On the 18th July, about 7 P.M., we passed through the gate of Yambu',
and took a due Easterly course. Our route lay over the plain between
the mountains of Radhwah on the left, and the sea on the right hand;
the land was desert,-that is to say, a hard level plain, strewed with
rounded lumps of granite and greenstone schist, with here and there a
dwarf Acacia, and a tuft of rank camel grass. By the light of a
glorious moon, nearly at the full, I was able to see the country
tolerably well.
Our party consisted of twelve camels, and we travelled in Indian file,
head tied to tail, with but one outrider, Omar Effendi, whose rank
required him to mount a dromedary with showy trappings. Immediately in
front of me was Amm Jamal, whom I had to reprove for asking the boy
Mohammed, "Where have you picked up that Hindi, (Indian)?" "Are we, the
Afghans, the Indian-slayers,[FN#1] become Indians?" I vociferated with
indignation, and brought the thing home to his feelings, by asking him
how he, an Arab, would like to be called an Egyptian,-a Fellah? The
rest of the party was behind, sitting or dozing upon the rough
platforms made by the lids of the two huge boxes slung to the sides of
their camels. Only one old woman, Al-Sitt Maryam (the lady Mary),
returning
[p.244] to Al-Madinah, her adopted country, after a visit to a sister
at Cairo, allowed herself the luxury of a half-dollar Shibriyah or cot,
fastened crosswise over the animal's load. Moreover, all the party,
except Omar Effendi, in token of poverty, were dressed in the coarsest
and dirtiest of clothes,-the general suit consisting of a shirt torn in
divers places and a bit of rag wrapped round the head. They carried
short chibuks without mouth-pieces, and tobacco-pouches of greasy
leather. Though the country hereabouts is perfectly safe, all had their
arms in readiness, and the unusual silence that succeeded to the
singing, even Sa'ad the Demon held his tongue,-was sufficient to show
how much they feared for their property. After a slow march of two
hours facing the moon, we turned somewhat towards the North-East, and
began to pass over undulating ground, in which a steady rise was
perceptible. We arrived at the halting-place at three in the morning,
after a short march of about eight hours, during which we could not
have passed over more than sixteen miles.[FN#2] The camels were
nakh'd[FN#3]; the boxes were taken off and piled together as a
precaution against invisible robbers; my little tent, the only one in
the party, was pitched; we then spread our rugs upon the ground and lay
down to sleep.
We arose at about 9 A.M. (July 19), and after congratulating one
another upon being once more in the "dear Desert," we proceeded in
exhilarated mood to light the fire for pipes and breakfast. The meal-a
biscuit, a little rice, and a cup of milkless tea-was soon dispatched,
after which I proceeded to inspect our position.
[p.245]About a mile to the westward lay the little village
Al-Musahhal,[FN#4] a group of miserable mud hovels. On the south was a
strip of bright blue sea, and all around, an iron plain producing
naught but stones and grasshoppers, and bounded northward by a grisly
wall of blackish rock. Here and there a shrub fit only for fuel, or a
tuft of coarse grass, crisp with heat, met the eye. All was
sun-parched; the furious heat from above was drying up the sap and
juice of the land, as the simmering and quivering atmosphere showed;
moreover the heavy dews of these regions, forming in large drops upon
the plants and stones, concentrate the morning rays upon them like a
system of burning-glasses. After making these few observations I
followed the example of my companions, and returned to sleep.
