Having Enjoyed No Repose Whatever For The Last Two
Days, I Fell Asleep Upon My Camel, And Can Only Say, That After A Ride
Of Eleven Hours, Over Hilly And Sandy Ground, We Alighted At
[P.304] Mastoura, a station of the Hadj.
Two large and deep wells, cased
with stone, afford here a copious supply of good water. Near them stood
the tomb of a saint called Sheikh Madely, which had been demolished by
the Wahabys. About ten miles east of this is a high mountain, called
Djebel Ayoub, "Job's Mountain," overtopping the other summits of the
chain of which it forms a part, and covered in many spots with trees.
It is inhabited by the Owf tribe. The whole road from Kolleya to this
place is dangerous on account of the robberies of these Bedouins; and
the caravan never passes without losing some of its loads or camels. In
the time of the Wahabys it was completely secure; the Sheikhs of the
Harb, and the whole tribe being made responsible for all depredations
committed in their territory. The Wahabys, however, had not been able to
subdue the Owf in their own mountains; and a proof of their independence
appeared in the long hair which this tribe wore, contrary to the Wahaby
precept, which had established it as a universal law to shave the head
bare.
We found, at the wells of Mastoura, several flocks of camels and sheep,
which the Owf shepherds and shepherdesses were watering. I bought from
them a lamb for a few piastres and some tobacco, and divided it among
our guides and those who accompanied us on foot.
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