I
Had Taken The Lead Of Our Party, Accompanied By My Guide’S Little Boy,
With Whom I Reached An Encampment, On The Southern Side Of The Valley,
To Which These Women Belonged.
This was the encampment to which my guide
belonged, and where he assured me that I should find his camels.
I was
astonished to see nobody but women in the tents, but was told that the
greater part of the men had gone to Ghaza to sell the soap-ashes which
these Arabs collect in the mountains of Shera. The ladies being thus
left to themselves, had no impediment to the satisfying of their
curiosity, which was very great at seeing a townsman, and what was still
more extraordinary, a man of Damascus (for so I was called), under their
tents. They crowded about me, and were incessant in their inquiries
respecting my affairs, the goods I had to sell, the dress of the town
ladies, &c. &c. When they found that I had nothing to sell, nor any
thing to present to them, they soon retired; they however informed me
that my guide had no other camels in his possession than the one we had
brought with us, which was already lame. He soon afterwards arrived, and
when I began to expostulate with him on his
[p.412] conduct, he assured me that his camel would be able to carry us
all the way to Egypt, but begged me to wait a few days longer, until he
should be well enough to walk by its side; for, since we left Beszeyra
he had been constantly complaining of rheumatic pains in his legs. I saw
that all this was done to gain time, and to put me out of patience, in
order to cheat me of the wages he had already received; but, as we were
to proceed on the following day to another encampment at a few hours
distance, I did not choose to say any thing more to him on the subject
in a place where I had nobody but women to take my part; hoping to be
able to attack him more effectually in the presence of his own
tribe’smen.
August 15th.—We remained this day at the women’s tents, and I amused
myself with visiting almost every tent in the encampment, these women
being accustomed to receive strangers in the absence of their husbands.
The Howeytat Arabs resemble the Egyptians in their features; they are
much leaner and taller than the northern Arabs; the skin of many of them
is almost black, and their features are much less regular than those of
the northern Bedouins, especially the Aeneze. The women are tall and
well made, but too lean; and even the handsomest among them are
disfigured by broad cheek bones.
The Howeytat occupy the whole of the Shera, as far as Akaba, and south
of it to Moyeleh (Arabic), five days from Akaba, on the Egyptian Hadj
road. To the east they encamp as far as Akaba el Shamy, or the Akaba on
the Syrian pilgrim route; while the northern Howeytat take up their
winter quarters in the Ghor. The strength of their position in these
mountains renders them secure from the attacks of the numerous hordes of
Bedouins who encamp in the eastern Arabian desert; they are, however, in
continual warfare with them, and sometimes undertake expeditions of
twenty days journey, in order to surprise some encampment of their
[p.413] enemies in the plains of the Nedjed. The Beni Szakher are most
dreaded by them, on account of their acquaintance with the country, and
peace seldom lasts long between the two tribes. The encampment where I
spent this day was robbed of all its camels last winter by the Beni
Szakher, who drove off, in one morning, upwards of twelve hundred
belonging to their enemies. The Howeytat receive considerable sums of
money as a tribute from the Egyptian pilgrim caravan; they also levy
certain contributions upon the castles on the Syrian Hadj route,
situated between Maan and Tebouk, which they consider as forming a part
of their territory. They have become the carriers of the Egyptian Hadj,
in the same manner, as the Aeneze transport with their camels the Syrian
pilgrims and their baggage. When at variance with the Pashas of Egypt,
the Howeytat have been known to plunder the caravan; a case of this kind
happened about ten years ago, when the Hadj was returning from Mekka;
the principal booty consisted of several thousand camel loads of Mocha
coffee, an article which the pilgrims are in the constant habit of
bringing for sale to Cairo; the Bedouins not knowing what to do with so
large a quantity, sold the greater part of it at Hebron, Tafyle, and
Kerek, and that year happening to be a year of dearth, they gave for
every measure of corn an equal measure of coffee. The Howeytat became
Wahabis; but they paid tribute only for one year, and have now joined
their forces with those of Mohammed Aly, against Ibn Saoud.
August 16th.—We set out for the encampment of the Sheikh of the northern
Howeytat, with the tent and family of my guide: who was afraid of
leaving them in this place where be thought himself too much exposed to
the incursions of the Beni Szakher. We ascended on foot, through many
Wadys of winter torrents, up the southern
[p.414] mountains of the Ghoeyr; we passed several springs, and the
ruined place called Szyhhan (Arabic), and at the end of three hours walk
arrived at a large encampment of the Howeytat, situated near the summit
of the basin of the Ghoeyr. It is usual, when an Arab with his tent
reaches an encampment placed in a Douar (Arabic), or circle, that some
of the families strike their tents, and pitch them again in such a way
as to widen the circle for the admission of the stranger’s tent; but the
character of my guide did not appear to be sufficiently respectable to
entitle him to this compliment, for not a tent was moved, and he was
obliged to encamp alone out of the circle, in the hope that they would
soon break up for some other spot where he might obtain a place in the
Douar.
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