At two P.M. we were roused to a dinner as simple as the breakfast had
been. Boiled rice with an abundance of the clarified butter[FN#5] in
which Easterns delight, some fragments of Kahk[FN#6] or soft biscuit,
and stale bread[FN#7] and a handful of stoned and pressed date-paste,
called 'Ajwah, formed the menu. Our potations began before dinner with
a vile-tasted but wholesome drink called Akit,[FN#8]
[p.246] dried sour milk dissolved in water; at the meal we drank the
leather-flavoured element, and ended with a large cupful of scalding
tea. Enormous quantities of liquid were consumed, for the sun seemed to
have got into our throats, and the perspiration trickled as after a
shower of rain. Whilst we were eating, a Badawi woman passed close by
the tent, leading a flock of sheep and goats, seeing which I expressed
a desire to drink milk. My companions sent by one of the camel-men a
bit of bread, and asked in exchange for a cupful of "laban.[FN#9]" Thus
I learned that the Arabs, even in this corrupt region, still adhere to
the meaningless custom of their ancestors, who chose to make the term
"Labban[FN#10]" (milk-seller) an opprobrium and a disgrace. Possibly
the origin of the prejudice
[p.247] might be the recognising of a traveller's guest-right to call
for milk gratis. However this may be, no one will in the present day
sell this article of consumption, even at civilised Meccah, except
Egyptians, a people supposed to be utterly without honour. As a general
rule in the Hijaz, milk abounds in the spring, but at all other times
of the year it is difficult to be procured. The Badawi woman managed,
however, to send me back a cupful.
At three P.M. we were ready to start, and all saw, with unspeakable
gratification, a huge black nimbus rise from the shoulder of Mount
Radhwah, and range itself, like a good genius, between us and our
terrible foe, the sun. We hoped that it contained rain, but presently a
blast of hot wind, like the breath of a volcano, blew over the plain,
and the air was filled with particles of sand. This is the "dry storm"
of Arabia; it appears to depend upon some electrical phenomena which it
would be desirable to investigate.[FN#11] When we had loaded and
mounted, my camel-men, two in number, came up to the Shugduf and
demanded "Bakhshish," which, it appears, they are now in the habit of
doing each time the traveller starts. I was at first surprised to find
the word here, but after a few days of Badawi society, my wonder
diminished. 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. Not a house was in
sight-it was as barren and desolate a spot as the sun ever "viewed in
his wide career." But this is what the Arabian traveller must expect.
He is to traverse, for instance, the Wady Al-Ward-the Vale of Flowers.
He indulges in sweet recollections of Indian lakes beautiful with the
Lotus, and Persian plains upon which Narcissus is the meanest of
grasses. He sees a plain like swish-work, where knobs of granite act
daisies; and where, at every fifty yards, some hapless bud or blossom
is dying of inanition among the stones.
The sun scorched our feet as we planted the tent, and, after drinking
our breakfast, we passed the usual day of perspiration and
semi-lethargy. In discomfort man naturally
[p.252] hails a change, even though it be one from bad to worse. When
our enemy began slanting towards the West, we felt ready enough to
proceed on our journey. The camels were laden shortly after 3 P.M.,
July 20th, and we started, with water jars in our hands, through a
storm of Samun.
We travelled five hours in a North-Easterly course up a diagonal
valley,[FN#18] through a country fantastic in its desolation-a mass of
huge hills, barren plains, and desert vales. Even the sturdy Acacias
here failed, and in some places the camel grass could not find earth
enough for its root. The road wound among mountains, rocks and hills of
granite, and over broken ground, flanked by huge blocks and boulders
piled up as if man's art had aided Nature to disfigure herself. Vast
clefts seamed like scars the hideous face of earth; here they widened
into dark caves, there they were choked with glistening drift sand. Not
a bird or a beast was to be seen or heard; their presence would have
argued the vicinity of water; and, though my companions opined that
Badawin were lurking among the rocks, I decided that these Badawin were
the creatures of their fears. Above, a sky like polished blue steel,
with a tremendous blaze of yellow light, glared upon us without the
thinnest veil of mist cloud. Below, the brass-coloured circle scorched
the face and dazzled the eyes, mocking them the while with offers of
water that was but air. The distant prospect was more attractive than
the near view, because it borrowed a bright azure tinge from the
intervening atmosphere; but the jagged peaks and the perpendicular
streaks of shadow down the flanks of the mountainous background
[p.253] showed that yet in store for us was no change for the better.
