The Inhabitants Of Beder Are Chiefly
Bedouins Of The Tribe Of Sobh, Belonging To Harb, Some Of Whom Have
Become Settlers Here.
Others only have their shops here, and return
every evening to the tents of their family in the neighbouring
mountains.
Beder being a place much frequented by Bedouins and
travellers, the houses are in great request, and a small shop in the
market pays as much as twenty
[p.408] dollars a year rent. Some Sherif families are also established
here, to whom the Hadj pays at passing considerable stipends.
In the evening several hundred camels belonging to Bedouins came to be
watered at the rivulet, escorted principally by women, who freely
entered into conversation with us. The Beni Harb established at
Djedeyde, Szafra, and Beder, give their daughters in marriage to
strangers, and even to settlers; and a few Turkish soldiers, attracted
by the beauty of some Bedouin girls, had fixed themselves here, and
married them: one of them, an Arnaut, who spoke good Arabic, and had
been accustomed from his youth to the wild life of warlike mountaineers,
intended to follow his young wife to the mountain. In the neighbouring
mountains are immense numbers of the eagle (rakham); hundreds of them
were constantly hovering about us; and some actually pounced down, and
carried off the meat from our dishes.
April 26th. We had remained here the whole of yesterday. Some people of
Beder kept watch at night over our caravan, for which they received a
small compliment. This place abounds with robbers, and we were encamped
outside the gate of the town. We left Beder in the evening, and took a
direction N. 45 W. After proceeding for three quarters of an hour, we
came to the ridge of sand-hills above mentioned, the highest summit of
which is called Goz Aly, in memory of the position occupied there by
Aly, during the battle of Beder. We crossed these hills for half an hour
with difficulty, the sands being very deep, and then descended into the
great western plain, extending as far as the sea, which is reached from
Beder in one night's march, at a small harbour, south of Yembo, called
Bereyke, much frequented by shipping. The plain, which we entered in the
direction W. 1 N. is overgrown with shrubs. During our night-march we
saw the fires of different Bedouin encampments. We met two negro
pilgrims, who had started from Yembo by themselves, and were in great
distress for water: we gave them both meat and drink, and directed them
towards the Bedouin encampments. Without a compass, these enterprising
travellers find their route across deserts: the direction of the road is
shown to them at starting, and they pursue it in a straight line by
[p.409] night and by day, until they arrive at the destined spot. After
a ride of ten hours from Beder, we encamped at the break of day in a
part of the plain, where low acacia-trees grow, called adheyba.
April 27. I found myself in a very low state this morning. Violent
vomiting and profuse sweats had rendered the last night one of the most
disagreeable nights I passed in my travels. A quarrel with my guide,
about victuals, further increased my fever to-day, to which perhaps the
late relaxation of my nerves through illness contributed. To our right,
northwards, about six hours distant, a chain of high mountains extends
towards the sea. Nearer to us a lower ridge takes the same direction.
The plain upon which we encamped is sandy, covered with small pebbles
and petrosilex. We set out after mid-day. Four hours and a half,
direction N.W. by N., trees and shrubs are no longer seen; a few saline
shrubs only indicate the proximity of the sea; and a little further on,
the ground becomes covered with a salt crust, while the air is strongly
impregnated with sea-vapours. At the end of seven hours and a half, we
again found some trees in the plain, interspersed with salt-increased
spots. At fourteen hours, having travelled the whole night over bad
ground, we saw Yembo at sun-rise; and after a ride of fifteen hours and
a half, at a very slow pace, we reached the gate of the town: just
before it we crossed an inlet of the harbour, it being then low water,
but which extends to a considerable distance inland at high tide.
[p.410] YEMBO.
IT was with some difficulty that I could find a room in one of the
okales or khans of the town, which were filled with soldiers, who had
received permission to return to Cairo, after their last expedition
against the southern Wahabys, and had come here from Djidda and Mekka;
and, besides them, there were many hadjys, who, after their return from
Medina, intended to embark for Suez or Cosseir. Among the latter was the
lady of Mohammed Aly Pasha, who had arrived from Medina; for the
transport of whose escort, suite, and baggage, four ships were in a
state of preparation. After having deposited my baggage in an airy room,
on the terrace of an okale, I walked towards the harbour, to inquire
about a passage to Egypt. This, I soon understood, it was impossible to
obtain at present. Positive orders had been given, that none should
embark but soldiers, who had already engaged three or four ships, then
ready to sail; and of whom upwards of fifteen hundred, including many
Turkish hadjys, who passed for soldiers, being armed and dressed like
them, were still waiting for conveyances.
While I was sitting in a coffee-house near the harbour, three funerals
passed at short intervals; and upon expressing my surprise at this, I
learned that many people had died within these few days of feverish
complaints. I had heard, when at Beder, that a bad fever prevailed at
Yembo, but then paid little attention to the report. During the rest of
the day I saw several other funerals, but had not the slightest
[p.411] idea to what so many deaths were to be attributed, till night,
when I had retired to my room up-stairs, which overlooked a considerable
part of the town; I then heard, in every direction, innumerable voices
breaking out in those heart-rending cries which all over the Levant,
accompany the parting breath of a friend or relative.
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