The Sherif Is Supposed To Have Under His Jurisdiction All The Bedouin Tribes Of The Hedjaz; At Least They Are Named In His Own And The Porte's Registers, As The Dutiful Subjects Of The Sultan And Of The Sherif.

When in the full enjoyment of his power, Ghaleb possessed a considerable influence over these tribes, but without any direct authority.

They looked upon the Sherif, with his soldiers and friends, in the same light as one of their own Sheikhs, with his adherents; and all the laws of war current in the Desert, were strictly observed by the Sherif. In his late expeditions against the Wahabys, he was accompanied by six or eight thousand Bedouins, who joined him, as they would have joined another Sheikh, without receiving any regular pay

[p.228] for their services, but following their own chiefs, whose interest and attachment Ghaleb purchased by presents.

To those who are unacquainted with the politics of the Desert, the government of Mekka will present some singularities; but every thing is easily explained, if the Sherif be considered as a Bedouin chief, whom wealth and power have led to assume arbitrary sway; who has adopted the exterior form of an Osmanly governor, but who strictly adheres to all the ancient usages of his nation. In former times, the heads of the Sherif families at Mekka exercised the same influence as the fathers of families in the Bedouin encampments; the authority of the great chief afterwards prevailed, and the others were obliged to submit; but they still retain, in many cases, the rights of their forefathers.

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Words from 87017 to 87281 of 182297