Between 10 and 11 P.M., we reached human habitations-a phenomenon
unseen since we left Al-Musahhal-in the shape of a long straggling
village. It is called Al-Hamra, from the redness of the sands near
which it is built, or Al-Wasitah, the "half-way," because it is the
middle station between Yambu' and Al-Madinah. It is therefore
considerably out of place in Burckhardt's map; and those who copy from
him make it much nearer the sea-port than it really is. We wandered
nearly an hour in search of an encamping station, for the surly
villagers ordered us off every flatter bit of ground, without, however,
deigning to show us where our jaded beasts might rest. At last, after
long wrangling, we found the usual spot; the camels were unloaded, the
boxes and baggage were disposed in a circle for greater security
against the petty pilferers in which this part of the road abounds, and
my companions spread their rugs so as to sleep upon their valuables. I
was invited to follow the general example; but I absolutely declined
the vicinity of so many steaming and snoring fellow-travellers. Some
wonder was excited by the Afghan Haji's obstinacy and recklessness; but
resistance to these people is sometimes bien place, and a man from
Kabul is allowed to say and to do strange things. In answer to their
warnings of nightly peril, I placed a drawn sword by my side[FN#19] and
a cocked pistol under my pillow, the saddle-bag: a carpet spread upon
the cool loose sand formed by no means an uncomfortable couch, and upon
it I enjoyed a sound sleep till day-break.
Rising at dawn (July 21), I proceeded to visit the village. It is built
upon a narrow shelf at the top of a precipitous hill to the North, and
on the South runs a sandy
[p.254] Fiumara about half a mile broad. On all sides are rocks and
mountains rough and stony; so you find yourself in another of those
punch-bowls which the Arabs seem to consider choice sites for
settlements.[FN#20] The Fiumara, hereabouts very winding, threads the
high grounds all the way down from the plateau of Al-Madinah: during
the rainy season it becomes a raging torrent, carrying westwards to the
Red Sea the drainage of a hundred hills. Water of good quality is
readily found in it by digging a few feet below the surface at the
angles where the stream forms the deepest hollows, and in some places
the stony sides give out bubbling springs.[FN#21]
Al-Hamra itself is a collection of stunted houses or rather hovels,
made of unbaked brick and mud, roofed over with palm leaves, and
pierced with air-holes, which occasionally boast a bit of plank for a
shutter. It appears thickly populated in the parts where the walls are
standing, but, like all settlements in the Holy Land, Al-Hijaz,[FN#23]
it abounds in ruins. It is well supplied with provisions, which are
here cheaper than at Al-Madinah,-a circumstance that induced Sa'ad the
Demon to overload his hapless camel with a sack of wheat. In the
village are a few shops where grain, huge plantains, ready-made bread,
rice,
[p.255] clarified butter, and other edibles are to be purchased. Palm
orchards of considerable extent supply it with dates. The bazar is,
like the generality of such places in the villages of Eastern Arabia, a
long lane, here covered with matting, there open to the sun, and the
narrow streets-if they may be so called-are full of dust and glare.
Near the encamping ground of caravans is a fort for the officer
commanding a troop of Albanian cavalry, whose duty it is to defend the
village,[FN#24] to hold the country, and to escort merchant travellers.
The building consists of an outer wall of hewn stone, loopholed for
musketry, and surmounted by "Shararif," "remparts coquets," about as
useful against artillery as the sugar gallery round a Twelfth-cake.
Nothing would be easier than to take the place: a false attack would
draw off the attention of the defenders, who in these latitudes know
nothing of sentry-duty, whilst scaling-ladders or a bag full of powder
would command a ready entrance into the other side. Around the Al-Hamra
fort are clusters of palm-leaf huts, where the soldiery lounge and
smoke, and near it is the usual coffee-house, a shed kept by an
Albanian. These places are frequented probably on account of the
intense heat inside the fort. We passed a comfortless day at the "Red
Village." Large flocks of sheep and goats were being driven in and out
of the place, but their surly shepherds would give no milk, even in
exchange for bread and meat. The morning was spent in watching certain
Badawin, who, matchlock in hand, had climbed the hills in pursuit of a
troop of cranes: not one bird was hit of the many fired at-a
circumstance which did not say much for their vaunted marksmanship.
Before breakfast I bought a moderately sized sheep for a dollar.
