The Men Were Beni-Harb Of The Great Hijazi Tribe, Which Has
Kept Its Blood Pure For The Last Thirteen
Centuries,-how much more we
know not,-but they had been corrupted by intercourse with pilgrims,
retaining none of their
Ancestral qualities but greed of gain,
revengefulness, pugnacity, and a frantic kind of bravery, displayed on
rare occasions. Their nobility, however, did not prevent my quoting the
Prophet's saying, "Of a truth, the worst names among the Arabs are the
Beni-Kalb
[p.248] Kalb and the Beni-Harb,[FN#12]" whilst I taunted them severely
with their resemblance to the Fellahs of Egypt. They would have
resented this with asperity, had it proceeded from their own people,
but the Turkish pilgrim-the character in which they knew me, despite my
Arab dress-is a privileged person. The outer man of these Fight-Sons
was contemptible; small chocolate-coloured beings, stunted and thin,
with mops of course bushy hair burned brown by the sun, straggling
beards, vicious eyes, frowning brows, screaming voices, and well-made,
but attenuated, limbs. On their heads were Kufiyahs in the last stage
of wear: a tattered shirt, indigo-dyed, and girt with a bit of common
rope, composed their clothing; and their feet were protected from the
stones by soles of thick leather, kept in place by narrow thongs tied
to the ankle. Both were armed, one with a matchlock, and a
Shintiyan[FN#13] in a leathern scabbard, slung over the shoulder, the
other with a Nabbut, and both showed at the waist the Arab's invariable
companion, the Jambiyah (dagger). These ragged fellows, however, had
their pride. They would eat with me, and not disdain, like certain
self-styled Caballeros, to ask for more; but of work they would do
none. No promise of "Bakhshish," potent as
[p.249] the spell of that word is, would induce them to assist in
pitching my tent: they even expected Shaykh Nur to cook for them, and I
had almost to use violence, for even the just excuse of a sore foot was
insufficient to procure the privilege of mounting my Shugduf while the
camel was sitting. It was, they said, the custom of the country from
time immemorial to use a ladder when legs would not act. I agreed with
them, but objected that I had no ladder. At last, wearied with their
thick-headedness, I snatched the nose-string of the camel, and by main
force made it kneel.
Our party was now strong enough. We had about 200 beasts carrying
grain, attended by their proprietors, truculent looking as the
contrabandistas of the Pyrenees. The escort was composed of seven
Irregular Turkish cavalry, tolerably mounted, and supplied each with an
armoury in epitome. They were privily derided by our party, who, being
Arabs, had a sneaking fondness for the Badawin, however loth they might
be to see them amongst the boxes.
For three hours we travelled in a south-easterly direction upon a hard
plain and a sandy flat, on which several waters from the highlands find
a passage to the sea westward. Gradually we were siding towards the
mountains, and at sunset I observed that we had sensibly neared them.
We dismounted for a short halt; and, strangers being present, my
companions, before sitting down to smoke, said their prayers-a pious
exercise in which they did not engage for three days afterwards, when
they met certain acquaintances at Al-Hamra. As evening came on, we
emerged from a scrub of Acacia and Tamarisk and turned due East,
traversing an open country with a perceptible rise. Scarcely was it
dark before the cry of "Harami" (thieves) rose loud in the rear,
causing such confusion as one may see in a boat in the Bay of Naples
when suddenly neared by a water-spout
[p.250] All the camel-men brandished their huge staves, and rushed back
vociferating in the direction of the robbers. They were followed by the
horsemen; and truly, had the thieves possessed the usual acuteness of
the profession, they might have driven off the camels in our van with
safety and convenience.[FN#14] But these contemptible beings were only
half a dozen in number, and they had lighted their matchlocks, which
drew a bullet or two in their direction. Whereupon they ran away. This
incident aroused no inconsiderable excitement, for it seemed ominous of
worse things about to happen to us when entangled in the hills, and the
faces of my companions, perfect barometers of fair and foul tidings,
fell to zero. For nine hours we journeyed through a brilliant
moonlight, and as the first grey streak appeared in the Eastern sky we
entered a scanty "Misyal,[FN#15]" or Fiumara, strewed with pebbles and
rounded stones, about half a mile in breadth, and flanked by almost
perpendicular hills of primitive formation. I began by asking the names
of peaks and other remarkable spots, when I found that a folio volume
would not contain a three months' collection[FN#16]: every hill and
dale, flat, valley, and
[p.251] water-course here has its proper name or rather names. The
ingenuity shown by the Badawin in distinguishing between localities the
most similar, is the result of a high organization of the perceptive
faculties, perfected by the practice of observing a recurrence of
landscape features few in number and varying but little amongst
themselves. After travelling two hours up this torrent bed, winding in
an Easterly direction, and crossing some "Harrah," or ridges of rock,
"Ria," steep descents,[FN#17] "Kitaah," patch of stony flat, and bits
of "Sahil," dwarf plain, we found ourselves about eight A.M., after a
march of about thirty-four miles, at Bir Sa'id (Sa'id's Well), our
destination.
I had been led to expect at the "Well," a pastoral scene, wild flowers,
flocks and flowing waters; so I looked with a jaundiced eye upon a deep
hole full of slightly brackish water dug in a tamped hollow-a kind of
punch-bowl with granite walls, upon whose grim surface a few thorns of
exceeding hardihood braved the sun for a season.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 89 of 154
Words from 90145 to 91169
of 157964
