xxvni.] The Five great Breeds. 271

The names of the Khamsa, or five ixreat strains
of blood (originally Ahwaj, and possibly all Kehilan,)
are as follows : —

1. Kehilan, fern. KcMhh (or Kehilct before a Towel).

This strain is the most numerous, and, taken generally, the
most esteemed. It contains a greater proportion, 1 think, of
bays than any other strain. The Kehilans are the fastest,
though not perhaps the hardiest horses, and bear a closer re-
semblance than the rest to English thoroughbreds, to whom
indeed they are more nearly related. The Darley Arabian, per-
haps the only thoroiighhred Anazeh horse in our stud book, was
a Kehilan. The Kehtlan is not by any means the most beautiful
of the strains. Its subdivisions are very numerous, and will
be given in the list at the end of this chapter. The favourite
substrains are the Kehilan Ajuz, the Kehilan Nowag, the Kehilan
Abu Argiib, Abu Jenub, and Ras-el-Fedawn.

2. Seglawi, fern. Beglawieli.

One strain of this blood, the Seglawi Jedi'an, is considered the
best of all in the desert ; and the Seglawis generally are held in
high repute. They are, how^ever, comparatively rare, and exist
only in a few families of the Anazeh. Among the Shammar
there are Seglawis, but no Scghnvi Jedi'iins, the last mares of
this breed having been liought up at fabulous prices by Abbas
Pasha. The four strains, Jedran, 01)eyran, Arjebi and cl-Abd
are identical in origin, being descended from four Seglawi
mares, sisters — but only the first has been kept absolutely pure.
Even the Seglawi JechVui is to be found pure in the families
of Ibn Nederi and Ibn Sbeni only. The Seglawi Obeyran
has been crossed with the Kehilans and other strains, and the

tliem, tlie most celebrated, was given by him to the Sheykli of the
Uzd, in whicli tribe her descendants are still found. She was called
Zad-el-Mus('fir (food for the traveller) on accoant of her being fast
enousrh to run down the 2;a;^ellc.

272 Bcdcntiii Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xxvin.

El Abel though purer than the Obeyran is yet not absolutely
so even in the family of Ibn Shaalan, where it is at its best.
The Seg'lawi Jedran of Ibn Nederi is powerful and fast, but
not particularly handsome. Ibn Sbeni's strain is more perfect
in appearance, and of equal purity.

3. Abeyajs", /ew. Abcyeh.
The Abeyan is generally the handsomest breed, but is small
and has less resemblance to the English thoroughbred than
cither of the preceding. The Abeyan Sherrak is the substrain
most appreciated, and an Abeyan SheiTak we saw at Aleppo,
bred by the Gomussa, could not have been surpassed in good
looks. He was not hoAvever of a racing type. Again an Abeyeh
Sherrak mare belonging to Bctcyen ibn Mershid was the most
perfect mare Ave saw. But her sire was a Ivehilan Ajiiz. The
])ure Abeyan Sherrak strain is only found in the family of Abu
Jereys of the Meseka, and in a single family of the Jclaas.

4. Hamdaxi, fern. Hamdanieh,
is not a common breed either among the Anazeh or Shammar.
Most of the animals of this breed I have seen have been grey,
but a very handsome brown horse was shown us by the Gomussa,
This Avas a Hamdiini Simri, AA'hich is the only substrain recog-
nised as hadud. The very beautiful white mare, Sherifa, which
Ave had Avith us on the latter part of our journey, Avas a Ham-
danieh Simri. She aams bred in Nejd, and had been in the
possession of Ibn Saoud. Her head is the most iicrfcct of any
I have seen. She stands fourteen hands tAvo inches, and is pure
white in colour, Avith the kohl patches round the eyes and nose
A'ery strongly and blackly marked. Her cars are long like a
hind's, and her eyes as full and soft. She Avas admired all over
the desert. In shape, head apart, she is more like an English
hunter than a racehorse.

;■). Hadban,/«». Hddhhf'h,
also uncommon among the Anazeh, the best having formerly
been possessed by the Roiila. Hadban Enzeklii is the best sub-

cii. XXVIII.] The O lit side Breeds,

~i 6

strain, and to it belonged a remarkable marc owned by Mo-
hammed JiiTO at Deyr. She stood about fourteen hands two
and a-lialf inches, was a bay with black points, caiiied her tail
very high, and was full of fire. She looked like a racehorse,
though not an English one. The two other substrains, Mshetib
and El Fun'd, are not so much esteemed as the Enzeklii,

Besides these five grecat breeds, wliicli are called
the Khamsa, there are sixteen other breeds, all
more or less esteemed, and most of them with one
or more strains of blood, accomited equal to the
Khamsa. These are : — •