[p.256] Shaykh Hamid "halaled[FN#25]" (butchered) it, according to
rule, and my companions soon prepared a feast of boiled mutton. But
that sheep proved a "bone of contention." The boy Mohammed had, in a
fit of economy, sold its head to a Badawi for three piastres, and the
others, disappointed in their anticipations of "haggis," lost temper.
With the "Demon's" voluble tongue and impudent countenance in the van,
they opened such a volley of raillery and sarcasm upon the young
"tripe-seller," that he in his turn became excited-furious. I had some
difficulty to keep the peace, for it did not suit my interests that
they should quarrel. But to do the Arabs justice, nothing is easier for
a man who knows them than to work upon their good feelings. "He is a
stranger in your country-a guest!" acted as a charm; they listened
patiently to Mohammed's gross abuse, only promising to answer him when
in his land, that is to say, near Meccah. But what especially soured
our day was the report that Sa'ad, the great robber-chief, and his
brother were in the field; consequently that our march would be delayed
for some time: every half-hour some fresh tattle from the camp or the
coffee-house added fuel to the fire of our impatience.
A few particulars about this Schinderhans of Al-Hijaz[FN#26] may not be
unacceptable. He is the chief of the Sumaydah and the Mahamid, two
influential sub-families of the Hamidah, the principal family of the
Beni-Harb tribe of Badawin. He therefore aspired to rule all the
Hamidah, and through them the Beni-Harb, in which case he would have
been, de facto, monarch of the Holy Land. But the Sharif of Meccah, and
Ahmad Pasha,
[p.257] the Turkish governor of the chief city, for some political
reason degraded him, and raised up a rival in the person of Shaykh
Fahd, another ruffian of a similar stamp, who calls himself chief of
the Beni-Amr, the third sub-family of the Hamidah family. Hence all
kinds of confusion. Sa'ad's people, who number it is said 5000, resent,
with Arab asperity, the insult offered to their chief, and beat Fahd's,
who do not amount to 800. Fahd, supported by the government, cuts off
Sa'ad's supplies. Both are equally wild and reckless, and-nowhere doth
the glorious goddess, Liberty, show a more brazen face than in this
Eastern
"Inviolate land of the brave and the free;"
both seize the opportunity of shooting troopers, of plundering
travellers, and of closing the roads. This state of things continued
till I left the Hijaz, when the Sharif of Meccah proposed, it was said,
to take the field in person against the arch-robber. And, as will
afterwards be seen in these pages, Sa'ad, had the audacity to turn back
the Sultan's Mahmil or litter-the ensign of Imperial power-and to shut
the road against its cortege, because the Pashas of Al-Madinah and of
the Damascus caravan would not guarantee his restitution to his former
dignity. That such vermin is allowed to exist proves the imbecility of
the Turkish government. The Sultan pays pensions in corn and cloth to
the very chiefs who arm their varlets against him; and the Pashas,
after purloining all they can, hand over to their enemies the means of
resistance. It is more than probable, that Abd al-Majid has never heard
a word of truth concerning Al-Hijaz, and that fulsome courtiers
persuade him that men there tremble at his name. His government,
however, is desirous, if report speaks truth, of thrusting Al-Hijaz
upon the Egyptian, who on his side would willingly pay a large sum to
avert such calamity. The Holy Land drains off Turkish gold and blood in
abundance, and the
[p.258] lords of the country hold in it a contemptible position. If
they catch a thief, they dare not hang him. They must pay black-mail,
and yet be shot at in every pass. They affect superiority over the
Arabs, hate them, and are despised by them. Such in Al-Hijaz are the
effects of the charter of Gulkhanah, a panacea, like Holloway's Pills,
for all the evils to which Turkish, Arab, Syrian, Greek, Egyptian,
Persian, Armenian, Kurd, and Albanian flesh is heir to. Such the
results of the Tanzimat, the silliest copy of Europe's
folly-bureaucracy and centralisation-that the pen of empirical
statecraft ever traced.[FN#27] Under a strong-handed and strong-hearted
despotism, like Mohammed Ali's, Al-Hijaz, in one generation, might be
purged of its pests. By a proper use of the blood feud; by vigorously
supporting the weaker against the stronger classes; by regularly
defeating every Badawi who earns a name for himself; and, above all, by
the exercise of unsparing, unflinching justice,[FN#28] the few
thousands of half-naked bandits, who now make the land a fighting
field, would soon sink into utter insignificance.
