I Then Endeavoured To Bind Him By The Most
Solemn Oath Used By The Bedouins; Laying His Hand Upon The
Head of his
little boy, and on the fore feet of his mare, he swore that he would,
for that
Sum, conduct me himself, or cause me to be conducted, to the
Arabs Howeytat, from whence I might hope to find a mode of proceeding in
safety to Egypt. My precautions, however, were all in vain. Being
satisfied that my cash was reduced to a few piastres, he began his plans
for stripping me of every other part of my property which had excited
his wishes. The day after his oath, when we were about to depart from
Ayme, he addressed me in the presence of the whole company, saying that
his saddle would fit my horse better than my own did, and that he would
therefore change saddles with me. Mine was worth nearly forty piastres,
his was not worth more than ten. I objected to the exchange, pretending
that I was not accustomed to ride upon the low Bedouin saddle; he
replied, by assuring
[p.399] me that I should soon find it much more agreeable than the town
saddle; moreover, said he, you may depend upon it that the Sheikh of the
Howeytat will take your saddle from you, if you do not give it to me. I
did not dare to put the Sheikh in mind of his oath, for had I betrayed
to the company his having extorted from me so much, merely for the sake
of his company, he would certainly have been severely reprimanded by the
Bedouins present, and I should thus have exposed myself to the effects
of his revenge. All the bye-standers at the same time pressed me to
comply with his request: “Is he not your brother?” said they. “Are not
the best morsels of his dish always for you? Does he not continually
fill your pipe with his own tobacco? Fie upon your stinginess.” But they
did not know that I had calculated upon paying part of the hire of a
guide to Egypt with the value of the saddle, nor that I had already
handsomely paid for my brotherhood. I at last reluctantly complied; but
the Sheikh was not yet satisfied: the stirrups he had given me, although
much inferior to those he had taken from me, were too good in his eyes,
to form part of my equipment. In the evening his son came to me to
propose an exchange of these stirrups against a pair of his own almost
unfit for use, and which I knew would wound my ankles, as I did not wear
boots; but it was in vain to resist. The pressing intreaties of all my
companions in favour of the Sheikh’s son lasted for two whole days;
until tired at length with their importunity, I yielded, and, as had
expected, my feet were soon wounded. I have entered into these details
in order to shew what Arab cupidity is:
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