1. MAXEGHi,/e??i. Maneghiek (the long necked).

Said by some (but without sufficient authority) to be an off-
shoot of the Kehilan Ajuz. The characteristics of this breed
are marked. They are plain and without distinction, have
coarse heads, long ewe necks, powerful shoulders, much length
and strong but coarse hind quarters. They have also much
bone, and are held in high repute for the qualities of endurance
and staying power. Niebuhr's description of the Kochlanis
seems to have been written exjDressly for them. Of the two
substrains the most esteemed is the Mtineghi Hedi'uj, of which
the family of Ibn Sbeyel of the Gomussa possesses the finest
mares. These are generally known as Maneghi Ibn Sbeyel, but
there is no distinct strain of that name. The other substrain,
Manegld es Sldji (greyhound), is described as being " the
original " Maneghi breed.

2. Saad AX, /<?;». Sdaclch.

The substrain, Sdadan Tor/an, is in high repute. The hand-
somest and strongest mare we have is of this breed. She is a
chestnut fourteen hands two inches, of perfect beauty and im-
mense power, but she cannot gallop with the Kehilans. She
bears a strong resemblance to one of the portraits of Eclipse,

VOL. II, T

2/4 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxvm.

that published in the " Book of the Horse." She was bred by
the To^yf Anazeh, who never come north of the Hamad. She
was known far and wide among the Anazeh tribes as " tlie
Saadeh."

3. DAKHMAN,/f»i. Ddlilimeli.

The substrain Em Amr. "We saw a veiy beautiful Dakhmeh
filly at the Gomussa. All the horses of this breed we saw or
heard of were dark bay or brown.

4. Shueyman,/cw. Shueijmeh.

Of this the only substrain is the Sliueijman Shall.. Faris,
Sheykh of the Northern Shammar, has a mare of this breed. She
is coarse, but of immense strength and courage, and when
moving becomes handsome. She is a dark bay of fourteen
liands three inches, or thereabouts.

5. JlLFA^,/e;?i. Jilfeh.

Substrain Jilfan Stam cl Bulad (sinews of steel). A , son

of Mijuel of the Misrab, rode a fine bay three-year old colt, a
Jilfan Stam el BuJad.

G. Toessa:^,/^;??. Toesscli.
Substrain TOessan AJgami. The only horse we saw of this
breed was a bay, handsome but very small.

7. Samh^^^ /(?y«. SamlicU.

Substrain Samhan el Gomeaa. The tallest and strongest colt
we saw among the Gomussa was of this breed. He has akeady
been described in the journal.

8. Wadxan-,/^'/^. Wadiieh.
Substrain Wddnan ffursdn.

9. RisHAX, /'//?. Rishch.
Substrahi Fuahan Shcrdhi

€11. xxvui.] QiLaliJications for the Stud. 275

1 0 . Keb e ysh ax, fern . Kdicijsh vli .
Substrain KeheijsJian el Oiiicyr.

11. MELEivHAX,/c'»i. McWiha.

12. Jer£ YBAX, /i'wi. Jereijhch.

13. JEYTAXi,/fm. Jpijtanich.

14. FEiiEJAXj/wi. Fercji-li.

15. TREYFi,^/^'/^i. Troijfu'li.

16. Rabd.lx^, /^;?L Rdbilch.

It will be observed that in the foregoing list, all
the breeds, except the last six, have at least one
substrain, whose name is added to that of the
breed, and these substrains only are used in choosing
sires. A Kehilan without an affix to his name is
not hadiid, that is, not "worthy;" and of the disquali-
fied class mares only are used for breeding — their
produce, however, inherit their disabilities, and the
Arabs do not consider that a stain in the blood can
be extinguished by lapse of time. On the other
hand a Rishan, with the affix of Sherabi, or a
Sd-mhan, with that of El Gomeaa, are perfectly
qualified, although a Kehilan Ajiiz or a Segliiwi
Jednin would be preferred. Of the minor breeds
none are kept absolutely pure, except the Maneghi
Hedruj of Ibn Sbeyel. In all cases, the breed of
the colt is that of his dam, not of his sire.

There is no such distinction in the desert as that
made in India, of high caste and low caste, first
class and second class. An animal, about whose
breeding there is any doubt, is disqualified alto-
gether, and is not bred from.

T 2

276 Bedo7iin Tribes of tJic Euphrates, [en. xxvni,

I add a table, sliowino- the whole of the strains
and substrains, premising that one and all of them
are reputed to have descended from the same original
stock.

G]

1. Keh*-

-4 BREEDS.
I

Hac

dkhi

ir-inar of

lah

Samhan

Wadnari'

an S. el Gomdaa

Kehilan

ihr

I
K. A

K. el Abiid
ault K. J6hara
K. Meti

took great pains td

PEDIGREE OF THE ARABIAN THOROUGHBRED STOCK.