[p.259] But to effect such end, the Turks require the old stratocracy,
which, bloody as it was, worked with far less misery than the charter
and the new code. What Milton calls
"The solid rule of civil government"
has done wonders for the race that nurtured and brought to perfection
an idea spontaneous to their organisation. The world has yet to learn
that the admirable exotic will thrive amongst the country gentlemen of
Monomotapa or the ragged nobility of Al-Hijaz.[FN#29] And it requires
no prophetic eye to foresee the day when the Wahhabis or the Badawin,
rising en masse, will rid the land of its feeble conquerors.[FN#30]
Sa'ad, the Old Man of the Mountains, was described to me as a little
brown Badawi; contemptible in appearance, but remarkable for courage
and ready wit. He has for treachery a keen scent, which he requires to
keep in exercise. A blood feud with Abd al-Muttalib, the present Sharif
of Meccah, who slew his nephew, and the hostility of several Sultans,
has rendered his life eventful. He lost all his teeth by poison, which
would have killed him, had he not, after swallowing the potion,
corrected it by drinking off a large potfull of clarified butter. Since
that time he has lived entirely upon fruits, which he gathers for
himself, and
[p.260] coffee which he prepares with his own hands. In Sultan Mahmud's
time he received from Constantinople a gorgeous purse, which he was
told to open, as it contained something for his private inspection.
Suspecting treachery, he gave it for this purpose to a slave, bidding
him carry it to some distance; the bearer was shot by a pistol
cunningly fixed, like Rob Roy's, in the folds of the bag. Whether this
far-known story be "true or only well found," it is certain that Shaykh
Sa'ad now fears the Turks, even "when they bring gifts." The Sultan
sends, or is supposed to send him, presents of fine horses, robes of
honour, and a large quantity of grain. But the Shaykh, trusting to his
hills rather than to steeds, sells them; he gives away the dresses to
his slaves, and he distributes the grain amongst his clansmen. Of his
character, men, as usual, tell two tales: some praise his charity, and
call him the friend of the poor, as certainly as he is a foe to the
rich. Others, on the contrary, describe him as cruel, cold-blooded, and
notably, even among Arabs, revengeful and avaricious. The truth
probably lies between these two extremes, but I observed that those of
my companions who spoke most highly of the robber chief when at a
distance seemed to be in the sudori freddi whilst under the shadow of
his hills.
Al-Hamra is the third station from Al-Madinah in the Darb Sultani, the
"Sultan's" or "High Road," the Westerly line leading to Meccah along
the sea-coast. When the robbers permit, the pilgrims prefer this route
on account of its superior climate, the facility of procuring water and
supplies, the vicinity of the sea, and the circumstance of its passing
through "Badr," the scene of the Prophet's principal military exploits
(A.H. 2). After mid-day, on the 21st July, when we had made up our
minds that Fate had determined we should halt at Al-Hamra, a caravan
arrived from Meccah; and the new travellers had interest to procure an
escort, and permission
[p.261] to proceed without delay towards Al-Madinah. The good news
filled us with joy. A little after four P.M. we urged our panting
camels over the fiery sands to join the Meccans, who were standing
ready for the march, on the other side of the torrent bed. An hour
afterwards we started in an Easterly direction.
My companions having found friends and relations in the Meccan
caravan,-the boy Mohammed's elder brother, about whom more anon, was of
the number,-were full of news and excitement. At sunset they prayed
with unction: even Sa'ad and Hamid had not the face to sit their camels
during the halt, when all around were washing, sanding
themselves,[FN#31] and busy with their devotions. We then ate our
suppers, remounted, and started once more. Shortly after night set in,
we came to a sudden halt. A dozen different reports rose to account for
this circumstance, which was occasioned by a band of Badawin, who had
manned a gorge, and sent forward a "parliamentary," ordering us
forthwith to stop. They at first demanded money to let us pass; but at
last, hearing that we were Sons of the Holy Cities, they granted us
transit on the sole condition that the military,-whom they, like Irish
peasants, hate and fear,-should return to whence they came. Upon this,
our escort, 200 men, wheeled their horses round and galloped back to
their barracks. We moved onwards, without, however, seeing any robbers;
my camel-man pointed out their haunts, and showed me a small bird
hovering over a place where he supposed water trickled from the rock.
