For Many Years Afterwards They Led A Miserable
Life, From Not Being Sufficiently Strong To Secure To Their Cattle Good
Pasturing Places.
About six years ago they determined to return to
Kerek, whatever might be their fate; in their way round the southern
extremity of the Dead sea they lost two thirds of their cattle by the
attacks of their inveterate enemies, the Terabein.
When, at last, they
arrived in the neighbourhood of Kerek, they threw themselves upon the
mercy of the present Sheikh
[p.382] of the town, Youssef Medjaby, who granted them permission to
remain in his district, provided they would obey his commands. They were
now reduced, from upwards of one thousand tents, to about two hundred,
and they may at present be considered as the advanced guard of the
Sheikh of Kerek, who employs them against his own enemies, and makes
them encamp wherever he thinks proper. The inhabitants of Kerek have
thus become formidable to all the neighbouring Arabs; they are complete
masters of the district of Kerek, and have great influence over the
affairs of the Belka.
The Christians of Kerek are renowned for their courage, and more
especially so, since an action which lately took place between them and
the Rowalla, a tribe of Aeneze; a party of the latter had on a Sunday,
when the men were absent, robbed the Christian encampment, which was at
about an hour from the town, of all its cattle. On the first alarm given
by the women, twenty-seven young men immediately pursued the enemy, whom
they overtook at a short distance, and had the courage to attack, though
upwards of four hundred men mounted on camels, and many of them armed
with firelocks. After a battle of two hours the Rowalla gave way, with
the loss of forty-three killed, a great many wounded, and one hundred
and twenty camels, together with the whole booty which they had carried
off. The Christians had only four men killed. To account for the success
of this heroic enterprise, I must mention that the people of Kerek are
excellent marksmen; there is not a boy among them who does not know how
to use a firelock by the time he is ten years of age.
The Sheikh of Kerek has no greater authority over his people than a
Bedouin Sheikh has over his tribe. In every thing which regards the
Bedouins, he governs with the advice of the most respectable individuals
of the town; and his power is not absolute enough to deprive the meanest
of his subjects of the smallest part
[p.383] that prevails prevents the increase of wealth, and the richest
man in the town is not worth more than about £1000. sterling. Their
custom of entertaining strangers is much the same as at Szalt; they have
eight Menzels, or Medhafe (Arabic), for the reception of guests, six of
which belong to the Turks, and two to the Christians; their expenses are
not defrayed by a common purse: but whenever a stranger takes up his
lodging at one of the Medhafes, one of the people present declares that
he intends to furnish that day’s entertainment, and it is then his duty
to provide a dinner or supper, which he sends to the Medhafe, and which
is always in sufficient quantity for a large company. A goat or a lamb
is generally killed on the occasion, and barley for the guest’s horse is
also furnished. When a stranger enters the town the people almost come
to blows with one another in their eagerness to have him for their
guest, and there are Turks who every other day kill a goat for this
hospitable purpose. Indeed it is a custom here, even with respect to
their own neighbours, that whenever a visitor enters a house, dinner or
supper is to be immediately set before him. Their love of entertaining
strangers is carried to such a length, that not long ago, when a
Christian silversmith, who came from Jerusalem to work for the ladies,
and who, being an industrious man, seldom stirred out of his shop, was
on the point of departure after a two months residence, each of the
principal families of the town sent him a lamb, saying that it was not
just that he should lose his due, though he did not choose to come and
dine with them. The more a man expends upon his guests, the greater is
his reputation and influence; and the few families who pursue an
opposite conduct are despised by all the others.
Kerek is filled with guests every evening; for the Bedouins, knowing
that they are here sure of a good supper for themselves and their
horses, visit it as often as they can; they alight at one Medhafe,
[p.385] go the next morning to another, and often visit the whole before
they depart. The following remarkable custom furnishes another example
of their hospitable manners: it is considered at Kerek an unpardonable
meanness to sell butter or to exchange it for any necessary or
convenience of life; so that, as the property of the people chiefly
consists in cattle, and every family possesses large flocks of goats and
sheep, which produce great quantities of butter, they supply this
article very liberally to their guests. Besides other modes of consuming
butter in their cookery, the most common dish at breakfast or dinner, is
Fetyte, a sort of pudding made with sour milk, and a large quantity of
butter. There are families who thus consume in the course of a year,
upwards of ten quintals of butter. If a man is known to have sold or
exchanged this article, his daughters or sisters remain unmarried, for
no one would dare to connect himself with the family of a Baya el Samin
(Arabic), or seller of butter, the most insulting epithet that can be
applied to a man of Kerek. This custom is peculiar to the place, and
unknown to the Bedouins.
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