In Time Of Peace The Sherif Kept A
Small Permanent Force, Not Exceeding Five Hundred Men, Of Whom About One
Hundred Were In Garrison At Djidda, Fifty At Tayf, As Many At Yembo, And
The Rest At Mekka:
Of this body about eight hundred were cavalry, in
addition to his own mounted household.
Many of the soldiers were his
domestic slaves; but the greater part were Bedouins from different parts
of Arabia; those from Yemen, the mountains of Asyr, and Nedjed, being
the most numerous. Their pay was from eight to twelve dollars per month;
[p.237] and they were commanded by Sherifs, whom they obeyed as Bedouins
obey their leader during war, that is to say, that, trained to no
regular exercise, they accompanied the Sherif whenever he took a ride
out of the town, and on returning fired off their guns, according to the
Arabian custom, in leaping wildly about. The arms of the infantry were a
matchlock and crooked knife; the horsemen had a lance.
When Ghaleb engaged in war, this force was increased by the accession of
many Sherifs and their retinues, who received no pay, but occasional
presents, and a share in the booty acquired; these wars being generally
directed against some Bedouin tribes, whose cattle was the sole object
of invasion. Upon these occasions, the Sherif was joined also by other
Bedouins, who returned with their Sheikhs to their homes, as soon as the
expedition was terminated. On the breaking out of the Wahaby war, and
when the Wahabys began to make successful attacks upon the Hedjaz,
Ghaleb found it necessary to increase his standing force; he therefore
added to it a number of black slaves, thereby augmenting it to eight
hundred, following, in this respect, the practice of his predecessors,
who always considered their own purchased slaves as the most faithful
men under their command; [During the last century, the Sherifs of Mekka
constantly kept a small corps of Georgian Mamelouks as their body
guard.] he also enlisted additional numbers of Bedouins, and had, during
the whole of the contest, generally from two to three thousand men; a
number thought fully sufficient to guard his cities.
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