The fellow had attempted a sneer at my expense when the fray was
impending. "Why don't you load your pistols, Effendi,"
[p.262] he cried, "and get out of your litter, and show fight?"
"Because," I replied as loudly, "in my country, when dogs run at us, we
thrash them with sticks." This stopped Mansur's mouth for a time, but
he and I were never friends. Like the lowest orders of Orientals, he
required to be ill-treated; gentleness and condescension he seemed to
consider a proof of cowardice or of imbecility. I began with kindness,
but was soon compelled to use hard words at first, and then threats,
which, though he heard them with frowns and mutterings, produced
manifest symptoms of improvement.
"Oignez vilain, il vous poindra!
Poignez vilain, il vous oindra!"
says the old French proverb, and the axiom is more valuable in the East
even than in the West.
Our night's journey had no other incident. We travelled over rising
ground with the moon full in our faces; and, about midnight, we passed
through another long straggling line of villages, called
Jadaydah,[FN#32] or Al-Khayf.[FN#33] The principal part of it lies on
the left of the road going to Al-Madinah; it has a fort like that of
Al-Hamra, springs of tolerable drinking water, a Nakhil or date-ground,
and a celebrated (dead) saint, Abd al-Rahim al-Burai. A little beyond
it lies the Bughaz[FN#34] or defile, where in A.D. 1811 Tussun Bey and
his 8000 Turks were totally defeated by 25,000 Harbi Badawin and
Wahhabis.[FN#35]
[p.263] This is a famous attacking-point of the Beni-Harb. In former
times both Jazzar Pasha, the celebrated "butcher" of Syria, and
Abdullah Pasha of Damascus, were baffled at the gorge of
Jadaydah[FN#36]; and this year the commander of the Syrian caravan,
afraid of risking an attack at a place so ill-omened, avoided it by
marching upon Meccah via the Desert road of Nijd. At four A.M., having
travelled about twenty-four miles due East, we encamped at Bir Abbas.
[FN#1] Alluding to the celebrated mountain, the "Hindu-kush," whence
the Afghans sallied forth to lay waste India.
[FN#2] Throughout this work I have estimated the pace of a Hijazi
camel, laden and walking in caravan line, under ordinary circumstances,
at two geographical miles an hour. A sandy plain or a rocky pass might
make a difference of half a mile each way, but not more.
[FN#3] See Chap. VIII., page 152, note 1, ante.
[FN#4] The reader must be warned that these little villages in Arabia,
as in Sind and Baluchistan, are continually changing their names,
whilst the larger settlements always retain the same. The traveller,
too, must beware of writing down the first answer he receives; in one
of our maps a village on the Euphrates is gravely named "M'adri,"
("Don't know").
[FN#5] Here called Samn, the Indian ghee.
[FN#6] The "Kahk" in this country is a light and pleasant bread made of
ground wheat, kneaded with milk, leavened with sour bean flour, and
finally baked in an oven, not, as usual, in the East, upon an iron
plate. The Kahk of Egypt is a kind of cake.
[FN#7] Stale unleavened bread is much relished by Easterns, who say
that keeping it on journeys makes it sweet. To prevent its becoming
mouldy, they cut it up into little bits, and, at the risk of hardening
it to the consistence of wood, they dry it by exposure to the air.
[FN#8] This Akit has different names in all parts of Arabia; even in
Al-Hijaz it is known by the name of Mazir, as well as, "Igt," (the
corruption of Akit). When very sour, it is called "Saribah," and when
dried, without boiling, "Jamidah." The Arabs make it by evaporating the
serous part of the milk; the remainder is then formed into cakes or
lumps with the hand, and spread upon hair cloth to dry. They eat it
with clarified butter, and drink it melted in water. It is considered a
cooling and refreshing beverage, but boasts few attractions to the
stranger. The Baluchis and wild tribes of Sindians call this
preparation of milk "Krut," and make it in the same way as the Badawin
do.