1. EeUu

lii'yfl, now extstiogoDl

I. AnJ6mi Abfyan A.

). Arjdbl 8. Oberrin

OUTSIDE BREEDS.

..h1„

Vidnui Kiikui

M&neghi M. Slilji

M. SUJi M. H«druj

Wyshan K. ol Om^yr

HelAUun

Jartjban

KeiiQan E. Ajik K. Abu Argiib K. Abu JenAb K. ol Krueh E. Daj&ni I EC. 80671! E. Hddoli E.Ucadimoh E. Tehir&n E. Om Sora E. Tdmri K. Akhr&a E. TrdjBhi j
I K. HalMuJ K. W4U K. Bhnilynnii E. G4ga K. Goiilli E. llirreh E. EfBbdyr E. ffiyfl E. Xmnbi K. Dokta E. a

K.il.

E. Jennffli eil Toyr E. Uobiyet

:. Gbaz&U E. Uorkdn

tagliBli Tliorougbbred

c

POSTSCKIPT.

Scheme of a Euphrates Valley Eailway. — Of river communica-
tion.— The Turkish system of government. — Its pax-tial suc-
cess.— Its failings. — A guess at the future.

It lias l)een suggested to nie tliat I ought to say
ix few words as to the possible future of the coun-
tries described iu this book, more especially in
relation to their supposed destiny of giving us an
•overland route to India ; — and first as to the scheme
of a railway between the Mediterranean and the
Persian Gulf.

In these days of engineering triumphs, all things
are of course possible, and a railway could doubt-
less be constructed over any part of the desert. To
lay eyes, however, certain difficulties present them-
selves, if not in the construction, at least in the
working of such a road, while the prospect of its
ever proving a financial success, looks like the most
chimerical of fancies. A railway follo^^'ing the line
of the Euphrates, must pass either along the actual
Valley, or the table-land above it. In the first case
the flooding of the river and its frequent changes
of bed will have to be considered, while in the
second an immense amount of cutting and bridging
will be required, for the whole of the desert imme-
diately bordering the valley is a network of wadys

278 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.

and ravines. Tlie plain, too, lies at an average
height of some hundred feet above the river, and is-
possessed of no water at its own level. Lastly,,
several intricate lines of hills must be cut throusfh.
The latter remarks apply with douljle force to any
more direct route across the desert. In winter,
indeed, there is a line of fresh-water pools, running
between Damascus and Ana, but these are de-
pendent for their existence entirely on the autumn
rains, and the rain does not always fall. In summer
they are dry.

A much more serious objection to a desert rail-
w^ay, would be the impossibility of making practical
use of it, except in the temperate months. I
cannot think that many passengers would choose a
railway journey of a thousand miles under such
a sun as the Hamad boasts, between May and
October. The average maximum daily temperature
in the coolest house in Bagdad during June and
July is 107°, while the thermometer there sometimes,
goes up to 120°, and even 122°. The heat of the
desert would be far greater ; and, unless stations of
refuge were established, in which to pass the heat
of the day, summer travelling would be impossible
for Europeans. These and the road would have ta
be well guarded, as it is unlikely the Anazeh would
respect them.

As a commercial scheme it must be considered^
that though tlirough traffic for goods might be
abundant, and through passenger traffic in the

The Eiiphratcs Valley Railway. 279

winter months, no local traffic could be counted on.
The villagers of the Euphrates are too poor to afford
the lowest price at which railway fares could be
offered, while tlieir existing caravan trade with
camels is cheap, and time is of no value. The
population of the river is extremely scanty. If
there are fifty thousand inhabitants between Bagdad
and Aleppo, it is more than I should suppose exists,
and of these, four- fifths at least must belong to the
lower villages south of Ana. Between Ana and
Aleppo, three hundred miles, there is but one village
of any importance, and probably not ten thousand
inhabitants, all counted.

A more possible railway route, commercially speak-
ing, lies along the track of the old caravan road by
Orfa and Mosul, for this passes through a cultivated
district, and would serve a series of large towns. I
cannot, however, conceive that even this could be a
financial success. For many years to come the ex-
istence of a railway would be powerless to repeople
Assyria ; and, with such large tracts of excellent
soil lying uncultivated and close at hand between
Aleppo and the sea, immigrants would hardly choose
the tamarisk jungles of the Euphrates and Tigris as
the scene of a new colony. It must be recollected
that the area of alluvial land in either valley is
very small. A principal feature of all these schemes
seems to be the restoration of fertility to the Baby-
lonian plain south of Bagdad. This, rich as the
plain formerly was, could not now be effected with-

2 So Bcdoidn Tribes of the EitpJwates.

out a prodigious outlay in the form of waterworks.
To reconstruct entirely the Babylonian system of
•canals is financially impossible, even for the richest
country in the world at the present day ; and with-
out irrigation not a blade can a;row.