[FN#9] In Arabic and Hebrew, milk; the Maltese give the word a very
different signification, and the Egyptians, like the Syrians, confine
their use of it to sour milk or curds-calling sweet milk "laban halib,"
or simply "halib."
[FN#10] In a previous work (History of Sind), I have remarked that
there exists some curious similarity in language and customs between
the Arabs and the various races occupying the broad ranges of hills
that separate India from Persia. Amongst these must be numbered the
prejudice alluded to above. The lamented Dr. Stocks, of Bombay, who
travelled amongst and observed the Brahui and the Baluchi nomads in the
Pashin valley, informed me that, though they will give milk in exchange
for other commodities, yet they consider it a disgrace to make money by
it. This, methinks, is too conventional a point of honour to have
sprung up spontaneously in two countries so distant, and apparently so
unconnected.
[FN#11] At Aden, as well as in Sind, these dry storms abound, and there
the work of meteorological investigation would be easier than in
Al-Hijaz.
[FN#12] "Beni-Kalb," (or Juhaynah, Chap. X.), would mean the
"Dogs'-Sons"-"Beni-Harb," the "Sons of Fight."
[FN#13] The Shintiyan is the common sword-blade of the Badawin; in
Western Arabia, it is called Majar (from the Magyars?), and is said to
be of German manufacture. Good old weapons of the proper curve, marked
like Andrew Ferraras with a certain number of lines down their length,
will fetch, even in Arabia, from L7 to L8. The modern and cheap ones
cost about 10s. Excellent weapons abound in this country, the reason
being that there is a perpetual demand for them, and when once
purchased, they become heir-looms in the family. I have heard that when
the Beni Bu Ali tribe, near Ras al-Khaymah, was defeated with slaughter
by Sir Lionel Smith's expedition, the victors found many valuable old
European blades in the hands of the slain.
[FN#14] The way of carrying off a camel in this country is to loosen
him, and then to hang on heavily to his tail, which causes him to start
at full gallop.
[FN#15] The Arabic Misyal, Masyal, Masil, or Masilah, is the Indian
Nullah and the Sicilian "Fiumara," a hill water-course, which rolls a
torrent during and after rain, and is either partially or wholly dry at
other seasons,-the stream flowing slowly underground. In England we
want the feature, and therefore there is no single word to express it.
Our "River" is an imperfect way of conveying the idea.
[FN#16] Generalisation is not the forte of the Arabic language.
"Al-Kulzum" (the Red Sea), for instance, will be unintelligible to the
native of Jeddah; call it the Sea of Jeddah, and you at once explain
yourself; so the Badawin will have names for each separate part, but no
single one to express the whole. This might be explained by their
ignorance of anything but details. The same thing is observable,
however, in the writings of the Arabian geographers when they come to
treat of the objects near home.
[FN#17] About the classic "Harrah," I shall have more to say at a
future time. The word "Ria" in literary and in vulgar Arabic is almost
synonymous with Akabah, a steep descent, a path between hills or a
mountain road.
[FN#18] Valleys may be divided into three kinds. 1. Longitudinal, i.e.
parallel to the axis of their ridges; 2. Transversal or perpendicular
to the same; and, 3. Diagonal, which form an acute or an obtuse angle
with the main chain of mountains.
[FN#19] This act, by the bye, I afterwards learned to be a greater act
of imprudence than the sleeping alone. Nothing renders the Arab thief
so active as the chance of stealing a good weapon.
[FN#20] Probably, because water is usually found in such places. In the
wild parts of the country, wells are generally protected by some
fortified building, for men consider themselves safe from an enemy
until their supply of water is cut off.
[FN#22] Near Al-Hamra, at the base of the Southern hills, within fire
of the forts, there is a fine spring of sweet water. All such fountains
are much prized by the people, who call them "Rock-water," and
attribute to them tonic and digestive virtues.
[FN#23] As far as I could discover, the reason of the ruinous state of
the country at present is the effect of the old Wahhabi and Egyptian
wars in the early part of the present century, and the misrule of the
Turks. In Arabia the depopulation of a village or a district is not to
be remedied, as in other countries, by an influx of strangers; the land
still belongs to the survivors of the tribe, and trespass would be
visited with a bloody revenge.
[FN#24] Without these forts the Turks, at least so said my companions,
could never hold the country against the Badawin. There is a little
amour propre in the assertion, but upon the whole it is true. There are
no Mohammed Alis, Jazzars, and Ibrahim Pachas in these days.
[FN#25] To "halal" is to kill an animal according to Moslem rites: a
word is wanted to express the act, and we cannot do better than to
borrow it from the people to whom the practice belongs.
[FN#26] He is now dead, and has been succeeded by a son worse than
himself.
[FN#27] The greatest of all its errors was that of appointing to the
provinces, instead of the single Pasha of the olden time, three
different governors, civil, military, and fiscal, all depending upon
the supreme council at Constantinople. Thus each province has three
plunderers instead of one, and its affairs are referred to a body that
can take no interest in it.
[FN#28] Ziyad bin Abihi was sent by Al-Mu'awiyah, the Caliph, to reform
Al-Basrah, a den of thieves; he made a speech, noticed that he meant to
rule with the sword, and advised all offenders to leave the city. The
inhabitants were forbidden under pain of death to appear in the streets
after evening prayers, and dispositions were made to secure the
execution of the penalty. Two hundred persons were put to death by the
patrol during the first night, only five during the second, and not a
drop of blood was shed afterwards. By similar severity, the French put
an end to assassination at Naples, and the Austrians at Leghorn. We may
deplore the necessity of having recourse to such means, but it is a
silly practice to salve the wound which requires the knife.
[FN#29] These remarks were written in 1853: I see no reason to change
them in 1878.
[FN#30] A weak monarch, a degenerate government, a state whose
corruption is evidenced by moral decay, a revenue bolstered up by a
system of treasury paper, which even the public offices discount at
from three to six per cent., an army accustomed to be beaten, and
disorganised provinces; these, together with the proceedings of a
ruthless and advancing enemy, form the points of comparison between the
Constantinople of the present day and the Byzantine metropolis eight
hundred years ago. Fate has marked upon the Ottoman Empire in Europe
"delenda est": we are now witnessing the efforts of human energy and
ingenuity to avert or to evade the fiat.
[FN#31] When water cannot be obtained for ablution before prayers,
Moslems clap the palms of their hands upon the sand, and draw them down
the face and both fore-arms. This operation, which is performed once or
twice-it varies in different schools-is called Tayammum.
[FN#32] I write this word as my companions pronounced it. Burckhardt
similarly gives it "Djedeyde," and Ali Bey "Djideïda." Giovanni Finati
wrongly calls the place "Jedeed Bughaz," which Mr. Bankes, his editor,
rightly translates the "new opening or pass."
[FN#33] Al-Khayf is a common name for places in this part of Arabia.
The word literally means a declivity or a place built upon a declivity.
[FN#34] Bughaz means in Turkish the fauces, the throat, and signifies
also here a gorge, or a mountain pass. It is the word now commonly used
in Al-Hijaz for the classical "Nakb," or "Mazik." Vincent (Periplus)
errs in deriving the word from the Italian "Bocca."
[FN#35] Giovanni Finati, who was present at this hard-fought field as a
soldier in Tussun's army, gives a lively description of the disastrous
"day of Jadaydah" in vol. i. of his work.
[FN#36] This Abdullah, Pasha of Damascus, led the caravan in A.D. 1756.
When the Shaykhs of the Harb tribe came to receive their black-mail, he
cut off their heads, and
sent the trophies to Stambul. During the next season the Harb were
paralysed by the blow, but in the third year they levied 80,000 men,
attacked the caravan, pillaged it, and slew every Turk that fell into
their hands.
[p.264]CHAPTER XIV.