The only practical scheme for improving the com-
munications between the Mediterranean and the
Persian Gulf is, in my opinion, the establishment of
a line of steamers on the Euphrates. This, if pro-
perly managed, might do effectual good, and even
be made to pay its expenses. The river is navi-
c;able for boats drawiucf eioliteen inches of water
nearly all the year round ; ond Midhat's boats failed
only because they were too large. A line of
.steamers would sufficiently supply the wants of
local traffic, and could afford to do so at a far
cheaper rate than any railroad. Steam navigation
would be free of danger from Bedouin interference ;
and the tamarisk j'crub would long- afford an excellent
supply of fuel. Such a scheme, however, v/ould be
•of little use to India.

Water communication established, and Turkish
.abuses reformed, the present system of government .
might well be left to work out the natural develop-
ment of the country, though this could not be
rapid. I have no sympathy with the Turks in
Arabia, and still less with their administration.
It is utterly corrupt ; but I do not think their theory
of government there is a bad one. The protection
of the peaceable tribes and the repression of the war-

Turkish Successes in Ai'abia. 28 1

like ones ; encouragement to all wlio will cultivate
the soil : security for the high roads and military
occupation of the villages ; alliances entered into
with the Bedouin chiefs, and inducements offered
them to act as the police of the desert ; — nothing,
in idea, could be better or more European. It is
only in practice that the Turks fail, and that, I fear,
from incurable causes. Yet have they not wholly
failed. From a military point of view, the Pashas
can boast with some truth that, compared with
twenty years ago, no country has made more rapid
steps towards civilisation. The power of the Bedouin
tribes has within that period been seriously checked,
if not broken ; and it is quite conceivable that in
another twenty years, at the same rate of progress,
the Anazeh will have disappeared from the upper
Syrian desert, and the Shammar have been re-
claimed to settled life in Mesopotamia. On the
day when the alluvial valley of the Euphrates shall
be completely cultivated, and their access to the
river cut off in summer, the true Bedouins must
retire to the Nejd, whence they came, or abandon
their independent life. Turkish optimists are ex-
cusable if they count on this. But for my part, I
do not believe in the regeneration of Turkey, or
even in the maintenance of its military power for
any length of time.

Tlie chief vice of the Turkish system, as now
seen in the desert, is one which affects the whole
empire, — ruthless taxation. The goose with the

282 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.

golden eggs is every day being killed in Turkey, or
at any rate mercilessly robbed, and to its last nest
egg. In this way, the peaceful shepherd tribes,
though protected from the Anazeh and Shammar,
are plundered by the Government, and hardly ap-
preciate the change of masters. The AVeldi, a rich
tribe t\Yenty years ago when they were tributary to
the Anazeh, are now reduced to poverty by the
exactions of the Pashalik of Aleppo ; and the
Jibtiri, on the Tigris, industrious herdsmen, seem
strangely altered in circumstances since Layard
lived among them in 1845. The only really pros-
perous nomades, at present under Turkish rule, are
the Haddadin ; and they, from their connection with
the townsmen, may possibly have been respected in
the general plunder. It is hardly to be wondered
at then that, in view of that which has befallen
their poorer neighbours, the great camel-owning
tribes, who being always on the move, are out of
Government reach, should have hitherto refused all
proposals made them of abandoning their wild life.
Their power of oftence, indeed, has been much
restricted of late years by the garrisoning of the
lines of river, and the introduction of " arms of
precision " among the Turkish soldiery ; and their
old source of wealth, the tribute paid them by the
desert towns, has been cut ofi'. But, beyond this,
nothino- has Ijeen effected. The Anazeh and
Shammar are still as thoroughly independent of the
Sultan as the day they first appeared within his

A Political Forecast. 283

borders, while tlieir ancient cliaracter and way of
life remains unchanged. In my mind's eye I see a
day not very far distant when, the treasury at Con-
stantinople being exhausted, these outlying military
posts of the Euphrates, with its schemes of railroads
and steamers, will be abandoned, and the Bedouins,
havins; exchano-ed their lances for more modern
weapons, shall reign again supreme in the valley.
The shepherd tribes, and even the villagers, will
not much regret their return ; and all will be as it
was a hundred years ago. My sympathy is with
them and not with progress ; and in their interest I
cry, " Long live the Sultan."

But will no other power appear in the desert ?

THE END.

BRADBUEY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTEU ;, WllITEFXUABS.

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